Glad to be Boating

So we have been planning this day of boating with my sister and her darling family since the beginning of the year. And I am Glad to announce we actually did it. Terry and I headed down to the lake at 9:00am to advoid the Saturday rush at the harbor and headed for Pelican Point because of the wind and choppy water. We had a good time waiting for them to arrive. Bowdee caught a carp with a net it was HUGE. Then Treg netted a dead catfish but thought he was as cool as his brother. Matia on the other had just kept buggin her dad to go catch the bad fish and get them out of the water. After Kathy and her family went to visit my dad in the hospital the finally joined us at the lake at 1:00 for a day full of fun. First the boys A.J. who is 18 and Todd who is almost 16 took Bowdee out on the tube with them. They had a great time with Terry behind the wheel. None of them ended up wounded and they all held on for some good time. In fact so long their necks started to ache. You see Terry was being nice to them.Then me and my girls (Karrilyn is 20 and Angela is 14) hit the tube to show the boys how to really hold on. Well we did great until Terry turned the wheel over to my favorite brother-in-law who feels like a brother (Mike) well I am not sure how much experience Mike has driving but wow he was all over that lake flipping us from side to side. I refuse to think he was doing this on purpose. Because I know I am his favorite and he would never intentionally hurt me. I told the girls they should be nicer to him because obviously he was trying to retaliate for some kind of behavior.
After the girls finally gave up holding on Kathy and Mike went out and A.J. drove them. I didn't want any kind of responsibility when Mike pulled Kathy off the tube. He didn't actually do that but he would have if the driver didn't knock her off the tube. You see he makes sure everyone experiences everything and that includes falling off. Then the boys all took their best shot at wakeboarding because he carry no skiis on our boat. Bowdee went first to show them how it was done. And then Todd went and said Bowdee makes it look so easy what am I doing wrong. Well then A.J. went and even though they tried until they had no more strength (which I must say these boys have some endurance). They finally told their dad to try. Mike did it of course that man can do anything. Well I threw him the rope and look what happened to his head. I really don't know how it happened but I sure felt bad. But the last time he was in this lake he was rushed to the hospital because of a head wound. I guess I was just trying to make sure he got the experience he wanted. So no it wasn't that deep and there was no hospital runs but I did throw all the mirrors overboard. Then we finally got some down time where Kate (a.k.a. Kathy) and I just laid on the tube and talked about life. Kate lives in Cedar City so we don't get to talk alot. She is an angel I know you all have someone like her in your life where they just listen so well and love with all their hearts.
It was a wonderful day one we plan to do every year. Thank you Glads for coming. We left the lake at 6:30 got home at 7:00 and at 8:00 after I was showered and in my p.j.s my mom called and asked me to stay with my dad at the hospital for the night. He is still having a hard time. He has been bouncing a fever around and his oxygen keeps going down and his bladder is having a hard time getting going. So I went and had a most memorable experience with my good old dad. One of those things I would never take back.

Pioneers Day

So today Terry had to work. Ya he only gets paid when he works unlike other people :) So he went to work and me and the kids went and worked on a 5 hour service project. It always does something good to my heart when I do for others. Then we came home and took our downtime. Since we only get downtime before our own Tazmanian Devil comes home. The second he comes home we are up and at it, going and doing. So as soon as Taz came home he loaded the boat and away we went. We headed down to the lake, I bet you didn't see that one coming. It was too choppy for Terry to try his new tricks, but perfect for tubing and swimming. The water was 82' and it felt like 86'. Here are some cute photos of again my cute kids having some fun. I often wonder what they will think about boating when they are older. Just another chore, or like it is a second home they always want to come home to. I am not sure I hope it is the later. Then we came home and finished off the fireworks from the 4th. Ya it was just the small little ones left but we sure enjoyed our neighbors display from up the road. They always have the party going on down the street. Deena thanks for always making our fireworks look so small ;) Well I must say I am very thankful for all the hard work the pioneers put into establishing this beautiful state that we live in. I absolutely love Utah and all the variety it has to offer. Happy Pioneers Day to all of you.

Dads Back Surgery

So this morning at 7:00am my dad (a.k.a. Superman) went in for a major back surgery. The surgery took longer due to the fact there was more damage then the MRI showed. However he came out of it like a real pro. They wheeled him back to his room at 2:00pm and when we left his room at 8:15pm he was still roarin. The surgery didn't even slow him down. He was on morphine for the pain and he was talking up a storm. I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear he was doing good. I just don't know what I would do without him he is my hero. I look up to my dad so much. He is one of a kind alway willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who needs it. Dad you amaze me, thank you for all you have taught me and helped me learn. Keep it up, like you said our dance has just begun.

Flaming Gorge Vacation

Oh how we have come to really treasure our annual Flaming Gorge Vacation. This year we started out with a little bit of trailer brake problems. But once we got that all fixed then we had nothing to worry about (especially since Troy was able to pull the boat with his friend Clints awesome Diesel Truck.
However the moment we pulled into Manilla, UT where we stayed at the Steinaker hotel I knew we were in for a long night. The spiders came free and there was barely enough floor room to fit our 6 kids. It was by far the worse hotel any of us have ever stayed in. We should have expected it when the room was only $55. Lets just say there were no tears when we pulled out of that place.Then we were on our way to Mustang Ridge Campground right on the Sunny Cove Shore of "The Gorge". It only took us 3 hours of hard laborus work to set up camp. But once it was up we had lunch and hit the lake for a good tour of the "GORGOUS GORGE". Last year we didn't tour it like we did this year. We had a great time going down all the coves and enjoying the beautiful scenery. The next day we decided since the weather was cooperating that we should seize the moment and enjoy a white water rafting trip down the Green River. The girls were a little nervous, but were real troopers and everyone was sad to see the 4 hour rafting trip come to an end.The boys brought their fishing poles and tried a little something something. But found that the kids and the rafting was more entertaining. So they put their poles away and enjoyed the ride.So If you have never rafted a river you are surely missing out. This is one of my favorite things to do. I was quite disappointed with myself when I jumped in the river to get cooled off and hit my knee on a rock really hard. Wouldn't you know it I pick the one second we floated over a huge rock the only huge rock in that stretch. But it hit so hard I wasn't able to do any wakeboarding the whole trip.Ya you can say I was really disappointed especially the next day when we took a day of boating. The boys all had some really great rides, did you know that when you hit the wake at the Gorge it is alot more powerful than Utah Lake. Well that is what we believe.
Bowdee rode like a mad man, he cruised all the way back to the harbor that night it was like a 8 minute ride. He is getting so confident on his board. It won't be long before he is landing some jumps.Really the boys could tell a huge difference in their jumps. Anyway it was a long hard day for me just to watch and not be out there with them. But I made it through and the next day we drove up sunny cove and enjoyed alittle spear fishing and snorkeling. Troy hit a nice bass and Terrys got away. Bowdee and Treg even netted some guppies and Matia loved watching over them. We pumped up the trampoline and tube and just let the kids swim their little hearts out. Then of course we finished the day off with another great wakeboarding session. The last day we were all so tired from all the fun we had that we just parked our boat on a sandy beach and let the kids build hot tubs and we snorkeled some more. The weather was great the whole time we were there. Even though I packed enough cold gear for a 5 day Thunderstorm we didn't have to even use our hoodies. So I guess you can say we lucked out. We even were able to pack up dry tents to avoid later hassels. Yep we even had a few moments to just sit back in the hammock and enjoy everything and nothing at the same time. I have to say the only downfall of this trip was falling to sleep listening to the camp next to us cuss their way through some filthy campfire stories. Man some people can be so inconsiderate. Thank you Troy for bringing your darling girls and having such a good time with us. We hope you will do it again with us next year. We are ready to make the reservations.

Time of Change

So just recently my dad found out he has a fractured hip bone and torn tenden in his hip that he has been walking on for months. It has been bothering him but he finally got it checked out. Then he also has to have back surgery the end of this month. This is going to be painful for my dad because he is literally superman. Nothing has ever slowed him down and to have both of these things hit him at once has really opened his eyes. So with him being out of work for at least 5 months they have decided to rent out their cabin that has been a nice safe haven for all of us. So on the way up to the cabin to help them with the chore of packing up the cabin this was the sunset that we captured. I feel it is a time for change a time that we kids have to realize we need to help dad out instead of having him help us out constantly when we need it. So we went and spent the day packing and cleaning out the cabin of my moms dreams. Yes it tore at our heart strings and our back muscles too. My hopes are that someday they will be able to return to their home in the mountains to enjoy their lives and we can visit as often as possible. So since Terry and I collasped from a day of hard hard work we felt that a Sunday on the boat would heal us enough to make it through another week. So Sunday we invited Kami and her kids out on the boat and had a wonderful time. Iz and Koda even did their best as they tried wakeboarding. Treg even tried it for real this time.
No he didn't get up and his feet came flying out of the bindings but he was determined to "try it for real this time. I think I am good enough to do it mom." Ya it was another great day on the lake with some really great people.

4th of July Weekend

So we started celebrating on Thursday as we took Troy and Kamis families up AF Canyon for a little rock climbing. And wouldn't you know it I forgot my camera.

We had a great time however making smores while the boys scaled the rock. My wrist has tendonitis so I had a hard just sitting back and watching. I couldn't even help undo the knots. But it was fun and we got some more of that fresh air in our lungs.
I love watching my children trying new things. I love how they can give me their complete trust in knowing I would not ask them to do somthing that would hurt them. Man I love being a mom and I love watching my children go through life. Yep I am a pretty happy person.Then on Friday we really wanted to hit the lake but with the winds we put it off a day. So instead we just cleaned out our garage fun huh. However we now can park 2 cars in there, yes that is a first for us since we got married. Then we promised Treg we would do his pinata. It was a leprachaun he got from a yard sale last year that he saved for this year. Then we got caught up in March and forgot all about it. I was not about to wait another year so we broke it out and the kids decorated it to be a leprachaun celebrating the 4th of July. We hung it in our "CLEAN" garage and let them have at it. Later that night we pulled our chairs out with the rest of the neighbors and lit our small collection of fireworks. It was great to just be here and enjoy each other. I can't tell you how everytime I see the fireworks how I think of all the soldiers that put their lives at risk for us. From hundreds of years ago to those serving right now. I do appreciate and love what we have here in this land. Then Saturday of course we hit the lake it was still a little breezy so no wakeboarding for me instead I just kicked back and relaxed as the kids splashed on me to cool me off. Then all of a sudden out of no where this awesome boat full of really cool people pulled up. And yeh it was the Callaways.The kids thought that heaven just landed right there on our boat and brought a great friend for each of us. We pulled out the swing and the kids loved it until Terry tested it (with this weight) and it failed. So then we turned our focus to tubing and a little wakeboarding for Bowdee, Annie, Conor and Terry. All in all it was a great weekend. Needless to say Sunday we were to bushed to do anything so we headed to the movies to go watch Wall-e it was a cute show. But a little slow if you ask me. The kids seemed to like it. And I just loved sitting back holding my sweeties hand and enjoying the responsibility of doing nothing and sitting still for 2 hours. Well love you guys.

Bowdee's Second Swim Meet

Bowdee did great at this meet. I feel like he gave it his all and really has improved since the first of the summer. Bowdee took 3rd in Backstroke and improved his own time by 1.67sec. He took 3rd in Freestyle and improved his own time by .71sec. Then he took 6th in Breast Stroke and didn't get DQ'd and that is all I wanted him to do. So congratulations Bowdee it was an honor to offical you in your race. You keep practicing and you can take this as far as you like.

A weekend spent with Troy

This weekend was a well spent weekend with Troy and his darling 3 little girls. Terry and Troy decided to start it early on Thursday and went catfishing down at the harbor. They got skunked but gave it a good fight since they didn't come back until 3:30am that next morning. But they had some fun and I am always grateful for the time they get together. You know sometimes a woman needs her space. Just kidding.Then Friday a very good friend of mine called and reminded me the Lehi mini-parade was going on that night. Since this is my favorite parade since I was a little one we got some pizza and joined her cute family for the parade. Holly and Marcellus invited us to a movie with them and offered their daughter Tori (who we adore) to babysit all our kids. It was so fun to go sit in the backseat with my husband I just can't tell you how long it has been since I was in the backseat with a real hottie. Fun I tell ya. Now I remember why my friends and I would drive around all night with our boyfriends.So Saturday we headed up the AF Canyon with Troy and his girls. I use to watch his girls regularly and so it was nice to be with them again. I sure miss them. We first went to the reservoir to do a little fishing and I weasled my way out to go save a picnic table and left the boys with 6 kids. Ya I am sure that was a funny sight. But I tell you what these two boys could handle any amount of kids. They are the 2 best dads I know. (Sorry to anyone offended) They can hands down handle any situation. Baylee was the only one to catch a fish and I hear it was only a little one. Then the kids built us a nice campfire and climbed all over the rocks in the picnic area. While I sat and read a book and enjoyed listening to Troy and Terry check out the ladies in the same picnic area. They are hilarious. But the hot dogs and tinfoil dinners weren't burnt so obviously they were not to distracted. I have to say tinfoil dinners are one of my absolute favorites. Especially when Terry makes them. YUMMMY!Then we just relaxed, enjoyed each others company and sat around the burning campfire until 10:00pm I just have to say Troy is an amazing person. He is Terrys younger and only brother by 15 months. Troy loves his little girls like no other and would do anything for them. We all love being around Troy for his bubbly easy to love personality. He loves being outdoors and enjoying life. Thank you Troy for sharing some time with us.Of course Sunday we were out on the lake again. This time we filled the boat with 6 kids a dog and well us of course. It was great. The wakeboarding was so nice almost the best of the year so far. But the best part of it was being out there together with those we love. Sharing memories and creating new ones. The kids were real troopers even when a crazy wind storm came in so suddenly. We practically dumped Troy and his girls off at their harbor and dashed across the lake to our harbor. The harbor was crazy with people trying to get out of there. So we just tied up and waited till they all cleared out. I read a book to the kids as Terry took in some eye candy. And if you know Terry his eye candy is full of towers, props, boards, and engines. Man he loves those boats.