Flaming Gorge

So this week was the week of our big summer vacation. And yes we went to Flaming Gorge again. We just love that place there is so much to do with shade and decent temps. Kyle (I love this boy) my brother got us to go with him 4 maybe 5 years ago and we fell in love. Now we go every year and we love it as much as we did the year before. We went with Troy and his girls. Right before we left we found out my Uncle Stan was going to be there the same time. Which was a bonus, I love that man. Sunday we drove there and then set up camp. It was a pretty uneventful day (which can be good when you are traveling). Then Monday we went to spend the day on the lake and the boat broke down... UGH! To make a long story short Terry and his brother (I love those boys) know enough about boats that they replaced the impeller then we went back out. UGGH again the impellar housing was bad and that ate up the new impellar so we had to order an impellar in from SLC and have it over nighted to Vernal. Well my dad (I love that man too) decided he needed to take a spontanious trip to Flaming Gorge to visit his brother and brought us the impellar w/ new housing that we had ordered and also purchased us a back up. WOW! Amazing that he and my mom could actually pull everything together to just leave that quickly for a whole week.

So Tuesday as my mom and dad were making their special delivery to Flaming Gorge we took Stan and Pris down the Green River in Pepper! It was a perfect day on the river with a great view all the way down. We got off the river n meet my mom and dad then put the part in the boat that night.

Wednesday we went out boating to check it out and make sure everything was well with it. We snorkelled a little in the little cove we like so much and then played at the beach and just relaxed the rest of the day. After all isn't that what vacations are for?Thursday we rafted the Green again with my mom and dad this time. It was my mom's first time rafting that long of a river she has been down a very SHORT part of the Snake but it was so much fun to watch her experience something that I love so much. After rafting we went cliff jumping. The kids all did it this year a couple times.

Friday morning we went on the Dam Tour. I have always wanted to do that and it was so cool. After the Dam tour we just went and bummed on the boat for the rest of the day. We did a little wakeboarding and snorkeling and we just chilled.

Saturday we headed for Red Fleet Reservoir which is toward Vernal. We went on an adventure we went and snorkled across a bay, then put on our shoes and hiked over a small hill, then we put our fins back on and snorkeled another bay to a really sandy beach. I was the coolest clay/sand that we have played in. The kids loved it the we explored the little hill side and then we noticed a big storm coming in so we had to head back as fast as we could. The kids did great and we had a good time. But we had to head to Vernal after to check out our truck because the transmission started acting up.

Sunday we tore down camp and headed home. What a fun year! A great way to end the summer. I can't believe school is starting so soon.

Girls Day on the Boat!

I was invited with a bunch of really fun girls to go boating at Deer Creek. I have to tell you I was slightly nervous since these are not girls I chill with all the time. But how could I pass up an offer like this to go out and have a good time with some great people. So I went and man am I glad I did, other then I have a feeling it is going to be a very expensive trip in the long run. You see just the other day I was telling Terry how much I loved our boat and how it would last us another 10 years easy. Then Deena takes me out on their new Air Nautique and WOW I was amazed! The wake was great (once I got used to it).

The boat was beautiful and oh sooo comfortable! So I have a feeling I will not be happy with my boat for long, I feel an upgrade coming on in the future. Anyway enough about the boat. The girls (I refuse to call us old ladies) were so much fun. Each one of them are so genuine and fun to be with. Silly me, I had nothing to be nervous of. I am sure once again it is just my own insecurities I was nervous about. But we wakeboarded, surfed, swam, and tubed all over the lake. Curtis was amazing to put up with all of us like he did, he said he was there to "protect his investment" I think he was there for the humor. So thanks to all you amazing girls for a wonderful day on the boat it was a BLAST!

Boating w/ Garricks

Today we spent a really fun day out on our boat with the Garricks! We left around 11:30 and got back at 8:40pm what a great day on the lake. The weather held out for the most part! All of our kids get along so well. Even though Fisher is 3 years younger then Treg they have this cute little bond! I just can't tell you how lucky I am to have good friends! Love you guys!

Date Night

So Saturday my dad called up and asked if he could take the kids for the day. So we handed them over knowing they would love to go swimming with Grandpa and a sleepover? What kid wouldn't love to go sleep at Grandpa's? Well they couldn't pack fast enough! So Terry and I were left alone... What do ya do? Well I guess you do things you can't do as easily as you can with the kids around. So we planned to go hiking the Silver Lake Trail by the time we had our back packs ready a big old thunder storm rolled in.

So we bagged that idea and just went fly fishing up A.F. Canyon the best part was Terry just fixed the jeep (once again) so getting there was more than half the fun. We found a quiet little cove and flung a few flies around. Low and behold we got a few bites. It reminded me of why I love this challenge so much. To actually catch one is so rewarding. Then we went and got a shake and we couldn't finish the whole thing so we went and let the kids finish it. Ya we couldn't stay away a whole night. What a great night, thanks dad for the date night.

Jungle Book Performance

This last week has been filled with evenings at the A.F. Ampitheater. Matia was playing as an Elephant in the childrens theater of Jungle Book. She has been practicing this last month everyday for 2 hours a day. Which has been a big comittment for her. She has loved it and watching her perform is just so fun. She gets into character so well and learns all the parts. Matia we were all so impressed with this big accomplishment.

Thank you to everyone who came to support our Matia. Which includes Mom and Dad Covington and Townsend, Tonja and her family, Chris and her family, Troy and his girls, Tara and her family, Brother and Sister Shelley, Kami we know you were there in heart, I know it meant so much to have you all there. Matia loves each of you soo very much!

Snake River White Water w/ Eccles

This weekend we went on a vacation we have not been able to do for about 10 years. Ever since we had kids we just couldn't leave our kids to go white water rafting. Although Terry and I LOVE it, we just couldn't see leaving our kids out of the fun, yet they weren't big enough to enjoy it with us. Of course we have been rafting the green river for the last 3 years. But the Snake is different. We owned a raft named "Suzie" years ago. However, she suffered from a severe case of rubber rot and just never recovered. It was a sad hard day when we had to let her go. So now we have a new addition to our family. Her name is "Pepper" and the reason we adopted her was she is large, in charge and very stable. So with little kids still we are not out seeking life threatening thrills we are seeking safe yet breath taking thrills.
It was a fun weekend with the Eccles and Troy and Jolynn. We got up there Saturday at about 1:00 we hurry and unloaded enough that we could set up the raft and get a quick run in before the night set in. We got on the river at about 3:00 and it was pumping around 5000. So it took us about 2 hours to get down the river. It felt so good though to just float down that stretch of river. It brought back so many good memories. Half way down Jolynn (Troys girlfriend) ripped her toenail off half way. I can't imagine how bad that hurt but she was such a good sport. It was a perfect float we hit Kahuna right on which was HUGE this year. Lunch counter was good but Ropes was better.

We got back to camp and started our chicken dutch oven and a couple hours later the Eccles showed up with 6 of their kids. We enjoyed chit chatting and catching up and then the yummy dutch oven and smores. Now that is a way to end a good day.

Sunday we floated the river and we were all able to go. If you have a group bigger then 15 you have to have a permit and we were right on 15.

Kaya had the wettest seat in the whole raft. That poor girl caught everything that came in the boat. But man she had such high spirits about the whole thing. Everyone was a delight the whole trip.

We stopped almost at the end to let the boys do a little cliff jumping. Bowdee was the first to go but you have to swim hard and fast to get back to shore quick enough. The ones that didn't make it had to be rescued by Terrys killer rope throw... Or in Ryans case the search and rescue.

Of course he could have made it back but he was going to save Chance and passed him up and headed down the river. Unfortunately the search and rescue just happened to be continuing their search for a missing body from the night before and happened to be at the right place at the right time to save Ryan from going down the river.All in all it was a good trip and we created many memories to last a long long time. Thank you Eccles for getting us back out on the river.

Hike Deseret Peak

This hike ascends the 11,031 ft summit of Deseret Peak, in the Stansbury Mountains west of Salt Lake City. We don't consider ourselves a "hiking" family, so for us this was a great accomplishment. The kids made it the whole 8 mile and 3,600 ft ascend hike and it was a pretty hard one.

We went with a friend of Terrys, Rusty who is on a quest to hike all 8 Ultra hikes in Utah by the end of the summer (ya I think he may have caught that hikers fever). He brought his amazing 2 dogs and was so patient with the kids the whole way.

The top was absolutely amazing we could see forever in all different directions. It was a challenging hike yet it was gorgous most of the way filled with wildflowers and a few deer on the way back down.

It took us 7 hours roundtrip and boy were we glad to finally be at the bottom. So back to we are more of a boating family then hiking it took us all Sunday to recoop. Thanks Rusty for the invite I am glad we did it.

Boating w/ Callaways

We busted out of here around 2:00 ready for a night on the lake with the Callaways. We didn't plan a whole day because we didn't know how Eva was going to like it. She is only 1 and it can be a long day when your that little. But we made the most of it and played until we were all just so tired. Conor and Tara are so cute we loved hanging with them for the evening. Thanks for putting up with us we hope you had as much fun as we had.

Swim Meet #3 Results

Today was one busy day for our family. At 8:00am Bowdee had a football camp at BYU with a BUNCH of NFL players. He thought he had died and gone to heaven. He was on Brian Kehls football team, they didn't take place but man they did great. His buddy Dylan went with him and they were both none stop talking all the way home. This is them with Austin Collie. The best piece of advise they got was to always obey and listen to their parents because that makes the best football players. I liked that part! The Terry had a interview at Novell which seemed to go really well. Tia had play practice from 10-12. Bowdee got home at about 2:30 then we had to hussle to shave his head get stuff ready for our 3rd swim meet this summer and head to the pool at 3:20! Wow we hardly had time to eat I tell ya. The kids did great at the meet not their best but they did great!

Bowdee Townsend (10) B
1:33.15 Boys 10yrs 100 Free 3rd Place 4.59
54.01 Boys 10yrs 50 Fly 1st Place 3.17
2:02.93 Boys 10yrs 100 Breast 1st Place -0.29

Matia Townsend (8) G
1:01.42 Girls 8yrs 50 Free 7th Place 3.75
33.78 Girls 8yrs 25 Breast 4th Place -3.50
41.64 Girls 8yrs 25 Fly 3rd Place 0.34

Treg Townsend (6) B
48.81Y Boys 6yrs 25 Back 4th Place 9.27
56.30Y Boys 6yrs 25 Breast 1st Place 11.14
54.77Y Boys 6yrs 25 Free 5th Place 11.68

Birds of Prey

After a day of fighting the weather for a chance of wakeboarding (which Terry only got 2 quickies in) we finally gave up, came home, took a nap, then headed to the canyon. I have heard about the Birds of Prey program they do a couple times a year. It sounded really cool and we just happened to have the night open so we took the kids up there in my jeep (which started acting up on us again).

The drive was beautiful and the nigh was perfect. The show was amazing, the guy who puts it on was amazing, entertaining, funny and full of knowledge. It was a great way to end a so so kind of day. P.S. I love American Fork Canyon!

Steel Days of A.F.

So as I was a teenager I remember saying I will never live in A.F. because it is just too big... Well here I am living here and loving it. I guess I am proof that you can change your mind about things and it is okay. Today Terry and I participated in the Bob Phelps 5K run.

Terry took 5th in his division, his brother Troy took 6th, and I took 10th. I didn't mind being 10th I am just glad I wasn't last. Ya know even if I was last that would have been just fine with me as long as I finished it. It was still not something I call fun but I guess it was a little fulfilling. I was happy to get a runners number and a finishers medal! But most of all I loved doing it with my whole family!

Right after we ran Terry drove home to get the kids for their 1/2 mile race. They were excited and they did their best. It was fun to see them lined up at the beginners line and then to be at the finishing line to watch them cross. We ran it with our friends the Callaways. The kids loved having their friends there to run it with them.

Directly after the race we had to rush down to the parade line-up for Tia, Daisy, & Annie to be in the parade with the A.F. Theater group they are in the Jungle Book Play that will be playing at the end of this month. This was Tias first parade and she was so excited to be part of it. I wish I would have sat out on that one because I was still all sweaty and gross from the 5K but what do ya do? I sacrificed so I could be there to help watchout for the kids.

To complete the day of celebrations we came home and fixed the jeep so that we could go watch the fireworks in it. We drove up by the temple and waited for 1 hour for them to start... What time is dusk anyway? I wish they could be a little more specific on the start time.

It wasn't until 11:00 that they started it. Treg and Tia had both fallen asleep in the back of the jeep. But it was well worth the wait. We loved the fireworks that A.F. had given us.

Yesterday we also participated in the downtown carnival. It is nothing like Salina's carnival it was the one with the rides and scary people right. Well the kids loved every minute of it. They were just taking 1 ticket per ride so we got to go on more rides then we expected. Again we went with the Callaways then had snow cones after.

Gooseberry

The next day after my brother and his family left, I left with my mom and dad camping. We went to a place called Gooseberry which is another one of my favorite places. I truely believe this was the first time I was with just my mom and dad since I was 7 and they took me to get stitches.

Well we couldn't remember any other time. So needless to say it was NICE to be with them and just them. We left early so I could show them where it was and get a camp spot saved since it was the holiday weekend. We found the perfect spot and set up camp.

Then we went driving around for a little and ended at Salina Reservoir to do a little fishng. We were knocking them dead, catching fish right and left. This was the first time I caught fish like this in years, and about 6 years for my dad. So both my dad and I were thrilled and my mom started having visions of fish dinner cooked over the fire! I think she even started drooling.

After a magical night at the lake with a small rain storm and a double rainbow we headed back to camp. Had dinner (not fish to my moms dismay) we played a little hearts (which we beat my dad, yes we had to gain up on him to do it but we did, that is the important thing to remember here.)
We tucked ourselves in for a nice night of sleep... Well it was great until about 3:30am I wake up to something with great force pushing the trailor and the BIG 5th wheel rocking from side to side. Eyes as big as baseballs and heart beating as fast as could be I am sitting silently listening to the noise just outside my window. All I could hear was a very loud hungry sniffing. After about 2 min. I just couldn't take it anymore. I run up to my mom and dads bed and nearly jumped in the middle and cover my head under the covers, that is what I wanted to do. But instead I ramble and ramble how there is a bear outside that wants to eat me and he is jumping on the trailer and rocking it and I need a gun to save us. My dad patiently got up and said "No Kris we don't have any weapons".

Then he slowly put his pants on and went to the bathroom. Then he went down to the kitchen and got out the pots and pans. He gave me 2 pans and said the best thing you can do is bang these together if you hear anything. We both sat there and listened for a sec. Then he said night and headed back to bed. He got to the stairs when his fatherly instinct took over he turned around and slept on the couch next to me the rest of the long night. So I know you are wondering did you see the bear? That is what everyone asks me throught their laughs when I am telling the story. The answer is "Well not exactly but... there was a scratch on the trailor and something that looked like a bear den behind our campsite." And I don't think the scratch was there earlier and the ground was to hard to make any bear prints. Okay so this isn't really my photo of what I saw, but as I was looking on the internet it was the only photo that reminded me of what I was imagining was outside our trailer.

Anyway we headed down to the big city of Salina to get some more spinners (because apparently Dad and I can't tie very good fishing knots) and to call Terry. I told him to leave the tent home we were all getting cozy in the trailor the rest of the trip and to bring the bear spray and the GUN! You see he got off work a little early to bring the kids and food down. So we got our spinners and headed back to camp. My parents feel in love with Gooseberry and had a hard time coming home. In fact they stayed 4 days after we left.

Saturday we went down to Salina for some fun small town 4th of July Celebrations. I tell ya it brought back so many small town memories that I am craving to have that again for my childrens sake. Anyway they had he small carnival with games for the kids to play that benifited different groups in the city.

Then they had the potatoe bag races with all sorts of catagories like father/daughter, mother/son you get my drift and it made it even more special with my mom and dad there. Then they had a greese pole. I had never heard of this one before but some kids asked Bowdee to do it with them and he said yes. So what a greese pole is, is a pole stuck in the ground that goes really high covered in crisco with money stuck to the crisco.

There are 4 kids in a group and each group has 1 min. to try to reach the top of the pole to receive the grand prize, getting as much cash as they can on the way up. Bowdee's team got to distracted to keep their eyes on the grand prize. So they ended up with 8 dollars so 2 for each and a greasy body. It was interesting, scarey, and comical to watch all the different groups try to climb this greasy pole.

After the pole climb we headed to the swimming pole for the swimming races. All our kids did great they had fun racing in a different fashion then they are used to. Then after the races which they each got a quarter at the end, they pulled all the kids out of the pool and threw in tons of coins.

Then they rang a bell and away they all went. Treg got 31 coins, Tia got 32 and Bowdee got 33 coins. They LOVED that part of the day. So ya we love and miss the small towns. We headed up the canyon again 30 min to our heaven and enjoyed a nice fish fry dinner.

I have to tell you my mother LOVES fish and she just couldn't stop she licked every bone off of her fish, my fish, Tias fish and then cleaned Tregs fish. I should have taken a photo of her fish skeleton it was amazing.

Then we ate smores and chatted around a pixie fire which was our fireworks for the year. It was beautiful too. Then as it was time to head inside me and my kids were sure to look both ways and run so the bear wouldn't get us on our way back.

We ended the trip with a drive to Fish Lake. I knew my mom would love this because there were wildflowers all around us and she had such great memories of Fish Lake from her childhood. Her dad would take them there every year and they would stay in these little old cabins. It was a great trip one we will remember for a very long time. I enjoyed every minute we share with my parents and hope they enjoy it as well.