Zion "O" Vegas??

Friday we started our drive to Vegas. My uncle told us that we should drive through Zion National Park instead of our normal way home. It was amazing. We found this little hike that took us to the top of a canyon. It started thundering and lightning and was followed by rain. I was just in flip flops, not the perfect hiking shoe to be wearing in the rain. It started sprinkling and then pored!! It was really cool being in the canyon listening to the thunder echo. We found a cave that we hid out in for a while and then decided to head back before it got any worse. We got back to our car to find that I had left my window and the back window down! We drove through this really long tunnel and when we got out of it the view was amazing. I was kind of bummed that we couldn't see as much due to the rain storm, but it was still beautiful. When we got down the mountain, we stopped at a couple of gift stores and saw some buffalo and reindeer!!?? I hope to come back another time and spend more time exploring this beautiful place.

Our time in Zion

Right before we got to Vegas, we saw two huge rainbows from start to finish. It was pretty cool. We arrived at the Bellagio around 8:00pm. We went up to our room which had a view of the pools and the water show fountains. After we picked up our tickets for "O" we went outside to watch the water show. It is really cool, but it was still 100 degrees outside.

At 10:30pm, we went and saw "O". It was AMAZING!!!! We had perfect seats right in the middle. The show is pretty much done the whole time in the water. It was pretty incredible watching them flip and twist from 60 ft up!! I would recommend this show to anyone!! I wasn't sure if Joe would like it but he did!!! Saturday morning we headed to the BUFFET there at the Bellagio.....All I can say is it is worth every penny you pay $$$!! Every time I drive through Vegas, I have to stop and each at the Buffet!! I am not a Vegas person, but I am a lover of a good buffet!! We ate as much as we could to make ourselves sick and then headed home.



Our time in Las Vegas

Well I am finally home...though I have to say that I miss being on the lake already!! It is nice however to go outside and not feel like I am going to die of heat exhaustion!!I am not looking forward going back to work tomorrow!! The thought of having to get ready each day and do my hair?? I am so used to just putting on a bathing suit!! I had a great time with the family at Lake Powell and am sure we will be talking about this trip for some time....now we have to start planning next year's trip!!!

SURFS UP!!!!!

Dad AKA The Water Bat!!!!!


Cara


Matt AKA Kelly Slater!!

Today was the BEST DAY!!!! We discovered the new sport of WAKE SURFING!!!! It is AWESOME!!! Who knew that our family has a bunch of surfers???? Even my DAD got up!!! You have to have a boat that creates a surf wave in order for it to work. Matt was the first to attempt it and he caught on really fast for his first time. He said it was soo easy, so we all tried and all got up! It is seriously so much easier then water skiing or wake boarding. You pop right up and just ride a wave for as long as you want. It is pretty cool being so close to the boat that you can have a conversation with everyone on board!! We rocked out to a few tunes as we were riding!! We all tried different ways of riding the wave and discovered that the shorter the rope, the better you ride the wave. Once you find the "sweet" spot in the wave, you can actually drop the rope and just ride the wave!! We have all now discovered our new family hobby!!! Watch out for us on the "pro" circuit!!!

Hillary


Emily


Uncle Mike


Today was our last day on the lake. I am sad to know that we are starting to head back home tomorrow but will make a quick overnight stop in Vegas. We are staying at the Bellagio Friday night and going the see a Cirque Du Soleil show called "O". I am pretty excited to see it. Saturday we will head back home to reality. It has been a great trip and I am sad knowing I have to go back to work on Monday. I better go and pack!!

Got Lightning!!!???

We have had a very adventurous last two days on the lake. Tuesday started out as a great day. We found a new spot at Haggle cove and pretty much had the whole cove to ourselves. Matt got up for the first time on water skis..he did great. Uncle Mike also went water skiing and developed a new method of getting himself up on water skis. He sat on a huge raft with his skis on. He would get pulled a little while and then get up, drop one ski and would ski until he fell. It worked perfectly on his first try. My job was to stay behind him to pick up the raft and the extra ski!! We then had some lunch and then just hung out while the boys went on a little boat ride to go get the sea doos. The girls stayed back and floated around on rafts and basked in the sun. Then we decided to go out for another boat ride. Matt wake skated!! It was soo cool. He had this huge board that looked like a skate board. He would get pulled like a wake board and then pop up on the wake skate. There aren't any bindings to hold you in, so he wore tennis shoes and just did whatever he could to stay on. He did great and even attempted a flip but landed back in the water instead of on the board! Then it was my turn to water ski. As I was waiting in the water I kept on seeing lightning bolts!!???? Then the ski got a little darker and darker. My dad suggested that we head back and pack up our boat and get the heck out of there. Good thing we did because there was the biggest lightening/wind and rain storm that came soon after!! It was amazing watching the lightning. The thunder was SOO loud!!! It was really cool to watch and some people who live out there said they have never seen such a huge lightning storm like that!(My cousin Hillary took the pictures of the lightning!!)



We were praying that Wednesday would be a nice day free of a storm and it was. It was beautiful out. We took a boat trip up to Rainbow bridge. We stopped a few times along the way to swim because it was sooo hot. We got to Rainbow bridge and then had to hike 1 1/4 mile. Along the way Joe wanted to take a picture of are group hiking. We were trying to get the camera out of the case and it wouldn't come out....so I decided to pull on it really hard and the camera fell straight on the ground in the sand. The lens was open and sand got all in it. It wouldn't close or focus. We finally got it to close, but it won't focus....so are pictures after that point are all blurry. Luckily I brought another camera that we can use the rest of the trip but it looks like when we get back I will be making a trip to Best Buy and buying Joe a new camera.



After are hike we went swimming again and then stopped for lunch and some really yummy ice cream. Then we headed back and stopped for another quick swim. We were all exhausted by the end of the day. It was a long day out on the lake and the views were amazing.

I Finally Got Up!!!

Today was our first full day on the lake. We had a blast. We hung out at a cove we named "Haggle Cove" a couple of years ago. There was no one there but us!! The water was pretty smooth so we decided to go wake boarding. Matt went first and put on a pretty good show. He got some pretty good air that I was able to take pictures of. Emily went next and popped right up on her first try. This was only her second time out and she did awesome. I was next and I got right up on my first try!!!! I was sooo excited!!! The last couple of times that we were here, I tried and could never get up. I even made it outside to wake one time...but didn't quite make it back. I had a couple of pretty hard falls and tweaked my neck pretty bad..but I kept going. Hopefully tomorrow I can try again and I think I might be able to go back and forth on the wake!! Hillary tried for her first time and that's when the storm started coming. It got really choppy and windy so she will have to try again tomorrow. We also found a great cliff to jump off of. It was pretty high up! It was really fun and we even got Joe up there for his first cliff jump. Towards the end of the day, the water got pretty rough so we had to head back in. We saw some pretty cool lightening storms in the distance. Tomorrow will be another great day. We are planning to leave at 8:30 in the morning so we can get some smooth rides in the morning in case the storm decides to come and pay us another visit.

"DAM"......What a View!!!

We discovered a new "look-out" point today with the most INCREDIBLE view of the Colorado River and the Glen Canyon Dam. It was 102 degrees out today.....it was soo hot!!! We hiked down to the edge of these cliffs that over look the Colorado river. We were sooo high up!!! It was pretty intimidating up there trying to look down!! Here are some pictures of the view....the pictures don't even come close to how amazing the view is!



















If you are wondering why my dad, uncle and brother are in pants and dress shirts it's because they just came back from church and hadn't changed yet....they were SOOO hot!!!!

Cafe Rio, Couple of Polygamists & the First Day on the Lake

Our first stop on our trip to Lake Powell was CAFE RIO!!! We met up with my aunt and uncle and cousins in St. George at Cafe Rio. I was really excited for Joe to taste this cuisine!!! Of course it was packed...but worth the wait. I was originally going to get a chicken burrito with the yummy green salsa...but I was on the phone with my sister Lisa just before we parked and she and Dave kept telling me that I should get the pork salad. I split it with my aunt and I am sad to say that I didn't like it that much. SO, on my way back, I will get my burrito!!!

We also made a stop at the Super Walmart before we got back on the road to pick up a few things we still needed. As we were walking into the store we saw this lady in a long dress with long sleeves and a funky collar.....POLYGAMIST!!! We saw another one when we were leaving with a blue and yellow collared dress...Only in UTAH!!!

Saturday we took our first spin on the Sea Doos on the lake to check out the territory. There was NO ONE on the lake. It was awesome!!! The water is higher than the last time we were here. It is amazing how different the lake looks as the water level changes!! We spent about 4 hours straight riding around and are feeling the pain today!! At one point the clouds started to roll in really dark and then they moved out. We thought we were going to get stuck in a storm but got lucky and didn't. I think Joe was pretty impressed with his first time on a lake. He is not much of a "water" guy...but had a blast!!! Hopefully we can get him up on some water skis!

Joe


Beautiful view


Marina...Yes I cut my hair shorter!!


Lone Rock view from our condo


Sunset view from our condo


Our view from our condo!!


My dad and brother got in last night and we all went to dinner. Today we are just going to go into town and do some grocery shopping for the week. We are also going to take a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam. (it is in the movie Transformers!) The boat will get here tonight, so tomorrow will be our first full day on the lake and I can't wait!!

Lake Powell Here We Come!!!

Tomorrow we are headed out to Lake Powell until the 17th. I can't wait!!!! I am soo looking forward to complete relaxation. This is one of my favorite places to go...just picture the Grand Canyon filled with water...AMAZING!!! It is going to be really hot there and the water temp is in the 80's. The lake goes through Arizona and Utah. The best part about this trip is that my cell phone won't be ringing since there isn't any reception out on the lake. This trip should be quite the adventure. We usually meet up with some of my other cousins who camp on the lake in their motor homes. We stay in a some condos just up the street. The great part about having our "camping" cousins there is because we have a spot to go to each day and we can leave all out stuff and water toys down there. Well, at the last minute, they decided that they aren't going......so now we are attempting this trip on our own. It is a pretty small group this time, just Joe and I, my dad, brother, Uncle Mike, Aunt Shauna, Hillary and Emily. I am kind of looking forward to finding a new spot each day out on the lake. It will be very interesting to say the least!!! On our way back, Joe and I are going to stay at the Bellagio Friday night and go see "O"!! Well, I guess I better go pack. It shouldn't take too long....just need a couple bathing suits, shorts and shirts!!! I will try and post while at the lake, that is if they even have Internet connections out there!!



They have the most amazing storms out there..they are awesome!!

So I Thought I Could Dance?

Everyone has been telling me that I should watch "So You Think You Can Dance?". A couple of weeks ago I started watching it and it is AWESOME!! There are such great dancers on there. Every time I watch it, it makes me miss my good old days when I used to go swing dancing all the time. There were the sweetest routines tonight. The first is by Pasha (he's a guy) and Lacey. If you wait until there is about 30 seconds left, it really gets good!!! The second is by Neil and Sabra (she's a girl). The end of theirs is pretty cool! I wish I could dance like all of them!!!! (Make sure you can hear the music!!)




Someday that will be me!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 11 Year Anniversary Dave & Lisa!!

I can't believe that it has been 11 years since my older sister Lisa got married to "some guy named Dave"!!?? I can remember when Lisa told us she had gotten engaged. She didn't tell us right away. I remember that she told us that she was getting married to Dave from Canada (which I thought was cool)and I had really NO CLUE who he was!! Some guy she met up at "Ricks College" in Idaho. I remember that he would come and visit, but we really didn't get to know him that well. Then came the wedding and I can remember when they were getting ready to leave that night, we all had to say good-bye to our sister and you would have thought that she was going off to war!! We were balling our eyes out......even little Matt who was only 12 was crying!! Since Dave was from Canada, we all got to go up there for a week and hang out before the reception they were going to have there. It was soo much fun and Dave even took us Gopher hunting!!! I can remember little Matt held this big rifle aimed at all of us....I thought Dave was going to kill him!!!!

Well,time went on and we finally got to get to know Dave and I am SOOO glad that he is part of our family. I can't imagine him not being part of our family!!!! Hopefully they will some day come back to the "States" and live close to us again!! We sure do miss them!!!

Hope you guys have a great day and I know that you will be celebrating in Hawaii in December!!!

I was able to dig up a couple of old pictures.....your engagement picture and a picture I found of Dave and Audrey right after she was born!! The first picture at the top is at your wedding reception.....love the braces Heather!!!!!!!!!! We had some pretty sexy pearl necklaces on too!!! I also copied some pictures from your blog that I thought were pretty cute too.