Flaming Gorge Family Vacation

It has been a tradition in Chad's family (for many years now) to go to Flaming Gorge every summer. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it last year and were both really bummed out about it. So this year we were determined to go. And we are sure glad we did!!! Most of the time not everyone can make it up for the same week and it's usually a hit and miss with everyone's schedules, but for some reason we were there together this time. (Except for Jodi and Mike. We missed ya!)
For those of you who don't know, Chad's family is really big into water skiing. And I mean really big into it. I don't think I can fully explain the passion that they all have for the sport. Luckily for them, most of us who have married into the family have either come in with the same passion, or have developed a love of it as well. So we spend a lot of the vacation time skiing the reservoir. The best time and water to ski is in the early morning. So we usually wake up early and hit the water. Unfortunately for me, I've done most of my skiing in the"bathtub" water of Lake Mead, Nevada. Needless to say, I've become a little spoiled. I'm not a big fan of Utah's colder water temperatures, so I have a tendency to avoid jumping into 70 degree water at 7:30 in the morning. I've done it before, but opted out this year. So I did my skiing in the afternoon with all the boat chop. It wasn't very pretty, but lots of fun.
After the morning skiing we would go back to camp, grab some breakfast, make some lunches, and head to the beach. During the day it's harder to go skiing with so much boat traffic, so we would usually go for rides on the tube, swim, or build sand castles. In the afternoon, just like clockwork, storms would roll in so we would usually come back early and hang out before dinner. After eating and cleaning up we would either head out to go fishing, catch crawdads, or go for a quick ride on the motorcycle. It seems like most of our vacations we are keeping busy doing so many different things. It was nice to get away from work and life and just relax on the lake doing nothing.

4th of July Family Reunion

Every 4th of July Chad and I head to my Grandpa's cabin near Cedar City for an extended family reunion. I love going and spending time with family up in the mountains away from the world!!And I was particularly excited about going this year. Some of my cousins that I hadn't seen in quite awhile were able to make it this year and I was really anxious to see them and catch up with everyone. Unfortunately not everyone was able to make it. I suppose that happens as families get bigger and start spreading out. (We missed all of you and hope to see you next time around) In spite of missing over half of our total family members we had a good size group and tons of fun.

For those of you who are not familiar with our family rituals let me fill you in on what we like to do at the cabin. First of all we love playing games. Games, games ,and more games. Usually you can find a small group of people huddled around a table in some obscure part of the cabin playing some type of game. (9 times out of 10 that game is Make-a-Million)

Playing Make-a-Million. Chad and I slaughtered my Dad and Grandpa.

My Mom, cousin Kathy, and Aunt Teresa doing a puzzle.

My cousin Clayton and my brother Kurtis playing bumper pool out on the deck.

The board game Trains.

More Make-a-Million.

Like I said......we love playing games!! Second thing we like doing is to just sit around and talk. Chad always gives me a hard time about the noise level that we are able to produce. The problem is you get one group talking while a group right next to them is carrying on another conversation. As you can imagine it gets a little noisy with all of these little groups trying to compete with each other. That's why a bunch of us choose to escape from the constant gibber jabber and go riding in the mountains.

My brother Kenneth with his little girl.


My nephew Elden waiting to go for a ride GQ style.


My cousin Connie and her little girl. (Spoiler Alert: Connie has blonde hair now!)


My sister-in-law Alyna with my niece.

Last but not least we love taking naps. You have to realize that we are usually up into the early hours of the morning so we try to catch up on the Z's when and where we can. (Unfortunately, I didn't catch a shot of Jeff.)



When we're not busy playing games, talking, or catching up with a quick nap you can find some of us: playing with the kids, cleaning the fish that were caught that morning, changing the occasional tire, or just sitting around.

Me with some of the kids on the "Flintstones" car.


My Dad cleaning the latest catch.


My nephew Bennett checking out the latest catch.


We had two flat tires this trip. One on my Uncle Gale's van and the other on our four-wheeler. Bummer!!!


Aunt Teresa and Aunt Vicki

Big Blue vs. Little Red

VS.Well, here it is.....Chad's ideal truck. We've been toying with the idea of upgrading our little Toyota pick-up to something a bit more beasty. With all of the hauling that we've been doing with "little red" it's about time to retire her. Yesterday Chad got a call from his aunt telling him of some great deals that she had found on GMC trucks that were taking place this weekend. So he did some research and we spent about 2-3 hours haggling over prices with the dealership. Actually, they did most of the haggling as Chad was set with his ideal price for his ideal truck. It was hilarious that Chad seemed to know more about their trucks than they did. He would ask a question about a certain feature or option and the sales guy would stare at him for a good minute before responding with "Uh, I'm not sure" or "I'll have to check on that". Needless to say we had a good laugh over the offer we gave them and the offer they came back with. Just in case any of you are wondering we are JUST LOOKING for now. Although knowing Chad, if he finds a good deal we could have a new truck within the week. (Fingers crossed.....I would like one sooner than later)

Father's Day Fun

We decided that we were going to do something little different for Father's Day this year. Normally we do what most everyone does; go to church, drive to see family, make sure we're spending enough time with the two families, eat and go back home. This year we opted to go visit on Saturday instead of the Sunday ritual. Chad thought it would be a great idea to go riding with his dad for most of the day and then spend the evening with my family. And I must admit that it was a great idea.

(Chad never gets to ride the wheeler so he took it for a spin in the snow)
We got to his parents place in the morning, loaded things up, and headed to AF canyon. It was such a beautiful day filled with alot of excitement. Chad and I love getting out and riding all over the place, but there tons of sites to be seen up AF canyon so we took advantage of that as well.

This is an old mine shaft that had been closed off. It was a ways up the mountain and you would only get to it with the motorcycles and wheeler.

This is Cascade Springs and these pictures don't do it justice. It was absolutely gorgeous. It's a natural spring that flows down and creates these small shallow pools. It was something straight out of a Jane Austen novel. Breathtaking.






And of course the wildlife. Normally we see the occasional group of deer, it's not everyday you can catch a glimpse of a moose.




It was a great way to spend a portion of our Father's day. We both came back filthy dirty, but it was definitely worth it.

After the morning ride (and taking a quick moment to clean up) we headed over to my parents for a family BBQ and games. The weather was perfect so we all sat around outside relaxing, played with my niece, and threw rocks in the pond. It was a perfect way to finish off the day; relaxing, eating, and laughing with family. By the end Chad and I were ready to head back home, but I think we've started a new Father's Day tradition in our family.

Football games and Funerals

I hate to have that be the title of this blog, but that's exactly what we've been busy doing since this week started. First we started off with the footbal game. Chad's dad got some extra tickets to a Utah Blaze game and invited us to come along. Most of you know how much Chad and I enjoy football so we jumped on the chance. Besides I had never seen an AFL (Arena Football League) football game before. It was tons of fun.
It was also a little different from your average football game. Instead of the 50 yard line there is a 25 yard line and technically there are no out-of-bounds. Instead they have these "bumper pads" lining the field's exterior and if you push a guy up against that he's considered out-of-bounds. And you should see the goal posts! It's about a third of the size of what they normally are. (You can see them in the picture with me in it. They are the two bright yellow ones.)
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I felt bad for Chad! I kept asking question after question trying to figure out what was different and which rules still applied. I think he missed some of the plays while talking to me. Oops!! It was really fun to get out and watch some good ol' football. It was really nice that the Utah Blaze pulled out the win making it a close and exciting game
The next day we had a family funeral to attend for my mom's aunt. The services were beautiful and everyone had a great time talking and crying. It was really nice to get together and see family that I haven't seen for a few years. I snapped a few pictures for those fellow family members out there who were not able to make it. And of course I had to get the ones where everyone is trying to stuff their faces!!
My cousins, my sister,and me

Uncle Chris and Aunt Diana
The girls
Grandpa and Grandma

SNOW!!!......in June????

Last night we decided that we would go for a ride up the canyon. So we woke up and got the chores done, lunches made, toys loaded up, and headed out to have some fun. We were planning on spending most of the day riding all over the place, however the SNOW (yes, snow in June) blocked alot of the trails and limited the amount of ground we could cover.
In spite of the occasional snow drift and chilly weather we had tons of fun. What can I say.....we love being up in the mountains.