Utah Lake

We've had so much fun on the Lake this summer. We were lucky enough to store my parents boat at our house and use it as much as we wanted. It's great because we can be on the lake in under 5 min from our driveway! Riley was so determined to get up and ski's this year. Cold weather or water was certainly not deterring her either. After a couple of trys she did it! Then that was all she could talk about was when could we go boating again so she can waterski. Such a little athlete :)

Lake Powell

This summer my mom, sister,our kids and I took a quick trip to Lake Powell. We pulled the boat down, set up tents, built fires, made delicious meals and held up fort for 2 days. Who needs men right? We only brought 2 small tents for the little kids and the older kids and adults slept under the stars on pads. It was just like the old days before we had the Powellagator. Very primitive, but perfect.
Our second and last night on the lake we awakened around midnight to a huge wind storm. It was so dark but we all scrambled to grab everything we could to throw inside the tents which were being blown sideways. The sand was blasting us, my boys were balling (Riley somehow slept through the chaos). We got everything we could round up secured in the tents or under kids.
We then looked in the water to see the ski boat getting rocked like crazy. Earlier in the day we only pulled it on the beach with a rope tied around a small rock. If it broke free the boat would be long gone out in the channel. Darin and I (still in our pj's) jumped in the water to hold the boat against the waves which were white capping and pushing it towards the rocks in our cove. My mom grabbed the rope to hold the front of the boat from breaking free. We put up a great fight waist deep in water for quite sometime. It was crazy! Thankfully we had Perry to look after my little ones during all of this.
It seemed like an eternity that the wind blew like that, but I think it only lasted an hour or so then died down. Once we felt the boat was safe we dried off and made beds once more on the beach. When morning came we assesed any damage. Not too bad except everything we brought with us was covered about an inch in sand. We 3 women were quite proud of ourselves to get through that crazy storm! The trip was so fun and memorable. So fun that we're planning on a couple more next summer. Hopefully without the wind!

4th of July

We love spending the 4th of July at the ranch. It's such a fun day with a parade, cousins, food, games, and finished off with an awesome firework show back in Grover.




This year my dad was honered with a float. All the cousins dressed like judges. It was awesome and very touching.




Races



Kids egg toss



Sisters

Summer at the Ranch

Our favorite place to spend the summer!