July: Jamie, Ethan, and I went to Utah for the 4th of July weekend. It was so much fun to finally be back home with friends and family.
On our trip we went boating. We were having so much fun that I failed to get my camera out for most of the outing. It was Ethan's first time and he was seriously a rockstar on the wakeboard; by the end of his turn he was "popping" off of the wake and getting some serious air.
Later that night we went to the Stadium of Fire featuring Brad Paisley and David Archuleta. I am always so impressed with "Archie"'s humility and adorable personality. He seems like such a sweet and down to earth person. Love him. Brad Paisley was wonderful too but of course you already knew that.
The best part about he whole evening was the entrance of the American flag into the stadium. The event planners were creative this year and decided that bringing the flag in by land was too boring. Skydivers bringing the flag = way cooler. I'm sure the skydivers practiced several times to get their timing and accuracy in alignment. A few skydivers landed representing one color (red, white, and blue). The last skydiver was carrying the actual flag. As he came in for the landing he whacked a cameraman with the flag. EMTs arrived to assist this poor man photographing the event. Watch it here. I love that everyone performing around just pretended like nothing happened..."if we ignore the problem everything will be ok". Best. Jamie couldn't stop laughing about it. When I glanced at her several times throughout the event I saw her snickering to herself Admittedly she was still laughing about the crash. The cameraman was fine - not his ego but physically - fine.
Jamie infiltrating my picture of the stage. This was her smile all night. Hilarious.
After all of the fun and fireworks Jamie had to return to real life in the city that never sleeps while Ethan and I took off for his family reunion in Georgia. It was gorgeous in Georgia! We stayed in a cute cabin tucked away in the woods with Ethan's family (his parents, brother Joseph and wife Anna, their little girls Kiya, Andrea, Haley, and Callie, and Ethan's younger sister Jenica). We played on the lake in paddle boats and canoes and made our way over to a really cool rock slide. Very fun! The little girls were so entertaining because of their cute personalities and excitement towards every activity. The best part was spending every evening looking for fireflies, eating yummy food, and enjoying one another's company. His family is really great!
Right when that was over I flew back to Utah for some Lake Powell action. Amazing. This was our first year on our houseboat so we were on a pretty steep learning curve. The toilets kept clogging leaving 34 people with sometimes only 1 working toilet (the boys finally took the toilet apart and found 60+ cherry pits in the "cookie monster" grinder). I will never eat cherries again. Nasty. Also, the generators kept vapor locking so the thrusters weren't working. The kicker, as we returned from an outing we found our houseboat pulling away from the anchors. No damage was done but boy was it stressful!!
Other exciting events: Laurena's toenail was ripped off by the bathroom door at Dangling Rope Marina - now dubbed "Dangling Toenail Laurena", Grandpa and Grandma wee darling on the WaveRunner - it tipped over as Grandma got on and Grandpa just giggled. Kyle landed 7 backflips. We pulled 6 wakeboarders at one time. We hiked up "Hole in the Rock". Sammy finally confronted his fear of ducks. Kyle shot a carp with his bow and arrow. Rachel and Sammy cleared the wake.
Grandpa and Grandma on the WaveRunner :) Adorable
Rainbow Bridge
Houseboat Location. Gorgeous!
Jack and Marie
COOLEST THING EVER!!!
That is all for now!
