Lake Powell

Ahhhhhh, Powell. I love this place. The beauty, serenity, and relaxation. I grew up going here multiple times every summer. I hadn't been in 4 years-since Daphne was a 6 month old baby. It was nice to be back. And I took a billion pictures documenting our amazing time. The kids loved it-how could they not? I don't think Laylah even remembered the last time she was there, as she was only 3. It was basically a new experience for them all and it was wonderful. Also, it was wonderful because almost my entire family was there. Only my sister Suzanne couldn't come because of work, my sis-in-law Kimmi wouldn't come because it made her too nervous with my little niece and nephew, so my brother Doug came alone. And of course my Love was missing. But 16 out of 21 is pretty good.Bear and I rode a shuttle from Vegas to St. George because Rachel and Don only had enough room in their car for 3 of us. My dad picked us up from the shuttle office and I was so happy to see him! We drove the rest of the way to Powell and spent the night in the boat house yard because they were going to launch the houseboat the next morning. It was the 4th of July and we all went up to the top of the houseboat and watched the fun fireworks spectacular that the city put on. We rode the shuttle down to the dock where they launched us.

Our campsite

This is our boats name. I thought it was perfect! haha.

All 4 kids slept on a queen bed. Pretty cozy. And HOT!

We have a slide on the boat and this was the kids' favorite entertainment.

All the Jerman cousins. Minus Jack and Halle. And the 2 in utero (mine and Rachel's ;)

Laylah decided she was going to try and learn to ski. My mom is explaining to her what she needed to do.

I stayed with her to help with her balance and for encouragement

Her first and only attempt. She got a mouthful of water because she wouldn't let go when she got dragged forward. She was bawling and refused to try again. I was trying not to laugh. It's just funny to me because I learned to waterski when I was 4. My mom would pay us $10 if we would learn. I even offered the same to Laylah, and she was excited at first but could have cared less after her first failed attempt. Jonah was going to try also but after watching Laylah, he refused. I guess we need to get a boat so my kids are more used to this lifestyle. Someone tell Andy for me, okay? heehee.

The other thing my older 2 kids loved to do was jump off the top of the houseboat. I rememeber doing this as a child. I felt so cool and awesome that I could do what the older kids did. I thought Laylah and Jonah were pretty cool for doing it too :)

Here's Laylah and Jonah with Uncle Don. Don was so awesome on this trip. He basically took over as my kids' dad for the week. He had dance parties on the top of the boat, took them to search for lizards and on hikes, got them to jump off the boat, go tubing, and here he's telling the kids Laffy Taffy jokes. He's such a great uncle. We love ya Uncle Don!


S'mores....

watching movies

The one and only picture of me-I hate pictures when I'm pregnant

My brother Doug is an awesome fisherman and he got all the kids fishing one night. They LOVED it and Jonah and Laylah both caught their first fish-catfish!

Baron was always falling asleep whenever we would go anywhere

We had to go to the marina to get ice cream one day and the kids were fascinated by the giant, nasty marina carp fish begging for food.

They decided to give in and feed those nasty carp and few ducks their leftover sandwiches

We had such a fun trip and can't wait to go back. I just love my parents and am so grateful that they make it possible for our family to have such fun vacations together and able to make great memories.