Lake Powell Year 3 - A Year of Firsts!

You can't get a better vacation than Lake Powell - as long as you love to play on water like this...

This is the 3rd year for my family, and one of the 1st firsts is that we didn't get a group picture this year. So sad. But we were missing Nate & Becky, Ian, and Jake & Heather had to leave early. It seemed so empty. We missed you all.
So, there were so many great pictures and so many great accomplishments from EVERYONE who came...I have to highlight it all

First and what I think is the greatest, is my husband's success this year. I grew up on the water. I've water skied since I was a kid and wake boarded since I was a teenager, but Ben had never done anything, except for one of our first dates when I convinced him to try to water ski. BAD IDEA...a story for another day...

Wake surfing. "I'm not going to get up on that thing!" The famous line. He was up on his 2nd try and got pretty good.
Isn't he handsome. This is a picture before I gave him a big goose egg on his head with the ski rope. Whoops!
And Wakeboarding. He tried the very last evening of the last day last year - in the dark...so what do you expect. He got right up this year. Way to go!
And I succeeded in figuring out the surfing thing without the rope. Such a great sport, but it would require a new boat for us. :)

Colton...what a trooper this year. I was so proud of him.
Thanks to Uncle Dave, Colton also wake surfed. Twice! Way to go, Colt. Doesn't he look like a natural. He also FINALLY agreed to get on the banana and tube. He went from going SO SLOW the banana was going to sink to actually standing up with no hands! Impressive.
We even got little Bryce on the banana, but only for a bit. As soon as dad sped the boat up a bit, he was done. He's so dang cute, though...he says he'll do it when he's 4. Ok. We'll hold you to it, son.

His FAVORITE thing was to drive Uncle Dave's boat. Dave rarely would touch the wheel...he'd let Bryce take full control, well almost. Bryce was feeling pretty important.
Bryce's short lived banana ride.
There is never "nothing" to do at Lake Powell. The beach provides a constant playground for the kids. Even Anna here with Lilly...her best friend already.

Anna LOVES her cousin Lilly and her fingers
We had some resident frogs on the beach that were pretty easy to catch and a little harder to let go...
Even Lilly got out there on that surfboard.

And Brooke...all on her own! Way to go Brooke. You can wakeboard, too, you just have to tell yourself you can do it. :) We love you.
Some of my favorite pictures of my sweet little Anna. She loved Lake Powell--especially the motion of the boats.

A little break from the action for some FUNNY FACES

Ice cream...need I say more.
Hmm...not sure?
Huh?
Some Lake Powell exploring included taking our boat through this slot...

And finding this...
My parents. They are the best. They make this possible every year - and don't let their kids show them up.

No longer does my mom go through a Lake Powell trip skiing right behind the boat and not even getting her hair wet...she is wake surfing!
So is Dad. (not as much of a surprise--he's pretty dang good at water sports)

And wakeboarding
And mom wakeboarding
And getting her hair wet...Way to go mom! You rock!
A Big THANKS goes to Dave & Mandi for making all these "FIRSTS" possible. Without their teaching expertise, their great boat, and their patience none of these pictures would be on here!

Ok...so she looks like a killer chick, doesn't she. Dave, you are pretty dang lucky to have found a girl who can clear the wake on a wakeboard.
Dave doesn't look so bad himself!
And I need to mention that they are both pro wake surfers, too.

Jake & Heather - because of Heather's new teaching job (3rd grade), they had to leave early, but we loved having them while they were there...especially the new star of Lake Powell, Daisy. Daisy LOVES the water and was so much fun to have around.

Jake rocks on his snowboard made for water...
Heather wake surfing
Curt & Shae - What a hot couple!
Especially when Shae's top falls apart and we have to zip tie it back together. We did cut off the excess, I promise.

Curt is a great wakeboarder. He nearly landed a 360. Tons of fun to watch!
And Shae said she couldn't wake surf, either. Whatever. Look at that slack in the rope!
Hope you all enjoyed the pictures! It was definitely a trip to remember. And so our summer comes to a close. :( Until next year. Thanks to my family for a great time!