Oh boy... Such a long awaited vacation that we looked forward to for MONTHS! How is it already over???! Just looking at all the pictures make my heart smile.....
It has taken me days and days and days to go through all the pictures on top of now blogging it all. Between the 3 people that took pictures, there is 3,000+ total pictures to sort through! It was THAT amazing! Definitely a once in a lifetime trip <3
Here goes a whole lotta recapping... I'm sure this will be my longest post... EVER!
Since we now live in Vancouver, we had to fly to Phoenix and then drive up to Lake Powell. Adalynn was counting down the days to get to ride on the airplane and see "Papa & Grandma." After our rough move, we were so excited to get to see all our family and have some serious fun!
Our flight was super early, so we had to be up at 4am ish.... I though Adalynn would be out of it, but nope. She was too excited and was WIRED!
Lake Powell, here we come!
All ready to go :)
The early flight caught up with her when we got up in the air. She slept the majority of the flight and woke up towards the end to check out the plane ha ha
Since she is 2, we were so lucky to have to get her her own seat... One of the only benefits to that is that we could install her car seat on the plane so she could sleep in it... and apparently stand up in it to say hi to the several people sitting behind us :)
What's a plane ride without a few family selfies??? What can I say, we were so excited to FINALLY to headed to Powell!
Jordan had never been to Phoenix, so the weather was a bit of a shock to him when we landed. I laughed a bit. That is one thing I remember VERY well from living there :) We landed around 9am and it was already ridiculously hot. He isn't used to 115 degree heat and was baffled why people would want to live there!
Sherri and Sami picked us up at the airport and we headed out for the 5 hour dive. After already having a busy morning, we were all pretty beat. Sami didn't last the drive without a power nap ;) Adalynn was thrilled to see her and they were inseparable the whole entire trip. Family is the best!
After getting into the Marina, we waiting for my parents and the rest of my family to get there. They drove from Twin Falls and Layton down to Powell. Can't even describe how happy we were to see all of them! We settled in on the huge houseboat and then Trent took the adults out on a little ride to see around. SO beautiful!
The whole gang in the back of the boat! All my mom's side of the family and their spouses. SO fun to have everyone together!
How cute is she in her little life jacket??!
What a stud <3
Between all the orange canyons and the pretty sunset, it was all so breathtaking!
Oh my sweet Gma and Gmpa Rice! They are so stinkin cute!
Trent was quite the boat driver for our trip! Always taking people out & pulling the tube or skiers! We loved going for a little ride before we pulled out on the houseboat the next morning!
Boat rides don't agree with your hair when its down lol but I didn't care! I was just thrilled to be with my little family on the best vacation!
Doesn't get more perfect than this <3
Coming back from the boat ride to all the houseboats at the Marina! Such a cool thing to see!
All the cousins that stayed on the houseboat while we went for a ride :) They were armed with water guns ready to get the party started!
We stayed the first night on the houseboat at the Marina, and then pulled out bright and early the next morning to go find our perfect spot! It took a few hours to get there. The lake is HUGE!! We enjoyed all the scenery on the way and of course, started taking pictures!!
Adalynn was so happy to see Papa. Eating breakfast and helping drive the boat was right up her alley!
We were all a little groggy and kind of just lounged around on the trip out to our spot. Adalynn was so mesmerized with all that was going on! She loved to look out the window and point everything out!
She made the rounds getting all kinds of morning snuggles in! Next on the list was Uncle Eric :)
Aaaaand then Uncle Justin.....lol
Let the hilarious moments begin! Eric and Caleb gave us all a good laugh with their Titanic pose! ha ha!
Seriously these two couldn't get any cuter!! Hanging out with Gma and loving every minute!! Totally dying over the sunglasses! :)
Wasn't a fan of the screen door that locked! She was all about exploring the boat and all the nooks and crannies!
Partners in crime! She loves Sami!
The struggle is REAAAAAL when you're trying to see out, but the rail is in the way! ha ha ha!! Look at that little bum bum! Some serious ducking down...
Plan B, Tip toes :)
Driving the boat with Papa was her thing! Seeing her with my dad makes my heart burst!
Trent and Riley took off on the Jet Ski into a few coves to stake out a good spot for the houseboat before we pulled in and anchored down. Eric was ready on the front!
All the guys were all hands on deck. They had to dig several HUGE holes to put the anchors in and the dirt is really hard.
Love my man <3
Ready to anchor the side!
Adalynn kept calling for Jordan from the houseboat and waving like crazy :)
Us girls got in our suits and soaked up some sunshine while the guys were burying the anchors!
Checking on the anchor diggers! Glad that there was other people taking pictures too so I could get a few in to say I was there! LOVE this pic with my princess <3
Love this brother of mine!!
Surprise!! Wowzers!! Trent joked for a while while planning this trip about ordering speedos. Well Justin thought it would be funny to actually wear one! And lemme tell ya, he had NO shame!
No one knew about his speedo, so he decided to trick my grandma and come out dancing in it. It was hilarious!! We were all ready to take video and pictures of it...
She flipped out and then put money in his speedo as he was dancing. Too funny!!
OH boy.. like I said, no shame!
On Father's Day, we headed to Rainbow Bridge! My uncle Trent got another boat that would fit all 19 of us to head out there. It was a fast speed boat and we were all snug in there! There was seating below too and it kinda felt like we were being smuggled somewhere lol
The underboat crew :)
It was so incredibly hot and a bit of a ride to Rainbow Bridge so several of us fell asleep on the way!
Uncle Trent and my Dad were hard at work to find it with the map! We went the wrong way a few times, but the Lake is so huge!
We finally made it! The view was breathtaking! Have I mentioned how hot it was? Triple digit heat! I don't think I have ever sweat that much or have been that hot in my whole life! We took off for our little hike up to Rainbow Bridge :)
One of my most favorite pictures of these two from our whole trip!!
Again, Sami and Adalynn were inseparable. Always holding hands and being buds :)
A little blurry, but this was me ALL. TRIP. LONG! :)
The lizards there were so cool! They would scurry right beside you and there were tons of them! Adalynn had a ball watching them and seeing all the other bugs!
This little girl sure cracks me up non stop! She would bend down to see a bug closer, and then take a few more steps and bend down again.... And keep doing that to keep up with the moving bugs. She LOVES being outside and seeing all the cool rocks and animals!
By the time we were hiking out back down to the speed boat, Adalynn's little legs were toast. She was so hot and so tired that daddy had to carry her the rest of the way.
LOVE my little family!!
Gorgeous views!!
These two sure are buds!
The whole crew! All 19 of us!!
All the grandkids/cousins on my mom's side :) Love these guys! Hard to believe we are all so grown up!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!! Perfect pic for such a fun trip!!
My Grandma and Grandpa were such troopers!! I still have no idea how they didn't pass out on the hike! They powered through and we made sure to douse her with some water to keep her cool in the crazy heat.
Back on the boat and on to swimming! We were all ready for a dip!
Love these two women!
The guys decided to hike the cliff and then jump off!
Post swimming :)
We were supposed to get Root Beer Floats on a floating icecream stand, but it ended up being closed. After trying to find it and all the extra turns we had to make, we were dangerously close to running out of gas! We had to stop at the floating gas station area and convince the lady to open up for us to get some gas so we could make the trip back to our houseboat!
There was HUGE fish swimming below the dock when we pulled up! They were nibbling on Eric's finger. Really cool to watch!
Riley stuck his GoPro down there and they swam all around it.
The spiders all around the gas pumps were HUGE!!! and they were everywhere!
After such a fun day trip to Rainbow Bridge, we made it back to the houseboat just in time as the moon was glowing!
Hard to believe that I am just getting started with pictures :) ha ha! Here is a bunch of the candid misc pics from the trip!
Family Pic! Oh my heart is bursting....
Me & my princess!! I sure love this girl!!
Boating is hard work! :)
We were all super fascinated with the spiders "mating" on the back door of the houseboat...
Our houseboat for the week!
The air conditioning on the boat kept having issues the whole time we were there, so Adalynn was thrilled to get to run around in her diaper the majority of the time!
We loved to look over the pictures from everyday on the computer!
The huge wrap around couch made for an awesome landing spot after getting thrown! Adalynn LOVED doing this over and over every day!
That face!!
What's vacation without licorice?!
Adalynn napped in the boys' room during the day because it was the coolest! Jordan would fall asleep laying with her because the air felt so good :)
Snuggling is Adalynn's middle name, especially when it involves Papa! They are so cute!!
My uncle Trent turns 50 this year, so we did a little mini party for him while we were on the boat! Sherri had a fun slideshow of pictures, and of course the cake was amazing!
Diaper naps are the best!!
Dance Party with Grandma.... Doesn't get any better than that!
More flinging on the couch! She couldn't get enough!
All done!
Jordan was all about jumping off the boat to cool off!
Morning snuggles with Sam <3
A few days into our trip, something got stuck in the Jet Ski and it wouldn't run. So, all the guys LIFTED the jet ski up so that Trent could get underneath it and fix it!
A few sticks inside and boom, it was fixed!
The "man bun" cousins!
Cory took Gina's swimsuit sarong and pulled off a turquoise turban! Too funny!
How cute are these two??! Love my parents!!
Morning shots are well.... Morning shots! ha ha I look like a zombie! Just got done doing Sami's hair for the day!
Eating was always fun! We all took turns doing different meals and had SO MUCH yummy food!
Most of our meals we ate up on the roof top lounge area. The view was amazing, especially watching the sun set during dinner!!
These 2 were such a hoot!
Everyone had a blast going down the slide on the back of the boat and swimming in our little cove :) Everyone went down the slide, even Adalynn!
Riley was a daredevil and wake skated off the slide!
Ok, this was pretty funny and a highlight of our trip! Adalynn was really just overwhelmed with everything. A new place with 19 people, huge open water, and not knowing what is going on... So a few days into the trip, we filled up a plastic tote and stuck it on the back of the houseboat. She was THRILLED! She splashed and played in that tub of water for hours! Who woulda thought?! Jordan and I were a little baffled that after spending so much money on flights to visit such a cool place like Lake Powell, and yet she just wanted to splash in a tub on the back of the houseboat instead of swimming and boating. Um ok?! Too funny!! It was a bonus that Sam sat and played with her too. Life couldn't have been any sweeter! This story only gets better below.....
On top of the couple boats, we had a 3 seater jet ski too! It was a lot of fun riding with everyone!
The American Flag speedo with the American Flag!
Dallin & Justin had matching American Flag suits :)
Up next, snapshots from Skiing!
No one can dock start like Trent can!
And oh boy, it's time for the crazy tubing shots! Probably one of my favorite things to snap! It was even funnier because they did a game where everyone had to say a challenge for everyone to do and if you didn't do it in a certain amount of time, you were booted off! Everyone rotated and it was hilarious to say the least!! Every night we would watch all the pics on the TV on the houseboat and laugh hysterically!
And the ultimate talk of tubing at Powell..... THIS wipeout!!
The next wave of shots is all the rest of the boating sports fun! Wakeboarding, surfing, wakeskating, you name it! Did I mention how much of a blast this trip was?!
Yep this hunk surfed! and did sooo good!!
More wakeskating off the slide! Riley and Dallin are always living on the edge!
The scenery was gorgeous!! Seriously, it was breathtaking seeing all the different colors at the different times in the day! The sunset at night was different every night too. We watched it go down during dinner up on the deck. I could have taken hundred of pictures just with the scenery alone!
The last night, I hiked up with my dad to get an overview shot and the sunset. It turned out amazing! Riley was up doing his Go Pro too :) I could have just stayed up there shooting pictures. It was so pretty!
We sure look tiny from the boat!
My two finished shots! One daytime and one with the killer sunset <3
While we had such a fun trip,was sad to have to head back to the marina! It not only meant leaving Powell, but leaving family that was going back to Twin Falls and that was super tough!
Riley was thrilled to hang out in the speedboat white we hooked everything to the back of the boat :)
Just one of the many card games that went down on the boat the week we were there!
Eric was the chief boat driver on the way back and was all business to get us back to the marina ;)
Grandma soaked up time with Adalynn the whole way back and Adalynn was in heaven reading stories and playing with treats she brought her <3
And when Grandma was all done reading stories, she moved on to Sami :) These 2 have so much fun together!
Well there ya go... a few hundred pictures and more memories than my heart can handle! I can only imagine how many frames I am going to need for all these great pics. My family headed back to Twin Falls and Utah while we went back to Phoenix and had fun with my Aunt and Uncle for a few more days :) That adventure is up next on the blog! These huge fun filled Summer trips are killin me to get posted! ;)
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