powell. lake powell.

We decided to send summer out with a bang!!

We joined some amazing friends, the Dimonds in Lake Powell for the weekend and LOVED EVERY MINUTE!!

 

Within 5 minutes of arriving we were in the water.

 

Home sweet home.

Kimbel and Braden braved the tubes first and drank lots of water because their smiles were so big!!

 

Madison and Kenna followed with a little crazier ride!! :)

 

We boated to "Forgotten Canyon" and hiked up to the Indian ruins.  Amazing. 

 

Braden loved it down in the "hut".  

It was probably 20 degrees cooler down there!

Good times.

One of the late night fishing trips - and the champions!!

Madison, Kelly, Chase, Ashlee, Ashley, Brian, Paige and Boone.

 

Lazy summer days = happiness.

Some of the more artistic ways to cool off!

One more fishing trip early on our last day.

 

Madison became an expert netter on this trip...

We were so sad to pull away on Saturday night - but so grateful we went!!  

AMAZING FRIENDS.

WONDERFUL MEMORIES.

WE WILL BE BACK...

 

a little aloha...

 Hooray and ALOHA!!

We landed on Maui where we were greeted by our dear friends, 

the Ponds and the Walches.

 

We headed to the beach that evening for a perfect sunset,

in fact, every evening we stopped where ever we were and took in the

gorgeous colors.  mmmm. 

 This is what we woke up to every day...

This gorgeous path runs along the hotel we stayed at and the other beach front hotels. 

 Ono Gelato in Paia...

yummy gelato in our favorite, funky little town on the north shore.

 Doing the hula at the Iao Needle.

Still not sure why. :)

 Wilson spoiled us with this yummy breakfast every morning.

Papaya with lime (who knew?)

tropical smoothies and sweet Hawaiian bread with

guava jelly.

Makes my mouth water just thinking about it!!

 On Thursday we headed to Lahaina and went on a whale-watching tour.

Pretty sure I never need to be closer to whales again.

We saw LOTS of humpback whales - but of course I didn't get great pictures... but this I know, THEY ARE BIG.

 

 This is the Wau'anapanapa Black Sand Beach on the road to Hana.  Here is Kelly posing for my picture, while I get hit by the next big wave.  So... here is a shot of my wet skirt.  The road to Hana apparently has more than 600 turns along this curvy, windy little road.

  

Gorgeous? Yes.

Carsick? Almost.

Do I ever need to do it again?  No.

And farewell again to our happy place.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to Grandma B., Niccole and Nanny Vicki.  We obviously couldn't have done it without you.  

Mahalo and we love you.

dear Maui, until next time... :)

Circle Round CA!

Our 2500 mile Tour Round California 

started on the Newport Coast:

Sunday with the McBrides!

Lots of food, laughing, catching up, more laughing and did I mention food?

Next stop?

Monday: The Magic Kingdom

Let's see.. autopia, space mountain (over & over), the teacups,

dumbo, astoblasters... good times for all!

and of course a little bit of birthday for Madison!

Oh!  And our lil' jedi preparing for the dark force.

Tuesday: pedis with the McBrides for the girls.

golf for the boys

 Wednesday: California Adventure and a little more Disneyland

The new World Of Magic show is AWESOME (and.. a little wet!)

Thursday: Downtown Disney and a LONG ride to Sacramento

The LEGO store was a BIG hit...

and lunch at Rainforest Cafe to celebrate our 15 year old

was the perfect ending to our SoCal adventure!

Friday: Raelene and James wedding day!!

It was a beautiful day in Sacramento.  

A day to always remember.

Saturday: Wedding Reception in Santa Cruz

It felt great to be "home" among our family and our friends.

It was a terrific party with lots of great people, amazing food and fun!

It was a busy, fun-filled week and 

we are already missing everybody!

Thanks for making it so wonderful!

Yellowstone!

Madison spent a FABULOUS week at EFY at BYU-I, in Rexburg, Idaho ~ so we persuaded Kelly's mom to join us in picking her up and headed north!  We decided to have one final fling before school starts.. 

way too soon!

 So, we rented an RV, 

loaded it up with lots of goodies and away we went!

We stopped by the gorgeous Madison River on our way into the park through West Yellowstone.

Old Faithful didn't let us down...or the hundreds of other people with their cameras ready!

Every picture was like a postcard ~ and yet, the pictures didn't do justice to the real thing.

Kimbel, Kenna, Kelly and Grandma at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Chillin' in our home away from home.

Doesn't get much better! :)

Thank goodness for my go-to guy!  

He took care of EVERYTHING!

One of the happy kids...

We spent the second night in the beautiful Fishing River area of Yellowstone Park.

The buffalo just ignore the geysers... while people are gawking at both from all angles.

Lower Falls.

My two guys.

B. and Grandma

Traffic jams... Yellowstone style.

We saw two little bears on our way down through Targhee National Forest.

We spent night #3 in Jackson Hole.

Monday we loved walking around Jackson..

a little shopping, a little ice cream.. a little more fun.

What a great long weekend.

A much-needed break from the routine.

Life is good.