Utah Trip- Day 2- Lake Mead

Today we left for lake mead bright and early. We got there around 9:30 and rented a speed boat for half the day. The boys loved being on the water and were pretty excited to see how fast the boat went.

We rented a tube to pull behind the boat and we all took turns riding it. Porter was a maniac and wanted to go fast, while Ethan was panicking a bit.

I got to ride with both Lincoln and Bryson. Lincoln was a lot more brave than I thought he would be. He wanted to go fast and didn't want to get off.

 After we tubed for a while, Rob took out the wake board we also rented. I got to drive the boat, which I was a bit nervous about since I had never done it before. I must have done pretty good though, since he was able to get up several times.

Rob let each of the boys drive the boat,

then we parked the boat in a cove and the boys swam out to a good jumping spot. 

Lincoln got a little scared, but with some encouragement from Dad, he made the leap. 

 We all had a ton of fun. We got back to the hotel just in time to go by the activities center and get some root beer floats, and then head to the lazy river for a while. We BBQ'd for dinner and then hung out in our room the rest of the night. We were all exhausted from our fun day!

Utah Trip- Day 1- Let the Adventure Begin

We started our trip driving to Las Vegas. Lincoln was so sweet and realized that we would be passing grandma's house and said, "can we bring her with us?" When we told him she couldn't come he was so sad. We saw some crazy storm clouds coming our way around Victorville, and it started pouring rain. It was so windy that it was raining sideways and Rob thought he would be funny and roll down my window. It startled me pretty good, and the boys thought it was hilarious. We stopped at Costco to get gas and a pizza for dinner and I texted my mom to see if it was raining bad by her. Turns out she was at Costco too. We rescued mom and helped get her and her groceries to her car without getting too wet, and Lincoln got a hug from Grandma to get him through the trip. 

Once we were back on the road the rain let up for a bit and then we saw more rain clouds ahead.

We could see the rain falling from the clouds.

Once in the storm, it was pretty crazy! We literally could only see 10 feet in front of us as we were driving.

It started hailing too and was so loud it sounded like someone was throwing rocks at our car. After about 10 minutes of the craziest storm ever, the rain finally let up. We thought we were done and then the freeway stopped.  At first we thought that there was an accident from the rain, then we noticed the other side of the freeway was stopped at the same place. Then we saw a wave of water taller than a car coming up over the freeway. There was a flash flood river going across the freeway! Rob decided we needed a closer look to decide if we should turn around or not so we did a little off roading down the center divider. It was pretty crazy to watch it. We couldn't tell if the road was washed away or not. Finally, the water calmed down and cars started moving a little on our side so we cut back in. The water would come in spurts and there was a man telling people to go when the water level would go down. When it was our turn, as soon as the water went down, he shouted, "go now, go now, and don't stop!" Rob hit the gas and we got across as fast as we could. The mud kicked up on the windshield and we could hardly see where we were driving. There was a ton of debris in the road too. We hit a couple of logs and uprooted bushes, but made it across. Thank goodness for 4 wheel drive!! Unfortunately for the other side, they had more cautious drivers in front, and they weren't moving. Who knows how long they sat and waited. We finally got to the Tahiti Village resort and checked in for the next few days.

Colonial Fair

We went to the Colonial Fair at Riley's Farm today and it was awesome. There were so many fun activities for the boys to participate in. We had a ton of fun and learned a lot.

He's too smart already!

"The rabbit says I need a straw to drink it."

I can't argue with that!

A Classic

As I was looking through old pictures with my boys, I came across this gem. After a long day at Seaworld, my grandpa took a break while we went to see the polar bears. We found him like this when we came out. The soda can for a pillow kills me. He literally could sleep anywhere. I wish my boys got to know him. I miss him so much. 

 

Family Beach Day

When family calls last minute and asks you to go to the beach, you drop everything and end up with the best day. I love a spontaneous beach day!

An Ode to my Naked Bryson...

I'm not sure why this boys loves being naked, but it makes me laugh every time I find him doing random things just stark naked. 

Porter's 9th Birthday

We celebrated Porter's birthday today and I couldn't be prouder to be his mom. He is naturally compassionate and puts others first, he is sensitive to the spirit and recognizes and acts on promptings, he is a super sports fan and will play and watch any and all sports, he loves to read and get lost in a book, he is a ball of energy and rarely stops moving, and he has the best laugh and smile that lights up his whole face. Our family wouldn't be the same without him.

Scripture Lessons

A few weeks ago we were reading in the scriptures about when you do something good and then brag about it, your reward is here on earth. But when you do it in secret, your reward is with God. We have included an act of service on the boys Summer checklist. We are trying to get the boys to be more aware of others and not just focused on themselves and what they want. It has been working great and it's nice to see them look for ways to serve one another. Yesterday Ethan was questioning Lincoln whether he completed his checklist. This is the conversation I overheard:

E: What did you do for your act of service? 

L: I'm not going to tell you. 

E: Why, because you didn't do one?

L: No. I'm keeping it secret so my reward is with Jesus.

It was nice to know that even though he is young, that he is paying attention and learning these lessons. On the other hand, he could have been lying and using this against his brother. If so, then he is a genius because there was no come back for Ethan after that.

4th of July

We did something new this year for the fourth, and went to to downtown riverside at the base of Mt. Rubidoux for an event the city puts on. It was at a very old cemetery and that was kind of weird, but we had a great time. They had bounce houses,

face painting,

and dance, limbo, and hula hoop contests.

The kids had a great time and we were able to sit back and relax,

and we had a great seat for the fireworks.