Flagstaff

On August 16th we took a road trip to Flagstaff. We started a little late in the day because our morning was spent talking to neighbors about Prop 8. There was a slight detour, after leaving at about 1:20 pm, stopping in Orange County to pick up our "ride". The Clawsons so generously consented to us borrowing their mini van for our trip. Secretly they want us to take this vehicle off their hands now that they have a Mini Cooper- so we tried it out for a week...which is now going on two.

We arrived in Flagstaff after midnight and enjoyed a luxurious king size bed for the night. After going to church, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and watching Grandma and Grandpa adore Corban. I don't blame them.

On Monday, instead of packing up and heading to Lake Powell right away, we took a scenic drive through Oak Creek Canyon with Ali while grandma watched the kids.

This is overlooking where we hiked down to. Off to the right is...This spot- a natural slide. The water is snow run off; hence the reason it is icy cold. Jared had no hesitation to jump right in, as this was a high school memory of his so he knew just how it was done.
Ali couldn't resist after watching Jared have so much fun.
And it took both of them to talk me into it. It was FREEZING, as my face depicts so well. It was fun, but I could have done without the fish slapping up against my side. Once I was use to the temperature of the water (or numb), it was the fish that were making me scream. It was well worth it in the end. It reminded me of my younger years when I would do anything and call it fun. I am getting a little more cautious in my "mature" age.

What we didn't get pictures of was the blackberry picking we did all along the trail. That was probably the highlight for me- instant gratification! There were tart ones and a few ripe ones. Unfortunately we took too long at the slide so we weren't able to stop where we had planned to do a lot more berry picking.

This is what grandma was enjoying back at the house- Corban (7 1/2 months) and Alisa (14 1/2 months)- while she finished packing for the Lake.

After returning from our trip, we made a start on the 2 hour journey to the Lake. We arrived in good time, but the rest of the evening was not uneventful.

Jared and Curtis left us with some of the boxes to unload on the house boat while they went back to Page to pick up the boat from storage. About an hour later, Colleen got a call from Curtis, asking if we had a key to the boat. With the answer being no, the boys starting working on a plan. They were at Walmart picking up ice and ice cream. We got a call back saying they would take it back to the mechanic and have him hardwire it so we didn't have to have a key. To their luck, he happened to have a key that would make due with a little jiggling. So then they were off to top off the boat with gas. While filling it up, we got yet another call (maybe another hour later): "Did you bring that plug from the house for the boat?" "No, you said it didn't fit and needed to be taken back." Hang up. So back to Walmart they went to get a plug...and mouse traps per our request, seeing how we found a dead mouse in one of the toilets. It was about 10:15 pm when we had arrived at the lake just before 6 pm. After unloading melting ice and ice cream, we put together dinner for the night (Oregano's Salad). Our fun for the evening was spent around 2 cartons of ice cream, practically finishing them both between the 5 of us. Yikes!