Lake Powell 2009 – Part 1

This last week was our highly anticipated Harrison-Family Lake Powell Trip. Although this is usually my favorite trip of the summer, this year we had some unexpected kinks thrown in making the preparations for it a little more challenging than usual.

1) Shannon was not able to come due to being 25 weeks pregnant with Twins and it being too far from her hospital. Therefore, it was up to me to put together the traditional Treasure hunt for the kids. (I hope I did it justice Shannon, but don’t think it could ever be as awesome as yours are.) This also meant Luke had no female adult helper for meals. And although Luke is a pretty decent cook if you are making spaghettios and hot pockets, we were afraid we would be having deep fried hot dogs and tater tots every meal he was over! Tee hee. 🙂 Therefore, in an effort to give him easier meals and make sure we had at least one healthy meal a day, I assigned myself all the dinners and desserts all week leaving Luke to only have to do a breakfast and or lunch each day.
2) Mom and Dad decided to take a trip to Oregon the same week as Lake Powell which meant we now needed to find a boat to take to Lake Powell to even get on the houseboat. This required all sorts of effort to figure out and after weighing the costs of renting a boat, getting a water taxi, renting jet ski’s, borrowing a boat, etc. Luke decided just to buy one…3 days before we left! That in and of itself was crazy, but then he had to get it all ready in time for the trip too! (And as Murphy’s law would have it, we ran into a few complications which required about $600 worth of work to get it Lake Powell ready).
3) Jake and Stacey ended up needing to cancel last minute when 3 month old Allina started having seizures and needed to stay near home for testing and observation. Although we totally and completely understood their plight and were very concerned for Allina, their absence meant that we were going to be short handed docking, dumping, gassing, and returning the boat to its buoy and therefore we desperately needed to find other people to come. So we emailed, called, and spread the word like crazy that we had openings for any last minute spontaneous vacationers! We were very blessed to be able to get my best friend growing up Tyrone and his family to come, as well as some of our awesome friends from our Singles ward (where Adam is in the bishopric). Amy McNeil, Lindsey Smith, Jacqelin Price, Nate Petersen, Emily Pohlig, and Chad Poulter. Thanks guys for coming! We had such a GREAT time with you!
4) We realized 2 days before we left for Lake Powell that Mom and Dad had the keys in Oregon. Whoops. This required several emails and calls in an effort to find a sare, but in the end, the spare wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and we went through a window.
5) We got an email from the V.P. saying that the boat gear shifter thingy wasn’t working and that off shore marina was in the process of fixing it, but that there was a possibility we wouldn’t be able to move the boat from the buoy. Yikes!

So anyway, it took a bit of extra effort this year to even MAKE this trip happen. BUT….I do have to say, that it was absolutely WORTH IT! We had such a great time once we finally got to Lake Powell and we were able to really enjoy ourselves. We also had no major crazy things happen this year (which is really a miracle if you consider the history of Harrison family vacations), and our company was fantastic.

However, we did have a few “smaller incidents” such as 1) Tyrone’s family getting off a little later than expected Sunday afternoon (making us nervous about them getting to Lake Powell before dark). Then half way to Lake Powell they realized they needed to stop in Price because they accidently left all their swimming suits at home. Whoops! This unfortunately put them getting to Lake Powell WAY past dark (10:00 pm) and they ended up having to camp in Hansksville for the night in their tent. 2) Both Trinity and I had an allergic reaction to the sunscreen and ended up with red bumps and hives all over our arms, legs, and back. 3) Luke bought a part that he needed for the boat, and when he went to install it, he realized it was defective (even though it was BRAND NEW). 4) Adam stepped on my foot giving me a big 3×3 inch bruise. It was very colorful! 🙂 5) Luke, Jasmine, and Amy all got SunBurned their FIRST day! 🙂 6) Adam and Luke had a “near death experience” (okay not really but it sounds more intense) with your friendly neighborhood scorpion. 7) We got a ticket for having 13 people on Lukes 8 passenger boat. Whoops.

But of course none of those silly things kept us from having a good time! Below are a plethora (and I really mean a plethora) of pictures from the week. Enjoy!

Kollin and Brans getting ready for their first boat ride to go out
“scouting” for a great houseboat spot.

Amy just met these two the night before and already made a connection with them!

And of course Branson wanted in on some snuggling action as well. He’s loved Amy since going to Moab with her and others in the singles ward in 2008!

Enjoying riding on the boat with my cute little fella!

This is Lindsey (also from the singles ward). She and Amy came down together and both were absolutely FANTASTIC with the kids. Thanks for all your help girls!

Don’t they look great at 8:00 am in the morning?

Breaker Breaker, this is cute Kollin Ray requesting more fruit snacks please!

A beautiful shot by Branson! (Emily, Amy, Lindsey, Dawson, me)

Gotta get a silly one in too of course!

Kalli, I think you may have some competition here!
(Branson always says he’s going to Marry Kalli in our singles ward)

Show us your muscles!

This is Branson’s “mouth muscle!” 🙂

Playing on the deck of the boat.

That evening after we got the houseboat secured, we had a wonderful dinner of Sweet pork salads (cafe rio style) and then played a game of Killer Bunnies!

Who is this handsome hunk sitting next to me with his tonque out!?

Our fierce competition!

The Knats were REALLY bad that night and kept flying and buzzing around my head and in my ears! So I had to get creative with the cheeze wiz, and this is what I came up with! 🙂

Aparently Amy thought it was pretty funny! (She is the camera man!)

This little fella unfortunatley had a rough couple days and got his schedule all mixed up and didn’t like to sleep longer than 20 minutes at a time. It made for a challenging first couple of days (normally he naps 2-3 hours straight)

Tyrone and Emily making us a scrupteous breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, and cheese! Delish! 🙂

Love the bed head Jasmine!

Lindsey enjoying a little down time before breakfast

Great minds think alike…

But Breakfast was cold by the time these stragglers got up….

Like Father Like son!

Or is it just a boy thing? (Isn’t Branson’s Hair AWESOME!?)

The boys of course HAD to go Carp fishing! Or was it carp HUNTING? Not sure as they would use a bow and arrow to hit the fish (which was tied to a fish line) and then reel in the fish on the pole! This little guy was hit but then managed to get the arrow out of him before they could reel him in.

Luke sent Adam to retrieve the arrow!

Then we got in some boating time!

Amy and Kollin Matched!

The kids all liked to ride up front together. Funny side note, one day when we stopped at the marina to get ice and were docked, the kids saw some fish next to the boat. Their reaction? To SPIT at them! Not sure where they got that idea or why they thought it was a good one, but they giggled and giggled over it and thought they were SOOOO funny!

This picture cracks me up! It looks like Branson is giving us some total attitude, but I think he was just trying to do a funny face. He seems to prefer this one recently! 🙂

But really he was quite happy to be listening to Ad’s MP3 player.

Tubing was of course a TON of fun as usual.

We each took turns on the Tubes. Some liked nice leisurly drives, (the girls and kids) and others….well they preffered intense wrestling, slapping, and or having wars to see how many times they could get each other off. And if that didn’t work, than they liked to skip like rocks across the water going 40 miles an hour. I of course got the privilidge of driving and dunking these hoodlams into the water! Ah the joys of getting back at my brothers for years of torture!

Luke, Jasmine, Tri, and Kollin

Lindsey Trinity and Jasmine

On one night we found this beautiful little beast! Adam said that it was the first time he heard Luke scream like a girl! 🙂 I guess it really freaked him out! Weird, I know! Who would be afraid of such a cute little fella?

We all took turns holding him. He was quite the snuggler!

Ad you look totally hot in this picture!
Theres just something about a man with a Poisonous Scorpion that is totally Sexy!
Or maybe its just you! 🙂

Yeah, definitely must of just been Ad, cause Luke is Just not looking so sexy…

The boys decided that instead of killing our friend the scorpion that they would just find him a new home over the hill. I think they got found him a nice little spot out in the suburbs overlooking a large lake (HOA fees were included).

Did I mention that we found a sweet spot to park the houseboat?

The kids and Amy and Lindsey watched the scorpion drama from the safety fo the houseboat. Not sure why? 🙂

To start the hunt, our little pirates had to be initiated. To do this they each had to find 10 peices of garbage to donate to the Pirate Sea Urchant (otherwise known as the trash compactor)

Then they got their Trusty Pirate Mustaches put on by Adam the Make-up artist who got my pink lip liner mixed up with my brown eye liner! It works.

He did a good job making all the kids look piratey!

But it was the pirate teeth that really made the look!

It was sheer entertainment for the Adults! The kids were too focused on keeping the teeth in their mouths to see what was so funny! 🙂

Even Dawson joined in on the pirate action!

The map led the scalleywags to take a raft from the Pirate ship over to Treasure Island

Then they had to find Football Cove (Where they were taught a Pirate Dance to the “Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A pirates life for me” song.)

I was the Pirate dance instructor…

And just may have gotten a little carried away….Just maybe.

But I look rad with a Goat-Tee!

Then Lindsey helped us do our “Piratey Excersizes.” We did Jumping Jacks, Reached high in the sky, and down low to the ground…

And flexed our Big Piratey muscles (to scare away our enemies of course)

Then the kids had to find 5 sea shells at Sea Shell Reef, which they could use to purchase something at the Pirate Gift shop. Here they all bought a bug/lizard catcher!

They weren’t exactly sure what to do with them at first…

But then they learned that they would each have to catch a lizard to put in them and their faces lit up! Their very own pet lizards! They were extactic!
Except Tyrone. He didn’t get one! 🙁

The kids went to Lizard Rock to find their own pet lizards! (Lindsey and I had hid play lizards all over in the rocks that the kids could find). The younger kids really thought they were REAL! 🙂

Then it was time to take these wenches and buckaneers over to the REAL Treasure island.

Cute Amy and Lindsey

Da Boys

Once on Treasure Islands the kids took off to find the buried Treasure!

But we slowed them down for a quick picture!

They found their loot hidden underneath a rock!

Inside they found Jewels (candy rings and neclaces), sticker earings, bracelets, coloring books, crayons, pirate drawing pads with puzzles and such, and some other fun toys and things.

Luke things Adam looks feminine in this picture!

Then it was time to head back to the ship. Lindsey helped carry Kollin. Amy tripped just as she was telling Lindsey how cool it was that your feet griped to the rocks and ended up scraping up her wee bottom. I jumped in the Lake and paddled the kids back to the boat on the raft.

Later we took another boat ride to take Amy and Lindsey back to the marina (they were leaving us sadly to fulfill other worthy obligations) and afterwards went out for a nice ride through some canyons. (I love this Popeye face of Adam’s. He does it every year in at least one picture at Lake Powell. I think he’s made it a tradition or something.)

Luke drove us up Moki Canyon and we found some AWESOME places!

I waterskiied for the first time in like FOREVER (since I’m almost always pregnant everytime we go to Lake Powell)

Emily took kids for rides on the jet ski’s and followed the boat while skiers took their turns

Tyrone was up next and popped up his very first try.

Emily unfortunately took her turn during a rain storm and had big waves to deal with. Didn’t help that she pulled something in her back either. We’ll get ya up next time Em!

By the time we got home, everyone was pretty pooped

The next day Tyrone and family had to head home, (thanks SO much for coming guys!) but we were pleased to have Jake and Kylie take their place. After getting everyone settled we ventured out on the boat for some Tubing action but within minutes realized a BIG Thunderstorm was coming (you can see it behind Branson and I in this picture) So we headed back to secure the houseboat and get all the bedding inside. Its a good thing we did because the water had risen substancially and the houseboat had moved a LOT! The boys ended up spending the next couple of hours trying to get all the ropes situated and secured so that the boat would hold up during a bad storm.

We went out again when the storm finally blew over and the sun came out (about 2 hours later)

Unfortunately though….we didn’t get far before another storm rolled in. Luke and Jake were out on the Tubes having Tube Wars when the storm hit, and instead of coming on board, they decided to brave it out in the tubes while I raced to get back to the houseboat as fast as I could. The kids started panicking when the rain hit (it was like little BB pellets hitting you in the face). So I had them all come back to where I was driving and take cover under the dashboard and wrap themselves in towells to stay dry and warm. It was pretty intense there for a few minutes as I couldn’t see very well, had frantic children, and I myself was getting pelted away by rain. The waves were about 3-4 feet high as well. I kept looking back to see how Jake and Luke were and it looked like they were having a pretty rough ride on the Tubes as well. Eventually Luke jumped off his tube since the ride was so bumpy and we brought he and Jake on board (he said he felt like his kidneys were going to explode!) Did I mention that Jakes Tube was almost completely flat during all this too? Kinda Crazy!

Anyway, that was part 1 of our little Lake Powell Adventure. Unfortunately my camera died during part 2 of our adventure (when Jac, Emily, Nate and Chad from our ward came down) so when I get some more pictures from them then I will post the rest of our Lake Powell adventures. For now just know that a great time was had by all! Thanks again everyone for coming down. We Love you so much and seriously had an AMAZING time!