Beautiful Lake Powell '11

Ohhhh Lake Powell. I don't think I can fully explain my love for this place. It is my home away from home, my retreat, my refuge, my favorite get-away. It holds such a place in my heart, and when I look back on my life - it's such a big chunk of it. My family spends spring, summers, and falls here - and even the occasional winter. And, we've done so ever since I was a baby, in fact- even before I was born. 

So, when I was going to be in the West during one of our houseboat weeks, you can image I was ecstatic. The top three things I've missed living in New Jersey are: my family, the mountains, and lake powell/waterskiing.

So, Lake Powell and I reunited... and it felt SO good.

Let me show you a billion pictures, alright?

Here are the newly-weds, Enrique and Kimberly

 My lovely padres

The soon-to-be-weds, Brandon and Celestey-pod (oh, hey Kevin!)

And me and the Chelster

Lucky for us, the Shoells were there too! We love hanging with the Shoell-e-oh's. 

Shelly is obsessed with Zumba, and she taught us how to move it move it.

And here's Kamille Shoell! Soon to be leaving on a mission to Canada...

we missed her twin, Keaton, who is on his mission right now. JAPAN!
(we also missed Stuart, who had to work...
oh yes, and also my very own husband Paul who was with his family in Idaho!)

The rocks just light up in the morning and at night, it's quite a magical sight. 

Eric lights up at morning and night when it's time for a ski ride!

The water was so high this year, barely any whitewashed walls!

I believe I was trying to capture a fish boil in the picture below, we saw so many this trip, the fish were going crazy! Boils are when a bunch of fish come to the surface and start jumping at insects to eat, there is so much movement from the fish that it makes it look like the water is boiling in that spot

- they are loud, exciting and weird all at once. 

(Paul always thinks I'm talking about this kind of fish boil. Can't blame him, that one is much easier to Google then the one I'm talking about, so maybe only my family calls it that?)

Obviously, I can't get enough of this place. 

The Neonderthal

Of all the worldly possessions in my life, this one is very near the top of my favorites list. 

I love this waterski so much it deserve it's own blog post. 

I love it so much I had a photo shoot with it at 7 am one morning at Lake Powell. 

I love it so much that I'll get up at any hour to ride it on some glass. 

It loves me+glass so much that it rides like a champ. 

Kaleb loves it so much he showed off it's neon bottom so well on this glassy cut. 

Eric loves it so much he skied the heck out of it.

Go Neonderthal! Go Eric!

My dad loves it so much, he bought it 20ish years ago.
He loves us so much, he lets us touch it. Better yet - he let's us ride it.
Plus, he shows us just how amazing that neonderthal can allow a ski ride to be.

And I love it so much that I made a friendship bracelet to match it. Because it's my best friend... almost.

P.S. More lake powell to come....

Celeste's Bridal Shower & An Attempt at a Family Picture...

Lucky me! I happened to be in Utah for Celeste's bridal shower. It was great to celebrate with her and get to see so much of my family.

 A make-shift pendant banner, made from... napkins! haha

 cutie cousins

 the bride-to-be!

My favorite moment was when she opened the quilt that my grandma made her. She had asked Celeste what colors she wanted, and of course Celeste said "bright and fun!' My grandma pulled through. Now that blanket will get you through a gloomy winter!

The next day, we attempted a Carruth family picture since all of us were together. (Paul's brother Jeff so kindly agreed to take them).

 Of course, we couldn't make it too long before some people got a little crazy.

 Then I got bossy, as usual...

 Then Chelsey jazzed things up....

 *This was my mom's idea. Maybe she thinks we are delinquents?

 Of course, as Carruth's, that quickly turned into this...

 Then apparently the photographer got bored.
(PS- Paul shaved his beard today! It's been at least a year! I kind of miss it....)

 Then we tried to act slightly normal again...

And we ended with a bang. :)

I sure love that familia.

Mesa Falls Continued

I am very determined to catch up on blogging. I've been away from my computer for so long, and taken so many pictures on our trip to Utah and Idaho, that is quite overwhelming. However, this is my place to record pictures and events, and I don't want to skip over this great trip.

Here are some more pictures from our Mesa Falls trip (from my real camera, instead of an iPhone, hooray!)

As a reminder, we went on a little day trip with Paul's mom, and invited along our twin nephews. They were such a fun addition to the trip, and made every little thing cooler.

Their favorite part was seeing and touching a real wild snake. They used my "Songify" app to rave about the experience on the drive home, which obviously made it way cooler.

I should note here, that the twins have an impossible time smiling for a camera. They turn into superheros or something and have to show off their awesomeness. Funny dudes.

 Falls from the overlook

 The drop off

Rainbows in the mist...

 I told you, they become superheros, haha.

 It was beautiful!

When we were about to leave, Isaac saw this motorcycle and said "What kind of race car is that?!" One of the bikers heard him, and asked if he wanted to ride it. Of course, the boys hopped right on, and learned that they were riding a "Spyder with a Y".