Lake Powell - 2009

One of the greatest places on this earth, in our eyes, is Lake Powell, Utah. We just returned from a week trip with the Draper side of the family. Mason and Maxwell couldn't wait to go on Pappa's house boat. We were kind of nervous taking the kids on the house boat but they were AWESOME! There were no complaints about wearing a life jacket and everybody was awesome to help watch them. This year was like no other in that the weather was awesome! We were very nervous being that it has rained everyday for the last 4 weeks, but this first picture explains the weather we had. It was partly cloudy and about 85 - 90 degrees. The water was a very comfortable 70 degrees. Being pregnant and all I was nervous I wouldn't last very long in the heat but it worked out great and we were sad when it was time to head home.

One thing about the Draper family at LP is that we're not "boat sitters". Every morning we wake up have breakfast, make lunch and we're off exploring the endless beauties of the area. Day one consisted of us finding this natural dam and lake up Iceberg Canyon. After a long day of hiking and exploring we head back to the house boat, eat dinner, watch a movie, play mormon bridge etc...

House boat at night.

Mason and Maxwell both enjoy comondeering the vessle as they pretend they are Jack Sparrow sailing the ship.

Our camp site was our traditional spot up Annie's Canyon. Perfect place for the boys to do what they love - throw rocks.

We gave uncle Paul plenty of greif about his hair - but he insists it's sexy.

Never too old for a back flip. Matt insists he will do a back flip off the bow boat until he's too old to walk. The kids enjoy chanting "back flip, black flip..." as he prepares his launch. Great form Matt :)

The family at a "cool down".

Max and Mase love riding it Papp's boat.

One of the hikes we went on was in Hall's Creek. The trail was nicely marked with stacked rockes and the boys thought they were pretty cool when they could pick out the next stack.

Along the hike we came across TONS of froggy's. We couldn't get enough of them.

After about a 2 mile hike we made it to this awesome arch!

We caught a few lizards as well. Max spotted this lazy one soaking in the heat from the rocks...

We found a fun slot canyon that we haven't been able to access for a few years because the water has been so low. But it's come up quite a bit and it was pretty entertaining to watch the men use they engineering skills to figure out how to climb this canyon.

Sad thing was that after about another 25 feet it was impossible to continue (without ropes and harnesses that is) All that work for nothing. I shouldn't say nothing - we got a good laugh out of it.

This photo is kind a blurry but you can still get the drift of what's going on. Miss Mo's not so nice behind the wheel of a boat.

The boys got along so well. As a reward we bought them ice cream everytime we made a trip to the marina.

Although the boys are excellent hikers, this is Max's preferred method of transportation.

Max was totally THRILLED when he hooked this bass off the front of the boat with daddy. His first fish. That's all it took for him to want to fish the rest of the trip. Him and Mase even learned how to cast a line by themselves. That alone makes fishing a lot more enjoyable. Daddy did drop Mase's pole in the lake :( I think Matt did it just for an excuse to go to Cabela's.

Matt - Mase, Pappa Kurt - Max fishing along the banks for bass.

We had a blast on our trip and are so grateful that we all live close so we can make memories as a family.