I figured I better blog and catch up before we head to Cancun.
Before leaving for Lake Powell last week I was cleaning up. Jared said, something like, Thanks for putting away dinner, but watch where you put things." I looked in the fridge and found this:
That would be stuff to dust the house with.
We also finally bought a new vacuum, a cyclone vacuum. We didn't splurge for the Dyson, instead we got the Shark Navigator. Jared didn't believe we really needed a new vacuum and said our vacuum with a bag that my mom gave us (used) when we got married was just fine. I decided to prove my point. I had him vacuum a small 4 square foot of the family room with the old vacuum, then I went over it with the new Shark. This is what was collected.
Gross, huh? I think I proved my point that this was a good purchase. Based on reviews of all cyclone vacuums this is a common occurrence, so I know it's not just me, which is why I don't feel too embarrassed posting this. I had to empty it 5 times during the vacuuming of the house. Seriously, whether you have dogs or not I really think you need a cyclone vacuum.
I've decided I should be an animal photographer. I love my pictures of my cute animals!
We have a ton of praying mantis around our garden. We are very grateful for them to get rid of our huge grasshoppers.
Grasshopper:
Praying Mantis (uh...two of them) who hopefully ate that grasshopper:
We went to Lake Powell this weekend on Jared's parent's boat. Janae and Jason were there for the first day and a half and Halle really enjoyed her time with them. Halle had never been on a boat before and was really looking forward to it. She loved it!
This is right as we started to go:
She's thinking about it...and then:
Seriously. She is so dark. I am pasty!
Grandpa even let her drive!!
Dash and Morrie (Jess and Joan's dogs) always get to come. We thought about taking Patch, but 1. he's skittish, and 2. Rameses would be so sad and lonely.
At the marinas there are always a ton of fish!
Janae and Jason let them suck on their toes. Gross. On the right is Jason's foot being sucked on my carp.
We went fishing and I caught two catfish. One of the pictures was blurry, so it would do no good to post it, and the other catfish (Halle's) got unhooked right as we were getting it into the net to take a picture. We also fed ducks. We started with one, then the next day had 3, which then turned to 4, 5, and 6 by the end of the trip. Halle thought that was cool.
Halle even went tubing! A lot.
She was pretty worried when Janae did this:
Halle went first, then it was time for Janae and Jason.
Halle was concerned:
I think she had reason to be:
But she still went tubing with them after that. The child has no fear.
After all this she was getting pretty sleepy.
She ended up sleeping on the boat for almost 3 hours!
The next morning she went on the raft with dad.
We knew some bad weather was coming in so we got some final tubing in.
See how low in the water the tube is? Well...we ended up going so slow that the tube went under water and we all fell off. Poor Halle was really scared and said, "I don't like the tube anymore!" Jared cheered her up by telling her she was SO cool because she crashed like Janae and Jason. She thought that was pretty funny.
Jared and I took our turn. The weather was already coming in and the water was rough.
As we finished tubing and headed back to camp the wind went crazy. The raft, wakeboard, and a floaty thingy went flying across the cove we were in. There was nothing we could do. We had to get the boat in before it got worse. Luckily Jess had staked down our tent with a TON of rocks, and even then I was sure it would fly away. Had it not been staked down we would have lost everything we took. Our sleeping bags, air mattresses, Halle's new leapster, clothes, phones, and so much more. We took it down and put the rain gear on the boat. We decided it was time for dinner. We sat down for our spaghetti at the kitchen table. 5 minutes in Halle choked on a small piece and threw up EVERYWHERE. Jess was upset it was spraying on his feet across the room. It was so gross. A whole day's worth of liquid, now all over the cabin of the boat. It was so bad we had to take off Halle's clothes and all take turns in the shower (the hook up a shower head to the boat, and run lake water through the engine to heat it up). We also had to clean the cushion at the table, and the carpet on the floor. No more dinner after that. I think we all lost our appetite.
The next morning Jared swam across the cove (luckily we were in a cove so that the stuff wasn't lost forever) and collected the wakeboard, etc. The raft had overturned and become a safe haven for all of the spiders at the lake. We packed up and headed out for our drive home. It was a great trip with tons of fun. And now CANCUN!! I'm so excited, especially for parasailing. A whole week on the beach at an all inclusive resort where we can eat and drink all we want. What more could you want?
