Roden 5


Sunday, July 12, 2009

One day and $1200 later.....

Well the good news is that we only had to wait 24 hours to leave for our trip. The bad news is that it cost a lot of money to fix my parents' van. But let us not dwell on the negative. We made it to one of the most picturesque places around and we had a great time. The weather was perfect, and we had a relaxing time. One of the coolest things about Lake Powell is that it changes every year as the lake level fluctuates. It's never exactly the same as it was the year before.


During our three days on the lake, we did a little of this...

a little of this....

and A LOT of this.....(it may look like we're doing nothing but floating--that's the point)



Because we were a little sunburned, we even took some time to take a dam tour (check the spelling and the picture--I am not cursing).


All in all, it was a great trip. Many thanks go to my parents for making it all possible. We were disappointed not to be able to spend time with my aunt, uncle, and cousins because of our delay, but we are excited to see them at the beach soon.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Broken fuel pumps, broken dreams.....

So, we are supposed to be on our way to Lake Powell right now, but sometimes things don't go as planned. We went to church this morning and were planning on leaving as soon as we'd had lunch afterwards. My parents came to pick up the kids and me, we had a prayer, got in the car, buckled up, turned the key and.....nothing. Well not so much nothing as a lot of noise without actually turning on the car. A quick call to our neighbor who is a mechanic and we had the diagnosis....a broken fuel pump. So we unloaded the van and took it down to the shop where, hopefully, they can get to it first thing in the morning. The kids are a little upset, and the worst part is that it's Sunday, so that limits our options of keeping busy. So hopefully the next time I blog I can put a nice update about our trip to Powell.
On a happier note, Janie and Derek are finally done with school. Both had their end of the year programs this week, and I now officially have a fifth grader and a first grader to go along with my eighth grader.


Our city has a town days celebration each year on the fourth of July, which includes a parade the night of the third. Mark had to drive a giant inflatable shake in the parade, so the kids were so excited to help out. They got to throw candy and give away backpacks, frisbees, and footballs. I didn't want Janie walking, so you can see her here riding in the cab with her dad. Meghan and Derek walked behind the float.

The next morning the kids rode their bikes in our annual neighborhood bike parade. It makes for an early morning, but we were rewarded with a yummy breakfast at the end.



The rest of our day included a couple of family barbeques and some awesome fireworks at the city park. Of course it also included a lot of packing for a trip we aren't currently on. 9 o'clock church this morning was a bear to get up for, but turns out we had time for a nap today. Hope everyong else had a great holiday.