I Love Lake Powell

We haven't gone to Lake Powell since Chase was about a year and a half.

Everyone in my family is busy with their own families and half of us live away from Utah so Lake Powell took a major back seat for the Dickinson family vacations.  My dad even sold his houseboat time-share and all of his water toys, which I'm sure was actually one of the happiest days of his life.

Well, the golden child of the Dickinson family (I'll let you decide who that is) decided it was time to start back up in the Lake Powell tradition and being the favorite that he is, my dad agreed.

This time we rented everything and it was AWESOME!  I highly recommend it!  Anyone who had ever been on this trip with my family in years past, I am sorry!  There was no houseboat to get off the bouie without dropping the pin, no instructions on how to flush the toilet 10 times a day and still having problems with it, now houseboat to have perfectly clean at the end, and no pooper to empty only to have spill all over yours brothers friends either!

It was SO much fun!  Even Tom enjoyed himself a little! :)

What's not fun about going off a slide off of the back of the houseboat?

 My older brother Ken and Barbie, I mean Beth, and Crew

 

The following pictures are the kids on the tube being towed behind the seadoo.

I don't think these things quit running the entire time we were there.

  

 

 

 

A little wakeboarding action...

 Chase's birthday happen to be on one of the days we were there so we did a little celebration Lake Powell style...

roasting a marshmallow with 7 candles on it...

 Birthday presents from the marina which included a Lake Powell hat and T-shirt...

 and a family birthday photo.

 The original Lake Powell crew.

The Dickinson's and the Cuthbert's minus a few and having added a lot.

 Landon and Chase wanted to bring home some pets they found on our trip...

um, NO.

 We even had a baby on board.  My nephew Ben.

The captain

Thanks Dad!  We had a blast and can't wait to do it again, and again, and again!

Maybe we'll eventually start paying for ourselves to go too! :)

We're Getting Old...

Happy 33rd Birthday, Bryce!

Happy Birthday Bryce!

Bryce turned 32 this year!...

... and I made the BEST cake EVER!
(by the look of Bryce's eyes you might think I added a special ingredient) :)

Spring is Coming!!!

The weather here has FINALLY started to warm up a bit and we are taking advantage of it any opportunity we get.
The boys got this Razor 360 big wheel for Christmas so Landon and Bryce decide it was a good time to put it together and take it for a test run. This thing is so much fun!
Landon was a bit hesitant at first thinking he was going to tip over as it spun around, but it didn't take long!
The kids were doing 360 turns like they were experts before you knew it.

Brady was even out and enjoying some sunshine.

Bryce's Mini Triathlon in St. Louis

One of the main reasons we went to St. Louis is because Bryce registered to do a mini triathlon with his buddy John. He only trained for three weeks beforehand (and lost 13 pounds! I hate guys!!!) so he was a little nervous for the race. I managed to catch him coming in from the bike portion and cheer him on during his transition to the run. Bryce was slightly disappointed in his time, but I think he did awesome for his first time. He said it was really hard, but is already looking for more races in the future. Way to go babe!

John started earlier than Bryce and had already finished.
Here he is giving him words of encouragement. :)

Crossing the finish line with a time of 2 hrs 5 min.
(He wanted to finish under 2 hrs. I think he did awesome!)

I have a feeling these two will do many more races together in the future.

Put, Put!

I'm doomed to have a family of boys who all love to play golf! Lately a favorite pass time is heading to the golf course and putting. They boys have a points system and game set up to see who wins and they always have a blast doing it. I just go and enjoy the evening watching them all have fun!

Bryce's 31st Birthday

Bryce turned 31 this year! I can't believe we're this old (not that 31 is old)! I met Bryce when he was 17 and I was only 15... time flies!
He is such a hard worker and puts in so many long hours at the hospital, but still comes home and makes the effort to always play with his boys. They love him so much!
We are so grateful that he is a part of our lives!

Backyard Golf

This is the view from our backyard, a huge empty (at the moment) field. Bryce decided to turn it into his own personal driving range. He goes out into the field, sets up his cones for markers and just hits the ball. Afterward he and the kids go out, retrieve all the balls and do it all over again.

Hey, at least he's home!

Target Practice

Another backyard activity my boys have come up with is target practice with the paintball gun. Bryce made and cut out an assortment of targets for the boys to try and hit throughout the yard. There is a bat, dog, cat, and pig I believe. They have a blast doing it and at least Chase isn't using the paintball gun in my downstairs anymore!

Victory at Hobble Creek

This will probably be the only time I will ever make a comment on this site, but I could not pass up the opportunity to talk trash to Josh.  Over the past two years Me and  little Wog have had a summer golf tournament to decide who the Haslem family champion is (no one else in my family plays).  This year we played 3 rounds at Hobble creek.  A second round 89 was enough to do Josh in and I repeated as champion.  Better luck next year Woggy.