Flaming Gorge

Our trip to flaming gorge started out...eventfully... to say the least. Tim had been working day and night so I was left to make sure everything was packed and ready to go. Let me just say that it sounds much easier said than done. Everything I tried to pack the boys attempted to unpack. I would bring the sleeping bags up and they would roll them out. Tim was suppose to do a couple house calls that morning before we left but thankfully another nurse picked them up. The boys and I had taken the car into the shop the day before to have the tires rotated and balance. Sadly we needed new tires due to my lack of rotating them :( So they ordered in new tires and assured me they would be there Tuesday morning by 7:30 am. I made Tim wake up and take the car in for new tires, oil change, balance and alignment since he no longer had to make any visits but he still had a lot of charting to do. Finally after nearly three hours Tim came home and helped loaded the car. At 11:30 we were on the road on our way. We had a couple stops to make -Walmart for Ice, and Cabalas for a sleeping bag for Aaron. We left the house and stopped at Walmart. When leaving Walmart heading for Cabalas we realized we had forgot the GoPro pole that Tim built. So we headed back home. While home Tim noticed that our oil seemed to be leaking -oh joy! So we headed back to the car shop where we waited for them to lift the car and see what was going on. After another 45 minutes it was determined that they had just spilled some oil on the frame of the car and everything seemed to be fine. Away we went to Cabalas! We picked up what we needed and headed for flaming gorge. When pulling out of Cabalas I remember that Tim never returned the INR machine to the Sandy office. Which happened to be sitting in the trunk of his car at home :( Back home we went and then for the fiftieth time we headed into salt lake, dropped of the machine, and then heading to flaming gorge at 3. We had a four hour car ride ahead of us and the kids had already been in the car for nearly four hours. It seemed that we were doomed before we began.

Thankfully we finally made it! The kids were beyond excited when they saw the water. Plus just as we were about to get out of the car we spotted this little guy.

We hauled all of our camping gear into my parents boat and were off!

Once we had arrived at our campsite the boys made themselves right at home in the dirt.

We quickly set up camp and got everything ready for bedtime. We were definitely nice and cosy in our tent.

We headed over to the common area for campfire and smores before bed. Tim decided he wanted to start the far Bear Grylls style. Given that it had been raining all afternoon it made it a little more difficult. 

But after three minutes and a lot of teamwork the fire was burning quite nicely.

Fire glow on Andrew and Jordan.

Aaron had fun bouncing around and sitting with different people. Mostly Grandpa, Grandma, Andrew, and Hunter.

  Of course mommy still had to be in sight.

After Ian and Tim made the "best smore ever" we all headed to bed. The boys were so excited that night they had a hard time falling asleep. The lightning, thunder, and rainstorm did not help. They thought the lightning was amazing. Aaron finally feel asleep on top of me so I carefully moved him back to his bed. At that moment Tim realized that he did not have his jacket. He remembers having it on the boat when we arrived at camp, but then he ran over to help me with the kids and was not sure what he did with it after that. I told him not to worry I am sure it was in the boat. He still could not sleep until he found it. So he grabbed a flashlight and headed out in the wind/rainstorm looking for his jacket. This was not any jacket it was his brand new much to expensive to actually be a jacket. jacket. Did I mentioned that our car keys happened to be in his jacket. He returned about 10 minutes later and his jacket was on the boating dock blown up against a tube. Neither of us are sure how it did not blow into the lake, but we were both relieved to have car keys. Aaron then spent the rest of the night climbing onto my cot and pushing me off.  Even if I tried to lay with him he would start screaming and crying. (And in a campground full of other people at 2 am he can have whatever he wants if he will just stop screaming.) So I spent the night in Aaron's toddler sleeping bag. Now I will admit that I am quite small, but that sleeping bag is truly meant for toddlers only!

We were awake very early...I am not sure that we actually went to sleep. But what better way to wake up then a dip in the lake. We headed out to Reed's boat to try a little wake surfing. There were tons of spiders by the docks and they built gigantic webs very quickly. Crazy and disgusting at the same time.

Ian loves being on boats. He always has a smile and loves feeling the wind blow through his hair.

Aaron also loves the boat but is not too fond of his lifejacket. Although he tolerated it quite well this trip.

Dad was up first! He showed all of us how it is done! While he went much longer than this I had to put up the video of him without the rope -since the goal is to surf the wake! The music is coming from the Reed's boat he did an excellent job picking out theme songs for all of us while surfing -well attempting surfing for some of us :)

Then Tim had his go at it.

Then Steve made it look way to easy. So I decided to go after him???? Not sure what I was thinking

Let me just say that it is much harder than it looks. Aaron cried and was upset pretty much the entire time I was in the water. He did not enjoy seeing me crash which I did quite often. Yes, I still plug my nose when I fall it is just second nature.

I eventually got the hang of it but was never able to actually surf with out the rope holding me there. If you listen in the video you can hear Aaron crying rather loudly because I had just fallen.

The boys enjoyed watching everyone. Ian's hat flew off in the wind. Thankfully with all that superhero spray paint it floated in the water for quite a while and we were able to retrieve it. We then headed back to camp where Grandma and Ian found this amazing bug on the beach! Then up to breakfast.

After breakfast we headed back out on my parents boat for a swim in the lake. Ian was a little hesitant at first because the water wasn't exactly pool warm but after a couple minutes he decided he would swim with grandpa. After that we could not get him to stop jumping in.

Since Ian was jumping in Aaron wanted to "ump in" too.

Warming up in the sun!

Cheese!

I think the boys would be happy just swimming in the lake all day!

When out and about swimming we also spotted these Osprey (sea hawk) and their babies. We got a little too close and may have frightened her a bit so we quickly backed off.

Enough looking at birds time for some fun! Fackrell's took Ian and I on the tube. Ian loved it and thought it was hilarious the entire time. Occasionally he would lie his head down while we were going and say "I am going to take a quick nap."
All day long Ian had been asking to go wake boarding. After a fun tube ride he swam over to Tim to give it a shot. He was so excited until they started trolling and then he decided it was not going to be fun. He screamed the rest of the time but I was sure that if he just got going he would enjoy it. So we made him try it anyway. Nope, he screamed the entire time. Later that week he decided that was kind of fun. In sunbeams when he talks about camping he always tells them that he went wake boarding with his daddy. Deep down I think he liked it. I think my mom or hunter was recording this. I was tubing with Katie and I think they may have been too worried about Ian to see what they were actually recording. Thus the shots of the sky and floor towards the end. But at least we have proof!

Ian and Tim on Fackrell's wave runner on the way to the rope swing.

The video for the rope swing is stuck on our iPad so I will try and load it tomorrow :) 

That night after dinner the boys had fun playing on the beach. Then we walked out along a random sand/rock bar. Ian had fun learning how to skip rocks. 

It was then time for baths. Not for us...we were heading home in the morning and I would rather wait. Although my hair could have used a good washing. Grandpa, Forest, and Trey jumping off the dock.

Hunter and Katie

Grandma and Aaron watching.

Trey relaxing

Nice hair Jordan :)

Aaron thinking that this is the life.

As you know Aaron is not one to watch. He like to do what everyone else is doing. With a little help from Andrew, Aaron jumped/dipped in the water too.

Trey and Merissa

Then everyone started playing some kind of rope game. I have no idea what it was I was busy watching the boys and hoping it was bedtime. 

Our second night went much better. We decided to have a movie night. We headed back to the tent everyone climbed into their sleeping bags and we did a little rearranging. Kids in the middle. Then we set the iPad up and watched How to Train Your Dragon. I think the kids were fast asleep within 20 minutes. Yet, for some reason Tim and I finished the movie. We all were able to get some sleep and some how Aaron made his way across the tent and ended up ontop of Tim. Bonus for me :)

The next morning we got up enjoyed breakfast then packed up. The kids were sad to leave and wanted to stay "forever." We had a blast as usually and were glad that we were able to stay a couple nights. Thanks to those that planned the vacation and the wonderful food that was prepared. We had a blast! 

Group shot of the rest of the gang.