2012 Vacation Day Two: Lazily floating for the cure

The whole reason we were in Moab was to participate in the Raft for the Cure event.  Brandon's company usually participates in the Race for the Cure, but this year they decided to mix things up, and treat everyone to a weekend in Moab along with Raft for the Cure.    

Saturday, June 30th started out with breakfast in the parking lot of the hotel.  We all were given T-shirts and  wristbands from the Raft for the Cure people.  Brandon's company provided pink sunblock for our noses.  And pink bandannas for our heads.  

Once breakfast was over we went to the park and met up with all the other Raft for the Cure participants.  We got into our life jackets.  I loved wearing mine.  It felt like a hug.

Brandon and I were so excited to be going on an adventure.  We've wanted to go rafting for a long time so we really appreciated his company for providing us with the opportunity.

There were a total of 44 people representing Brandon's company.  We all got on one bus. Some of the river guides drove with us.  They told us funny jokes like, "What do you get when you cross a hippy and a redneck?"  Answer: A resident of Moab. 

We drove up the highway next to the Colorado river for about a half an hour.  Then we got into our boat. We were with 6 other people.  3 were Brandon's coworkers, and 3 were spouses/friends.

I thought that we would be sitting in the boat, but instead we straddled the sides of the boat.  It was so nice to put my leg into the cool water.

Our river guide was named Chris.  He works for a company called World Wide River Expeditions.  They are the only rafting company in Moab that doesn't work on Sunday.  They cater mostly to youth conferences and scout troops.  Chris was a great guide and helped us relax and have a lot of fun.  He rowed the boat for most of the trip.

Brandon and I loved being on the boat.  I really really really needed this day.  It was so relaxing.  I didn't realize it, but my life had become a little hectic.  In just the last week I had taught a lesson in church for the third time in a month (One RS lesson and Two Sunday School lessons), had a reunion with my high school friends, fed the Sister Missionaries, made a wedding slide show, and packed for our back to back vacations.  After all the craziness of the past few days it was nice to just sit on a boat and float in one direction.

But sitting in the boat wasn't all I did.  We were able to get out of the boat and float in the water when the water was deep.  It was so great.  

Our guide even let us go through one set of rapids out of the boat.

Oh and I should mention the scenery.  It was so pretty.  Our guide told us that Bon Jovi's music video for "Blaze of Glory" was filmed on one of the mesas we passed.

We had a lot of fun playing around in the water.  Brandon and I aren't great swimmers so we were really happy to have the life jackets.

At one point most of us were out of the boat - including our guide.  We were coming up to some rapids and we asked him if we should get back in the boat.  He said, "no I think we'll be okay."  But then a minute later he said, "maybe we should get back in the boat for these."  Of course we all started panicking and trying to get back to the boat as fast as possible.  We all made it in before the rapids, but it was close.

The water was nice and cool and so even though it was around 100 degrees outside we weren't hot at all.

Brandon looks like Jack Sparrow in this picture.  You can see the mesa from the music video in the back ground.

We stopped for lunch at the Red Cliffs Lodge.  The meal was part of the whole Raft for the Cure package.  We had hamburgers, hot dogs, and really big yummy cookies.  I ate fast and then went off by myself to take care of some "mommy business."  Then I was ready for fun again.  

We all got back in the boat and went through some fun rapids, but soon we were free floating in the water again.

Our guide had some people play a game.  They would stand on the bow of the boat and he would spin the boat around.  Brandon made it through 2 and 3/4 turns before he fell off.

All too soon it was time to get out of the water and go back to Moab.  We'd been on the river for about 6 hours and they had all been wonderful.  I could finally cross river rafting off my "to do" list.  However, I think this trip just wet my appetite.  I want to go white water rafting next, and one day I'd like to do a 5 day trip or something.  I can honestly say that if I'd gone river rafting as a teenager I just might have grown up to be a river guide instead of a ropes course worker.

We got back on the bus and rode back to Moab.  Brandon and I took showers and then I took a nap.  Then it was time to go to the park for the dinner and music part of the event.  

Dinner was also provided by the Red Cliffs Lodge.  It was a delicious taco salad.  Take a look at me in the middle of this picture.  I'm not even a little red from the sun.  I applied and re-applied sunscreen like crazy while on the river.  I hate being sunburned and I especially hate being sunburned on vacation so I was taking no chances on the river.  And that vigilance payed off.

We listened to music by some river guides and enjoyed the perfect Moab night.  I talked with some of Brandon's coworkers and got to know them better.  Then we headed back to the hotel and dropped into bed.

2012 Vacation Day One: Freedom!

Two vacations back to back seemed like a great idea until I had to pack for them.  I had to simultaneously pack for our weekend in Moab, the kids' weekend at my parents, and the week long trip to Colorado.  Somehow I got it all accomplished.  Though, I will admit that I had a panic attack at about 10:45 on Thursday night.  Brandon made me sit in a chair and try to breath deeply.  I was so wound up that I was basically hyperventilating.  I did calm down and was able to finish a few last minute things and go to bed.

 The next day was Friday June 29th and the first day of our long anticipated vacation.  I started off the day by helping set up a wedding. (A word to the wise: don't give a carte blanche offer to help with a wedding until you know the exact date of the event.)  I'd dropped Brandon off at work and then brought all the kids with me.  Charlotte and Lydia were still in their pajamas.  I'd asked lots of other people to help set up too so it took less than 2 hours to get everything set up.

 I was supposed to go home, wait until 11:30, and then pick up Brandon from work.  But once we walked back in the house the girls looked at me like, "you said we were going to Grandma's today.  What are we doing here?"  So I quickly changed them, fed Derrick, and left.

My Dad was happy to see us show up a few hours early.  He'd been looking forward to this weekend as long as I had.  He'd even taken the day off work so he could soak up every moment with his grand kids.  It was also good I'd gone out to my parents early because Brandon's work decided to just close at 11:00 (everyone was antsy for the weekend trip.) Brandon's cousin/coworker lives a few blocks away from my parents so Brandon caught a ride with him.

 We put on a TV show to distract the girls, (who watched us leave with indifference) and took off for freedom.  We stopped for lunch at Apollo Burger - which was good, but not great - and then started driving to Moab.  Our first stop was at a rest stop somewhere in Spanish Fork Canyon.  It had this cool train.  More importantly it had some brochures of things to do in Green River, Utah.  We randomly grabbed some brochures and continued on our way.

 As we drove we could see smoke from the fire burning near Huntington, Utah.

 We stopped in Helper to see "The World's Tallest Miner."  Brandon made up this joke: "What would they call this town if it's primary industry was cattle?"  Answer: Hamburger Helper.

 After Price the scenery got really really boring.  We could see some interestingly shaped mountains off in the distance.  Our Green River brochures told us they were part of the San Rafael Swell.

 One of the brochures was for a short day trip to Crystal Geyser.  It wasn't too far out of our way so we decided to go see it.  According to the brochure the geyser erupted twice a day for a hour so we figured our chances were pretty high to see it.  As we drove we went through what the brochure described as "interesting and varied landscape."  At first I thought it was code for "boring" but as you can see it really was interesting.

 Soon we rounded a corner and saw this.

 The geyser is a rare cold water geyser powered by carbon dioxide gas.  The run off has created travertine rock formations.  We had fun looking at the rocks and playing in the green river.

The geyser didn't go off while we were there so we continued on to Moab where we checked into our hotel.  Brandon's work had prepaid for us to stay there for two nights.

We took full advantage of the fact that we didn't have to keep every thing out of reach from little hands.

 Brandon's work had also given us each $20 to spend on dinner so we headed out to find somewhere fun to eat.  I LOVED the fact that I could wear jewelry!  We picked the Slick Rock Cafe. And had their wraps.  Oh, they were so good. I've basically been craving another one ever since.  Our waitress was very nice too.

 Then we walked around the town and enjoyed being able to GO IN all the gift shops.  (The things you appreciate after having kids.)

We went back to our hotel and went to bed early because 1. We could and 2. we had a day full of adventure on the river starting early the next day.

2012 Vacation Preview

I told myself that I can't blog about my amazing vacation until the laundry is done. And that means ALL the laundry.  Clothes, sleeping bags, car seats, everything.  So here is a little preview to make me happy until then.  

These 10 pictures are from each of the 10 days of our vacation.  I'll leave you to guess what they are about.  

Reunions and other fun stuff

Wow I've had a busy week.  On top of getting ready for our vacation we've had lots of fun stuff to do.  

Last Tuesday we went to a reunion for all special care nursery graduates.  We were able to see one of our favorite nurses, "Day Theresa".  Our absolute favorite nurse was "Night Theresa", but she wasn't there.

 The reunion was in the auditorium at LDS hospital.  They brought down some of the equipment from the nursery so we could show our kids what it all looked like.  This is Lydia with her incubator.

 And here is Charlotte with the little bed she was in for several days.  She had to be treated for jaundice for a day or so when she was a newborn so Brandon put his sunglasses on her to commemorate that.

 I can't believe how much they have grown.

 I'm so glad we now have 3 healthy kids.

 They served ice cream at the social.  The girls loved eating their toppings plain.

 The girls were wound up from all the sugar so we took them for a walk around temple square.  They loved the stairs.

 Lydia found ants on the temple steps.  (She finds ants everywhere)  She calls them "boos" for bugs.

 Charlotte got up on this ledge and sat by Brandon all by herself.

 This is a cute picture - from the back. The girls were actually bawling because they couldn't get into the nice cool water.

 Then on Wednesday Derrick and I went to a bridal shower for my high school friend Kim.  Three other girls from our lunch group were there too.  Two of them car pooled to the shower with me and we all had a great time catching up.

On Friday we took the girls to a concert in the Bountiful Park.  We got there a little early so we played on the swings.  There was only one baby swing, but that wasn't a problem.

 I think this is my new favorite picture of the girls.

 The concert was done by a local group named Argyle.  We sat towards the back and let the girls run around. 

 When they got too far away one of us would go get them.

 Derrick was good and just laid on his blanket.

 Eventually the girls wore themselves out and came to sit with us.

 Lydia has started sharing lots of things with Derrick.  She's given him her bottle of whole milk. (I've only seen her do it once, but I suspect it's happened a lot more)  She's tried to brush his teeth. (And ended up getting tooth paste all over his cheek)  She also put this little toy hat on him.   Both her and Charlotte love to give him hugs and kisses.

 On Monday I hung out with my high school lunch group again.  Michelle is abandoning us for Alaska so we wanted to get together one last time.  This hang out included all the kids.

There were 6 women and 13 (yeah thirteen!) kids here. The oldest kid was 5 and the youngest was a month old.  We had 4 babies under 6 months old.  The five of us who are mom's are all still nursing.  It was a crazy lunch, but it was also super fun.

 And the pot luck food was so yummy.  This is me going back for 10ths or something.

 We decided to line all the kids up for a picture.  Here is the before:

 And here is the after:

 And then Charlotte decided to be the first to get up.  We joked that we should have put name tags on the kids with their name, age, and who their mom is.  I had to keep asking Allison what her girls' names are.

One final thing before I'm done with this random post.  The girls didn't take a nap before church on Sunday.   This is the result.