Today is our seventh anniversary :) Someone said the seventh year is the hardest after the first so I guess we'll see how it goes . . . . just kidding; I love Brian so much it should be illegal! So since our anniversary was on a Sunday we celebrated on Saturday. Nothing too exciting, we went to see Harry Potter, which I liked pretty well. There were a couple of things about horcruxes that I was surprised they left out, but other scenes I thought they followed pretty closely. Then we went to see the Rockies play. This was mine and Matthew's first time at a major league game. He was grumpy for the first while, but when we were leaving I asked him if he had fun and he said yes so hopefully we'll make it back.
Here is the nice scenic area behind Center Field. Matthew really liked it when the water shot up in the air.
Here's Todd Helton at bat. I think Todd reminds me of my dad and that's why I like him. I don't know much about Todd, but he seems to be a good ball player, a good team guy, down to earth, has a good sense of humor and has facial hair; so a lot like dad!
View from our seats with the mountains in the back. It rained off and on, but it was nice because it cooled things off and there was no rain delay.
Things started looking up for Matthew when they opened the playground.
Here are the adults; we had given up on trying to get a good picture with the kiddos.
On the field-it was photo day.
The most decent family picture we got. Matthew was obsessed with the umbrella so we tried to bribe him to smile with it and this is what we got-
I feel like our speeds are completely opposite. When we need to run an errand I want to hurry and get it done so I can check it off my list and have it over with. Matthew does not want to hurry. Getting into his carseat involves checking out whatever toys are on the floor of the car, turning on all the lights, buckling his straps, buckling his Sheepie in to the seat next to him, etc, etc. Then we're walking into the store and he wants to look at all the wheelbarrows, the tires on the lawnmowers and comment on all their colors. Meanwhile I am impatiently trying to shoo him along and getting more and more frustrated. Other times he just wants to take off and I can barely keep up with him. He goes from activity to activity in a matter of seconds and I feel like I'm chasing a tornado when I would rather slow down.
However, we have been commanded to be childlike. Matthew finds joy in every journey, no matter the size. I barely notice the journey, I'm so focused on reaching my destination that not much else matters. I'm working on learning this lesson. In the eternal perspective it does not matter if it took us an extra five or ten minutes to make it to the post office. My goal is to try and follow his lead; to not be so worried about making good time, but having a good time (name the movie? Matthew can!). Thank goodness I have another day to try and do better!
Brian said I needed to put this in a blog post so here you go-
The scouts went camping to go work on the fishing merit badge. Here is Brian's catch-
Matthew looking oh so excited about the fish
We also fixed the garbage disposal. For some reason it got holes. If anyone wants to enlighten us as to how this happened that'd be sweet.
Here are the boys working on it. I think this was the smoothest repair in our married life. We had no problems. I even went to store all by myself and got the replacement and got it right on the first try.
And funny enough Matthew was wearing his handyman t-shirt he got for his birthday. We got some comments on it at the home improvement store.
Here is Brian's post on facebook about the events-
I feel so manly. I caught my own dinner and I fixed the kitchen sink (without vulgarities I might add)
So many of you know that one of my biggest temptations/strengths/weaknesses is reading. I got an email tonight that I had won a prize from the library in the summer reading program! How fun is that! I never win anything and my reading has finally paid off (hehe)! Now can I justify even more reading?
I finally got around to making a chore chart for Matthew. He feeds the fish each morning, waters the garden, puts the silverware away and helps clean his room. Here he is in action-
My Aunt gave Matthew this pool for his birthday and he couldn't wait to try it out. In fact it had rained an hour or two earlier and it was still very overcast, but he was too excited to wait. He filled it up with the house and climbed in. I stepped in it and it was freezing! So we got some hot water from the kitchen sink and dumped it in to warm it up slightly. I can tell we are going to be spending lots of time playing in it. *If you want to invite yourself over for a swim you are more than welcome to!
I'm sorry for all the pictures, but when you're on vacation for a week and also have to document for the much missed Nana and Papa this is what you get.
I should've taken pictures when we first arrived or left when the boat was clean, but I hope you can still see how beautiful the inside of this boat is.
Here is Brian with the first fish of Lake Powell and a grumpy Matthew (which we had much too much of this trip). There was a lot of fishing done. I think Brian and his brother had fish for lunch the majority of days there.
In the kayak and Matthew is happy if you look closely :)
Nate and the boys also kayaking.
Opening the care package from Nana and Papa full of Italian games.
Brian and his "little" brother with another catch.
At one point one of the kayaks went for a stroll and Brian rowed out there to get it back.
Jase with more fish.
We sadly only had one wakeboarding trip. I was going to have Brian take a picture of me the next time we went, but then the boat broke (more on that later) so that didn't happen. But here is Nate.
And Brian with the one jump of the trip.
Matthew and his cousin enjoying some down time watching a movie.
It wouldn't be Lake Powell without some kind of adventure, right? So we took the houseboat up one of the canyons, got it all parked and happy. The next afternoon this rogue wind pulled all four anchors in a matter of minutes. So in less than 10 minutes we managed to save the houseboat from blowing into the rocks (thanks to some awesome driving by Becki); loose three of the four anchors into the lake; the engine on the Mastercraft didn't start and was floating between the houseboat and the rocks with Jason pinned between the Mastercraft and the rocks; finally got the engine to turn over and start heading out of the canyon. We decided to try and retrieve the anchors the next day as we were all worn out. Hind sigh being 20/20 we would have done it then. So the next day the three men go back with scuba gear and successfully rescue the three anchors (and $600). They are ready to head back when this time the Mastercraft's engine really does die. The radio connection was poor so we didn't know they were stranded. A good samaritan pulled them to Hall's Crossing and they called us from there. The three women and children are able to launch the houseboat to tow them to Bullfrog marina rather than paying for a $300 tow. Then the women were also able to get the houseboat back into the slip with no problems.
This picture is when we had let the boys go again to paddle themselves to the boat ramp and get it loaded on the trailer.
Here the boys are fishing for carp.
They also manage to catch a catfish.
We also did lots of swimming and went to the beach once (we wanted to go more, but obviously without a boat that hampered some of our plans), had lots of good food, Guitar Hero and Settlers of Catan. We love Lake Powell and are already looking forward to next year!
