Thanksgiving in St. George 2012

We spent Thanksgiving in St. George this year with the Browers. It was awesome, like always. We played pickle-ball every night, we razored every day, the boys went biking and golfing, us girls went running, and there was a movie every night.  We always come home from St. George exhausted from all the activities. 

My favorite thing this trip was probably Ellie saying "Happy ThanksKevin" to us Thanksgiving morning.  She also says "Kevinly Father" in her prayers (and so does my other niece).  Who knew Kevin was such an interchangeable word?

Oh my long limbs.  They get me every time.

You can blame this blurry picture on Kevin.  He was done with taking pictures.

lake powell's best kept secret...

...is October. For those of you who haven't been to Lake Powell in October, shame on you!

It's the best time of year to go. 

 The crowds are gone.  

The heat is gone.

And the water is crystal clear. 

We loved being able to actually need blankets while sleeping.

The girls loved the water, despite it being a few degrees colder.  This especially didn't deter Kevin in his spear fishing this trip.  He loved actually needing his wet suit.  He fished all. day. long.  

Well, he did have some expectations to meet.  He needed to catch enough fish so we could all eat fish tacos one night.  So I guess the pressure was on.  

But he did not disappoint us.  He caught plenty of bass, and one catfish (which was surprisingly good).  We even had leftovers.  

He is too good, that fisher of mine.

Having that new paddle board of mine was a dream this trip.  The water was so amazingly clear that you could see 30 feet down in some places.  It was like Mexico down there people!

  

That paddle board was a great help in scouting out fishing areas for Kevin.  I found schools of fish.  I've never seen fish like carp or stripers in schools.  I might have deemed myself 'The Fish Whisperer' while on this trip.

My maiden voyage on my new board.

Hadley loved going out and watching Kev spear fish.  She would tell me to paddle out to "watch Kenin catch da fishies."

Oh, that shark in the background, don't worry, thats Kevin.

That was Kevin the entire trip.  Out fishing.  To be honest, I didn't see much of him during the day.  He was having way too much fun.
And also, look at that water!

Ah I hate those dang swimsuit wedgies!

Much better. A wedgie-free swimsuit.

My doo-rag dad.

Post mask-wearing Kevin.

Check out those yummy legs!

Chasing the ducks.
Any animal Afton sees, she makes a grunting-like sound.  So any time she saw a bird or a duck, the grunting commenced.  That meant there was a lot of grunting at the marina.

"Who is this guy!?"

That is not our baby.

I think she was trying to pick my nose...

Ruffle bum.

Me building sand castles and Hadley destroying them.

Probably my favorite picture of the trip.

She just loved the water.

Ice-cream and root beer floats @ Dangling Rope.

We love our knee-boarding.  Kevin loves to splash me the whole time.

You can never take a bad picture at Lake Powell.

  A houseboat wanted to share our great beach with us.  We weren't too happy about it, but what can ya do?  They offered us beer in exchange, but we asked to wakeboard on their brand new ski boat.  They laughed it off and didn't think we would take them up on it.  

They later said that we could go out "surfing" with them the next day.  Ha.  That's what you say to people when you don't think they know how to wakeboard.  Anyone can surf, we wanted to wakeboard.  

Well they had been watching Kevin dive and spear fish throughout the day, so once one of the girls dropped her sunglasses in the lake (by face-planting on her paddle board, ha!), they came over asking if Kevin could come over and dive and try to find her glasses.  He went over and not two minutes later you hear "AHHH YEAY!!!!!!!!!"  He had found her glasses.  

Now they felt like he deserved a ride in their boat.

So they took him out.  Boy were they in for a surprise.  We watch Kevin pull his first trick out of his bag and from quite a ways a way, we hear a roar.  They were not expecting this.  

When they finally brought him back, they tell us "Who is this guy!?"  "Is he on Nitro Circus?!"  "He is welcome on our boat any day!"

He even did my favorite trick I have only seen him do twice.  He only does it when he is really trying to impress me or he is on a fantastic boat.  Darn those lucky people.

They are about to be amazed.

my spear-fishin' man.

Kevins' most recent hobby has been spear fishing.  

He was in heaven this whole trip with all the clear water and fish.  Quick into the trip he had to pick and choose his fish because the water was clear and the fish a plenty.

  

Hadley loved that Kevin caught fish.  She was not scared of the fish at all.  She would carry them around, poke at their eyes, and would try to pick them up (but they constantly slipped through her hands, but did this bother her?.. No).  She even watched Kevin filet the fish.  It didn't bother her one bit.  She is a weird one that girl.  

Throughout the trip she kept telling Kevin to "catch the fishies Kenin!"

He ended up catching ten or so bass.  He filet them all and we made fish tacos one night.  OH MY GOODNESS were they good.  It can't get much better than fresh fish tacos on the lake.

"Look at the fishies!!"

We shared a beach with some dogs, one was named Stella.  After getting the fish from Kevin she ran over yelling "Stella!! Stella!! Look at the fishies!!"

Hadley learning how to filet.  No one else wanted to learn.

ummmm YUM.

lake powell: paddleboard style

 Just got back from an awesome family trip to Lake Powell.  I rented an inflatable paddleboard to test it out on the lake.  

And I fell in love.  

And so did everyone else.

The water there was so amazingly clear.  In parts, it felt like we were in Mexico.  

Look at that face!

Hadley absolutely loved just hanging out on the board while we paddled away.

My cute, stylin' Mom.

Afton even loved it.  She kept falling asleep every time I took her out.  We even took the "fishies" Kevin caught for a ride.

Showing off his catch!

My doo-rag Dad.

Kevin paddlin' in his spearfishin' gear.

Cute.

Kevin loved relaxing on the back while I paddled.