Lake Powell 2010

We had another great vacation with our cousins at Lake Powell this year. A couple more storms than usual, but they didn't stick around. Beautiful skies, smooth water, and an overall good time was had by all. We were there from the 11th through the 20th of August. Joining us on our "cruise" this year with Eric and Machelle and their three kids were some other cousins, Marci and Evan with three of their kids. We hadn't seen them since the last time they came out to Lake Powell 8-10 years ago.

I've got a bunch of pictures I would like to share. I'll see how many I can get in this post.

It will be tough to narrow down the choices. The first shows off the latest thing in boating...it's called wake surfing. You can actually surf the wake behind a boat if it is going the right speed (8-10 MPH) and you have it weighted right (all on the side you are trying to surf. It's a blast and falls don't hurt at all because the speed is so much slower than other activities.

Picture #2 shows off just how beautiful the sky can be at Lake Powell.

Ade and I went on a hike with Machelle, Matt, and Robbi (Kayla). Here's a shot from the top of the ridge we climbed.

And here's another shot from almost the same vantage point. You can see our ski boat (Wipeout) way down below on the lake.

It has been a few years since I tried slalom skiing. They have a beginner ski and Eric's ski. The beginner ski hurts my back foot and Eric's ski is pro level (very very difficult). I had never tried Eric's since everyone basically said it would be virtually impossible for me to control it coming out of the water...well after 3 tries I proved I could. By the way, I was being pulled at 34 MPH at this point. I didn't wreck, I just got too tired and let go. This really works your core muscles.

And here is Eric showing how slalom skiing is really done on his own ski. He is usually being pulled between 38 and 40 MPH depending on how smooth the water is.

Getting ready for Australia

It's been a pretty busy couple of weeks. My mom came out to visit Utah. My parents had been thinking of buying a home out this way to eventually retire too...and they picked one out. Looks like they will close on the house next Tuesday. In the meantime, my mom has been going back and forth between my sister's apartment, my house, and our friends' home (Kay and Henry).

Ade and I bought some items for our trip over the weekend. We even got a couple of suitcases to make sure we had some of the right size (thanks to mom and dad buying one of the two). We leave on our trip Thursday and we can hardly wait. We'll try to post activities and photos as often as possible while we are gone.

BYU vs Oklahoma

Labor day weekend we had an amazing opportunity. Through the generosity of dear friends we were able to go to the BYU vs. Oklahoma Football game at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. It was 15,000 BYU fans vs. 60,000 Sooner faithful (it's only about a 3 hour drive from their campus). The odds in Vegas were that we would lose by 22 or more, but we pulled it out in the end. 14-13 winning on a 4th quarter touchdown drive. Probably the funnest football game Adrienne and I have ever been to.

This first picture is the outside of the stadium. It is unbelievably large. That said, 1/3 of it is below ground. You can't even see the field from the outside windows because it is so far below ground level.

There is a 60 yard wide HD monitor inside to watch game action and replays (actually there are two...one facing each sideline). This was a great shot of the BYU logo.

We flew out on Southwest Airlines. In a strange twist of chance, we were on the flight with the entire BYU cheer squad. They were practicing lifts during the layover in Albuquerque. They even sang the BYU fight song over the loudspeaker on the plane.

Here's a shot of most of those in our group right after the game ended. The Sooner fans took off immediately but most of the BYU fans stuck around to cheer the team and enjoy the moment. From left to right we have Diana, Trent, Dave, Carol, Adrienne and Jason (me).

On Labor Day itself, we played in a 2-2 volleyball tournament at UVU. I'll have to share a picture or two from that later. I took 2nd on the men's side and Adrienne took 3rd on the women's side. It was a lot of fun, but I was cramping up in my right calf the last 3 games of the tournament. I think Caleb and I would have had a good chance of winning it all if I had been in better condition (we lost by two in the championship).

Catching up part 1 - Lake Powell

Sorry that we messed up our usual posting schedule last week. We were away at Lake Powell with our cousins (Eric, Machelle, Matt, Rachael, and Sable) and some of their friends from Florida (Mark, Ginger, Brian, and Bailey). It was a wonderful trip and it was great to meet our cousins' friends. Their daughter is starting school at the University of Utah and has a ballet scholarship. We were at the lake for 8 days and did all kinds of fun things.

This first shot has Sable and Bailey getting bounced around on the tube the first day at the lake. Sable was tossed first, but Bailey followed right after.

We took a trip to "Hole in the Rock" and hiked to the top. This is the place that some Mormon Pioneers blasted and dug a path from the plateau down to the river (which is now a lake/reservoir) so that they could cross.
Here is the whole crew. We made sure and got a picture with everyone together and used my camera timer to get it done. From left to right and starting in the back row. Jason (me), Mark, Brian, Matt, Eric, Machelle, Bailey, Adrienne (my wife), Ginger, Sable and Rachael.
We actually did a few hikes this year. This one was up the San Juan at one of Machelle's favorite canyons. Makes Matt look rather small. I can't believe he is a freshman at FSU now.

The new toy this year was the Wake-Surfboard. Wake-surfing is done right behind the boat. You start with a rope. Once you find the groove you toss the rope and surf the wake just like a wave at the beach. Rachael was the best at it in our group so I thought I'd share a picture of her.

Here I am up the Escalante arm of the lake wake boarding. This shot looks nice, but a few seconds later I took a nose dive.

Back from St. George

Last week was tough at work for me. Not much going on with any of my clients. It was great to get away for the weekend to St George and recharge. We stayed with the Todds and hung out with all the kids and grandkids all weekend. It's great when all the little ones just pile up on us and play.

Also, our good friends Brent and Andrea just had their baby (Gabriel) a week ago so we spent time with them too.

I thought I was keeping in pretty good shape with basketball and volleyball each week, but a little game of two-hand touch football has shown me new levels of soreness in some areas that I haven't used in a while. It was still fun no matter how much I'm paying for it now. I do wish I had brought cleats though. It would have been that much better.

Sunday it was tough to leave. There was great food and some great times just relaxing on the couch. We didn't get home until close to midnight.

Well, I'm back to work today and I feel much more energized than last week...so mission accomplished.

Lake Powell/Adoption Approval

Sorry that we haven't been posting much the last week or two. We got back Tuesday from Lake Powell. It was such a fun trip and we love hanging out with our cousin's Eric and Machelle (and their kids Matt, Rae, and Sable). We only get to hang out once or twice a year with them and I can't believe how much they've grown. It was just Adrienne and I that went with their family. We parked the house boat in 3 different canyons. The second one (Reflection Canyon) had and amazing echo and beautiful scenery. The finished the trip up San Juan Canyon and our spot had a great view into one of the bays.

The weather was fantastic!!! It only rained one night the entire trip. Everyday we hiked, swam, rode the wave-runners, skied, wake boarded, and road the tube. We watched movies, played board games, and basically had a blast the whole trip. We even ate gourmet food most days. Grilled salmon, shrimp tacos, grilled pizza (trust me, it's awesome), and many more dishes kept us very satisfied the whole trip.

When we got back to civilization, Adrienne and I hurried back to work for a couple hours on Tuesday and even managed to get our materials turned in for approval at LDS Family Services. They had a meeting Wednesday and we are now officially approved for adoption!!! I can't believe we're finally to this stage. It's taken 6 months to get to this point and now, finally, prospective birth parents can view our profile and consider us for placement.

I have tons of pictures from the trip and will definitely add some in the near future.