Lake Powell Post 1 (LONG)

(Disclaimer: I'm not entirely sure how I ended up with so many pictures this year so just a forewarning that there are a LOT! and I love all of them so I wanted include all of them, lol) 

Lake Powell was pretty amazing this year. It's fun every year we go but I think because our kids were a little older this year, it made everything a lot easier, and more fun! My kids were the youngest on the boat (no tiny babies this year!) and they were pretty much game for any activity we wanted to do-- Jet-skiing, kayaking, boating, paddle boarding.. We'd just throw them on with us and they were happy as can be. Did some hiking here and there, especially in the first part of the week when it was surprisingly kind of cooler temps outside.. Once things started to warm up, we did a little more swimming and board sports.. Marshall's favorite activity was swimming the last couple days, Ivy's absolute favorite activity was Jet-skiing. She would even go out with Sam to do donuts and couldn't get enough! It cracked me up...

Ivy's happy place. She still talks about the Jet Skis:

Doing donuts with dad:

New water toy this year-- the Lilly Pad. Hilarious to watch:

Mable rides with the cousins! Ivy refused to get on. Marshall didn't mind so much but wasn't the biggest fan of the cold water splashes, lol:

This kid is officially obsessed with steering wheels of any kind. Was in heaven when he had access to the boat wheel:

Hike to Rainbow Bridge:

Later on that evening, a little wake surfing in the sunset:

Houston!

 Before heading out to our annual Lake Powell trip, we took a detour to Houston to split up the drive a little. It was Whitney's birthday and we wanted to stop in for a visit for a few days! Ivy was clearly very excited:

 We stayed at Jeff's and the kids couldn't get enough of Leo, their dog. Ivy even came around to liking him a lot more this visit! Marshall was especially fond of Leo. He couldn't get enough doggy kisses. It was hilarious. Also fun to see their new puppy, Andy, pictured in the lower right picture:

We went up to Memorial City Mall to spend some time with Kelli, Shaun, and my parents for lunch. Rode the train, did a little shopping, played at the playground.. It was a fun day!

 Celebrating Whitney's birthday. She got a shark pajama outfit. Naturally. lol:

 Visiting Tiffany's house with Kynlee and Asher's new power wheels. Kynlee was kind enough to escort my kids around the block. hehe:

Aaaand finally set off on our drive towards AZ for Lake Powell. However, just past Dallas, the AC in our car went out. we stopped in Wichita Falls to check things out, only to find out there were no rental cars available in the entire city?!?! Soooo we had to drive 3 hours to Amarillo without air conditioning to could get a rental car and be on our way! Kids were so tired after being stuck at the car place so long, so even though they were both hot and sweaty, they passed out as soon as we started driving. It was a long 3 hours but luckily the sun was setting, and there were a few storms we past through for a nice breeze here and there. So I guess it could have been worse? Ha! Finally got a rental car and were back on track for Lake Powell! Nothing will stop this group from getting to our destination:

4th of July!

Here are some pictures of our Holiday in our new city! We went swimming in the morning (Marshall wore his festive swim trunks, hehe) and then were invited to some new friends' house for a bbq later that afternoon. We were excited to find they had rented out a bounce obstacle course! It was fun getting to know some new people here in town and we were so grateful they invited us! We had a blast!

 

Was going to attempt a family selfie but neither of my kids were in the mood for pictures that day so this is as close as we got, hehe:

Happy 4th of July!

Warriors Path State Park

Our first week here, we explored a playground about 15 minutes from our house here in Kingsport. It's a great one!  So many different little sections including a cool tree house over-look and a walking path/stream towards the back. The whole theme of the playground is Narnia themed so there are some fun tidbits here and there that are related to the book. It's part of a state park that also has a lake and some hiking trails in it as well.. Lots of stuff to do! I'm sure we will be coming back to visit this park pretty often. :)

June in Kingsport

Just some random summer fun pics from our time in Kingsport right after we moved in.. These first few are from our very first weekend! The power went out on Father's Day Sunday, and then our water was out for almost a whole day the next day! One was the city's fault, the other was a mixup on the water company's end of paperwork for switching to our name. Such an eventful weekend! lol:

Didn't want any pictures on Father's day so this was the closest I got... Enjoying root beer floats on our new porch:

We were able to get discounted memberships to the YMCA here in town, that also happens to have a little water center attached to it! So we spent many days here. The kids LOVE it:

Found our tent when we moved so dad decided to set it up in our new yard. Ivy was determined to spend the night in it so her and Sam slept out there for a night! Haha!

Bedhead:

Enjoying our new driveway. Our house is on a hill but theres at least a little bit of flat right near our garage..