Lake Powell 2011

My sister Robyn has been going to Lake Powell with her in-laws for years and years (and multiple times each year). Our side of the family went with them for the first time about 3 or 4 years ago. This was, of course, the first time I went with my very own family - Matt, Tyler, and Amy. This was there first time. Emily was at EFY that week so she couldn't make it. We'd been planning this family vacation for months. It turned out to come at a time when we especially needed some time away to be with family and distracted from life.

Matt and I picked up Tyler and Amy Sunday evening (July 31). We drove to Price, stayed in a hotel that night before finishing the drive the next morning. Luckily there is cell service where the house boat was this year. We were able to call and let Troy know when we were going to arrive. He came with his boat, Ann-Marie and John were on wave runners. We loaded everything onto the boat, Tyler joined John on the back of the wave runner, and we were off.

We got to the houseboat and within minutes Tyler and Amy were in their swimming suits and being shown around the boat and told about all the activities by their cousins. How grateful I am for family. Matt and I got all our things in and got settled, including setting up a tent on the beach that we'd be sleeping in while we were there. We got to take a spin on the wave runners later that afternoon and so enjoyed the time together. I really like that Matthew Jared Cornish!

While Matt and I were out on the wave runners Amy and Tyler were busy swimming, jumping off the high dive, and trying out the knee board. We hardly saw them, which seemed evidence that they were having a great time.

I wish I had a picture of Tyler on the wave runner. That is perhaps my favorite memory of him from the trip... his hair dried from the wind and a huge grin while cruising across the water. What a good kid. Here's Tyler getting ready to try the knee board:
Here is Miss Amy Elizabeth after a jump off the high dive. Johno reported to me later that she was really nervous but she did it; and after the first jump she immediately ran back up to the top deck to do it again. I wasn't too surprised. I sure like her face!
Matt said he went water skiing once as a young teenager. I didn't expect his lack of experience to stop him from being completely successful. He was up on his first attempt. He really had a good time out on the water. It was on his second time up that he figured out how to get outside the wake. That was trickier (according to Matt) on the water skis than on the knee board. We don't have any pictures of either of us on the knee board, but that was a lot of fun. I didn't try it until the end, but we had a great time figuring out how to get over the wake and then holding on with one hand. We looked pretty awes (if I do say so myself). Here's Matt his first time up.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this trip is how much time the cousins spend together. Here's Tyler, Jess, Lillian, and the daughter of one of the other families (I can't remember her name) just hanging out on the boat ready for a ride.

I was especially grateful for my sisters on this trip. Here are Ann-Marie and Robyn on the back of the house boat applauding the successes of the kids, watching little ones swimming, and wrapping kids up in towels when they come dripping back onto the boat. Caroline had to leave the same day we arrived. Robyn is the mama of the boat. When she told one of the boys that the treat closet was closed he was quite put out. He went over to his dad and said, "She thinks she's the boss." His dad said, "She IS the boss." We all laughed.

Uncle Troy is a great teacher. He didn't give up on me trying to get up on the skis a few years ago. Here he is helping Ash-Anna Banana on the knee board.

I just love scenes like this... one teaching another. Uncle Matt worked with Johno to get him up and going on the knee board. Some little people can start off kneeling (unlike us not-as-little-people who have to pull ourselves up on the board once it's being pulled by the boat).

And he's up! He had a great run.

A couple days into the trip we packed up the boat with the Cornishes, Bensons, and Seelys and took off to go cave swimming and get ice-cream and the dock. We parked the boat in the cave entrance and jumped in (Amy and Tyler in the "ready-to-jump" position).

Cousins, Alexa Ann and Ash-Anna Banana.

I couldn't believe how much warmer the water was once we got outside of the cave. Here we are, the floating Cornishes! We all swam out into the warmer water and Robyn took our picture. It makes me happy.

On our way out from cave swimming we boated past this row of little caves. Matt, Tyler, and John all wanted to try and climb up into them. Lake Powell is full of fun places to explore. You can't pass up opportunities like that.

This is John and Tyler trying to find a way up into one of the caves. They were quite proud of themselves once they'd made it (cue Rocky theme music). Matt Picked a different cave. He made it up as well and found some good hand holds that made it easier for others to come behind.

Pretty soon everyone had abandoned the boat except Ann-Marie and Robyn and Robert (someone had to be captain). Between Matt, John, and I we got all the little ones up into the cave. They all came out with a handful of rocks that they wanted to take back with them to the boat. There is something about kids and rocks. I love it! Only a few of the rocks survived the swim back. Maybe, just maybe, there are other rocks that are looking for a good home.

A quick family (minus Emily, darn-it) picture in the cave. It was really quick cause each little fanny was frying on the hot rock.
Matthew Jared and Tyler Jared. Sure do love those two boys!

The last day on Lake Powell has been lovingly labeled "Black Saturday" (or Thursday, in this case). It really isn't bad - it's just a lot of cleaning and packing and moving. There was a glitch here and there (like the house boat being stuck in the sand and having to be pulled by a boat and pushed from behind by all the adults), but mostly everyone pitched in to get the whole place ship shape. It wasn't long at all before Amy and Tyler were zonked out in the back seat as we drove home. Matt and I had a few hours to talk about some recent struggles and be reminded of how grateful we are to be in this life together. I loved every minute of it. What a blessing it is to have family and friends, and to have the gospel of Jesus Christ help us make it through the storms.

Rush to the River - Girls Camp 2011

I have been working in the Young Women program since March. I was overwhelmed, to say the least, at accepting the calling. I was so new to the ward, knew almost nobody, and hadn't been involved in the Young Women program since I was a young woman myself. Ahhh...

The first major events that we planned and carried out were fundraisers for girls camp. Girls camp...?!? I was nervous and excited for it the first time it was brought up. As the first weeks in this calling passed I looked forward more and more to girls camp as a unique opportunity to get to know the girls. It ended up being a great experience.

We ended up doing a river rafting trip down the Colorado river. There was a lot that had to take place in order for us to pull that off. We worked like crazy and things came together. We met at the church at 5:30am on Thursday 28 July to load cars before we headed down to Moab. I had Tiauna W., Chantell C., Tori G., and Arissa W., in my car. I really enjoyed the drive down. We chatted, the girls made friendship bracelets, got stuck in traffic, made a few potty/stretch your legs breaks, and arrived at the World Wide Rafting warehouses by 10am.

From there everyone changed, transferred bags to the rafting trailer that would be meeting us at the camp sites each night, and loaded up the big, white bus that took us about an hour up river. It was going to take us two and a half days to make it back down the river.

There was a good feeling about the girls. The bishopric and one dad were also with us. They were a lot of fun and seemed to really enjoy the experience. I know the girls enjoyed getting to know them better. Throwing the bishop into the river (or trying and failing over and over) is a great way to get to know him better. And all the bishopric loved plotting and planning attacks. Bro. Dahmer would get the Beehives in on a plan and then call out "Beehives SWARM!!" and they would attack.

I was continually impressed with how the girls worked together. There were 3 rafts, two "wet" rafts that were blue and one yellow "dry" raft. There were also 3 duckies that were constantly in use. Two girls could fit in each one. When we arrived at camp both evenings the trailer had to be unloaded and tents set up. Then there were camp crafts or activities.


I think one of the best realities of camp was that we were all together the whole time...and we enjoyed each other. Each of the advisers has talked with their classes about how they felt about camp. By all accounts, that is what the girls enjoyed, too.

Some of my favorite things were watching the girls chat as they braided each others hair, conversations with girls while on the dry boat and during meals, the girls concern for my comfort and when they would ask about being pregnant, watching them set up and take down their tents together, and the hugs at the end. There is a thing or two I would add if I could, but all in all I sure loved being with these girls and getting to know them. I'm so grateful to be able to work with them.