My BOAT!!!

 I love boats!  I grew up having a boat.  My family would take lots of vacations to Lake Powell every year with our boat.  My grandma and grandpa Quayle gave us this boat.  They always had boats.  I have so many fun family memories on our boat, probably my favorite memories of growing up were spent at the lake.  Then one day our boat died.  I'm pretty sure my brother Jeff sunk it, or forgot to put the plug in and it ruined it and my dad didn't want to pay to get it fixed.  Either way the boat was gone and we were all so sad!  Then when I got married I told Andy that someday we would have a boat.  I wanted our family to have fun out on the water they way my family did growing up.  But honestly I didn't expect this to happen until our kids were a little older, possibly 5 years down the road, but we found a really good deal on one and we couldn't pass it up.  

It's a small 1988 open bow with an in board motor.  We absolutely love it!!!  We've already taken it out 7 times so far this year, 1 of those times was to Lake Powell.  Our kids have already learned that they have to keep their life jackets on and they don't fight us at all.  As long as we keep snacks, goodies and Bronx's binki with us then we usually don't have any troubles with them trying to go over board.

We really didn't know what we were doing, and pretty much had to just learn on our own, it was a little scary.  But we're getting pretty good at it now. 

Here's a look into how much fun we've been having so far....

This was our first trip on the boat. It was still cold so we were all wearing jackets :)

This was also mine and Dodger's first time driving

We've taken some friends (the Millwards) out with us a few times.  Danny has a wet suit and so we let him try it out and go skiing. 

 Beth and Carson

Danny decided to use the knee board as a surf board.  This guy apparently has some pretty good balance.

We took my Dad and Billie out with us one morning.  I actually decided to borrow Danny's wet suit and try skiing this time.  The water was FREEZING but the wet suit helped a ton.

Then of course Dodger wanted to get in so he went with me on the tube

And then it was Bronxie's turn.  My feet were so cold from dragging in the water that my toes turned white.

One Saturday morning we asked Michelle and Alex to come with us.  They decided to be brave and try and ride the banana.  We promised them that they wouldn't get wet, since the water was still super cold.  Welp, sorry girls... they totally fell in.

Then Andy decided to brave the cold water and jumped in completely voluntarily on his own and skied.  He popped up right out of the water and did really good.

Me and Dodger riding the Banana, we did a little better than Michelle and Alex, we never got wet.

Our first trip to Lake Powell

We found a sandy beach to stop and have lunch and look for sea shells.

This is what happens to cute little bums without a swim diaper on

We stopped for a little while and jumped in and swam.  The water was still a little chilly so the boys mostly just stayed in the tube.

I love this picture, it's Bronx to a T!!!  On the boat he's allowed to have his binki and pretty much as much candy as he wants.  Look at that smile!  He's just livin it up and soaking up some rays. 

They were completely exhausted after the lake.  They were both out within minutes of starting our drive home.