houseboat

so b and i went to utah on june 30, dumped our moving boxes, and less than 48 hours later we hopped a plane to las vegas to meet up with the rest of my family [parents, siblings, bro-in-law, dog and grandparents] and boarded a houseboat on lake mead.

i was originally concerned with the trip due to lack of internet, cell service, etc...i get freaked out if i'm not continually connected and busy, so i was nervous i wouldn't have enough to do. BUT, maybe because of our crazy utah trip OR because i actually do like relaxing more than i thought, i had a great time.



we loaded up a TON of stuff [a week's worth of food for nine people is a lot!] on the ski boat and cruised it over to the houseboat. seriously. only one person could fit in the boat because of all our stuff:



during the trip, i read three books, played board games, ate snacks, went swimming, wakeboarded, tubed, cruised the lake, took naps, talked with my fam. it was glorious. but i was ready to come home when it was over :)

other highlights of the week included marveling at the amazing scenery [and dodging thunderstorms...kind of hard to sleep on the roof of the boat when there's a full moon, lightning storms and gale force winds. we spent the rest of the nights in the air conditioned cabin]:





here's grant, my grandad and b -- they all wore plaid shorts on our departure day. cute matching boys:



we were out over the 4th of july [my favorite holiday!] and sadly didn't get to participate in any fireworks displays due to drought warnings. that didn't stop us from posting the colors [AND rocking out to a little neil diamond] though -- my dad is a great little flag attendant:



i grew up boating every summer with my family; we hadn't been all together out on the boat since before i got married. it was so much fun hanging out with my sister & brother, just like the old days [though we are all much too big to ride tubes together behind the boat now, like we used to]. a few of our favorite token myspace [and highly photo-shopped] shots:





and of course no boating trip is complete without some type of injury...this time, in a very uncharacteristic manner, it was me! check out this sweet bruise -- i never get things like this, so i was proud of it. all you need is one good wipeout on the tube and you too can have a war wound like mine:



hopefully we don't have to wait another three years for a trip like this :)