GREETINGS FROM LAKE POWELL

Padre Bay - where we anchored

Someones disaster after the sandstorm! See the ski boat plowed into the side?

Jumping off the top of the houseboat.

Melanie and John had their 17th anniversary on the houseboat.

I wish I had picutres of everyone, but here's a cute one of Charlotte and Kam

We are just back from Lake Powell, where we were on a houseboat with five of our kids and their children plus Eric's friend, Scott, his wife Stephanie and their baby Zuri. There were 27 of us in all. It was great fun to be with our grandchildren and children. On the way to the lake my car broke down when we were just an hour into our five hour trip. We poured all our bottled water into it and were able to limp it into Payson, AZ. We had to leave it at the dealership in Star Valley, near Payson to get fixed. Angie and her family hadn't left to come up, so we had her pick up Warren's truck on the way and bring it to us. Kai, 4, was riding with us and we had to sit at McDonald's in Payson for 4 1/2 hours while Warren sat at the dealership that long waiting for Angie's kids to get home from school, her husband to finish work before they could leave to rescue us. We didn't get to Page until 11:45 that night. I don't do late nights, so I was really exhausted. The next morning when we checked out the houseboat Warren leaned over and dropped his cell phone to the bottom of the lake. On Saturday night we had a terrible sand storm. We had some warning and were able to get everything off the beach, the top of the house boat and the front and back to the inside and tie down everything we couldn't move. Melanie and John were out on the lake with their kids water skiing and had a hard time getting back, but did make it. However, on their way back they saw a house boat that had tipped over and sunk two ski boats, which were tied to the house boat. We kept hearing distress calls and calls about sunken boats and people out in the channel without life jackets on. The waves were 3 or 4 feet high. Warren kept the engines powered and running full speed into the beach, which is the right thing to do to keep the boat from drifting or tipping. I'm sure it's what saved us from some real problems. Also, the men had to keep the anchor ropes tight to keep us from drifting sideways to the beach, which could have tipped us as well. When the wind died down, Melanie, John and Eric went back to help the people whose houseboat had tipped. They drove all over salvaging their stuff and getting it back on shore and making sure all the people were OK. As it turned out, there were 30 people on that houseboat. The rescue patrol came by just to make sure everyone survived and was safe and said they couldn't come back until they had checked out all the disaster calls. When we drove by on Sunday, people were still there waiting. Some of them had been able to spend the night on nearby houseboats. Up the lake were some campers who lost their tents and everything but their cooler. The only thing they were worried about was dog food for their dogs, but we didn't have any of that. It drizzled all night. Sunday morning it was nice and clear and we had a good ride back down to the marina.
Needless to say, I am completely exhausted. Warren and Scott went back up to Payson yesterday to pick up my car, $400 later. I'm staying home doing laundry and resting. I spent lots of time swimming with my grandchildren, riding wave runners and even going down the slide on the boat into the water. I had lots of FUN. I have always LOVED the water and swimming!

KETSUP

HELLO! I just love this photo Trey took at the Fukuoka, Japan zoo, on his mission. It just seems to say 'hello'.

Two weeks ago we went camping with Angie, Justin and the kids. Riley and her friend Rylie O'Connell, whose family joined us, made a twig fort with a lake in the front. Our Riley drew pictures of her family fishing. Someone is sad because he didn't catch a fish. Oh I love her drawings. Sadly Jessica O'Connell picked up the pictures and burned them just as I was going to collect them and save them. The O'Connell's had two small dirt bikes and a little quad. The Speer kids had so much fun riding them, but I'm sure Angie will post picutres of that.

This past week Theresa and Charlie joined us from Tuesday until Thursday afternoon up at Happy Jack. Charlie had lots of fun learning to drive the quad and the RZR. It was OK at first, but very dusty and dirty. However, Wednesday night it finally rained and riding on Thursday was clean and marvelous. We had such a good time and it was so great to have them join us.

Charlie riding in the bowl near our camp.

The 'clean' ride after the rain. It was such a good time!

This was after the long ride with dad the first day. Can I just say the dust was AWFUL! But, I'm sure Theresa and Charlie had a good time riding with dad. Charlie drove the quad and Theresa drove the RZR.

I am rumbling through the woods behind Theresa and Charlie on the last day of our camp together. We drove 13 miles on backwoods roads and Theresa and Charlie were wondering how I knew where I was going. Dad had his bike loaded up and chose not to go with us this time.

Next week it's off to Lake Powell and five days of house boating with five of our kids and their families. More of that later.