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7/14/2013

Family for the 4th


We had an awesome fourth of July vacation a couple of weeks ago. This is quite the post, I just have to post when I get a few minutes, or else time flies by like the last time I posted!
On June 28th we left work and drove down to Provo to meet my family, where Skyler opened his mission call. He is going to Belo Horizonte, Brazil and leaves in November. So proud of him!!
The next day we all drove down to Lake Powell where my parents rented a houseboat and two jet skis. We were all so stoked, and after a bit of a learning curve, we were on our way. That night I was able to ride one of the jetskis all by myself and it was so relaxing with the heat coming off the canyons and the cool air through my hair, I could do that every single day.


The next day we traveled further up Lake Powell in the boat to Padre Bay. Oh, and Damon caught a fish! From Sunday to Wednesday, we fished, read, swam, jetskiid, cliff jumped, hiked, and slept on the top of the boat under the stars because it was so incredible hot inside at night.
Oh of our favorite anecdotes from the trip was the second morning Damon claimed he saw a "huge white rat" on the boat the night before, we all were like "suuurree Damon." Two hour later I hear my mom squeal "There's the mouse!" There was a little mouse on the boat! They are able to get on the boat by climbing on the anchor ropes. So after a while the men were able to catch the mouse in an intertube and finally flung it off the back of the boat into the water, and when it hit the water the poor thing started frantically swimming to our boat, who knew they could swim!? So then, with my dad's encouragement, Jared started wacking the thing with a broom, and after a few good hits it went spread eagle and sank. Poor disgusting little mouse.
I caught 4 fish the whole time, though no pictures here, they are on other people's cameras, and Jared caught one as well.
After a great 5 days, we packed up and boated back to Waweap Bay, unloaded the boat, then hit the streets again back to Salt Lake. Lance and Nicole came with us, and we stopped at this absolutely delicious diner in Kanab called Big Al's, then we stopped at the Moqui cave, per Jared's request, and had a really cool tour. We got in to the hotel in West Jordan later that night, and were all so beat.
The next morning (the 4th) we all woke up and went to see the Lone Ranger, or as I like to call it, Jack Sparrow in face paint with a bird on his head, then right after the movie, Jared went to pick his parents up from the airport to drive with them back to Boise. I was originally going to go with them, but unfortunately, my sweet Grandpa Bunch passed away, and I decided to stay in Salt Lake an extra day to be able to go to the funeral.
That night we were able to see cousins we haven't seen in years, and have a great 4th of July, complete with an aerial firework tipping over. (that video is on facebook...)




The following day, we woke up and went to the church for Grandpa's funeral. I have never been to a funeral before, so this was all a new experience. It was a wonderful service, and one of my most favorite moments of my life happened there. My Grandpa has 22 grandkids, and 20 of us were there, and we all sang "My Heavenly Father Loves Me", that is until most of us started bawling towards the end of the 2nd verse. It was so neat, and I could feel Grandpa there so strong, and so proud. We then went to the graveside service, where my Grandpa had a veteran's grave dedication, they played Taps and folded the flag that covered his casket and gave it to my Grandma.
After that we went back to the church for a luncheon with the family. It was so good to be with everyone. MAN we are a good looking "Bunch" don't you think?

That night I flew back to Boise to be with Jared's parents and Ethan and Kaytlin. We had a great weekend! We went shopping, and played games, and spent great time together. Saturday night we all went out to Solid for a delicious dinner, and Sunday we spent recuperating from our vacation by playing Thomas Hearts and Ripple.
Jared's Dad was kind enough to help out with some things in the back yard, and Sarah and I were able to hang out and talk. I wish they were all able to stay longer, but alas, work never ends, and everyone had to get back to it. Ethan and Kaytlin left Sunday night, and Dwayne and Sarah took off Wednesday morning.
It was a fantastic almost 2 weeks we had, and it really made us want to be closer to family. We love everyone we were able to see, and miss everyone we didn't see.