Fourth of July 2019

Fourth of July at Payson Lakes wearing our homemade Ts.

 We loved spending the day at Payson Lakes last Fourth of July, so we decided to to it again this year. We rolled out of Elk Ridge about 8:40am, and got up the canyon is decent time. We had invited Aaron's side of the family to go with us, and we were in charge of getting up there and saving a spot on the shore. Except.....there was no shore! We've had such a wet winter and spring that the lake was very full, and the sand on the beaches was no where to be found.

After walking around a bit, we found a little grassy area behind the path, that had a good spot for kayaks to dock. Ruby and Cal and Ollie and Adelia and I staked our claims, while Aaron and Lincoln and Ivan ferried all our food, coolers, towels, umbrella, etc. across the lake by kayak. The last load Aaron brought over was a watermelon, and I couldn't help but laugh at how funny he looked rowing with it on his lap. I told him (eight months pregnant that I am) that I knew exactly how he was feeling.

Lincoln

Aaron ferrying the watermelon across.

 We hardly got our spot set up, when the kids were off like a shot into the water on the kayaks. The weather was gloriously cool, like in the high 60s low 70s, at least in the shade where we were sitting. It did warm up as the sun rose up over the pine trees. And there were a couple of times I was warm enough to go stick my hands or feet in the water, but I never got too hot, or over heated. My hands and feet never swelled. I was so worried that I was going to get too hot and not be able to get cool, and then we'd have to leave and I'd ruin the day for my kids. But the weather played so nice. It was warm enough to be on the lake without freezing, but cool enough to sit in a chair next to the lake and be comfortable. We couldn't have asked for anything better. And even though there were a lot of people at the lake, fishing or riding bikes, there weren't very many boats ON the lake, so when we were out in the kayaks it almost felt like we had the place to ourselves.

Ivan

 We brought our three kayaks, and Aaron's parents came and brought two more kayaks and two inner-tubes. Kelly and Esther also came up with their three boys. Adelia was the queen of the kayak and took to it like a fish takes to water. She towed her siblings and cousins all over the lake. Ollie and Ruby and Eli had a good time paddling around in the kayak that we tethered to the shore to keep them from going out very deep. Cal and Levi played in or got towed on the inner tubes, and threw rocks into the water, and ate all the delicious food. I hardly even saw Lincoln and Ivan, they were our on the water so much. Everyone did a pretty good job of sharing kayaks and rotating through turns. I was even able to find a life jacket that would fit me, and Aaron and I got to go out together a time or two. It was magnificent to be on the lake, our in nature, using my body (or at least my arms) to do something physical. This has probably been the fastest, best day of my pregnancy because I didn't feel like garbage the whole day.

Adelia

Ollie

Back of Ruby's head

Cal

Ivan (far), Lincoln (middle), Ollie (close) 

Krystal pregnant with Lucky #7

Aaron said I reminded him of Rosie the Riveter with my headband, so I had to do the pose. 

 We stayed at the lake until about 6pm, much longer than I had anticipated even in my best-case-scenario dreams. So it was a really good day. Kelly and Esther came back to our house with us afterwards. We whipped up some tacos for dinner and the kids watched a cartoon spiderman. Then at about 8pm we started rounding up sweatshirts and blankets (because the weather had turned cold and windy) and loaded up in cars and headed down to Nephi to watch the firework show at Juab High School. They put on a good show. We sat so close we were right underneath the fireworks. The fireworks echoed off the mountains and the school building behind us, and they were LOUD. Ruby cried for the first bit. Cal didn't cry, but he was on my lap and kept ducking his head under the blanket every time a boom went off, but then he couldn't stand not to see the flashes of light, so he'd bob his head back out again. The video I took of him saying, "Wow Mom WOW! So wows!" Pretty well sums up how he was for the entire show. He makes me laugh. The thing I love about fireworks in Nephi, is that you don't have to wait a million years in traffic before you can get out of the parking lot. It clears quickly, and it's right next to the freeway, so we were on our way home in a jiffy. On the way home 5/6 kids fell asleep. I can't remember the last time that happened. Cal was the one who stayed awake, but that's because he had a two hour nap in between the lake and fireworks. I will probably be REALLY sore, and tired tomorrow, but I loved every minute of this day. It was the perfect day.

Adelia, Asher, Levi, Esther, Kelly, Ruby, Ollie (standing), Krystal holding Cal, Eli, Lincoln, Ivan, and Aaron taking the picture. Firework show in Nephi at Juab High School.

Krystal and Cal. It was windy and cold.

Cal wasn't sure about the fireworks at first.