A Trip Down the River...

On Saturday we took a trip down the Provo River. Jamie, Dallin, Shalane, Justin, Jennifer, Clarence, Carlee and little C all came too. We had a pretty fun time although we had a few obstacles along the way. Steve, Maddy(What were we thinking?) and I were in a raft together. Just a little tip to any of you who do this in the future-don't take a 2 year old-he cried almost the whole time and wanted to sit on my lap which made it hard to row. We had quite a few encounters with the branches and trees on the sides of the river and some big rocks that we got our raft centered on. All three of us got smacked in the head by each others paddles We also couldn't seem to get away from a huge group of highly wasted kids. I must admit they did make our ride quite a bit more entertaining. Finally by the time we were done(go figure) Steve and I had a pretty good rowing system down and Maddy had stopped crying. My plan was to not get wet-we were pretty soaked by the time we got out.

Here is a picture of most of us(minus Clarence, little C, Jamie, Dallin and Avery) before we loaded up and went on our way.

After Clarence got all of the rafts blown up at Vivian Park we piled everyone into Steve's truck, 6 in the truck, 3 rafts, 1 tube, and 4 people holding them down in the bed. As we were driving Steve said "I better not get a ticket." We kind of all joked about it and said we would all pitch in to pay for it if he did. As we turned into our entrance to the river a cop was waiting right there. He just looked at us questionably(as we all held our breath) and fortunately went on his way.

We were the first to finish and couldn't get over to the side fast enough so Steve had to jump in the river and push us over. Can I just say I'm glad he's the man and not me-that water was ice cold! My brother Justin was on the single yellow tube in the picture and he came in with us.

Shalane(the single rower), Jamie, Carlee and Dallin were the next to come in. Carlee and Dallin were sports, even laughing when they got wet. Dallin was upset for the first 10 minutes of the 1 1/2 hours of the trip. Then he began to have fun and even told his mom that it was the best day ever.

Clarence and little C were the last ones to make it. Clarence was slowed down from rescuing a family(with 4 kids) that had flipped over. He even got out of the raft to let a mom in and swam in the ice cold water! What a man!

The men of the group. Thank heavens we had them-I don't know how we would've done it without them! They pretty much had to pull everyone in.

My sister Jennifer insisted on staying behind with Avery so I could go down the river since it was the first time for me(they go down the river in Texas where they live a lot.) She also took pictures as we came it. Thanks so much Jen! You are spoiling the kids rotten and I'm worried when you leave Avery is going to expect all the attention you are giving her.

Smiling...Giggling...Laughing...

Maddy's favorite part was playing on the playground and in the sand at Vivian Park after the river trip...

The kids left completely filthy due to Maddy throwing sand on them. If you look closely you can even see dirt on Maddy's nose. Needless to say they rode home in their diaper and underwear and then went right into the tub.