Provo River Float

My week up here at the Wride Reunion did not totally start off on the right foot... Katharine wanted to sleep with us last night, and for some reason I thought it would be ok. I had to keep her from Corey though, so I put myself in between them, but the bed was smaller than our king, so she was literally kicking me every 3-5 minutes from midnight to 3:30 am. At 3:19 I texted Corey and said "This is the worst night's 'sleep' I've had in a while..." When Corey woke up, he said with some relief in his voice "That wasn't so bad sleeping with Katharine!" I didn't agree, and said "I texted you..." and he checked my text and saw the time. I was still able to make it out on our first ride, but I did take a morning nap. We rode Mother Urban with Joseph, then came down Mid Mountain, Jenni's, and Loose Moose. It was a good ride. Then I took a nap while Abi made breakfast, I did reunion and Relief Society stuff from 12 - 12:45. Terry texted me that she'd had a busy morning greeting 6 emerging butterflies, yay! I'm ok that I missed sending them off, even though I still think it would have been fun to share it with family and people here. It would have just been a bit much to try and carefully transport them up, as we were already pushing ourselves and had reached our max stress capacity. 

So today, Mark had arranged and planned for all of us to float the Provo River. I would have been ok to miss it had the opportunity presented itself, but since I'd never gone, and because everyone was going, I  followed along and it was good. It was about what I expected, it was fun and nice. Peter and Katharine are ready to go!

Sophi, Natalie and Abi at the "put in" point 

Everyone chose their water vehicle, found a life vest, and put on sunblock. I got a yellow boat for me and Peter. But then he ended up going with Rhyan, so I followed Corey who had Katharine.

It was Katharine's first time too, and she was definitely out of her comfort zone. It was a bit cold getting in, and then anytime she got a little splashed, she was very sad. 

Next time I think we'll go for a larger boat. My phone was safe in a floating waterproof pouch that was secured to my vest, but it did make it challenging to use, and also I could not really see in the full sunlight, so I took a blind video of us doing my best to guess where the focus should be. These are two screen shots of it. She was not screaming out in terror in the pic below, she was saying "I sad!"

She was ok if Corey kept one arm around her belly, but when he took it off to paddle, she felt vulnerable.  It was good for the two of us to stick together. I didn't have a paddle, but I was able to hold onto the rope on Corey's tube and turn him around, that way one of us was always facing forward and could see. 

We avoided most of the low hanging branches and baby rapids. Ethan and Hyrum were on kayaks and were chasing everyone down and soaking them with their water guns. Especially Mel and Lily. Lily's raft got a few holes and she joined onto us near the end to keep her from sinking. There is one point where you have to exit the river and put in again, and at that spot, Corey got out with K and they walked the rest of the way. He thought it was just a short walk but it was kinda long. But K was happier to be out of the water. I took Lily's deflated raft as my back cushion and I was almost on a chair, so that was good. I joined up with Bella and it was great, everyone had fun, Wayne was waiting for us at the bottom and took 3 drivers up to get the cars. Kids played on the playground until they were back, then we loaded back up the boats and hurried back to the hotel. We made dinner tonight - Corey and Jeremy had agreed this past Sunday (J came to apologize for Pineview) to a fatted calf peace offering (tri tip steak) and so they grilled that up. 

It's been a long while since we've had Corey's Brazilian steak. Abi made mashed potatoes for the side and steamed mixed vegetables, plus a salad and rolls. It was a feast. Thanks Abi. (She's agreed to be our main chef this week.)

We watched episodes 4 and 5 of "The House" tonight with extended family and ate leftover dessert bars for the treat. Ethan has been staying up late every night and is almost ready with the finale to show us before Joseph and Eliza leave on Wednesday. :) He did a good job, these videos will be a treasure for many years to come.