10 months!

 Cole is so big!! Aaahhh! And he is so so much fun. He turned 10 months while we were at Lake Powell, so he has houseboat shots for his most recent milestone. We think that he has the Hatch skin because he only has to be out in the sun for 2 seconds to get tan lines in his rolls! He browns up so so quick when he is in the sun, but I tried to keep him in the shade to keep cool.

 He is still my chunky little monkey and eats everything in sight! Including rocks and sand. Except I think I have found a food that he is not fond of . . . oatmeal! Really? He loves pickles but hates oatmeal?

Cole is sunshine, all the time. He really does make me happy when skies are gray. He does have a pretty awesome warning cry when Ben is coming at him full speed. Can't blame him, his brother is out to get him, I swear. Cole has gotten sick of Ben stealing all of his toys from him, so now whenever Ben swipes one from him Cole just screams at him at full volume. So funny. Ben is reconsidering sharing.

He is quite the mover and the shaker. He does a booty drop dance when we sing "shake your booty." Cole is a super fast crawler these days. He is mastering the art of climbing the stairs and he is so incredibly proud of himself. The only problem is that sometimes he gets so excited he forgets what he is doing and tumbles down. Luckily, we haven't had a major fall yet. . . He loves to speed crawl over to the stairs, crawl up to the first landing and turn around and flash me a huge mischievous grin and squeal. Melts me every time.

His newest trick is throwing. We went on a walk to the lake and of course Ben had to stop and throw rocks. But what was really funny is Cole sat there and watched Ben really closely for about a half an hour and then he picked up a rock and started throwing them too! Now he throws everything. He throws left handed and right handed and double handed over his head. Ben loves that he can play "catch" with him now.

Cole makes this really funny "ooohh" sound and puckered face when he gets really, really excited about something. Makes me laugh everytime!
We love you sunshine!!

powell videos

Dingy Ride from Britta Bruderer on Vimeo.

 So this is when Ben and Scott fell asleep in the dingy and we watched Ben wake up and start rowing himself!!

Playing with Moki from Britta Bruderer on Vimeo.

Ben and Moki had a love/hate relationship for most of the trip. He loved chasing him around and throwing his toy and dragging him across the floor. But he was not a fan on him nipping his heels when he wanted to play. Cole loved Moki. At first they weren't too sure of each other, but Moki was usually pretty soft aside from an occasional playful leap. I swear Cole was saying,"da" in reference to the dog by the end of the trip!

lake powell

 If there isn't a Powell in heaven, I want a refund.

 You know you are up early to ski when the sky still looks like this.

 We hit the lake every morning between 5:30-6:00am to get the glass. Most people think we are nuts, but that is just because they haven't done it. One night we went out to ski right after dinner and I got to ski while the sun was setting and a gigantic harvest moon was rising over the red rock. Pretty sure it never ever gets better than that. Ever.

 You know one of the grandkids is skiing when grandpa has this look on his face.

 But he wears this shirt to remind us who is boss.

 Here are our poor little sleepy heads who sleep in the boat every night and wake up to all of us piling in at the crack of dawn for the morning ski. But this way they don't get left behind!

 Apparently it is now acceptable to get up on two skis if you are 50+. But that is only because Ken decided so. He has given my mom crap for years for getting up on two because of her injured hamstring. But now that he has found it easier, it is cool.

 No trip to Lake Powell is complete without the generator breaking down, or not working at all. The first few days are spent trying to get it going. We had to bring parts down with us. But we got it running!

 We also have to get a ski rope caught in one of the propellers. This year we managed to get it caught in both! My mom and uncle got it stuck on the ski boat propeller and tried not to tell grandpa, but he called them on it. Then it got sucked up into the jet ski. That one required some major surgery (with a serrated kitchen knife), but the rope was salvaged and the jet ski good as new.

 My boys LOVED Lake Powell. The first night was really rough. They both kept waking up every hour or so, and I didn't sleep much at all. But the rest of the trip they wore themselves out every day so by the time bedtime came around they just passed out.

 Scott and Ben took many a dingy ride this trip. I think it was Ben's favorite thing to do!

 They even took a snooze together out on the lake! Ben woke up before Scott. He just looked around grabbed the paddles and started rowing! It was so so funny!

 Grandpa Duane and Cole became best buddies. Cole really does love him. He even gives him loves. So so cute.

 Ben had a blast throwing balls off the top of the houseboat to Becky and Caden and Dillon in the water. He also loved swimming across the cove to throw rocks. Scott and Ben got trapped in a really sudden, really big downpour one day. I watched from the houseboat half amused, half terrified. I knew Ben was probably having a massive meltdown and Scott was panicking. They both made it through the storm.

 Baby Tanner and Cole were the bumbo kings this year. Tanner had his first taste of solids while Cole literally consumed everything in his path.

 He had to make sure the graham crackers were really gone and that I wasn't shorting him!

 Exhaustion won out with Cole eventually. He followed the bumbo baby tradition of Powell of passing out in the bumbo. Right in the middle of his roll. You know he had to be super tired to leave uneaten food on his tray.

 Cole loved watching all the boats drive by. He would wave and wave and wave. If the boat was especially noisy he would say "ooohhh."

 We had an army of pack and plays this year. When everybody was there we had four set up on the roof. Cole and Wayne are only a month apart, and Wayne is younger but so much bigger!

 We wrote Elder Nilsson postcards to let him know how much we miss him and how excited we are to have him back next year. Next year we will be writing postcards to Dillon!

murder mystery on the high seas!

AHOY MATEY!!

We had a murder mystery party one night on the houseboat at Lake Powell. As you can see, everyone gets really into it. My Aunt Julie knows that we are big into pirates, so this year was a pirate themed party!! Here are the players:

THE SCURVY KNAVE CREW

Captain 'Black' Jack McCracken - the dashing Captain of the Scurvy Knave (aka Dillon Richens)

 Sawbones McGraw - the sarcastic but reliable ship's doctor  (aka Scott Bruderer) He was the murderer!! Ya think you know a guy. He even poisoned my own mother with watermelon!

 Quintus Swelter - the vain and sinister ship's cook (aka Kollin Stark)

Tom - the helpful young ship's boy (secretly the governor's younger daughter) (aka Britta Bruderer)

THE FURY CREW

This was the ladies pirate ship. Watch out. They are not as sweet as they look!

 

Captain 'Saucy' Nancy Martin - the bold and fiery Captain of the Fury (aka Gwenya, aka Grandma Gwen) 

I could not get over her wig. People on the boat seriously didn't even recognize her. Wayne was not sure how to respond. Seriously freaked me out! She has never had hair this long in my lifetime! She was so "saucy" all night! and a schemer. Watch out for "Saucy!"

 Alice Tremain - the Fury's shrewd and intellectual 1st Mate (aka Ali Cannon)

 Blaise Richelieu - the temperamental and passionate ship's cook (aka Becky Cannon)

THE COLONIAL FORCES

 Sir Percival Stanforth - the steadfast and rather stuffy Governor of Jamaica (aka Grandpa Duane)

Elizabeth Stanforth - the Governor's desirable (if demanding) elder daughter (aka Libby Dibb)

Captain Hal Overy - the stubborn and blunt Royal Navy Captain (aka Russell Dibb)

TAINO NATIVES

 Hayapitl - the diplomatic Taino chief (aka Grandpa Wayne)

 Tokeleth - the chief's headstrong daughter (aka Grandma Myrna)

OTHER PLAYERS:

 Don Inigo de Velez y Contrera - the aristocratic and condescending Spanish nobleman (aka Ken Richens)

 Bill Pistol - the marooned former pirate, now mad as a brush (aka Caden Dymock, my cousin's best friend and the funniest guy I know! Also considered a member of the family!)

PIRATE BABIES!

 Baby Tanner

 Baby Wayne

 Baby Cole

 Captain Ben - the fearless leader of the baby crew

 Ben had to pose with the boys. He was a pirate too!

 The three musketeers. These three brewed up all kinds of fun the whole week.

ARG!!!!