Porching

A few weeks ago, we checked out of reality and checked into a spacious cabin at Hawley Lake for our first Melzer Reunion. One week of porching for Anna and Clara. I had the idea a bit ago to do it with all my siblings and Kathryn made it happen. Hawley Lake is home to a couple hundred (or so) cabins that people built when they were leasing the land from the Apaches. The Apaches chose not to renew the leases and took over the cabins. According to the Hawley Lake website, some people "donated" their cabins for the tax benefit. I, on the other hand, would have been among the few that either burned or destroyed my cabin so as to not let someone else benefit from the cabin I paid to build. Most of the cabins are uninhabitable in their current condition. I got sad every time I saw them. It is one thing to take someone's cabin to rent out, but to take it and just let it go to waste. Well, that is just downright sad. Fortunately, the food, the company and nature itself was more than adequate to provide me with a most enjoyable week. It's been three years since I've taken a week vacation where I had no internet and no phone access.

Clara and I rode up with Kathryn and her girls Thursday. Actual departure time was slightly later than planned, which is why Kathryn told Ryan we were "Behind a Fed-Ex truck" when he asked where we were several hours after we were supposed to leave. Too bad the Fed-Ex truck was just a few miles away from my house!

The cabin we stayed in was perfect. It wasn't luxurious, but the size and layout were great. There were seven bedrooms and five bathrooms. Two of the bedrooms in the main area had the bathrooms in the room. One of the bedrooms and bathrooms became "the loft" or what the kids called, "our cabin". It was a detached room above the garage where the older kids (James, Alexis, Justin, Lily, Casey Ann and Micah) slept and showered. It was so nice not having to try to keep them quiet after the babies were in bed every night and I'm sure they loved having their own space.

Everyone except my dad came Thursday. He came on Friday. Until Sunday night, everyone that was coming was there. We missed Emily, Mick and Daniel, but next year we might just have our reunion in California so Emily and Mick can be there. Their kids were still there, which is half the fun.

Jason spent most of the first two days fishing and I realized a vacation near a lake will never be a family vacation for us until the kids are much older. I was telling him how I wished he'd choose to spend time with Clara and me instead of fishing all day to which he replied. "Honey, don't be sad. I love fishing." Oh wait, I'm pretty sure that's the problem: you love fishing, not me!

During the week we played games, read lots of books, went on walks/hikes, explored and just enjoyed the beautiful earth. I, of course, took about 900 too many pictures (my total count was over 1200, woops!) But I couldn't get enough of my cute family and the lovely things around me. I went through all my pictures and selected about 300 that I wanted to post. So many of my pictures tell stories so I had a hard time getting rid of them. That's when I became a collageaholic and made so many collages it will probably make Angela sick. But, I got all my good pictures in and they will be accompanied by my stories.

Someone asked what there is to do up there besides fishing and hiking. Not much, but that's why it was such a perfect place. There wasn't anything demanding our time (except the wee ones, of course) and we didn't have places to be by certain times. I could sit and read a book or watch the squirrels and chipmunks while Clara played in the dirt. Or, we could walk up the hill to the fort or down the hill to the lake.

Here are my pictures. They are in no particular order.

Clara gets really feisty around people she doesn't see often. However, when Steven was willing to let Clara have a leg ride like Lucy, she didn't mind one bit that seconds earlier she was squawking at him. I know parents of twins say the rest of the world is missing out. Well, as an Aunt to twin nieces, I say you are all missing out too. I love watching children interact and socialize, but watching twins is completely amusing. It is like they are appendages of one unit. Here they were wrestling.
Cute brothers.
One day down by the lake, Clara was on my mom's lap and she was babbling her head off with a few new sounds, noises and hand movements. We would laugh at it and then Clara, would turn her head and give a nice long fake laugh, to which we would laugh harder.

Angela and Clint decided it would be fun to take "engagement" pictures with an intense effort to look as silly as most engagement pictures look. Congratulations, they passed. This brother is funny.
Perhaps the funniest night was Saturday. The adults were up late playing a game, which alone was funny enough. Then I heard a noise. We soon realized the field near the cabin had a bunch of elk in it. We took the spotlight and bothered them for a little bit. Really, if you zoom in on this picture you will see a very light, faint blob at the end of the faint spotlight. Trust me, it's an elk. As we walked back to the cabin, we hear: "Are they going to be mad? Because if someone shined a light on me while I was mating, I'd be mad."
Pretzel party in Rachel's van.
These two, Lucy and Clara, are a little mischievous when they're together. I have to watch extra close. As long as it doesn't involve toys, they play pretty well together.

I had to cut Jason's hair for the family picture so I cut my dad's as well. He didn't want me to and I realized it was because according to my dad, "Mom always trims my eyebrows, nose, ears and makes it look really good." Since that's what wives, not daughters, are for, I cut his hair then let me mom take over the trimming.
They really are a beautiful couple. They (meaning Clint) just pretends not to be in most pictures.
On top of being a good uncle, Steven was definitely the champion rock skipper. We were all amazed, multiple times, as he skipped rocks across the lake. It really is a neat thing to watch.
Cousins: Micah, Emma, Casey Anne and Lily

Kathryn, Alexis (the oldest granddaughter/niece - holy cow she's grown up fast!) and yours truly
Back to the night of the elk. Kathryn and Ryan made donuts and some chocolate frosting. Jason was dipping his pear in the frosting. I'm not sure he can eat something without a sauce or a dip.
Not only did the cabin have a lot of inside space, it also had a wonderful porch that spread the full length of the house. We laughed, visited, read and played a lot on this porch. Or using my new word, much porching occurred on our trip.

I'm glad I'm not the only one in the family that takes lots of pictures!
I think Elsa is going to get her graduate degree someday. She went around hooding everyone in sight. She would run around and say "Aht, aht, aht" until you bent down so she could put your hood on.
After my own hooding.
I love this picture. I don't look great, but it's a fun picture. I leaned over so the sky was in our background. The sun was kind of bright so it washed out all the color behind us.

Elsa was sad and Lucy chased her all over trying to grab her hand saying, "Elsha".
Kathryn squashing Elsa. That'll teach her to sit in her mom's chair.
I'm not sure why Clara thought it would be fun to shove her face in the cup holder, but she did. And apparently it was all that she imagined it'd be because she left her face stuck there for a while.
Justin thinks he's too cool to smile for the camera. But I still got a picture showing is sweet side.
And even sweeter... All the cousins loved the little kids. They had so much fun with them and after a day or so, Clara finally warmed up to them.

Several times during our stay, there were crazy storms. So much rain came down and the lightening and thunder was thrilling. The last storm was the best. Something, perhaps the lake, got struck by lightening while we were on the porch and the thunder during that storm was super loud. I love it when it rains while I'm camping; especially when I'm in a cabin.
Emma is like a little ray of sunshine.
Don't ask what it is about this picture but I love it. Kathryn and her girls were walking up towards the cabin and I couldn't help myself. Maybe it's that it's so pioneerish looking and they are pushing forward, despite the gusty wind.
One afternoon we painted our nails on the porch.
I took James and Alexis with me to drive around and explore the burnt cabins. We found other neat things along the way. Like this random trailer skeleton.

And this, you read right, Bear trap.
And this tree tumor.
Jason was the only one that caught fish. But Steven managed to catch a crawdad with a fishing pole.

Grandma gave Lucy a stack of about five or six pringles. Lucy proceded to eat the entire stack together, one bit at a time.
Lucas decided the dirty old porch was a great place to toss his blanket and rest.
Please zoom in and look at Clara's expression here. It is hilarious. Clara was chasing Elsa trying to give her a hug. Elsa was trying to ignore her, which obviously didn't work.
One evening we went to the lake after a big storm and it was so serene. The water was like glass and there was mist rising off the lake. It was gorgeous and as usual with nature, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Dinner time was normally organized chaos. We each had meals we were in charge of. Our family used to do that at Lake Powell and it always worked out good. It was nice because you didn't have to cook every day and I think it's easier to plan three meals for 20 people than 21 meals for 3. Kathryn brought a little table with four chairs for the four babies (Lucy, Elsa, Micah and Clara were born within six months). It turned out to be a very good thing.
I don't think I ever put pictures of the roasters I made with the Scouts last year. Here they are and the kids puting them to good use.
We had glow sticks. I don't think these things ever get old, regardless of age. This top picture is of all the kids in a dark room dancing. The middle is of Justin with lights, no lights and then no lights and dancing. And the bottom is me, enjoying my glow sticks before I bitterly gave them to the kids to play with.

Let's go fly a kite.
Many of you have probably seen those GIANT marshmallows at Basha's. I've been waiting patiently to go camping so I had an excuse to buy some. I still think they are pretty cool. Steven told me he could fit four in his mouth. As evidenced by the pictures below, one was a challenge. Another challenge surfaced when Clint put one in his hot chocolate (top right) and realized it is a bit difficult to drink hot chocolate that way.
Moms and kids. Okay, check out that middle picture. I took that of ourselves and told Clara to smile. Well my sweet one, that's not exactly how we smile.
One night we had a pinata. Everyone got a chance to swing, youngest to oldest. Clara: thought it was so fun to chase it. Lucas: got way too excited everytime he touched it. And then screamed when his turn was over. Lucy: loved hitting it and then gave it loves afterwards. Elsa: would barely tap it then smile at everyone watching. Emma: laughed as hard as she hit. Micah: had the biggest smile on his face when his hood fell off his face. Casey Anne: hit it lots. Lily: let you know she played softball by the way she swung. Justin: hit his heart out. Alexis: knocked it off the hook, probably because she was so tall. James: wacked it so hard it came off the string, but still didn't break.
During the pinata (picture in above collage, bottom left) I realized Clara had picked her nose until it bled and was smearing the blood on her face. She loves picking her nose and finding boogers.

Near the dam there was a waterfall. It was super rocky, but I wanted to go down it so off I went holding Clara and my camera. Going down wasn't bad. At the bottom, you can't really walk without getting wet so we just sat on a rock for a bit and took pictures. Then we went back up and I realized how important and useful hands are when you're hiking. I had both hands full so I was jumping/climbing rock to rock handless. It was a good workout.

I have so many pictures of feet. I'm not exactly sure when I decided these make for cute shots, but at some point, I did.
Jason caught our dinner one night. It's a good thing, otherwise I told my family to murmur and treat him like Nephi got treated when his bow broke. Fish or not, many enjoyed fishing. Lucas loved this play fishing pole. This is only about half the pictures I have of him with it.
Ahh, flowers. At first glance, it seems there were only a few different wildflowers by us. But being a little more observant made me realize it was covered with beautiful flowers. I loved it. I also found a really cool green plant and an awesome mushroom.
At the lake we realized what a talented family we are. Steven has a dinosaur hand and I myself have a dinosaur arm. Clint can do a funky lip thing. And Angela, Steven and I can all bend the top joint of a finger forward without bending the rest of the finger. It's kind of gross and worse, this wasn't always the case. We all sat in Church one time and held our fingers in that position until it became something we could do. That's how cool we are.
Clara got plenty of attention. (PS I think Jason should wear black socks with shorts more often).

Cousin time was plentiful. It was especially good for the cousins who live out of state (six of the nine).
Too bad my brothers are the camera-haters! Or so they pretend...The kids caught tons of crawdads. Justin caught the winner. It was HUGE! That night Jason ripped all the tails off and boiled them. We had crawdads dipped in melted butter for our appetizer. I thought it was okay, but others thought they were fantastic.
There were lots of creatures in the mountains. This beautiful pink and black moth, the vibrant tree frog, a horny toad and one nasty spider.
Our visit to the burnt cabins was a little depressing and a little cool. The first one we went to was the worst. It looked like the people didn't take a thing out. They just lit it on fire. There was melted glass everywhere, broken china all over and melted silverware. However, it was cool exploring this stuff and identifying different things. I could've spent hours there. While we were driving around, we saw this super cool tree (center).

Remember those illegal car rides? Well, no one is really sure what rules you have to follow on the Rez, but one thing is for sure: the bed of the truck is always safe. I didn't let Clara ride in the back, instead, she got to sit in the back of Angela's car on the seat. No carseat. Another morning, my mom took all the grandkids and her kids and Kathryn to the store. That would be 13 people in her van. Awesome.

Clara was pretty good. She napped fairly well and never woke up before 7am (I think), which is really good for not being home. She loved to play in the dirt, make funny faces, show off her new shirt, eat giant marshmallows, run and run and run, hide in the closet, fish off the porch, put flowers in her hair, ride the squirt toy like a horse with licorice hanging out her mouth, smell the flowers, have cute legs, look at the lake (and think about how to escape to it), look at me when I call her name with no intention of coming to me, smile, wear her hood and just plop down on the wet grass to enjoy her surroundings. And I loved taking pictures of every move.
Along with the creatures, there were animals. There were squirrels and chipmunks everywhere and they would run up onto the porch while we were sitting there. It was so fun to watch them. I tried to get a better picture of the giant bird (I think a Crane?) but this was all I got. And then the cows. There were lots of cows. But this bull was too huge to ignore. Woah, check him out, he's like twice the size of the cow he's next to.

Every night it was cousin bathtime. One night we styled their hair for the picture. Clara's expressions are awesome. She thought she was so funny splashing. Lucas was downright annoyed.
Oh the beautiful outdoors. I pretty much loved every bit of it. For some reason I was fascinated that along one end of our cabin, there were three different kinds of pine trees, resulting in a row of three very differently colored trees.
My mom brought boats and the kids loved them.
Of course I had to get a cousins picture before we left. I bribed the kids with licorice. It alsmost worked.I was glad to go home to see Jason and have my own bed. My only real complaint about the cabins were the beds were completely awful. The mattresses were horrible and they were so loud and squeaky. I've been away from Jason for several days before. When we first got married, I traveled tons for work. For some reason this time seemed harder. I think it was because i couldn't even talk to him at all. In the car Elsa refused to look at the camera, Lucy loved being smunched in the back with all the blankets on her and Clara was glad Lucy and Elsa brought so many toys for her.

We had lots of fun and everything turned out just great. I love my family and think they are the best ever. We have so much fun together. We stayed up way too late many nights (3 and 4 am) visiting, but the lost sleep was well worth the therapy sessions. I wrote down some of the funny things said during the trip, but I don't want to go find it. Maybe another time. This has taken long enough!