"Don't Mock My Faith!"

We were invited to go down to Southern Utah the Last week of August to go boating with Mark's boss.  

Mark got a paid day off which was Awesome

Plus...

My parents, 2 of my brothers 

AND 

Carly and Adam live down that way 

so we were so excited.  

We drove down Thursday night, picked up Carly and Adam at SUU and drove on to my parents house.  We woke up Friday morning to pancakes on the griddle....

Grandma C's signature breakfast for guests- 

 and looked out the window to find 

Black clouds and pouring rain.  

Mark called up his boss and said "I guess boating is off" and Lonnie said "Oh heck no... this is just a little storm cell. Let's go!"

I had some serious doubts as the Thunder rumbled over head but we climbed into the van and drove over to Lonnie's house where he was hooking up the boat.  Jake and Mason decided to drive over with him and I just shook my head and we all just looked at each other like we didn't know WHY we were driving to the lake....

We pulled up to the dock.  Mark jumped out to help Lonnie get the boat in the water.  Carly, Adam, Rachel, Samantha and I sat in the van watching the rain pour and it was COLD outside.  

As we sat there, Samantha said "I think it's stopping. Yeah.  I think it's going to be fine!" 

We looked at her like she was crazy.  Somebody laughed.  Somebody said "look out the window... I don't think so" and she replied with determination in her voice

"Don't mock my faith!"

Just about that time, Mark motioned for us to come down to the boat.  

I was dreading going out.  The rain had slowed, due no doubt to Samantha's belief, but it was still falling and it was chilly sitting there in our swimsuits.

We put the canopy up on the boat and putted around the lake a bit and Lonnie grinned at us and said "You just watch. This is the best kind of day.  We've got the lake to ourselves! It's gonna clear up!" He got out the tube and a few jumped in and the rain slowed even more til it was just sprinkling. 

They skies were very gray and overcast.  I wish I had taken my camera out but I had left it in the car because of the rain.  I didn't think there would be anything to take pictures of.  I finally got it later when we docked for lunch.

Anyway...

Rachel, Adam, Carly and Jake decided to try out the tube first and when they jumped in the lake they said the water was SO warm.  And it was.  It felt like bath water.  It was so nice.

The Day just got better and better from then on.  It wasn't immediate.  The rain just slowed and slowed until it finally stopped.  The skies just cleared and cleared little by little until the sun shone down on us but the water was clear and beautiful and warm. 

There were red vines and Nutter butters and Oreos!  

Lonnie's wife drove over and met us at the dock with lunch from Firehouse subs!

Yum.

The newlyweds were just as happily in love as you might imagine...

There were some tunes

And there was the Tube!

Getting on the tube

was sometimes harder than you might think....

And staying on the tube...

Was

Even

Harder!

Especially 

for the poor sap who gets stuck 

kneeling in the back position

which was usually Jake!

He was such a good sport about taking that spot.  You can't see it very well in these pictures but there are 3 spots to sit in the front and then a spot behind the center seat for a 4th person who kneels there and holds on.

Nobody wanted that spot and Jake would always take it.  His poor arms were like spaghetti noodles at the end of the day from holding on so tight.

we also got to try kneeboarding

Sammy did it!

Mason dit it!

Mark tried to do it 

and got up on his knees...

which was farther than I got.  I tried and couldn't even get up to my knees.....

embarrassing....

Jake did it!

Carly did it!

She was a total natural at it.

Rachel did it!

Jake tried really hard to wakeboard but never could quite get up.  We think it was because we did it at the end and he was so worn out from the riding on the back of the tube and kneeboarding.  He just couldn't keep his balance.

Lonnie was right!

It was a great day on the lake.

We had it to ourselves until the late afternoon when 2 or 3 other boats joined us.  We stopped a lot and jumped in the warm water and swam in our life jackets and that was a lot of fun too. We had a great time being together and seeing Carly and Adam.  We finally left the lake about 5 o'clock and went to my parent's house to get cleaned up a little and then Lonnie had dinner for us at his house a block away. 

He is a generous boss and really made the day a great one for our family.  

I appreciated the opportunity to be in a beautiful place with the people I love best.  

It's one of those days you'll never forget and we had to go through cloudy skies and cold rain to get it.  If it had been up to most of us I think we would have thrown in the towel-

Our perfect day was created 

because of Lonnie's optimism that put us on the road-

and Samantha's belief that something better was coming.

hmmmm.....I think there's a life lesson in there somewhere......