So much to blog about

Breaking Dawn....Lake Powell and more Breaking Dawn!

I just returned from a week vacation at Lake Powell and I couldn't wait to blog. It is sad that my kids and husband are in bed and I am up late writing but I am a night owl so I guess it works. I first want to begin with the events that happened on Aug 1st and the party for Breaking Dawn. As I mentioned before I am a big fan of Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight books, as are my close girlfriends Marni & Robyn, so we decided to go to our local Barnes & Noble for the midnight party for the release of her new book. Earlier that day we got together for a play date and made shirts for the blessed event. I think I found more enjoyment out of just being with my girls and laughing and enjoying ourselves then the actual event. Our shirts were of course a hit (everyone wanted one) and we all felt like we were back in high school, giddy, loud and had lots to chat about. The book went on sale at 12:01 am and our group (they called everyone up in groups because there were so many people) wasn't called to actually purchase the new book until 1am. We were dragging but Marni used her super long legs to cut in line which enabled us to buy the book and get out of there while we still had some energy left. I am not used to these late nights and I hate to think of how long people were standing in line for this book. I know it isn't polite to "butt" in line and some might even call it "wrong" however this was the one time that I would consider it the right thing to do! Thank you Marni!! You saved us hours. After we purchased the book we all decided to go home since both Marni and I were leaving out of town early the next morning. I of course could not put my book down the entire weekend. I was on vacation and there was nothing that was going to separate me from my book (okay, maybe a dirty diaper here and there and the occasional mouth to feed, but I made sure that Shon put in his time too). When I arrived at Lake Powell with all of my family I realized that I was not the only one that was anxious to read. There were six of us that had our noses in the book, but I think I was the only one to actually finish the book. Usually I spend my annual Lake Powell vacation playing on the water. I love to wake board and watch Shon ski but this year I didn't even wake board once. I couldn't believe that I was so into this story. To sum up the book, I enjoyed Breaking Dawn and just loved the entire story. There were parts that I could have done without but all in all I thought it was a fun book to read.

(This is at our play date...when we made our shirts. We tried to take a serious pic but Robyn couldn't do it)

This is just before I went to the Barnes & Noble book party. Our shirts say

"I Need a Cold One"

(The back said "Diet Cullen")

All the Critchfield girls enjoying Breaking Dawn

Me the first 4 days of the trip.

Once I finished the book I still had a few days left to play so I think Shon was glad to have his wife back. He made me promise that I wouldn't pick up the book again for a very long time. I think he was worried that I might start it over again. After I finished the book we had a lot of fun together as a family. We played in the water and hiked up to some old Indian ruins called The Defiance House. It was the highlight of the trip. We saw how people lived back in 1200 AD on the side of this red rock with a house made out of rocks, mud and clay. I couldn't help but think about the simplicity of life that these people lived then and how complicated we seem to make things now. There was a part of me that thought that way of living might be nice and then I saw the dirt floor they slept on and quickly reconsidered how grateful I am for my comfy bed. Still it was quite the sight to see.





Our vacation was fun however we did decide to come home a day early. Lake Powell with 2 young kids for 7 days is quite a task especially for the kids. In a nutshell....my babies were spent. They couldn't handle anymore sun or water. They needed their beds and routines back and I needed my sanity to return. I find it interesting that we went on a vacation but came back just as, if not more tired then when we began. I think we get an A for effort but next year I vote for an adult only trip and let the kids play at grandma & grandpa's for a week!! It's a win win situation! I will post more pics tomorrow!