John Bagley takes his family to Powell

Last winter, our family discussed the trip that we would take before Mom and Dad left for their second mission. When I first heard that we were spending their pre-mission summer at Lake Powell, I did not realize how great it would be. You, see I think that I had imagined a cruise. I have never been on a cruise.

Lake Powell 2009 just might have been better than a cruise: even a Disney Cruise. It was amazing.
Ten adults and the oldest grandchild Elayna took two boats on a Lake Powell odyssey. No houseboat for us. We needed speed to see the whole lake and the houseboats might hold us back. I was worried at first, but the two boats were perfect, and we had a perfectly wonderful time together.

Sorry about the nice bend over shot of Dad. It was the only picture that I had of both boats. Dad bought the big one in front for this reunion. He sold it on the same trip for a profit. Whenever I am with him, he amazes me. Lake Powell gave us all one on one time with each other. I gained wisdom from Dad.

This is us stopping to see the mythical Rainbow Bridge.

Steve, Elayna, and Brandi. They are such a smart, good family. Elayna learned to knee board, and it was just fun having her there. She inspired me to swim at every chance, and make excellent sand turtles.
Katrina and Jaclyn taking self portraits at the Indian Ruins. You can see little Jaclyn's camera peeping out behind Katrina's.
Elayna had a lot more room than I did in this ruin.
I do not think that I was ever that small...and cute...and sweet.

I got no pictures that did Katrina justice. She is an aerobics instructor in Texas, and she looked as awesome as she was (inside:).


We ate good food. I am taking after the Chinese. They advertised their meat raw.

Luckily, we did not pull a Nephi in the wilderness. We ate them cooked. Their were ne'er better shishkabobs than these. Waterskiing and sun (with a ton of sunblock) makes meat taste better every time.



My super funny, laid back, safe, smart, brother-in-law, Jon.

I mention the safety, because he helped keep us from danger. The fabled "Ormson Luck" (his surname) has caused much turmoil in his family, and he is usually on the alert. We Bagleys take safety for granted sometimes, because of the "Bagley Angels" who work overtime keeping us alive. Jon helped our angels keep us safe, and proved an excellent driver and truly fun to have around.

I am sad that I did not get any water skiing pictures save this: my 60+ Dad off in the distance, doing some amazing slaloming. I have no pictorial proof of our para sailing, nor our skiing and wake boarding prowess. We were pretty amazing:).
Rainbow Bridge. I had not seen this sight in 20+ years.
Some of the girls. Chantal, Shawn's beautiful, superfun wife, is on the far left. The first minutes of our trip, she got attacked by a boulder. It left her legs with painful punctures and abrasions. She still skied, hiked, and made the trip fun, despite her damaged legs.
I love this woman. I cannot believe that she is nearing 60 and she looks better than I do on a primitive ski trip.

I do not think that she will like this picture. I just had to show that she was so positive, even though she slept like this for 7 nights.
Our first campsite. Camping in heaven will be a little like this.
Another unjust picture of SuperTrin.


This was the 'party boat'. Shawn and Jon drove it.

I have to give a shout out for Shawn and Chantal Bagley. They instituted the nightly scripture study and prayer which became my favorite part of the trip. It was really powerful reading and praying with our family, and whatever progenitors and posterity looked on. If I were on the other side of the veil, I might stop in for a reunion like this. I felt that they did.

Of course, my pictures are a little backwards in chronological order, thanks to Blogger. This is us, after our first night waiting to get inspected before we charged into the lake.

That is my sleeping bag on the back of the little boat. Nothing brings you closer to God than sleeping under the stars in a place where the words 'without number' mean something.
The two boats. In the end, I felt impressed that I had to leave early to go on Pioneer Trek, which happened the same week. Yeah, this week was my Celestial Kingdom, even though I sobbed like a baby when I had to leave my family. Dr. Steve drove me to Salt Lake, as he had to do some work at the Davis Hospital. Thank you, Steve. I had a wonderful drive.
Chantal and Elayna. I love these girls.
Yeah, I think that this trip might have beaten a Disney Cruise. I will not know until after Mom and Dad's mission where perhaps they might take us to the Magic Kingdom on water for a comparison. If not, I vote for the second between mission John and Luella Bagley Lake Powell reunion.