Lake Powell & Ryan's Thick Chili

This last weekend the Man and I were invited to his step-mom's family reunion in Lake Powell. We had never been to the lake before, so we jumped at the opportunity to enjoy some cool lake swimming in the hot summer weather.

The drive was pretty long (about 6½ hours!) but it was really nice to look at the scenery, the canyons are gorgeous! We arrived at 12:30 in the morning, which means we were only able to blindly set up our tent so we had somewhere to pass out. It was great to wake up to see the gorgeous, shimmering lake for the first time. And the weather was hot - right around 100°! With us camping about 50 feet or less from the lake, naturally we were spending most of our time in the water. Even just being on a boat off of land was so much cooler. The water was beautiful and surprisingly warm, but pretty rough thanks to high winds.

The nights were the best! The skies were so clear, and you can see trillions of stars sparkling against the dark sky. It's really a gorgeous site to see. The temperature is also very cool, a nice break from the sizzling heat of sunlight. Another thing about nighttime that I thought was cool was the fish jumping out of the water. At first you just start to hear various, random splashes. But, when you actually stop to watch, you realize those splashes are fish jumping up to the surface to catch their snacks. Those snacks being tiny little bugs that like to hover forever right in front of your face, sometimes flying in your mouth giving you an unwanted snack of your own. And, I loved the little lizards running around all over the place. I wish I could have kept one!

We enjoyed taking the boat out for a little sight-seeing. Although I didn't get to see the exact sites that I would have liked, what we did see was still beautiful. The canyons are really big, and have some interesting colors and formations.

We also had a lot of fun taking the boat out for some tubing and fishing. The Man's dad is in charge of driving the boat, and he is ruthless! Anyone who gets on the attached tube is bound to fly off into the water sooner or later. He's also good at hunting out the best fishing spots. I learned to cast a fishing pole for the first time! According to the Man and his dad, I'm really good at it! They think I'm a natural. I was never interested in fishing before, but I had fun doing it and I'm looking forward to fishing a lot more this summer. We didn't catch anything this time (the Man almost had a huge striper), which sucks since I've been wanting to cook up some fish for a long time. Next time we'll get 'em!

my legs basking in the sun :)

Before the trip, I was a little  nervous to go because it was for someone else's family reunion. I'm really shy around strangers (okay.. everyone!), but everyone was super friendly and pleasant to be around. I've never been to another family's reunion, and I feel it was a great experience for me to have. This family does their reunion very differently than my own. They didn't have the same interaction or communication that my family shares. Each individual family made their own meals, I found that to be very different since my family cooks and eats as one. Also, the Man and I were the only ones sleeping in tents! Everyone else had campers and trailers (and spent most of their time in them). I'm not a big fan of camping, but the way I look at it is if I'm gonna camp, then I'm gonna CAMP. That means tents, sleeping bags, campfire cooking, flashlights, coolers, using wind/water to cool down, no showers, no electricity! Pretty much the exact opposite of what everyone else was doing. It just goes to show that everyone has their own way of doing everything, even when it comes to camping and family reunions. This experience with another family has seriously made me appreciate my own family so much more, and helped me realize just how much I really do love the way we enjoy our time together at our own reunions. I can't wait now to go to my reunion, which is this weekend. I'll definitely be posting about it, letting you see what I mean by how different our two families are, and, since my family is full of cooks, I'll be sharing a lot of camping recipes.

The Man and I offered to cook lunch on Saturday for the whole family. He grilled up some bratwurst, and I cooked Pastor Ryan's thick chili. Ryan's chili recipe is super easy, and cooks up pretty quick, not to mention it is very satisfying! Everyone seemed to really enjoy it. There was some left over, so we used it for dinner - Navajo tacos. My chili was eaten a lot more than the canned chili that someone else had heated up. Good thing because I'd hate for my self-made chili to lose out to a canned chili! This chili recipe is perfect for camping since it uses canned foods, and fresh veggies. The only thing to worry about keeping fresh is the meat, but if you don't eat meat or just want a healthier chili you can certainly leave the meat out. :)

(Adapted from Ryan)

3lbs extra lean ground beef, you want extra lean so you won't have any draining to do

½ C. butter

2 large onions, diced

4 bell peppers, diced

12 cloves garlic, minced

1 habenero pepper, finely minced

2 large cans diced tomatoes, drained

2 large cans black or pinto beans, drained - I used one of each

1 small jar pizza sauce, or 2 cans tomato paste

¾ C. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

12 saltine crackers, crushed

1. Melt butter in large pot or dutch oven over high heat. Add diced vegetables and 1 tsp salt, cook until crisp-tender. Add meat, cook until browned.

2. Stir in tomatoes, beans, chili powder, pizza sauce, and crackers, simmer for a few more minutes. Enjoy!