SD Week 9 - To St. George

Ben and the kids were in South Carolina with me for three nights.  We got back to our house in Utah on Mother's Day and spent three nights there, before spending three nights in St. George.  It was a whirlwind.  Trying to get things in order after our trip to SC, do as much schoolwork as possible, and then prepare to go to St. George made for a crazy few days at home.  We had a quick turnaround time because we wanted to take advantage of bonus time with family, who were spending a few days in St. George before Grammy's interment on Saturday.  It was definitely worth it.

We drove down on Wednesday evening when Ben was finished with work, and first thing in the morning, Andy and I went for a run (which turned out to be more of a hike) on Owen's Loop.  Always a great time jogging with Andy.

Then while Ben worked from the hotel room the kids and I played.  Andy and I took our kids to Pioneer Park - one of my favorite places in St. George because the kids can just play and climb and explore and it feels like such an adventure, right outside of the city.  We had great weather - sunny and warm but not too hot.

Boy Scout Cave is a great place to explore too and imagine living.
We compared furniture arrangement options.

Can you spot all 5 kids?

Eliza shimmied up this tree by putting one foot on either rock.
Just before I took this picture she called me over with, "Mom!  I'm in a bit
of a predicament!"  But she was able to get herself down without any help.

We got takeout for lunch and brought it to a little park where Ben, Amy, Suz's family, and my Uncle Reed and Aunt Jen met us.

Then in the afternoon, a couple of hours at the hotel pool and hot tub.

In the evening, my family visited a dear friend who used to be our neighbor in Orem.  She's been in St. George for about a year now and this is the first time we've been in town to visit her.  It was so great to see Teri again and get caught up.  We had pizza at her house, then did a bit of golfing in her neighborhood, and after hearing very deep-throated noisy frogs, started looking for them - and we found tons.  And they were huge.  All in all, a wonderful night.

On Friday we went hiking in Snow Canyon.  The first hike started as a paved trail, switched to gravel, and then became sandy.  We found some rocks to climb on, passed a big sand dune (which the kids proceeded to walk up and roll/slide down), hiked up a dry riverbed, and eventually found some water.  It was beautiful, but much longer than we expected, and very sunny.  We were quite ready for our picnic lunch when we got back to the trailhead.  While we were eating we saw a group of women putting horses in trailers, having just finished a trail ride.  One of the women was kind enough to let the kids get friendly with her horse.  They were thrilled!  Eliza has been begging to go horseback riding for months and it was really nice that she got a little taste of that.  

The kids were at their limit but we pushed our luck and went to one more spot in the park - Pioneer Names, a short hike where you can see names written under an arch on a wall, written in axle grease, dating back to 1881.  Very cool.  It was lovely to be outside, and wonderful to just have time together, but we were all quite ready to head back after that.

We picked up some frozen treats on our way back to the hotel, then the kids had another afternoon in the pool and hot tub.  Eliza and Whit treated each other to massages too.  Smart kids.  Ben was able to spend a little time in the pool when he was finished with work, too.

Megan flew in from SC that evening, and we all brought takeout dinners to a park where we could eat at a table and the kids could play.  Another great day for sure.

Snow Canyon Flowers