Day 63: Zion National Park

On Thursday morning, Ben and Cat went with a group from the family reunion to tube down the Virgin River right outside of Zion National Park. They said the water was nice and cold.  :-)

The rest of us brought a picnic lunch down for the tubers and we all ate at a nearby park.

Jack was more interested in dirt than food.

After lunch we drove to the entrance of Zion, then we got on a bus that took us up to the Narrows.

The views were just beautiful.

There was a 1-mile hike from where the bus dropped us off to get to the entrance to the Narrows.

We didn't realize we had to hike to get there and weren't really prepared... it was nice and hot and the hike felt very long as I carried Eliza, Ben carried Jack, and Cat frequently voiced her discontent.

But the cold temperatures of the river once we got to the entrance more than made up for the heat.  I was such a wimp that I was only ankle-deep in the water for a few minutes, but the kids didn't hesitate.  They loved playing in the water with their cousins.

"COLD!"

This was our view on the hike back to the bus stop (a hike which felt even longer than the first one).  Zion really is an incredibly beautiful place and I'm so glad we took some time to visit while we were in southern Utah!

Day 62: Bryce Canyon & Rodeo

 On Wednesday of Family Reunion week a bunch of us went to Bryce Canyon National Park.  It was amazing.  I couldn't take enough pictures, but of course the pictures don't do it justice.  I can't wait to go back and explore more!  We just had a few hours to hike some of the trails, and didn't get to go down to the bottom of the canyon, which would be awesome to do.  The kids didn't enjoy the hiking, but it was still a great experience for our family.  :-)

After hiking around the national park for a while, we went to the nearby tourist-trap rodeo.  It wasn't impressive.  But it was lots of fun for the whole family!  The cowboy gear Grammy bought for Cat and Jack definitely helped.

The below collage, starting in the top left corner and going clockwise:

1. Jack hugging his new cowboy boots

2. Cat and Abbie hugging their cousin, Garrett

3. Cat and Brooke with one of the rodeo officials

4. Jack with Opa, his rodeo buddy

5. Carson, Oma, Opa, Me, Eliza

I call this the "Don't Try This at Home" collage.

The top right picture has 2 boys who were trying to ride sheep.

They were about 3 or 4 years old.

 Ready to ride off into that beautiful sunset...

Day 60: Geocaching, Family Pictures, & Frozen Custard

A bunch of us headed out for Geocaching on the Monday of our family reunion.  The kids had a great time running around on their treasure hunt expedition, and the adults enjoyed a little hiking and some time to chat.  Jack was in and out of the backpack because, well, he's just not that great at hiking yet.

That evening during the Family Reunion we all went up to beautiful Pioneer Park, overlooking the city of St. George, for our big family pictures.  The kids had a lot of fun exploring the rocks there and it was hard to keep them clean for pictures :-).  We haven't received the photographer's pics yet, but here are a few of the ones we took:

After pictures we headed to Nielsen's Frozen Custard for, you guessed it, frozen custard.  It was delicious.  But the best part of the outing was watching Jack make a complete mess of his custard cone.  Truly comical.

The Family Reunion

We spent a week in St. George for a big reunion for all of my Mom's family.  It was a busy, fun-filled week and we got to see and do lots of things in Southern Utah.  But of course, the best thing was just being with family and seeing my children become friends with my extended family, all of whom live far away.  Here are a few miscellaneous pictures from the week:

Day 58: Pioneer Day Celebration

We arrived in Utah on a Thursday night, stayed in Salt Lake City, then drove down to St. George on Friday.  We all spent that night at my grandparents condo there, which meant we timed it just right to get to celebrate Pioneer Day.... Utah style!  There weren't any big parades in St. George that morning, but my grandparents' stake had a really fun event.  They served a yummy pancake breakfast, then had lots of games and activities for kids and grown-ups.

Cat's favorite was pulling the handcart.  She pulled it solo, tandem, full of siblings, full of strangers, up the field, down the field, you name it.  She probably would have made a pretty decent little pioneer.

Jack found a smaller cart to pull Eliza around in for a little while.

When Cat finally got tired of hauling around everyone small enough to fit in the handcart, she tried her hand at roping a steer.

Jack thought this was fun for a little while, too.

Until he figured out he could just sit on the steer instead.

Cat jumped right in for the tug-o-war, while Jack watched from the front row.

Yummy, refreshing popsicles on a hot desert day.

Eliza shared with Daddy.

What a fun way to spend a Saturday morning!
And the perfect kick-off to our stay in Utah.

Day 46: Jekyll Island

The week of our move, we decided to take a break from the stress of packing and spend a few hours on nearby Jekyll Island.  The first stop was the Sea Turtle Center, a hospital and education facility for various kinds of sea turtles.  The kids loved seeing all of the turtles and learning more about them.  Below you'll see an examination room where they perform various procedures on the turtles as well as the hospital where the turtles live while they're being cared for.

After the Sea Turtle Center we spent about 30 minutes at the beach.  We would have liked to play longer, but we just didn't have time.  :-(  Here are a few of the pictures we took during our last beach trip for... a while.  I wanted to be sure to immortalize Jack's obsession with his amphibious truck.  He loved driving plastic trucks on the shoreline all summer!  We'll miss that for sure.

Day 44: C's Beauty Salon

Can you guess what Cat got for her birthday?