Family Vacation

Early this summer my parents told us they had rented a vacation condo from their friends, and they wanted all of their kids to come and spend a weekend with them in St. George in August. Dustin and I were pretty excited to have a real vacation to look forward to! Finally on July 31 we were headed down.

We decided to take the trip down to St. George in two shifts. We spent Friday night in Annabella at (the other) Penman's house. Saturday we started our vacation with some authentic Mexican lunch from a little restaurant in Richfield. After we left Richfield, we were on the road for about ten minutes when one of our girls had to use the bathroom (of course!). The first rest stop was the Fremont Indian State Park and Museum. It ended up being a fun little side trip. The girls got bags of polished rocks to start a rock collection. We got back on the road intending to drive straight to St. George, but when we realized how close we were to Cove Fort, we stopped again! The girls liked seeing the fort but didn't really get it. They kept asking, "Where are the pioneers?" We tried to explain, and basically all they came away with is that the pioneers are dead. Oh well, we tried!

We finally got to St. George around 4 in the afternoon, about an hour after the rest of the family. We ate dinner and then my parents volunteered to take the grandkids for the night so all the siblings could have a night out. Hallelujah! So me and Dustin, Tim and Allison, and Miranda, Sara, and Joey went to Lazer Mania for some good old teenage fun! The mini golf was psychedelic, blacklit, bizarrely painted maze of hilarity. And then I dominated the laser tag game, with Dustin coming in a close second. It was so fun hanging out with my siblings, with no kids. We got shakes at Iceberg to finish out the night.

Alambre al Pastor 

Sopes

Beautiful Lia at Cove Fort

Silly Enna at Cove Fort


Play dough






Grandma time!


Best grandma ever.


Ice Cream after Laser Tag

The next day was Sunday, so we headed to the St. George temple. We toured the grounds first, and Eleanor said,  "Jesus lives in there!" She's smart :) We spent some time in the visitors center, and the little kids loved the Christus statue. There was a little art gallery with some beautiful paintings of pioneers (don't remember the artist's name!). We tried again to teach the girls about the pioneers, and once again they came away with "the pioneers are dead!" Sigh.... we'll get there some day. After the temple we went swimming back at the condo. The pool was really fun, with a waterfall in front of a cave and a shallow wading area for the kids. After dinner the little kids had a movie night while the grown-ups had game night.

St. George Temple

Grandkids don't always cooperate for pictures.

 

Family in the waterfall cave

Jump Enna!

Jump Lia! (Best picture ever!)

Jump William!

Relaxing with her buddy!

Monday we played around at Pioneer Park, an awesome little wilderness area above the red cliffs in St. George. It was fun and slightly terrifying climbing around the slot canyons with the kids. Eleanor, it turns out, is a mountain goat in disguise. Both our girls were fearless climbing around on top of the world. It was super hot and sweaty, so Dad treated us to ice cream after. The kids (and adults) needed naps after, so my mom took the girls out for pedicures. After naps and pedis, more swimming! One of the best parts of the day was after dinner when the whole family played with bubbles outside. Watching my parents play with the grandkids, I just thought to myself, "This is where memories are made. "

Beetle at the botanical park

Mickey Mouse cactus!

Hiking with Grandpa

She would have kept going into the slot canyon but I made her stop because I was freaking out haha.

Ready to climb into that little hole.

There she goes! Mountain goat!

Can you see them in there?

We climbed all the way to the top!

We found the Deathly Hallows at the top.

Pedicures!

Cousin movie night.

Strong girl

Bubbles!


Sara and Ammon

View from the condo

Monday we cleaned the house and headed out. Mom, Dad, Sara, and Joey had to head out early, but the rest of us stopped at the Red Cliffs campground to find some dinosaur footprints. It was pretty fun, but so hot! We had a little picnic and then headed home. It was great to just have fun and relax and not worry about work and bills and crap like that. Plus, I like hanging out with my family, so win-win! Thanks for the great vacation Mom and Dad!

Baby Ammon

Made it to the dinosaur footprints!

It was soooo hot. Lia was super sweaty but she just marched right along without complaining and loved it.

Dino track!

So proud of herself! (Also, how does she be so photogenic?)

Picnic