Zion Morning

Now that Zions National Park is in our backyard, we decided it was time to pay the Park a visit.

So we donned our sunscreen and loaded up the car at 7 AM

(We must be morning people)

We bought our annual pass and were ready to hike!

Cam has been climbing and collecting rocks since the day he could walk.

No rock collecting allowed in the Park.

THAT was painful for Cam!  I had to keep policing his pockets for "stolen" rocks.

However, he is welcome to climb on all the rocks his little heart desires.

Cam has yet to find a rock he DOESN'T want to climb on...

Here we are - on the trailhead to the 3 pools.

It cooled to 103 degrees today, so we decided to limit our activities

to two hikes for the day.  We started with the 3 pools and ended

with the trail to the beginning of the narrows.

This is the view of the upper pool.  It is beautiful - but no swimming is allowed in the pool.

Which is too bad because it looked so refreshing after this sweat-drenching hike!

A view of the sky above the upper pool.

I am amazed at the beauty of the rocks and the sheer cliffs.

Another rock...

Coming down from the 3 pools - on, you guessed it, a rock!

I just thought this made a beautiful picture.

Even though we couldn't find a rock for Cam to climb for this pic.

Below - the water cascading off the middle pool.

I can't believe we get to live in this beautiful area!

A Cali Quickie

Living 6 hours from the beach is too tempting.
We got in the car at 3 AM and took off for Cali.

This is what kids look like at 3 AM.

By 9 AM we were at Laguna Beach.  The fog hadn't burned off yet

And the water was a cool 65 degrees.

But we didn't care.  It's the beach!!

The kids skim boarded and boogied in the waves ALL DAY

Jayden (nephew) became a master at the skimmer

The girls splashed all day long

Cam dug holes to China then buried himself in them.

What a great day.

We love Cali Quickies!

A Few Adventures

A few fun adventures here in St. George - it all started when my BFF

came to visit and had some business in Cali.

She took me along for the ride.

It just so happens her last name is Matheson -

so I had to take this picture for her. We drove to Vegas...

Stopped in Barstow for some gas and a much

needed potty break. Barstow - what a welcoming town!

We ended up in Newport Beach where we ever so briefly

enjoyed a senior citizen lawn bowling tournament. After some shopping at Fashion Square

and our fab lunch at my favorite, the Cheesecake Factory, we headed home.

The amazing sunset just outside of Vegas. What a wonderful 24 hours we spent

gabbing and chatting as only best friends can do on a wonderful adventure!

Of course, we now live 20 minutes from Sand Hollow, our own mini Lake Powell (and I do mean mini!!) We grabbed our awesome St. George cousins (who put the St. George bug in our ears many, many moons ago) and hit the water to cool off. It was a balmy 106 this particular summer day.

The water was rough, so it was perfect for tubing.

We had hours of fun trying to whip the kids off the tube.

Of course, I always need a picture of this little guy...

When he was two, he would ask his dad if we could go "boat on".

Still love to think about that...

We got Cam out on the tube - after his dad PROMISED he would not go fast

and would not dump him off like he did with the big kids!

Then the clouds rolled in and the water started whitecapping.

 So we got off the lake and ended that fun adventure.

And finally, our last adventure included visits from some of my favorite people~ Morgan and my little Abbi.

Morgan (Tay's BFF) came and spent a wonderful 24-hours with us. 

We cried a little when she left.

Then Abbie and her sisters came to hang out with me for a few days.

So good to see family that we miss dearly.

St. George is a fun place to live. I enjoy the heat most days!!

I am getting used to the slower pace and the lack of rush hour traffic.

I am not getting used to stores closing at 8:00 at night (Papa Murphy's, grrrr).

People are friendly and the bugs are really, really big!

I still don't get to run - but I am working with a new doc

who is hopeful she might have some answers for me.

I am crossing my fingers and running a little bit (as in one to two miles)

I have discovered "HOT" yoga (I don't know the official word for it)

but it doesn't give me the same sense of accomplishment running does.

To all my friends training for the St. George marathon - you rock!!

And Veyo is waiting for you ...

That's all of our adventures for now.

Countdown to the school adventure - 30 days!!

Holiday, House and Hoodlums

HOUSE

Happy 4th of July (a day late)!!

I love this great country. I love all those that defend my freedoms.
I'm grateful for the freedoms I have.

Here's how we celebrated in our new hometown

There was a super awesome (not) fair going on at Werthon Park so we hung out there for approximately five minutes. Then we walked to the St George temple grounds and took some photos.

We went to a movie (Cars 2 - super awesome!), ate some food and had a generally lazy day.

(Think sleeping until 11 AM)

We went back to rockin' Werthon Park where we waited for 2 hours for a fireworks show.

Cameron, being the PERFECT little brother that he is, enjoyed annoying his sisters.

That was about it. We went home, went to bed. Super exciting! I think we'll go to the cabin next year...

HOODLUMS

Thursday night someone thought it would be funny to throw fireworks on our boat.  Little did they know, it melted through the cover, landed on the seat of the bough and went off.  This is the damage it left...most came off in the claning (that took us 5 hours of major scrubbing, thank you very much!) but we will still need to reupholster the bough of the boat.  Karma will find you, you hoodlums!!

HOUSE

On another note, I finally got around to taking photos of the new house.

This is the entryway - super exciting, I know!

The living room. Though it barely fits a piano, so I don't know - does it qualify as a living room??

The gathering place - AKA where al the kids hang out and make mama crazy!

Another view...

The kitchen - where all the culinary magic happens (NOT!!)

Master bath - (couldn't include a picture of the master bedroom.

I washed the sheets today and didn't get around to making the bed yet)

All in all, we are settling in nicely. The weather is beautiful and HOT (I like, dear husband hates). The neighbors are friendly, the town is slow-paced and fairly quiet. We love those aspects, but miss our SL family, friends and neighbors. I guess we miss the ease and comfort that comes with having roots in one place. Guess it just takes a while to fit in!!

Countdown until school starts - 48 DAYS