"St. Georgie"

Beware...this is a long one :)

Eli has a big monkey he got as a Christmas present from Grandma/pa Gray which he named George (after Curious George) but he really calls his monkey "Georgie." So when I say we went to St. George on a family vacation...to the kids, it was referred to has St. Georgie!

So...We took a trip to St. George this weekend after weeks of watching the weather forecast to see when it would hit 70 degrees down there. We finally saw our window of opportunity open up, and within days were out of town! It was a wonderful weekend. The mornings were still cool, but it would heat up nicely by mid-morning and afternoon that we could feel comfortable in short sleeves...oh it felt so nice! They don't call it sunny St. George for no reason! Zoey's expression is showing how we all felt with the exposure we had to vitamin 'D'...

We spent every day in snow canyon...the petrified sand dunes were a favorite. Calvin did really well in the pack and enjoyed getting a piggy back ride through all our hikes :) We were constantly active and wore the kids out. I think we all slept really well from pure exhaustion.

The drove down on Wednesday, got checked in and went to the grocery store. The first morning (Thursday) we hiked in Snow Canyon at the petrified sand dunes. These are some of my favorite pictures of the kids playing around:

 It amazes me that something can grow from pure rock! Look how huge this cactus is! Jackson said "I found out from kicking it that they hurt!" Yes he did that, even after I warned him. But... he's a boy.

I don't have pictures of that afternoon because we were playing too hard!  We went to Sandy Hallow indoor aquatic center and wore the kids out on swimming. They enjoyed the indoor slide and water features. After the pool, I took the kids to a park to play while Calvin took and nap and Brian cooked us Fettuccine Alfredo with blackened chicken for dinner! We were so hungry from all our playing!



Friday we headed back to snow canyon for another hike: 3 ponds which connects to petrified dunes. It was way hard for the kids and we ended up carrying half of them for half the hike, but we did enjoy a great picnic lunch that we hiked in. Jackson picked a great spot to eat his lunch!

Saturday morning Brian did the Bear Claw Poppy mountain bike trail and then we headed back to Snow Canyon where he played with the kids at the sand dunes and I went fro a 3 mile run through the park. It was a gorgeous run! The kids loved digging in the sand and Eli asked if we could do this for his birthday...dig, dig, dig. Only Calvin hated the sand on his feet, so Brian had to hold him most of the time.

 We met Grandma and Grandpa Gray at cottonwood Cove park as they were making their way to Las Vegas to see Jaran and Claire. It was an awesome park the kids love exploring the very unique playground equipment, and it was fun to have the grandparents there to show off to! Later we went to dinner with them at the pasta factory.

 The spinning toys were a favorite for the kids...they would spin until they were too dizzy to walk straight and there eyes were twirling in their heads!

 Calvin was so snugly with his dad on this trip. SO cute!

 Jackson is turning into a good rock climber!

 We visited Zion National park one day and took the kids on two walks....weeping rock and the river trail that leads to the narrows. they had fun exploring and enjoying a picnic lunch on the lawn at the lodge. Zion is so beautiful! I'm glad we made the extra trip out there to show the kids the biggest red rock mountains in the world! Jackson was very impressed by them!

We ended the day at the St. George temple, Jackson's favorite. We tried to do a spiritual thought, but hopefully the kids remember something other than running around the grounds screaming and yelling ...somewhere in there they did all commit to go inside the temple someday, and they each shared something they know and love about temples!