A Few of our Favorite Things...

 Fall break was this weekend for the kids. We decided (the day before we left) to take a last minute trip to St. George and enjoy some sunny weather. I found a place to stay that offered an enticing last-minute deal, so we booked it and headed out of town the next morning!

We have "favorite things" we do when we go to St. George: visit cottonwood park, go on picnics, play in the red sand, hike snow canyon, go swimming, eat ice cream, and visit the temple. It's starting to become our family tradition when we visit!

We play hard and try to enjoy as much of the outdoors as possible. The mornings were cool enough for a jacket or pants, but warmed up nicely by noon that we were dressed completely differently for the afternoon heat! October was a great time for St. George! Still warm enough to swim, but not super hot! The kids received swim-suit tans like it was mid-summer all over again. The Lindon pool has been closed for 2 months, so swimming again was a treat.

After hiking our favorite petrified dunes trail in snow canyon, we visited Jenny's Canyon, a short hike to a fun slot canyon with climbing walls for the kids. It was really cool and a big hit. The inside was like natures playground! They had a fun time exploring.

The kids liked this spot because they could climb through a small crevice from the bottom whole on the lower right and wiggle through to the top whole... and then it sloped down like a slide on the other side.

On Sunday, we took a drive to explore the Pine Valley Mountains. We drove through some quaint old towns from Mormon heritage. This Pine Valley was very scenic. Trees were taken from here to make the pipes for the tabernacle organ.

 It had a steak house which would be fun to try someday (since it was Sunday and closed, we'll have to go back). It was positioned right in front of it's cattle field!

 This is one of the oldest LDS chapels still being used as a meeting house. The parking lot was grass. It was so cute and tiny! Very well maintained and would make for a fun place to meet on Sundays for church.

We took the road less traveled on the way home and found a dirt road up through the mountains. Our mini van made the trip! We got to see some "wild cows" and some fun back country southern Utah granite formations. Brian took the kids on a mini hike. This is a picture of them "whoop-whooping" at the top. The mountains, although 30 minutes from sunny St. George, were quite cold! It reminded me of why we left Utah County :)

This will probably be our last family vacation for a while, since baby and winter are coming. I'm glad it all worked out and we were able to get away... even if it was only for 4 days.

P.S. Only 8 weeks left!