Our trip to St. George!

This summer we were lucky enough to be able to travel to St. George, Utah to visit my family. My mom and step-dad Ray live there, also my sister Kari, her husband Will and their kids. My sister Annie, her husband Brett, and Stanley their dog drove down from Provo for the first week. My sister Sherri and my little niece Addy also came for the first week. Sadly we were missing Tina, her husband Felipe, and their two little girls Raquel and Camila. Ayla and I were there for two weeks and Lucas flew out to meet us for the second week. It was great! So nice to be able to relax and be away from the stresses of everyday life and have fun with my family. We don't get to see eachother as much as we'd like so when we get together we are sure to make the most of it. We went swimming at a fantastic community rec-center waterpark, we ate at some great places, we explored Moqui Cave in Kanab, UT, we watched "So You Think You Can Dance", we ate Ray, Sherri, Kari and Annie and Brett's awesome home cooking (not all on the same day), we watched fireworks, we looked at petroglyphs, we drove to Vegas to spend the day with some friends, I became addicted to The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and most of all we hung out and enjoyed eachothers company. It really was great fun. My sisters and I are all so very different but still in some ways similar so it is fun to get together and see how each of us is now that we are adults. We all love the show "So You Think You Can Dance" so we really enjoy watching that together and critiquing the dances. Of course we all had different favorite dancers. Although I think we'd all have to agree that Alex was the best until he got injured and therefore out of the competition. Kari and Brett were both reading the book The Hunger Games which is the first of a trilogy. Kari suggested that I read it while I was there because I would like it. Well she was right. I loved it and voraciously read the first and second book in a few days. Book three just came out today and I bought it. I'll probably be done with it in a couple days. If you haven't heard of it, google it. It sounds like a very strange plot concept but it is really good and keeps you wanting more so much so that you won't want to put it down. Here are a few pics of our vacation.




By far the best pic of the whole week. Addy and Ayla are 10 months apart but are almost the same size. They had a great time together and we are hoping that they will be close as they get older. Ayla loved kissing her and called her "baby" all week. Not realizing that she was almost the same size. Apparently Addy started to get into the kissing after awhile. I stole this picture from Sherri's blog, (thanks Sher) because I was holding them at the time therefore didn't get the pic. We tried recreating the moment but it never worked. Anyway I'm sure that they will love this pic as they get older. Ayla's on the left, Addy's on the right. Notice how they both have their eyes open, can you say awkward! Haha.


Mom and our little family in front of a petroglyph. These ancient drawings are hundreds and hundreds of years old and were done but ancient Indian tribes. They are pervasive in that part of the country.

My little punkin swimming. She loves the water and would swim everyday if we let her.

Sherri and Addy

Ayla waving to the camera

Sherri and Addy, look at how their eyes both crinkle up when they smile. Like mother, like daughter.

Stanley took an involuntary swim. Here he was begging someone to please help him out. We actually think that he kind of liked it though because it was so hot it had to have felt good to him.

Brett, Annie, and Amber hanging out in the pool.

On the fourth of July we all gathered at Mom and Ray's house for dinner before we went to watch fireworks. Apparently we all lost our minds because we decided it would be fun to build a fire in their fire pit, roast some marshmallows, and make smores in the 106 degree heat! It wasn't my idea but I must say I was an active participant. A few of the following pics I stole from Ray's blog, (thanks Ray) because I was too busy videotaping and didn't get any pics from that afternoon. Here 's a pic of Ayla enjoying her smore.

Brinly wasn't shy she liked her smore too.

Eli's making sure that he gets a good bite of his smore.

Bronson is giving Grandpa Ray some tips on how to best roast a marshmallow.

Kari and Brinly. I love Brinly's skirt, Nana bought a similar one for Ayla and they are so cute. Notice Bronson and Eli in the background they are really excited about these marshmallows.

Bronson thoroughly enjoyed his smore.

Lucas getting in on the roasting action.

Me, Ayla, and Brinly

The Plumb men on Ray's putting green.

Later that evening we drove to the top of a mountain overlooking the city to watch fireworks. Here is a picture of Annie and Brett who is taking a picture of me taking a picture of them.

Cute boy Bronson!

Bronson and Nana

Me and Ayla

Nana holding Bronson. Kari, Payton, and Brinly on the blanket.

Annie, Brett, Brinly, and Kari

Will and Eli they were too cool for us! Haha

I must say I was a little nervous about where we were sitting because it was on top of a mountain in the desert. In the little scrubby bush right in front of us there was a pretty big spider sitting in his web. Kari had to keep telling the boys to leave it alone. Payton loves animals and was trying to get a good look at it to figure out what kind of spider it was.
I kept thinking that a snake was going to crawl over my foot. Yep I'm not much of an adventurer.




The St. George temple as seen from on top of the mountain. I guess it's a little blurry because I was so zoomed in on it.

A random picture I took. This is pretty much what the area looks like in that part of Utah. Lots of red rocks and mountains, dry desert, and little scrub bushes. It's very different from the east coast but very pretty.

Addy, Ayla, Brinly, and Payton. Ayla thinks that she is so big compared to Addy and kept trying to hold her. It was pretty cute.

So cute I had to put it in again!

Ayla (left) and Addy (right) sizing eachother up.

One of Lucas's friends that he knows from his mission, Marty Overfelt lives in Vegas so we took a day to drive down there and spend the day with him, his wife, and their little boy Antone. We went to the Bellagio to watch the watershow, and to check out the indoor garden they have there. It's pretty cool it's huge fake bugs, plants, and flowers. All fit for whatever season we are in. Here is a pic of Lucas, Ayla, and I in front of part of the garden.

More of the garden

More of the garden. I have to say my photographic skills really don't do it justice. It really is so beautiful.

This ceiling is completely made of blown glass in the shape of flower petals. Marty was saying it's worth so many millions of dollars. Again my photo skills don't do it justice.The Eiffel tower in Vegas.

Marty, Shani, and baby Antone. Antone is almost exactly the same age as Addy, he is turning one on Aug twentysomething.

Another thing we did while we were in Vegas was we visited the aquarium called Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. I took several pictures there, none of them were worth posting except for this one of Lucas and Marty together.

We stayed at Kari and Will's for most of the time that we were there. They have a large house with a large basement. In the basement there is a seperate bedroom that has its own full bathroom off it. There is also a fridge and big screen tv down there. We were very comfortable it was like having our own little apartment. While we were there Ayla kept getting into our things because I didn't have any way to childproof some things. One day she came walking out of the bathroom like this.

One afternoon we spent hours in Kari and Will's pool. It was fun but Lucas paid for it later. He didn't use any sunscreen. Here is a pic of Daddy and Ayla.
Eli

Will's sister Emily, and her family came to stay one night while we were there. Here is a pic of her youngest girl. She is only one month older than Ayla. I forget her name but she is a cutie.
Emily's little girl again

Here's a pic of Payton. Kari had to go to youth conference for a couple of days so Lucas and I watched their kids during the day while Will was at work. It was nice because I get to spend some quality time with my niece and nephews. Payton and Brinly are so grown up and smart. I remember them both when they were born and it's fun for me to see them maturing. We played Life one afternoon and there is part of the game where you pick a number, bet "money", then spin the wheel. If the wheel lands on your number then you win 10 times the amount that you bet. If it doesn't land on your number then of course you lose the money. It was cute watching them with this particular part of the game. The first time they both bet lots of money only to lose it. We talked about gambling and how it's not good to gamble and people do this in real life and lose real money. We also talked about how Heavenly Father doesn't want people to gamble and lose all their money. The second time we got to that part in the game they were both more frugal and Brinly said that she can understand why Heavenly Father doesn't want us to gamble. The second day that we watched them we went to this little park where they have a fountain that sprays water up into the air. It's great because Lucas and I could sit under the shelter and just let the kids go and they had a blast running around playing in the water.

When we were getting ready to go Payton didn't have his swim trunks on, so I asked him to please get them on. He said I'm not going to get wet. I said Buddy when we get there you're going to want to, so just please put them on. He did but said I'm telling you I don't want to get wet. Well to my surprise he didn't get wet. As a matter of a fact he sat in the shelter with Lucas and I and created his own jeopardy game. It amazed me. He is so smart. He had this game board all drawn up with categories and amounts and then questions and answers for each amount. All the questions were on animals. He truly is fascinated by them.It was really hard too. I was impressed.

Daddy and Ayla

"Pretty Girl" Brinly Faye

"Tough Guy" Bronson

"Punky girl" Ayla Celeste

Funny Bronson with a wig on that he found at Nana's house

Brinly exasperated with her brothers

Funny Payton with the wig on

The last three days we stayed at Mom and Ray's. It was great because Mom had off work so we got to spend quality time just us and her. They hired a babysitter for us and took us out for a fantastic steak dinner. We went to the Jacob Hamblin house and went to see some petroglyphs. It was the first time that we have been able to spend with Mom and Ray that it's just been us without all of my other sister's around. So it was really nice. Mom and Ray are so happy. It's so great to see my Mom so happy. Ray really treats her well and they have such a good time together. They are so busy, always on the go. My mom used to spend hours on the phone with us. Between five girls she had to. But now she's so busy that she doesn't. I kind of miss that but I'll trade it for my Mom being as happy as she is. It's really great to see.

Here is a pic of Nana, Grandpa Ray, and Ayla

When we went to Moqui Cave we stopped at a little Cowboy themed restaurant in Kanab. I didn't know this before but Kanab Utah is or at least used to be called little Hollywood and was the set for many western movies back in the day. There were quite a few that I've heard of that were filmed there. They still have an old western town movie set, set up for tourists. Anyway, Bronson is obsessed with cowboys so he loved this restaurant. I stole this pic from Kari's blog of Bronson posing in front of the Cowboy that they had at the restaurant.

We loved our time in Utah with my family. We would love it if we were all closer together, maybe some day. But for now we will continue to enjoy the time we do spend together. Miss you and love you all!