Sweaty St. George

Jill, Rob, and Daisy came to UT. It has been over a year since they've visited, so having them around is delightful. Daisy had her baby blessing and we also went on a little getaway to St. George before Rob had to fly home. (Jill and Daisy are here for the summer- yay!) 

Sweaty St. George has never rang more true. Wow, this summer has been scorching hot. I'm not being dramatic either-- the heat here in UT has been breaking records. On our way to St. George, we stopped at Cedar Breaks National Park. (This is near Parowan.) It was stunning and much cooler up there! We ate lunch and did some hiking. The views were breathtaking. I was proud of James for surviving the 2 miles. The car break for the kids was an excellent energy zapper. They both fell asleep when we continued our journey to St. George. 

My dad's friend, Mark Ostler, owns a home in St. George and was generous to let us stay there. We had plenty of room to spread out. We grabbed pizza for dinner and the cousins explored all the toys in the house. They were in heaven. Coincidentally, Esther and Isabelle had the same pajamas which was a dream come true for Izzy.

Monday evening, we saw the play, "Annie" at Tuacahn. The play started late, and Jeff and Lindsey were gracious to stay home with the sleeping kiddos. "Annie" was spectacular. Miss Hannigan was over-the-top. I will say that at times, the heat was pretty uncomfortable. I can't stop listening to the Annie soundtrack. Our kids have especially taken to liking, "It's The Hard Knock Life" and ask to listen to it on repeat. Andrew and I get to experience Tuachan again in August which we're looking forward to.

Tuesday morning, we hiked! The hike we originally wanted to do is booked through the year. Apparently it's quite popular and amazing. We had a couple other hiking options. That morning, someone posted that they had extra tickets to the Kanarraville Falls hike. (This hike is near Cedar City.) What! We snatched those tickets right up. There were only 4 tickets and Jill, Rob, Lindsey, and I were the lucky ones that got to go. In Rob's words, "It was the best hike of my life." The hike was about 4 miles round-trip. I was definitely glad we didn't have kids with us because we walked through water during a huge chunk of the hike. We also went in a slot canyon. It was very cool! Some rain started right as we were finishing up the hike. We were glad to be out of the slot canyon and saw lots of flooding later on the news. I'm amazed we were able to get tickets for that hike!

Tuesday evening, we had take-out from Viva Chicken, played Frisbee Golf, got Neilson's Custard (a tradition),  and played the game "Salem." I happily volunteered to stay home and put the kids to bed during frisbee golf. Have you seen me throw a frisbee? haha. We laughed a lot while chatting with everyone. For the record, I did NOT hold my concrete upside down this time and have it fall out. Joel and Alexa weren't able to make it, so not everyone was there which was a bummer. Playing games with my parent's is always a hoot. My mom knows all about the history of the Salem Witch Trials and her insights and comments made for an unforgettable game.

Throughout our time away, I had lots of phone calls relating to the new house. Fortunately, I was able to take care of most of that while we were driving in the car and our realtor was able to meet the foundation and flooring workers for us. Wednesday morning, the boys went golfing and we cleaned and then headed home. Thursday, was closing day on our new house and I was eager. The whole drive home, I kept thinking, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow, you're only a day away!"