Skip to main content

St George

Our kids have never been to southern Utah and I have been looking forward to introducing this part of the state to them. Not only is the scenery unbelievable, both Chris and I have ancestors that settled those areas and it was fun to share those stories with our boys. We started out trip down I-15 with a stop in Provo to say hi to Nora, Haley, Jeremy, and baby Wren. Of course I didn't take pictures except for this one of the boys by a stream at a park in Provo. Wren is a doll and it was fun to finally see her!


Our friends in Charlotte arranged for us to stay in their family condo in St. George and we arrived just in time to jump into the pool while Chris picked up dinner at Cafe Rio. It was a good night and we had a great time swimming in the pool. 


The next morning we drove to Snow Canyon, so named for Chris's ancestor Erastus Snow who was one of the principal settlers of St. George. The canyon's geography is beautiful and we enjoyed showing the boys the red rocks. We started with a hike to lava tubes, underground caves created by lava. We were the only ones on the trail that morning and the first thing we noticed was the total silence. There wasn't even the hum of insects to rattle in the background, only complete silence. You don't realize how much sound is around you all the time until it is gone. It was lovely to enjoy a little silence (though it would drive me crazy after awhile!). The kids were great hikers and we had a fun time exploring the desert canyon. 







After we finished our hike, we stopped at the sand dunes. Despite it being a little hot, the kids had a great time playing in the huge pile of orange sand. 
















After our hot adventures we decided it was time for the pool again. 




We finished the evening with a trip to a burger and shake place and then a stop at the St. George Temple. This is a special temple for us as we both had several ancestors that were involved in its construction. The temple is beautiful white gem among the red rocks and it was wonderful to sit on the grounds and think about all that was involved in building it. The pioneers who built it had only lived in St. George for about ten years and they were barely surviving but somehow they managed to build this amazing structure. 







The boys enjoyed the visitor center and learned a little about the temple as well. 



We had a great time exploring St. George and can't wait to go back. Grandma and Grandpa joined us late that evening and we were excited to see them again as we had more adventures ahead! 






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rowan Isaac Rees

The title of this blog also happens to be the name of our new baby. Rowan Isaac. Rowan is a Celtic name that means "little red one", and Isaac is a Hebrew name that means laughter. His initials (RIR) also spell the Portuguese verb "to laugh". So hopefully he will be a fun kid. We think he is already. He arrived today, November 28, 2007 at 2:15 pm (or thereabouts - I'll have to check the exact time). Both he and Katie are doing fine and resting a bit. He weighs 9 lbs, 2 oz., and as you can see from the picture, he has beautiful blond hair. He is a good little boy so far, and we're excited to have him in our family. Davin is with our good friends, the Smiths, this afternoon, but we think he understands a bit and is excited to meet his new little brother later this afternoon. We would like to thank you all for your love and your prayers, and hopefully we'll get a chance to talk to and see many of you soon so you can meet our little guy. If you want to see m...
14 comments
Read more

Labor Day = No Labor

The fun part of moving is that we don't have to go far to find new adventures. For Labor Day we decided to head to the coast to explore. We started our day in Santa Cruz where we stopped for lunch but we didn't stay long. Our next stop was the Swanton Berry Farm where we picked strawberries. In September. In sweatshirts. My southern friends were shocked!  The next stop was Harley Goat Farm in Pescadero. We loved watching the goats and browsing through the goat cheese store. Rowan was brave and even tried a little! After the goat farm, we wandered around the Pescadero village and explored the markets. The boys were excited to find a gumball machine but I was more interested in the dahlia market and the fresh artichoke garlic herb bread in Arcangeli's Market (we got our loaf hot from the oven and oh. my. heavens!).  We ba...
Post a Comment
Read more

Something to say

We were there in the kitchen, Rowan and I, when out of nowhere came this sound: “ma ma ba ma.” I stopped for a moment and repeated the sound to Rowan. He looked back at me and did it again: “ma ma ma ba.” This funny laugh bubbled out of me, the kind of laugh when you witness a miracle, something that someone told you was possible but you weren’t quite sure it was, but there it was in front of you, that perfect little miracle. I made the sound to Rowan again and he repeated it again. Picking him up, I spun him around, kissing him repeatedly. It was like a scene from a movie. I’m sure there were violins crescendo-ing somewhere and the audience was getting teary. “Be patient!” they told me, “it could be six months before he makes any kind of sound.” I was all prepared to be patient and I still am. There is a lot left to do. Even after this afternoon’s happy moment, I told myself that it could have been an accident or coincidence, but when he made the noises for Chris later this evening, I...
14 comments
Read more