St. George and Sunshine

Bridger, Mason, Kelsey, and I all had spring the same week this year. We decided to spend it at Mom and Dad's new winter home in St. George. We all traveled down there the Monday before Easter. Sadly, John had to work and couldn't come until Friday. We had a blast! It was great to have a break from all of our busy lives.

 

Here is a blow by blow of what we did on a daily basis.

Tuesday: We went on a hike to Red Cliffs. It was a beautiful day! I never knew how pretty the red rocks of southern Utah were.

 

 

The highlight of the hike was scaling a small waterfall via some holes in the cliff and an old rope. Trust me when I say its harder than it looks. When it's warm, people slide down the waterfall and into the pool for a nice soak. The weather wasn't quite warm enough to entice us to jump in!

 

 

 There isn't much of a trail after this point so we went exploring. We were able to find our way to the very top.

 

 

Afterwards, we had lunch at the bottom of the trail. Then, we went back home stopping along the way to get some yummy ice cream. Later that night we all went miniature golfing. Mason kicked our butt's of course.

 

Wednesday: Boys went golfing, Girls went shopping. Both parties felt like we were getting the better end of the deal. The ladies had a good time cruising the outlet malls, cruising the cute downtown shops, and eating lunch at the original Cafe Rio! The city was beautiful this time of year with all of it's trees in bloom. We even had time to stop in and get a tour of Brigham Young's house.

Thursday: We spent all day hiking in Zion National Park. The weather was perfect! We spent the first half of the day cruising the slot canyons. There are no designated trails and so you just explore on your own hoping you will find some great spots. We were pleasantly surprised about what we stumbled on.

 

 

Afterwards we had lunch at checkerboard point.

 

 

The last stop at Zion's was the Overlook trail. You hike several miles along the cliff edge to end up on top of a partial arch and an amazing view of the entire park.

 



 

Friday: We hung around the house anxiously waiting for John's arrival. We then went on another great hike, this time to Snow Canyon. We were like little kids as we tried to climb up and over everything in sight.

 

At the end of the hike, my parents made us wait around while they went up the trail to create an Easter egg hunt. When they said it was all clear, we ran up the mountain in search of eggs. We had fun trying to out "egg" everyone else. 

 

Later that night, we went to Mesquite. My parents had hid money in the eggs so that we could use it to gamble with. Aren't they the best parents ever?! We also ate at the all-you-can-eat lobster buffet.

 

Saturday: We went to the craft fair at Tuachan. Kelsey and I both bought new purses!

 

 

We also went to the craft fair in downtown St. George and the Classic Car show in Hurricane.

 

 

Sunday: We had to say goodbye and make the long trip home. We are grateful for the great weather, great entertainment, great company, and grateful hospitality that we experienced on our trip. We can't wait to go back!

 



Our New Year's Eve Trip to Orlando

I am FINALLY getting around to blogging about John and I's trip to Orlando at the beginning of the year. We had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed the warm weather Florida had to offer. For the entire vacation, we stayed at Derek and Brandy's house. John and Derek met at college and have been best friends ever since. Here is Derek and Brandy's house:

And here is Derek and Brandy:

They were very gracious hosts. We enjoyed having them around not only for the great company, but because they got to show us around Orlando. They particularly enjoyed taking us out to eat:

And out to eat again...

And out to eat some more...

By the end of the trip, our taste buds were feeling very well pleased, but our waistlines were feeling rather larger. It's hard to feel guilty when the food is just sooooo delicious! Plus, what's a vacation for if you can't indulge a little bit? When we weren't feeding our faces, we were entertaining ourselves with the best Orlando had to offer. First we went shopping!

 

Although we were the ones excited to shop in the big city, Derek and Brandy ended up buying a lot more items than us. I guess they needed an excuse to go shopping! The next stop on the vacation train was the Animal Kingdom!

 

 

Derek's Aunt Pam used to work for Disney and was able to get us into the park for free! Thanks Derek for having such great connections!!!

 

 

 



 

We particularly enjoyed taking pictures on Derek's new fancy camera. Check out this great picture of a gorilla eating his own poo!

 

 



 Next stop on the vacation train was attending the Capitol One Bowl. John was pretty excited when his favorite team was scheduled to play their bowl game in Orlando the same week that we had already scheduled to be there! Derek and I humored him by wearing our Nebraska paraphernalia.

 

 

The next stop was my personal favorite. It had been years and years since I had been to a Sea World. We had a great time! Their two roller coasters, Manta and The Kraken, are not for the weak- kneed. Their many wildlife shows are fun for all ages.  

 

 

 

We had fun feeding the Sting Rays. You put shrimp between your fingers, place your hand at the bottom of the pool, and wait for a Ray to swim by and suck the shrimp away from your hand.

 

 

We decided to spend our last day in Orlando at Daytona Beach. We were prepared with towels and swimming suits in hand ready to spread out and enjoy the sunshine.

 

 

However, we were greeted with cool weather and blowing winds- not ideal for lounging on the beach. We ended up just eating at Joe's Crab Shack, walking along the beach, and cruising the shops. We had fun browsing and making fun of the white-trash themed shops and attractions!



 

We are grateful for the opportunity we had to take a vacation together to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. We are also grateful for wonderful friends who make great efforts to stay in touch. May our next vacation be just as fun and rewarding.