Vacation pictures from my phone

I ended up taking a lot of pictures with my phone because I was too lazy to drag out the big camera. So to finish up my vacation posts, here are a bunch of somewhat random pictures. Auntie Di, these are for you since you said you wanted pictures and not inner thoughts.

The results from our 20 minute tour of the BYU bookstore. It was their first visit to BYU and 20 mintues was all we had. It was worth it. I'm not above propaganda.

Smiling. Obviously at the beginning of the trip.

Grand Junction, Colorado. Who doesn't love public art?

Windmills in Kansas. Kansas is the worst state ever to drive through! Just don't do it.

Family pictures

All the cousins

Sparky, on top of the world.

Kneaders for breakfast after family pictures. Holy cow, I will dream of their french toast forever.

Cousins in the hot tub.

Yay, the pool is open!

This picture is obviously out of order and from the start of the trip. The car is still somewhat clean and the kids are still smiling.

Cracker Barrel on the way home. We drove straight through for a solid 36 hours. This was about half way through and we are all starting to get a little delirious.

Happy Father's Day!

Sleeping at night in the car. My kids have never been ones to sleep in the car, but when you spend almost two full days in the car and the night comes, you have no choice.

Thus ends the vacation posts from our trip to Utah. You're welcome.

Ah, the temple

The last full day in St. George was probably our most favorite day. That was the day we went to Snow Canyon and the day we were able to swim in the pool. That was also the day that we were able to spend some time as a family checking out the city. We started with lunch at Irina's which is a tasty little fresh Mexican restaurant. Holy yumminess. I could really use some of that fresh authentic Mexican food around these parts, that's for sure. After lunch we took the kids to the St. George temple. The kids have never been to a big temple before and have never had the chance to tour a visitor's center and so this was a specail treat.

The temple is absolutely beautiful! You can't help but feel that this is a special place. We went into the visitor's center and were able to spend a good hour or so just enjoying everything that it had to offer. Due to this quirk in my personal nature (that I mentioned here ) I was really proud that I only cried once, and that was during the video presentation on the Eternal nature of families (really, do you blame me?). The kids really enjoyed being here and asked all kinds of really great questions. Sparky was especially excited to learn that once he turns 12 in August he will be able to go inside to do baptisms.

Yessiree, it was a pretty great day, aside from the fact that Tiger kept trying to take off with the Visitor Center's copy of the simplified Chinese translation of the Book of Mormon. The kid was seriously obssessed with it. I may just have to order him a copy.

No argument here, Southern Utah is beautiful!

On one of the days we were in St. George, we headed into Snow Canyon. Holy Beautiful red rocks! I could have spent all day here if it hadn't been so Hades hot, and if we had brought water and food, and if I hadn't felt so cruddy and wanting to just curl up in my bed and sleep.

First we walked into Jenny's Canyon. Or was it Jenny's Cave? I don't remember, but I can see why Jenny loved it. Especially in the morning when it was still nice and cool in the shade.

Doug, Tiger and I were a little late getting to the canyon and so Grandpa was nice enough to show us around after everyone else was done.

The Cave. I can totally imagine ancient people hiding out in here.

The cousins, minus Tiger (due to the aforementioned tardiness to the Canyon).

Love, love, love all of the red rocks.

We got to the sand dunes much later than we wanted, but that didn't stop Tiger from digging right in. This trip was hard on this little guy in many ways, but digging in the sand made him feel like all was right with the world. If it hadn't been so Hades hot, I would have been happy to let my little man dig all of his trouble away for the entire day. He was one sad little puppy when we had to leave this area.

After the sand dunes we drove a little bit further into the canyon and walked for a bit on the petrified dunes. They were pretty darn cool as well.

Yep, I am a big fan of Snow Canyon, except next time I am visiting in the fall.

Just some friendly advice

In case you ever find yourself in St. George, and the pool at the house is out of order, and it is too hot to be outside, and you're bored, don't let yourself be lured into the thought that visiting the Wildlife museum might be fun. It's really not worth it. But if you are still curious, instead of paying the overpriced entrance fee, just take a look at these photos. .

Look, now you've seen it all.

Oh, and there's also a room for the Entomologist in your life.

Two cute boy cousins.

Three boy cousins.

So, just to sum up. If you really want to see some taxidermy, just head to your local Cabelas because there is more there to see, plus it's free.

Realization

I am realizing that I have no idea what to do with older kids. I have no idea how to let them grow up. How do I let go and give them the independence that they both want and need? I just want them to always listen to me and to do what I say all the time. I don't think that is too much to ask. Also, my baby just turned 6 and it has broken my heart just a little bit.

Flipping in the big pool

Before I start the picture posting marathon, here are a few thoughts on our family trip to St. George, Utah.

1. If I never have to drive through the state of Kansas again, I will not be heartbroken.

2. My kids did awesome on our trip and on the way home they even learned how to sleep in the car (at least at night).

3. Having a cold out west in the dry heat was the worst!

4. I have a new appreciation for humidity.

5. I loved that my kids were able to experience the beauty of the West and to see things they have never seen before.

For our reunion in St. George, we were able to stay in the most beautiful house. It was massive and gorgeous and had the most wonderful pool. Sadly the pool was out of order for most of the week, unfortunately not before my poor little Tiger became covered in hives from the excessive chlorine, but we did finally get to use it on our last day. Look how much fun we had. I think I need a pool one day.

 Why just go down the slide when you can jump off of the top of the structure. Besides, the slide is for babies, like me.

 Why just jump off of the structure when you can flip off of the structure? I had no idea that my boy could do this. I was flabbergasted.

 Why just flip off of the structure when you can do a back flip with a twist? Way to show the kids how it's done Uncle Mike.

 Although, sometimes you just want to jump and see how big of a splash you can make.

 The cutest was when my nephew Miles decided that he wanted to jump. It took him a little bit to get the courage to finally throw himself off of the ledge, but he did it and he did it several times. What a little man!

 My brother Scott showing us his perfect jumping form.

Ah, my tasty little Schmeggers. I could smooch on this girl all day. She was happy to just sit in the shade and support the insanity from the safety of Grandma's lap.

Don't worry, there's more to come from our trip. Who knows what tasty little tidbits I will feel like posting tomorrow.