Spring break 2019: St. George

We had such an awesome spring break this year! We headed down to St. George (or more specifically, Santa Clara) with our friends, the Meads family. We rented a big townhouse together and had the best time!

The townhouse community had two amazing pools. It felt like a mini waterpark and we made sure to spend a lot of time there.  Even Sean and Garner got in on the waterslide action!

We kept hearing about a place called Gunlock Falls, just outside of St. George, so we decided to go check it out. I guess the falls are only flowing on really big water years, and haven't been flowing for several years prior to this year. It wasn't too far off of the highway, but it was a little bit tricky navigating with the little kids. It was beautiful and fun and the kids loved playing in the water. We stoped by Veyo Pies on our way back and took dessert home. I was grateful to be buying pie in Veyo instead of running up the infamous Veyo hill in the St. George Marathon-- which is what I was doing last time I was there!

One of the things I loved most about where we were staying was that it was so close to the entrance of Snow Canyon. Sean and Garner met up with Shawn one morning and rode through the canyon. I woke up early one morning and ran in the canyon as well. It was so beautiful!

We went hiking one morning on the Red Cliffs hike. It was a gorgeous day and there were tons of places for the kids to explore.

There is a pool of water at the end, and I guess a little waterfall is usually flowing, but for some reason, there wasn't water flowing that day. It was still so pretty! With a little bribery, Jackson decided to jump in and swim across with G. He said it was freezing!

One of the nicest parts of the trip is that our kids are all the same ages, so there was a friend for everybody!

Before driving home on our last day, we took the kids to the sand dunes in Snow Canyon. We all got out and had some fun before heading home.

Young King Arthur

Jackson decided to make his acting debut this year in the school's play, "Young King Arthur." I am so proud of him for branching out and doing something I know I would have had a really hard time with when I was his age! He auditioned by memorizing and reciting a scene out of one of his "Peanuts" books. When they asked him if he wanted to be a good guy or bad guy, he told them bad! I got a kick out of that. He was cast as "Morgan's minion #4," and we were excited when we got the script that he even had a few lines! 

The whole experience for him was great. The play at his school is seen as a cool thing to do, and I am glad it has lots of participation and support. They really do a great job for an elementary school play every single year. Jackson loved getting to go to play practice and hang out with his friends. 

When it came time for the performances, he had lots of support. Our whole family went one night,  and my parents and Dave, Max, and Adam came one night also.  Jackson did a great job and it was a lot of fun to see him doing something totally different. 

During the performance

One of my favorite parts of the play was the end when all the minions took a bow. Jackson looked so comfortable and like he was having so much fun!

Such a great experience and I am so grateful for all of the people who donate their time and talents to make opportunities like this possible!

Our 15th anniversary!

Sean and I hit a milestone with our anniversary this year-- we've been married 15 years! Sort of crazy to think about. We are planning a big trip to France and Switzerland this fall to celebrate, so we kept things pretty low key on our actual anniversary. I had fun showing the kids the picture of Sean and I at commencement (prom) back in high school. We celebrated with dinner at Ruth's Chris, and Sean bought me the most beautiful hydrangea arrangement. I'm so glad we are in this together and that we found each other so early. I'm also so excited for our trip this fall and can't wait to spend almost two weeks together making out way through Europe!