A Lil Getaway

We just got back from a trip to Saint George with Scotty’s extended family. 

We left a few days early and spent some time in Brian Head. We stayed two nights at an air bnb (a condo that was really old but still nice enough for what we needed).

Brian Head

We went hiking in Cedar Breaks and ate at a really yummy place called the Burger Barn. It was pricey but so delicious!

Cedar Breaks

It's practically a salad!

Scotty's burger was so loaded (bacon, pulled pork, onion rings, and cole slaw) but so delicious!

The chicken fingers/iPad kids (and Eva's trademark photo face)

We had rented a pontoon at Panguitch Lake for Saturday, but a few days before our reservation the company called us and said they had to cancel due to low water. Scotty was devastated, but then he found a pontoon rental at Navajo Lake and booked there instead. 

When we got to the lake on Saturday afternoon, it was really windy. Scotty went and talked to the people we rented the pontoon from (two guys sitting on a porch smoking and drinking moonshine). They said we could still go out in the wind if we wanted to. I don't know what we thought would happen, but we gave it a whirl. We went out to the pontoon (escorted to the dock by a guy on a four wheeler drinking a beer) and found that it was quite... well... homemade? The benches were made out of 2x4's and the awning was a metal frame with a tin roof - half of which was missing (and while we were out on the lake, a chunk blew off). 

We attempted to drive out a bit, anchor the boat, and do some fishing, but it just didn't work out. It was so windy and miserable, and when we looked around, we realized we were the only people out on the lake. We decided to call it and go back to shore. Four wheeler guy saw us coming and met us there to park the boat, and they were nice and refunded our money. 

Since those plans fell through, we went back to the condo and went swimming and hung our for the rest of the night. 

On Sunday we headed into Cedar City and went to a park. Then we stopped by Walmart to buy Eva some shirts (she claims she packed shirts and someone stole them...) and a treat to take to our friends who just moved to Cedar City a few days prior (imagine moving 3.5 hours away and having us show up unexpectedly - you can't get away from us! You just can't!) We stopped for lunch and then went to the Frontier Homestead State Park Museum (which we've been to before) (horrible name, by the way. Who can remember that? I had to Google it). 

After the museum, we stopped at Maverik for sodas to sip on the way to Saint George. 

But rewind... while we were driving through Cedar City, we passed a really cool, old church a couple of times, and Scotty decided he wanted to peek inside. 

He opened the doors and there was a guy standing right there, and he invited us to come in and look around. Church was in session, so we tippy toed into the back of the chapel during Sunday school. The chapel was really cool (definitely old - the building was built in 1931). The pews were made from local cedar wood, and the rostrum is really unique. The entrance is a split level, so when you walk in, you have to go up or down stairs. The chapel is upstairs and the classrooms are downstairs. In the basement there is an old baptismal font that is no longer in use:

I've never seen anything like that in a church before! It was in a teeny tiny room, and I couldn't help but think that if my kids has been baptized in that room, we wouldn't have been able to fit our immediate family and grandparents in there! (It doesn't help that we have 8 parents!)

The outside of the church is really cool and definitely different from our modern day cookie-cutter buildings. I love old churches, but I can see how our churches nowadays are far more functional, even though they lack personality. Its always been my dream (since reading Wait Till Helen Comes) to live in an old church. If anyone ever needs me to make this church my home, I am willing to do that for the betterment of society.  

Home Sweet Church

On to Saint George...

Nerdy facts: there is a desert garden with an agave plant currently in bloom. Agave plants only bloom every 10-30 years. They can get up to 15 feet tall and can grow a foot a day prior to blooming! Scotty insisted that we go see the agave plant, so that was our first stop upon arriving in Saint George. This is evidence that I am now married to an old man (Mr. Wilson, perhaps?)

We stayed two nights in Saint George and spent time playing games, swimming, and eating delicious food with extended family. Facts about this side of the family: there are 8 families + grandma and grandpa (not all came, but most did). We had 37 people there. It was pure chaos. Very fun but very exhausting and overstimulating. 

And I didn't take a single picture after we saw the agave plant other that these two:

Watching The Music Man

Daisy's weird eating rituals

Everyone was scattered throughout the trip, and we just didn't catch any pictures. They probably would have been motion blurred anyway!

We had a good time, but we had to leave a day early because we had tickets to see Back to the Future the Musical (our Christmas gift to Zoe) (It. Was. Amazing!)

We always love a road trip, and we had a lot of fun. Coming back to real life is bitterweet. I love the comforts of home, but gosh, it's good to get away! 

Conversations While Hiking (and such)

“This is boring. I’d rather be on a hike.”

-Daisy regarding the Human History Museum

—————

Daisy: I wonder how these rocks were formed.

Scotty: Read the placard, and it will tell you.

Daisy: It’s summer break. I don’t read.

—————

“Don’t fall! I can’t afford another mom!”

-Zoe

—————

“I just saved you 8 days of walking!”

-Daisy to a beetle after she carried it down the trail and placed it on a rock

—————

“You don’t need no fish to play fishing. Animal Crossing taught me that.”

-Daisy

—————

Me: Did you know that you should never carve in trees?

Eva: Yes.

Me: Okay, good. I wasn’t sure if Dad and I had ever taught you that.

Eva: You didn’t teach me that. I just know it from looking at trees.

—————

“When I’m tired, I get lots of energy.”

-Daisy, who always contradicts herself 

—————

Daisy: YOLO, Dad!

Scotty: I forgot what that means.

Eva: You forgot what FROYO means?

Scotty: No, not FROYO, FROMO!

Daisy: Dad, you’re mixing up YOLO and FOMO.

Scotty: What the heck is FOMO?

—————

“If I can catch men with my hands, I can catch fish with my hands.”

-Daisy

—————

“Eva, do a nice face, please.”

“EVA! Please do a nice face.”

“A nice face!”

“EVA!!”

I Feel the Earth Move

We had an earthquake a couple of weeks ago. It was only a 3.5, but it instantly brought back a 2020 vibe. 

I was sitting at the kitchen table just after 6:30 pm when it suddenly sounded like a semi truck was pummeling toward our house. Then the house shook for a few seconds and made those familiar cracking noises that happen when everything shifts. 

It’s amazing what can happen in your brain during a few short seconds. I wasn’t scared, per se, but I was definitely on high alert. I did inventory of my family, making sure I knew where everyone was. Then I was getting ready to duck under the table, if necessary, and holler to my kids to take cover. I could feel muscle memory activating in my body - old responses from the years of aftershocks we experienced after the 2020 earthquake. It all came right back. In three short seconds of shaking, my brain experienced years' worth of processing and decision making. 

Everything was fine. The shaking was short, and we didn’t have any notable aftershocks, but I reverted back to an old version of myself. My body remembers earthquakes. So now, in response, I’m back to being sensitive to every vibration and sound around me. I live on a busy street and in the flight path to the Salt Lake City airport, so there are a lot of daily rumblings to assess. 

In fact, the very reason I’m even writing this post is because I was in bed wide awake at 4:30 this morning, and Scotty moved just the slightest, and the bed shifted in response, and my brain had to process the movement as *Not Earthquake.* 

Update: We had a 1.9 quake while I was writing this post (I didn't feel anything - I just thought it was a funny coincidence).

On the Pontoon

Nicky starts his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Monday. After he opened his mission call, and we had the details of where and when he would serve, we started looking into possible family vacations before he left. He would graduate May 27, go to Disney World May 30 - June 5, go on his temple trip from June 9 - 14, and go to YM camp June 25 - 26, so that left no time for the kind of vacation we hoped for before his start date of June 30th (we dabbled in the idea of doing a cruise out of LA). 

Last year, for a team building activity for his work, Scotty rented pontoon boats at Strawberry Reservoir and took his employees fishing. They really enjoyed it and want to do it again! Scotty loves fishing (in fact, the very reason I use the name “Scotty”’as his pseudonym on my blog is because it’s a brand of fishing supplies). We decided to try out the pontoon rentals with our family for our last hurrah with Nicky. We invited Scotty’s brother and his family and our moms. 

At first we were just going to go up for the day, but then we looked into booking rooms at the lodge, and they weren’t horribly priced, so we booked two nights. We went up Sunday evening, had two pontoon rentals from 6 a.m. - 7 p.m. Monday, then came home Tuesday.

Other than a couple of windy moments, the weather was really nice, and we had a lot of fun. 

Here are a few memories to jot down:

1. Nicky and his cousin Asher found some crawdads. 

They latched them on to everything, including their own fingers.

2. We caught lots of fish. Many of them needed to be thrown back due to size regulations, but we brought home nine.

3. Nicky kissed a fish, and it bit his lip and drew blood.

4. Our girls all showcased their unique driving personalities.

“I’m so happy! Look what I can do!”

“I can’t see anything in front of me!”

“I’m so cool and chill because I’m in drivers ed.”

5. Zoe still had her arm in a cast for the trip. 

6. Nicky partied hard on the boat for hours and hours (in true Nicky fashion) and then crashed and burned in the afternoon (in true Nicky fashion).

7. We made grilled cheese sandwiches in our room at the lodge.

8. My sister-in-law, Amber (sometimes referred to as “Nameless Sistera-In-Law” or “Timber” on my blog) passed away unexpectedly the morning we left. She loved geocaching, so Zoe made a letter “A” and we went and found a geocache for Amber.

9. The sunrises and sunsets were primo.

It was a great little trip. Everyone enjoyed it, and they want to make it a yearly tradition.