Okay...But Really...

Okay, but really, my family is THE BEST!!! We took a family trip to St. George this weekend and it was so great. This might be a longer post, but I've gotta get it all down in writing before I forget everything.

Friday afternoon: Ellie (my car) and I left straight from work. The weather was kinda questionable, lots of snow, but nothing that she and I couldn't handle.

Friday Evening: Stopped in Cedar City to see my cousin Madalyn for a little bit, it was so great to see her and where she lives, I've never visited her in Cedar City before so it was a lot of fun.

Friday Night: Arrived in St. George at Vicki's. We just chilled at her place while waiting for everybody else to get there. We talked and caught up and watched the Olympics. Oh my whole family just loves the Olympics, it's a little ridiculous.

Late Friday Night: I met Melanie and Josh at the hotel and chilled with them and Rylee for a bit waiting for Troy's family to get there. It was so much fun to see the kids, especially after they'd been in the car all day, they were all so happy to just run around and goof off.

Later Friday Night: I decided to stop by the temple on my way back to Vicki's, it was really nice. Then Vicki and I spent a little more time having our sister talk and went to bed.

Saturday morning: Met everybody at the hotel for breakfast and then headed up to Red Cliffs, just outside St. George. It is this great little campground that has some fun, easy and pretty hikes. It was lightly raining most of the time but it wasn't too cold so the kids were able to have a good time climbing on the rocks and walking through the stream. They loved all of the little caves carved into the side of the mountain and they were so content just to explore.

Saturday afternoon: Met up with the folks and Kristi and Travis and headed over for glow in the dark mini golf. The younger kids didn't really understand, but they still had fun under the black lights. I pity the people that got stuck behind our huge group.

After that we went up to Dixie Rock to climb around some more, and of course, the kids loved it.

Saturday evening: We got Costco pizzas for dinner and wound up having to use the conference room at the hotel so we could all eat together because we wouldn't all fit into one of the hotel rooms. Hahaha, the hotel people thought it was kinda weird, but it was fun. The rest of the night we just spent time together laughing and telling stories. We joked about all the things we did when we were younger that our parents never knew about and it was funny to watch their reactions, they were shocked by a lot of it, it was great.

Sunday morning: Woke up, got ready, had breakfast, some went to church, some of us headed back up north. We were getting a new bishopric today so I wanted to be there for that. Unfortunately the weather was no good so it took me an extra hour to get home, but that's ok, it was good, quality solo time.

Overall, it was a perfect weekend, just what I needed. I love road trips and as crazy as it sounds, it is nice to take the drive by yourself sometimes. Nobody to rush you or slow you down, you can listen to whatever you want as loud as you want, and you can just think and be happy about life, it was great. It was even better to spend time with my family. I love love love spending time with them, especially when we are ALL together. As we were hiking around yesterday I thought to myself "Eternity is going to be so great with these people, I wouldn't want to spend it with another family in the world." I love them so much and I feel blessed to have them all be such a huge part of my life. :D

Oh, and even though it was drizzling down there most of the time, it was still soooooooo hard to say goodbye to vacation and think about work and school again. Hahaha!!

Now for Pictures: (feel free to check facebook for more, I just picked a few here.)

Ellie had a sheet of solid ice almost an inch thick

covering her front when we got home from

the storm. Ridiculous.

Davy at the Spiderman hole in

black light mini golf.

The whole family after the hike.

(Except me taking the picture.)

Davy and Jami bouldering up this

crevice, they LOVED it.

Tucked into a cave for a picture out of the rain

Rylee running around the hotel when

we got there. It is no longer an elevator,

but a "water-gater". She's a hoot.