St. George

Greg loves to tell the story about an Apostle from our Church who was speaking to a group and said something to the effect of, "If I had a house in St. George and a house in Hell, I would rent out the house in St. George and live in Hell." So funny, huh? He thinks it is. Me, on the other hand, I love St. George and would spend at least one weekend a month there if it didn't include a seven hour drive. 

I previously blogged about going fishing with Greg's dad and brothers. We arrived at Greg's parents' house at midnight the night before and woke up at 4:00 AM to go fishing. We fished like crazy and left Strawberry in the early afternoon.  (I promise this does have to do with our St. George trip. Just keep reading.) Our original plan was to go back to Salt Lake City for awhile and then head to St. George, but our car was packed and we decided just to head south. Best decision, ever! Garrett and Abby were asleep before we even left the parking lot and did not budge until Cedar City. Wow! I had mentally prepared myself for seven  hours of whining and could not believe it was so peaceful for so long. We decided all of our long car rides will now begin with an early morning fishing extravaganza. 

Grandma Jan and Uncle Mike joined us in St. George for a few days and then Greg went home with them to go back to work. My mom, Uncle Ric and Aunt Paula, and cousins Marlee and Marijka came the day the other crew left, so we stayed with them for a few extra days and had a blast! 

I love the St. George downtown Tabernacle area. They have the cutest carousel and little water park and the kids absolutely love it. The carousel is only a buck and the water is free, so you can't beat it! The kids were so excited to play Mary Poppins with Grandma Jan. 

We visited my Aunt Mary Ann (she is actually my mom's cousin, but we call her our aunt) and loved playing in their pool. My cute cousin Jenny and Aunt Kathy (same relationship as Mary Ann) were there with Jenny's boys and we could not have had a better time. Jenny also has a son named Garrett, so we had lots of fun with Big Garrett/Little Garrett. Little G idolized Big G and Big G was such a good sport about it. (Did you catch that?)

I love the St. George temple! The temple itself is absolutely stunning and the grounds and Visitors' Center are so nice. It is the perfect place to spend a Sunday afternoon when you are on vacation. Everybody was so great to help me with Garrett and Abby, which made the experience infinitely more enjoyable and much less stressful for me. Thanks, guys!

Garrett is slightly obsessed with David A. Bednar since General Conference (random, I know) and was excited to point him out.

The kids both loved seeing the Christus statue. Garrett was especially tender and loved hearing the recording of Jesus' words. Abby was being grumpy with him in the car after and he said, "Abbs, remember the words of Jesus. Be kind and be true." So sweet. Abby responded with, "I don't want to be kind and true." Not so sweet.

Marijka wanted a picture of this beautiful flower. So pretty!

Ric was fixing the toilet at the place we were staying and Garrett just had to be right in on the action. Greg often takes Garrett to work with him, so Garrett thinks he knows everything there is to know about building and fixing things. Ric was really grateful for the advice and I'm sure couldn't have done it without Garrett's help.

The kids loved collecting slugs with my cousin Kim's darling girls. Garrett was quite taken with my Uncle Ted (Mary Ann's husband) and thought he was so cool when he lifted up the sprinkler boxes and showed them where the slugs hide.

Paula is always good for a laugh and had us all rolling with the stories she would tell Garrett. They were beyond ridiculous, but she had him hanging on every word and begging for more. Thank heavens for Paula!

We couldn't get enough of the water and went back for one last time before we headed for home.

Goodbye, St. George. We'll be back soon.