Spring Break- Days 2&3

Spring Break 2018

Sunday, April 1st and Monday, April 2nd

It was so nice to watch General Conference in the place of my childhood, with my parents.  I have so many memories of watching conference in that basement, lounging in jammies, and even having a tickle train with Ashlee.  If you remember, Ashlee is the world's best tickler, so I was missing that aspect of General Conference, to be sure.  I love that Mira made herself comfortable next to my Dad.

Isn't she so adorable?

Between the 10:00am and 2:00pm session, we got to have a little party with Brooke and Danielle, and their families.  We missed Ashlee, but we had a seriously fun time with those that were there.  We had a delicious Easter lunch of Dutch Oven Ham, Funeral Potatoes, Salad, and King's Hawaiian Rolls.  They were all so good to host us-- we didn't have to contribute anything.  Except our awesomness, of course.  And then it was time for the 211 egg Easter Egg Hunt!

I got good pictures of all of the kids, but I don't want to show their faces, because they're not mine.

 Audrey (2.75)

 Drew (1.25)

   Kenyan (6 on May 3)

Payton (10)

 Keilie (14.5)

Shelby (11)

 Brennon (10) found the Golden Egg (although it's green)

Tyson (8)

We had such a great time.  Because Randy wanted to get on the road sooner, we left right after the Hunt, listening to the 2:00pm session in the car.  Oh My Goodness, the changes we heard while driving!  Exciting things are happening to Hasten the Work.

We arrived at Jackie and Darwin's with enough time to chat for a bit before bed.  It was special to see the decor they have in their home of the Boy in the Bed in Heaven.  I found myself staring, remembering, missing.  I loved every minute.

We woke Monday for some fun in Snow Canyon.  Since they've lived there for a few years, they took us to some of the favorite spots.  I love that!  We have so much pride in Richland, that when people come, we want to show them why we love it here.  I love experiencing places beloved to those I love.  Monday was a day of loves.

 We snapped a picture next to the prettiest backdrop.  I love the blue of the sky, the red of the earth, and the green of the tree.  Breathtaking views at every turn, for as long as the eye could see.

 At the entrance to the trail they wanted to take us, there was a sign-- No Dogs.  Mira was allowed on the bike/walking blacktop, but not on the trails.  The pictures below are of their vantage point.  The tiny people barely visible, waving up, with a dog on a leash, are Jackie, Mira, and me.

These are the views from my vantage point.

 Because it is already starting to heat up in St. George, the kids were already starting to sweat and complain after just one hike.  But I wanted to go to the top of at least one mountain, so we chose one close to our parked car, so that those that wanted to stay back had shade. Shelby, Tyson, and Randy made one more hike just for me.

 (The most beautiful view, if I do say so myself.  These cuties!)

 I love the swipes and stripes and layers of this beautiful red rock earth.  Gorgeous.

 The darker red is the trail the others took. 

 There was a little ravine at the top of our hike.  Tyson wanted to get in and see if he could "hide," while Shelby asked to jump over.  We captured this fun picture of them playing.

I love that there is green growing in the cracks.  The colors were so stark and gorgeous.  Life really can grow, strong and beautiful, even in the harshest, most unlikely conditions.

To cool off before our next adventure, we stopped for some ice cream.  Don't mind my chewed fingernails and stumpy fingers, I just wanted something to compare the size of my MINI shake to.

 We stopped to see the blooming flowers around the Temple, and of course, to snap a family picture.

 The first completed Temple in Utah.  It was fun hearing that a Temple was to be constructed in Layton, Utah, just 15 minutes from where I grew up.  Exciting stuff is happening in the Church!

For our last activity before our buffet dinner and travels to Las Vegas, we went to the Slot Canyons.

We all started into the Canyon, but once it got to a certain point, Brennon turned back first.  "Nope, not gonna do that!," so I turned back with him.  Randy went as far as he could, but ultimately had to turn back.  Shelby, like Brennon, just didn't have a desire, so she turned back as well.  As we exited where had had entered, it hit me-- that left Keilie and Tyson to come out where they did.  My heart started to really pound, worried they'd get lost, or hurt, or scared, or die (you know how my mind worries), and I wasn't anywhere near them.  I basically started running up the mountain, to find out where the trail let out.

 This was the first sight I could see at the top.  They were NOWHERE to be seen.  I almost started to cry, my anxiety was so piqued.  And then I caught sight of them...

 RELIEF!!!  And then scared again.  How were they going to make it to us?  Below, look for them under that cool puffy, round cloud.  That was how far away they were.

Without me there to tell them no, they got a bit adventurous, going out on cliff edges that I would have been frantically telling them to get away from.  But they made it.  We all survived.  I slept well that night.

I was really proud of Brennon here.  He walked as close to the edge as he dared.  At Time Out For Women a few years ago, we heard from a woman that is now in a wheelchair because she was jumping along red rocks, like these, and didn't judge the distance correct and ended up falling from a cliff that should have killed her.  I didn't judge her, only didn't understand that you can't really judge depth and distance of red rock until this day.

 Brennon is actually sitting on a cliff that would take him down as far as the cars in the parking lot.  In both, you can't even tell.  Had he been running, jumping from rock to rock with abandon, I could easily see how he could misjudge the scenes in front of him.  It was a learning experience, for sure.

My Brennon may not have been "brave" enough to go through the clausterphobic slot canyon, but he made it to the top of the world on this day.  *Don't you love the clouds?!*

Shelby was climbing all over, I think, wishing she would have gone with Keilie and Tyson.  Especially when they had to literally jump to get to us.

When they asked if they could jump, instead of taking a route along the back of where Randy is standing, Randy said yes just as I said no.  I had been trying to take a picture of Randy when I caught this of Tyson-- he jumped the second Randy said yes.  No fear, no hesitation, he just jumped.  Randy actually stared down at me, I'm sure thinking, "Did that really just happen?," since he really hadn't meant the yes, didn't think they actually would.  His horror mirrored my own!!!  So, naturally, Keilie had to do it, since Tyson, her baby brother, just did it.

Yeah.  It happened.

Not far was a short hike to what is known as Pioneer House, or something like that.  It's a cave that has places carved with evidence that shelves had been hung, a stoned in entrance to the cave to make an actual door, and a really neat chimney/stove that can been that can be looked down from above.

 Because the sun is shining so bright, you can't see Brennon looking down at me.  He couldn't see us at first, either.  It was pretty cool.  The views from the "front door" were spectacular-- I can see why someone would want that for their home in the days of Pioneer settlement.  Again, I was struck by the formation of the rocks, the layers and textures.  I love the red rock of Southern Utah almost as much as I love the Rocky Mountains of my childhood.  Utah really is a beautiful state in all climates.

 While I am disgusted at the graffiti, it was exciting for Tyson to find his name scratched out on the short hike.

After a delicious dinner at Chuck-A-Rama (much better than the buffet places we've banned here in Richland), we headed to Las Vegas in time for some sights on the Strip.  Making sure to counsel the kids on the filth that we were driving into, yet wanting them to experience the wonders of the destination location, we hoped that we hadn't made a huge mistake in choosing Las Vegas as an attraction.  We were pleasantly SURPRISED to see that it was MUCH cleaner than expected.  We didn't see scantily clad women, didn't have people trying to shove pornographic stuff into our hands, and only saw two advertisements that we told our kids to look on the other side of the road/sidewalk.  I'm not sure if it was because it was Monday and Tuesday, or if they've cleaned it up for real, but I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out for us!

 Our view directly out of our hotel entrance.  We stayed at the Hilton Tropicanna.  Two rooms, two nights, for FREE with Randy's points.  One benefit of not being able to travel much during cancer care.

 We walked the 2+ miles to see the water show at the Belagio.  We weren't able to squeeze into the center, but we still got a great view of the whole show.  It was really neat watching something that is a must-see in Vegas just one hour after our arrival.  It was almost like it made Vegas "real."

 Snapshots of our walk back to our hotel.  It was fun telling the kids they could tell their friends they'd seen attractions of both New York and Paris, without having to fly.

With the letdown of anxiety about pornography sightings, our safe arrival, and our jam-packed day of FUN, we were all pretty tired when we returned back to our hotel  Not one complaint that it was "not their bedtime," (remember, they can't go to bed until the clock actually says their bedtime) because of the time changes between Utah and Vegas (even thought Vegas is our HOME time zone).

I'm just going to say that as I closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to make my mind go black, I remembered that very night, six months before, when I slept on the floor of my room to be as close to Caden as possible, not knowing, or even imagining, that it would be the last of his life.  My prescription sleep aid helped me sleep through till morning, without a single tear being shed in sorrowed remembrance.