hiking in Snow canyon

 What do you do with 12 kids full of energy that need to dry out a little from hours and hours of swimming.  You take them hiking in Snow Canyon.  We packed a picnic and found a nice little spot with picnic tables to feed the brood.  I felt a tiny bit guilty when we scared the only other person there with all these kids.  This lady came looking for a quiet place to read and I am sure she was deep in her book when we showed up with the circus.  But I only felt a little bad, where else can kids run, shout and play than the great outdoors.
We hauled my dad's new scooter down to St. George so he could join in on all the fun we were having.  He ended up being the designated grand kid hauler  for those ones with little legs that just couldn't (or wouldn't) keep up.  I'm sure he loved it just as much as they did.  I know this because when I looked back to see how they were doing I saw him holding hands with Lizzy while carting Peter on the scooter.  

For the first hike the mom's and the little ones took a hike on a well paved trail while Scott and Matt took the older ones on a desert adventure. It was a nice little trail with some beautiful scenery but not extremely interesting.  So we packed it up and headed to the "Pioneer names" A spot where pioneers that came through this canyon used the grease from their axles to write their names on the stone wall and they are still there today clear as if they were written yesterday. There was one gentleman rock climbing at this spot.  My niece Jenni noticed him on the face of the rock and told us all about this pioneer she saw with no shirt on.  It was so funny that she thought he was a pioneer.  But then again we were at Pioneer Names.
My favorite hike was Jenny's Canyon.  Its a very short hike from the road and its this amazing little slot canyon filled with all kinds of holes/tunnels/caves in the rock.  The kids loved it.  They all climbed in around and on all the ledges.  It was really quite cool.
Just before the canyon entrance Brennen my little artist out of the box thinker, spotted a rock formation of Eve from the movie WALLE.  It never ceases to amaze me how children's minds work.

Pioneer names

William on top of the world.

can you see Eve?

Jenny's canyon

St. George in October

We thought we would run down to the St. George house for one more quick vacation before it got too cold. It was just a weekend get away but the weather cooperated because it was snowing at home.  I loved soaking up the sun.  We even indulged and heat up the pool to 98 degrees, or it could have been 100.  It was like one giant hot tub.  We even tossed in the patio chairs so we could sit and relax.  The kids had a blast.  Peter felt the peer pressure of wanting to be a big kid so he was determined to learn how to officially swim without his life jacket. Sometimes a little peer pressure is a good thing.  He did pretty good.  I don't think I will be letting him swim laps anytime soon but I feel confidant that he could swim to the edge if he fell in and work his way back to a safer depth.  Our little Lizzy is fearless in the water.  She made me so nervous jumping in like all the big kids with just her little tube I was sure she was going to lose it and sink to the bottom.  The kids had endless hours of fun in the pool.  It was the first thing they wanted to do in the morning and right before bed with quite a few hours in between.
My sister Steph brought a witch pinata filled with goodies. It was hard to get the kids out of the pool to break the pinata that's how much they loved it.
I have to admit I love going to the St. George house.  It 's such a nice little vacation.  Its not very far away and its okay if you just want to sit and read your book, lounge in or around the pool and if you want to go out and do something there is always an activity somewhere. The house is big enough that we can all get together with out being on top of each other.  And whats better than being with family?  NOTHING! especially when you have a family like mine.

fearless Lizzy

Jenni get her brave on.

scheels

Ellie sacrificing her brother the the bear.

Is it just me or is shopping becoming an extreme sport?  Scott and William went to a football game so I was trying to think of something for the rest of us to do.  There is this new sporting goods store that just opened up so we thought we would check it out.  The first thing we saw was this giant fish tank.  Peter was pretty enamored with it. The whole place was a little overwhelming.  I could possibly be the fact that the store was PACKED. That said it was pretty cool, I mean they have a ferris wheel inside the building and a large one at that.  They had everything you could think of; a dance dance revolution game, a kids climbing playground, all kinds of photo ops, oh and they had clothes and sporting goods as well.  However the thing the kids loved the best was the animatronic Abraham Lincoln.  I don't know why but they were fascinated with him.  So this brings me back to my first statement, shopping HAS become an extreme sport, there was almost so much to see and do I couldn't see the products through all the fun. But it was an entertaining day.

swimming with horses

Once we came up to this lake (silver lake) and took our horses swimming.  Most people don't think of horses as swimmers but they are actually really good swimmers.  It is a fun experience swimming with such a massive graceful animal. One of these times, one of the horses got spooked while swimming and started panicking. His reins got caught under his hoof and every time he kicked it dunked his head under.  It is very dangerous to go near a panicked horse so the person riding him (I can't remember which sibling  it was) hopped off and swam for shore.  We knew the horse needed to calm down.  We all knew it was a matter of time for the horse to get exhausted and then we could go in and save him.
At this point some random person swam across the lake to the horse to get him back to shore.  I remember my dad being worried that the stranger was going to get himself hurt because it was obvious he knew nothing about horses.  Once the horse was tired we swam out with the other horse and unhooked the reins bringing the frightened animal back to shore with the stranger in tow.
The thing I remembered most about that experience was how calm and collected my dad was.  He wasn't nervous so we weren't nervous.
That's my dad cool as a cucumber.

Tibble fork lake

 As soon as I came home from New York the first thing I noticed was the fall colors. I have been dreading fall because it means that summer is over and winter is right around the corner. However as I gazed out the window I remembered how beautiful fall is. So during fall break my sister her kids and my family headed up the canyon for a drive and a picnic to see this beautiful season up close.  The drive was breathtaking even if the kids were shouting in the back of the car.  Ellie opted to stay home and catch some more zzzz's  What is it with growing kids and teenagers sleeping all the time?  Sleep when your dead I say. We stopped at Tibble Fork lake.  This is more of a reservoir than a lake but it is really a nice place to spend an afternoon.  It is very popular with the ATV and motorcycle crowd because they have all these easily accessed trails through out the canyon.  It's also a good place to ride horses.
I was reminiscing with my sister Amy about our horse adventures. She was quite the horseman when she was little, always up for a ride.  Often one of the horses would take off with little Amy still hanging on as it dashed through the mountains behind our house and through out the town.  I remember one time we finally caught her on the horse and she had lost her boots somewhere along the way.  One thing about Amy is that she was tough as nails and could hang on in the scariest of rides.

 We let the boys bring their fishing rods.  I didn't want to worry about hooks and catching actual fish so we just practiced our castings.  As we were unloading the car my dear nephew Landon who has a speech impediment asked where his "pissing rod" was.  I couldn't hold it in I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't get out my smart alec remark.  I told him ,"It should be attached to you buddy."  Sorry Lannie I just couldn't help it. His very patient mother said "Landon it's the F sound remember F, F, Fishing rod."

So we ate our lunch,  practiced our casting catching green gunk and we floated boats down the stream.  The water was really cold. When lunch was all cleaned up we went for a walk around the lake.  As the boys followed close together exploring interesting things like a rock or stick and finding excitement in the simplest things they reminded me of the lost boys in Peter Pan.   One gentleman was fishing in a tube and fighting with a pelican who was trying to snag his catch.  All the boys headed over and called out to him.  He was kind enough to show them his catch and answer any questions they had.  I love the amazement and interest of life in a child's eyes.