Jake and his brothers (and awesome sister-in-law) were running another Tough Mudder. This time in Phoenix, AZ. They were struggling with travel plans and accommodations. Eventually they settled with stop in St. George for a night, continue traveling to Phoenix for a night, run the event and head back to St. George for the night. We haven't had a vacation for a while so we decided to head down early and have some fun.
Ellie had been asking about cinnamon rolls for a while and then I remembered about my great grandmother Millie's recipe. So I looked up some conversions (scalded milk and yeast cakes) and tried making a batch. They turned out great so we made some for our trip to St George.
Here's Sammi helping measure flour.
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| Fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls |
They turned out so good.
We took off for St. George on a Tuesday night. My brother Jeff hasn't been to see the house we stay in so we took him along. Also, it would give me an extra adult to hang out with while Jake and his family were in Phoenix. Stef and JT drove out and stopped in Sand Hollow so they could hang out with us as well.
Wednesday we played around the house for a bit and then headed in to Cedar City to have dinner and talk with some friends. Aaron and Julie showed us this great BBQ joint. We went back to their place for dessert and hair cuts. Thanks Julie.
On Thursday we had other friends come play at the house with us. Darci and the boys came swimming in the pool and played in the tree houses. Later, once Dan was off work, we went out for dinner with them. It had been too long since we had seen them last; probably close to 4 years. We were on our way out to Denver and they were on their way to Las Vegas. I really love getting together with friends.
(Sorry I sucked at taking any pictures though.)
Jake's family had shown up the night before and on Friday they were off to Phoenix. So what do we do? Go have as much fun as possible.
We drove over to Sand Hollow, where Stef and JT were staying. Once there we jumped in the Jeep, 4 Runner, and Razor to head over to the beach. I don't know who had the most fun at the beach; Zoey, Ellie, Sammi, or JT.
Zoey, the great dane, ran everywhere except where the water was too deep because she is a chicken and can't swim yet. However, she doesn't want water to touch her belly either.
What would you do if it was warm outside, the sand was warm but the water a little chilly (53 degrees according to the entrance station)? Ellie would run into the water and splash around then run out and lay in the sand becoming a sand monster and then return to the water.
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| Gotta warm up |
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| Wash off the sand. |
She didn't want to stay out of the water but when she was shivering uncontrollably, I thought it was best and made her stay out.
Sammi splashed a little in the water or walked in to fill up her cups but she would rather dig and make sand castles. Then either she or Zoey would stomp them. Zoey was always trying to run as close to people as possible. Zoey helped dig a big hole so the girls could sit and be buried. Neither girl sat too long in the hole. Sammi didn't want to be covered and the shape of the hole hurt Ellie's back once the sand was piled on her legs.
We dried them off and dressed them so they could go for a ride in the Razor. Even though we had brought their bike helmets down with us, I left them at the St. George house. They just wore Stef's helmet. ha ha ha
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| Ellie and JT |
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| Sammi's turn |
JT said that both girls just laughed and giggled the whole time. Of course, Ellie kept asking to go faster and even squealed when JT took her to do some donuts. That is definitely something we will need to do again.
We went back to the motor home and trailer for lunch and so Sammi could nap. While she was napping, JT took me on a ride. I have been on 4 wheelers before but never through sand dunes. The razor was a blast. The ride was beautiful. I didn't take my phone or a camera because I didn't want sand everywhere in them but that is such a gorgeous area.
On Sand Hollow, there is this great cliff jumping place near the boat ramp. We went and hiked around there to splash and throw rocks. The water lever was a little low and the water temp a little cold for us to want to jump in.
Ellie wanted to do so much of the hiking by herself. She was so excited to explore and learn things. I think Ellie and Sammi definitely threw more rocks but Jeff and JT may have created more splash because they kept skipping rocks and throwing in big rocks to try and splash us. It was time to head back when Sammi stepped on a thorn. It bled quite a bit. Sadly the ranger who had just pulled up to the ramp as we walked out hadn't kept the first aid kit up to date. His cleansing wipes were dried up but Stef and JT made great doctors to clean and bandage Sammi's foot.
Just after lunch on Saturday, we packed up again and went out to adventure. My uncle Jon had traveled down so along with him and Stef and JT, we drove up to Toquerville Falls. It had been close to 7-8 years since I had been there last. The first time I went to the falls was with a friend of mine who lives down in the area about 13-14 years ago. Its a great place to have fun.
Just up stream from the falls we had a great place way from others where the girls and the dogs could splash around and play. Besides Zoey, we had Duncan (my uncle's lab) and Buoy (belongs to friends of Stef and JT). Ellie did great seeing her first golden lab since she was bit. She has really learned that each animal, no matter how much they look alike, is different and an individual.
Anyway, the dogs loved trying to fetch rocks and dirt clumps the girls threw. They also ran and splashed in between anyone standing too close to the water.
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| Girls at the falls. |
This is a little better picture of the falls. Ellie and Sammi were on the middle ledge on the right side. Bert the Jeep is Stef and JT's jeep that travels to Jeep and off road shows all over the country for Nemesis Industries (the company they work for). Honk if you ever see Bert around. He's hard to miss.
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| Bert the Jeep |
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| Falls in June of 2006 |
We headed back into St. George for dinner and to wait for the Tough Mudder goers to return. We had such a fun time. I wish I was already back there and had been able to spend more time with various friends. But you do what you can. It was so nice to go and have such a good time and do so many fun things.
