Sand Hollow

A few years ago when we stayed in St. George with Holly and her family, they took us to an indoor pool facility called Sand Hollow. To my kids, their memories of that pool rivaled their memories of Disneyland! So their one request for our few days with the Gunnell's was to return to this indoor pool paradise.

After all, Sand Hollow has a water slide.

And a lily pad rope thingy....

.....and a giant frog mouth for Maidie to slide down and enjoy! It even has diving boards at the opposite end! It really is a fun place to go for a swim.

About an hour and half into our Sand Hollow adventure, Maidie wanted to get out and sit down. This was unusual for her, as she loves to play and flitter about in the water, but I'll go with it, as it gives Holly and I a great chance to sit and visit. We plop down by Miss. Maidie and carry on a wonderful conversation. About 5 minutes later, we look over and see Maidie in this position on her chair.

That cute little Miss. was exhausted! I grabbed a lounge chair and laid her down. She napped for about and hour and half while the kids continued to play, and Holly and I gabbed. It was a great afternoon.

We were spoiled and so well taken care of in the Gunnell home. Brian treated us to a wonderful, home-made, teriyaki chicken sandwich, Holly introduced me to my new favorite treat, Chocolate-chip, peanut-butter Oatmeal, AND I had my first cupcakes from the Sweet Tooth Fairy. The kids enjoyed movie nights and a giant floor sleep-over in Ashley and Brenna's room. One of my favorite memories will be laughing our heads off over and over to the Literal version of the music video, Total Eclipse of the Heart.

We love St. George and our Gunnell cousins!

Leia Mais

You Know You're Close to Utah When....

You know you're close to Utah when....

the landscape starts to look like this.

Our next stop after Phoenix was St. George, Utah, to stay with Holly and her family. I plugged Holly's address into my trusty Garmin, and Stella (Ty's name for said Garmin, as she frequently gives us bad information, to which we yell, "Steeeeelllllla") told me what roads to take to get there. Derall called me shortly after we had left his house and asked where we were, I told him we were nearing New Mexico, to which he let me know that we were about to embark on one of the most boring drives EVER, and that we should have taken the route that would have led us through Las Vegas.

After experiencing this "New Mexico" drive, I totally agree with him. But, we made the most of it, and enjoyed the beautiful (and somewhat barren) Navajo Reservation scenery.

Eight hours later, we finally arrived, UTAH!

How I love this state! I still get teary eyed when I return! Hooray for the Beehive State!

Leia Mais

Chateau de Riley

I really can't complain about the drive from Austin, Texas, to Phoenix, Arizona. It took us 15 hours, and we only had to make two official potty/food breaks (not including stopping for gas) the whole time. I had a heart to heart with Talmage before we left. I told him that since I would be driving, he'd be the man in charge. If Maidie wanted to watch a movie, he was the man. If Maidie needed help on her Leapster, he was the man. If Maidie needed help with her snacks, he was the man. If Maidie needed a potty break, well.... that's when it switched from "the man", to the "wo-man". And I tell you what, that nine year old kid of mine came through, WITHOUT complaining. I put my headphones on, cranked my itunes, and was in road trip heaven.

We arrived in Phoenix around 9:30 pm (that would be 11:30 pm Austin time). My little troopers and I were tuckered. So after a quick squish to Uncle Derall and our cousins, we headed off to bed. When I awoke, this is what I found.

Everyone had gathered in the game room where they were all posted up playing their electronic devices. It did make for a quiet morning.

Swimming has been a major part of our summer, so when the kids found out Uncle Derall had a pool, that was first on their list of "to do's".

Talmage perfecting his dive.

Eric, working on his cannonball.

Maidie, Paige, and Derall.

Back row: Talmage, Jared, Derall, and Eric

Front row: Whitney, Paige, and Maidie

Then our Riley cousins introduced us to a new form of cliff jumping. The "cliff" the kids would be jumping from was none other than.... Uncle Derall! Who needs platforms, or cascading rocks to jump off of when you have an Uncle who is 6.4'? We let the Riley cousin's show us how it was done, and before long, Talmage and Eric were ready to try.

Paige.

Jared.

Even little D, who isn't so little anymore.

Eric's first attempt was comical, as he couldn't figure out exactly how he was supposed to "jump" off. He kind of just perched on Derall's head for a few seconds as he processed the whole situation.

Here's the line to take the plunge. "Derall" jumping was a hit!

Talmage preparing for his jump.....

He had this look of terror the whole time!

Whitney.

For dinner, Derall introduced us to a restaurant called Pita Jungle. Really good food. Really different food for the palates of my kids and me. I ordered a Pesto Pizza, Maidie had some chicken, and Talmage ordered Pasta with butter as we wanted to be safe. Eric ordered some Lentil's (like his cousin, Paige) and was less than excited when he tried them. Ha!

And finally, here we are just before we made our way to church. What a cute bunch of little people!

Thank you Uncle Derall, little Derall, Whitney, Jared and Paige for letting us come and rendezvous with you for a few days! We love you, and wish we lived closer than 15 hours away!

Leia Mais

Road Trip

Woo-hoo! July, 22nd marked our departure for Salt Lake City, Utah! I packed up these three cutie-pa-tuties and off we went. The first leg our trip will be a 15 hour drive to Gilbert, Arizona. There, we will rendezvous with my brother and his four little people at Chateau de Riley, where we will enjoy some R&R before completing our mecca to Salt Lake!

Uncle Derall, here we come!

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