St. George and a New Job!

Big news for our family this month--Jeff decided to take a new job.  It worked out nice to take a week off of work inbetween ending the old job and starting the new one, so we made some fun plans.  Originally, we had bigger plans, but mom got sick, so we decided on just a quick trip to St. George.  We stayed at a hotel for a couple of nights that had a great pool that we really took advantage of. 

We also spent a day at Zions National Park.  We had such a good time there and loved the red mountains, they didn't look real.

This is on the shuttle that takes you through the park.  The kids got a big kick out of it.  Scott is in the Elmo shirt, Austin in the Ernie.

We went on the Emerald Pools Hike, all the way to the upper pool, I think it was around 1.2 miles each way.  The kids were troopers!

We loved the little walkways inbetween huge rocks.

 Right behind us (a few feet) was a giant drop off.  I was too much of a wimp to get any closer.  I was really worried about the kids getting even within 15 feet of this place.  (As a side note, Kate takes pictures of us sometimes, it's kind of nice!)

A little cave we found on the trail

 We stopped at the halfway point and had lunch.  This cute older lady walked by and wanted to take our picture.

 Kate and Jeff found a little frog they had told us about,  it is right near the water on the wet looking rock.  It was so interesting--it would lay like it was dead in the water--legs extended and everything, then it would start swimming--probably to get its food.

 The upper Emerald Pool

 This picture doesn't do it justice, but the last .3 miles in were brutal, especially this last stretch.  The kids were such troopers with the tricky rocks and the long hike!

 Austin and Scott's room

Austin took his shoes off on the bus after the Emerald Pools hike because he said there was something in his shoe.  He had about this amount of sand in each shoe.

 This was the sand we dumped out of his shoes . Funny boy!

Next, we took the shuttle to the top, to the Riverside walk, I think this leads to the narrows eventually.  We were pretty wiped out by this point, so we just made it to the water at the beginning. 

The kids were absolutely wiped out that night.  They all three shared a queen bed and slept so good. (AKS)

 The next day, we headed home, but stopped in Kolob Canyon.  It was crazy, from the road, things were looking kind of ugly, then we drove around one small mountain (almost just a hill) and found this beautiful view.

 Scott navigating with Austin's help.

Even though it was quick, it was SO nice to get out of town for a couple of days as a family.