Spring Break

Over spring break our family went on a fun little vacation. It was a last minute deal. Terry and I had been talking about going to southern Utah for a while but I kept saying we shouldn't do it because we hadn't really planned for it and hadn't set any money aside for it. But Terry guaranteed that we would not spend much. I was skeptical, but shouldn't have doubted. On the Saturday before spring break Terry made a deal with some people down in Brianhead to swap their condo for a little timeshare we have in Island Park. So we ended up getting our housing at no extra cost.

Once that was set up--and it wasn't finalized until we were walking out the door to leave for Utah, we headed down to Spansih Fork on Tuesday to stay with Jodi and her family for the night. We had fun visiting and the kids had fun playing. We ate some great Chinese food and watched the Princess and the Frog.




The next morning we headed on south by way of Manti. Terry wanted to take the scenic route and see the temple there. Now I just have to say here that when we travel, some major differences between Terry and I come out. He is spontaneous and I am not that way at all. I normally hate spur of the moment decisions and Terry loves to be really flexible and take advantage of whatever opportunity presents itself. So usually I ended up being sulky (I hate to admit it) because we make all kinds of unplanned stops. But after a couple of days of my bad attitude I tried to get a little more rational and to chill out. I did a little better the last two days.


Anyway, we stopped at the Manti temple and the kids wanted to roll down that great big hill. But I said, it is the temple and we should be more reverent here. But again Terry and I differed on our opinions, so the kids were running and rolling down the hill. So we took a few pictures and you can see a few of us were having some bad attitude.




When we were on our way back to the car, Abby said her stomach hurt and she was going to throw up. Terry tried to quickly get her to the grass--but he was too late. She threw up all over the sidewalk. Gross!! We told the groundskeeper who was weeding close by and he said he would take care of it.

So we got back in the car and I told Abby that probably not many people could say they threw up on the grounds of the Manti Temple.

For the next three hours, poor little Abby was wretching ever few minutes. Luckily we had a cup and we didn't end up with any big messes. The bad part is, Ainsley started crying and complaining that her stomach hurt too. She wasn't as quiet about her discomfort as Abby was.

We finally reached Brianhead where we were staying and as Terry was checking in, Ainsley threw up. So we got up to our room and those two sat on the couch there and were sick all night long. So we just sat around the condo and watched TV. Terry took Ellie swimming down at the pool.

We were afraid we would have a bad night with them, but they slept really well and were better the next morning (although I think Abby threw up so much that her stomach was irritated for a couple of days).

The next morning we drove to Zions National Park. It was beautiful and we told the kids that they couldn't watch any movies while they were supposed to be looking at all the pretty scenery. They were good sports and really loved all the cool rock formations.




Terry wanted to drive through this tunnel and I rolled my eyes a little at that, but it was a pretty neat mile long tunnel through this mountain. The kids loved going through it too but were a little scared becasue it is so dark in there.

We got out and walked a little bit and I had to laugh at Abby and Ainsley. As soon as they were out they felt it was a good setting for an imaginary adventure. They quickly picked their names--one was Rebeccah and I don't remember the other's name. And they set off through the dessert with their walking sticks--acting out being stranded or lost or something. They were sad when I said it was time to head back to the car.




After that we headed to the Emerald Lakes Loop and we hiked the lower loop. At least Sam, Ainsley, and I did. The rest of them said they were going to just go up a little bit further but ended up taking a longer loop back. So while we were waiting for the others, Sam and Ainsley were being wild and crazy. Here are some pictures.





Ainsley decided she had a great setting for some modeling.

We stopped in Cedar City and ate at Applebees on the way back to Brianhead.

That night we went home exhausted and dropped into bed.

The next morning we woke up to a major snowstorm. Brianhead already had 6-8 feet of snow on the ground and they got another 10 inches on that day. We decided we wouldn't head to Bryce Canyon like we had planned (good thing too because the road was closed). So I exercised that morning while Terry cooked bacon, eggs, and toast and then we took the kids swimming. After that it was nap time and so I volunteered to stay at the condo while Isaac napped and Terry took the kids to find a place to sled.

They came back a couple of hours later and hadn't found a great place to sled. Terry was in the condo for about an hour or two and I could tell he was starting to get grouchy. He just can't sit in a place for long without getting restless. By that time I was ready to get out so we got all the kids dressed in their snowclothes again and went out and found a long hill right next to the ski slope and we sledded down it. At first I had to push myself down cause the snow was deep and it caught at the sled. But after we went over our track a few times we got so we could go pretty quick. It was fun except it was so hard to walk up that hill.






Sam and Isaac sat at the bottom of the hill and played in the snow. They were pretty content unless a glove fell off. Sam can't stand to have any snow on his skin and so he starts screaming his head off when he feels some. His gloves fell off a few times so we had to run and rescue him.

Anyway it was good for us to get out and it was such a beautiful afternoon. Everyone had gone home from the ski slope and we were the only ones around and it was barely snowing and the wind had stopped blowing. It was so pretty and peaceful and we were having great family fun.

That night I took the girls swimming again and then we came home and went to sleep.

Saturday we headed back home. We stopped (spontaneously--but I didn't sulk this time) at Cove Fort to see the place President Hinckley's grandpa had built to protect the settlers there as they were coming and going. It was interesting because they thought they would use it as protection from the Indians, but they never had a problem with the Indians because they tried to treat them fairly and honestly. So the fort was really just a stopping place for travelers.



After that stop we continued driving and stopped to see Terry's sister Cheryl as we passed through Salt Lake.

We made it home Saturday night. When I was growing up my family didn't go on many vacations and I think that is a little sad because I have really loved the vacations my kids have been able to go on. It seems like we have so many positive memories and we tend to forget the bad. Anyway, I am glad that Terry pushed us to go down the Utah because we had such a great time.