Love and Auburn Hair: Arabian Nights

Last week we had the privilege to drive down to St. George and stay for the week with my entire family. It was so much fun and I wish we were still there. I know that people don't love it because of the atrocious heat, but come on, it's hot anywhere you go in Utah in the summer, right?

We headed down on a Friday afternoon after we picked up a soaking wet Payton from her field day (I guess the Firemen decided to make an appearance and spray all the Challenger kids!). We there around 9, just in time for bed! The next day we went to some little water park that is by the temple and then just lounged at the pool, where Payton stayed for like 8 hours, and after every meal, she just wanted to go back! We told her that she would turn into a mermaid, and were pretty sure by the end of this trip, we started seeing scales on her legs.

Sunday we had planned on going to Sand Hollow aka "the red sand lake". We spent the entire afternoon all the way into the evening there. Payton built a lake with the sand, Lucas tried out the water. It was a rough at first, but we kind of just make him sit there until he stopped crying (is that cruel?).

Monday we took our trip to Zion. One of my most favorite places! First, we hiked up Weeping Rock to see if we could maybe meet up with my dad, who decided that he wanted to run the East Rim Trail (which is like 12 miles). Payton kept saying, why does the rock just cry? Why is it always so sad? And then of course, she just stood underneath the drops of water....after lunch we headed on another hike to the Emerald Pools. They were doing some construction work on the trail, so we weren't able to go very far. That night, Payton and I left Shawn and Lucas and went to see Aladdin at Tuachan! I must say, I am always impressed with the plays they put on. I think I have gone to see one, sometimes 2, every summer for like 10 years. They never disappoint. They had a magic carpet and live camels. Does it get any better than that? Yes it does! It was cute, Payton is a little more than obsessed with couples kissing, and when Jasmine and Aladdin kissed the first time, she just looked up at me and smiled. I couldn't help but laugh. When my sister asked her what her favorite part was she said, I loved the whole thing! And I said, I'm pretty sure you loved the kissing part the best! She blushed and said, NO!!!

Tuesday, everyone in my family decided to go home, but we wanted to stay an extra day. So we went to Zion once again. We drove through the huge dark and scary tunnel that was created in 1930. We then made our way to the Riverside Walk. Payton spotted 6 lizards, 3 squirrels, a hawk, and some tiny little yellow and black finches. At the end of this hike, we went and dipped our feet in the river. For some of us, it was more than our feet...

Our journey was so awesome and we can't wait to go back!