Our Last Hurrah: Sandstone, sun, and soaking up life lessons

This is our first year living within the constraints of a school calendar. You know, planning vacations around school-sanctioned vacations.  It's a new concept, but it's good because it forces us to plan and take advantage of the time we have with Cade not in school.  For Spring Break this year Kyle and I discussed the possible options: Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, and St. George. We decided upon St. George for a couple of reasons:  
1.Warmth! We were getting tired of Happy Valley's indecisiveness to take the plunge into spring. We kept waking up to snow and it was getting old. Plus, Kyle had been feeling like a failure of a father because it had been such a long time since we went camping and if we were going to camp happily, we needed above freezing temps.  
2. Proximity. It's so great to travel a mere 3.5 hours and feel like we're in a totally different part of the country. Less time traveling means more time vacationing.   
3. Furniture. As previously mentioned, we are on the hunt for furniture of all types now that we are more settled.  There is a Down East Home Outlet down there which has a great selection of furniture, far better than the Orem location's selection anyway. We were told they can ship to our Orem store for free.  We decided now was a good time to check it out.

Technically, the week of Spring Break began on Easter Sunday, where my family convened for a lovely dinner at my folks place and ended with the competitive, adults-welcome Easter Egg Hunt. I love this tradition!

Fortunately my mom took pity on my orphaned daughter and helped her out, because clearly I was far too busy chasing after eggs of my own:

This was the duel for the Golden Egg. Kyle was ruthless and won.

Cade and Ty after the blue egg

Checkin' out the loot:

Eating the spoils

This is Bailey's pensive look. The sweet little angel is formulating her egg hunt strategy for next year when she's a bit more mobile:

*all pictures stolen off my sister's blog. Thanks, Goose! 

The next few days were dedicated to Spring Cleaning which not only included those bins, but lots of yard work, getting the hot tub up and running, and other fun projects we'd been missing out on. Finally, Wednesday morning we began prepping for the trip south for some sun.

The drive was uneventful and Kyle spent most of it on the phone fielding calls for work while I tended to the kids. I've long since learned to not complain about that (most of the time, anyway!).  While it seems romantic to be able to spend the drive chatting with my husband, it's also a nice thought that taking a 4 day vacation isn't hacking into any sort of designated vacation time of his, so long as he keeps working while we are out and about, we can go just about anywhere with him.  It was also the peak of recruiting season-- just days before our recruits would start trickling in to Chicago, and it was expected for the phone to ring a lot on this trip.

Our first stop was Down East. I went in, and there it was! The bed for Cade.  Love at first sight? Well, maybe. It just seemed practical. I loved that it was a queen sized bed-- which meant not only would it sit nicely in Cade's room, his room could easily transform into guest quarters should the need arise. The color of the wood-- RED-- was just icing on the cake. Very yummy frosting. I was tempted to buy it right then and there, but knew better. We would visit over a dozen more stores before returning to reevaluate my feelings.

Next we landed at my Aunt and Uncle's home. Well, more like Chatteau! :) They graciously offered to let us stay with them (I called them while driving down to see when during the week we could stop by for a visit, so even given a few hours notice of our arrival into their city, my aunt kindly offered their guest quarters without hesitation. What a sweetheart.)  Kyle, the man in charge of our accommodations readily accepted as he hadn't decided where we were going to land for the night.  Side note commentary: I have also long since learned to go with this. I'm a freak-planner by nature, (also a self-admitted procrastinator, if you can imagine the combination) but my husband has slowly molded me into a spontaneous, go-with-the-flow creature even I don't recognize sometimes. The old Michelle would have demanded a hotel or campsite confirmation before departure. The new Michelle let her husband take the reigns and let him do his thing.

We visited with my lovely Aunt Jill and Uncle Ken for a bit before he headed off to attend to his Bishopping duties. We pretended to visit with dear Cousin Lindsey who quarantined herself upstairs as she was getting over a stomach bug, bless her heart.  The kids overtook the toy cabinets and Cade happily discovered a Game Boy, likely to have once belonged to my cousin. We chatted while I consumed slice after slice, some amazing banana bread.  (which reminds me, I need to get that recipe!)

When my Uncle Ken returned home, he was such a doll with my kids (is it okay to refer to you Uncle as a doll? Well, he was!) and read them, very animatedly might I add, the scripture stories before we had prayer. It was so cute to watch how my children interacted with him-- he's such a fun-loving guy.

After putting the kids to bed, we chatted some more-- I probably seemed like I was grilling my Aunt.  As long as I can remember, I've known that she struggled with Lupus (well, I didn't recall the official diagnosis, but I knew it was an auto-immune disease). But it wasn't her behavior that tipped me off, it was always my parents remarking at how well she dealt with it, because looking at her you would never know.  Like, ever.  Her take on this illness has always inspired me and intrigued me. So, now was my opportunity to figure out what makes a person tick like that. What makes a person live life to it's fullest, full-knowing they have something that will affect the way they live for the rest of their life?  My aunt had chosen that Lupus would not define her. She wasn't going to let it keep her from enjoying life. She realized this was a choice of hers. And so she makes the choice daily to have a good attitude about it.  In one word I'd say my time with her was inspiring.  I love soaking up life lessons from inspiring people

Our next few days were full of just the right combination of relaxing, spiritual,  touristy and active.  Kyle scored a great hotel at a great price (Thank you, Price Line) right in town (Bluff Street) so it was really convenient.  We swam at the Washington City pool for a few hours (It's brand new-- I highly recommend it).  Cade loved the slide and didn't mind the 5 minute wait every time he got in line. We also hiked through and up Snow Canyon:

At the top of this climb are names of pioneers who settled the area (or discovered it, don't exactly remember). They wrote their names in axle grease which has stood the test of time. This was Cade's first real experience mountain climbing and he did great!

Our little winking girl!

This is Kyle after hiking down from the names trying not to be bugged that this slew of  people just bounded up the climb in seconds, while it took he and Cade several minutes.

 We visited Brigham Young's winter home, the St. George Temple and Visitor's Center, went to a dozen furniture stores (no luck, but did get an idea of prices and what's out there), worked out at the gym (well, I got a pedicure while the other three went) and swam until we were puckered and fried (oops, forgot sunscreen). We never did end up camping. I'm not actually not sure why, but I was not complaining about it, nor was I begging Kyle to take us. Kyle likely decided to forgo the adventures of camping and just enjoy the luxuries of a hotel and let the kids swim to their heart's content. That's all they wanted to do.

We decided to culminate our Spring Break adventures at Zion's National Park, but first stopped at Down East to make the final decision on the bed.  I walked in and headed straight for the bed, hoping it was still there. It was, waiting for me almost. I inspected it, walked around and stood for a while...waiting.  I don't know for anything in particular, but just waited. I consulted with Kyle, trying to get some trace of emotion out of him if he felt strongly one way or the other. While most of the time he is fine with me doing the picking because he doesn't have strong opinions when it comes to furniture style, I always have to check.  He surprises me sometimes.  After his usual, "if you really like it, I like it" type answer, I finally went to the counter to start the ordering process. I asked the sales manager to come with me to the bed to answer some of my questions. In our conversation I mentioned, "The Orem Store said you ship up there for free, so we'd want to do that."  The manager stopped in her tracks and negated the statement. She told me they shipped to Vegas and California, but the truck didn't go north.  My heart sunk. Seriously?  About the same time that my heart was sinking, we heard a loud crashing noise, and immediately I ran to my kids.  I found them standing in a sea of broken glass. One of those HUGE hurricanes had broken. Awesome. I sighed and asked to add the broken hurricane to our tab, apologizing that I didn't have a better eye on my children. The sales manager was sweet and waved it off saying it happened all the time, it was no big deal. I still couldn't get over that the bed I had hummed and hahed over was no longer even an option. What a waste of time!

I did manage to find a cute and masculine bed spread for Cade at a terrific discount (which was discounted more at the register because the woman took pity on me for not being able to buy the bed) and a baby quilt for my expectant girlfriend.  We consoled Cade and thanked him for telling us the truth about breaking the hurricane and headed to Zion's. The drive was beautiful. We stopped at some shops by the Park entrance and the kids were in heaven with all the precious rocks on display and for sale.  We let them choose two rocks to buy, and they were on top of the world.  I am pretty sure that was their favorite part.  It sure got Cade's mind off breaking the hurricane, because he had been mumbling the entire drive to Zion's that he wanted to live with another family (Can't blame his defensive logic. If he lived with another family, he would have never broken the hurricane because he would have been somewhere else doing something else).  Neither Kyle nor I are very familiar with the Park, but we bought a pass to drive through and stopped along various scenic spots for pictures, exploring and hiking.

We found one of our stops to be particlarly kid friendly: gradual upward slopes, terrific scenery, and endless climbing. The safe kind.  I remarked aloud to Kyle:  This is a perfect hike for the kids!   They climbed trees, scaled little mountains, tossed sandstone down hills, dug in the the sand and sword fought with sticks. When we were tired, we decided to turn around and head back to the car. Kyle suggested we try a different way down. I don't recall if he thought it would be faster, or easier for the kids or what. So we took a different route, slowly making our way down the mountain.  In a matter of moments and without much notice, we found ourselves practically stranded on the side of the mountain. We wondered aloud how on earth we got there and what would be the best way down. Kyle was in flip-flops and was manning Savannah. I had Cade, who fortunately is very cautious. Now if it were just Kyle and I, we could get down the mountain no problem. It was the children we were concerned (terrified!) for.

It wasn't long before Kyle lost his flip flops, and on one brave maneuver,  sacrificed the camera, sending it down the mountain ending in very loud thud, in order to protect he and Savannah. I was scared to death at that point. Watching my husband's feet slip as he held onto Savannah was heartstopping. I wanted to scream but didn't want to frighten Cade. The four of us huddled on a ledge in family prayer, asking Heavenly Father to help us get safely back to the car.  Savannah was in tears, and I was on the verge. I could see the weight of the world on Kyle's shoulders. How swiftly he'd be able to move down the mountain on his own, but getting his pregnant wife and two small children down was a seemingly impossible task.  I wanted to go all the way back up the mountain and come down the same way we came up. Kyle wanted to keep going. We were so close.  So very close. That afternoon I swear angels were with us, keeping our feet steady and my balance even. Kyle soon made it down but Savannah was not to be consoled until all four of us were safely down. A few minutes later, Cade and I both breathed a sigh of relief as our feet touched the ground.  Barefoot, Kyle walked over to examine the remains of our camera at the bottom of the mountain. The lens was smashed, and we were all grateful that was the only fatality. We gathered closely in a circle and said a prayer of thanks and walked back to the car reminding the kids that when you go hiking, always wear good shoes and go back the same way you came. That drive home I felt a renewed sense of family unity and a great appreciation for my brave husband.

We remarked after a few silent minutes some of the thoughts that had been running through our heads as we were making our way down the mountain. I couldn't stop thinking of those pioneer mothers crossing the plains, or the icy Mississippi.  How great their faith must have been.  Watching their children face dangers they otherwise would not have encountered had they not made the choice to head West.  Even in the face of death, those mothers knew they were doing the right thing and journeyed on. That must have taken so much courage.  The guilt I felt as we were climbing down the mountain was consuming, knowing that I was responsible for the danger my children were faced with. I also wanted to blame Kyle for our predicament. Why had he chosen this way?  Or why hadn't I refuted his idea to try a different route? It would have been so easy for those pioneer women to blame God for the illness or death of their children and to abandon their faith. But instead, they allowed it to make them stronger and deepen their relationship with God. Of course, their purpose and journey was a righteous effort and had been given God's blessing. Ours was a foolish attempt down a mountain.  But having a glimpse of what it was like to have a child face imminent danger certainly gave me just a small glimpse of the emotions the pioneers endured on a daily basis. My heart is full of gratitude for their sacrifices and bravery.

Kyle said that our climb down the mountain was much like life.  Sometimes we are faced with a series of decisions and we make a bad one. Bad decisions are hard ones to recover from. It is much wiser to follow a course that is either familiar, well thought out, or one that we have received personal revelation from God to take. Blindly making decisions without careful consideration of the consequences can lead to a series of unfortunate and almost impossible to recover from outcomes. We should have taken the way we knew down. We should have stopped to consider our options and the potential outcomes instead of carelessly scaling down the mountain before we hit the point of no return.  Once you are in the thick of a bad decision, it is harder to make good decisions, because it may seem like there aren't any.  You want to escape (like I just wanted to head up the mountain and start over) but if you are cautious and call upon God, he can help you out of any predicament if you have the faith.

The drive home was lovely. We inadvertently took the scenic route, thus hindering our cell phones to have much reception for a few hours, so that left us with quiet time to talk, reflect, and enjoy our time together as a family before Kyle headed to Chicago.

We were a little scraped up, had nothing to show for our tireless furniture hunting efforts, and never set up the tent or slept in sleeping bags, but were absolutely thrilled with our vacation. It was a fantastic, adventurous and bonding trip filled with priceless memories.

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Our kids were on the hunt for the perfect rock. Savannah interpreted this as meaning the biggest rock. Cade was looking for the coolest shape.  I swear, that one is so big Savannah looks like she is going to topple backwards down the mountain!

our little climbers

the one and only family shot of our entire vacation:

This was a super fun climbing tree

Doesn't Savvy look totally photo shopped into this scenery?!

Hanging out in the sand

more exploring

Cade agreed it would be cool to write their names on the mountain like the pioneers did. No axle grease, so a rock did just fine.

We called this one the "stack of pancakes." I think it was Cade's favorite rock formation.

Climbing down the pancakes...

Happy girl

This was the very last shot taken with our camera before we began the descent down the mountain when the camera met it's demise:

I love this guy.