Fall Break Tradition

October 20, 2014

Fall Break Tradition

For the past four years we have gone down to St. George for Fall Break/UEA Weekend with 3 other families. It has become one of our family's favorite traditions. There are 8 adults and 23 kids all cozied up in the same house. With the four families, everyone has a friend their age and most have a whole, little group to pal around with. And this year the kids are getting a little older. Almost everyone can swim. The kids helped with meals. The kids helped babysit so the adults could go out to dinner. It's awesome!

The kids spent hours and hours in the pool, hot tub, running around the park, playing football on the sand volleyball court and playing card games. We adults got to try a few new restaurants: Cappeletti's and George's Corner Restaurant. We even made a late night pit-stop at the Swig with all the teenagers and Dixie college kids. :) We laughed. We talked. We ate. We swam. We stayed up late and laughed some more. I am so grateful to have such awesome friends. And to have such awesome friends who have awesome kids. It seriously doesn't get any better than that!

The teenagers and tweens got to go to D.I. and do a little shopping. Everyone found something: Ivy got a sea shell. Kira and Garrett got old polaroid cameras. Calvin, Jett, Scott and Isaac found shoes. And Ben found a ceramic statue of a Chinese man that he nicknamed "Sum Ting Wong." It was our centerpiece on the table for the entire weekend. Pretty hilarious! They also got to go see "Meet The Mormons" and do a little window shopping at the Mall and the Outlets.

One of my favorite days was Saturday when Jeff, Adam and I took the 15 older kids to Snow Canyon to hike in the Lava Tubes and Jenny's Canyon. The lava tubes were a fun, little adventure where we climbed and crept down into these caves formed from cooling lava thousands of years ago. There were a few places where the kids needed to be boosted up or helped down. We climbed further down to the very bottom of the cave where it opens up into a large rock room. It is pitch black and people bring down glow sticks, crack them open and splatter them all over the walls. There was a small group "painting" the walls when we got there. They shared their glow sticks and the kids all splattered themselves and each other and the walls. When you turned off the lights, the whole room lit up like you were walking through space, surrounded by stars. It was really cool and the kids loved it. After a quick hike to Jenny's Canyon (a small slot canyon in Snow Canyon) where the kids were literally climbing the walls, we headed back to St. George for a stop off at Swig to cool off with a few "dirty" drinks and some sugar cookies. When we got home, the kids were determined to have a Turkey Bowl at the park. They played football for a good hour with the Dads. It was good to watch some fun football since the BYU game that night was such a downer. The ladies all stayed up and talked and laughed while the guys watched the depressing football game.

I am really so grateful to have such good friends. It seems like you can handle anything in life when you are surrounded by a loving family and good friends. Thanks Tillmans, Vances and Danforths for such a great weekend! I hope the tradition continues for many more years to come!