St. George - here we come!

One great thing about Grandma and Grandpa is that they always take us to fun places.  This year, Grandma suggested we go to Southern Utah.  Our girls had never been before so we were game.

Our plan was to drive to St. George and stop in Cedar City at the Shakespeare Festival on our way.  Its about a 5 hour drive and we did have to take two cars because we couldn't all fit in one.  Grandpa and Grandma Smith have done this trip numerous times so they knew all the places to stop which it made lots of fun for us.  

On the drive down we stopped in Beaver, Utah at a the "El Bambi" cafe.  It's pretty much a hole-in-the wall with duct-tape covering the rips in the vinyl seats but the food is good.  They make their own breads, sausage, pies, etc.  It was a fun place to stop for lunch.  I had a very tasty Monte Cristo sandwich and the girls enjoyed a yummy vanilla shake (Dave and Grandpa helped!)  We all left very full but satisfied.

    

While we were nearby we also stopped in Fillmore to see the original state capital building of Utah.  Always good to add a little history and learning to your road trips.

We arrived in Cedar City by the afternoon and went right over to the Utah Shakespeare Festival at Southern Utah University.  We had tickets to see the play "Peter and the Star Catcher".  Honestly, I didn't know anything about this play but Grandma did all the research and figured that if it was at the festival it was probably pretty good.  It was also the "family friendly" selection which was just what we wanted because the girls were going with us to the show.

We went to the orientation for the play and learned that "Peter and the Star Catcher" is a prequel to Peter Pan based on a children's book co-written by Dave Barry.  The play started in community theaters  in New York and eventually became a big hit.  It's unique in that it is has minimalist set and staging, the actors use props to set the scene.  It's very creative.

Once we got into the play we understood how it all worked and it was worth watching to just see how creatively they used props.  The play was also very funny with some very memorable song and dance numbers.  The actor who played Captain Stache (Captain Hook) stole the show.  He was so great and just played to the audience.  Grandma pointed out that he is a festival favorite.  A couple of years ago Dave and I saw him as Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet and I was pretty much in love with him then!

After the show we went to a little Thai restaurant for dinner then, came back to look around campus and watch the Green Show.

Onstage at the Adam's outdoor theater

SUU campus with a bronze of William Shakespeare

Grandpa and Grandma really wanted the girls to see the Green Show and enjoy some fruit tarts.  It was a perfect night to set up on the grass and watch the show.  We all had a great time and of course a few delicious tarts!

After the show, we drove the rest of the way to St. George and checked into the condo we were staying at.  The condo was part of Grandpa and Grandma's time share and it was a very nice property with two swimming pools and plenty of room for all of us.

Family Field Trip - Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

So anyone who knows anything about us, knows that recently Dave has developed a birding hobby.  The girls and I are supportive so we have been doing a lot of bird watching recently.  It's actually helped us to get outdoors more and go visit some nature preserves, forests and other places we normally wouldn't have.

CASE IN POINT - the National Fish and Wildlife Service, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.  Growing up in Utah, Dave and I had heard of the refuge.  We even went to the city of Bear River to play high school sports, but we never went to the refuge...or at least I never did.  I'll have to double check if Dave has been before.

The Refuge also happens to be close to a favorite Utah restaurant called Maddox.  And that pretty much sealed the deal.  We decided to go do some birding at the Refuge and then stop for dinner at Maddox afterwards.

Having not been to the Refuge before, we didn't really know what to expect.  There is a small visitor center which turned out to be very nice.  We looked around for a while and then signed in.  We were pleasantly surprised to learn that you can check out maps, birding guides, binoculars, audio tour cds, and even kids activity packs for free.  Pretty much all you will need for bird watching.

The refuge is basically a place for waterbirds.  So we had the opportunity to see lots of waterbirds that are passing through on migrations and a few who are permanent residents.

I should also mention that the refuge is accessible by a 12 mile self-guided driving tour.  You aren't allowed to do this on foot, which is even better when it is really hot and you would rather not drag complaining kids on big long hike.  So after getting our supplies we started out on the driving tour.  Of course, we weren't 100% clear on the map and where exactly the tour began and when to start the audio cd.  I'm sure some smarter people would have figured this out sooner.  Let's just say that it is a 12 mile drive from the visitor center to the beginning of the auto tour.  We ended spending a lot of this 12 miles thinking we were on the tour and we were stopping and straining to see every little bird possible.  It wasn't until after about an hour of this that we hit the actual auto tour route.  Looking back it's pretty obvious now since on "the 12 mile pre-tour" we saw about a dozen birds, but once we got to the actual refuge we saw about 1200 birds!

Here's a story to prove our point.  While driving to the refuge, we saw a Clark's Grebe swimming in a canal.  Its a long-necked black bird that kept diving under the water.  We pulled the car over to take a look.  You had to have quick eyes as it popped up and then went back under the water.  Of course, everyone saw it but Paige and she was going nuts because she couldn't see it, which in turn was driving  the rest of us nuts.  Let's just say after a long period of time, and lots of encouraging her to be patient she finally saw the Grebe.  When she finally said, "I see it!" I'm pretty sure I said, "Thank God!"  The irony of all this is that at this location we were not officially on the refuge auto tour, but once we got to the tour we must have seen about 200 Grebes.  There were so many everywhere, that by the end, we didn't even stop to look at them anymore, which is pretty funny (i.e. frustrating) considering the amount of effort and grief we all suffered earlier!

Okay, so now to the official tour of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.  We finally matched up the cd with the sites we were by and we saw tons of birds.  Over 20 new species we had not seen before.  There were a lot of huge and beautiful pelicans, along with Clark and Western Grebes.  We also some very cool waterbirds with long curved beaks called American Avocets, Gadwalls, White-faced Ibis, Long-billed Curlew, and Black-necked Stilt.  We also some familiar birds like Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Cormorants, Kildeer, and Turkey Vultures.  It was a very successful birding trip even for the summertime.  It would be great to go back in the spring and fall during migration season.

pelicans

We also saw a ton of huge dead carp!  The girls got a kick out of that.  The refuge is marshy and when the water rises and recedes it traps the carp on dry land and they die.

Here's a pic collage Paige made

After our tour, we were all starving because we had spent more time than we anticipated and so we hurried over to Maddox Restaurant only to be greeted by a huge line!  It seems like everyone loves to eat at Maddox.  We had to wait about 20 minutes which wasn't too bad considering there seemed to be a lot of people ahead of us.  Funny story - while waiting you have plenty of chance for people watching.  After a while Ashley turns to us and says, "there sure are a lot of old people in Utah!"  It was funny because honestly, most the people waiting to eat were on the older side.  That's what happens when you hit a home cookin' restaurant in a small town at about 3pm!

Maddox is a home cooking place famous for homemade food including fried chicken, fresh rolls with raspberry butter, turkey steaks and fresh beef.  Let's just say we ready to eat when we finally got to our table.  Ashley ordered the fried-chicken and it was delicious.  Dave had fried shrimp which are really some of the best we have ever had and I had the shrimp steak.  It's a unique thing so I decided to do it and it was good too.  Everything was just like we remembered it and expected it to be.  This was the girls first time eating here but they loved it too.  We all left sick full and with a take-out tray of fresh rolls.  Yes!

Anyways, while in Utah we took a few other opportunities to do some birding and see birds that we would never see in the Midwest.  One place happened to be right next to Dave's parent's house in Farmington.  It is a pond system managed by the Utah State University.  Dave, his mom, and I went walking there a couple of times and saw pelicans, yellow-headed blackbirds, long-tailed Grackles, American Coots, Say's Phoebe, and Western Kingbirds.

4th of July

To celebrate the 4th of July, we had family hot dog bbq and watched fireworks in Grandpa and Grandma Smith's yard.  Another great time with parents, brothers, sisters, and cousins.

The whole Smith Family!

The Smith brothers and sisters

Kristin and Brian also brought a whole bunch of fireworks to light, which was fun for all of us to watch.

Some of our extended family also came over for the firework show including Great Grandma Church, Aunt Susan and her son, Paul's family.  It had been a few years since we had seen each other so it was a great opportunity to catch up.

Lagoon Day

I'm a doer.  My girls like to do things.  Dave likes to do things.  So when we go on vacation we do lots of stuff.  This vacation was no exception, we squeezed a lot of stuff in.  On the girls wish list was a visit to the Lagoon amusement park.

Again, to our good fortune and thanks Grandpa Smith's connections he got us free passes!  Hooray!  That saved us a ton of money.  Another perk is that Grandpa and Grandma live in Farmington right next to the Lagoon which means you can come and go as you please.

The girls were really looking forward to the Lagoon and considering how busy our schedule was we knew there weren't many "available" days to go.  Unfortunately, we happened to be in Utah during a major heat wave.  Temperatures were close to 100 degrees, it was miserablehot.  Honestly, Dave and I were not too excited about the idea of walking around an amusement park and standing in line while we sweat to death.  BUT being the awesome parents that we are, we decided to go anyway.

Our plan was to spend the day at the waterpark portion of the park, come home clean-up, rest and then go back in the evening hopefully when it was cooler.

Another plus was that my sister Becky and her family have season passes so they met us at the waterpark.  It was fun for the kids and they all went on a bunch of slides together.  We spent about 3 hours swimming and even though the temp was in the 90s it wasn't as hot as we expected thanks to some overcast clouds that kept us out of the direct sun.

Paige and Andrew

Ashley with Ben and Wyatt - the boys loved hanging with Ashley!

After swimming, we left the Lagoon and went home to change and eat dinner.  We also relaxed for about an hour or so and then headed back to go on the rides.  Again it wasn't too hot and to our surprise there were no lines for rides.  I guess everyone figured it was going to be too hot and stayed away.

In fact, we were able to walk right on a number of rides.  Let's just say that we went on the wooden roller coaster, Wild Mouse, the Spider, and Wicked all in row, one right after another.  The girls then ran to get on the Colossus roller coaster, but I decided to take a break.  Sometimes you need a few minutes in between rides!  Dave also took a break although his lasted a little longer than one ride.  His stomach was a little unsettled from dinner and lets just say he didn't come off Wicked feeling too good.  Wicked is the girls favorite ride, it's fun but intense.  I wasn't sitting next to Dave on the ride, but when we got to the top before the big drop, I did hear him say, "oh crap!"

Fortunately, after a little while he started feeling better and was able to join us on the rides.  And again, we hardly waited in line all night.  We even left the park before it closed because we had been on all the rides.

A new ride and a favorite, the girls are on there
completely upside down.

What a great day.  It couldn't have turned out any better.

Happy Birthday!

I celebrated my birthday in Utah!  In fact I think it has been 4 years in a row that we have been on vacation during my birthday.  Can't beat always getting a vacation for a birthday present!

I had a great day spent with my family and Jim and Carolyn.  We started out with some shopping.  Carolyn bought me a cute outfit for a present then we went to an early dinner at a restaurant called Parkstone.

After dinner, Jim got us free tickets to go see a special screening of the movie "The Lone Ranger."  It was fun even though we were all disappointed by the movie.  Actually, we felt pretty fortunate we didn't have to spend our own money to see that one!

After the movie, we came home and had my birthday dessert.  Thanks to Grandma I actually had a cake I didn't have to make.  She and the girls made a beautiful fruit pizza.  I loved it!

Utah Tourist!

After we picked up Ashley and Sarina from BYU, we had a couple days before Sarina had to fly home.  We decided to do a little tourism as Sarina is not a native Utahn and was 6 years old the last time she visited.

We picked the girls up on Saturday at 7am.  On the way home we stopped at Magelby's in Provo for delicious pancake and french toast breakfasts.  Once we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's everyone needed a nap and maybe a few jumps on the trampoline!

We also HAD to take Sarina to Cafe Rio, so she could learn what all the fuss was about.  I had the chicken salad, but Dave ordered fish tacos, which just might be my new favorite Cafe Rio menu item.

Later that evening, the girls were tired after waking up so early all week, so they were ready to just lay low at home and so we did the same.  It worked out great, because the Gee Family stopped by to say hi, after just having come home from their family vacation.

The next day was Sunday and so we decided to do something different and go to the "Music and the Spoken Word" broadcast by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Our family had never gone before and neither had Sarina.  It was great just to be inside the Conference Center.  Our timing was perfect because we got to wait inside instead of outside in 100+ temps.  We also got to sit on about the 3rd row and because it was right before July 4th the broadcast was a tribute to America and full of patriotic songs which was very fun.

After the broadcast, we walked over to Temple Square and went through both the Visitor Centers.

After Temple Square, we went back to Grandma's.  It was super hot and we weren't up for too much walking around outside.  After a short rest, we all went over to Dave's Sister Katie's ward to hear her family speak in Sacrament Meeting.  They were amazing.  Scot, Katie and Megan all gave fabulous talks.  I feel really blessed to have been there.

After church, we went over to Katie's house for a family dinner.  We also got to see Kristin and Brian's family.  We love being able to spend Sunday evening visiting and laughing with family while the kids play.  Family really is what it is all about.

The following day, Sarina had to fly home.  Before going to the airport, the girls and I got manicures at the local beauty college and then we went to Grandma' favorite burger joint, the Habit, for lunch.  It was good.

Ashley - EFY

This year, Ashley was old enough to go to EFY (Especially for Youth) for the first time.  It's basically an optional week-long retreat or conference for the youth of our church.  They hold multiple sessions all over the country.  Ashley went to BYU Provo for her week and we were able to time it with our family trip to Utah.

We were also really glad that Ashley's friend from our ward also went at the same time.  The girls flew out on the Friday before EFY started and then the rest of our family was able to fly in a week later and pick them up from BYU.  Dave's parents were so awesome.  They picked up the girls from the airport, entertained them for a few days and then drove them to Provo.

The girls had a blast at EFY.  Ashley really enjoyed it.  She also got to attend her first dance which was  a BIG deal.  The kids at EFY participate in lots of spiritual and social activities.  It is a great program run by the Church Education Department.  Most of Ashley's stories were about the social aspect (boys) but after some questioning she did admit to some good spiritual/gospel classes!

Here are my two favorite EFY stories from Ashley:

1-She called me the night before the first dance.  I asked here how her day had gone and if she was nervous, to which she replied, in her most give me a break mom voice, "Mom!"  I swear I could hear the eye roll.  That's why I was surprised by what came next, "I am SOOO nervous!!"  Even her friend, Sarina, told her she needed to relax.  I'm happy to report both dances were a success.

2-At one of the dances, after dancing with a boy, he turned to Ashley and said, "thank you so much for dancing with me, it was a pleasure, you have made my day."  When Ashley told me this I asked, "what did you say to him?"  

She said, "I just said, 'um thanks'."  "Mom some boys here are so Mormony!"

Me: "Ya Ashley, I think that's the whole point."

They roomed in Heritage Hall

with two girls who were from Idaho