Some Kate-Art

 "Katie to Mom Pone Mi" (with arrows pointing "mi" to her name meaning: "my pony")

"Katie to Mom & Dad"

Can you tell who is who in this last picture?

Maybe Boring Travel Log

Final bit of our ZION National Park trip:

We went to church in St. George before heading home. The ward we attended was having their Primary Program. {An annual Sacrament program held in meeting houses of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints all over the world during the third quarter of the year. The Program gives the children an opportunity to share all that they are learning in church.} A Spanish Branch {a ward made up of Spanish speaking members from the area.} teamed up with an English speaking ward and created a bilingual program. I enjoyed listening to the mix of languages. They were all singing the same songs and similar messages in their hearts but saying and singing in English and in Spanish, in turn. The member of the bishopric had the difficult task of conducting the meeting in English and translating it in Spanish simultaneously. The English speaking children learned a couple songs in Spanish and vice versa. Very cool.

After church, we checked out of the hotel and headed for the freeway.

My dad is the type of road tripper to just fly through and get to THE DESTINATION. My mom is the type to stop and visit folks and dilly-dally. We merged the two on this trip several times. Scott instigated this merge and suggested we stop at the Kolob canyon scenic drive just North of St. George. We were all so glad we did.

 The coolest part of the scenic drive is driving through a lengthy tunnel carved into the mountain. Super-cool. Loved it.

 I know they are just snapshots. Trust me that it was breathtaking.

 After making our way closer to home, we had a flat tire on my dad's BRAND NEW truck. Like, a month ago, new!

 This was a fun experience for me because it reminded me of some things I LOVE about my husband. I love that these sorts of inconveniences are an adventure to him. He loves this sort of stuff. He doesn't get bummed out by the delay. He doesn't curse and swear, ever. He just gets into his "man" mode and happily gets to work. Often in circumstances like this you will even hear him whistling.

 We were typical though. The women and children were off to the side of the road and the men were doing the dirty work. Who needs the women's movement? I like to pick and choose my liberties and repairing a flat was a moment I decided to be a 1950's woman.

Plus, I LOVE to watch Scott work = muscles, sweat...

 After our delay, we detoured to visit a craggy, pathetic excuse for a graveyard in Leamington, Utah. My Grandma Jensen  and Grandpa Greenleaf spent much of their growing up years here and my dad's Grandparents and some other family are buried here. We went to go check it out.

 Kate hugged her "ancestors". Later on that night, she cheerfully said that hugging her ancestors was her favorite part of the day.

Visiting a graveyard is an interesting activity. I don't mind it. I enjoy the time to reflect on life, the past, and what people have gone through. I look at the graves as if they are telling a story to me of the person that it represents. The life and death. I see graves of babies who left mothers, fathers and siblings. I see graves that tell a story of widowhood, a story of an orphan, a story of a grave that clearly no one has visited in generations. A grave that has lost all recognition of markings, a grave that only the sexton knows who is held inside. Very thought provoking. It's solemn, yet interesting.

What a place to end up, eh?

After our excursion, we heard about some bad traffic from Scott's sister who was also traveling North after her Ragnar Vegas run. We took a crazy, fun route that avoided the freeway. We made it home in time to hit the hay. Very pleasant. Very wonderful little vacate.

Thanks, Dad, for driving. Thanks, Mom, for shopping and making the trip fun for Kate. Where will we go next?

Second Day - Zion's National Park

 We went to this quirky, slightly pathetic, petting animal farm and general store close to Zion's National Park.

 I fell in love with the purple cactus. And the quaint (yet inappropriate for kids {curse words on some of the building names, ironic}) little building structures. My mom decided that this place wasn't intended to be a children's attraction, even though that is what it seems to be now.

In these photos, you can see how much Kate loves to "pose" for a picture.

 Barely visible, Kate and my mom are on the trail across the way.

 Booger check! This was a cool spot. We were surrounded most of the hike with the walls of a cliff, just like this one above.

YUUP! Tarantula!

First Day (Ever) at Zion's National Park

 

Really, I just want to know why I never made it to Zion's National Park until now. What a wonderful, beautiful fun time we had. And so close to home and accessible.

 I love random moments like this one up above, when nobody is looking at the camera (well, except Kate).

 SO glad my mom and dad were able to come with us and share in this fun.

 Kate was a trouper. She didn't whine. She loved having her picture taken and several times along each trail, paused and begged for a photo.

 Another fun, random shot, just before a group photo.

 My Atlas.

 This one above is taken right before the opening of the popular "Narrows" hiking trail.