St. George - Family Trip July 2009

We had a great time on our family vacation to St. George this year! We spent a lot of time at the pool!

Gibson had a blast playing with his cousin, Carter, the entire week!

A family photo at Ancestor Square (by the Pizza Factory).

I think my mom and dad MAYBE got one bite each of their dessert. Gibson really chowed down!

My delicious "chili verde platter" from Irmitas! Nothing better!

We had a lot of fun at the Fiesta Family Fun Center. Gibson really wanted to go Minature Golfing.

Gibson and Brady LOVED the go carts! I loved watching Gibson's face!

(thanks for walking in front of my video, guy).

But the bumper boats, by far, where the most entertaining activity of the evening! They added a new water feature and all the boys were soaked by the end of the ride! Unfortunately, I didn't vidoetape the best part - where Brady grabbed Corbin's boat and dragged him into the waterfall. But while Corbin was fighting him, Brady was directly under the waterfall for a good 3 minutes. He got drenched!!!

The wet boys! Brady definitely got it the worst, though!

My dad in the batting cages. I even took a turn - probably the first time in 15 + years that I had hit a ball! Boy did my shoulders feel it the next day!

Brady and Gibson at our own little fireworks show that we had for the 24th of July!

Although we go to St. George a lot, we hadn't been up to the top of Dixie Mountain for years. In fact, none of the kids had ever been up there. Here's the boys with Grandma and Grandpa, looking out over the St. George Valley.

Brady, Gibson and I on the top of Dixie Mountain.

The whole fam damily on top of Dixie Mountain!

Do you think these 2 are best buds or what?

Gibson, Brady and I also made a stop at the old jail that was built on the mountain.

Gibson was really, really scared crossing this bridge!

Zions National Park - Hiking The Narrows!

We went to Zions National Park for a day and hiked The Narrows. It's always fun and a great place to hike (in the middle of a river) on a hot July day!
A family portrait taken on the trail.

The squirrels are NOT afraid of people. There were 4 of them that kept trying to get Casey's food!

Brady and I in the river.

Carter and Gibson with their "walking sticks"!

The water was really deep this year. I don't think I've ever had it this deep when I've been there.

He he! Even my dad had to get wet!!! (which he doesn't like).

Brady and Gibson and Carter resting their backs on the waterfall!

This waterfall is beautiful! I love Zions because there is so much greenery right in the middle of a desert!

Even I put my back up against the waterfall! It was freezing, but it did feel good on such a hot day!

Gibson did not like going through the deep part!

My friend told me about this great place in the river where you could stop to play!

Paige found a great place to sit!

Gibson would jump down from the top of the waterfall!

Brady just sat right in the waterfall!

Hi mom!!!

Hi Dad!!!

Vegas, Baby!

Brady and I spent 3 days in Vegas together to celebrate our 12th anniversary. My parents picked up Gibson and took himm back to St. George with them (thanks!).

Gibson was with us for about an hour and got to visit all the animals at our hotel, The Flamingo.

Brady and I in front of the Bellagio water show. Brady's getting pretty good at the self-picture taking (thank goodness for long arms!).

We visited The Conservatory at The Bellagio. They had all sorts of animals fashioned from plants - this frog was my favorite!

The Love Birds were SO cute all cuddled together!

A ball of water (oooh, wow!) at The Conservatory.

We waited 30 minutes to see the new, improved volcano at the Mirage. I have to say - that after a makeover that took almost 2 years I think, I was not impressed. We both thought the old volcano show was a little better (plus they played it more often so you didn't have to wait).

The Hoover Dam!

The First stop on our vacation was the Hoover Dam! None of us had ever been there before and we had a day to kill in Vegas with Gibson and thought he would enjoy this the most. And, other than the 120+ degree heat, he did! (It was 127 degrees the day before!) We timed our visit well. We went early in the morning and did not have any traffic problems. As we were leaving, the traffic was backed up over 2 hours to get across the dam! Yuck!

A family photo in front of the dam.

Gibson, acting goofy, in front of the tunnel. We rode an elevator 500+ feet down into the ground!

Looking straight down the wall of the dam.

This is the new bridge they are building - it is AWESOME! It will be open in a few years and it will even have a pedestrian walkway on it. I don't know if I could even THINK about walking across that thing!

Brady eating his HUGE sandwich in the car.