Scout said he wanted to go surfing.
So we packed up, and headed down the road a minute, and set up shop.
He geared himself up, and headed out.
I sat and enjoyed the view of my girls playing in the sand, and my boy trying to surf.
And after a few hours, we loaded up and headed out.
There are major perks to living half a mile away from a good surfing spot.
Scout is a rad older brother.
This morning, he woke up and created an egg hunt for the kids.
He filled the eggs, hid them, made bags for the kids, and woke them up to this excitement.
And just like we do it at Easter, he let the littlest go first.
All of the eggs on the grass were reserved for Pippi.
Dash went next, and got the trickier eggs.
And Navy cleaned up shop with everything else.
Then for the next 45 minutes, they all opened their eggs, got out their loot, and then proceeded to trade.
Cute work Scout!
Britni kept telling me we should head to St. George to her grandparent’s place, so we finally booked a trip.
It was in the middle of a heat wave, in an already baking hot place.
But a pool with a shaded seating area, air conditioning that finally kicked on, and lots and lots of Popsicles made it an absolute blast!
The house is nice and big, and sits right on top of a really nice golf course. There is a reservoir about two minutes away, and although it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere, we weren’t more than 10 minutes from anything we needed.
It was perfect for a week of relaxing and having fun.
Here are all of the bare-bummed, or underwear-wearing characters of the week.
Nine little orphans.
There is no doubt about it…swimming was our favorite past time.
Mostly because it was a reprieve from the heat, but also because these kids could spend four hours straight in the pool…over and over again!
But there were some activities that came in a close second to swimming.
Golf ball hunting was one of the best!
One night, the kids would hit a “jackpot” and find a ball that had gone out of bounds.
It was a Real-Deal Jackpot if it was a colored ball.
The most obscure was pink, and was a real prize if you found it.
We also hit up “Glitter Mountain”.
It is an old Gypsum mine, where a huge ribbon of gypsum is there for the taking.
They call it glitter mountain because as you drive up, all of this gypsum sparkles in the sunlight. It really was very cool, and the kids had a great time hammering away. But as hot as it was in St. George, the sun reflecting off the gypsum was some of the most intense natural heat we have all ever felt. Like, you could only stand in the reflection a minute or two. But the good news is, we all mined enough to fill up one of our glass trip jars.
I already mentioned Popsicles.
These jumbo Otterpops were melted down to syrup about half way through, because of the heat.
But anything cold was just what we needed.
Except for Scout.
We went to the Red Barn for homemade ice cream, and everyone picked something out.
But Scout asked if he could just get a tub of their homemade peanut butter instead!
Classic boy who turns down the yummiest ice cream…but that’s Scout!
There were lots of games.
There was Zinka face painting.
These three rascals were naughty as can be.
Navy found so many golf balls one night, she filled her bathing suit with them.
We golf-carted around the golf course…stopping at every water stop they had.
And every few holes, the kids would get out and run around the course.
The red rocks around us were the perfect climbing rocks for the kids.
Most of them never missed an opportunity to climb up one that they saw.
While we were getting our golf carts, I looked over and saw Scout on top of a red rock as the sun was going down…he reminded me of Samuel the Lamanite!
Pippi was on fire the whole trip.
This girl is so classic — it is almost unfathomable that she is only 2 years old!
Blush was along for the trip, and she is almost a perfect baby.
She didn’t fuss, and she slept like a champ.
And all of my kids are obsessed with her!
A lot of days, we took a 2 hour break during the hottest hours, and let the kids watch a movie — or sleep in Navy’s case.
While the big kids watched, the little ones went to their respective tents.
Pippi got out of hers frequently, but couldn’t open the closet door, so she fell asleep on the floor.
This day, I was really glad I opened the door slowly, because she fell asleep right behind it.
One afternoon, we went to Snow Canyon.
We were just driving, and Scout and Doey wanted out to climb the rocks.
When they went up, Doey took some rad photography when they reached the summit!
Meanwhile, Navy was in collecting mode, and collected a few hundred mini acorns off the trees at the bottom of the canyon.
Poor squirrels this winter.
While we were out Canyoning, Pippi was attached to my leg the whole time.
At first I thought it was a sweet gesture, but then I realized it was pure teasing!
My favorite pictures of the whole trip were when we were out early one morning, and the heat made my camera fog up a bit.
I took some pictures of my ragamuffins, and think they really captured this trip in a snapshot.
A special shout out goes to Doey — who was the funnest, easiest, most helpful and pleasant girl to have along.
And she also loved our nighttime television station of Oxygen — television for women!
Now…for the second time in two weeks, it’s time to drive home from Utah.
But obviously, we will be back.
Soon!
Not even one week after we got back from Utah….we are heading back to Utah!
But this time, we are going to St. George for a week with Britni and Tristen.
And I invited Doey….which might be the best of them all!
We obviously stopped at our favorite Vegas eating spot — Hash House a GoGo.
You can’t beat cold cereal for 3 bucks.
And then when Doey told us it was July 11th, we obviously had to stop by a 7/11 for free Slurpees!
Where I made all of the kids drink them outside of the car until they were finished!
St. George … here we come!
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