St. George Vacation

In April, we took a spontaneous, quick trip St. George. We had talked about it earlier in the year, but we were hesitant to make any concrete plans because I was so pregnant. But when Tim had a break between semesters we decided to go for it. We weren't sure it would all work out because Tyler and Jaxen and Tyler had had the stomach flu the week before. But nobody came down with it the week previous so we figured we were good to go.

One of my kids favorite parts about going anywhere is staying in a hotel.
 My kids love swimming. So as soon as we checked in that was the first thing we did.
We swam just about every day we were there.

This is right when I was saying, "Tim hold onto her. She's going to fall over..."

And this is right after she fell and went under water.

She didn't appreciate falling into the water.

He's the coolest.

My kids are huge fans of luggage carts.

Seeing my kids share a bed is always humorous. They are all crazy sleepers.

We didn't have any real concrete plans for our trip.

We spent most of our afternoons just having lunch at different parks.

We spent a day at The Fiesta Fun Center.

After getting off the Go Karts, Tyler said, "I felt like I was going to throw up, but it was really fun!".

I really love a good photo booth. The one of Madee and I reminds me of this one of Kati and my Dad.

I think the highlight of the trip for all of us was the day we spent at Zions National Park.

None of us had ever been there, so we debated whether to go or not.

We didn't know how it would be with a pregnant lady and three small children, but we were really glad we decided to go.

We took a small hike up to the Emerald Falls.

My boys are mountain goats.

People kept giving us very worried looks and making comments about my pregnant belly.

It really wasn't a hard/long hike. We even took Madee in a stroller. 

But people kept telling us we were brave and to be careful.

We saw a couple of deer on our way back. 

People were all gathered around and taking pictures and talking in hushed tones.

But when we walked up and Madee saw the deer, 

She kept yelling, "I see it! I see the deer!".
She scared it away.

On our way home from Zions, we stopped and let the kids pick out a souvineir ... a rock!

Remember how I said the boys had had the stomach flu the week before?

Well after Zions we stopped at a little restaurant (for pancakes) on our way back to the hotel.

Jaxen had been complaining of a stomach ache so I was getting a little worried.

I figured it was just from too much sunblock (he is allergic) and the car ride, but I was keeping a close eye on him because he wasn't really eating. Well my focus was on Jax and Madee and Tim had been playing and laughing when all of the sudden (after she'd eaten her meal) Madee started vomiting.

I was a quick like a pregnant ninja and ripped her out of her high chair and out of the restaurant before it got everywhere (except for on her and I). 

I sat in the parking lot with Madee trying to comfort her and clean her up while Tim paid the bill and cleaned up inside.

I was hoping she just choked or ate something bad but as the evening progressed and Madee continued throwing up every 15 minutes or so, it was clear she had the boys flu bug.

She was such a trooper and it was a really, really long night.

But by morning she felt much better and we made our way home.

We stopped at a park on the way home for lunch.

Our kids did amazingly well on the drive there and back.

All in all, it was a really fun trip (even with the vomit), and I'm really glad we went.
Ty had to make a book for school and decided to make it about our trip.

I love this kid.