We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend with the 'even' children (#2 & 4) and family. Although we had planned on spending a couple of days on a bucket list adventure to Zzyzx Road or Catalina Island, instead we ended up staying home and getting Keileigh's new car repaired. We then journeyed to Mesquite and enjoyed an evening with Ralph and the still recuperating Jill. On Wednesday we continued on to St George and stayed at the Las Palmas Resort with Rachel, Sage, Maebe and Keileigh.
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| Rachel making pies into the wee hours while Keileigh talks to Sam |
Maebe had been looking forward to swimming with Gma ever since she heard about our condo plans. So on Thursday morning after getting all the food prepped Christy & Maebe went to the indoor pool and played in the water. It was interesting to look out of the enclosed area at the icicles melting in the sun. Rachel & Keileigh made a quick trip to Walgreen's to take advantage of some great sale and Eric and Sage hit the tennis courts. It was so cold that the balls lost their spring and bounced poorly, which made the game even more interesting.
We enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day feast and were glad that Jill was feeling up to coming. Our holiday menu is definitely an homage to the years of Johnson traditions along with a few new treats thrown in for fun such as the pumpkin cobbler Rachel made.
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| The Queen with the Heir Apparent |
On Friday we went to Snow Canyon and hiked Jenny's Canyon, a quick walk in a slot canyon. We spotted climbers high on the rock ledge which got Keileigh scrambling over the sandstone as well.
Next we found the sand dunes which reminded us of a similar trek years ago when Keileigh was little. The older kids told her the dunes were brown sugar and so of course she sampled the goodness. When she spit it out, saying it was just dirt, the older ones convinced her to try again saying she must have been in a bad spot.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me! She learned a lesson that day about the nature of siblings. Maebe loved digging in the 'brown sugar' sand dunes and hopefully won't pull the same stunt on any future sibs;)
After our adventure in Snow Canyon we went to see the sold out movie Tangled. It took us two attempts, but we were able to get in the second time. Maebe loved it!
On Saturday Sage & Keileigh got up early to hike Angel's Landing at sunrise. The cold and snow made it a grand adventure but the perilous weather necessitated the closure of the final segment. They had a great time sliding on the steep and icy Walter's Wiggles section. The rest of us joined them at 10:00 and enjoyed a picturesque day hiking the snow dusted terrain of
Zion National Park . We enjoyed the Riverside Walk with icy waterfalls and slippery pathways and then hiked the Canyon Overlook Trail on the far side of the tunnel which was a new and breathtaking adventure for us.
We also took a side trip to
Grafton, a ghost town on the Virgin River between Springdale and Rockville.
Thanks Sage for enduring our trip down memory lane.
Assorted Cute Maebe Pics:
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| Maebe loves hotdogs just like Papa Eric but starts in the middle! |
