Bryce Canyon

Sunday we visited Bryce Canyon National Park. I forgot how amazing Bryce Canyon is. It is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful and breath-taking places in the world. Kyle, Carter, and I decided to hike down to the bottom of the canyon. It was a really fun hike and the views from the bottom were stunning. I have never seen anything so awesome. There were two giant trees at the bottom that I was able to take some pretty neat pictures of. The hike out was tough. It almost killed Carter, but I was really proud of him for hiking down and all the way back up. It was definitely worth it.

bottom of the canyon

looking up out of the canyon

Christy waiting for us at the top of the trail

Carter "dying" after our hike

Where in the world is Tropic, Utah?

Ever heard of tropic Utah? We had not heard of it until Saturday night. Tropic is a tiny little town 10 miles outside of Bryce Canyon. We spent the night there in a little hotel on Saturday night. We decided to walk to the end of town and see what there is to see in Tropic. Well, there is a hotel, a restaraunt, a little grocery store, a tiny little post office, a school, and some houses. We were able to walk the entire town in about a half an hour. One of the coolest things we saw was a cabin built by Ebenezer Bryce, who was a Mormon Pioneer who discovered Bryce Canyon. For dinner we ate at a little pizza place there on main street and it was pretty good pizza. The next morning we ate a pancake breakfast at the little restaraunt next to our hotel. It was quite the "small town" experience.

Zion National Park

Saturday, we left St. George and drove to Zion National Park and spent the day there. I forgot just how beautiful and amazing it is there. We rode the tram and saw a lot of the sights. It was a super hot day, so we didn't do too much hiking, but our kids had a blast. Our kids loved seeing so many chipmunks, Squirrels, and lizards. We decided we want to go back when the weather turns a little bit cooler and do some more hikes.

 the bridge into the park

 Does this tell you how hot it is?

 on the tram

 Shandi and Cambree

 A squirrel that our kids kept watching go in and out of the plastic bottle recycle can

 Cambree and her Grandma

 Calee on the tram



The Little Mermaid

Friday night was The Little Mermaid and our kids were so excited. That is all Calee talked about all day friday. I think our kids loved it more than Grease because they knew the story of the Little Mermaid. They even watched it in the car on our drive down to St. George. The water effects and pyrotechnics in the show were amazing. Calee stayed awake for the entire show. We have seen a lot of shows at Tuacahn over the years, but this was probably our most favorite. Our kids got to meet most of the characters after the show and they thought that was great. It was a fun night! one our kids will hopefully always remember!

 Before the show

 in our seats

 one of Ariel's sisters

 the chef

 another one of Ariel's sisters

 Scuttle

 Sebastian

 Flounder

Prince Eric and Ariel

Brigham Young's Winter home

We had the opportunity to tour Brigham Young's winter home that is located in downton St. George in the old historic part of town. It is something we have wanted to do for quite awhile, and we finally got to do it. It was a very awesome and humbling spiritual experience. I learned a lot about Brigham Young's life, early history of the Church, and early history of St. George. My favorite part of the house was Brigham Young's room. His original bed is there with his top hat and cane resting on top. Down next to his bed was his prayer stool. It was an amazing experience to stand there and imagine how many prayers must have been said in that room and the revelation he must have received over the years. It is an experience I will never forget.

 the front of the house

 A view of what St. George looked like back then

 Brigham Young's room

 Carter, Cambree, Calee, and Addi