We Are Going to Zion

Actually we went to Zion's -- for Labor Day weekend. The real occasion was for Shane's 40th birthday. We tried to have a surprise party for him, and it was just nice enough that his birthday fell on a holiday weekend. Now I say tried because I don't think it was much of a surprise by the time he got there.

We had left a day early so we could do some gallivanting. We stopped in Manti to take a break and hung out at the temple, and then got a hotel in Richfield for the night, where we got no sleep thanks to another guest who left their car lights on all night and never bothered to stop their alarm from going off. Needless to say, I got a very good nights sleep the next night as I was pretty exhausted. Just before getting to Zion's we stopped in Orderville to have lunch at a park. To make a long story short, we are now really good friends with the Valley High School class of 1950. We got to set up for their reunion, meet some classmates, hear all about them and the town. In addition to that, this was the town Deputy Brian Harris was from, who had just been shot by an escaped convict from Arizona the week before, so we got to hear about all that had been done for him and the funeral.

We got to Zion's on Saturday afternoon and got to hang out with Jason & Shalee while we waited for the rest of the crew. My mom had rented a "mountain home" for all of us to stay in. Luckily, we were able to get in a little early so we had a place to hang out while we waited. Yeah, they got lost/went the wrong way -- ran into Shane on the way, drug him the wrong way with them -- all through the one-lane construction which moved very slow. They finally showed up and Rick & Amy treated us to dinner. Rick is Shane's friend from way back when who came along for the party. After dinner we took the girls to swim in the dark. I got terrible pictures of that, but like I said, it was dark.

Sunday Jason & Shalee treated us to breakfast, and then we drove back to Orderville to go to church. You can imagine how excited we were when we ran into our old friends from the class of 1950. After church we finally got to go explore Zion's. Chloe didn't want to go hiking (she's a swimmer), so Amy was kind enough to let Chloe stay and swim with them. Chloe had a lot of fun with Britney, and Rick wasn't up to hiking after his run-in with a chain saw. Sophie tagged along with Brandon and I, and she was a great hiker! We did the Emerald Pools loop. It was pretty hot at first, but after we got back into the canyon it was really nice and a great little hike. After dinner that night we had the birthday celebration. Lark planned a game for us, and I was in charge of creating a slideshow.

Monday Brandon and I got to make breakfast. We tried to be on top of things knowing we had to check out that morning, but things got sped along when we realized the sewer system was backed up. Not a pretty sight, but it was a good motivator to get everyone packed up and out of there! Not to mention, it was good for me to see that my house is not the only one that has issues -- even brand new, expensive homes fall apart. So, after loading up we went over and watch all those interested do the zip line. I thought Chloe might do it for a minute, but then she decided not. We made it home Monday night, and motivated the kids to get everything put away with the promise of going out for a FHE treat. That was a good end to our vacation.