Vacationing at Zion's!

Last month we headed down to Zion National Park with our wonderful friends Stacie and Dan and their two kids. Taking vacations with friends is the best way to do this! Highly recommended for the future.

Here's a panoramic pic I took of the surrounding area!

Here's the rock I was talking about!

Killer squirrels that live at the park. They have huge signs around with a man's hand completely bit from a killer squirrel--freaked us all out! Don't feed them!

It really was beautiful down there!

We did it!

All the kids did really well! Some of the hikes were two or three hours and while they did complain a bit, overall they enjoyed the scenery and playing!

Lake Owyhee aka WannaHockALogee and Other Pics!

We went camping up in Idaho at Lake Owyhee the last weekend in August with Archie's family. It was our first time camping with Gabe! The ride up was semi-eventful...we got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, but Archie was a trooper in the 100 degree heat and fixed up in no time flat. The downside was we got a lot of extra flies in the car, which was really, really annoying. Every time Gabe was falling asleep one would land on him and he'd freak out and start crying again. So it wasn't the funnest driving.

We took the first exit of Boise and stopped there for the night. The next we had to get a new tire and then we were on our way.

The lake was really pretty, but the first day was really hot and stuffy. I thought Gabe was getting burned really badly and that he was going to get heatstroke. But the kids all cooled down in the mini swimming pool we brought.

It's been awhile since the Crozier clan has gotten together...we had two of Archie's brothers and their families, plus their mom flew in as a surprise so she was able to hang for the weekend as well.

We checked out the lake, waded in the hot springs...which were either too hot and you were getting burned or it was way too cold from the river water getting in. Gabe didn't know what to think so he just stayed in my arms the whole time while Archie and his brothers built up dams and what not.

Each day got a lot colder, which was nice since it was just soo darn hot that first day. We had amazing food from everyone pitching in so we ate like queens and kings. The only thing that was super hard was just Gabe not being used to it. He wouldn't take naps which made him extra grumpy and we had a hard time getting him to sleep at night, but once he was asleep he stayed asleep (well, he always got up at the crack of dawn). So we're hoping next summer he'll have a lot more fun being older. It was fun to get away for a few days, but we were all happy to make it back home and get some actual sleep!

I love eating blue crayons!

This is the closest to a smile I could get from him!

Oh, back to grumpy!

Also, Archie left yesterday for Singapore for three works for work. He's training the peeps down their in their new facility. He arrived a few hours ago at about 1:30 AM their time. It'll be a tough three weeks, but hey, I can't complain too much. He'll bring back some good souvenirs and pics! He also claimed the camera so no pics for a few weeks...Maybe I'll get him to send some via email and post some up here in a week or two!

St. George Vacation!

St. George was so fun and a much needed vacation! We left last Thursday and came back Sunday. Our wonderful friends Ruth and Cale and their son Ocean live down there so we spent a couple of days with them as well.

We enjoyed some fun at Pirate Island in Orem on our way down and in St. George on our way back!

Pirate Island St. George

Friday Archie humored me and let me head out used book shopping! They had a couple of quaint used book stores in the area. I got the Kite Runner, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Dracula, The Hunger Games, and Catcher in the Rye, along with a few others! It was a very exciting find!

We also hit the Dinosaur Track museum!

Then we headed over to Ruth and Cale's and went to dinner at Samurai where they cooked our food at our table! It was so fun! They even made an onion volcano of smoke! Boog got a bit scared, but was OK in the end. Then we went back to their place for some games and dessert.

Saturday we went swimming in the morning and we were the only ones there! Boog was a bit scared at first since the pool was so big, but he ended up enjoying the hot tub for a few minutes anyway! Then we headed up to the Silver Reef ghost town. Lots of fascinating facts and ruins.

He's our little Boo!

All tuckered out

some antique items

Silver Reef ruins

Later that night we met at Ruth and Cale's for some curry and then headed out to the play Aida at the Tuacahn outdoor amphitheater. We almost got rained out with two twenty minute stalls, but other than some lightning, high winds, and rain the show went on! Kudos to the actors for sticking it out. Aida was a great play, I highly recommend it.


Sunday we walked around the St. George Temple's grounds and then hit Cove Fort on the way home.

Some pretty flowers


Gabe on Daddy's shoulders

Pretty Leaves!

Stitch and Boog

And to top it off we had an excellent continental breakfast where I had Belgian waffles with real whip cream every morning!

It's good to be home again since Boog was in our room the whole time and sleep was an issue, but everyone is recovering from our vacation and are glad for the time to spend as a family!