St. George Family Vaca-2010

We were able to go on our traditional family vacation to St. George Utah last week with Ryan's family.  His parents, brothers, and their families went with us.  We didn't make it last year so this year we were really itching to go back because we had such a great time the last 2 years we went. 

  Ryan spent many nights online researching and finding great houses for us to rent.  We definitely found a winner again this year.  The house had a great pool and hot tub, and the house itself was huge and very nice inside.  Plenty of room for everyone to do what they wanted to.

Everyone was very generous and let me and Ryan stay in the Master Suite since it had a huge closet we put Brooks' bed in to sleep.  It was wonderful!  We both thought the King size bed we stayed in was the most comfortable bed ever! The bathroom had the coolest walk-in shower and jacuzzi tub.  It was a really fun room to spend a week in!  I definitely thought I could get used to living like this! :)

Brooks was an angel the whole trip.  He spent his days crawling around our room and being held and loved by everyone.  He slept great in the pack and play in the closet.  While he would nap we would go swimming with the older kids or just relax.  Grandpa Bellows was the favorite babysitter for Brooks and watched him for us several times.  It is such a blessing to have such a happy baby.  We love him so much.

The Bellows' cousins (Dalton, Ashby, and Preston).  They had so much fun playing together.  What great memories they are making!  I love that they have each other.

Cousins (Dalton, Ashby, Avery, & Preston)

We took the kids to the race cars one night.  Everyone loved it.  They have a really fun track here.

We went and visited a statue of Ryan's great, great, great, great, Grandpa.  His name was Robert Gardner Jr.  He was one of the early pioneers who helped settle St. George.  He also oversaw the hauling of stone and cutting and hauling of lumber for the St. George Temple.  He was the 1st LDS Bishop of St. George and in the 1st stake presidency of the St. George stake.  He also served 2 consecutive terms as Mayor of St. George.

It was really neat to show the kids the statue and tell them about their ancestors. Dalton and Ashby were so fascinated to hear about all he had accomplished in his life.  They were especially amazed when they learned he helped build the St. George Temple.  Dalton still likes to tell me that fact since we have been home.  I'm glad we named Brooks Robert Bellows after such an amazing man. :)

The three brothers in front of the statue (Alex, Ryan, Jeff).

Ashby, Avery and Dalton

We took the kids to this splash park near the house we rented.  We thought it would be great for the kids but it ended up being kind of lame because we couldn't figure out how to get the water to stay on for longer than a few minutes.  The kids still had fun though.

Dalton, Ashby and Preston

Swimming at the pool! 

 The kids swam at the pool at least 2 or sometimes 3 times a day.  They were in heaven!

Ashby was the first to jump off the rock wall into the pool.  She is pretty fearless that way. 

  As if jumping off forwards wasn't challenging enough Ashby starting jumping off the rock wall backwards.  Crazy kid.

By the end of the trip all the cousins were jumping off the wall having a blast.

 Another favorite game the kids loved playing was jumping off the wall while trying to catch a ball being thrown to them in mid-air.

 Ashby and Preston loved diving for things at the bottom of the pool together.  They would each try to go for several diving sticks in the deepest part of the pool which was probably 8 or 9 feet deep! They would always come up with the sticks usually 4 or 5 each time.  We were all pretty impressed.

 They were really cute playing together and made up signs to do underwater to each other just in case (ie thumbs up meant you were okay, thumbs down meant you were "almost dead"). 

Dalton and Papa Bellows.  Best Buddies for sure.

Ashby and Grandma Bellows.  Ashby just adores her Grandma.

Dalton swimming near the waterfall.  He had so much fun swimming in the pool everyday. 

This is usually what would happen to Dalton after swimming 2 or 3 times a day.  This time he crashed in our king size bed!  He looked so cute and little in that huge bed.

Uncle Alex, Avery and Dalton waiting to see Grandma Gardner.

We were so happy to visit with Ryan's family while on our vacation.  His grandparents live in Cedar City which is 45 min. from St. George.  They were able to see the kids and meet Brooks for the 1st time.  It was great.  We really do not get to see them enough.  We also enjoyed visiting with other family members that came and stopped by the house.

Our trip to St. George wouldn't be complete without visiting the Temple.  It is so beautiful.  I love this Temple.  Ryan's parents were married here as well as my Grandma and Grandpa Forman, and my brother Michael and his sweet wife Laura.  So there is definitely some history here.

Rich and Cheri were able to watch the kids for us while we did a session.  It was wonderful to be together at the Temple.

Later we took all the kids to see the Temple.  They had both been asking to go see it since we first drove into town and they could see the beautiful white building in the middle of town.  They were amazed at how big and beautiful it was.  It was very hot when we went but we managed to get some good pics while we were there.  It was a great experience for everyone.

Of course we also did a lot of eating, shopping, and more eating.  Our favorite place for dessert is Nielsen's Frozen Custurd.  They have these ice cream shakes called Concretes that are out of this world!  We ate there 3 times in a week.  I was loving it!

We had such a great time that I have been so sad to be back and in the school routine again!  Oh well.  It was a lot of fun and I am glad we were able to go.  It has definitely been a fun Summer.