Southern Utah

October brought lots of good news for Derek's career.  He was full-swing at work on a virtual photo tour of BYU, and learned he & his research team had been awarded a 2 million dollar grant to create an alternate reality game for teens that would focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering & math).  (It involves aliens & space stuff.  That's all you need to know to know that it's cool.)

More importantly, October means the re-emergence of eggnog at Costco.  Priorities, right?

Speaking of delectable food, our favorite place to eat on campus is definitely the museum of art.  Their chocolate mousse cake (with a ganache frosting) is pretty much the best food ever created, ever.  As in ever.

One of the best things about October is the glorious weather.  It's no wonder so many people love Fall.  We spent a lot of time at Kiwanis park for the girls' x-country races.  Adia was also kicking booty on her high school x-country team. 

Nothing quite says I love you like the mountains in autumn.  This is the back side of Timpanogos.  Pretty much the most beautiful mountain in Utah.

 We took several drives up the Aspen Loop to get pictures of the fall colors.

 Sol was a pest the whole time peeing on anything vertical.

Oh glory, the aspens are like nothing else when they turn gold and the sun is right behind them.  A breeze would come along and the gold leaves would fall like gold coins on the ground.  You felt like you were walking in an enchanted forest...

Our new firepit served us well.  We had family come by when they could, and enjoyed roasting many, many marshmallows over our smokey wood fire...  You won't believe the flavors of marshmallows they make these days--the holiday themed ones are our favorites of course.  Peeps are still king, though, especially when their eyes melt and their sugar starts to caramelize...  Mmmm...

And so one day I was out looking for kids to do their chores, and I came up on this scene.  Apparently the kids were playing "Town" (one of the many imaginative games they enjoy, along with "Adventures", "Family", and "Halloween").  I think Sedona is in the jail, and is possibly the robber, while Brynn is the sheriff.  Don't quote me on that one, though.
 

The cooling weather necessitated sweaters for the pups, especially when they were newly shaven.  This picture of them still and not fighting is a rare, rare thing.  Dade had to work hard to keep them down...

6th grade seems to be a year for major projects.  First: Egyptian Days.  Sedona fretted forever about which god/dess to focus on for her project, as well as format.  She finally settled on a diorama with Set and some really cool hieroglyphics.  Dade and I enjoyed seeing her & other student's projects.

This is how we felt after touring 3 different classrooms, however.  Kind of tired, and more than a little hungry...

Dade was definitely enjoying preschool.  He insisted on bringing our ABC book to school (that is made up with family pictures, so probably not the most riveting read they've ever had) because they are studying the ABCs.  He's really getting into the whole thing.

He looks like someone just died, but I know he was excited when they did letter "D" for his name.  They also toured the little BYU Paleontology Museum which I know he was excited about.

  

Does he look like George Washington with that bubble-hair or what??

Never one to pass up an opportunity to ham it up, he made sure we knew how quirky he is when Derek was taking pictures of him washing his hands the whole ABC song.

 

We went through a minor Uno craze.  As you all know, the punishment for losing is sit-ups or push-ups.  Look at this bunch of losers!!

And we are back to regular swim lessons for the youngest two.  So much progress has been made that I regret not having done the same thing with the older three.  It's so much fun that they are getting old enough to actually play with: sharks & minnows, funny dives, and keep away.

Dade's only problem is that he gets SO cold in the winter.  The water is only in the mid- to low-80s which is truly criminal for those little ones.  Hopefully things will improve as the temperature outside rises.


Pioneer Park

For Fall Break this year, we took advantage of Derek's parents' generosity and went to stay in their home in St. George for a long weekend.  Derek's recently widowed Grandma also lives there, so we got to see her and help her with errands, etc.  Our first tour stop was a cool place called Pioneer Park.

Basically, it was just a bunch of red sandstone that you could climb on.  The most prominent feature is a small slot canyon that you could squeeze your way through.  It wasn't long, or particularly challenging.  But it was tight and not for the faint of heart!

My oldest two did it, then I decided to try.  Once Derek found out we'd all done it, he had to do it himself.  (Hansens are particularly competitive if you didn't already know that.)  It was scary, I'll admit it.  But it's a good feeling once you get through it and realize the walls didn't close up and crush you...  ;)

There was lots to climb on, holes to explore and weird formations to see.  We loved the little holes and honeycombed walls all over.

My two "Ds" in front of the white D for Dixie College.

We spent an hour there and could've spent triple that, but everyone was getting hungry, notably my little nephew that we brought with.

My in-laws' house is lovely and has everything you could want to be comfortable.  The girls fought over who got to play the baby grand, (and who got to accompany my nephew), and we all slept happily in the many beds.  It really is a home away from home.
 

Everyone played lots of games.  Grandma pretty much creamed everyone.  She also taught some of the girls how to play Phase 10 which was a favorite.

I personally love Banangrams, even if I get stomped.  It's just as good as Eager Beaver Adventure Park on Webkinz....  :)

Sand Hollow State Park

Another fun half-day outing was made to Sand Hollow State Park.  It's a large reservoir between St. George & Hurricane.  The water was blue as the sky and a gorgeous contrast to the red rock.

 

The sand on the beaches was very fine and fun to play with.  The nice part was that there actually were beaches that went out enough of a way for the kids to splash in. 

The kids had fun finding shells and pretty rocks, and burying each other in the sand.  The biggest drawback is that Sedona got swimmer's itch.  Apparently it had been a bad year for that since the water was so low.

Every time we ever go to a beach, they make a "hot tub".  Of course, it was only in the '80s this day, so the water in their little tidal pool never got very warm.  October isn't really the season to go swimming, even in Southern Utah.

I love this picture because I have a similar one of me holding this sister, Jocelyn, in her bathing suit above grass some 25 years ago.  She's got her legs all pulled up just like her son and is crying her head off.  Genetics don't lie...


Zion National Park

The main reason for going to St. George, besides seeing Grandma, was to visit Zion's Natl Park.  Wouldn't you know it but the government was shut down at that time?!?  #$@#@$ is all I can say.  We were about to go join a protest group when Utah donated their own state money to the park so it could open.  Like most other states with large national parks, Utah is very dependent on all those tourism dollars, especially when the entire state is on an educational holiday. 

Last time we went, it was mid-summer and over 100F.  We were miserable and we didn't bother visiting much.  This time, we had our sites set on riding the bus all the way up to the top of the canyon and visiting the mouth of the Narrows (Colorado River).

The weather was just exquisite and we enjoyed the hike to the Narrows.  Dade was fascinated by the weeping rock all along the canyon walls.  He kept asking where it came from.  I tried the analogy of sweating, but that really seemed to throw him.  It's amazing what you don't know at 4.

What this boy does know is how to hike.  He's eager, he's tough, and he can go the distance.  It's pure joy to point things out to him and walk along in nature.

We all loved playing along the edge of the river.  

 We ate some snacks (and the chipmunks tried to steal our leftovers), and looked for pretty rocks to throw in the water.

 Most everyone had fun climbing the rocks.  It's a climbers paradise here.

You hardly need to take your shoes off because there are so many large shelves and cracks to place your feet in!

Those who didn't want to climb amused themselves making Snitches.  Just in case there happened to be a flash Quidditch game.

On our bus ride back, we planned out visiting the rock shops at the park entrance (the kids are addicted to rock hounding) and talked about how glad we were that the park had opened just in time.  Because the opening was so last minute, the park wasn't crowded at all and was so pleasant.


 Snow Canyon

Our final site to visit was Snow Canyon.  Despite many visits to St. George, we hadn't yet visited this local attraction.  The best part was that the state parks were free to National Park Pass holders because of the stupid government shut-down.  So we got in free!  Our first stop was Jenny's Canyon, a tiny slot canyon that the kids could climb around in.

 The sides were riddled with holes and the kids had fun climbing up and jumping down.

Have I ever mentioned how much my Brynnshrimp reminds me of my sister Amelia?  Seriously sunny, seriously smart.

The sand was pink on our hike, and Sedona kept talking about how she wished she could bring a garbage bag full of it home to play in.  :)

Second stop in Snow Canyon was the Sand Dunes!  They aren't the rolling acres of dunes that grace many other parts of Utah, but they are perfect for the kids to crawl, dig, and jump in.

They had trouble deciding what to do first.  As we were yelling for them to come see different things, we noticed an amazing echo.

The rock formations that surrounded the dunes would throw the sounds we made back and forth until we could sometimes get a triple echo.  It was awe-inspiring and I'm sure other people in the canyon were quite perplexed at why we kept yelling...

The sand was like sugar and so very soft.  And because it wasn't high summer, it was warm, but not burning, and had a cool layer under the upper crust.  We saw a large group of people playing Ninja--a perfect game for such a soft landing.

 We saw tons of different animal tracks.  We assumed these were some sort of hare or rabbit.

And these were sometime sort of bird we guessed?  We tried looking it up, but 3G isn't great in remote sandstone canyons...  :)

Jumping to your death is a popular past time among the kids.  Fortunately even the highest dune wasn't very high.

In fact, they usually didn't get very far since it's awfully hard to get traction when you are running off a cliff.

 But we did get some pretty humorous pictures that make it look like they are about to die.

 This one is worth of being cut out and pasted onto a sot of the Grand Canyon or Angel Falls.

Our last stop in Snow Canyon was to a lava tube at the north end of the main road.  The kids were all really scared to climb down into it.

Except Dade.  I was really scared to smell the stinky urinal odor that spoke of too many inebriated teens.  Still, it was fun to walk where rock used to be liquid and think about how much the earth has changed.

The drive back was again filled with blue skies, puffy clouds, and the ubiquitous rainbows.  Utah is so gorgeous that I worry about becoming inured to it's beauty.  Fortunately for now, the kids keep us on our toes and remind us to look out the window.