Andy & Sherrie's Place: Spring Break 2014: St. George, UT: Part 1

I love Spring Break! The kids have been looking forward to this trip for weeks, especially Matthew who has asked me ever day for the past two weeks when we get to leave. Lainah kept asking me when we get to go to St. George. We've never stayed in St. George, only driven through it...so it was cracking me up how excited she was at going there...when she's never been there before.

I didn't have much planned for this trip. With the condition I'm in with my pregnancy, I am physically incapable of doing much so I was worried that I would ruin it for everyone, but we managed to find enough to do and the kids had a blast anyway. I just took my time and hobbled around behind them slowly, and then spent a lot of time laying down on the couch when we'd get back in from our excursions. It worked out pretty good for all of us.

Snow Canyon State Park

We spent a lot of our time here. The kids loved scrambling around on the rock formations. I don't think the weather could have been better...mid 60s all week and sunny with a few afternoon showers. It was beautiful.

All of the kids on top of the petrified sand dunes in Snow Canyon

Brooklynn and Rachel were my helpers with Addy...who kept saying, "Let Go, Let Go, Let GO!!!" She wanted to walk on her own.

Just being goofy and showing off my 25 week baby belly.

And the belly disappears. My kids make fun of me that from the front you can hardly tell, then I turn sideways, and it's like, "Whoa!!! You're pregnant!" I like to believe that normally I'm a lot slimmer from the front and do actually have a waistline, but I try to be a good sport with their teasing.

Matthew and Lainah were in heaven. They were climbing and scrambling around to their heart's content. Finding grasshoppers and lizards, and tiny desert flowers.

Brooklynn kept commenting on how huge the rocks were...definitely terrain they were not used to.

And little Addy finally had her way and we "Let Go" of her...but we watched her really closely, always a step behind. She just had to climb on her own, just like the big kids. She'd keep saying "it's ok, it's ok, it's ok" as she was climbing...too stinking cute!!

Rachel asked me if she could skirt around this ravine to the other side...here she is, this is taken with my long lens.

And here she is for real...so far away!

Andy kept saying that the "mountain calls to me." He wanted to go climb it. I have to admit, this was a hard vacation for me. The rocks kept "calling to me" too...I was itching to scale a wall or two...but had to be content with watching and taking pictures.

Addy had no sense of, "oh hey! There's a ledge right there!" So she was very unhappy sometimes when we wouldn't let her walk on her own. She was all over the place, a cute little mountain goat.

Lainah figured out that she could climb better without her shoes because her toes were "more grippy." She was actually a natural at it, her little fingers found the tiny cracks and crevices, all the natural handholds that a climber looks for...Andy and I thought maybe we should get back into climbing...it seems as though all of our kids like it. And Addy thought the hole in the wall was pretty cool.

Addy tried and tried to get up that wall. She saw Lainah doing it with bare feet and then she wanted to take her shoes off too.

Matthew was in a 7 year old boy's paradise. Running, climbing, lizards, grasshoppers...he was having a blast.

Every time we tried to get Addy to smile for the camera, she'd squeeze her eyes together...she was being such a pill! We were laughing all week at her funny little antics.

And yes, the mountain kept calling to Andy. Again this is with my long lens, he's probably a good 50 ft up right here, and said it felt weird not having a harness on. I agreed, and told him to get down. Sheesh.

The kids had fun with this little crevice. I taught them how they can use two walls that are close together and literally "walk" up a straight cliff. They thought that was pretty cool...and again, it made me itchy to climb, its been a long time.

Lainah and Matthew called this little alcove their "secret hideout." Lainah's face says it all. They were so proud that THEY found it, and not the big kids.

I didn't get a ton of pictures of Taylor on this day because he was ALL OVER THE PLACE!!! I just literally couldn't keep up with him, but he scaled about every rock he could find, and had a great time. I thought they'd be bored after a while, but a few hours later...they were still going.

After a morning of climbing and walking...we came back to the condo for lunch...and then...Addy and I watched the big kids playing shuffleboard down below our balcony while we ate M&Ms. Now THAT'S what I call a vacation right there. After a while, we took the kids down to the pool for a couple hours. For me, the pool was like heaven after all of that walking...