the visit

A few days after we had left them in the wilderness, Damien, Danielle, and crew arrived at our home. The G's were beyond happy to be with their cousins again, as they had been counting down the minutes to their arrival all week. We spent the few days they were here hanging out, mostly. The kids swam for hours every day. And there was a lot of Pretty, Pretty, Princess that got played.  Oh, and we busted out Just Dance... a lot.

We wanted to find out what would happen if we put a bunch of ice blocks into the pool. It was as hot as ever outside, and the 98* water in the pool was not offering the desired amount of refreshment. Well, we learned that if you dump upwards of 10 ice blocks into a 13,500 gallon pool the temperature of the water will change not a bit. The ice blocks lasted about 3 minutes before melting away. In retrospect, we should have anticipated that...

We all missed them terribly the second they left. Grant went through all the stages of grieving. He began by asking us why they couldn't stay.

Me: Well, they have been away from home for a while on their trip. They are ready to go back now.
Grant: They have their stuff with them. Why can't they just stay?
Me: You mean, like, live here?
Grant: Yeah. Why can't they live here?
Me: They have school starting soon, and Uncle Damien has his job to get back to, and they have their friends there...
Grant: Why can't we move to Utah then?

Denial gave way to anger. And then he finally accepted their departure and had a good cry about it. We all understood the sentiment! It was a fun finale to our summer break!

Jacob Lake and the North Rim

On our visit to Cedar for Kourtni's baptism, we learned that Damien and his family were taking a little camping trip to Jacob Lake and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. As this is a location not too far from Phoenix, we invited ourselves along. 

One of the first things we did was hike to the 'lake'. Ends up, the lake is pretty much a pasture that keeps a couple of horses happy. It was still beautiful, though dry.

My husband is very, very smart and did not expect me to camp it out with a newborn. There is a hotel across the street from the campground where JJ and I bunked in the evenings while Cori slept with the our other littles in the tent. It worked out really well. Everyone got showers, and Mason and Danielle slept over one night too. 

Uncle Damien's hammock was a popular activity. The campsite had a large stretch of trees behind it which was also great for baseball and soccer. Our children were in heaven having best buddies to play with all day long.

Grant took the camera around one morning. Great selfie, dude!

We spent our last full day driving most of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We were interested to see the park from the North side as we drove just the South rim on our last visit. It was just as breathtaking. And we definitely want to make another visit up to that lodge!

When we had had our fill of little hikes and gorgeous lookouts we headed back to camp. The clouds that had given us dramatic skies all day long finally let go and it rained. It was a lot of driving that day, but no one seemed to mind. Jacob rode with us and the boys watched a lot of Star Wars. Grace got to ride with her cousins and could have driven for another week in their company.

We had to head back for Cori to get to work. Saying good-bye wasn't as sad as it might have been because Damien and Danielle brought the kids down to our house a few days later to spend the weekend.

So. Utah on the way back

On our way home, we detoured through Cedar City so we could be with Kourtni on her baptism day. We had a fun day hanging out at Damien and Danielle's house with family. Our children adore their cousins.

Grandma Sandy and Papa Ray let us bunk up with them at their place in St. George - which we loved. We were so grateful to spend time with everyone. It was a perfect end to our little summer getaway.