Our Next Adventure...St. George and Tuacahn

One day in July when Kevin and Kalie were visiting, Kalie started talking about Tuacahn in St. George.

She mentioned that she would love to see "Tarzan" before her baby was born.

Boyd jumped on the thought and said, "How about going down to see "Tarzan" for your birthday?"

Of course, who could say no to that type of proposal?

Boyd looked online and found a hotel that offered discount tickets to see Tuacahn plays.

We booked a night at that hotel and purchased tickets to see "Tarzan".

On Kalie's birthday, Boyd and I drove down to Salt Lake and picked up Kalie and Kevin and drove to St. George.

The first thing we did was check into our hotel.

This is what greeted us:


Green crocheted butterflies were adorning the fridge, being watched over by an owl clock above the kitchen sink.

I only wish I had taken more pictures of our room. It was classic.

I think the owners made several runs to the DI to do their decorating. The pictures on the wall, the pillows on the couch and the paint was completely random.

But it was comfortable and we slept well, which is what really matters.

Kalie and Kevin wanted to eat at Reb Lobster for her birthday dinner.

The food was fantastic! We haven't eaten there in such a long time. We were completely satisfied with our meal.


Kevin's sister, Lori, told us about a yogurt place on the way to Tuacahn.

We had to stop.


Everyone got their favorite types of yogurt and completed it with their choice of toppings.

Yum!!


And the most amazing of all is that we discovered this on the wall:

A birthday message to Kalie!

(Put there by me.)


Tuacahn is in the most lovely setting.

It is quite a large gathering area. I was surprised at how big it really was. I was expecting something quite a bit smaller.

I wanted to get our pictures here: We tried and tried to get Kevin or Boyd to put their face in the Tarzan spot but they would not.

So Kalie is Tarzan and I am Jane.


We had great seats. You could see the entire stage really well.

Waiting for the play to start...


Waiting some more...


I decided to limit the paper tiger at my house and take pictures of the playbook and the tickets.


This is the backdrop of the play. At the beginning of the play, the small stream that you see here grew to a torrent, creating conditions that replicated a horrible storm. The water came out over the top of the stage. We saw a ship off to the left of the stage and it looked like it was sinking.

The special effects were marvelous.


If you look you will notice all kinds of lines running across the top of the stage. These were used for the monkey acrobats. They had actors attached to the lines, dressed like monkeys. They were doing all kinds of tricks and dancing. They also had two zip lines over the audience that were used for special effects as well.

The play was visually stunning.

I heartily recommend it to anyone who is up for an adventure.


The only problem is that it was quite long and deathly hot. The play got over at 11:30 at night and I still had sweat running down my back.

I was looking forward to an air-conditioned night of rest in our hotel.

After a good night's rest, we all hopped into the car and drove over to the St. George outlet mall.

It's hard to go to St. George and not drop in to see what they have for sale.

Kevin took some pictures of Kalie and I out in front of the mall.


We had a total blast on this trip.

It was a quick trip with a lot of driving but worth every minute.

Sibling Retreat...the 9th year!

This year the sibling retreat was Boyd and my responsibility to plan and execute.

We decided to go camping in Moab. We had so much fun down there last year that we wanted to share the delights that we discovered with Boyd's siblings.

The campground was reserved, the dates were picked, the plan was made and then this little girl showed up on the scene:

Claire.


Moab in July is super hot and Claire's parents didn't want to take baby Claire camping in such intense heat.

I really can't blame them. If it had been me, I wouldn't have even considered going at all, no matter where it was.

So Boyd did some research online and found this:


A rental home in Ogden. There was enough room for everyone.

It was perfect.

We changed all our plans and decided to spend the day Friday at Boondocks.

If you haven't been, you should really try it.

We had a blast!

We started outside on the miniature golf course.


The course is super fun and had some cool features. One feature they had was if you hit your ball into the proper hole at the end of the course, fire would come out of the top of the head of this Egyptian statue.

It was hot outside and the heat from the fire made it even hotter. Almost unbearable.


We decided to eat inside where it was cool. We had Subway sandwiches, chips, fruit and whatever drink we wanted. It was yummy!



After lunch we tried out the go-carts.

It was a fun course.


I found out that I am entirely too cautious. Everyone was passing me like I was standing still.


Bowling was our next activity.

We all picked the ball we wanted and began.


Boyd took his bowling very seriously.

He wanted to win.

He didn't win, and was a little upset.


This is a picture of all of us after the extreme bowling we did.


Our all day pass came with $5.00 worth of games as well.

If you played well, you could earn tickets that could be used toward a prize.

We discovered this game: Deal or No Deal.

We all had to have a turn.

Some people did really well.

Some people did really bad, like me.


We finished up the day at Texas Roadhouse.

Our meal was fantastic and it was fun to see all of Boyd's siblings there with their spouses. Only one sibling was missing. She was excused because she lives in Georgia.


Back at the house we played games, cooked meals and visited.

It was such a fun event.

Can't wait for the next one...

I must be nuts

It's true.

I had a HUGE moment of weakness last week.

Alyssa asked for a Maltese dog and interestingly enough, the idea wasn't vile to me.

I told her to talk to her dad.

He said that he was OK with it IF she could find a dog that had the following requirements:
1. Already potty trained
2. 2-3 years old
3. It needed to be spayed or neutered
4. It needed to be a mellow dog
5. And it needed to be under $200

Well, Alyssa jumped on KSL.com Friday night and looked and found an ad for this little dog, a purebred Maltese.


I think she may have been the first caller.

She set up an appointment to go see the dog Saturday morning.

I got a phone call from Boyd who told me that this dog is the most adorable, calm and loving dog he has ever seen.

And they bought him right then and there.

He is right. Little Yogi has already wrapped himself around all of our hearts.

He is very social and wants to be with people as much as possible.

I came home today from visiting Kalie at the hospital and no one was there with him. Yogi was so excited to see me. He just couldn't wait for me to pick him up and hold him. And at this moment, he is sitting on my lap as I am typing away.

We are convinced it was meant to be because he is the sweetest little dog.

Isaac Cole Chamberlain

He's here!!!!

Baby Isaac made his grand appearance today at 1:47 p.m..

He weighed in at 7 lbs. 9 oz. and is the cutest baby ever!


Mom and baby and daddy are doing great!


What an amazing day.

Motherhood...the continuing saga

I thought that when my youngest child graduated from Junior High that I would be done with Science Fairs.

I don't like Science Fairs.

And I have been involved with a lot of them.

They require creativity, diligence and remembrance...all of which I lack.

So when I discovered a glass of water and a beaker in the corner of my kitchen cabinet two weeks ago my curiosity was piqued.

Come to find out, it was Brock's experiment, for a science project.

Pretty soon the 3-sided poster board appeared at my house.

And then, one morning, the printer began spewing out printed titles, paragraphs and graphs.

I watched idly as Brock ran around trying to complete this project before he left for school on the day it was due.

And then I had a moment of compassion. I helped him glue his words and graphs onto the poster board.

It was deja vu all over again.

Only this time, I didn't have to pick the project or remind my child to do it.

I love older children.

Not Hazy but CRAZY days of Summer

Ahhhh. I'm home at last.

I have been gone for 3 weekends in a row.

While all 3 weekends were delightful beyond words, I am tired of being gone and I am ready to be home.

I am going to post the main events of the summer in order of the way they happened, starting with this:

The fourth of July.

I love Independence Day. I love parades and barbeques and fireworks.

However, I live with a family that really doesn't enjoy the whole parade thing. SAD.

Kalie, on the other hand, loves parades like I do. We made plans and decided that we would go to the K-town parade together...and those who wanted to come...could.

To my utter amazement, Boyd, at the last minute, said that he would like to come with us.

This is us at the parade.


Kalie and Kevin sat right next to us. We found a shady spot near the end of the parade route. Some kind friends let us sit in the shade of their trees.

It's hard to believe it today, but we were actually a little chilly sitting where we were.


Since we were at the end of the parade route, the entries in the parade came by slowly and with long pauses between each entry.

When the parade stopped having floats, bands and candy thrown to us, and began having advertisements of businesses, we decided it was time to beat the crowd and leave.

After all, we had this waiting for us at home...

A barbeque!

I have a hard time getting enough of hamburgers and hot dogs in the summer.


This is what I was most excited about. I had seen the tutorial on how to make this on KSL Studio 5. Couldn't wait to cut it and try it out.


Surprise! It's a flag cake inside!

Of course it was a hit and everyone thought I was a genius for my talents and skills. Cough. Cough.


That evening before we left for fireworks, we roasted Starburst and marshmallows.

This time we used briquettes instead of firewood.


And yes, we all smelled a lot better when we were finished.


After the roasting was done, we decided to go find a spot at the high school to watch the fireworks.

We found a grassy little knoll right out in front of the school. At first we had it all to ourselves.

Then one by one, other people came and crowded alongside us on our grassy little knoll.

Some of them were good neighbors to have and others were not. Some were a little noisy and obnoxious.


Alyssa and I laid down by each other with a blanket underneath us and one on top. It was the perfect way to view fireworks.

I took a bunch of pictures and most of them didn't look good.

This one, though, turned out really cool.


Happy birthday, America!!