We just got back from a fun trip to Saint George!
St. George is a fun vacation spot about 300 miles south of Salt Lake City. It’s beautiful, warm and full of palm trees and sun! It also has a nice “small town” feel to it that I love. I also love that it’s only four hour away and yet it feels tropical and like a “real” vacation. I love it.
My daughter had a couple dance competitions down there last weekend, so we decided to make a fun family trip out of it. We had a wonderful time!
I’m sorry to say I was a VERY crappy eater while we were gone. 🙁
I also didn’t workout AT ALL the entire time! So lame. Kev and I are doing Jamie Eason’s 12 week Trainer right now and we had high hopes of running over to the gym to get our workouts in.
Sadly, our hotel didn’t have a weight room (super lame) and the Gold’s Gym closed at 9:00. We also had a ton of dance competition stuff going on on Friday and Saturday and didn’t really have much time left to enjoy with the kids.
We quickly realized that the only time we could’ve fit in a workout would have been super early (uhhh, no) or late at night (the gym was closed.)
So, it didn’t happen. I’m sorta kinda okay with it though because we were on vacation. AND, we don’t go on vacation too often. We had a blast.
Anyway, we left on Thursday after the kids got home from school. That morning it snowed a TON. This is what our neighborhood looked like…
It was freezing and I was so happy we were going to sunny St. George.
It should have been around 75 degrees in St. George, but it was mostly in the 60’s while we were there. A little colder than I would have liked, but it was WAY better than snow!
I have a million and one pictures to share with you, so here goes nothing!
DANCE COMPETITION STUFF
My daughter competed in clogging and jazz. Her clogging team came in first place overall.
Sorry, this pic is a little freaky. I don’t have permission to post pics of all these cute girls, so I just fuzzed them all out! My daughter is the only one with a face, lol!
Her jazz team placed first, but not first place overall. Note: teams are given a first, second or third place ranking depending on how high their score is. Several teams can receive first, second and third. Yes, it’s weird.
She also performed clogging and jazz duets with her friend and received first place for both dances. She also performed several short clogging solos and she received a first place and two second places. She had a great time.
A FUN HIKE
We took the kids hiking around “Dixie Rock.” Dixie Rock is essentially a mountain with the word “Dixie” painted on the side. St. George has the nickname “Dixie” because it’s “Utah’s South” and the early pioneers used to grow cotton there because of the warm climate.
Dixie Rock is a fun hiking area full of little caverns and neat places to explore.
EATING AT THE PATIO
On Saturday night, we took the kids to eat at The Patio Grill. I have a friend who just moved to my neighborhood from St. George and she said The Patio was one of their favorite places to eat with the kids.
It’s an outdoor restaurant with a fun “relaxing feel” to it. Sadly, it was a little bit chilly, but there were a bunch of heaters and fires going to keep everyone warm.
The kids enjoyed it and the food was wonderful. Most of us just got burgers/sandwiches and fries. Everything was great.
ST. GEORGE LDS (MORMON) TEMPLE
On Sunday, we visited the St. George LDS temple. Is is such a beautiful and historic building. It took 6 1/2 years to build and it was finished in 1877. It is BRIGHT white and looks stunning against the red rock mountains that surround the city.
I gotta make a quick comment about this picture…I asked my kids to pack their own church clothes. My oldest son forgot his church shoes, so he is wearing his High Top Vans. Sweet. ALSO, I realized my daughter’s skirt had gotten a little short (she’s been growing like a WEED!), so I had her put on the little leggings underneath. Very eclectic, lol.
DOWNTOWN SAINT GEORGE
After visiting the temple, we went to church and then walked around downtown St. George. There are a bunch of historic buildings and stores that are fun to visit.
ABANDONED GYPSUM MINE ON ARIZONA/UTAH BORDER
While we were visiting the temple, one of the missionaries told us that they used gypsum to make the plaster on the outside of the temple. He gave each of the kids a piece of gypsum as a souvenir (so nice!) and then told us about an old abandoned gypsum mine that was about 12 miles away.
It sounded so cool, so we decided to stop there before we headed home. I’m so glad we did! The kids had a ball and it was SO COOL!
We basically drove out in the middle of nowhere and the mine is just over the Arizona border. As we approached the mine, it looked like a giant glitter pit shining in the sun. It was so neat!
There were pieces of gypsum everywhere…literally millions. The kids also enjoyed carving their own gypsum out of the side of the mountain.
These pictures do not do it justice. This mine was just SO COOL!
My 9 year old decided to climb around to the top of the mine. He was born climbing, I swear!
I picked up some pieces of gypsum so you guys could get a glimpse of how cool it was. It is such a neat mineral. It forms in sheets and can be broken really easily.
Oh, and here’s my picture showing that we were in the “middle of nowhere!”
We headed for home after that and got home late Sunday night.
I snapped this pic as we were road tripping around. I want to cherish these times when I have all my sweet kiddos together. They are growing up way to fast!
Do you love my baby’s glasses and Burger King crown? Awesome.
We were all tired, but happy to be home and reunited with our sweet doggie, Jimmer.
We had a great trip, but it’s been so nice to get back to eating well and exercising again. Being a glutenous, lazy pig is a lot of fun….short term! I was SO READY to be disciplined once again!
I have so many other things to share with you guys, but Kev and I are getting ready to head over to the gym for a bit, so I have to go!
I hope you are all happy and healthy! xoxo
When we lived in Las Vegas, we went to Zion National Park on a pretty regular basis and loved St. George. There is/was a great outlet mall on the southern edge as well as breathtaking Virgin River Gorge. Glad you had a great time.
I’ve only been to Zion’s once when I was a teenager. I would love to take my kids there! I also LOVE shopping and would love to check out the outlet mall (my husband would love it too, lol!) Thanks for the tips. 😉
What a fun trip!!! So glad you had a great time. Thanks for sharing with us!
What beautiful pictures! Saint George looks like so much fun!
Saw your post about the gypsum min. How do I get there? We are looking for something fun to Fo today.
Sorry I’m so slow to respond Mitch! Unfortunately, I don’t have the paper with the directions anymore. 🙁 It’s in the middle of nowhere, so the directions are like “turn left at the fork in the road”, “pass on old corral and then turn right”, etc. We got the directions from a missionary in the Visitor’s Center at the temple (the smaller Visitor’s Center). He had the directions typed up and gave them to us. I’m so sorry I don’t have them. I’m sure if you stopped by the temple, they would be happy to give them to you. If you go, I hope you love it!