st. george: the end

I am finally finished!
My goal was to have my summer vacation
all blogged about by the end of August.
And here I am on August 31, posting the end of it.
It feels good to not be playing catch up anymore.

July 28th-July 31, 2010

During the rest of our week in St. George,
we did every tourist attraction there is.
"Historic St. George Live!"
took us by bus around to some of the historic locations
and at each stop there was some old man dressed up as
some old historical figure and gave a little narration.

The same day of the bus tour we stopped
in old town St. George to play in the river
and splash pad.
Oliver LOVES splash pads.

Oliver and his cousin Kylie didn't hold still for
too long but we did manage to get a couple hundred pictures.

This splash pad is a little more aggressive
then what Oliver is used to.
So Curtis stepped in to to save his boy.

The rest of us decided to keep
cool in the shade.
What am I missing in this picture?

My Sketcher Shape-Ups!
Curtis' family swears by them
so I might have to invest.

We also visited the
World Wildlife Museum.

We did a round of mini golf.
I don't remember who won, 
but I do remember me losing.

All in all,
the vacation was a success.
It was great for Oliver to spend
some quality time with Curtis' family.
Especially since we only get to see them
a couple times a year.

Goodbye you beautiful red rocks!

zion national park

Tuesday July 27, 2010

We took a day trip from St. George
over to Zion National Park.
It was a perfect day to be there
because it had rained the night prior
and there were beautiful little waterfalls.

Emerald Pools.
Oliver had the best seat in the house.
He especially loved sitting right under the waterfall
and feeling it shower on him.

Kristen, Curtis' sister, had a baby
four weeks prior to this trip.
We were all impressed that she managed to
keep up with us on all the hikes.

Curtis and his brother, Blake,
wanted to hike to some pools
further up the trail.
The trail was too rocky for strollers to get up,
so the rest of us had to stay behind.
But how could I say no to the birthday boy.

That's right.
Curtis celebrated his 30th birthday on the trails.
Turning 30,has made Curtis feel,
well,
old.
Luckily doing these hikes made him feel young and strong again!

Look! Look! Here comes a bus!
Could this be the bus for us?
We took the shuttle to get to all of our destinations.
Which allowed for a quick break between hikes.

Next stop is Hanging Garden.
The steepest but shortest hike,
at the end you come to a waterfall
with plants growing out of the rock cliffs.

Curtis' parents.

At the end of the day,
we were all pretty exhausted.
Although now being there,
I have the hiking bug to go back
and try some of the more challenging hikes.
Anyone want to join me?

St. George

Saturday July 24, 2010

Curtis, Oliver, and I loaded up the car
and headed from Bountiful south to St. George.
We met up with Curtis' family in his aunt's condo.
Her place is amazing and has great views of
St. George valley, as you can see in the pic.

We were able to meet the newest member
of the Jacobs family, Sariah.
Oliver is right smack in the middle, age wise,
of Sariah and her sister Kylie.
I'm sure this will lead to some wild family gatherings.

The day after we arrived was Sunday,
so we went and walked around the
St. George temple and visitor center.

It's a really beautiful temple with
an interesting history.
Word to the wise,
never build anything with a foundation
made of lava rocks.

just like new

When we layed our bathroom floors,
we failed to seal it properly.
And poorly sealed white tile and grout,
plus a flood in the bathroom, 
leads to one dirty floor two years later.
I was desperate to get my floors looking clean again
and had tried everything.
I even made my own grout cleaner from a recipe
I got from the Queen of Clean
but nothing worked.
Here is what they look liked after scrubbing
them on my hands and knees.

Gross!
Then one day I found this

A paint for your grout!

So Curtis and I spent last week painting

all the grout between our 1/4" tiles.

It was tedious.

But halfway through I knew we were on the right track.

And now after hours of work,
our floors look like new!

We also sealed it three times.

Overkill?

I don't think so,

If in question,

please refer to the first picture.

The moral of the story,
never use white grout.

utah vacation: pioneer weekend

Friday and Saturday July 23 and 24th, 2010

We went to the 24th of July Bountiful parade. (thanks Lou for the seats!)
It was the longest parade ever!
But the kids loved collecting all the candy that was thrown from the parade,
as did some of the adults.

From where Oliver was sitting,
I don't think he could see much
but he seemed fine watching all the people around him.
Plus he had gotten some new toys from my uncle Kent 
that kept him quite entertained.

Curtis arrived into town the night before.
It was his first time to all of the 24th of July celebrations.

After dinner, we went up to the Angus home
to do some fireworks.
This is a treat for us Arizonians since fireworks are illegal in Arizona.

I think Curtis is having more fun with the sparkler then Oliver.

The next morning we went to the park

for even more pioneer day celebrations!

The best thing to do at the park,

and one of the only things to do,

is eat,

and eat we did.

The Halibson gang ate some bear claws,

while Oliver got after some

cotton candy.

The park was our last stop in Bountiful,

before we headed down to Saint George.

But before we move on to St. George,

we have to give a shout out to this classy lady.

 

My grandma, G, let us stay at her home for the whole week and a half.

She fed us, cleaned up after us, and took great care of us.

She spoiled Oliver rotten with new toys and lots of hugs and kisses.

If you are going to Utah, I do highly recommend her place.

I don't know how we could have done it without her.

Love you, G!

utah vacation: random

We did a lot of fun things in Utah that I wasn't able to get pictures of
or not enough pictures to do a whole blog entry on it.
 So here is a random compilation of those moments.

We got together for a girls night out with some of the cousins.
It was nice to leave the kids at home and go out on the town.

We enjoyed a pizza and a movie.

We saw a classic girls night out movie,
Eclipse.
And it wasn't any better than the first two.
Another highlight of the trip was meeting up
with one of my oldest friends, Shae.
We have been friends since we were 5 years old.
Unfortunately, I had dropped my camera as I was trying to set it up to take this picture and the auto-focus broke (hence the blurriness). I was later able to fix but wasn't able to get any picture of us besides this.

We had not seen each other in years
so it was a real treat to see her and her kids.
She is the same Shae as she always has been,
that is what I love about her so much.
I wish I could have seen more of her during my trip.

We went down and visited Sam and Allison in Provo.
Sam took us to a museum that was full of dead, stuffed animals.
The highlight was Shasta, the Liger (lion and tiger mix).
She was the highlight at the zoo when I was younger.
Oliver and I then stayed the night at Sam and Allison's.
They were the perfect host and hostess.
Who doesn't love waking up to the smell
of orange rolls coming out of the oven?

utah vacation: hogle zoo

Thursday July 22, 2010

we went to the animal fair

the birds and the beasts were there

the big baboon by the light of the moon

was combing his auburn hair

the monkey bumped the skunk

then sat on the elephants trunk

the elepant sneezed

and fell on his knees

and that was the end of

the monk, the monk, the monk.

The zoo can be hit or miss.

Sometimes you don't see any animals and sometimes they are all out.

We had a hit day at the zoo.

We watched this tiger walk down from his hill and get a drink in the pool.

We saw the penguins waddle their way over from the mud patch

to take a swim in the pool.

We got up close to the giraffes.

And we saw the baby elephant, Zuri, out playing with her momma.

We measured ourselves up against chimps.

Oliver is closer to a juvenile then infant,

this seems to be true in real life as well,

which means my baby isn't so much a baby anymore.

However Brooke has bigger issues at hand...

her kids measured up with adults!

This is my favorite picture of the day. Grace is about 3 feet away from a tiger, and all she wanted to do was find a nice place to sit down and enjoy her soda. Love this girl!

utah vacation: dinosaur museum

Monday July 19, 2010

We went to the dinosaur museum with Brooke, Kaicie, Mandy and all of their kids, plus my aunt Julie.
It was quite the crew.

I learned a lot about survival at the museum.
For example,
Oliver and I wouldn't stand a chance of staying alive fighting this big dino.

And neither would these kids against this shark.

But, I could take these two on...at the same time.

The day at the museum also marked Oliver turning 10 months old.

At 10 months, Oliver can:
-army crawl like it's nobody's business
-pull himself up to a stand on furniture, but gets stuck once he is up
-drinks from a straw
-claps his hands whether he is happy or sad
-and has 4 teeth, which gives him the goofiest grin ever.