Southern Utah Trip with My Mom

(to show some effect of picnik)

So life the past couple weeks has been VERY busy for me, my mom left yesterday morning after a 2 wk trip she and I had. we went up to IF to see my brother and his new house, and then him and his family followed us down to southern utah where we spent time at my aunt di's house and got to see cousins and aunts and uncles we rarely get time to spend with. it was a lot of fun, my aunt Di has really turned her backyard into a kids wonderland! there is mini golf, a waterfall that goes to a small stream to a big pond complete with HUGE goldfish! rocks everywhere (andrew LOVED throwing them in the pond. sorry di!) and a couple apple trees by the big old barn (that is STILL standing somehow), andrew learned to love feeding apples to the horses, at first he would just throw them at the horses, and im not sure the horses really appreciated his generocity so much. but then he was hand feeding them by the time we left (which i wasn't too crazy about...he has tiny little fingers and horses have big mouths!). there were also tire swings (not the usual ...i'll post a picture to describe better).  and trikes, he LOVED riding the trikes around. just his size. and fresh air!!! that was the best part. he just got to play outside! i look forward to moving sometime to a place with a big yard, or a park across the street or something so he can play outside more. we have a park , but its a mile roundtrip so if we're going i have to pack up stuff for abby and extra water and things because we are usually gone for a little while. it would be nice to just go outside anytime to play and not worry about packing everybody up...i think my favorite thing we did was go to Aida, the broadway play at Tuacahn, the outdoor theater. AMAZING. i just have to say it was everything and more than i expected after years of knowing the soundtrack and hearing mary tell me what the story is about , i finally got to see it and put it all together. WOW. a must see. ends oct 17th though i gotta warn ya. but worth the trip. also on the 30th my sisters boyfriend Don flew down to help my mom drive back up to Alaska. so we picked him up and showed him some of St George and then friday went up to Temple Square to show him around, and i realized i'm kind of becoming a "salt lake geek" as jenny (jacobson) puts it. but i guess i've started to really enjoy going to temple square, and the visitors center, and the church art museum, and the church office building (to the top to look out), and we would have toured the new conference center but it was closed for preparation for conference. so friday we didnt have time for all of that, but we started out by walking around temple square, and then to the church office building, then to lunch at the garden (on the top/ tenth floor of the joseph smith memorial building), then to the visitors center to see the Christus, then to the old tabernacle building, then my mom and don went to the joseph smith movie at the joseph smith memorial building, and i let andrew play on the bottom floor where they have some toys by the genealogy dept. then we headed home, stopping at pei wei for some mongolian beef and lettuce wraps...my favorite. so it was a very fun day. and yesterday and today have been general conference, which are always very much enjoyed by our family. i love watching and listening and we don't miss that for anything. there is just simply nothing more important. it is always so uplifting and sanctifying. well, i better get on to some pictures. wish me luck in finding only a few to post, i feel i won't be able to fully catch up on the past 2 weeks but i'll try...so i have the hardest time trying to write under each picture with the new format, anybody else having that trouble? its easier to add pictures but harder to add a caption below them, it always comes up as a link looking thing. the pictures where we are at a lookout is at Cedar Breaks in the mountains by Cedar City. then we drove to Navajo Lake where me and andrew posed for a few pictures. the sun was really bright making pictures kind of hard...we had a picnic near Cedar Breaks and andrew found a well that you pump. he tried with his hands, but when that didn't work, tried his foot but he was too short to get it up there. i think thats when tom stepped in to help;). at the top andrew is wearing a bow. yes a bow, he actually is jealous i think of abby and other girls who get to wear them, and is very excited any time he is given a bow;).