THE CRACK & RED HILLS DESERT GARDEN - ST. GEORGE

We had a total of two free days while we were in St. George, on the second one we decided to go hiking. I love the mountains in northern Utah, but there is just something special about the red rock as well. It had rained in the morning, but it was a beautiful warm rain which made it perfect hiking weather, not hot and not cold + fun puddles for the kids to jump in!

I have a slight obsession with turtles, and I find these little "keep turtles safe" fences absolutely adorable!

The dessert was in full blossom while we were there. It was breathtaking! After some light hiking, climbing, and countless explaining to Piper that there wasn't any tigers in the little caves, we stumbled upon a place people were calling "The Crack". I was surprised at how many people came to  squeeze themselves through this little crack! 

We watched a few children work their way through, I was determined that I was much to big to squeeze myself through and after listening to this cute little 7 year old boy yelling that he was stuck there was no way I was trying! It really just looked so small! However, Josh said he was going to to do it, and if he could do it I could do it. I let my husband go and adventure all by himself while the kids and I safely played in the red sand and waited. 

To my surprise, Josh returned rather quickly after making it all the way through and was helping that same little 7 year old that had been screaming; and his sister find their mom who had also opted not to go through. Josh said and I quote "you'll be fine! there was only one spot that I had to suck in my belly in to squeeze through!" Ha um, no thanks! However I saw my little 3 year old watching me and mimicking my fear, and not wanting my fearless three year old to be fearful, I put a smile on my face and made her go through with me! 

We made it! It really only took about 5 minutes to make our way through and now that its been done. I really can say it wasn't bad at all.. but, those 5 minutes really can play some tricks on your mind! It looks like it gets thinner and thinner, but in reality it got wider towards the end. However, it was especially weird not being able to turn your head to look behind you, so if you go through with little kids make sure they go ahead of you, that way you can help see/help them. Piper, on the other hand was able to walk through like normal. She was a trooper, She had the most worried face the whole time, but every time dad took a picture, she gave him the biggest thumbs up! When she made it out of the crack she was so proud of herself!! She is still, a month later, asking Josh and I, "remember that time I was so brave?". 

As it turns out you can actually take a road to a parking lot that is just a minutes walk from "The Crack" if you ever want to go. There is parking at Pioneer Park right by the Dixie Rock.

On our hike back we let Piper gather her own bouquet of wild flowers to take back to her Great Grandma, shes our little collector and there wasn't a flower she didn't stop to inspect.

After the hike back to the car, we realized we weren't ready to call the day over. On the drive up we had passed some sort of garden that we decided to check out. It was called Red Hills Desert Garden, and it was a place you can walk through and check out desert landscapes and learn about the plants that live in them. The best part was that it was free! 

Joshua by a Joshua Tree

Piper wanted a picture next to this tree, she called it a "Piper Tree". You know since dad has one she needs one too. :)

It was seriously the perfect end to our adventure filled day. As we went on our family walk through this cute little educational gem, we started to watch the kids slow down, and knew it was time to head home and get them ready for bed. That my friends is my definition of a perfect family day. A fun beautiful day spent outside with smiling faces and knowing that my kids wore themselves out enough for a great nights sleep! We fully tend on taking Grandma and Grandpa here next time. (Yay for the whole thing being wheelchair assailable!)

GLITTER MOUNTAIN - ST. GEORGE

Piper, Hudson and I have a new goal. Our mission being to make Josh fall in love with St. George again. Josh grew up in St. George, so to him it never really feels like a vacation. I, on the other hand love going, and we are lucky enough to be able to go every couple months to visit his grandparents. It's a dream vacation for me, we get to relax and do nothing for days + Josh's grandma is the best cook in the whole world. However, our kids are getting older and its getting harder to just keep them around the house for days, so we have decided to get out and about a little more while we are there. So, of course, I turned to Pinterest and Google for some fun places to visit. The first place that caught my eye was Glitter Mountain! Just the name alone had me sold! I have the worlds biggest glitter lover / rock collector daughter there is!

We had found several directions to Glitter Mountain, and even a google map to the location which I insisted on using because our phones know everything right?!.... Wrong! The whole time I was telling Josh where to go he kept saying I'm pretty sure I know where this is, and this is the wrong direction. After the phone told us to turn on a road that didn't exist, I turned my phone off let the man do his driving. To my surprise, we passed sooo many people who were so lost and couldn't find it either! Josh took us straight there though and it was exactly what we were hoping for... expect the mountain part! It was more hills and a pit than a mountain...but maybe we are just spoiled with the mountains near home. I decided to make some directions in hopes that it helps some other lost souls who depend on their phone for everything like me!

Staheli Farms

Under over pass, turn on first right.

Old Cattle Corral

Cross State line.

The kids loved it! We went on a beautiful sunny day and the second you see it, you know that its your destination. It really does just sparkle! The best part was that since it was such a hot day we didn't have to do any hiking to wear ourselves out before getting some place fun. You really just drive there, park to the side of hills and walk down into the pit.

Glitter Mountain was an old mine shaft that has been dug out so you can see and chip away at the rocks. There is an unbelievable amount of clear almost glass like rocks all around and a wall of it you can that break away in sheets. Piper was determined that the rocks were crystals, and after watching the word "Gypsum" go right over her head, we just went with crystals. 

Hudson loved finding the holes that people had dug out and would reach his tiny little arm in as far as it would go and grab a handful of little rocks, "ooh and ahh" over them and throw them back in the hole. He did this the whole time we were there. We didn't bring a hammer, we had thought that the children were to young, and would just enjoy gathering the rocks from the ground, but after watching some bigger kids chip away at the "crystals," Piper was pretty bummed we hadn't brought one. Josh decided to hike around while we played, and came back with a head of hammer that had broken off and was left behind. Piper was thrilled and it turned out even better than an actual hammer because there was no big swinging involved. Piper was very meticulous as she would chip away little pieces of gypsum and quickly add it to her collection.

I would definitely recommend bringing a bucket and a little hammer or something to chip away some rocks.The kids love just being dirty and playing... rocks and dirt are all children really need after all right? Although we only let our children leave with a child sized handful of the "crystals" for memories, they sure loved filling up the buckets and lugging them around. We all left wonderfully filthy, and my car is still red from all the dust and dirt, but Piper still talks about it, and that's a win in my book!

We will be back Glitter Mountain. With only a 25 minute drive from St. George, how could we not go back right? 

** Directions: Get off I-15 (exit 8) and turn left onto St. George Blvd. Go straight until you hit North River Road. Turn Right. Follow North River Road until you get to 1450 South (you will see a maverick and a jiffy lube to your left). Turn left. Follow 1450 South until you get to 3000 East. Turn right. When you get to 1580 turn left. As you cross over St. George city limits the street will turn into 3650 South. Follow 3650 South until you get to South Washington Fields Road. Turn Right onto South Washington Fields Road. Follow the road until you get to an over pass. Once you pass under the overpass take the first right leading to a dirt road. (If you go straight it will lead you to Warner Valley Dinosaur tracks). Follow the dirt road for about 20 minutes along the way you will cross over 3 cattle guards, stay on this road until you tome to a cattle corral on your right. Take the first right after that cattle corral and follow this road. Cross the Arizona/ Utah State Boarder. Keep driving on this same road and Glitter Mountain will appear on you right.

MARCH - TOP NINE

1. Piper has been busy being a hand model for Pebbles in my Pocket a lot this month, and she only ever has one request which is to be paid in glitter! So after each mini photo shoot she does she gets to pick a color of glitter from mom's craft room to do a craft with. This girl is the definition of all things glitter!
2. Princess play date! Piper got to have her friend Sadee over for a play date. The two of them decided they wanted to have a tea party and dressed up in dresses that my sister and I wore for Halloween when we were their age. It was absolutely darling!
3. Josh accepted a new job at his work and is now Lead Welding Instructor of the MATC Welding Department! I've convinced Piper to call him "Headmaster" which drives Josh crazy, but is positively the cutest!
4. Amy's Eggstravaganza! I got to spend the night gabbing away with my sweet girlfriends and paint eggs! It was a much needed night out and was full of laughter, creativity and friendship.
5. My same friend Amy put together an awesome St. Patrick's Day party for all of our little kids. I can't even believe how fast the kids are multiplying and growing, but getting together is always fun!
6. Piper is a big girl! I mean really! When I was pregnant my mom gave me a box of clothes that were mine when I was little, a lot of them being stuff she and my grandma had made. I halfheartedly accepted the box and stuck it away with the feeling that Piper would never be big enough to wear them! Well, I forgot about the box and then got a friendly reminder from my mom saying that she was pretty sure Piper is big enough to wear some of the clothes, so I went and pulled it out and to my surprise she does!! Some of the clothes were even to small! I can't even believe how fast she is growing! She gets so many compliments when she wears the crocheted sweaters that my grandma made. Crocheting/Knitting is definitely an art one that is often over looked but is still much appreciated!
7. One Saturday before I had to go into work, we went to Chipotle and grabbed food and had a picnic at the park! Piper had been begging to go for weeks! It was just what our little hooligans needed! They played their little hearts out and both took a well deserved nap afterwards!
8. A trip to the aquarium! Hudson's new word is fish! Although it comes out more like "ishie" he has been saying it all the time ever since we got our two little fish for Dr. Seuss's Birthday, so we decided that maybe he was old enough to actually appreciate the aquarium. He did! Both the kids ran wild and pointed to every single fish in the whole building.
9. In an attempt to make Hudson like going to nursery better, we bought some bubbles for him to play with in the back yard seeing as the nursery leaders always let the children play with bubbles to distract them while the mom's and dad's slip out quietly. We so hoped that he would love them in nursery long enough for us to sneak out, but unfortunately he didn't. He sure loves them in the backyard though and we love watching his shocked face every time he touches one and it pops!

Good Bye March and Hello April!

St. Patrick's Day

Since Easter literally starts in just a few minutes I thought I better play a little catch up and at least post our St. Patrick's Day! (I'm realizing I'm pretty bad at this consistent blogging thing!) We had an awesome St. Patrick's Day this year! We got lucky and got to celebrate the holiday with doing little things all week long, starting with going to a St. Patrick's Day party with friends. That party really fueled Piper's excitement for the holiday this year. She even remembered going on a hunt for a leprechaun at the end of the rainbow that we had done last year with her Joy School friends, and kept asking if that was going to happen again this year. Three year old Piper is so fun! I love that she is remembering things and that she is starting to get so excited for special days!

Piper had her outfit picked out for St. Patrick's Day a week early! I didn't realize it until she pointed it out to me but she has no green shirts! Poor girl! She adapted easily though because she picked out her gold dot shirt and a rainbow necklace to wear "so she would attract Leprechauns!" We even attempted a 4 leaf clover in her hair for preschool! Don't look to closely though because I had no idea what I was doing and we ended up taking it out after school followed by asking one of our dance friends for advice on how to make it better for next year. 

While Piper was at Preschool, I went to work laying out our rainbow. I'm pretty sure I will do this with my kids every year until it stops working because it literally takes 10 minutes to set up which is a dream. Piper was thrilled when we came out of the garage! She started yelling "shes' here, shes' here!" followed by covering her mouth because she needed to be sneaky to catch her! (Our Leprechaun is a girl apparently... named Glitter!) 

Piper was hilarious to watch! I kept waiting for her to just cheat and run around to the ends of all the steamers, but she didn't! She literally "snuck" every single color! She even kept hearing noises stopping to listen! I was dying! At the end of each color she would find a couple gold coins or a lucky clover, which kept her motivated. Blue being her favorite color was saved for last and had her Leprechaun gift at the end! I could have listened to her saying, "Oh man! Glitter is so sneaky, she got away again" forever!

Hudson was not impressed that the Leprechaun left him glitter stickers and immediately dropped them to the ground, but he held true to his little Hudson self and was soooo excited for candy!

Piper was on this Leprechaun kick for awhile, the next day when I had to go to work Piper insisted that she needed to make a Leprechaun trap with grandma! She asked for a box, paper, ribbon, and grabbed a few other things out of my craft room including stealing some rainbows! My favorite part about it was that I know Leprechaun traps and shoe boxes are a thing... but this girl came up with it ALL by herself, with her own layout for exactly how she wanted it. She is my little right brained child and I love it! Glitter however, out smarted Piper since her box turned up empty, but that didn't get our little Leprechaun hunter down because she informed us that next year she is going to use a net! 

Until next year you sneaky little Leprechaun!