March

 Yes, I'm behind again.  Behind by a million pictures.  Behind by a million experiences...okay maybe not a million but certainly behind by a million thoughts and emotions.

Time is passing quickly and it is 5-6 months since my last post.  Much has happened during that time.  Not all happy but certainly all opportunities for growth.

Once February was over and High School wrestling season was complete, I had some days of rest.  Spring Break was coming upon us quickly and Brad was taking a continuing education course on IV sedation so I would have a unique opportunity to have the kids for spring break.   We used to have junior high wrestling during this time and I would spend the time with the wrestlers while Brad would give the high school kids a break from wrestling usually taking them back country skiing to get out of the mud.  The last few years we've had no wrestling and I don't like staying home so I've traveled to visit people on my own during spring break.  This year, due to Brad's CE, I had Riley and Jake all to myself.  I decided we were definitely leaving our mountain town (it's the muddy season here during March) and going somewhere warm for spring break.  After much deliberation, and a little arguing with Riley, I decided to head down to Zion national park and Las Vegas.

We headed out Wednesday morning with just Jake, Riley and I.  

The desert scenery as you travel to Zion from here really is quite lovely.  We passed through Page and, as always, got out to take pictures at the Lake Powell dam.  

We have a close friend who owns some property rentals in the town of Hilldale, Utah.  If you know anything about Hilldale you will know that it is a town that straddles two states, Arizona and Utah and was a refuge for the FLDS who practice polygamy.  It is also near Zion national park.  I loved just being in the town because I know so much about their history and polygamy with my many years of studying the subject so that was a great experience for me to be there.  On the flip side, the time change between the two cities as we went across the Arizona/Utah border to buy groceries left me baffled at to what time it really was.  That was important because we had drawn a permit to hike Angel's landing the next day and we had to get it done by noon.

We woke up at six to head out to Zion's and start our hike to Angel's landing.  I had my email with the permit on my phone.  The boys, as soon as we got to the path, took off without me.  I've learned it's always a race with boys.  So I did my thing and they did their thing and beat me to the beginning of Angel's landing by probably 15 minutes.

You have to have a copy of the permit AND your license when you get to the beginning of the Angel's landing hike.   Good thing I read instructions.  Wait, I didn't read the instructions at all and when I got to the ranger,  I didn't have my license and I didn't have reception to access the copy of my license or my email through my phone.  The ranger was easy on me and asked me my date of birth and my email and let me up.   Lucky us.

I was terrified ascending Angel's landing.  The exposure was much more extreme than I realized it would be.  The only thing that propelled me to the top was the thought that my boys were ahead of me and I didn't want them to think that their mom was a wimp.  So I pushed on, looking only at the trail ahead of me, willing myself to not look down.  In my mind I would repeat mantras like "Just keep swimming" and "One step, one step, one step" while I willed myself to look perfectly normal so the other hikers around me wouldn't think I was terrified.  The boys could see that I was terrified though and they did stay close to me to make sure I got up.  With their help and my mental toughness I got up.  It was worth it.  The views were amazing.  Some of us were more brave with their pictures (Jake) than others.

Now, I just had to get down.  Luckily, the descent was much easier for me mentally than the ascent. 

If you don't get an Angel's landing permit you can hike to the other side and get a lovely view of Angel's landing.  I did this with Ben and Kenzie a few years back so I took Jake and Riley there too.  

On our way down we caught a couple of cool pictures of the switchbacks to reach Angel's landing.

After Angel's landing we got in as much as we could of the park with the time we had left.  We headed down the narrows hike and turned back when we realized the water was too deep and cold for us to continue.  

We stopped at the patriarchs

And then finally ended on the Canyon Overlook trail.

From there we headed into St. George to eat at my favorite pizza place and take a picture with my favorite statue downtown.

Then, we headed to Vegas where Jordan, Molly, Kenzie and Ben would all meet us for more adventure!!  The kids wanted to do some nature stuff in Vegas and I wanted to see some shows so we did a combination of both.  The first day we hiked into some narrows that led to some super cool natural hot springs and Lake mead.  It really was an amazing hike!  Thank you Karen for the tip.

That evening we went and visited my Aunt Cheryle and Uncle Troy.  Then headed down to the strip to watch Beatles Love by Cirque de Soleil.  The acrobatics were AMAZING.  The music a little loud.  After the show we went to watch the water show by the Bellagio hotel.  On our way there and back we did get preached to about Jesus, offered drugs, and propositioned by some ladies...okay Riley got propositioned.  I was in shock at the lady's boldness.  Did she not know his mom was walking next to him?  Vegas.

The next day was dedicated to seeing sites.  We wanted to see the bodies museum so we went there first but got there a little before opening so tried on some sun glasses while we were waiting.

Then we met my friend, Elizabeth, for lunch and she toured us around the UNLV dental school campus where she is attending as as student and my husband attended.  Then we visited the Shelby car museum.

We visited a free random art museum.

took some selfies in the car, went to the lego store and ogled the legos (Riley),

Visited Caesar's palace,

We ended the day at a magic show by Mat Franco which, quite frankly, was more entertaining than the  Beatles Love show that we attended the night before.  I loved how much everyone loved the show because beforehand they were telling me how lame it was going to be to see a magic show.  He was an excellent entertainer and the magic was amazing.  Two of our family members got called to the stage.  Kenzie and Riley.  I tried to capture a picture of Kenzie up on stage but the staff had me put my camera away.  Kenzie managed to sneak a picture of Riley though.  She's better at sneaking apparently.

Mat Franco made Riley's jaw drop in surprise...literally.  No picture, but it did happen.  It was my favorite part.

All good things must come to an end and this trip did.  We headed home early Sunday morning and split up the group with a stop at an excellent St. George bakery.  I loved the time with my kids.  Glad we got to be together.  Oh, and as a parting gift, Kenzie got a flat on the way home.  Ask her about that story one day.  Not enough time to write it here.