Read and Win...tickets to the State Fair

My girls read books all summer and by doing so, they got tickets to the Utah State Fair.  We've only gone once before...it seems like a lot of money to me for what you get.  But since they got in for free, plus each got one free ride ticket and one free drink ticket, we spent about 3 1/2 hours there on Saturday.

We spent time looking at the different projects that 4-H students had created.  We saw the pigs and cows and sheep and goats.

There were two reindeer, Comet and Dasher.

Ella and Gabby both enjoyed touching the animals.  Mostly, Michelle didn't want to.

I thought this display was pretty cool...it's all made out of beans/seeds.

cute baby piglet

There were some street performers.

The girls each got to choose one ride to go on.  (I am a mean mom and wouldn't pay for them to go on lots of rides.  But not very mean because we did get hot dogs and hamburgers.  Then later we got a scone, a funnel cake and two snow cones.)

We watched Chinese dancers perform and we watched Murray City Band perform a few songs.

Scales and Tails was at the fair, so we checked out their crocodile, tortoises, snakes and lizards.

A fun day with darling girls!

US Women's versus Mexico

Alfredo got 4 free tickets to see a soccer game between the US Women's Team and Mexico at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night.   He took his best friend and the older two girls.
They had a great time although the girls got bored/tired toward the end.  The US team totally creamed Mexico's team.

 Gabby and I had a mother-daughter date night.  Gabby and I went to eat at Sonic, had ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery and then snuggled and watched a movie in my bed (Rio 2...her choice).

Who could resist spending time with this cutie?

Zion's Canyon, Day 2

On Saturday, we headed back up Zion's Canyon on the bus.  We went clear up to the last stop to do the Riverwalk trail.  Michelle and Alfredo took off at a good speed and the two younger girls and I walked along much more slowly.  Overall, it was a nice hike, but near the very end, Gabby was done.  I hadn't eaten enough and my blood sugar level dropped rapidly and I began feeling very shaky.  I couldn't carry Gabby, and she and Ella were starting to whine...and there was no cell service to contact Alfredo.  I got a bit worried.  I had a snack in the backpack I was carrying and ate that...we took a rest and I told them to push on just a bit farther and thankfully, we made it to the end of the trail where there was a river and lots of places to wade and play.  And we found Michelle and Alfredo.  So it all worked out.  Thank goodness.

Ella, Gabby and I saw this darling little frog as we were hiking.  It was tiny but so cute.

After this  hike, we were pretty tired and hungry and we had seen most of what we really wanted to see.  We headed back down the canyon and then to our car and headed home.  We had a great time listening to music, talking and spending time together before we headed back to school.  So glad we took this trip together.  Oh, how I love this handsome, funny man that is my husband and these three girls that are my daughters.  I am so blessed.

Zion's Canyon, Day 1

(Warning:  Photo Overload ahead!)  While in St. George for the weekend, we drove to Zion's Canyon and spent Friday and part of Saturday there (heading back home Saturday afternoon.)   It was beautiful.  Alfredo and I went to Zion's a year after we were married, but this is the first time our children had been there.  So beautiful.  First, we did the areas we could drive through.

 We saw a herd of mountain goats...at least a dozen.  They were so close to us and didn't seem bothered by humans at all.  Still, they are wild animals and this is their home...so I told my children that we are not to get too close, not to feed them or touch them.  This is their habitat and we are the guests.  But so very cool.  We watched them for about 15 minutes...sunning themselves, eating, walking across the road and even running/jumping across the road.  Magnificent!

 After we had explored in our car for awhile and stopped to have lunch (and realized that we had actually gone far enough that we were no longer in Zion's Park), we headed back to the main section of Zions.  In the summer, you can't drive through most of Zion's in your vehicle.  They have free buses that take you up the canyon and you can get on and off at as many stops as you like.  So we parked our card and road the buses all the way to the top, listening to the narration about the canyons as we went.

In the town, just outside of Zion's Canyon, near where we parked our car.

  After we went to the top of the canyon, we rode to the next to last stop where there was a short walk to a river.  The girls and I all had fun playing in the river.

 The water wasn't super deep but deep enough that we got wet.

 Next to the river, there were deer. 

Michelle found a very cool walking stick that had beautiful carvings on it.

We saw many lizards as well as squirrels.

We hiked to Emerald Falls, the lower pool.  The girls were getting tired and hungry and didn't want to hike to the upper pools.  I hear they are more impressive.  But it was beautiful, even if the waterfall wasn't that amazing.

 There were more deer, just off the path.  So close to us.  A mother, father and a baby.

 After two (fairly short) hikes and lots of driving and walking, the girls were tired.  We left Zion's to head back to St. George.  In LaVerkin (I think, if I remember correctly), we stopped to get freshly made ice cream.  We got a small spoonful of prickly pear ice cream and it was good (but they were almost out so none of us ordered it...not enough left for a full scoop).   The place we stopped at had a mini Old-style western town that you could explore with a petting zoo.  We didn't explore it, but I thought it was fun so I snapped a photo.

We headed back to the hotel, where the girls and I went swimming.  Then we watched a movie, ate tacos and slept.