St Geroge Girls Trip

Kim moved to St George and we miss her! She was supposed to host Bunco in October so she invited us all up to her house for a whole bunco weekend! Courtney took a load of girls up on Thursday but since I couldn't miss Parker's parent meeting for MCO, I decided to take a car up early Friday morning. I drove with RaShelle and Leslie who is not in the bunco group but was invited by Jill. I'm so glad she came! She sat next to me on the drive up AND back and we talked the entire time! We both needed a little girl talk therapy! ha ha

We left Eastvale a little before 6:30am and got to St George by 11:30 (12:30 UT time) So that's pretty great! No traffic and went by in a flash. We met the girls at the temple and we each took some of Kim's names in and did initiatories. It was so nice sitting in the temple with nothing else to do but sit and BE. We went to Hash House a Go Go for lunch (I was starving) and Jill and I shared a burger. We did a little shopping at Down East and Deseret Book and then had dessert at Sweet Rolled Tacos (ice cream tacos). And of course we stopped by Swig! We then went over to Kim's to get settled and her house is amazing! She kicked all 9 of her kids plus her husband out so we could have the place to ourselves. We all slept in the kids bunk beds. ha ha

After we get settled, some of us took a walk up the hill behind Kim's house. When we got to the top, we discovered the airport! I took "sexy" pictures for Tanner since he loves planes and has recently started Flight School! (He took his first flight lesson earlier this week) We were cracking up and that walk was seriously one of the highlights of the trip!

We stayed up super late giggling and playing Code Names.We took a break around 10pm and made sandwiches. Let me tell you, there is nothing better than a group of faithful Latter Day Saint women!

Saturday we woke up and had a yummy baked oatmeal breakfast. We sat around the table and had a great discussion which evolved into ministering. I remember my ministering sister was supposed to have a baby any day so I texted her and she had her baby the night before! So excited! Breakfast was delicious and we all stayed in the kitchen and packed lunches for our hike. Kim drove us to Snow Canyon and we did a totally challenging and super cool hike together! Jill and Erika stopped about half way and the rest of us had to climb up through some pretty scary parts which made us feel strong and powerful! My arms were sore the next day! The hike was awesome! And of course we have a million pictures to prove it.

On the way home from the hike, we stopped by another friend's house who has just recently moved to St George, Nazar and his family. Courtney's sister and mother in law happened to be there. Nazar's house is epic- everything is SMART and white and clean. The backyard is awesome! We went back to Kim's and got cleaned up for dinner. We sat around and stretched and chatted a lot. It was nice to not have to rush anywhere. We all moved slowly and easily togehter. No drama. Everything was peaceful and loving and totally felt like Heaven. We went to Benja's Thai for dinner and once again, I split with Jill but I was (once again) starving so I ate everyone else's food too. ha ha It was super good! We then went to Nielsen's Custard for dessert and then SWIG AGAIN! ha ha

We stayed up late again playing Code Names and by this time we were soooo tired that everything made us laugh! We spent a little time sharing our pictures from the day and could not stop laughing at a LIVE picture where I am the only one moving. It was hilarious! From start to finish, this trip was good for the soul.

We woke up early the next day, I sent a thank you card around the everyone signed, and we hit the road. Because we left so early, had no traffic, and made good time, we were all able to go to church! We had a special meeting to announce the new Youth Program which was awesome! Parker has already set some great goals.

To say I was tired on Sunday is an understatement. Tanner was amazing though and helped me wash and put away all of the laundry. He also made dinner and helped get the kids  to bed all with a great attitude! I was sooooo tired, I was asleep by 9.

This girls weekend was everything I needed. Nothing could have made it better. Good friends. Good food. Temple time. Tons of laughing. I am blessed!

Our stack of rocks: one for each of us- including baby Ava!

In the Spring, this is filled with water. But now that it's dry, it's like a 30 foot drop!

I did it!

Cheering each other one! Girl power!

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Courtney and I are ALWAYS ready to pose for a picture!

On the way home, we had an open discussion like girls do and we got on the topic of our first kisses. Everyone in the car admitted to a horrible first kiss and the main point being, the guy tried to take advantage of her by touching her inappropriately. A few days after I got home, I was able to have a talk with Parker about HIS first kiss and told him, "Please, just don't touch her boob!" We laughed and had a good talk and he told me he's thought about his first kiss, too. He said he imagined it being when he was older, around 17 and that he pictured going on a group date to the beach, watching the sunset on the sand, and kissing her then. I said, "Ya know, it's not a bad idea to ask her if you can kiss her." He thought that sounded totally lame. But at any rate, I'm grateful we could talk about it. Had the mother's of those other boys had frank talks with their sons about first kisses, maybe we all wouldn't have such traumatic stories to tell!