911 Dispatch... what's your emergency?

Now for your reading pleasure, the last story from our trip to St. George.

While we were in St. George, Sarah wanted to do some baptisms in the Temple. Rich and Emily stayed in the condo while we went. Sarah and I had a wonderful time and drove home (the condo) to find Rich and Emily playing pseudo badminton in the street. This is really a loose interpretation of badminton without a net or lines on the ground. Anyhoo, it looked like they were having a fun time. I was a little tired and went into the bedroom and laid down on the bed just to get my feet up for a while. Not two minutes later, Emily came running inside yelling, "The police are outside and I didn't do anything!!"

My next thought was, 'Oh she's probably hit something onto a neighbor's roof or into their yard and the police drove by and now she thinks she's in trouble.' So I say, "Emmy, honey of course you didn't do anything. It's okay." Fifteen seconds later I hear Rich calling for me to come out of the bedroom. "The police are here Tiffany and you need to come out." Me- "Huh?" I jumped off the bed and headed into the living room. Standing there in the hallway as if on his way to the back bedrooms was one of St. George's finest. What on earth is going on? Rich can see I'm totally lost and tries to fill me in. Apparently, just before we came back from the Temple, Rich had been taking a nap while Em was playing in the living room. It was a little grey and windy which is just as good an excuse as any for hot chocolate. She thought I'd brought some down with us and couldn't find it anywhere. She called my cell phone but I turned it off when we were in the Temple and hadn't turned it back on. Then she 'accidentally' dialed 911.

Perhaps she thought they might know where the cocoa was? In all fairness to Emily, the phone had been working sporadically at best. Back to the nice officer. We called Emily out of the bedroom where she was hiding. Em admitted that she called 911 but that she had been trying to dial my cell phone number. Hmmmm. After speaking with the nice folks at 911 for a brief moment, Emily hung up. Guess what? They called her back! Emily tried to assure them she was just looking for the hot chocolate and that she was okay. Just about this time, Rich woke up and took Emily outside to play badminton and we pulled into the driveway. All of this was explained to me as the very nice, very young police officer took in every detail of the condo. I kid you not, he surveyed every inch of the kitchen/dining, hallway and living rooms. It was a time consuming thing for him to do, not because the condo is so spacious, but because every horizontal surface was covered in swimming paraphernalia, arts and crafts and a kitchen/sink full of unwashed dishes and pans. Lovely. (I was on vacation!)

So the nice police officer had been sent to check on us and make sure that all was well. Thank heavens the only black eye I've ever had was skiing related and 10 years ago. I'm also grateful that Rich had shaved and wasn't wearing a wife beater T-shirt. 'We're good officer. No domestic violence. No illicit drugs. No drunken and disorderly. The children are well fed and relatively well supervised.' Needless to say, we had a discussion about what an emergency really is. We apologized for the false alarm and assured him it wouldn't happen again. He was very pleasant and said it was no big deal. After he left, Emily cried and wailed that she was going to have to go to jail. Not so little one. First offenders just get a warning.

Come on in... the water's fine

Every year, like the swallows to Capistrano, we return to Green Valley. We love to relax in the sun and swim in the beautiful pools with palm trees swaying in the breeze. It is something I have always enjoyed. It is mellow. This year was no exception to our migratory pattern. It was a little overcast the first day so instead of swimming in the large outdoor pool, I opted to swim in the heated indoor pool. I found a chaise, dropped the bag, stripped down to the lycra/spandex and jumped into the deep end of the pool. **&!!!___%###><*

This year, not heated. Heater broken. NOT mellow. No sign indicating water temp is more frigid than the bathroom tile in January. I was able to get out of the pool and was treated by my quick thinking daughters who immediately initiated the resuscitation protocol for a hypothermia victim. Perhaps it wasn't quite as bad as I remember. But it took my breath away in a very serious fashion. As it turns out, the outdoor pool was heated and warmer than its been in a long while. It was perfect. We swam and had a great time.

Emily is the diver. She could do salvage work in the Caribbean.

Next year I'll be sticking a toe in the water before I do anything rash.

Parks & Recreation

While we were on vacation we found the most amazing new park.

Em loving the new park.

This was a two person swing that can get some air. We were fairly tame on it, but we saw some other people really make it fly!

Everything spins. This one reminded me of an old record player. Hand cranked. The daddy winds it up and then watch 'em fly.

Hang on Emily!

Sarah is really good at facilitating the thrills.

Did I mention everything spins? I felt like I'd been in a salad spinner. As soon as I was extricated I had to park myself on a bench. Wow. Not a good feeling for me. The girls loved it though.

Yet again, more of the turning.

I would have been sitting with Rich on the swing, but it just moved too much.

Kudos to St. George City Parks & Recreation.

Zion's National Park

We decided it was time to take the girls to Zions while we were in St. George. It's been a number of years since we were there. In fact, the last time we went, Emily was in a backpack.

A long time ago, you used to drive your own cars through the park. Now they have natural gas powered trams. It really is pretty convenient. We only had to wait a few minutes for a bus at the shuttle stops and you don't have to fight for a parking space.

Emily wanted to sit up front.

The girls talked about playing 'Pooh Sticks' but then thought better of it.

(Those unfamiliar with Winnie the Pooh should understand Pooh Sticks is a game in which you drop a small stick from one side of a bridge and then run to the other side to see whose comes down the stream first.)

Mom capturing Sarah capturing the flora and fauna.

The girls in front of the Patriarchs

Weeping Rock

These were fearless squirrels.

Cheeky little monkey

Em tired after enough hiking.

It was a gorgeous day. We'll go again in another year or two when the girls are up for some serious hiking. What a beautiful place.

Bikers

One of our favorite things to do when we're in St. George (We've been back for two weeks... speedy aren't I?) is to go on bike rides. Washington County has lots to offer in the way of nice bike paths.

Our first snack break of the ride. One of many.

Check out those pink cheeks. Hurray for camelbacks. It was gorgeous weather that day. Perfect for riding. Not too hot, but just warm enough.

This is on the ride towards Snow Canyon. The road seems to stretch on forever. "Are we there yet?" was heard several times.

Even though it was a long ride, the scenery was beautiful. Cactuses were in bloom all along the trail.

Sarah took these pictures... nicely done! Daddy was mucho patient for all of our photo op stops along the way.

He even got a shot of his 'womens' in front of pride rock. (Those of you who've seen Lion King eight thousand times like any self respecting parent will recognize the similarity.)

This was another day and a different ride. This is along the Virgin River Parkway heading into Washington. After our semi strenous ride to Snow Canyon the day before, we thought we'd take it easy with a nice flat ride. We had a great ride to the end of the trail with cloud cover and a gentle breeze. It wasn't until we turned around to ride back to the trail head that we realized we would be pedaling all the way into a fairly strong headwind. It was much more difficult than the other ride!

Here I am taking a break, waiting for the fire in my thighs to diminish. The girls were good sports and just kept on truckin'. I'll be checking the windsock at the airport next time we start out for a big ride.

Mom

"Beyond all lessons, beyond the model she provided, my mother gave me a parent's ultimate gift: she made me feel lovable and good. She paid attention; she listened; she remembered what I said. She did not think me perfect, but she accepted me, without qualification."

Fredelle Maynard

This is what my beautiful, wise, wonderful mother has done for me. Thank you Mom. I love you.

While We Were Out

Recently we painted Sarah's room. She had outgrown her room and an update was in order. We painted it a pretty blue, moved her bed in (see previous post) and left it at that. Sarah was happy to have fresh paint on her walls but I knew there was going to be more to it. Unbeknownst to Sarah, her delightfully sneaky Grandma had plans. When we came home from St. George on Tuesday night, Sarah had the surprise of her young life. While she was out, her bedroom had a makeover!

My incredibly smart and talented Mom and very willing assistant (my Dad) hung new window treatments and art, bought new lamps, bedding, storage bins, area rug and a darling bedside table.

Not only did she make everything look pretty, but she completely organized the entire room!! ...clothes, desk, crafts etc. Quite the undertaking. The desk was in my bedroom when I was a girl.

The dresser, mirror and headboard were Sarah's great grandmother's.

This is one happy and appreciative girl.

There are still some unfinished touches. We need to get some more shelves for books and the dust ruffle and pillow shams aren't quite done, but it is so wonderful for Sarah to have a lovely room.

Mom didn't stop at Sarah's room. She hung art in Emily's room which has helped to finish it nicely. Then she rearranged furniture in my living room. Thanks mom for all of your time and energy and talent pulling this together! We are grateful to have you so near and so willing to help make our lives a little more beautiful and orderly.