I had such a
wonderful, relaxing, enjoyable trip to Utah! It is hard to have to come back to reality (aka work). I flew home to Utah on Monday, July 19. That evening Mom, Dad, Rich and I went over to Springville and had a nice visit with Grandpa Taylor and Cathy. My favorite thing was when someone called and asked if Cathy was there. Grandpa, who had answered the phone, said, "Are you wanting to talk with her or just find out if she's here?" :-) I'm glad that he still has his funny sense of humor! On Tuesday Mom and I went back over to Springville to check out the now world-famous S.O.S. Drug Store (made famous by a feature in the
Country Living magazine). It was so cute! We also had a delicious lunch at the new Magleby's restaurant in Springville. And I got to see the Barrett girls that afternoon!
On Wednesday Mom and I went to the fun Blue Lemon Cafe in Alpine to have lunch with some very fun people I hadn't seen for a while. The food was delicious and the company was even better! I also received this neat post-birthday present from Aunt Karalie and Mom and Dad. It is a literal TIFFANY BOWL! Perfect for Tiffany Bowles. I have always had a special liking for things from Tiffany & Co., so this was a special present. Thanks Mom, Dad, and Karalie! On Thursday we got ready for our fun family trip to Southern Utah.
The Barretts left for St. George on Thursday, then Mom, Dad, Rich and I took off early Friday morning. After a tasty stop at the Cheese Factory in Beaver, it was off to Grandma's house in St. George! It was so nice to seen Grandma and Dick. Here's a picture of the girls :-) We had a nice visit there and then headed over to Zion National Park.
On our way to Zion, we found a place for Greg to work!
We had a fun dinner with the Barretts at Pioneer Lodge that evening. They have something for everyone on their menu. It was such a beatiful evening there in Springdale. Every time I go there, it brings back memories of all the fun trips we had there throughout my childhood.
After dinner we took a walk over to the Springdale cemetery to visit Aunt Elsa's, Uncle Calvin's, and Baby Calvin's graves. You have to admit that for a place of rest, this one has about as nice of a view as you can get! It was so beautiful and peaceful there at the cemetery, and the girls enjoyed putting flowers on Aunt Elsa's grave.
We had a nice evening at our favirote Zion Park Motel, and then got up bright and early on Saturday morning to head up the canyon. It was a nice, overcast morning which helped with the heat. We drove into the park, parked at the Visitor Center, and caught the shuttle up to the Narrows riverside trail. Here is the cute Barrett family along the way.
At the end of the trail, we decided to venture into the crystal clear river! Here are Lindy and Cam enjoying the cold, refreshing stroll.
And Dad (Grandpa to the girls) and Riley enjoyed it too!
Even Mom (Grandma) and Sid thought the river was fun!
We had fun looking for tadpoles, skipping rocks, and getting our picture taken together at the river. We were just missing Sarah, Joel, Eliza and Baby Leo! We met some very aggressive squirrels when we stopped for a little snack. It was such a fun hike!
Mom and I are still pro's at self-portraiture. When we returned from our hike, we had a delicious lunch at Mom's and my favorite Springdale restaurant: Oscar's! It was delicious as always. Our post-lunch plans included naps and then swimming.
We got the nap part in, but our swimming plans were changed by . . . this--a storm (actually more like a monsoon). It started thundering, then the lightning came, and then the RAIN. It POURED!!! They even issued a flash flood warning for the area. The motel parking lot bacame a river, and we could only imagine what this unusual storm had turned the Narrows into. We were grateful that we had gone up the canyon in the morning instead of the afternoon. It was a fun and exciting storm to watch.
Thankfully the storm ended just in time for the July 24 Pioneer Day picnic over in Rockville. After attending the picnic last summer, we decided that it should become a Taylor family tradition. I love being in Utah for Pioneer Day because they don't celebrate Pioneer Day in Illinois! Pioneer Day commemorates the arrival of Brigham Young and the first company of LDS Pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. And Rockville is an appropriate place for us to celebrate such a holiday because we have ancestors who lived there. As you can see, Sid loved the baked beans.
The perfect picnic ends with the perfect blue snow cone! It turned my mouth quite blue. In fact, my mouth was still blue the next morning--even after brushing my teeth numerous times. We also enjoyed the candy canon. The girls made a candy haul!
Since the weather had cleared, we were able to enjoy the pool after the picnic. The water was perfect!
Riley and Cam especially enjoyed catching some air in the pool. It was a perfect pioneer day!
On Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast, and went to church in Hurricane. Then it was time to head back to Orem. We did, however, have time to stop at Cove Fort for a fun picnic together. Sid was stylin' in her cool shades. We even enjoyed a fun pioneer-ish tour of the fort. Then we continued on home. What a fun trip we had! On Monday morning I hung out with Mom and Rich, then Dad came home from work early to take me up to the airport in Salt Lake with Mom. It was sad to leave Utah, but I'm grateful for the wonderful time I could spend with my family. The best part of the trip was just watching movies with Mom and seeing everyone there at home. It was such a great week! I arrived back in Springfield late Monday evening, and it was really hard to get up for work on Tuesday morning. But it's good to be here with Greg and the animal children. They have all been extra cuddly! (And it's been fun to be back with my friends at work!)
Today I pulled up the National Park Service homepage (nps.gov), and wham! There was my "Polygamy vs. Popular Sovereignty" program listed as one of the nation-wide park events for the day. It was quite a pleasant surprise. I expect that I'll have a pretty good crowd there today--not necessarily because of the program itself but because we have about a three-hour wait for tours right now, and people are looking for things to keep them busy. It has been a crazy busy day here!
On Wednesday Mom and I went to the fun Blue Lemon Cafe in Alpine to have lunch with some very fun people I hadn't seen for a while. The food was delicious and the company was even better! I also received this neat post-birthday present from Aunt Karalie and Mom and Dad. It is a literal TIFFANY BOWL! Perfect for Tiffany Bowles. I have always had a special liking for things from Tiffany & Co., so this was a special present. Thanks Mom, Dad, and Karalie! On Thursday we got ready for our fun family trip to Southern Utah.
The Barretts left for St. George on Thursday, then Mom, Dad, Rich and I took off early Friday morning. After a tasty stop at the Cheese Factory in Beaver, it was off to Grandma's house in St. George! It was so nice to seen Grandma and Dick. Here's a picture of the girls :-) We had a nice visit there and then headed over to Zion National Park.
On our way to Zion, we found a place for Greg to work!
We had a fun dinner with the Barretts at Pioneer Lodge that evening. They have something for everyone on their menu. It was such a beatiful evening there in Springdale. Every time I go there, it brings back memories of all the fun trips we had there throughout my childhood.
After dinner we took a walk over to the Springdale cemetery to visit Aunt Elsa's, Uncle Calvin's, and Baby Calvin's graves. You have to admit that for a place of rest, this one has about as nice of a view as you can get! It was so beautiful and peaceful there at the cemetery, and the girls enjoyed putting flowers on Aunt Elsa's grave.
We had a nice evening at our favirote Zion Park Motel, and then got up bright and early on Saturday morning to head up the canyon. It was a nice, overcast morning which helped with the heat. We drove into the park, parked at the Visitor Center, and caught the shuttle up to the Narrows riverside trail. Here is the cute Barrett family along the way.
At the end of the trail, we decided to venture into the crystal clear river! Here are Lindy and Cam enjoying the cold, refreshing stroll.
And Dad (Grandpa to the girls) and Riley enjoyed it too!
Even Mom (Grandma) and Sid thought the river was fun!
We had fun looking for tadpoles, skipping rocks, and getting our picture taken together at the river. We were just missing Sarah, Joel, Eliza and Baby Leo! We met some very aggressive squirrels when we stopped for a little snack. It was such a fun hike!
Mom and I are still pro's at self-portraiture. When we returned from our hike, we had a delicious lunch at Mom's and my favorite Springdale restaurant: Oscar's! It was delicious as always. Our post-lunch plans included naps and then swimming.
We got the nap part in, but our swimming plans were changed by . . . this--a storm (actually more like a monsoon). It started thundering, then the lightning came, and then the RAIN. It POURED!!! They even issued a flash flood warning for the area. The motel parking lot bacame a river, and we could only imagine what this unusual storm had turned the Narrows into. We were grateful that we had gone up the canyon in the morning instead of the afternoon. It was a fun and exciting storm to watch.
Thankfully the storm ended just in time for the July 24 Pioneer Day picnic over in Rockville. After attending the picnic last summer, we decided that it should become a Taylor family tradition. I love being in Utah for Pioneer Day because they don't celebrate Pioneer Day in Illinois! Pioneer Day commemorates the arrival of Brigham Young and the first company of LDS Pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. And Rockville is an appropriate place for us to celebrate such a holiday because we have ancestors who lived there. As you can see, Sid loved the baked beans.
The perfect picnic ends with the perfect blue snow cone! It turned my mouth quite blue. In fact, my mouth was still blue the next morning--even after brushing my teeth numerous times. We also enjoyed the candy canon. The girls made a candy haul! 
Since the weather had cleared, we were able to enjoy the pool after the picnic. The water was perfect!
Riley and Cam especially enjoyed catching some air in the pool. It was a perfect pioneer day! 
On Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast, and went to church in Hurricane. Then it was time to head back to Orem. We did, however, have time to stop at Cove Fort for a fun picnic together. Sid was stylin' in her cool shades. We even enjoyed a fun pioneer-ish tour of the fort. Then we continued on home. What a fun trip we had! On Monday morning I hung out with Mom and Rich, then Dad came home from work early to take me up to the airport in Salt Lake with Mom. It was sad to leave Utah, but I'm grateful for the wonderful time I could spend with my family. The best part of the trip was just watching movies with Mom and seeing everyone there at home. It was such a great week! I arrived back in Springfield late Monday evening, and it was really hard to get up for work on Tuesday morning. But it's good to be here with Greg and the animal children. They have all been extra cuddly! (And it's been fun to be back with my friends at work!) 
Last night the Lincoln Home took over Robin Roberts Stadium for the Springfield Sliders game! Here you see the crew (from left to right): Susan (the curator), Barbara (our COOL new boss), and Bill (from the bookstore). Then we have Melissa and me. But wait, where are Greg and Ranger Matt?
They got recruited by the "voice of the Sliders" to come participate in the "between inning entertainment." I was hoping that they would have to dress in the giant sumo suits and hit each other, but the competition last night was a boomerang toss. The object was to get the boomerang as close to the makeshift baseball plate as you could. As you can see, Greg's yellow boomerang was the closest, so he won! His prize was, according to the voice of the Sliders: "The Sliders Holy Grail!" It is actually just a plastic cup with the Sliders logo on it, but it's pretty awesome. I think they were both a little nervous performing in front of tens and tens of people, but they both did a great job. Greg and Matt are totally famous now!
Then Melissa and I found "Speedy" the Sliders mascot. He's kind of creepy, but he's also kind of cute in his turtle outfit. I was also able to get the autograph of Curt Ford, the Sliders manager. He used to play for the St. Louis Cardinals! Their former manager was Jack Clark, another former Cardinal, but now Jack Clark is the VP of operations for the team. Unfortunately a player on the Nashville Outlaws hit a grand slam home run, so the Sliders ended up losing 6-3, but we celebrated anyway with a trip to Dairy Queen. It was a fun evening!
On Saturday, Greg and I decided to spruce-up the landing at the top of the stairs. So we went to the store looking for a decorative table, and, inspired by the upcoming Independence Day holiday, ended up with a really cool drawer cabinet and some decorative copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. And a lamp. We were quite pleased with how it turned out! This is an especially important time of year to remember and reflect upon the principles contained in those two very important founding documents. It's nice to have them displayed where we can see them every day. 
When we woke up on Sunday morning, I noticed that another decoration had been added to the scene! Lily looks quite comfy there. We enjoyed celebrating the 4th of July by going to church, and then on Monday, Greg had the day off so he took me golfing. It was quite the experience. I tried out my new birthday golf clubs, and though several geese and fellow golfers nearly lost their lives thanks to my wild shots, I think I can get better with practice. The person who wins is the one with the highest score, right? :-)
