franz's first vacation: our trip to st. george.

We took a few days over the weekend after our anniversary and drove down to St. George for a little vacation with my family. The first full day we were down there, we all drove up to Sand Hollow reservoir and spent the afternoon playing on the beach. Have you ever seen a beach with red sand? It was so pretty up against the blue water! We watched my niece and nephews play in the water and let Franz dip his feet in! He was amazed, I think. 

The next day, we woke up early and headed to the Farmers' Market. Note to self: the Farmers' Market at Ancestor Square is not stroller friendly. We say in the grass and watched some old guy sing and play his guitar while we ate some bread we got from one of the booths.

After that, we walked a few blocks over to 25 Main for some real breakfast and shared a smoothie while Franz took a nap, and then crossed the street to a toy store and bought Franz the only shiny thing we could find (he's really into things that shine--watches, my wedding ring, necklaces), a Mickey Mouse toy with glittery gloves, shorts, and shoes.

For lunch, we met my family back over at 25 Main and I had a cupcake for dessert. I would make a trip down to St. George for their cupcakes alone. My favorite! I took some funny pictures of Franz and Zac, and found out that Franz is apparently a wizard.

That night, we threw a surprise birthday party for my dad. The theme? Pink and girly. Props to Emily for thinking that one up. :) We played Minute to Win It games, ate KFC, and had birthday cupcakes! 

We stayed a couple more days, and somewhere in there, we took Franz swimming for the very first time (he LOVED it), went on a long drive all over St. George and surrounding areas while Franz napped in his car seat, hung out on the bed a few times as a family making Franz crack up, got frozen yogurt, and found a really good pizza place for lunch called Riggatti's. 

We were sad to leave and go back to normal life where Zac's gone most of the time and there are no 25 Main cupcakes. It was such a fun trip! And we survived it with a baby who's not a very good sleeper! I'm already looking forward to our next vacation, whenever that will be.

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the road trip: day three.

On the third day of our road trip to St. George a couple of weeks ago, we bummed around in our motel room, taking our sweet time to get ready, until we had to check out. For lunch, we made our second stop to 25 Main, and grabbed a greek salad, and more of that wonderful penne primavera, and of course, some cupcakes. I was actually reeeeally tempted to buy a dozen of those little pieces of heaven, but I stopped myself.

After lunch, we walked around the city for just a little while, and upon doing so, we found a car with two Papillons in it, with quite a few bumper stickers professing their undying love for their dogs.

We also stopped at the DI, where I found way too many cute baby clothes, and some loafers for myself. And just to clear the air, no, I am not pregnant. I just think baby clothes are the cutest things known to mankind. Well, next to babies, of course.

We had plans to see a ghost town a few miles north of St. George, but for some reason, going straight home sounded more fun to us. So we headed home early, stopping along the way to buy Cache Valley Cheese Curdles (Zac's favorite) and some snacks.

It was kind of the most fun road trip I've ever been on (well, if you don't count our honeymoon last summer).

I like road trips.

See days one and two here and here.

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the road trip: day two.

On the second day of this little road trip, we slept in until about 10:00 in the morning, and it was lovely. We ate Cheerios for breakfast (our favorite), and got ready in our own time.

When we finally made it out the door, we headed straight for the Red Cliffs that overlook the valley. We walked around, stopped to take pictures, and walked some more. We scouted out our spot for watching the solar eclipse that would take place that night. Zac even convinced me to climb up an incredibly steep rock (that had a drop down of about 20 feet right next to you) to find the perfect spot. And even though heights scare the bejeebers out of me, I did it! We stood there on the red rock, looking over the entire valley--the temple, trees, houses, buildings, streets, and cars--and it was worth the scary hike up!

When we climbed down, we drove on over to Cafe Rio for some lunch. We found out that the Cafe Rio in St. George is our least favorite, because they don't give you as much rice, beans, and meat than the ones in Utah Valley do. Also, they didn't have knives. But whatever. We managed.

Since it was Sunday, we headed to the temple, just a few blocks away. We were in everyday clothes, which made me feel a little weird, but the temple grounds were just beautiful. Ever since my Grandpa Earl died, I've felt so much peace everytime I go to the temple grounds. My Grandpa used to serve at the Jordan River temple, and he would talk to the gardeners there, ask them their gardening secrets, and even score a few seeds if he was lucky. My Grandpa loved the temple, and so do I.

In the evening, we quickly drove up to the Red Cliffs again and found our spot on the rock overlooking the valley. It was time for the solar eclipse! There were quite a few people on the rock with us, and a group of men offered us some solar eclipse glasses (because we didn't bring any, whoops), and told us to come hang out with them. Their names were Cory, Andrew, Tom, and Shane, and they told us about all their trips to different countries to see the solar eclipses. These guys were solar eclipse chasers, and that's what I want to be! It was so much fun talking to them and hearing all their stories.

It took about an hour or so for the solar eclipse to turn into a complete ring of fire, and in the meantime, we stood watching it slowly make its way through our 3D-looking glasses. When the moon was perfectly center with the sun, the entire crowd on the rock cheered and cheered! It was a celebration! We had seen a solar eclipse. (And no, we didn't get any pictures, mostly because you couldn't see the eclipse with the naked eye... or the naked lens. Sorry!)

We spent the rest of the night in our motel, and at McDonalds, for a quick dinner (smoothie for me, burger and fries for Zac). We decided we'd take it easy since it was Sunday. And yes, we watched a couple more episodes of Lie to Me. How did you know?

See day one of our road trip here.

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the road trip: day one.

We're home! And boy, did we have so much fun on this little road trip of ours. I've never had such fun being stuck in the car for four hours at a time. What with all the snacks, music, and company (I kind of like being with my husband, a lot), it sure made for an enjoyable time.

We started our road trip right when we got off work last Friday evening. With the couple of pit stops and dinner, we made it into St. George a little after 10:00 pm. The little motel we stayed in was just darling and cozy, just what I wanted.

The next morning, we got up early and walked the few blocks to the Farmer's Market at Ancestor Square. It was gorgeous and lively, with lots of great things to see, taste, hear, and buy! We left there with a loaf of sun-dried tomato and cheese bread, and a jar of homemade salsa.

For lunch, we stopped by 25 Main, a local cafe and cupcake shop, and my oh my! I would eat there everyday for the rest of my life if I could! I would easily say it's the best place in town. I recommend the Penne Primavera and the Chocolate Raspberry cupcake! What a treat!

We also spent time walking through the city for an hour or two, where we came upon old Brother Brigham taking a rest on a bench, so we stopped to say hi. We also explored a little antique shop, where I bought a pretty, gold necklace to wear that day.

Dinner was quite fantastic, as well. We ate at Pier 49, where we ordered a whole pizza to share (and we almost ate all of it, until we stopped at 3 pieces each, because it was just too much). On our way out the door, we saw Appa, in car form! We spent the rest of the night at the motel, watching our current favorite show, Lie to Me. It was a long day spent mostly on our feet and taking too many pictures, but it was good to us.

See day two and three of our road trip here and here.

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