I ran away for a weekend

To St. George. With my mom, Josh and Alicia, Sarah, and Nathan.   

Kent stayed home with the kids all weekend. (And rocked it.  They had a fantastic weekend with Daddy.)

The true purpose for our trip was to see my brother Jonah perform in his marching band competitions.  

I took Nicholas to one of Jonahs' band practices at the beginning of the season.

It was a disaster. 

Nicholas screamed in the car the entire time. The show was "too loud!" apparently.  

So there was no way I was going to drive my kiddos all the way to St. George just so they could sit in the hotel room with Kent all day.

So I went alone.

And it was fantastic.

We drove down on Friday night, watched the first of the band competitions with my Grandma and Grandpa who live down there.  It was great to see them; we wished we could have spent more time with them.

The next morning we had a few hours before we needed to be at the stadium for the competition, so we went to Pioneer Park to explore the red rocks.  


To be there without having to keep track of my littles?  I felt like a kid again myself.  I got to climb, run, jump off of ledges (small ones), wedge myself into tiny holes, and just play.

Someday I'd love to take my family there, 
but probably not until my kids are old enough to climb and explore without me carrying them the whole way.
It's going to be a while.


This weekend was refreshing.
I got to just be me, without responsibility.
(In fact, I think I might have relaxed a bit too much....I was constantly losing my sunglasses, waterbottle, phone, etc.)
I adore my job as mother, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  
But sometimes, I find myself feeling like I'm not much fun anymore.  I haven't figured out how to relax and just play like I really want to when I'm helping my kids do almost every single thing.  I love helping, I love the fun I do have being with my darlings all day every day,
but it's a different kind of fun.  
And sometimes, it's just nice to have some "me fun" for a while.


When my siblings all get together, we get a little silly.

Maybe more than a little.

That's what I was looking forward to the most, though.  The laughing.  

I found remnants of a dead bird next to my head as I squeezed myself into this rock.

Getting up into that little hole was easy.
It was the getting down that proved more difficult.  And do you see Josh's little head there on the right? We're grateful he didn't fall and break something trying to perch there.

I love my family.

Nathan found these glasses just sitting on a rock.

I'm in love with how this picture turned out.  

Mom, Alicia, me, and Sarah. 

That's my brother Jonah, right there in front and center with the big jungle drum.  He rocks. Seriously. He is an incredible percussionist and he's only just getting started in high school.  I'm so proud of him. 

Just looking at this picture reminds me of the chills we got watching them perform. 

Jonah's band (Sky View High School) did awesome.  It was a regional band competition, so the best bands from Texas all the way to California were there, and Sky View placed 5th overall, which was incredible.
Watching him perform was so much fun. 

And I was definitely glad we'd decided not to bring the kids. We sat on the cement bleachers from 11:30 am to 11:30 pm on Saturday with just a quick break for dinner and a tiny bit of swimming.  It was quite warm during the afternoon and quite chilly at night.  
There's no way my kids could have handled it.
Even us adults got a bit weary,
luckily we had Josh and his jacket pockets to sneak in a bunch of snacks.

Favorites from the trip:

• Dark chocolate coconut covered almonds from Costco (these things are devilishly good, people.)
• Chocolate covered cinnamon bears 
• Discovering that eating the almonds and the cinnamon bears together tastes like Christmas
• Mentioning how I wanted to find The Swig (a soda/smoothie/cookie place) and then turning my head to see we were actually driving right past it.  
• Josh's "magical" parking 
• Having our "slantwiches" on slightly squashed (slanted) bread
• The Beaver Nursery (you had to be there...)
• Listening to the announcement of the awards Saturday night and being so thrilled when Sky View took 5th
• Swimming.  In November.  St. George is a delightful place in the winter.
• And on a more serious note, watching my brother Josh give a girl a priesthood blessing in the foyer at the church ward we visited. She was having a grand mal seizure and I was so proud of my brother for being willing and worthy at that moment to help.

When we arrived home on Sunday afternoon, the kids came running. Nicholas jumped into my arms with a great big "Mommy!"

but Ellie ran right past me, didn't even look my way. 

Shouted "NANI!" (Nathan) and gave him a giant hug. 

Well, now we know who her favorite is.

This trip was just what I needed.  A break from the everyday, time being silly with my family, and a reminder of how much fun I had when I did marching band in high school. 

Life is grand.

So, same time next year, everyone?