Treks into the hills, racoons, and amazing lightening storms!

We've had quite the adventure since we've been here. We always trying to find something new to do, or see, and this weekend was no exception. ;)

There is a place nearby called Toquerville Falls. It is a section of the desert near Zion National Park that has naturally-occuring waterfalls. I really wanted to see them. I had read that it was off of a main road, up a dirt road a few miles. It was described as "rough", but didn't have a whole lot of detail. ( I should have looked into it further! )

We tried going off to find this on Friday, and miraculously ended up getting about 2 1/2 miles up this incredibly rocky and rough terrain in our minivan before Jeramy made the judgement call that the van couldn't go any further. I was really bummed, but was amazed we had made it *that* far in the van! LOL I am going to have to borrow or rent a 4x4 one of these days to be able to get up there. The pictures of this place are gorgeous. But boy was my adrenaline pumping, trying to get the van back down to the main road without popping a tire, or ripping a hole in the undercarriage on one of the big rocks. :-/ Oy!

We have also been going swimming at night a lot. We've had fun being able to swim after the sun is down, cutting the risk of sunburn. Our pool is open until 11, and we've been going at about 8. On our way back the other night, we saw a family of racoons scurrying across the road. The kids were excited, and I have to admit that I was too. I like racoons. :)

Last night we watched one of *THE* most amazing lightening storms I have ever seen. No rain, no thunder, just lightening. And the cool part was that the clouds were so big that the lightening seemed to be INSIDE of the clouds, lighting them all up. We watched for a good half hour before coming in.

The down side to this is, I seemed to have brushed up against something while outside ( in the dark ), because I began breaking out in hives all over my body. I was absolutely miserable last night, and had to hunt through boxes for an antihistamine. Goodness was I glad when I woke up and found them gone this morning!

I don't really have any pictures this time, just notes of our many adventures. :) I have a prenatal tonight with a new client ( YAY! ), and then we will probably go swimming. Good times!

Adventures and New Discoveries

Today I had promised the kids that we could grab some lunch and ice cream. We went into downtown Hurricane, rather than St. George this time. It's a seriously cute little area, complete with a Main Street ( and it LOOKS like what you would picture a Main Street to be! ), antique shop, and white picket fences. I decided that we would do some exploring. I was armed with my camera, so off we went!

Lately I have been fascinated by learning about the FLDS ( Fundamental Latter Day Saints ) and Polygamists that we so often see walking around in local stores ( particularly Walmart ), and have been reading a lot about the cities of Hildale and Colorado City. These are the more heavily populated areas for Polygamists. Jeramy thinks it's odd that I have a fascination with this - but what can I say? I do. One doesn't often get to so plainly see people who are involved in a cult, walking around in the local store. :shrug:

So anyway, back to our adventure. I saw a sign that said "Colorado City - 22 Miles", and knew where we were going. The town itself is nestled up against some of the most beautiful cliffs I have ever seen. ( see pics below ) And yes, we saw plenty of people out and about in the full outfits they wear ( The picture below was not taken by me, just an example to show you ), and we saw a girl younger than Kaitlyn in the full garb, running a young horse. What stumps me is how they don't die of heat stroke in these outfits. The collars go all the way up to the neck, full length sleeves, and the skirt is down to the feet. I think I'd be passing out daily. Maybe there's some secret to them. Maybe I'll work up the nerve to ask one of the women I pass by in Walmart one day. I wonder if they'd get offended if I asked something so silly as that?

We stopped in many spots along the way so that I could take pictures. Each time I pulled over, the kids groaned. LOL

Jeramy called right after we got home this afternoon, and asked what we were doing.

Christy: "We just got back from Arizona."
Jeramy: "Excuse me? What?!"
Christy: "Well, I saw a sign that said 'Colorado City - 22 Miles', and well ... "
Jeramy: "You're special."

Heehee. Jeramy gives me such a hard time about my fascination. ;)

Here are some of the pictures from today. I am also adding some of the living room, as I got my lettering put up, and a wall decoration as well. OH! And a short video of the kids doing something they just discovered. LOL

110 Degrees today, but beautiful

Today is a very hot day. We made the mistake of going out during the hottest part no less. It was 110 degrees at 3:15 while we were out running errands. Not a smart move, but I learned my lesson. ;)

Poor Noah isn't feeling good today, and I'm wondering if he's getting sick ( he HAS been coughing the past 2 days ), or the heat, or a combination of the two. Poor guy kept saying "Can we just go home?" while we were out today.

Anyway, I have been promising to post pictures of what it looks like where we live. I finally took some today, though the picture that looks out over Hurricane isn't great because it's a bit overcast and muggy.

Here they are. The first two are from our *backyard*! :

Trying to catch up - and KEEP up!

I moved our family blog over here to Blogspot, in hopes of keeping up with it more often since my Midwifery blog is here too. :) We'll see if it works.

We moved into our new home just over 2 weeks ago, and I think we have been busier since we got here, than we ever have been before! We've been on playdates with friends, discovered Jumpin' Jacks, have been swimming, and have been to play at the park. We are thankful to have a pool where we live now. It is a community pool, but is rarely busy. We took the kids swimming at about 10pm on 4th of July, because the pool is at the edge of a gorge, where you can see out over a good chunk of Hurricane. We were able to watch the fireworks and play in the water at the same time. :)

One of our fascinations is to watch the bats come out at sundown. Personally, the freak the hell out of me. I've had Jeramy go out to the van to get groceries out if I'm home at about the time the bats come out. They swoop, dive, and they're ALL OVER the place. :shudder: Jeramy keeps telling me that they won't attack me, but I'm just not convinced. Ever seen the old movie The Birds? Yeah, I'll be starring in the new feature entitled The Bats. You think I'm kidding, don't you?

It is definitely hot here, and it hasn't even reached its peak from what I'm told. It is supposed to be 109 this weekend. At least we have air conditioning in this house! It's a lifesaver. I'm just afraid to see the electric bill. LOL Thankfully too, we have ceiling fans in every room of the house, and it REALLY helps to keep the cool air circulating. Night time is a beautiful thing here. You can actually SEE the stars, imagine that! We have been able to pick out the Big Dipper, Orion, and several smaller constellations.

I am dying to go out for a few hours, armed with my camera, because it's absolutely beautiful here. I will soon, I promise. The red hills are breathtaking, and the view from up the road from us looks like the backdrop in any of the western movies.

For now, I will post some pictures from a trip to the park with Becky's kids. :)