ST. GEORGE I LOVE YOU FOREVER!

So I guess this is two weeks late, but who cares. I wanted to go somewhere warm so I snagged my 17 year old brother Nate & we made the trip to St George to hang out with my Uncle Mark, Aunt Betsey & their two families. I love having relatives that live in warm places. Yes  I do.

FRIDAY >>>

We went searching & hiking around Snow Canyon. We actually got kind of lost and walked on some riverbed for an hour, where I also fried my shoulders.  It was fun to have some one-on-one time with my baby brother. He's so smart and interested in always learning more. He is pretty much a younger version of my dad. Kraig Jr.!

FRIDAY NIGHT >>>  Turned out to be Fathers & Sons campout, so my Aunt Elaine had a girls night already planned. I like a this very much. We shopped, we ate, we shopped, we ate... My two best purchases were a pair of Joe's Jeans for $3 @ the DI, and a sa-weet ceramic fish from TJ Maxx.

SATURDAY >>> There were only two things on my checklist for my St G. weekend. Go hiking, and lay out. And lay out I did. I am so good at laying out, I would love to be in a competition with you. Or make a friendship with you. I love laying out girfs.

Later I went to dinner with my Uncle & my Aunts. It was a right jolly good time. When we got back, Nate was laying in the most incriminating of poses. He was out!

All of these things, combined with the Eclipse, made for one of the best weekends this year!
I am totally scheming to move to St. George in a permanent way.

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART-SUN

When I was in St. George last weekend, I learned that not only was there a solar eclipse that Sunday, but also Zion's National Park was one of the best places on Earth to see that particular eclipse. One of my uncle's employees has some property just outside of Zion's and threw a huge party!! I love when people throw parties for unusual events. I mean it's probably in my top tier of favorite things. 

The story of the full eclipse 

( I took these by holding the lens of the special glasses over the lens on my camera.)

I'm so glad that we delayed our commute home by staying to watch this! It was so awesome, I felt like I was in a weird sci-fi movie. Especially when the moon was completely covering the Sun, it was casting crazy moonbeam shadows on everything, and it seemed like somebody put a dimmer switch on the sun.

I love the space things because it makes Earth feel real, not just a place where people are running around thinking they own the place.  It also reminded me that I'm small, but also a part of something really big. How's that for a thought? I don't know if it makes sense, so.. yeah.

HERE WE GO

I ordered this swimsuit last night as the first piece for my vacation to the Cayman Islands this summer. So cute, & I got a sweet deal since j.crew is offering an extra 30% off all their sale! 

You need to check it out. Now! 

PS. My mom is crying happy tears because this is a one-piece.

ST. GEORGE: P.S. WE WENT BOWLING

Saturday night, my aunt & uncle went to a stake meeting, my parents were watching Downton Abbey, & there were a bunch of kids wanting something to do. Tyler & I commandeered a mini-van & nine of us squeezed in. It was a lot of fun. A lot of ridiculously loud fun. 

The best part about the whole thing is Tyler was playing the part of "dad". He kept yelling "Quiet down back there! I'll turn this thing around!"

This picture cracks me up, nobody is ready for the picture. Royal (front left) was my favorite bowler of the night. He is a very animated bowler, and the whole outfit really just put the cherry on top. He had fun!

Sweet Maeci

I got the high score of the night, can you believe that! My average score is usually 86, so this is a big deal. We went to McDonalds afterward for more sugar! 

I also decided that when I'm a parent I will drive a limo so I can put that partition up to block out some noise. 

lake powell 2011.

our view from home base.

tyler in his life's work

savannah "driving"

the ONLY photo of t-pain & me. last day. super sweaty. awes.

emily & i tubing before i caught major air, landed on top of her, got sucked under her tube and was dragged around for a bit.. all in the same occurrence.

gabe & tyler

that's my boiiii. with a CIA agent following.

woohheee you are looking good! hairstyle courtesy of the wind.

i want to go back.

the malibu skier ( it needs a proper name)

I cannot believe i never made it down here before my 23rd year of life. this was my second venture and first time on a houseboat. it did not disappoint. hot hot sun, warm water, tons of food (seriously, i could not button up a pair of my pants on monday. seriously. btw i'm going to the gym right now), fireworks and games.

my two favorite things had to be:

1. the group bath(in our swim suits of course) in the lake every night- it's a real party!

2. never wearing anything else BUT a swimsuit. i think i changed out of one for like 2 hours. and then put another one back on. it was too hot.

SO MUCH FUN!

I am screaming that inside of my head right now at the top of my lungs.

aside from 3 new trailer tires (before we left), a new water pump and a minor scratch on the boat(i'm not at liberty to go into detail if you can even believe the nerve), the trip was top notch and a fantastic memory.

thanks to lexi & gabe for inviting us!!

jackson.

jackson is gorgeous. 

we decided to rent bikes for the day to explore the town. i highly recommend this.

jackson museum 

(it's only 2 rooms!)

i had the most delicious boysenberry gelato. YUM.

a sweet park with rock climbing walls.

 i know i am way graceful, yeah?

basically, i got to the top and didn't know how to get down.

a ride up to snow king resort.

lounging at the park.

i am obviously sick of the camera.

1. it was the best weekend.

2. i want to go back when i'm not freezing my A off.

3. i wish i was a mountain man. (don't question it)

yellowstone

sunday we had the whole day to ourselves, & already held a pass to the tetons/yellowstone in our hands (we had to buy one to get into the wedding).

started the day off with some breakfast:

 i don't remember what this was but it was the bomb.

 i drank lots & lots of this while i mapped out our route (we did the bottom loop!)

first stop: a moose!

i love moose.

lewis lake. half of it was still covered in ice.

 you get this picture in sepia to hide (some of) my flaws. no makeup allowed in yellerstone!

 went on an interesting tour around old faithful with ranger brian.

 me by a stinkalicious hot spring

 tyler taking in the glory of ole faithful

the prismatic spring. 

my favorite.

 funny story about this pic. i was trying to pose like i was falling off, tyler snapped a pic and said "that wasn't a good one". and some SAFARI-HAT-WEARING-MAN said "it's probably because of those boots!" 

so i just did a fake laugh and put a hand on my hip. 

i don't know.

ps. sorry my outfit is lame. my personal stylist couldn't make it.

....

paint pots.

this is tyler's favorite pose btw. but who cares. a real smile here!

bison.

or tyler trying to point at bison.

a sweet waterfall. 

standing at the edge of a cliff.

a HUMONGOUS waterfall. it was the first one i've ever seen that size!

bison galore..

mud pots (?) i am forgetting names already.

the stankiest.

we had a blast. 

1. yellowstone is a science fair!

2. we wished we could hike around the tetons. but there was so much snow. 

hooray for small trips.

next... we explore the vast city of jackson.