Traveling to St. George with the 2 littles went surprisingly well. The kids were troopers, and Grayson even napped on my stomach/lap for an hour. I'll take it! We stayed at the Worldmark where we stayed a few years ago, and it worked out great to have our own place. The kids shared a room and we had a room; Grayson didn't even mind sleeping in the closet!
Friday night we all gathered at Chris and Christina's for pizza, so we got to see all of them as well as Tod and Chandler and Amy and 2 of her kids, Reagan and Darren. It's nearly impossible to get all the Palmers together at one time, but we had at least one representative from each Palmer kid's family there that weekend.
Saturday we went to Tanner's baptism and then went to see Grandma Brown's gravesite. Since we didn't make it to the funeral, this was our first time, so it was very special. Hazel is always asking about her grandmas in heaven, so I just tell her we'll get to see them again one day.
Angels
Sweet Grandpa Brown hung back with Grayson when everyone else went back to their cars. He was willing to stop and watch a little squirrel on the path with my little man even though he had to have been super hot in his black suit.
For lunch we all went to Outback and then sang to James because it was his real birthday! Yay for the big 3-0! Then for his bday activity, his brother Chris took out all the guys to go shooting and the girls hung out at Christina's. Now James seems to think we need an Assault Rifle. Great. I can hardly get used to having a shotgun in the house!
During the week we just played with cousins and ate out at our favorite spots like Cafe Rio, The Pizza Factory, Nielsen's, Kneaders, Swig, and we tried Bear Paw for breakfast. They were all super yummy!
Sunday we hiked around a little after church, and most of the cousins went through the Narrows, including James. I was a little worried he wouldn't make it, but he made sure he went after some of his nephews to see if they could fit through first. Nice uncle!!
Here's James squeezing through...
Baby looves dirt.
While James went with Dave and his dad to have lunch in Mesquite with Tod, I brought the kids to visit "Uncle" Dan. He's in his 90s and was one of my Grandpa Paxton's best friends growing up, so my parents and Matt and Natalie, even, know him well and had great things to say about him. It was great to catch him up on the family and to show him a few pictures on my phone. He used to be a great pianist and could play by ear, so I wish I could've heard that! He's been single his whole life, so he has his house to himself and it was kind of sad for me to imagine him being all alone as he grows older. He's such a sweet man.
Since the boys had their shooting night, we thought we should have a girls night too! So we got tickets to see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn, and it was incredible! The little girls and mamas all loved it! Hazel even took a nap (gasp!) that day so we could stay up to midnight, and she hardly even looked away from the stage during the musical. It was her favorite princess after all!
Hazel, Kaitlyn, and Cohlee - the 3 little Palmer girls
The sisters-in-law - Melissa, me, and Christina
Some other highlights were going Jud's - the first store in St. George where they sell delicious breadsticks, retro sodas and candy; riding the old carousel; swimming at the condo; going to a jump place with cousins; and playing in the new children's museum, which was awesome!
This used to be my favorite spot in the children's museum too!
Christina always tried to get loves from Grayson, but he finally opened up the last day (of course) and couldn't get enough of her. Sweet little flirt.
We'll see if we continue to make it to St. George every few years, but we love it every time we go! I think the next Palmer reunion will be at Disneyland next fall.
