The Blanch Herd: MLK Weekend in St. George

Gregg's parents invited us to spend a few days with them in St. George in a house they rented from a friend. Heather and Scott's family were planning to join us, but covid (stinkin' omicron!) hit them, and they ended up staying home.

So we had a morning of school and work on Friday, 14th January, then left around lunchtime. I drove while Gregg continued to work from the passenger seat, and we got to the house in St. George in time to cook up the Papa Murphy's pizzas (we picked up in Cedar City) for dinner. We had fun exploring the big, fancy, house, playing lots of the new games they had in the cupboards, watching Phineas and Ferb and various sports on the giant TV, bouncing on the huge love sacks, and just generally getting settled in for the weekend.

Such pretty crepuscular rays on our drive down, I made
Gregg snap a pic since I was driving.

Gregg drove the last stretch from Cedar to St. George, so
I snapped this pic - it's supposed to show the major slow down
on the freeway headed into St. George. It was solid red lights for
10 miles, what with all the northern-Utahns headed south for the long
weekend!

On Saturday morning we took it easy, eating whatever and whenever we wanted, piling on the love sacks in all kinds of new ways, playing more games (our favorite for the weekend was Tenzi - we might need to get a set for ourselves!), eating more snacks and cookies, and getting outside as much as we could. The kids and Gregg and Grandma took a walk to check out the neighborhood, we all hopped on our bikes to ride along the path that was next to the house, we played disc golf at the park down the road, and then came back for more fun at the house. We picked up Cafe Rio for dinner, which was tasty, as usual, though I wasn't so happy with my meal the next day (as you will come to find out shortly, dun dun duuuunn!).

Sam sandwich!

The game cupboard was well stocked.

Let's go ride our bikes!

Three generations.

Photo bombers at the park.

The new Red Cliffs Temple is coming right along!

On Sunday morning, I woke up feeling a little off in my guts. But I ate a light breakfast and we watched church and then had our lunch dinner. I wasn't sure if my stomach was feeling hungry or something else, so I ate a bit of lunch, and when that didn't settle things, I started worrying that I was sick. Should I still go visit Grandma Thornley like I had planned?! I didn't have a fever, and no one else was sick, and I hadn't thrown up or anything, so we decided to go. We had a great visit with grandma, got to see her room at Trudy's house, got to see Trudy's preschool in the garage. It was so good to be there and talk to and see her since it had been two years since I last saw her, before Grandpa died!

We left Grandma's and were headed to meet Paul and Kim at a trail to take a walk in the sunshine. As soon as we started down the road, though, I knew I was in trouble. I started feeling nauseous, clammy, dizzy, like I was going to throw up. Gregg pulled over and that's just what I did, on the side of the road, near Brigham Young's summer home. Ack! As soon as I was done, my stomach felt instantly better, but I started shivering and had a terrible headache, so we skipped the walk and went back to the house and I hopped in bed. And I stayed in bed for hours, trying to sleep, listening to podcasts, reading a bit, freezing and then burning up, and achy all over, a crazy whirlwind of symptoms and unpleasantness. After a while, Cal came up to snuggle with me and read me a chapter of Anne of Green Gables and bring me cheerful get-well notes. That sure helped! Eventually, I felt better enough to wander downstairs and eat a handful of crackers. Those stayed down and I went back to bed. I don't know what the rest of the fam was doing during my sick hours. I think they played games and read books and watched cartoons.

Sunday morning snuggles, though don't let their faces fool you,
they really do enjoy these!

A fun time visiting Grandma T. And I'm so glad I didn't
have my sick episode until after we left her house!

Grandpa always has funny things
to show the kids on his phone.

It is always nice to have someone read you a story when
you're feeling sick.

On Monday, I was feeling much better, and so I ate a regular breakfast and immediately wished I had been a bit more patient. I never threw up again, but things were still not 100% down in the ol' stomach region. But I had energy again and we only had a few more hours down south, so we got outside to enjoy the sunshine while we could. We found a trail that sounded cool, but once we got to it, realized it was going to be much steeper than we anticipated and opted for a second choice back down the road the other way. The trail we ended up at was a short one through the red sand to see dinosaur tracks! The tracks were right there in the middle of the trail, with barely a sign to point them out. But I tell you what, every time I see dino prints in the wild, it is quite thrilling! Just think! Millions of years ago, they were walking right here! We explored more in the area and found Baby Elephant Arch (it really is a tiny arch) and just enjoyed the views and the warmth and the desert.

By then, it was time to head back for lunch and after lunch we packed up and made the journey back home. So while it wasn't a perfect getaway weekend, we did have a lot of fun, especially spending that time with Grandpa and Grandma.