Stronger, Better, Faster, Happier page 26

[namelesswonder]

The muddy photos are awesome. You look lean and strong!

Also, Princess Bride.

[Kakes]

Now that I've summed up Dirty Dash like 3 times... (I went back to look... my brain is whacked!)
ZIONS!!
We dropped the kids off with WLB's sister (we'd taken her kids overnight the weekend prior) and met at my parents house. After waiting for late siblings and rearranging luggage and such, we packed into two cars and headed south. We were in the car with my parents. No music, just conversation... for 4+ hours. It actually wasn't bad. I got all caught up on my mom's fam that I haven't seen in 11 years. My parents are hilarious- in a they-have-no-clue-they-are-hilarious-in-a-serious-slash-cheesy way. It was a good ride. My oldest brother Steve and his wife Nan and my younger brother Mark and his wife Tiff were in the other car. Matto and CoJo came down later.
Anyway, we had plenty of primal snacks in our car and the ride was quick with no kids to entertain or make pit stops for. I made sure to throw in a few "are we there yet?"s for good measure. We met up with my uncles in St. George at home that, as it turns out, belongs to a part owner of NuSkin. He's a patient of my uncles and I'm glad to say that every once in a while we get to benefit by association from... their... association. This house was on the cover of InStyle magazine. That's how cool/crazy/incredible it is. We swam with my teenaged cousins in the incredible little pool that looks out over the waterway, and hot tubbed under a bright moon watching the owls and bats fly overhead. Since we had a bunch of us staying there, and we ranked low in the family hierarchy, we slept on our air mattress in the living room.... right next to the curved glass wall that overlooked the pool, flagstone patio, waterway and amazing red rock landscape.

It was amazing to wake up to that. We ventured out first thing and had morning yoga on the flagstone, while my older brother practiced his own "yoga" and caught tiny fish with his fly rod as the sun came up. It was kind of majestic. Epic in that crazy-peaceful kind of way.


We had a scant breakfast of fruit and beef jerky, got our gear on and headed out to Zion. The aunts and uncles had gotten lottery permits to hike Subway Canyon on Sunday (and we hadn't despite our efforts), so they went biking while we took on the Narrows. Parking was a pain- turns out it was one of the free National Parks days, so it was busy (but we got in free! yay!). Then 40 minutes of shuttle ride later, we hit the trail. There's about a mile of paved river walk to start out with and then you go in. The Virgin River is the trail from that point on! The scenery was breathtaking, the water was cold, but not quite breathtaking (unless you got chest deep), and the company was completely entertaining. Let's just say I have favorite siblings, and they were along for the party. We goofed off as much as we hiked and waded, and we took tons of pictures. At one point Tiffy and I climbed up what we'd decided was a mermaid rock in the middle of the river to pose for pics... from there we had no choice but to jump right in!

This is the part where I barrage you with pictures in how ever many entries it takes.... (there's more story too, just after the pictures...)

[Kakes]

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[Kakes]

We hit the fork in the river and went right, up until just before the area we'd have needed permits for. It had taken 2 and a half hours because we'd played so much. So my dad in all his stern efficiency declared that we couldn't take very many pictures on the way back... and we should go fast. WLB and I just giggled and took off running. Man that was fun. We ran and splashed and stopped to take pics and goof off while we waited for the group, and then took off running and did it again. My ever-astonishingly-cheerful mother thought we were hilarious. We took a break when we hit the end of the river walk to empty our shoes, (I left mine off) and then the runners of our group (WLB, me, Steve, Nan, Matto and CoJo), just laid it all out that last mile. Dodging tourists and jumping fat lazy squirrels, it was pretty rad. We shuttled out of there on a major high. Too bad we then tried to meet up with the uncles, who had already eaten without us, then went to a southwestern grill that was understaffed, overpriced and overrated. That put a damper on things. We'd had an amazing meal of sushi and Thai the night before, but this one was a major flop. We made it back to town only to find my dad had left his credit card at le floppy restaurant, so my parents dropped us off at yet another borrowed vacation home (not nearly so posh, but nothing to sniff at either), and went back for his card while we wound down, showered and played games with my siblings until we were all exhausted. We had a light primal breakfast and the religious of us found a church service to attend before loading up and heading home. After the trip down and riding to and from Zion with the parents, we were so ready to switch and pile in with Steve and Nan! Our trip home was full of stimulating conversation and good snacks. That was one vacation I was not ready to leave. I think I lost a piece of my soul to that place. Our kids didn't even want to see us when we got home, so that just made leaving Zion even harder! It's been a tough week getting back to reality, but I feel like I'm coming back into my own. We had a beautiful fall run the other day that really helped me clear my head.
I've come to a point of growth and life change that's been coming for a while. I think I'm finally going to go through Yoga Training and become an instructor. It feels really right and I'm so excited!

[justyouraveragecavemen]

I am thoroughly jealous.

[Kelmar]

Love the pictures, annnndddd Ima have to say "The Princess Bride"

[aloerob]

That's an amazing vacation!!! Kudos for getting the most out of it.

[WarlordBlade]

I wanna go back!!!!!!! Like today.

[honeybuns]

Okay, I see at least two pics of you and WLB that I would frame and hang on the wall.

[WarlordBlade]

Okay, I see at least two pics of you and WLB that I would frame and hang on the wall.

You know... that's actually a REALLY good idea!