Melissa, Andy and the kids' Blog

Melissa and I planned our trip to the UK this year almost 9 months in advance. That meant a long time waiting!  One day in March I was at work and I couldn't wait for a vacation any longer.  So I registered for the Utah Pharmacy Association conference in St. George.    Melissa, Zoe and I headed out on a Wednesday evening.  In Page, AZ we stopped for dinner and a leg stretch.  Zoe and I went to the park while Melissa ordered food at a super tasty BBQ place. Melissa told the waitress that I would be joining her after walking the dog.  So the waitress brought us a beef shoulder bone for Zoe to eat while we drove. She loved it!  Melissa was kind of disgusted by the bone fragments left on the seat cover. Thursday morning, before my conference at 2 PM, we went to Zion National Park.  There is only one trail which allows dogs.  So we walked that one, Pairus Trail. We had fun. We found a little water ...

  Adam and Jeanette came for Saturday-Monday.  She had a project for her RN BSc program about rural health systems, so she came to visit UNHS. We spent Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon hiking. We just hiked around Blanding, south near the Five Kivas. This is prayer arch, it is detached from the wall behind it.  So we decided to hike up the hole. We visited the Kivas. Adam and Jeanette came to Monument Valley clinic on Monday to interview some of the staff and patients.  She used the interviews and pictures for her project and they headed home.  We live in the middle of nowhere, but it is such a beautiful place that we still attract some family down to visit.

James texted me to say his family was going to be in Moab for a few days and asked if we could join them for a few trails.  Zoe, Melissa and I could not pass it up.  We headed north after work Friday evening to meet them at Sand Flats for a night camping and a day 4 wheeling. Basically an 18 hour vacation.   Zoe and I started practicing our sand stone climbing during an attempted bathroom break about 20 minutes before Moab. She enjoyed climbing, but wouldn't go to the bathroom. We got to the camp ground after dark, set up our tent and talked with the family for a while.  The night wasn't too bad, except that Zoe's shy bladder meant we had to get up 3 times to "try" to go to the bathroom.  Oh, and I lost her one time... she ended up at the camp site across the trail. Miles took Zoe and I exploring the next morning.  We walked all around the camp site. We even saw the majestic "Butt Cheek Mountain," which ov...

Mom and Bill were finally able to come visit us in the middle of nowhere.  They arrived at our house the late afternoon of April 4th.  After giving them a tour of our house, they helped us plant some raspberry plants that they brought with them from Aunt Mary's house.  Then Mom and I worked on dinner, while Andy and Bill watched the Priesthood session of General Conference. We then just enjoyed an evening of conversation.   The next day was Easter.  We gave out Easter baskets and even hid a few eggs for Zoe to hunt down.  Don't worry, they were filled with dog treats.  Then we watched the Sunday morning session of Conference.        In between the two Sunday sessions of General Conference, we went for a little drive to Nations of the 4 Corners (2 minutes away).  It has examples of different dwellings of the Natives.  This is a Hogan.     That afternoon we went for a drive around...