Barber Reunion: St George

In June we headed to the annual Barber Reunion which was located in St George at the Worldmark Resort! We had a fantastic time and made so many memories! We all headed down Saturday morning and were anxious to get there.

 

 

That night we all got settled in our rooms and had dinner. We also got acquainted with family as Tim and Carol had arrived from Arizona and they had a new baby to show off! Kevin and I ended up having our own unit because Chad and Kelsey weren't able to come. The unit was 2 bedrooms 2 bath with a large kitchen and living room area. Our bed was wonderful too (the reason I bring it up is because our bed at home is broken and old and so it's such a treat to sleep on a firm mattress and king size too!) It was such a nice resort oh and did I mention it was SO HOT!!!

Living room

The view from our balcony...pretty awesome!

Our patio

Sunday we attended church at one of the local wards. It was the biggest Sacrament meeting I have ever attended. Due to all of the tourism, the ward fills the chapel and gym each week! It was crazy and so many people were visitors. After church we relaxed and had dinner with everyone and made plans for the week. We had a lot to squeeze in the next couple of days.

 

Monday we spent at Zion's National Park!! I was so excited to go here, it's somewhere I've always wanted to go. I have also had a hankering to do some hiking this year and knew I would get the chance here.  We wanted to get a jump start on the day to hopefully avoid the heat of the day and also we had to drive about 1 hour to get to the park. Once we got to the park we got on a bus that drove us from site to site. There were several different stops and we only did a couple of them. There are a ton of hikes in the park that take all day, but we just did some shorter ones so we could all be together.

 

Here's some pictures from the drive to the first stop.

 

These 3 peaks are named Abraham, Isaac and Jacob



The animals here are so docile and no afraid of people. We were hiking to our first spot and this elk was literally 10 feet from us. Pretty cook to see them so close.

 

 

I got to hike at the front of the group with these awesome kids! They were so fun to keep up with and I was able to go at a pretty good pace. From the left, Karson, Daegon, Spencer, Kambree, Kameron and Noah (sorry if I slaughtered their spellings).

Our first hike was to the Emerald Pools. It was so pretty. The water just fell off the edge of the mountain onto the rocks below. The trail took us underneath the water fall and it felt great to get some water sprinkled on us. The hike wasn't long at all, but we were still getting accustomed to the heat in southern Utah.

 

Sorry for the picture overload but this was such a simple but beautiful place and I was overcome with happiness and gratitude for the many creations we have to enjoy on the earth.

 

The next stop was for lunch and then we headed to the Narrows. There was this random thing in the rock so we took a photo op.

 

Kevin, Tena and Todd

The Narrows. This is one of two places in the whole park where you are allowed to get in the water.

 

The hike goes for awhile back and the canyon gets to about 20 feet wide, but we only hiked for about the first mile and a half or so until you came to this spot. We had lots of tired kids and it was starting to get really HOT!! Most of us played in the water for awhile and cooled off while others explored.

 

Todd, Erin and the older nieces and nephews playing in the water. They really had fun!

Kevin ventured into the water. It was little cold for me and we didn't have different shoes or socks to change into.

This is Sara, Tim and Carol's newest addition. She is so adorable and fun to play with and hold. As long as she had a full belly she let pretty much anyone hold her. I took advantage of that as much as I could. She also really liked Kevin!



Air drying his feet

 

Our last stop in the park was the tunnel that was carved out of the mountain. You are literally driving right through it. Its about 1 mile long and so dark. There are windows occasionally but the darkness quickly took over again.

A window in the tunnel from a distance. It was pretty crazy!

 

 

Going to Zion's was my favorite part of the trip, besides swimming and late night card games with the adults.

Tuesday we went to Sand Hollow to swim. We had been told by some people that it was a great swimming/rock jumping place. It was great at first sight but that all changed when we started to leave; first things first.

 

 

 

Hunter

Kambree

Whew! Just a little cold!

Matt took the first plunge

Todd

Kevin and Todd, it's always going to be a contest

Spencer

Tim

Wednesday was temple day and I was so excited!! We were able to do a session with Todd, Erin and Tena. It is such a beautiful place and the session was amazing!! I'll never forget my experience that day. After our session, everyone else came over and met us at the visitors center.

Love this pic!

James and Hunter

 The rest of Wednesday we spent in the swimming pool, eating dinner, and then of course CARDS!!!!

 

Thursday Kevin and I had to head home for work Friday, so we spent the morning gathering our things and hanging with everyone. I got a little bored on the way home so I took some sexy selfies.

Kevin was having fun doing selfies

Hey we finally got a decent one!!


Until next year Barber family!!!