The Christensen Family: Summer 2016 With the Welsh's

This summer we were excited to host Mom, Buddy and his crew for their (and our) Summer Vacation 2016. We had a full itinerary planned. I mailed it to them ahead of time and planned for fun while they were here.

We all had fun and I hope they come back soon to play some more. Utah is beautiful!

Sunday we arrived at the rental home in St George. We waited for the Welsh's to arrive. They got in around 1230 am (early Monday morning). Jenna and I waited up.

The house was a super nice place that was cool in the smoldering heat of St George and comfortable for all of us. We stocked up with plenty of treats ad breakfast stuff for the 2 morning we were there.

Day 1- Zion's National Park

Before our hikes while the men parked the cars.

malfunctioning self-stick.

Weeping Rock

Not even posing.

Waiting on the Shuttle...

Next the River Side Walk

At the end of the trail, near the entrance to the Narrows there was a stream and pool to play in.

After the 2 hikes, we decided we better get some food in the tank. We decided on a little hole in the wall place with pretty good food.

Lunch...

We decided to head back to the condo and cool off instead of another hike in Zion's. We went to the house, after a little while, the kids decided it was time for a swim. There was really no other tolerable option that involved the outdoors. It was so hot. 114 degrees!

114 Degrees!

Poolside at the condos

That night we ordered Pizza for dinner from Domino's.

Day 2: Kannaraville Falls/Slot Canyon Hike

Steve was up early for a run then took the Christensen kids to swim in the morning. Then we had breakfast and packed things up to head North.

We stopped in Kanarraville to do a slot canyon. I actually don;t have enough pictures of the best part, because mom and I (Jenna and Gage too) didn't complete the hike all the way. The views were impressive though.

Mom, Jenna, Gage and I stayed back and hiked a little more leisurely. The others all did the slot canyon.

After the hike, we headed to Cedar City for lunch. We introduced Buddy and Carrie and the boys to Cafe Rio. It was a hit. We did a quick tour of the town where Steve and I met and lived for a while. We did the tour via walkie-talkies.
After a ride through Cedar, we headed on up to Orem.

Day 3- Olympic Park

Mom and Jackson

We waited for the Alpine Slide way too long. It would sprinkle and they would delay the ride. Overall the consensus was that it was over-rated. Steve and Trev hit a chipmunk on the slide.

View from the slide

Waiting in the line for the ropes course.

These boys were awesome. Zac did not like ziplining down. It took 10 minutes to go, but he did it. So did the other boys.

At the Olympic park, some of the kids did Ultimate tubing. Steve/Jenna and Buddy/Mason ziplined.
We left for a late lunch at Cafe Rio again, bc you cannot go wrong there! Then we headed home.

Day 4- Provo River Rafting

We decided the day before that we wanted to raft the Provo River. It was really pretty inexpensive to get together and be our own guide. Steve and Buddy picked up the raft, then we headed up River to our launch spot. I think this event, although only about 2 hours- may have been the most fun for the majority of the crew. Except Gage, he was a nervous wreck.

I love that we all fit in the raft and it took team work and practice. We survived and had some exciting, intense moments.

The most intense part was trying to exit the river independent of a outfitter company helping. We nearly dumped mom out of the boat and lost some paddles. haha, We made it out intact.

After the River run, we went down to Pizza Pie Cafe for a late lunch.

Pizza Pie

Buddy and Carrie did more hiking up Bridal Veil Falls and went to dinner. The rest of the gang hung out and waited for darkness for the outdoor movie on the tramp, "Jurassic World".