The Hills Are Alive: How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I know this is more than a little late in coming. I've been thinking about doing this post since September - you know, when people go back to school and get to write their essays about what they did on summer vacation. But being my lazy (and maybe just a little bit busy) self, I just haven't gotten around to it. But now I have just a few minutes while I wait for the dough for my lovely Thanksgiving rolls to rise, so let's see if we can put this baby to bed, shall we?

We had such a fun and busy summer! We stayed pretty close to home for the most part, but we found lots to do. We started off our adventures in July with Greg's bi-annual family reunion. We traveled down to the beautiful Pine Valley, Utah. The whole extended family stayed together in this beautiful log cabin.

While we were there we did lots of hanging out and visiting and playing games.

We hiked.

We took a tour of the Pine Valley chapel. It is the oldest operating LDS chapel anywhere.

This is where we went to church on Sunday while we were there. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland happened to be visiting that week as well. Apparently he is a local boy, and visits often.

From Pine Valley, we took a short drive to Sand Hollow where the kids enjoyed playing in the beautiful red sand. Well, everyone enjoyed it except for Ryan, who couldn't get over the fact that it looked like cat barf.

Sunscreen + a face-plant in the reservoir = super cool hair for Dylan.

Throw in a little boating, cliff jumping, some beach volleyball, and perfect weather, and it makes for a fun day!

What a fun week! We love our extended Hill Family!

In August we headed up to Bear Lake for our yearly camping trip with the Becks, which includes my parents, and most of my aunts, uncles and cousins.

The kids and Greg enjoyed riding jet skis. As for me and my water-phobic ways, I opted to stay on the beach and take pictures.

Alyssa and Grandpa.

Tyler and uncle Arnie.

Ryan and Greg.

A little liquid refreshment on the beach. I can't decide if Greg is being a good parent or a bad parent.

Poking in the fire is always a right of passage. Start 'em young, I say.

But don't smack your brother on the head with a hot stick.

This picture cracks me up. Tyler looks like he is about to dive right in, but he was really just tossing in a stick.

Alyssa chooses to spend her time in a more sophisticated manner.

Dylan LOVES Angel. He kept trying to pick her up and carry her around.

We decided to take Grandma with us and go explore the Paris Ice Caves.

There were a few squeezy spaces to get through.

There were lots of cool ice formations inside, even in the middle of August.

And of course hanging around the camp fire and roasting marshmallows is always a perfect way to end the day!

We're number 1!

2 weeks later we headed down to St. George with some friends for a week. Can you believe I have never been to St. George before? I've driven through, but never stayed there. And what better time to visit St. George than during the hottest week of the year?

We did a little swimming.

And Greg braved the heat to do a little grilling.

While we were in St. G we also saw Grease at Tuacahn one night, and drove up to Cedar City to see Noises Off! at the Shakespeare festival another night.

What a coincidence! This is the exact outfit I wore to the show that night! :)

Memorial Day weekend, Greg and I decided to take a late anniversary trip to Park City. As much as I love vacationing with my kids, it is a lot of work. This 3 day trip was a lot more relaxing. We ate out, went to movies, and did some outlet shopping, all without kids in tow! It was heavenly. We checked in at Hotel Park City and found out we got an upgraded room.