Utah Here We Come

We left Los Osos and headed towards Bakersfield.  It is a long drive with not a lot of interesting scenery.  The hills are so brown.

 We did notice a huge drop in gas prices in Tahachapi.   Tired of driving, we stopped in a small RV park in Baron before we hit the 15.  It's a super small town.  How small is it?The Circle K did not even have a Slurpee machine!  I witnessed my first alcoholic literally spend her last cent on a bottle of cheap vodka in a convenience store.  This town is home to the Twenty Mule Team Borax Museum and has a beautiful small park on Main Street with real fire trucks and miners trucks for kids to climb on.

We decided against boondocking at the Virgin River Gorge again, and drove straight through to Snow Canyon in Ivins, just outside of St. George, Utah.  There is a beautiful state park there with pretty nice campsites.

 Our friends Keith and Stephanie Cannon just moved to St. George,  and we were anxious to catch up with them.  We had a great visit Saturday afternoon and enjoyed a delicious Mexican meal at their new favorite Mexican restaurant.  It was interesting going to church with them on Sunday.  They attend a seniors ward with no youth.  There were visitors with children, and the Bishop taught them in the second and third hours.

I love the St. George  downtown area, and the tour of Brigham Young's winter house is definitely worth taking.

There are several galleries and small mom and pop establishments that are fun to poke around in.  Keith and Stephanie did their best to sell us on St. George when we are ready to settle down.

Lakeside RV Park in Provo was our next stop, a few miles away from John and Brenda.
A bonus for us was that Dominic, Nicolette and Joe were in town visiting Chiyeto and Julio.  We were able to go to Joe's 6th birthday party, keep the kids Friday and Saturday and take them to Scott and Maggie Richards Pioneer Day barbecue.  We love spending time with the kids, and am blown away by how big and smart they all are.

John made it home from Texas on Friday evening, and they induced Brenda on the following Monday morning.  Jameson Bradley made his debut on July 27 around 3:30 p.m.   He weighed  6 lbs. 9 oz. And was 19 inches long.  We were able to visit when he was only a few hours old.  He is straight from heaven and perfect.

We hung out with John Brenda and the kids  for the next ten days.  Everyone was doing well when we left.

While we were there we did have time to see some of our very dear friends.  We had dinner and FHE with the Kanaheles and then had them over to John and Brenda's so they could meet Brenda and the kids. We have been friends for over 25 years, and they are definitely family.

We also took a quick trip up to Bountiful to see Cree and Ila Kofford, the family that introduced us to the gospel.  We had not seen them for 14 years.  We have such love and gratitude for them.  They were excited to hear about our mission plans.

On our last day, we made a quick trip up to Salt Lake City to meet Diann and Frank Voordeckers for lunch.  Diann gives tours of the Joseph Smith building on Mondays, and she gave us a private tour.  There is really nothing like good friends that bless and enrich our lives.  It doesn't matter how long it is between visits, we are always able to pick up right where we left off.

Here are a few pictures from the Joseph Smith Building.

We headed out to Wyoming on Thursday, August 6.

Stay tuned for more living.