Sunday- temple, tours, more red rocks

Sunday was a gorgeous day! I am running out of words to describe the weather during our trip!

We attended church at the chapel across the street from the St. George Temple, where we were warmly welcomed by everyone. I think people may have been hoping these cute little girls were here to stay. The population in that ward was slightly older than ours- by an average of fifty years or so. It was nice to attend church with lots of old people again! Ü We were just going to go to Sacrament meeting and then head to the temple visitor's center, but the girls weren't going to stand for that!

"Don't they have Primary here?" "We can't just leave now!" So, we stayed and loved it!

After church, we went and walked around the temple grounds and visitor's center. This was always one of my favorite escaped when I lived in St George. It is so peaceful and beautiful. I never stop thinking about the sacrifices that the pioneers made to build this beautiful temple in a barren desert. What a legacy!
After some lunch and quiet time, we drove out to the Jacob Hamblin home for a tour. (Our tour guide was from the Willow Creek area and her son graduated from Brighton the year before me. Small world!) The girls loved the tour! They impressed Sister Easton with their knowledge of farm implements, grinding stones, and chamber pots.

We got back in the car and continued the loop through the Shivwits Indian reservation, past Gunlock Res, and out through Veyo. I don't think I'd been out there since I was 12. It is such an amazing contrast of geology, vegetation, and lifestyles!

Back into St. George, we went to a tour at the Brigham Young winter home. This time our missionary guide lived over the fence from Tim's cousin in Perry. Smaller world! Again, the girls found multiple chamber pots, wash basins, and Jenna enjoyed her task of counting certain chairs. My favorite part is seeing how the pioneer craftsmen took regular pine from Pine Valley and expertly painted and finished it to look like so many fine woods! Amazing!

We got out to stretch at Worthen Park, another favorite. (Cousins, remember the Easter Egg hunts there, that were really a mad dash for salt water taffy?)

After dinner we drove up to the Dixie rock area to explore.

We all felt rather adventurous as we explored nooks and crannies we had never seen before. I can't believe I hadn't ever come here before! The girls had fun seeing which holes they could crawl into- after Daddy inspected them for wildlife first.

We also found a strange place where people had built a chimney between two rocks and made kind of a house in the rocks. Does anyone know what this is? Let me know if you do.

Here are a few more pictures of the day's outings. We had such a wonderful day together!