Cousin Camp July 2023

Because Jace had FSY  in Flagstaff for a week and Ryan had a High Adventure Hike with our Young Men church group the same week, I decided it was time for the girls to hit the road and visit cousins in St. George, so we had a Cousin Camp while the boys were away. 

We had so much fun!!

It started with me booking a private cottage at Stucki Farms in St George.  I love this place and their darling cottages!  They are new and come in various sizes depending on your group size and are well maintained, cutely decorated, and have the perfect location.  I got one big enough to accommodate cousins!  The rooms have bunkbeds and games and the pools there are a blast!   

Spa night!  The nails got painted.

 

Cousin sleep over in matching PJs!

Game room upstairs. 

Since we couldn't stay indoors all week, we made a wish list of things to do.  Tubing the Virgin River  made the list!  It was SO fun for Calista and I!  No one else seemed to love it as much as we did!

My sister, Malynne was a good sport!!

She turned 70 in June and still decided she'd give the river a go!  On one of several occasions that she ended up high centered on river rocks and I scrambled over to help her, she may or may not have yelled " I hate this da%$@%$# River!"  I have never laughed so hard!  It was hysterical. 

The tubes were super cozy!  And like I said, the river was super rocky!

This is my sister, Calista, at the river's edge. 

This is the lazy river at Stucki farms.  Its one of our favorite pools there. 

This is my cousin Cragun, with his wife Sarah and their daughter Rhiannon. 

We spent hours in the lazy river.  I was so enthralled by it that I called a pool company in Kingman when I got home and had them design us one for our land.  I really want to build a super awesome pool out there for friends and family to enjoy.   The Dr has said --no!  He insists we build a home out there first. Why must he be so practical?

Malynne with her daughter in law and granddaughter. 

Calista driving her Honkin' Van.  It's a 14 passenger van.  It was the perfect way to transport all the cousins.  She's had this vehicle for 2 decades and I have tons of memories in that van. I really wanted to discover Toquerville Falls on this trip.  We gave it a really good try, but we were not successful. The road was too severe.  SO rocky.  We got stopped by a guy in a Razor that told us to turn around.  We'd never make it with our tires he said.  

It was disappointing.  But we stopped at Wendys on the way home and when we pulled into Calista's driveway, her back tire was already nearly flat. It would have been a really bad decision to drive it for 6 miles on rough roads to those falls in the middle of the day in 113 degree July heat.  

So we went to the City Center splash pad park and played in the water there and stopped for a treat at Judds Old Fashioned Ice Cream and Candy Shoppe!!  Love that place!!

St George has the best parks.  They have designed a magnificent town.  Look at this water creek kids can play in next to the splash pad. 

The camp was so fun and great memories were made!!  We hope it becomes a tradition in years to come!

On a side note, we did return to St George a few weeks later and Ryan got us to Toquerville Falls!  It was a treacherous 2 hour drive going super slow in a rental SUV .  I had to get out and walk almost the whole way.  My job was to guide through the dips in the road and over the sharp rocks. We almost got high centered a few times. The town in behind me in this photo.  That is how far up the mountain we have climbed.  We still had a ways to go at this point in the drive.  But the view was super pretty and it gives you an idea of how rough the road was. 

Once we made it there, there were some pools we could jump in and we swam for about an hour. It was a pretty cool and beautiful little spot in the middle of the desert. Such a long drive there and back and almost worth it.  We won't do it again unless we rent Razors. 

July is my favorite month of the YEAR!  I completely love summer. The sunshine and warmth invigorates me and takes away my anxiety. Hurry back July.