Kate comes to Zion (National Park)

Meet lovely Kate Wheeler.

Even though our first and last names may differ by only two letters, we actually hail from different continents. Kate comes from England, but we met in Lyon, France where Katie was studying as part of an exchange program. We share a similar love for languages as Kate speaks not only French, but German and Spanish as well. Katie recently graduated from the University of Essex and is celebrating with a whirlwind tour to visit friends in the United States.

We felt so lucky to have Katie as our first visitor in Saint George. We stayed quite busy over the five days we had together, experiencing everything from serving school lunch to packing peaches at the cannery. We stuffed ourselves on sweet pork burritos at Cafe Río, nearly got rained out of "Crazy for You" at Tuacahn's red rock amphitheater, and gabbed for hours like, well, girls. :)

Another highlight of our time together was our trip to Zion National Park. Here's a photo journey of our day together. It was after eleven by the time we got up to the canyon, so we ate our picnic lunch near the Visitor's Center. Here's Brooklyn fixing PB&J. I love how she sticks out her tongue when she's concentrating (just like her mother!)

Satisfying.

A well-fed child is a happy child. (The same holds true for parents...)

Talia liked the chips.

Uh oh! Messy fingers!

Problem solved.

Eli joins in the lunchtime fun.

Water, please!

Well-hydrated, we were ready to start our hike.

Destination: the Emerald Pools.

Talia was fascinated by the water dripping off the cliffs in the lower pool.

Family pictures have a rather low success rate with five faces to capture.

Fortunately, Katie was immensely helpful when it came to wrangling the youngsters.

The middle pool had plenty of water to splash in...

...and fun logs to explore.

Life is always sweeter with a sister.

Awestruck by the majesty of Zions.

A glimpse of the wildlife.

Billy goats gruff.

And finally, we arrive at the upper Emerald pool, complete with lots of fun sand to play in.

Amazing.

Eli decides to nap in the peaceful serenity of the canyon.

He may be growing, but he's still got baby toes.

Katie was well-prepared with Starbursts to congratulate our little hikers on making it to the top.

Even this temporary sugar high was not enough to revive Talia, however. Jason ended up toting both her and Eli on the way down. Brooklyn had it right when she commented, "It's a good thing we've got such a big, strong Daddy!"

And finally, no trip to St. George would be complete without a visit to the temple.

While we have been blessed in many ways by coming to St. George, we're particularly excited to live so close to this holy place.

Talia, however, was still recovering from our hike the day before. Shortly before we made it back to the car, she plopped down in the grass and said, "I'm all done walking!"


Thanks for sharing the week with us, Kate.