Daughters of Utah Pioneers Cedar City Museum

Inside the beautiful Cedar City Visitors Center is a small Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum.  The friendly docent gave us a nice tour, explaining various artifacts and telling stories from Cedar City's past. The kids really liked the gift shop in the visitor's center.

Carson's edited photos

I edited a few photos that we took on our Brice Canyon trip. Here they are: Tucker appears to have attracted quite a few animals there. For this one, I edited myself in because I wasn't in the original picture. See if you can find me! Comments Gene

Bryce Canyon National Park - Navajo Loop Trail at Sunset Point

Sunset Point was our favorite area at Bryce Canyon National Park.  It had great views, but the hiking trails really differentiated it.  The kids and I took Navajo Loop, a 1.3 mile loop that brings you up close with the hoodoos. We started by hiking through 'Wall Street&

Bryce Canyon National Park - Bryce Point

Southern Utah and Northern Arizona have so many red rock geologic formations to see.  We figured that Bryce Canyon would be 'more of the same'.  It was awe inspiring.  Even the kids that had been reluctant to go were oohing and awing. After the Visitor's Center,

Bryce Canyon National Park - Visitors Center

We've been putting Savannah's 'Every Kid in a Park' annual National Park pass to good use. This week, we went to Bryce Canyon National Park.  In preparation, we learned about Butch Cassidy, since he grew up near there -- its a captivating story. The

SyberJet Tour

Angela and the kids took a tour of the SyberJet facilities this week with Cub Scouts.  The private jets were impressive. This jet used to belong to Morgan Freeman. Pretty tight space inside... The boys got to see everything up close, as long as they promised to not touch! This

Bands of America Regional Competition, St George, UT

Dixie State University in St. George, Utah hosted the Bands of America Regional Competition this weekend.  Bands from all over Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and California all came to prove their skills. Ethan, one of Carson's friends, is in one of the bands that performed.  So

Lunch at Southwest Tech Cafe

The culinary program at Southwest Tech hosts the Southwest Tech Cafe, serving meals they have been learning to cook.  The menu look good this week, so we decided to try it out. The ordering and payment process was a little disorganized, but we placed our order.  Then we waited and

Savannah Wins the Coloring Contest

For Halloween, our weekly county newspaper included coloring pages that could be brought in to local businesses for rewards and prizes.  Most businesses gave Tucker and Savannah some candy for bringing in their colored pages.  A few days after Halloween, Savannah got a call from Lin's -- our

Halloween 2019

We started off our Halloween festivities with delicious 'Pumpkin Bread' (no pumpkins were harmed in its making). We had a bat and a 'cardboard warrior' this year.

Sheep Parade - Cedar City Livestock and Heritage Festival

It takes a town with true character to parade sheep down Main St.  The Sheep Parade is an annual tradition in Cedar City and a fun part of the Livestock and Heritage Festival. The Historic Tractors were impressive. We couldn't figure out what these tractors do.  They emitted

tucker

Tucker's Candy Machine

This is the candy machine I made out of legos. put a nickel in the slot... and out comes the candy! Also, this is me, Tucker writing my first blog post!

Twisted Forest Trail, Brian Head, UT

Our Halloween themed hike: the Twisted Forest Trail.  The ancient gnarled Bristlecone Pines match the stereotypical haunted forest look.  It is believed that the oldest of the trees on this trail are about 2000 years old, but others not too far away are 4500 years old. The trail starts off

Dinosaur Track Recreation Site, Parowan, UT

Just a few miles east of the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs in Dinosaur Track Recreation Site.  The kids enjoyed finding fossils, seeing the dinosaur footprints and climbing through the rocks.  Archeologists believe that the footprints are from Hadrosaurs.   We also found other interesting fossils. What we thought would be a quick

Parowan Gap Petroglyphs

Friends, climbing, and history make a great combination.  On our drive to the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs we say also saw a Golden Eagle.

Day Trip to the Grand Canyon

Phil and Nicole joined us for a day trip to the Grand Canyon.  One great thing about Southern Utah is the proximity to so many national parks. The drive was surprising.  We expected barren desert, to find beautiful meadows surrounded by evergreen and golden-leaved aspen forests.  Fall was the perfect

Visiting with Phil and Nicole

We had a great time with Phil, Nicole and their family.  The kids always look forward to playing with their cousins. The younger kids dressed up for a community 'Trunk-or-Treet' activity. We tried some unique breadsticks from the Pizza Factory and toured SUU.

Fall Fest in the Park, Parowan, UT 2019

Fall Fest in the Park gave us a nice excuse to visit Parowan, UT.  It is a small festival / car show with some pretty neat cars, some crafts and other vendors, and of course, the 'Best in the West' cinnamon rolls from the Parowan Cafe.  Angela's

Family History in Parowan, UT

We used the Fall Fest in the Park at Parowan UT as an excuse to drive the 15 minutes to Parowan, UT and learn more family history. My 3rd Great Grandfather, Silas Sanford Smith, and his brother, Jesse and mother, Mary Aiken Smith, settled the town in 1851.  His brother

Savannah's new cake-making kit

Savannah got a cake-making kit with some birthday money. She really enjoys baking, and this kit allows her to make up little cupcakes and a princess cake with a fondant skirt.

Commonwealth Hebrew class

A friend told me about a homeschool class offered every Monday afternoon, so we went to check it out and the kids loved it. We now go every week, and I teach one of the classes once a month. Every Monday, the kids are together (ages 8-12) in one room

Happy Birthday, Savannah!

With perfect timing, Grandma and Grandpa Knight were traveling through Cedar City on their way to Sedona just in time for Savannah's Birthday. Savannah and Tucker had made a piñata to start off the celebrations, followed by presents. We toured town with Grandma and Grandpa.  This huge excavator

Scooter Repairs

Shortly after he had left for college, we received a call from Carson.  The electric scooter he was riding died and left him stranded.  We picked him up and drove him to class for the day. A little bit of soldering and some new parts and the scooter is back

Tour of the Cedar City Fire Station

To help out the Cub Scout group, Angela volunteered to lead a meeting.  So she coordinated a tour of the fire department.  It was neat to learn about the training and service that they provide to our community. Looking at the jaws of life (above). The kids were captivated by

Carson's Motorcycle Repair

Carson pushes the little electric Razor MX650 motorcycle pretty hard on the dirt trails.  On a recent ride, he blew out the rear suspension -- it was literally in pieces. So we found a much nicer mountain bike shock on eBay.  It has better dampening and is a little longer.