Party in Zion

We had the dreamiest impromptu vacation over Mother's Day weekend.  Aren't last minute adventures almost always the best?

This one had been in the works for quite a while for Keith.  He and our friend Abe had planned another climbing trip (doesn't it seem like they just went on one about two days ago?) to a big wall in Zion.  The idea was that they were going to be on the wall for a few days so another rental car and a weekend apart was on the docket.  Then....THEN....after weeks of planning, someone looked at the calendar and realized they were going to be gone over Mother's Day.

Fail.

Of course, I was trying to be supportive but deep down--but not really deep, maybe an inch or a centimeter, or actually just pretend deep--I was feeling bummed that Mother's Day would be CRAP for me.  (Keith was really sick last year on Mother's Day so that would make two lame years in a row.)

I was just about to book Keith's rental car when he called with a brilliant idea--let's all go!  Why didn't I think of that?  My brother has a gorgeous condo in Hurricane, barely outside of St. George and on the way to Zion and I called to see if there was any chance it was available at the last minute.  Luck was on my side.

Then, I found out that my brother Jeff and his family were going to be in Zion that same weekend for work.  Booyah!  The planets aligned and we were all able to stay together in an awesome condo.  Yeesssssss.

So while Keith was off climbing and Jeff was off working, my SIL Lindsay and I managed the kids.  We hung out at the pool, took casual hikes with the kids, and drove illegally into St. George for food (shhhh, don't tell!).

Meanwhile, this was happening:

Then, on Mother's Day Jeff and Keith made an AMAZING breakfast of silver dollar pancakes, canadian bacon, fresh squeezed orange juice and key lime pie (dessert for breakfast?  Yes, thank you.) and every bite of it was divine.  They absolutely hit a home run.

We drove home after breakfast and enjoyed some off the beaten path sights along the way.

We loved this dirt road we took for a while.  We were cruising at 50 and we weren't even acting like the Dukes of Hazard.

I have no idea where we were here.  It was our EMERGENCY-I-have-to-stop-and-go-potty-right-now-or-I'll-totally-scream-and-die stop.  No hiding behind a bush here.

This was such a fun trip.  We were especially glad that Jeff, Lindsay, and Ian were able to be there since they moved to Arizona only a few weeks later.  Nothing beats a vacation filled with family, fun, and good food.  Awesome.  And major props to Keith for being able to climb AND score major brownie points for a breakfast in bed on Mother's Day after all.  Double awesome.