Family Retreat: St. George, UT

Happy New Year everyone! I wanted to share some pictures and details from our recent trip to St. George, UT and offer ideas for activities to do with small children if you ever decide to visit Dixie with your littles in tow!

Our quick vacation down south was with my entire family. We are lucky to have grandparents who own a home in Santa Clara, so we snuggled all 13 of us in every nook and cranny of that house (literally babies sleeping in closets) and enjoyed some time exploring, eating, playing games, and catching up with each other over 3 days.

If you've ever been to St. George, you are familiar with it's trademark red rocks. If you're looking for a way to experience some of that beauty with young children, take a trip to Snow Canyon State Park!

1. Johnson Canyon Hike

Right before you enter the park, you can stop and take a little walk/hike to Johnson Canyon. It's about 1.8 miles round trip and pretty easy. It was fun for the children to see some of the black volcanic rock and big red boulders that you find along the way, not to mention all that sand! Which brings me to our next stop...

2. Sand Dunes

When we were little, my parents took us to the sand dunes a few times and it's every kids dream- a gigantic sand box! Before we headed up to the park, we stopped by the Dollar Store and picked up some cones, containers, and dog pooper scoopers (these turned out to be the BEST shovels EVER) to scoop, build, and play in the sand.

When we were younger, my parents had our friends take a picture of our entire family jumping off one of the sand dunes together. They liked it so much, they decided to frame it. Seriously. Looking for an awesome photo for next year's Christmas card? Just sayin'...

Also, some things never change. #ohbrother

3. Moqui Marbles

Before we headed home, we made one last stop in Snow Canyon. My dad led us to the petrified sand dunes (just north of the sand dunes) in search of moqui marbles, which are small brown/black rocks that are made of iron oxide and sandstone. It was a like a little treasure hunt, as we climbed all over the hills to finallly find a whole batch on the side of a petrified dune. Liam was looking forward to this all trip and he wasn't disappointed!

The next day, we ended up driving over to the cemetary where our grandpa is buried. But not before stopping at some AWESOME parks for the children to play, including the Thunder Junction All Abilites Park. Guys, this is the coolest park I've ever seen and it's completely free! The theme is dinosaurs and there's a ton of things to do, including a little train ride that carries you around the park. Even the "big kids" were enjoying themselves and we will FOR SURE make that a "must do" for when we go down to St. George again!

The older I get, the more I realize how important our relationships are. What a great opportunity for our family to spend time nourishing those relationships with each other and so fun for me to watch our children experience and enjoy some of same things we loved as kids. Because we only had 3 days down in St. George there was still a lot we didn't do and I'm excited to take the children back!

May this year bring all the happiness and joy to you and your loved ones!

-M