Last year, I really wanted to go to Tuacahn in St. George, UT, and so I got my GF's together, and we hit the town. We had such a great time that we decided to make it a yearly tradition, a pilgrimage, if you will, to our feminine Mecca. Well, this year, we included some guys in our trip. This year Tuacahn is showing The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid is one of my dad's favorite Disney cartoons, so we decided to invite him to come along. And then we invited my uncle Allen so that my dad wouldn't be the only guy there. Then Felicia's dad really wanted to come, and then somehow Felicia talked my brother into coming. And of course, Sam came along. So we ended up having fourteen people on this trip: My amazing in-laws, Carol Lee, Holly, Heidi, and Elivania; my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Felicia, and her parents; my mom, dad, sister, and brother; my Uncle Allen and Aunt Suzy; and Sam and me. We were quite the mob!
We drove up Thursday afternoon. Usually it's about a four hour drive, but my uncle and dad joked that it took us seven hours with all the food breaks and potty breaks! We had a fun drive together though, chatting the whole way. Last year, we all stayed at the same hotel. This year we were spread out in three different condos. Next year I think we will definitely try to be in the same place again. We just didn't all hang out together like we did last year. But we had so much fun. We had dinner that evening at Texas Roadhouse (one of my favorite steak places). Sam ate three or four rolls and an entire half of a sweet potato (we would learn the next day that that was probably not a great idea...). Then we went back to our condos, and we watched a movie at our condo. Carol Lee, Holly, Heidi, Elivania, Amanda, Sam, and me all stayed in one condo. Amanda and Jason both had class that night so they didn't show up until about two in the morning. Felicia and Jason crashed at our condo Thursday night since they got in so late. I felt bad for Amanda and Felicia because they had to share a room with me, and between having a cold and being pregnant, I can out snore a foghorn! (Nic says my snoring in cute, but I think he only says that because he is insanely terrified of me when I'm pregnant).
The next morning (Friday), I got up when Sam got up (babies/toddlers don't know the sleep in on vacation rule!) and needed to run to the grocery store to buy some things for breakfast. Nanny Manda was also up, so she took care of Sam, while I jumped into my brother's car to run to the store. Well, it didn't go quite as smoothly as I had hoped it would. First, I couldn't figure out how to get the car unlocked and then the car is manual. I know how to drive a stick shift, so I didn't think this would be a problem. Wrong! I could not figure out how to reverse for the life of me. I would later learn that in this particular car, there is a little button on the shifter that you push for reverse. I had never heard of such things! I had to reverse to get out of the parking spot, so I ended up improvising. There was a slight incline into a ditch and an empty parking spot next to the car so I would roll back in neutral until the car stopped in the ditch and then pull forward and then roll back and then pull forward until I finally got the car turned enough that I could pull out of the spot going forward. And then I made sure not to park in any way that I would have to reverse again! My sister couldn't figure out why it took me so long to just run to the grocery store!
We spent most of the day lounging around and shopping. You cannot have a successful girl's weekend without shopping! I bought some summer clothes for Sam and a few adorable outfits for little Arliss. I also found a cute shirt that hopefully won't be too stretched out to wear after I have the baby. Amanda, Felicia, and I got matching sister bracelets (GF's need to have matching jewelry, it's a rule!) and the highlight for me was the cinnamon and white chocolate caramel apples that we purchased and devoured. My dad and uncle Allen weren't too keen on the shopping part of the trip. We thought they had dropped us off and went to do their own thing, but apparently they just sat in the parking lot for a couple of hours. Silly boys!
Oh, before we went shopping, we went to the St. George LDS temple just to walk around the grounds and go to the visitor's center. It was so pretty! And we got some adorable pictures of Sam!
After the temple and shopping, Amanda, Jason, Felicia, Sam, and I went back to the condo and went swimming in the outdoor pool. When we first went to get into the pool, we all realized what land-lovers we are. It wasn't a heated pool, so, to us, it was freezing! Probably most people who live in St. George, or hot places like that, appreciate a nice, chilly pool. Not us! Sam was the only one who didn't seem to mind it that much. It was weird to me to be cold in the water and hot when I got out of the water. Usually, it is the other way around. But we had fun splashing for a little bit...until our lips turned blue!
That evening was the big show. Part of the tradition, is that I make these gift bags for everyone. Last year we wore tiaras to the show. This year, since it was the Little Mermaid, I decided to go with a tropical theme. All the girls got a flower lei and a flower clip for their hair. The guys also got flower leis, and they came really close to getting seashell bras (I changed my mind last minute, unfortunately!). People kept commenting on our leis at the show. It was so much fun! We ate a delicious 'tropical' dinner at Tuacahn. It was really yummy! After dinner, when we were about to do group pictures, Sam had the first diaper blow out that he's had in a long time (this was due to the copious amounts of sweet potato the night before). But the show had to go on, so if in our group pictures, we all have funny looks, it's because Sam had a funny smell.
For the first time, Tuacahn offered a daycare, so after dinner, and after getting him cleaned up, Sam was off to daycare. Nanny Manda took Sam to daycare with me, and she was so cute. She was so concerned about everything. Have they done a background check on these people? Are they CPR certified? Will they provide wholesome activities? Etc. We dropped Sam off, and he didn't even say good-bye. He just started playing, and we were dismissed. They gave us a pager, like what you get at a restaurant when waiting for a table, and told us it would go off if there were any problems. As we were walking away, I looked over at Amanda and she was crying. It was her first time dropping Sam off somewhere! We decided to use the restroom before the show started, and as we were walking into the restroom, I was sternly saying, "You can't make a pregnant woman cry! Don't talk to me! Don't even look at me!" These women in the restroom were looking at me angrily because they just caught the tail end of what I was saying, and all they could see was this mean lady and a young girl in tears following after her. We still laugh about that!
The show was amazing. It was crazy what they pulled off with the special effects. At different points, the stage was covered in water, and for the underwater scenes, they had a screen of water that would come down and they could project images onto the water. Mind you, this was accomplished in an outdoor amphitheater in the middle of the desert! The actors did a fabulous job. Apparently, it was their first official run through with costumes and all the special effects because the dress rehearsal had been cancelled due to weather. The costumes were beautiful, and the production, as a whole, was creative and well-done. When I ordered the tickets, the show was almost sold out, so we could have got all of our group together on the very last row, or we could spread out in small groups in the best seats possible. I went with the second option. My in-laws were on the very first row, and apparently got a little wet and chilled through out the production. My mother-in-law even had a golden cup land in her lap when King Triton blew up Ariel's human stuff collection! I would have kept it as a souvenir, but she gave it back. =) After the show, following tradition, we stayed and took pictures with the cast. The boys were all done and ready to go, but tradition had to be maintained! We had a great time!
Saturday we were thinking of maybe going to Zion's National Park, but, instead, just headed home. We were all pretty much worn out from our adventures. Even Sam slept in until nine that morning, which is the latest he's ever slept! It took me a week just to recover! All in all, it was a great time. Next year, though, I think we'll go back to just the girls. The boys just couldn't keep up with all the shopping, matching accessories, and giggling. And we couldn't tell stories about them with them there! =) And I think this was Sam's last year. Next year, he can hang out with daddy. Maybe little Arliss will hang out with daddy too. We'll see!
So next year, it's 'off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz'!
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