Christmas in St. George

We had a wonderful Christmas in St. George this year! Sheri and Peter joined us for the whole weekend and Peter participated in all of the quirky traditions that have developed in our little family over the years. (eating pizza, putting on new pajamas, doing this thing and that) I had the pleasure (not really) of working the early morning shift in the Emergency Department Christmas Eve and morning. Angie also worked the same shift on the pediatric ward at the hospital. We were all up and going even before 5 a.m. Christmas morning. Lots of i-Pods in the stockings this year. We were all well, with no illnesses or injuries. The weather was mild. Probably the subject with the most turmoil was Angie and her boyfriends. The one on the mission in Fiji , or the one at her side for the past semester? All want to marry her, we just want her to wait and grow a little older yet.

I did manage to get out and do some climbing a few times with various family members. The day after Christmas Zach and his wife Allison came with Eric and I and we treked out to the "Zen Wall" northwest of Bloomington. Our timing was interesting. A short, but powerful, rain storm swept across the area as we were roped up on the cliff. We did hide out in a small cave-like recession in the cliff, but still ended up getting soaked and cold during our scramble up and out a chimney break in the cliff. The wind really blew hard and filled our eyes with sand! The skies became very clear after the storm as we were hiking back to the truck. Sun rays lit up Pine Valley Mountain with a new layer of snow and the red cliffs above Kayenta as we looked northward. Spectacular and beautiful! Almost worth the misery of getting caught out in such a storm.