Escape from the Heat to Cedar City

We took a quick trip up to Cedar City, Utah  to visit with James and Monica Noonan and their family. They live in Illinois but were visiting family in Utah - a much closer drive for a visit. Matt and James served together on their missions - Houston, Texas, Vietnamese speaking. All of the missionaries had Vietnamese names - Matt is Thanh and James is Kien and they still use their names. It gets a bit confusing but Monica seems much more versed in Vietnamese than I am.

We visited the Shakespeare Festival on Southern Utah University's campus, where we saw a free pre-show. The weather was amazing and we were instantly glad to be out of Las Vegas.

Then we went to Canyon Park near the road up to Brian Head. The kids were entertained for hours playing in this small stream that ran through the park. We were actually outside - in July! We even had a bit of rain on Saturday and just sat outside and enjoyed not feeling like we were baking from the inside out.

Monica's family has four-wheelers that we took for a spin on the off road trails near their house. I have never  driven one before, but I had fun driving around with Claire. She wanted me to go faster - apparently I'm not as daring as Dad. And of course, there are no pictures to document that I actually rode one. :)

Matt said he went a fast as he dared go with Miles as a passenger, but Miles kept yelling - Faster! Faster! That boy is going to be the source of all my gray hair, I just know it.