Stretching out Summer

This weekend my youngest nephew Jamon got married at the Draper temple.
Along with that special day, came my sons birthday weekend (turning 16) and a plan to surprise him. The wedding and reception became the perfect cover up for the big surprise of taking Shawn down to St. George for his birthday. Where as he said, "his heart is".
I talked to his cousin Chance and told him we would be coming down and to try and get some friends together for that weekend and left it at that.

Shawn didn't suspect a thing. I packed him a bag, we packed ours and had them in the car when we went to the reception in Salem, Utah. After the reception we headed for St. George and he didn't even notice we were going South. The lights of the city faded and still he said nothing. I finally couldn't stand the secret any longer and pointed out the fact that we were going South to Shawn. He finally said, "Are we going to St. George?" YaY!!! After we told him the plan he said he felt dumb for not picking up on the clues. What a fun surprise.
Saturday his friends swept him away for breakfast and then they went up to Pine Valley to hike and play volleyball and later came back to another friends house to play games and hang out again. They did a great job helping him have a special birthday.
Meanwhile, I just relaxed and enjoyed the perfect weather and basked in the beautiful scenery. I really like that place. I even ran into people I knew down there, which was fun. That never happens here.
The week prior they had a huge flood down there just down the road from where we lived. As we drove into town it actually smelled like 1976 again, the flood mud. Weird memory.

 Here are the boys in front of the dam that gave out. The kids use to walk across it to school everyday. It was a devastating blow to many in the community and quite a few businesses. I can't figure out this place in the desert. It's hot and dry, but when it rains it pours.

I'm getting use to these weekend get-a-ways. I love them. It feels like we are trying to stretch out the summer as far as it can go and I don't mind. I think we will probably be home bound for a while now.

It was a sweet weekend.
Happy Birthday Shawn!