10th Anniversary!!

Friday, November 7th, was our 10th wedding anniversary. We planned a trip to Zion for the night and my parents took the kids for us.

We found out that history does repeat itself. We went on a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico for our honeymoon. The ship left from LA and returned back to LA. When we got off the ship, we found that the trunk of Bryan's car wouldn't open, so we threw all our suitcases in the backseat and began the long drive from LA to San Ramon for our open house. We were in a hurry, I think, and going a bit too fast. Anyway, Bryan got pulled over on the Pacific Coast Highway. I wasn't too excited about this because I knew it would be a lot of money for the ticket. The policeman, seeing all our bags in the back of the car, figured that we were on our honeymoon. He asked where we were from and Bryan told him Provo, Utah. The officer told us that, while he wasn't a Mormon, his wife and kids were. He had even sent one of his sons on a mission, so he respected the LDS people and, knowing their beliefs, knew that obeying the law was something they taught. He told us how much a ticket would be and then said to Bryan, "But I'm letting you off with a warning because, by the looks of her, I think you're in enough trouble already." Then he let us go. (I didn't think I looked mad but apparently I did.)

Flash forward 10 years and we have just left our house to go to Zion. Bryan's driving and there is a steep hill about a mile from our house on Pioneer Parkway. At the top of the hill Bryan was going 32 mph (the limit is 30). He let his foot off the gas and we coasted to the bottom of the hill just in time to pass a motorcycle policeman who turned on his lights and motioned for Bryan to pull over. I got out the registration while the officer walked to the car. He asked Bryan how fast he was going and Bryan told him he thought he was going 38 mph. The officer asked if Bryan knew the speed limit and he said 30 mph. The policeman said he would give Bryan a warning (we think it was because of the steep hill) but gave him a "verbal tongue lashing" for speeding. As we drove off we both had to laugh about history repeating itself. The officer followed us for a couple of blocks and then turned around.

We then drove to look at a possible site for girls camp and then drove on to Zion. We were there too early to check into the lodge so we drove to the East Entrance to look around and then we hiked to the Canyon Overlook (which was only 1 mile round trip and a really easy hike). It was nice to get out and hike around. When we finished, we drove to the lodge and checked in.

The Cable Mountain Lodge is next to the big theater at the entrance to Zion National Park. It opened in August and is really nice. We had seen it a few months ago and decided that's where we wanted to stay. It was really nice! When we made the reservation we had reserved a cheap room but when we got there I was a bit surprised to find that we were in a really nice suite. There was a living room, kitchen, bedroom, HUGE bathroom and a plug in toilet with seat warmer (a plus in the winter time). And there was a huge bouquet of flowers on the kitchen table.

My sweet husband had called up on Thursday asking if they had any packages that he could get because it was our anniversary. He found that if a man is trying to do something nice for his wife and he asks another female to help, the female who is helping will go to all kinds of trouble to help out! The receptionist Bryan talked to said they didn't have packages yet but were working on it and she would talk to her manager about it. A little while later, Bryan received a phone call from the female manager telling him that she had upgraded our room to the Honeymoon Suite and if he could find a florist in Hurricane, one of the managers would pick up flowers for me on the way to work and have them waiting in our room. He said they so went out of their way to help...wonderful women!

We went out to eat and then we had tickets to the big screen theater that came with our room, so we saw a movie. The next morning we got to sleep in (that is, past 6:30 a.m.) for the first time since...we haven't been able to remember the last time we slept past 6:30. We were going to hike but decided to just drive back to St. George and get breakfast at Bear Claw then do some shopping. We arrived back home around 1:30 to some very happy children who had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa (there was a lot of pizza, toys, parks and McDonalds involved).

It was a great trip and gave us a little break. Here are some photos from our trip.