Camping at Zion Ponderosa Ranch

It was like a dream... I have not seen so much open space in years.

Zion is gorgeous but being in the camp had its own advantages. First the temperature was much lower since we were in the high-desert plateau way above Zion National Park. Second we had everything we could possibly wish for...

I got to meet some of Jeremy's aunts and uncles, and their families. Our tent was right next to Joe and Bobby. Joe took us rock climbing on our first night there and it was a lot of fun. While Sonia was taking a nap under great care of Joe, Jeremy and I had wonderful massages.

Sonia loved the pool.

We enjoyed these precious moments together and soaked forever even when it was too cold for everyone else. Sonia is great at swimming. She is not afraid to go under water and she giggles when coming out.

She puts her head in the water and blows bubbles with her papa. She can swim when I support her shoulders.

She is not afraid to get in and out of the water. Here Sonia is taking a break before going back to the water.

I also got to experience a Zip line. I am gearing up and going up a big barn tower.

Stepping off that balcony and going down for the first time was super scary. The second time it was fun ;-)

At night we watched a family rodeo in the big corral right on the farm. It was put together by a family of four little girls. They acted all parts of it. Family fun! Sonia made friends with pigs, goats and huge Belgian horses on the farm. I think I took way too many pictures but here they are ;-)

Pigs were small and cute. They dug big holes in the mud and were covered with dirt.

Goats were boisterous and kept budding each other. They climbed on top of their shadow shack.

This horse is a giant!

On the way home we took grandma back to St. George and hit the road making an only stop at a pretty cool discovery park in Cedar City.


It was hot there, dry heat that gets into the marrow of your bones. Sonia was not going to sell any bait no matter how hard we tried.

She thought of cool breeze and real sea on those dolphins.

Our ten-day escape from NY

After the wedding we gradually travelled South towards Zion. First couple of nights we spent with our good friends Howard and Marge Sharp in Salt Lake. There we went to church and were introduced to Richard and Linda Eyer who gave a fireside on raising responsible kids that night. What a wonderful coincidence! Jeremy and I both attended and enjoyed it. We got some useful books on parenting and I am looking forward to Joy school now.

Sonia in the reflection pond... She dove in, splashed and got herself all draining wet.

Then we visited grandma and grandpa Lamb in Sandy. Grandpa took us out to a delightful new to SLC Cheesecake factory. We got four Cheesecakes and traded to try different flavors. They were also kind to watch Sonia for us so we could sneak to a concert in the park with my mom.

On our way further South we spent sometime with Irene and Jeff in Orem . Time was filled with going back to BYU, saying hello to Chris at my old printing job, visiting Marla at work, seeing a new alumni building with the fun racing car, and having a diner with Jarom and Ashley. At night we saw a deer next to the Marriott School.

One of the greatest places to eat in Provo is Brick Oven so we enjoyed it twice on this trip. Once with Jarom and Ashley and then with Irene's family. Sasha, Katia, Michael and Sonia loved the baloons and the clown at our table.

Earlier that day the kids, Irene and I went to the Bean museum. I loved displays of the animal families and kingdoms. It is so unlike NY Natural History where the theme is Darwinism.

Here is our fam with animals of the North and a pop liger from Salt Lake City Zoo.

Four-hour drive to St. George was fun. We sang songs from Sonia's musical CD (it saved us because Sonia could sing for the span of two hours). Then we had to stop and explore the playground at Mac Donalds.

Sonia got to meet Gg Wilder and stay at her house for a night. It was fun to see her ;-) We took grandma to Olive Garden and enjoyed a nice dinner after Sonia finally fell asleep.

Gg looks great! She keeps herself super busy with the temple work and visiting all of her big family. Sonia loved Gg's ducks on the porch and kept asking to go outside to see them.

Grandma keeps up with the times and she also has better water storage in her garage than we do ;-)