A Trip to St. George and a Goodbye to 2025!

Two Days after Christmas, we (Charly, Josh and I) went to St. George for a few days. We enjoy going to Southern Utah in the winter to enjoy warmer temperatures and sunshine. 

We stayed in our Worldmark timeshare condo. 

We got to St. George on Saturday afternoon, so Sunday morning, we went to church in St. George at this church building.  It was a good worship service, and we enjoyed the friendly congregation. 

After church, we went over to the St. George temple visitor's center. 

There were lots of interesting things at the St. George Temple visitor's center, like a display of many nativities from different countries and time periods. 

The visitor's center is a cool place with some great Christian art. 

Sunday night, we went back to downtown St. George to see Christmas lights.  We started out at the St. George Temple.   

I loved the outdoor nativity at the temple. 

These are the lights at the St. George City Center.  They were pretty, but not very colorful.  They were all red and green, but still very nice.

Monday morning, Josh and I went out for a hike.  It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day in St. George.  We hiked in the Santa Clara River Preserve area.   It was a nice hike, and I enjoyed being outside on the trail.   The trail is about five minutes from the house we bought in Southern Utah about a year and a half ago.

Tuesday morning,  we left St. George and drove back home.  While we drove, we listened to and finished the audiobook, 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson.  We were back home by mid-afternoon.  Our drive was good with no problems. 

Wednesday morning, Charly and I walked at the mall before the stores opened.  You can see that the Christmas decorations were being removed.  After our walk, we did a little shopping, then went home to clean the house and do laundry. 

New Year's Eve, we decided to get Chinese food take-out.  Charly and I then watched some TV.   We had a quiet, low-key New Year's Eve.  

We watched a documentary about an 1980s rock band on Netflix, then a Youtube documentary about daycare and healthcare fraud in Minnesota.  The video has recently become viral online because it exposes fraud of tax dollars by members of the Somali community in Minnesota.  It was super interesting and concerning, and I would recommend it to all taxpayers - those who support Democrats and Republicans.  

During the past year, I read 67 books, which is down from 75 books in 2024.   I hope to get back up to 75 again next year in 2026, but I won't stress if I don't. My favorite historical fiction book was The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd. A close second was The Second Mrs. Astor by Shana Abe. Both were excellent! The best nonfiction I finished this year was 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson. Everyone should read it.

Things that happened last year (2025) that I am thankful for:

• Josh graduated from college.
• We sold our small condo. 
• We found and are in the process of purchasing another home for our retirement. 
• I am completing my final year as a teacher. 
• We spent a lot of time with our grandchildren. 
• We had some nice trips to Arizona, Idaho and Southern Utah. 
• Charly and I managed to stay pretty healthy.

As 2026 begins, here are some things I am looking forward to. 

• We are buying a new place to live in Northern Utah - Utah County.
• Josh is moving into his own place. 
• We will be selling this house we currently live in.
• I'm retiring in May after teaching for 25 years. 
• Our oldest granddaughter is getting ready to serve a mission after she graduates from high school. 

That's it for this post and this year.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Happy New Year! 

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

"New year - a new chapter, a new verse, 

or just the same old story?

Ultimately we write it. 

The choice is ours. "

~ Alex Morritt

Another Trip to St.George After Christmas

Thursday, the day after Christmas, we packed up and left for a little winter getaway to sunny St. George in Southern Utah.  We were a little worried that we might encounter snowy roads, because we left home with a little snow on the lawns and sidewalks, but as we drove farther south, the weather got better and better.  Thursday turned into a great travel day with blue skies and clear roads.  

We had a very nice time in St. George.  We did quite a bit of hiking and visited a couple of historic sights, but the first place that Josh and I went, was our favorite Mexican Restaurant - Don Pedro's.  Charly doesn't like Mexican food (too spicy for him) so Josh and I have made a tradition of having a mother-son lunch at Don Pedro's every time we visit St. George.  The atmosphere is authentic and the food is excellent.

We visited and hiked at one of our favorite state parks which is literally ten minutes from the house we bought last summer.  Here are some pictures from the afternoon we hiked in Snow Canyon State Park.  

The next day, Josh and I left Charly back at the condo where we were staying and hiked another trail which is around a ridge in the middle of St. George with some awesome views of the city.  Here are some pictures of our Temple Quarry Trail hike.  

I'll post a few more pictures of our very nice post-Christmas getaway to St. George in a day or two.  Until then, thanks for visiting. 

😊Deb💖

"To walk in nature is to witness 

a thousand miracles."

~Mary Davis

Thanksgiving Weekend in St. George

If you read my last post, you know that we went to St. George for the Thanksgiving weekend.  My last post was about our Thanksgiving Day, and here is how our Black Friday went down. 

On Friday, we were up early because we needed to go to the country office in St. George to do some paperwork for the house we purchased last summer.  Unfortunately, the country offices were closed for a long Thanksgiving weekend.  Even though we couldn't get our business done, we took a minute to pose with the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln statues in front of the office building. 

Both Abe and Charly had books with them - two book-loving guys. 

After not being able to get our business done at the county offices, we decided to head over to the local mall, which is called the Red Cliffs Mall.

Our main purpose in going to the mall was to visit the Giving Machines. The Giving Machines are actual vending machines that allow you to buy something for someone in need.  Cards in the machines have pictures of different items and what it costs to provide that item to a needy individual.  You select and pay for the item on the card, and 100% of the proceeds go to purchase that item for the person in need.  I bought a chicken, which will probably go to a needy family in a rural area or in another country. Charly purchased a new pillow for a needy child.  We love helping others with the Giving Machines, which is sponsored by the church we belong to and are located in different cities all over the world.  These machines raise millions of dollars for the poor and needy in many different countries. 

After doing a little Black Friday shopping at the mall, we headed over to Snow Canyon State Park to do some hiking.  We hiked on two trails, Jenny's Canyon which leads up to a slot canyon and is Charly's all-time favorite trail, and a section of the Whip Tail Trail that we had not hiked before.  Here are some pictures of our afternoon in beautiful Snow Canyon which is, incidentally, literally ten minutes away from the house we purchased to move into when I retire. 

We had a great afternoon at Snow Canyon State Park. We weren't alone there because it is a popular destination for hikers and bikers, but we enjoyed being out and hiking amongst the gorgeous red cliffs and canyons.

Friday night, we went to see another movie - Red One - a fun action-packed Christmas movie about Santa getting kidnapped.  I was surprised, but I really enjoyed it!  We have not been to a movie for several months, so it was fun to go to two in one weekend.  Charly loves movies so two movies in one weekend was a special treat for him! 

We left to come home Saturday morning and had a safe and smooth drive. It is always good to take a few days off and have a fun getaway, but it is also good to come back home - wherever home is!

Thanks for stopping by to share my Thanksgiving weekend in St. George.  Have a good week and a very happy December!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"If you want to be happy,

have zero expectations of others,

take 100% responsibility for your life,

and be grateful for what you have."

~ anon.