ST. GEORGE, UTAH--SEPT. 3-6, 2010

LABOR DAY WEEKEND
Tom was in Korea and Doug had been gone so much he wanted to work on his antiques, so Hillary, her kids and I decided to travel to St. George to see Andrea, Matt and the kids!  We had so much fun swimming (we stayed in Dad's condos for three nights), eating out, visiting Old Town St. George and just being together!!

Adelyn and Elsie showing you the wonderful pool at the condo!

Cohen thought it was pretty cool also.

Andrea and Hillary with their sons born seven days apart!

We just had to eat at "In n Out Burger" (we're getting one in Centerville--it's being built right now) and Rett dipped his French fry in catsup for the first time!

He liked the ketchup so much he started dipping his finger without the fry!

Judd's Store--The home behind the store was built in 1879 and the store was added at a later date. 

In 1911, the store was purchased by the Judd Family and became a general mercantile and "sweet shop."

Still open for business, customers can still enjoy sodas in glass bottles, candy we bought as kids, ice cream and snow cones.

Remember the red and black licorice pipes we used to buy?  Well, you can still purchase them for $1.25 each.

This was just a junior cone!?!

The snow cones weren't too small also!

Cohen and I watching the kids wade through a lazy river in Town Square Park that has shade pavilions for people to relax on a hot sunny day (103 degrees that day).  They also have a splash pad fountain with jets that the kids played in.

Rett turned one year on August 26th.

We took a one-hour tour of the St. George Tabernacle, which was very well air-conditioned!

The Tabernacle was built of native, hand-quarried sandstone (still shows the individual chisel marks made by craftsmen) by struggling pioneers--dedicated in 1876 after 13 years of construction.

This was the tabernacle where Pres. Lorenzo Snow had his vision of  Tithing while he was speaking to the congregation!

Front pulpit--organ area

One of two spiral, free-standing staircases that were hand-carved, complete with balustrades and railing.

The upper balcony has these cool wrought-iron chairs that were originally in the Salt Lake Temple.

Grapes were grown in the St. George Valley, and when Brother Holland was growing up there he counted 184 clusters of grapes (cast from mouldings) around the ceiling cornice as he attended church meetings in the Tabernacle (Some of those sermons were really long!).  The flower is the cotton blossom.  St. George is the largest of all the towns founded during the LDS Church's Cotton Mission of 1861. 

Originally these chandeliers were made of cast iron, but were replicated using aluminum!

Faux painting to make pine doors look like oak...

...and pine columns to look like marble.

All prophets, except Joseph Smith, have spoken from this podium.

There's quite the story to these 2,244 panes of glass in the windows--80 percent are original.  The windows were ordered from New York City.  The glass couldn't be brought across the plains in a bouncing wagon, but transported by ship around South America and into the Los Angeles Harbor.  Before the glass could be released, a freight bill of $800 had to be paid....

...Only $200 had been raised, but Peter Neilson had saved $600 in gold pieces to enlarge his tiny two-room adobe house.  He knew of the window dilemna and walked to St. George just as the wagons were ready to leave for California.  This is a picture of Peter placing $600 in gold into David Cannon's hands. 

Ancestor Square--This was a 1937 Chevrolet fire engine parked in Ancestor Square, which is a part of the St. George Historic District.  A unique collection of shops, galleries and restaurants are located here.

Can you believe the expression on Cohen's face as he appears to be looking at the sign!

The kids had fun playing on the fire engine.

This life-sized horse made of discarded metal objects is also on the Square.


Thanks Matt, Andrea, Hillary and five of our grandkids for making this such a fun weekend!!!