This last weekend I skipped out on Friday's creative writing class to go on the Meadow Park Branch Super Activity. It was totally worth it! We met at the church at 5:30 Friday morning to take a charter bus to St. George. We made a few stops on the way down. First we stopped at a gas station in Nephi to have breakfast. While there, Steph and I found giraffe puppets that, of course, we had to buy. Steph named hers Nephi. I named my Lemuel. :) Well, Zoram Lemuel, but he goes by his middle name. I thought I was pretty funny. We then went to Cove Fort. I had never been there before, but it was a great experience. It was run by President Hinckley's grandfather as a fort for travelers to be safe from Native American attacks. We saw the little house where President Hinckley's father, Bryant, lived as a boy, a cute little cabin with a digital "13.00" in the window. I said that meant 13 minutes until it blew up. We stopped somewhere south of Beaver for lunch. (I only remember Beaver because I had a friend from Beaver, and his high school mascot was the beaver, so they were the Beaver Beaver's.) 
Our final stop was at this cute little house, except it wasn't so little, where we stayed Friday night. I slept in a bedroom with my good friends Kim and Sheena, while Steph slept across the hall with our friend Jeannette. It was HOT, but luckily we had small air conditioners in our bedrooms. From our house we walked a couple blocks to the St. George Temple, the whole purpose for this trip. Our branch goes to different temples and we take a picture with a little figurine of Angel Moroni called Meadow Park Moroni. Most of the group did sealings, while some of us did baptisms.
The baptistery was really cool because it was so old. One of the temple workers told us that earlier that day they had had a stack of names come through of royalty. They had the son of some big king, the 85th Irish king, and a name from 130 B.C. How cool is that?!That evening we got back on the bus to go to Tuacahn Amphitheatre. We had a Golden Corral dinner there and watched some little girls dance provocatively on a stage (I seriously couldn't believe the dances these elementary-aged girls were doing).
We sat for a while and talked, and then we went into the theater to see Tarzan, the musical based off of the Disney movie. It was incredible. My only complaint was that it took too long for them to hook themselves onto the ropes to swing across the stage. I think they need to figure out another way of doing that. Towards the end of the play it started raining, which isn't so good for an outdoor theater. I am sad to say that a lot of people left. 
It was probably hard for the cast because it was opening night of the show, and about half the audience was gone before the end. Some of us stuck it out, and I was really glad we did. Washingtonians do everything in the rain! :)
We sat for a while and talked, and then we went into the theater to see Tarzan, the musical based off of the Disney movie. It was incredible. My only complaint was that it took too long for them to hook themselves onto the ropes to swing across the stage. I think they need to figure out another way of doing that. Towards the end of the play it started raining, which isn't so good for an outdoor theater. I am sad to say that a lot of people left. It was probably hard for the cast because it was opening night of the show, and about half the audience was gone before the end. Some of us stuck it out, and I was really glad we did. Washingtonians do everything in the rain! :)Saturday morning came early after a long day and late night, but I managed to get up and be completely ready to go before the bus picked us up. We went to breakfast and then drove to Zion's National Park. I hadn't been there since I was bigger (a little LaMar humor), and I was amazed at how beautiful it was. The weather was gorgeous. A large portion of our group hiked Angel's Landing, a very difficult hike. Three people have died on it in the last year. Luckily, everyone who went up in our group came back down alive and unharmed.
The rest of us went on smaller hikes. I went with Steph, Kim, Jeannette, Brianna, and President & Mama Moyes (all from the Branch) to the Emerald Pools. It was a good hike--not too strenuous but enough to be sore for the next few days. Just as we were finishing our hike it started to rain. We ate lunch and then headed over to the gift shops. I walked around for a little bit, but I was cold and tired, so I went back to the bus. Once everyone was back we left for home.
The rest of us went on smaller hikes. I went with Steph, Kim, Jeannette, Brianna, and President & Mama Moyes (all from the Branch) to the Emerald Pools. It was a good hike--not too strenuous but enough to be sore for the next few days. Just as we were finishing our hike it started to rain. We ate lunch and then headed over to the gift shops. I walked around for a little bit, but I was cold and tired, so I went back to the bus. Once everyone was back we left for home.The best part of the trip was the ride home. I took a few naps here and there, but mostly I just sat and listened to the people around me. The group I was sitting with started playing the one-word story game. Eventually I joined in. We started out with a nonsense story, but then we decided to tell a fairytale. That one didn't work out so well. So then we started a mystery. It was about a girl named Amy (one of the girls in our group) who goes into her sauna to find Richard dead with a knife in his back. The knife belonged to her ex, but we didn't know which ex it was. As the story unfolded, we discovered that Amy had an ex-husband, ex-lover, ex-father-in-law, ex-lover, and ex-fiance. She also had a current father-in-law (though strangely no husband) named Craig, and two dogs--the Elf-speaking Jeff (one of the boys in our group)
and the diseased Carl. We also had a mailman and a man named Mustard. Richard ended up being the ex-husband, Mustard was the ex-lover, and the mailman was the ex-fiance. In the end Jeff revealed Mustard to be the murderer. The plot was very detailed. We told the story for about three hours. We wanted to keep going, but a couple people on the bus wanted to watch The Princess Bride. We were all kind of irritated because we wanted to continue telling our story, but we had to stop for the two people who ended up watching the movie. While most of the story was elaborate, the ending was very rushed so they could start the movie. We all got so into the the plot, and we were theorizing what would happen, who the murder was and his motive, we were bringing in new characters and objects, and although we were the ones creating the story, we were still trying to "figure it out." I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Our story has been quite the Facebook topic, and when Jeff spoke in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday he said, "I'm sorry my talk isn't prepared so well. Carl was supposed to help me write it, but he was diseased or something." Those of us who had been involved in the story busted up. Later, in the Sunday School lesson, another comment was made about Carl. This story will not be quickly forgotten!
and the diseased Carl. We also had a mailman and a man named Mustard. Richard ended up being the ex-husband, Mustard was the ex-lover, and the mailman was the ex-fiance. In the end Jeff revealed Mustard to be the murderer. The plot was very detailed. We told the story for about three hours. We wanted to keep going, but a couple people on the bus wanted to watch The Princess Bride. We were all kind of irritated because we wanted to continue telling our story, but we had to stop for the two people who ended up watching the movie. While most of the story was elaborate, the ending was very rushed so they could start the movie. We all got so into the the plot, and we were theorizing what would happen, who the murder was and his motive, we were bringing in new characters and objects, and although we were the ones creating the story, we were still trying to "figure it out." I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Our story has been quite the Facebook topic, and when Jeff spoke in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday he said, "I'm sorry my talk isn't prepared so well. Carl was supposed to help me write it, but he was diseased or something." Those of us who had been involved in the story busted up. Later, in the Sunday School lesson, another comment was made about Carl. This story will not be quickly forgotten!
