It's a Hard Rock Life, For Us.

I somehow convinced Viv and Jerry to drive for a million hours to meet up with us in Southern Utah. Then Viv found an incredible Airbnb in an actual CAVE. Pretty soon Rachel was in too, and the stage was set for a grand adventure. Some highlights:

An exchange overheard at a truckstop:
"My sister's boyfriend says it's not so bad in Garfield county."
"Well, I guess I'll go to prison here then."

A game of Truth or Dare:
- Jerry made Lucy eat an ant
- Hugo stuck oreos to Viv's face
- Carrie had to lick Vivian's ear (although Carrie's ear was voted most lickable)
- Levi made Vivian lick a rock ("A long lick.")
- Lucy made Theo dab

Finding out that of all the actors in the world, Vivian would choose to go to space with Jeff Goldblum.

Grant, our Airbnb host, explaining how he blasted his 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, multi-level, 5700 sq ft house out of the rock with dynamite, "Well, there is kind've an art to it."

Fitting 370 pounds of Ashby girl onto one small inflatable pool toy cupcake.

Carrie being sure she'd spotted a constellation: "That trapezoid, with the pointy hat." The skeptical group naming it 'Trappy'. Levi renaming it 'Crappy'.

Stargazing in general, on the roof of the red sandstone cave house. And the satellite highway. Incredible.

Playing a dance game in which Vivian just couldn't contain herself to 4 beats of music.

Conversations with Hugo:
     V: The man who owns the house where we're staying might be around some of the time.
...long pause...
     H: Well I hope he doesn't have a mustache.

and
     H:  I hate life.
     V: Aww, sweetie, why? What's wrong?
     H, sniffly: Everything cute is mean. Like baby panthers.

Calf Creek Falls. What a place.

Playing German Spotlight in the dark. Rachel: "My heart is actually pounding!"

Feeding carrots to the beautiful horses.

Cutting Theo off at 3 'Your Mom' jokes/day, then using them as currency to pay him to run errands for us.

Your Mom's a goofball.

"Your Mom's a hot juicy mess."

"Your Mom's a pants-less ogre."

Uh Oh's Senior Portrait

Uh Oh Stormtrooper stowing away in one of the backpacks like he really wanted to come on the trip.

Jerry playing the guitar in the cave house, the music drifting through the cool, sunlit rooms.

Chatting with Gwen as we hiked along.

Tough kids making through not one, but two, 6-mile hot desert hikes. Hugo getting the tired, hysterical giggles at about mile 5. ("I'm just thinking about the Octonauts.")

Hearing the happy
voices of my family echoing back to me through the narrow caverns of the slot canyon.

Realizing that the instructions of how to get to the cave house, "Drive into the creek," did NOT mean "Drive across the creek," but that we literally had to drive downstream for awhile.

Waking up in the morning to find the Thomases and Rachel in the same house as me!

Dynamite-made swimming holes are still swimming holes, they're just dynamite-made.

Truth or Dare

Can you find the Jerry that lives in Rachel's hat?

Putting the squeeze on Gwen.

Leveling Up