Soccer leads us to Cedar City(southwest UT), every year in June, for Utah Summer Games. Four days of soccer, opening ceremonies, THEE best fireworks show EVER, and other adventures around the coolest red rocks(last year, we visited Cedar Breaks and Zion) and sites to see.
This year, we rented a little house referred to as “The Cottage,” by it’s owners. It’s a quaint little two bedroom home on 200 east, in town. Just off busy Main Street, with a nice little fenced in side yard bordered with beautiful rose bushes. Unfortunately, we missed the peak bloom of the bushes, by maybe a week, but I did manage to find a handful of roses to snip and display in the kitchen. The boys were so excited to find the cottage had a cool mail slot, through the wall, next to the red front door. They were pumped when the mailman came to the door(Brad convinced him when he was in route to the neighbors box) with (junk)mail. A big thank you Mr. Mailman.
The weather was warm… low 90’s, but with the high speed wind, it maybe felt like mid 70’s. This left most of us pretty weathered and sun beaten, but it’s better than rain. Have you ever witnessed a “Dust Devil?” We saw so many, to and from the games. Very cool.
Brad found a newly volunteer built play structure, just south of town, called “The Park Discovery.” We took the three littles there, while Maizy and Hope spent this time with their soccer mates.
We ventured off to a nationally registered historical site 30 or so miles north, in Parowan, called the “Parowan Gap.” There we found the petroglyphs inscribed in the rock faces, which are believed by archaeoastronomers to have been marked to help early civilizations understand seasonal changes and allow them to plan their personal fertility and birthing cycles. With the summer solstice, next week, we went at sunset to feel the amazement of past generations speak to us through their drawings. The wind was very gusty. The sun was so intense and fell brilliantly right in the center of the gap and into a very heavy cloud. It glowed pink, through the cloud, as we drove off down the deserted Gap Road. We were the only ones there to witness it’s greatness, on this day, in this gathering place of meaning, so many years before. Laik and Oedi both fell victim to the sandman, on our trip to the Gap, and didn’t wake up until we were on our way back home.
Maizy’s U14 Logan Lynx team had a bit of an uphill battle, it would seem, right out of the gates. A couple too many losses managed to put them in the running for nothing more than the bronze medal, if they could pull off a win, in the end. They played their hearts out and kept their wits about them against a VERY dirty, foul-mouthed team and pulled through with the WIN! 3-1! It might as well have been a gold medal. Being the victors of the bronze, in the end, was a great way to finish Summer Games.
We were unable to attend the medal ceremony, due to an awesome opportunity I was given to be a “second shooter” with a top local, Northern UT photographer, Kylee Ann, of Kylee Ann Photography. More to come, about the wedding on the next post.
