Jared and I had a gorgeous trip to St. George together earlier this week. My wonderful parents came and stayed with the kids for 3 days while Jared and I visited some of his St. George family and toured most of the houses in the St. George Parade of Homes. We love doing a Parade of Homes together because it's a cost-effective date if you plan to do most of the homes, and we both love being inspired by the architecture and interiors. The St. George Parade is particularly refreshing because the desert home styles are really different from what we see in Northern Utah, particularly on the home exteriors. And of course, it's also lovely to escape the cold in February and be somewhere where we don't even need a jacket during the day.
It's fun to dream together, even if most of the homes are pretty outlandish. I like asking, "How can I take what I see here and scale it way back to achieve it in a Jared-and-Laura-sized home?" Jared loves the Parade Homes even more than I do, if that's possible. He likes to dream and crunch numbers and imagine that buying a Parade home would one day be possible. A smaller St. George parade townhome maybe would be possible, if the home prices in all of Utah didn't keep ballooning in the way they have been lately. We were shocked to discover that homes in St. George are currently costing nearly DOUBLE per square footage what we're seeing in Utah Valley. We didn't realize just how popular it's become. St. George in the winter reminds Jared of all the best parts about growing up in Arizona. It was refreshing to have a few days just the two of us now that we've finished moving to Utah and worked through the most stressful parts of the move.
^^These red rocks are nostalgic for both of us--they remind Jared of growing up in Arizona and me of childhood trips to Moab. I wouldn't be mad about a winter home in Ivins, with this backdrop.
^^This home was one of our very favorites. Our next house will likely have a lovely dining area with big windows like this. We love the idea of adding natural stone and wood shelves like these to one of the walls someday. I've been loving this look on Pinterest for years, but it was even better in person.
^^I love a powder bath that goes all out.
^^Nearly every home had a bunk room (meaning they are likely either vacation homes, or homes for grandparents who want to be able to host all their grandkids). This one was my favorite: rodeo-themed wallpaper and these cute Swiss cross cutouts. I loved the powder blue trim and ceiling, too.
^^Dinner at Xetava. We discovered this artsy garden restaurant in Ivins last time we visited St. George. I am wondering if it is under new management or if they maybe got a new chef--everything was fresh and delicious, but maybe not quite as good as the last time we went. The people watching was great. There was a sweet older couple, maybe in their 80s, who we could tell were on a second or third date together seated near us. That was adorable.
^^There's a fun newish community in St. George called Desert Color. It's built around this enormous "Lagoon" that is one of the largest swimming pools in the country/world. The houses around it are impressive and expensive. Normally I feel only inspired by the parade homes, but I'll admit to feeling a little dizzy at the scope and lifestyle of these ones. This one was 5 levels tall, each level the size of our house, and designed by a world-renowned interior designer. One day it would be fun to go in with a bunch of other families and spend a few nights vacationing in one of these. They all sleep like 30-40 people, so if you split the cost up it might actually be doable.
^^We loved this wallpaper/mural.
^^On our way out of town we swung over to this final cottage right outside Zion National Park, sitting on several acres of vineyard. Wow. What a cool way to live. We were a little shocked by how many of these multi-million-dollar homes are for sale--the vineyard cottage being one of them. Seems like a risky construction move to build a house this custom and expensive without a buyer already lined up. But hey, I'm guessing the St. George market is hot enough that they have no trouble selling them.
^^The day after we got home from St. George, I took Alice to her first allergist appointment in over a year. The appointment was miserable--3 hours long, with an enormous panel of allergens to scratch test on her back. She screamed and cried--it took forever and was miserable to try and keep her holding still and not touching anything on her back, which would ruin the test. Her Washington allergist never tested more than 10 allergens at a time, which I appreciated. But it's also nice to knock this many out at once and not have to go back for more tests in the future I guess. Most of these were testing for household and seasonal allergens, since there have been some mild asthma concerns, which goes hand-in-hand with allergies.
The main purpose for this visit was to check in on Alice's peanut allergy. If you recall, she had 5 or 6 food allergies last time we tested, when she was one year old. The most severe one was her peanut allergy. We were instructed to stay away from peanuts entirely and keep an epi pen on hand, but give her the other foods frequently (like eggs and tomatoes) and in tiny amounts to try and help her outgrow them. She grew out of all her other food allergies and hasn't had any hives or allergic reactions in a year now, but we of course didn't ever mess with peanuts at home. I was curious to see if there was any chance she'd outgrown the peanut allergy as well, and to check in on her sesame and sunflower allergies. The wonderful news is that the miserable appointment was worth it--each and every item on her scratch test came back negative! We will need to have some additional bloodwork done to verify, and then have her try peanuts at her allergist's office before she's cleared to have them at home, but we are really optimistic that our little girl will be able to eat peanuts going forward without going into anaphylactic shock! I cried happy tears on the way home, and it took me right back to crying scared tears on the way home from her first allergist appointment when she was 9 months old. We have come full circle and I'm so relieved and happy for Alice. Hooray.
^^Grandma and Grandpa Lambert stayed at our house for two nights this week! The kids were in heaven. Jared's cousin was getting married so they came for the wedding, but then had to take off quickly for work and a prior engagement in North Carolina to babysit our niece Mae.
^^Jared's cousins' kids together at the reception. Jack was so weirded out by this. All of Jared's aunts and uncles and cousins were gushing over Jack and talking to him like they were old friends, but he of course didn't remember any of them because the last time we saw them he was a toddler haha. I'm excited we'll get to spend more time with Jared's extended family now that many of us have moved back to Utah. And glad we were there at the reception when we were--Jared's uncle (father of the groom) passed out from a sudden change in blood pressure while we were there. It was nice to have Jared there to help out and check in on him throughout the evening.
