Little Jamaica

 We were feeling adventurous this trip and felt like we might as well try another new thing with our LeBaron family — so Joseph and Maggie came up with a visit to "little Jamaica" just south of the gorge that connects SG to Mesquite. We were all following different and not perfectly precise directions and also kept losing cell and internet reception in the gorge while trying to meet up with Mag and her kids (John and Krista were in town for the weekend and met up in SG to follow behind us). But, in the end we made it to this most random spot where we parked our cars and hoped we'd find a cool waterfall or water of any kind for these excited kids to play in.

 We hiked for like 3 minutes and then boom there it was — right under a free way overpass! But honestly it was really cool...maybe a little ghetto but lots of fun and totally new and exciting!

 I was worried the path down would be slippery but it was really solid and even though it was steep it was not a problem to keep our footing and wind our way down to the pools and waterfall.

 The whole group with a cute little Krista and Finn cameo up top!

 Our own desert version of the "fern grotto" — not quite like Kauai but it still reminded me of it. Such a lush and wet oasis in the middle of nowhereville Utah (we might have been in a tiny pocket of Arizona actually...can't remember for sure!)

 Lots of fun in the rushing waterfall

 Mag took this picture of me before I ventured down to join the group in the water. The pic shows the pool down one level and then the Virgin River running down below that. It was remarkably clear and pretty and we ended up playing in that for a while too (it did have good doses of moss and a fairly strong current so I didn't let Luke play in the deep parts — I could just imagine him being swept away so easily in his life jacket!)

It was such a random, fun experience with people we love. After our crazy outing we opted for a little more water play back at the main street splash pad where we could relax and let the kids play freely (no worries about currents or waterfalls or slippery, rocky trails!) while we hung out and chatted. We are so spoiled to have so many great cousins and family to play with. We think it's a huge blessing and hope our kids always have great cousin friendships with both their Smith and LeBaron cousins — they are the coolest kids and we love them all.