Fun In Panaca???

If any of you are aware of the small town Panaca, hidden the middle of nowhere just past the Nevada border, you'd never think to travel there for fun. But regardless of how it may appear, that's just what we did! Unbeknown to me, there happens to be a small pond nestled in it's tiny valley, sprouting a warm spring, making it ideal for swimming almost year round. The weather was perfect, and the temperature to die for; it had to be somewhere around 85 degrees! The perfect break from St. George's sizzling summer heat. What possessed this strange adventure? My best friend from my teenage years, that's who! Anna, one of my FAVORITE people in the entire world was down in New Castle for the first time in TWO years and we finally got together! Growing up, Anna was someone I looked up to, admired, and absolutely LOVED, still do! She's the kind of person everyone dreams of aspiring to and would give anything to have for a friend. I've hated living so far from her; every time Mike and I talked about moving and contemplated moving up north, Anna is always the first person to enter my mind and I'd move up there just for her if I could! But unfortunately, life happens, and it never goes the way we planned. But lucky for me, she finally made it down for a visit and invited the girls and I along on a grand adventure to the middle of nowhere, and we loved every second of it!

This is Anna, her daughter L (On her blog, she never uses her daughters names, only refers to them as L and M, not sure if it's because she doesn't want their names on the internet, or it's just easier to type. But either way, I will just refer to them as she does), and Ester, Anna's little sister. Here's the small group of us that drove up to the pond, from left to right: Anna, L, Jill (my mom's neighbor and good family friend), Clara (another sister of Anna's), Ester, Wendy (Anna's Mom), M (Anna's daughter), me holding Kayla, and the little guy in the front with the crazy goggles is Jerome (Jill's son). Not pictured would be Kylie, having a little trouble at first with getting in the water, and my mom who's taking the picture. That's the small group of ours that made the drive to the middle of the desert. David, Anna's husband, unfortunately was still in Salt Lake working, and Mike ironically was also in Salt Lake for a business meeting. So it was just a bunch of girls and little boy sorely out numbered.

There was actually a rope hanging off the tree behind Kylie (which you can't see at this angle), perfect for the classic swinging and dropping into the water.

Kayla

The pound was swarming with tadpoles! When I asked Kylie what she had in the bucket, she told me, "A tapo and it gon make a fog!" Ha ha, so cute! Kylie was in heaven, she love's all things pertaining to water. Grandpa Nebeker has a big fish tank, filled with all sorts of fish, frogs, snails, and even lizards; only feeding her love of water and animals!

Me and my girls! Kayla absolutely LOVED the water! You can see her trying to pull my hand off of her so she could go off exploring without me! If only she knew how to swim I would have gladly let her. It didn't take long for Kylie to venture out and fall in love with it just as much as her sister.

Before we were done Kayla was warn out! So she slept in the car while we finished enjoying the wonderful cooler weather and warm water.

I only hope it doesn't take another two years for old friends to get together! Thanks Anna for inviting us along and being the worlds greatest friend!