Today’s adventure finds us in Cedar City, Utah, not a spectacular location, but it holds some awesome things.  Our first stop was Three Peaks Recreation Area, it’s a county run OHV park, set up for off-highway use, bicycles, motorcycles, etc.  It’s awesome, not only does it have trails everywhere, but great picnic areas, bathrooms, rocks and views, and it’s clean too.  One of the better built government owned facilities.  Then we went downtown, parking was a hassle because it was the Heritage Festival parade, they run 2500 sheep right down through the middle of town for this one, it not only celebrates the heritage of the area, but also gives the ranchers an opportunity to move their sheep from the high country.  Lots of folks turned out for the parade, we parked in the back and snuck in one of my favorite stores.

Gem Jewelers is a locally owned jewelry store.  Kevin and Tyrell Taysom do incredible work here.  They are both professional jewelers and build most of the jewelry they sell.  Gorgeous stuff, from elk jewelry to wedding sets.  Kevin tells me they survive mostly on repairs (these come in from a multi-state area) and custom jewelry.  Because there are so many chain stores now, not many shops will customize jewelry as they do.  We were shopping for a wedding ring.  When we were here in May, I bought Big’s wedding band, I’ve been carrying it around with me since.  When we first got engaged, over two years ago, we bought an engagement ring off ebay for me.  It was a great deal, no it was a screaming deal, and I had to have it, because I couldn’t see being engaged without a ring.  Just me being me, I guess.  He had asked me once what needed to happen before we got married, I told him, I want my ring upgraded.

All he got was the hat 🙂

We looked closely at the diamonds and the settings, the ones I liked were custom built right on site.  The lighting is so beautiful in there the bling was blinding me.  I had to go outside and look at the rings in the shadows.  We ended up buying a beautiful custom ring from Kevin.  I am a lucky girl, and if ever you are wondering about the jewelry business, and how to shop for diamonds, bypass the mall, make a little road trip to Cedar City and talk to these guys.  They will show you their albums with photos of all the work they’ve done.  Trust is the number one thing you need when talking jewelry and I trust these guys implicitly.  Thanks Kevin, together with Big, you made a happy girl.  These guys have now taken away my all my excuses…what to do now?