I got a job and moved to St George. True to what I had been told by a close friend, “Once you get the red dirt of St George in your blood, it never leaves.” I loved living in St George. After a short time of living here I received a promotion and was transferred. It became my dream to have a home in St George when I retire. I could winter in St George and summer in my home in Sandy. When I met my
beautiful bride Stephanie we got engaged in St George on the Dixie Rock. I kept telling her about my dream of having a home in St George. It took me about 10 years to convince her that it was “our” dream. But she finally caught the vision and we started to make plans. We were blessed in our journey to have 3 wonderful children. Logan is our oldest, followed by Noah and last but definitely not least our Olivia. Our plan was to start looking for a home in St George in February 2015. That timing worked perfect with Stephanie’s plan to return to teaching school again that fall when our Olivia started in school. In November 2013, Stephanie was rediagnosed with breast cancer. We had caught it early a couple years before that and thought that chapter was behind us. Stephanie battled cancer just like she did everything with a smile, a positive attitude and strength. No matter how she felt or what was going on when she was asked how she felt she would say with a smile, “Today’s a good day!”
In January 2015 with a smile on her face, surrounded by her family Stephanie passed away peacefully. Being true the promise I made her several times that we would laugh and play and have fun. We have continued forward. We do fun things and find the joy and happiness in bendy straws. We laugh and celebrate life and Stephanie. We decided there was no reason not to continue with what started as my dream and became our family dream of a place in St George. In March 2015 our search began. We fell in love with the beauty of this area and peacefulness we felt when we were here. When we signed the papers, this location was an empty lot. The kids and I have watched each step in the building of our home. Within the walls of the LIONS Den you can find love notes that were written to their mom on the 2x4’s. On the ceiling beams you can find written the names and dates of all the important events in our family. This home has been a work of love and healing for our family. When we moved in we did a balloon launch from the front deck with love notes written on them that we sent to heaven. Right after the purchase of our home I asked the kids what we should name this place and Noah (then 9) said LIONS. He went on to explain that it stood for L=Logan, I = Ivan (my name is Ivan Neal and I go by Neal), O = Olivia, N = Noah and S = Stephanie. It felt like the perfect name for our home so it became The LIONS Den. On Stephanie’s bucket list was to hold a lion. We were trying to make that happen for her but by the time we found a place where that could happen she was too weak to make to trip. When Noah came up with the name we realized that Stephanie didn’t get to hold a wild animal but she did get to hold a LION everyday through all of us! We hope that while you are at the LIONS Den that you make memories to last a lifetime, find joy and peace within these walls and that you love all the people that surround you! The Summers Family - Neal, Stephanie, Logan, Noah and Olivia
