Road Warriors

 Since my boys are in year round school this year and they had 3 weeks off in Sept/Oct I decided that it would be a perfect time to hit the road and visit family for 2 weeks.  I've never driven farther than 7 hours by the myself with all four kids so I have to admit that I was a little anxious and maybe a bit over my head, but I have to say that the kids surprised me.  They were actually really good travelers except for a few restless moments where both the kids and I are thinking to ourselves, "what were we thinking?!"  This was going to be a trip where we could take our time and see some country that we've never seen before.  All very exciting to me.

MESA VERDE, CO

Ok, so our first stop was Farmington, NM.  I know, not all that exciting, just a place to crash.  Jesse got us a place with an indoor pool so that the kids could get their energy out.  So, we swam and the next morning took off for the Pueblo's in Mesa Grande, CO.  I had seen pics as a kid of this place and thought how awesome it would be to visit it.  Well, I'm sad to say that once we got there I made the call that it was going to be too dangerous and stressful to handle all the kids while taking the 1 hour tour.  In order to go down you have to take the tour, but the tour guide said that you have to climb a 15 ft wooden ladder and then at the end there's about a 70 stair (the stairs he said are about 18 inches steep) "hike" to get out.  So considering that Bella isn't always wanting to be held and I didn't have a toddler pack to hike with I had to say no.  Maybe when she's Claire's age we'll come back.  The kids were disappointed that we couldn't go down and I felt bad considering that we just wasted 2 1/2 hours with that detour.  But, it was sure a sight to see.

MOAB, UT

Next...Moab, UT.  I LOVE Moab!  I want to stay there a few days and just take it all in.  We stopped at one of my favorite places to stop and that's the Hole in the Rock place.  We all just marveled at the scrap metal sculptures and the jeep made out of recycled license plates.  We wanted to take the tour of the house built under the Rock, but Bella was asleep and so I didn't want to waste that precious naptime so we hit the road until we got to Arches National Park.  I always forget how deep that park is and by this time it's about to get dark and I know I have a good 3 hour drive before I get to Beth's house in Provo.  So, we hurry and try to see as much as we can of that place since the kids have never been there.  We got out and took a quick hike so the kids could see some of the amazing rocks up close. 

We got to Beth's house around 10 that night.  I slept sooo good that night.  We hung out with Beth the next morning a bit while she nannied a little girl and then took off to Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  This whole trip I've just been constantly surprised at the different kinds of beauty that the Earth possesses.  It was just a perfect time of the year to enjoy it all.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT

Temple Square is always a treat to visit because of the History hear of the Mormon Pioneers and the meaning the Temple has for me.  We met two sister missionaries who took us to the visitor center and one was from Czechoslovakia and the other from Mongolia.  They were so sweet and we all just adored them after only knowing them for 15 or so min.  We ate at the ever so yummy Lion House Cafe which used to be Brigham Young's Home and then we set off on the road again with our destination headed for my sister Janet's house in Shelley, ID. 

SHELLEY, IDAHO

I was sooo happy to finally make it to my sisters house!  This was my "we made it" message to Jesse to let him know we made it ok.  I just love my big sister!

After making it to Janet's house we took a day to just relax and enjoy each others company.  They have such a fun place for kids to explore.  Claire was in heaven playing with the cats.  All the kids played so well together and it was a great bonding time for them. They also had 20 or so chickens and a pig named pepper.  The kids spent most of their time outside.  Janet took us to Idaho Falls (seven min from her house).  Bryce was dying to go to a skate park so we found one.  It was probably his favorite ever.  It's the place that he finally learned how to skate and land a "dip."  Here's the video of him doing it.  He's so proud. :) 

WYOMING!

The next day drove to Wyoming.  We visited a plave called Granite Creek I think and it had a pretty water fall with a few natural hot springs.  I've never swam in a hot spring before so I was so surprised at how really "hot" it actually was.  In order to get to the hot spring we had to cross a FREEZING river.  Jordan carried all 7 kids across.  I know how painful that must have been. 

 Bryce ended up loosing a sandle and cut his heal on a rock.  Again, I'm just amazed at the beauty everywhere!  I was ready to just pack up and move (but, the below zero weather in the winter thought keeps me from doing that).  We had a great time with Janet, Jordan and the kids and it was very hard leaving my sister knowing that it would be a long time before I would get to see her again.  We cried when it was time to go.                                   

BOISE, ID!

We took a 4 hour detour to Boise becuase I have friends there that I haven't seen in YEARS and so I thought it would be silly not to be so close and not make the effort to visit.  First, I visited one of my roommates from College Sara (one of the best people I know).  I'm so bummed that I forgot to take her picture.  She hasn't changed a bit and judgeing from her adorable kids she's an awesome mom and wife.  We drove down the street and met up with one of our best friends from Optometry school, the Crawfords.  I know it killed Jesse not being able to be there, but we'll definately be back.  Jenalee is pregnant with Twins and looks wonderful!  Our oldest Bryce used to play with Savanah  (their oldest) when they were little and so to see her all grown and the other two getting so big it was just sooo shocking.  But, we just picked right up where we left off and had a great visit. 

PROVO & CEDAR CITY, UT

Back to Utah!  We hung out with Beth again and enjoyed watching Whitney and Brooke play around with their cousins on the trampoline.  We took off the next day towards Cedar City, out last stop before we would meet Jesse in Pheonix. Connie was just a few days shy of her due date.  I was hoping she would go into labor while I was there, but we all know how that panned out.  :)  

One day we hung out at the Skate Park and all the kids had a great time.  All their rear ends and hands were just black because they kept sliding down the ramps. 

 We watched Ben's flag football game and saw him in action.  Things looked pretty rough out there, but they won of course. One night Connie took us to a place called Fun Time Inflatables.  Need I say more?

 The kids thought they had just died and gone to heaven. What a great time they had..  I think the highlight for me was going to a Shakespear Festival Play, The Diary of Ann Frank with Cindy and Connie.  The actors were right on in their acting and there were a few times where I got emotional thinking of how it must have been for the Jewish people losing family.

The little ones would crash hard at night but the big kids we could hear laughing til the late hours of the night.  :) 

PHEONIX, AZ

We left at the crack of dawn to pick up Jesse at the Airport in Pheonix for some R&R. 

It was soooo nice to finally meet up with Jesse!   You never realize how much you rely on your spouse until you don't have them there with you.  We spent the weekend at a Resort called Cibola Verde and spent our time by the pool as much as possible.  One night though we went to an amusement park called Castles and Coasters.  It was the perfect place for our age of children.  They had a nice array of rides for all ages and we pretty much had the park to ourselves since it was a school night.  Bryce and Claire were the dare devils that night, although I was proud of Cameron for facing a few of his fears.  Bryce rode the Sky Diver 9 times that night.  He would've rode more, but I was thinking it probably wasn't that great for his health doing it all back to back. :)  Jesse and I rode it once and that was all I needed.  So scary.  Bryce rode his first upside down rollar coaster with me.  Cameron had his first experience on a coaster also.  Claire rode with Jesse for the first time on a coaster and she LOVED it!  I rode the Carosel with Bella numerous time.  Here she is having a good time.

Jesse and I rode the sky diver with Bryce, but once was good enough for me!  Pretty scary. 

  The whole trip was just WONDERFUL and I felt so good making the effort to go.  I've been realizing that making the sacrifice really benefits a family relationship and it builds memories that you'll have for a lifetime.  All in all the kids and I visited 5 STATES!  We were so close to going on detours towards Oregon, Calfornia and Nevada to say that we conquered the west, but we just ran out of time.  I'm looking forward to going back someday. 

Trying out something new.

The boys are involved with all sorts of activities whether it be sports or camps and poor Claire has sat and waited on the sidelines to be of age to do some of those things.  When I noticed the pre school Gymnastics class offered at the Rec Center I signed her up!  We got there and I noticed that there was only one other girl there that day and so I knew the class was going to be small.  Thus, giving me the courage to ask the teachers to let Bella try the class out even though she's only 2.  I knew that Bella could do everything the older girls could do.  The teachers were also convinced after about the first 5 min of class.  They ended up letting Bella join the class and so every tuesday and thursday the girls were sooo excited for Gymnastics.  In the beginning Bella couldn't do a front roll, but by the end of the week she could.  Claire loved getting to wear the leotards probably the most.  As the classes went on they grew in size and we parents sat on the sidelines just grinning and laughing at how cute they all were.

Enjoying the fruits of your labor.

After months of dreaming of a lush, green yard my dream has finally come to a reality that we've been able to enjoy this summer. It wasn't easy though. I spent many hours raking and raking, spreading seed and alfalfa on the seed (a wonderful trick I might add; I saw results in 2 days as compared to just some sprouts here and there after 2 weeks of waiting without the alfalfa on top). Anyhow, one day I'm mowing the lawn, the kids are inside playing video games (we let them on the weekends only) and I'm thinking to myself...."I wouldn't be a good parent if I didn't make my kids learn the value of work. I have two boys who are perfectly capable to mow the lawn. They're gonna sweat with me dang it!" So, I turned off the tube and within minutes of teaching them how to safely maneuver a lawn mower Bryce was mowing lines all over the place. I told him he could do it however he wanted. Once he figured out what he was doing was going to take more time he finally decided to go with the standard lines. Cameron could barely push it so I helped him a bit. We raked the grass clippings, sweat some more we then enjoyed a nice push pop. I want them to learn the value of work, that's it's not always easy, but good for you. You know what I mean. They have a long way to go though before they can mow lawns for a business. :)

Til' we meet again Grandma

In August my Grandma Smith passed away peacefully in her sleep. Bless her heart. The funeral service was nice and I loved seeing my cousins whom I haven't seen in years. These flowers were in bloom the day of the funeral which happened to be one of my Grandmothers favorite flowers. They lined the side of the road everywhere. Very pretty and they will always remind me of her.

Thankfully I was able to have a nice visit twice before she passed.Once with my mom, and sisters Jeanine and June. Next, with my other sister Janet who drove down from Idaho. It's been a year and a half since I last saw Janet and so the reunion with her and her kids was very nice. We knew our Grandma was going downhill fast after getting very sick with kidney stones and diabetes. It's been 8 years since Grandpa died (the day Bryce was born) and we're all happy knowing that she'll be reunited with him. I'm so thankful that I know the true meaning of life and that Family is the most important thing.

My first visit with her this summer she was already bedridden and not very coherent in her speaking, but when all of us girls came in and she saw us standing beside her bed she started to cry and mumbelled, "You're all here, you're all here." There wasn't a dry eye in the room. We had to communicate by writting on a dry erase board because her hearing was so far gone. It broke my heart everytime I would leave thinking of her just laying in bed day after day and that it was going to be the last time I saw her alive. But, I must say I was a bit relieved knowing she's reunited with her husband.

Looking back on this summer I was thinking how often I was able to see my sisters and parents. It's reminded me how much they mean to me and how if you let yourself get too busy family relationships can slowly fade. When we get together it's always a big laugh fest.

I loved my Grandma very much and I have very fond memories of her. Mostly, from my childhood when my sisters and I would come and spend weeks with her in the summer. If we weren't playing hide and go seek, walking down to the park, or learning how to crochet, we were begging her to make her delicious burritos with mac n cheese. It still makes my mouth water just thinking about her canned pickles! What I'll miss most about her is her pleasant face and her laugh. She had a contagious laugh; one that sounded like someone from the south and the laugh would come straight from the belly! (hard to explain, but I can just hear it now). My dad tells me that I resemble her a bit. I think I do share some of her features. I love you Grandma; I know I'll see you again someday.