The Road Trip - Oregon

I surely love Oregon. And my parents' house has become a fun place to stay. It may be small but they have expanded the living space into the great outdoors. Each of the last two times we've gone to visit tents have been set up in the backyard for visitors who won't fit in the house. And every night it seems there is a bonfire going out there. It's just naturally relaxing to sit around a fire talking. And going to visit family really is all about doing just that, sitting and talking, catching up on all the together time that is missed when living far away. Of course roasted marshmallows help any situation to be even more enjoyable.

Highglights of Oregon for me:
1) Lots of time with my big sister Corey who I've lived far away from for a VERY long time.

2) The beach - Ah...the beach. I love the water. And the day we went wasn't cold or rainy. The kids enjoyed the water and let us stay long enough to venture out to the tidal pools. Caleb crawled over to cuddle with his grandma and grandpa, Jayne ran into the water (with hands held), and the seagulls swarmed, stalked and attacked our food when they saw that all 8 of us (Corey, Mom, Dad, Me, Nate and the 3 kids) were waist-deep in the water, yards and yards away.

3) The temple - Nate and I hadn't been to any temple together in a year and a half, and I don't think we'd been in the Portland temple since our wedding 5 1/2 years ago.

4) My little brothers teaching Evander about Zombies, Wolverine and Cyclops - AND watching them run around the yard and play battles with him. I knew having a bunch of annoying little brothers had to pay off someday!!!

5) Mom and Dad a.k.a. Grandma and Grandpa - I love watching my parents be grandparents. It's fun and cute to see. I know I'm getting older when I don't think that they're old enough to be grandparents, because they totally are and I'm just in denial about my own age.

The Road Trip - Idaho

So, in Utah we saw my Grandma Evans, my Grandpa Cannon, Nate's sister Erin and husband Brent, my older sister Corey and her husband Tyler, and some friends.

Next we headed to Idaho to see my younger sisters. This was really an exciting leg of the trip since both of them had had a baby since I last saw them, and I had had one as well. We did very little outside of Kirsten's apartment while in Rexburg. But it was so fun to get all those little cousins together.

While in Utah I had had the feeling that it would be nice to be living there again to be close to family. But in Idaho...wow, that place is empty...I just thought it would be nice if Kirsten & Tatton and Lindsay & Karl move to the Midwest.

Lindsay's little girl was leading a group exercise class. She wanted everyone to stomp. If you didn't she would point at you and yell out, "Foot!"


Ever read the Shel Silverstein poem, "There's too many kids in this tub..."? Well, yeah...

The Road Trip - Utah

Living thousands of miles from all of my immediate family and Nate's older sister, it's a big deal deciding who and where to visit for our yearly vacation, especially since the yearly vacation only comes once every two years. This year, we decided to visit them all, well not quite, but close.

We rented a van, packed it full and headed off for 16 days and 5,000+ miles of driving. We feared that it would be endless crying and sleepless nights. And though there were those moments, they were not every night nor every drive. In fact, I'm very proud of how well the kids did.

We pulled out of Des Moines at 11:30 PM on Friday June 9th, turned around once for a forgotten item and then left for real. We made stops in Nebraska and Wyoming and made it to Grandma Evans's house in Springville, UT just around dinnertime Saturday night and just in time to eat the lasagna she had prepared. Evander, who loves Garfield by the way, decided it was his favorite food and ate it for every meal he had at Grandma's house.

While in Utah: lots of time hanging out with Grandma talking, Evander and Nate went camping up Hobble Creek Canyon right by a very swollen and noisy river, visited Grandpa Blaine in Payson and got to meet Bob the goat, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows at Erin and Brent's.

I was happy with how well Jayne took to Grandma. It was really helpful the first night when Caleb was having a hard time calming down to fall asleep. Jayne was absolutely content hanging out with Grandma, leaning up against her leg and "talking" to her.

Caleb loved Grandpa Blaine, though more than anything he loved stealing his cane. Best stick ever. He was so mad at us when we took it away.

On our way out of the state we got to see friends from our single days, Jill and Corey, see their home and meet their son Noah. So much fun.