Road Trippin’

I have this weird love of Utah. I have really great memories (and some not so hot ones too) from my BYU days. I love being around all the Mormons and not feeling like a complete weirdo for having more than one child. I love how nice the people are, how family oriented most of the state is, and the mountains. I always forget how much I love hiking until I’m back in Utah. I was pretty outdoorsy when I lived in Utah, I miss that. So it didn’t take much arm twisting when Anna talked to me about carpooling for a trip in early June. We piled our kids in my car and off we went! Anna was a fantastic co-pilot. We both understand what its like to be the co-pilot (the constant snack hand outs, the movie changes, the  activity dispersmenting (is that a word?) etc.). She was really easy to travel with.

We split the drive into 2 days, stopping in Las Vegas to spend the night at Anna’s parents house. Thank you Christensens! The second day was our 6 hour drive and I have to admit that when kids fall asleep there is a certain peace that swells within my heart. Aren’t they angels? hehe…

Anna headed off to her brother’s house and I went to my friend’s, Mari and Josh. Ethan and Luke became best buds with Mari’s nephews (who conveniently live downstairs) Tyler and Travis. We went to the Bean Museum and checked out the cool animal displays. The kids got to pet a snake and check out some aligator hides. Capturing a picture where everyone stays still for longer than a second and looks into the camera was near to impossible. Sorry Luke!


Lunch at BYU’s duck pond proved to be prophecy fulfilled when Luke fell and scraped his leg. I had to take a picture and text it to Steve. Poor Luke, it was a nasty scrape.

Josh and Mari had a cool tire swing in their back yard. Ethan and Sadie loved taking turns on it.

We went on a hike up Provo Canyon on Saturday morning.

I actually got Sadie to wear her sunglasses for a little while.

Then the boys found walking sticks and even Sadie had to have one. They did pretty well on the hike, I was impressed.

Unfortunately, we had to cut our trip short when my boys got a nasty stomach bug and were throwing up. I got afraid I might catch it and not be able to drive home and then miss Steve’s birthday. And I don’t like being in someone else’s house with sick kids, especially since I wasn’t sure if this was contagious. We now think that maybe our kids get altitude sickness. Anyone know anything about that? So I headed home. We didn’t get to see everyone we wanted to or go to Temple Square like I wanted to but oh well. Maybe I’ll get enough courage to try again soon. The drive home wasn’t as bad as I expected. Thankfully no one puked but California definitely needs to make the drive between state line and Barstow more than two lanes! The traffic is ridiculous!