Road Trip

Last Thursday morning, the kids and I embarked on a road trip to Albuquerque to hang out with my sis, Janessa, who is 35 weeks pregnant with her third child, trying to sell a house, without her husband (who is living in Texas where their new job is), packing up the house and getting ready for a move, among a whole lot of other chaos.

The drive from Lehi to Albuquerque is 11 hours and I have to say that almost the entire 22 hours (both ways) was really fun. My kids are awesome in the car and I think enjoy road trips as much as I do. Taylee gets her best sleep in a moving car and Carter is totally content to play imagination with things he sees outside the car or whatever is in his head. I was able to listen to an entire general conference and all of my favorite CDs (Ty doesn't usually like all my music, so this was rare).

Here are some snapshots from Carter:

"Mom, it's the girl spaceship from Wall-E!"


"I want a truck with really big wheels like that in my room" ( and Carter got a nice long look at this truck's backside because it went 30mph in a 65mph no passing zone...lovely)


"They are so lucky they get to keep their house and bikes on their road trip"

Both kids also referred to all the big bulky telephone poles (not the wood ones, but those metal ones that look like they have arms) as robots.

While in Albuquerque, we had a blast hanging out with Janessa, Grace, and Abby. Janessa is so on top of things and put together I felt so bad I couldn't do more to help, but we really did love spending time with them before they move. Carter was worried every night that we would have to leave and kept telling us he wanted to stay and go to Texas with them. Hopefully soon, Carter.

Taylee lived it up having tons of fun girly dress-ups, shoes, and toys at her disposal.

The kids and I (minus Abby because my car can only fit 3 car seats :() took a trip to the Albuquerque Zoo. I've been wanting to visit this zoo since the Hogle Zoo sent their hippos to them a few years ago. It was a really warm day and really nice to be out and about. We took a ton of pictures of different animals because Grace felt so bad that her sister couldn't be there to experience it. So, Abby we're sending a bunch of pictures your way.

This rental wagon was a lifesaver. It fit all three kids

The train ride was REALLY SLOW, but the kids seemed to enjoy it regardless. And, it allowed us to see the Elephants without walking all the way across the zoo, which was really important to me after dragging the wagon for two hours.

This road trip allowed me some time to just sit and reflect as I passed beautiful scenery with my sweet children. I've always been able to feel the Spirit so strongly when I'm surrounded by nature. In a college biology class, we read a book by Rachel Carson called Sense of Wonder. I remember being so moved by it that I skipped a day of work and class, jogged to Y mountain, found my way up a trail that was secluded and spent a few hours just soaking it all in. I felt so close to Heavenly Father and felt like I was really able to receive direction that has influenced the rest of my life. Being out on the open road brought me back in a small way to that experience and helped me remember the feelings and thoughts I had. I'm really excited that the snow is melting (hopefully!) and the weather will be more conducive for fun trips with my kids. I want them to experience nature and it's possibilities.

3 beautiful States...the kids and I just had to sing through "50 nifty United States" each time we passed a state sign

New Mexico

Utah

Colorado

I have to admit I was a little hesitant about going on this trip without Tyson because there are so many things that can go wrong that Tyson can fix and I can't. I don't even like to go to the grocery store at night without Ty...it just feels so much safer. That being said, there were some things that did make me feel safer.

Ty's car

The navigation system led the entire way and to the zoo, gas stations, and grocery stores once in Albuquerque. Carter started referring to it as she as in "she said turn left, mom" because we heard so much from the nice navigation lady voice.

The left side of the dash showing RANGE told me exactly how many miles I could go before I ran out of gas. This coupled with the navigation telling me how many miles I had to the next city made it easy to plan my stops (well, the kids' potty breaks helped schedule those as well).

Really really grateful for great kids who are my good friends and kept me company. We had some great conversations and laughs that I'll remember for a long time. I don't know what I did before my kids. I must've been so bored :)

Grateful for the opening out of Price Canyon on Highway 6 into Spanish Fork. And especially grateful for the sign saying we only had 30 miles to go until HOME

Next road trip:

Yuba State Park
Goblin Valley State Park

Anyone game??