Summer Trip '09

Ty needed to get some work accomplished in Texas and would need to be gone for at least a week to get everything done, so I convinced him driving was way better than flying and he should take us along to hang out in San Antonio. You have to understand-Ty HATES driving. I LOVE road trips and I think the kids are more like me...they actually enjoy being in the car and are mostly terrific on road trips. So, this was asking a lot of Ty-24 hours to San Antonio, then another 6 hours for him back and forth to Houston and another 8 back and forth to Dallas and another 24 back to Utah. And that doesn't include all the driving to areas, etc in each city. But...being the AWESOME Daddy and Hubby he is, he agreed and we made the trek. We did have Harry Potter to listen to in the car...that was some consolation for Ty.

I loved all the gorgeous views...there's nothing like being out on open road.

And all the clean rest stops...we had A LOT of stops
Daddy was gone most the time, but we kept super busy with cousins, aunts/uncles, and Gma/Gpa. The kids painted, colored, played with playdoh, grilled with Gpa, read with Gma, made forts, watched movies, and went wild with their imaginations. Between Carter and Annie's imaginations, anything was possible. My sisters were amazing helpers, especially Marissa who is seriously my hero. She was so good with the kids and always had something up her sleeve to keep them busy...thanks Ris!

Since our last visit for Christmas, Carter has talked incessantly about "Grandpa's attic." My Dad built his attic into this two-level museum of sorts. He has many airplane/war artifacts from his Dad or from things he's collected as well as tons of shark and dinosaur fossils, teeth, books, posters, EVERYTHING he is passionate about. And to Carter...it's pretty much heaven. He just thinks he's the coolest thing alive when he gets to climb up the secret ladder and enter Gpa's clubhouse.

We all drove up to Round Rock, outside of Austin, for a day to meet up with Janessa and her family. It was the half way point between San Antonio and Mansfield and had IKEA and outlets. I met her little guy, Corban, for the first time and the kids had a blast getting to all hang out together. We walked through the maze of IKEA and had lunch (where Ty drove down to meet us...yay!) and then took the kids to a bounce house. It was so fun to have all the little cousins together.

The ride there was a little squished...4 carseats just in the back row.

My mom prepared a great kid-friendly family home evening and played all their favorites on the piano...over and over again at the kid's request and everyone was bouncing with joy until...

...Grandpa snuck up on the little ones with a hairnet over his face like a ghost. Annie and Carter thought it was great fun...

...Taylee and Katy, not so much. They both woke up that night with nightmares of ghosts and Grandpa had to reassure them he was just Grandpa.

We were able to see Caleb open his mission call to the Hungary Budapest mission...which was awesome...and then witness his strange dogpile family prayer....all 6 feet and 7 inches of him

Of course Carter and Daddy had to try it out as well
My kids were so sad to hear that Toby, my parent's dog, had passed away, but had plenty of love for Coco, K and Riley's dog. Taylee would tip her head down waiting for Coco to kiss her.
It was great to see my kids develop better friendships with their cousins. Taylee and Katy especially this visit seemed to really start being friends.

On our trip home, we stayed the night in Albuquerque and had awesome pizza from Dions and just relaxed. The kids loved the hotel room and having space to stretch out, shower, and play.

They even had the best sleep of their lives. I tried getting a picture of the time on the clock-8:30am...Taylee doesn't sleep in past 7am, so this was truly a miracle.

On our final leg, we stopped at this arch to hike. It was super windy and our hair and eyes got covered in red dirt-but it was an adventure...and isn't that what road trips are all about?