Scott and I have always had this theory that if you are going to make a drive, the amount of time you stay should be worth it. This theory wore down a bit during my mom’s last year of life. But now it has worn down even more! We made the long drive across Nevada to Utah for only a 3 day stay.
My nephew’s baptism was coming up and I kept feeling this pull to attend. I talked things over with Scott and we decided we should go. We decided a week before we were suppose to leave. Craziest thing we’ve done (well, maybe not the CRAZIEST…..).
Sara left on Thursday January 27, at 3pm. I took Jaime and Alix to dance class from 3:30pm – 5:30pm and we left for Utah at 7:30pm. We drove all night. I was able to do most of the driving till about 1am. Scott took over and then I took over again about 3am and got us the rest of the way. It’s been a really long time since I’ve driven all night. I’ve come to 3 very important conclusions: 1-It wasn’t that bad. I’d do it again. 2-Going through Nevada on the 80 is WAY better in the middle of the night than the middle of the day! 3-Keri is an AWFUL night passenger. She doesn’t sleep. She just SCREAMS!! Lucky for us, she didn’t wake up the rest of the crew.
[Isn’t this an amazing table? It makes feeding 10 kids SUPER easy!!]
We arrived about 8:30am Friday morning and spent most of the morning unpacking and sleeping. Scott was very excited to see some of his family so we arranged with his sister to come for lunch. We enjoyed visiting with Torry and baby Hunter till about 4. We said hi and goodbye to Kevin at the same time but knew we would see them again on Sunday.
Back at Steve and Joy’s we made dinner for all the kids while Steve and Joy went out to a community meeting/dinner thing that was planned a while ago. It was fun to interact with all the kids. We put all the Thompson’s to bed, there were happy to go! After Steve and Joy got home Joy and I ran to the store while Scott and Steve did nerdy guy things together.
We all stayed up and made most of the food that was going to be served the next day for the after baptism luncheon. I got a few recipe’s from my friend Jen and so we recreated a really yummy Utah restaurant called Cafe Rio. We made it to bed sometime after midnight.
[Joy cutting Milo’s hair hours before the baptism! She’s amazing! Milo has decided to keep his hair long, but it was getting out of control. Now it looks WAY better. Thanks Joy!]
We slept in way too long on Saturday but Steve and Joy were so kind and took care of our kids and their kids and got themselves ready for the baptism.
[These two girls LOVE each other. I’m glad they are cousins.]
Daniel was part of a stake baptism. Something I had never seen before. Things seemed to go well. It was a good baptism filled with the spirit. Daniel was so handsome in his suit and he just looked like an angle coming out of the water. What a pure, clean feeling that is.
After the baptism we went back and changed and had the most wonderful lunch. It was seriously so YUMMY. Joy also set up a chocolate fountain.
She did a very good job with all the food and I think everyone had a wonderful time. I think there were 30+ people there.
[It was so funny to see Keri walking around in a skirt with a gun!! Gotta love that girl]
After a couple of hours it was time for Kenneth to have a basket ball game. Scott and I and the 4 youngest kids went. Steve and Caitlin too. Joy stayed home with the littles. It was so fun! Kenneth did a fabulous job. He is good at all things.
[Kenneth having a break after some amazing play time.]
[This was classic! Kenneth had just beamed Jaime with a snowball. After several attempts by Jaime, Steve held Kenneth while Jaime took a sucker shot. If you notice there is snow flying everywhere. Jaime got him dead on. It was all in good fun and everyone was having a fun time. Kenneth is such a good sport!]
[Keri “helping” to take care of the baby. This is Joy’s sister’s baby. So cute and so tiny!]
My brother lives VERY close to Utah lake. I had asked my brother if the lake was frozen over. He said it was. I asked him if we could go see it and walk on it. He said he didn’t know about the walking part but we could go see it. We not only got to walk on it but had a REALLY good time!
[The first brave soul. She said she didn’t care if she fell in!! That’s my Alix!]
[Since Alix didn’t fall in we figured we were pretty safe…]
[It was pretty cold there in Utah for this California girl! Maybe I shouldn’t be wearing flip flops….]
[My first snow angel ever! Looks pretty good.]
[While we were there a couple of guys came along ready to do some ice fishing. They use this tool to put a hole in the ice. The kids thought this was the coolest thing. The ice was a good 6-8 inches thick. They guys were so nice and let us all ask lots of questions before we departed and let them fish in peace!]
After we got home we popped open the big plastic bin of “stuff” I had brought for going through. The kids went down to the basement to play. Joy snoozed a bit. Scott took care of kids and laughed at my brother and I! We had a good time. Found some fun stuff, found some weird stuff and found some garbage. But all in all it was a fun few hours. We finished up finally and were able to put all the kids to bed at a decent hour. They didn’t go so easily this time and were up much later than they should have been. We adults had had such a big lunch that we weren’t ready for dinner till much later! So the night consisted of eating and laughing and enjoying each others company. Joy and I outlasted Steve and Scott. I made it to bed sometime after 1am Joy was up till 3.
[These boys get along so well. It’s great to see them together!]
Sunday was a crazy morning. Getting 13 people ready before 9am can be a challenge but we did it and were even on time!! I was excited to go to church with Steve and Joy but I also knew one of my good friends from Fremont lived in their ward too and I was excited to see her and her family. Melissa was there and we had such a good chat. I really enjoy her happy face and her kind spirit. I’m glad we are friends. One of her sons is Milo’s age and so they went to class together. Alix is the same age as one of her sons too. Niah had Caitlin so she was happy. Jaime’s old enough and had the opportunity to be in a class of all girls. Keri and Afton looked like a deer in headlights. At one point or anther both cried!! Steve and Joy both teach primary so we watched Patrick for them. We spent the next two hours feeding him junk food from our car. I think we are best friends now!! :o) All in all a fabulous 3 hours.
Right after church we headed to Torry’s house. She had invited Phillip and Jenny and Jacob and Maranda and boys. It was a full fun house. It’s nice to see family and it’s nice that they are all so close.
[Baby Hunter is such a good, fun boy. We had such a good time with him and everyone else.]
[Making baby food. Torry and I spent a couple of hours after everyone else left and made some baby food. It was so fun. I hope Hunter enjoyed it.]
[We played LOTS of games at Auntie Torry’s house!]
After everyone else left we lingered a little longer. After an easy dinner we said our goodbye’s and went back to my brother’s house for bed. Again we stayed up way too long but we enjoy their company so much.
[Isn’t this a beautiful view from my brother’s balcony??]
Monday morning came early for Scott. Since Scott has been in charge of conferences he works with lots of different companies who help to supply products and services for these conferences. One company in particular he works with almost every conference. So when they heard he was going to be in Utah they suggested he come check out the company and meet all these faces behind the phones. Since Monday was our leave day he said he could only meet with them at 8am. So off he went. While he was doing what he does best, I did what I do best, packed and cleaned. By the time he got back we loaded the last few things in and headed home.
Of course it started to snow that morning. The kids had a little fun with that, but it was mostly a cold, frustrating situation. Fortunately for us, it was not much snow and didn’t hinder our leaving at all.
The drive home was much more adventurous than the drive there but we got home safe and happy. We pulled in about 11pm. We emptied the necessities and crashed!
Comments are closed.
