Mega Trip, Part III

I arrived at Julie's and Paul's house (my sister!) in Shelley, ID (near Idaho Falls) late Wednesday night. We had a welcoming party, which was fun! It was so exciting just to be there, since it had been a couple of years. 

Matt arrived Thursday evening (via plane to SLC and shuttle to Idaho Falls), and after picking him up, we had a birthday party for Naomi, Gabe AND Andrew!

The party was complete with cupcakes, candles and gifts! (Books they had picked out at the bookstore earlier that day, but it didn't take any of the excitement away!)

On Friday, we took a trip to the zoo. Andrew chillin' in the stroller...

Julisa and kids on the tiger - we had to pry them off, including Julisa. :)

I couldn't let that tiger action slip past me.

Being monkeys...I think?

Lovin' from Cousin Julisa!

Ice cream outing at a local dairy, always a highlight!

Jared (my nephew) and his wife Kara came over from Rexburg, and it was fabulous to see them. I think this was the night we played some grass volleyball.

Love my kids' faces in this one!

We enjoyed indoor s'mores.

THOROUGHLY enjoyed them.

Andrew got in on the present action, too, since he had been asleep during the party.

Picture with Cousin Jordan...why don't I have any pictures of Cahlin?? Sorry, Cahlin!

There are some other pictures which I need to track down, like pictures of the kids on the riding lawnmower with Uncle Paul. They couldn't get enough of it. After awhile, he switched over to his motorcycle, and they couldn't get enough of that, either! Funnily enough, I don't think they would bat an eye at going back to the lawnmower for thrills. Gabe was hilarious...while he was riding, we would hear an occasional, "WAHOO! WAHOO!".

And we played golf on a short course. That was my first time and it was a lot of fun! We went with Jordan, Cahlin, Jared, Kara, Paul and Julisa. I think Kara has pictures on her blog...I'll track those down.

We just had an absolutely terrific time and wish we could go back again very soon!

Mega Trip, Part II

After a fun week in Monroe, Mom took us to Provo where we picked up our first rental car of the trip (our rental cars were an adventure in themselves!!) and headed towards Julie's house near Idaho Falls.

While I transferred carseats (THREE!)...luggage...snacks...music players...toys...etc. to the new car, Mom fed Andrew and kept Naomi and Gabe entertained (by allowing them to climb all over her front seat and repeatedly press all the buttons on her dashboard. Sorry, Mom!).

Our first stop along the way was in Salt Lake at Bethany's apartment. We ate an informal lunch (I stuffed bites of sandwich in my children's mouths as they ran by) and the kids played lots. 

Bobbie, Gabe, Dahlia, Andrew and Naomi

It was great to see Bethany - it's been quite awhile since I've seen her!

Our next stop was in Ogden at Camille's house, where we completely derailed all of her plans for the evening AND made her friends annoyed at her. Dinner was great, though! And Naomi and Gabe had a terrific time following her boys around and checking out everything they were doing.

Camille was one of my best friends all the way from elementary through high school. 

It's funny to see us now! (Can you see us? We're kinda covered by masses of little folk!)

My cell phone battery was dying at the beginning of the day, so I didn't call Matt at all that day. I was trying to save enough battery to call Bethany...and then Camille...and then Julie to get directions, update them on my expected arrival time, etc. And then my phone died while I was at Camille's house. 

Apparently Matt called Julie to see if we arrived safely. We did, after driving through an hour of torrential rain and then a couple hours of kids not sleeping...stay tuned for Segment 3!

Mega Trip, Part I

We took a rather long and geographically extensive trip during June/ We had a blast!

On May 31, I flew with the three children from Atlanta, GA to SLC, UT. 

Alone. 

On Delta.

 DISASTER.

Aside from problems the airline gave us, I get quite motion sick. I think the low point of the flight was when I had to start borrowing vomit bags from passengers across the aisle because I had used all of ours. Try that with a wiggly 9 month old in your lap! I was more than relieved to arrive in SLC and pass the children off to my parents.

After that, we had a great time! Here are some pictures from Segment 1: Monroe, Utah.

Jeff's birthday celebration (one of their cousins)

We always get in some reading time with Grandma and Grandpa Jones

It has quite literally been YEARS since I've seen Paul, Taunya, Jeff and Carter, so it was fabulous to get some one-on-one time with them in Monroe!

Naomi spent the vast majority of the time with the goats. When she wasn't actually in the goat pen, she was begging to be allowed to go out to the goat pen. She sang to them, chased them, danced around them, and chased them some more.

No trip to Monroe is complete without a tractor ride. Check out Dad's eye on this - he had recently undergone emergency surgery for a detached retina, but he had to bale hay. So they rigged a huge bandage for his eye. It looked awesome. We should have taken more pictures!
 

Dirk's family came over for dinner one night - lots of fun!

Andrew got in on the grandparent action...

Stay tuned for more!