Idaho Trip Part 4: The Long Road Home

Sunday morning we got up early Melanie kept me up for 45 minutes before Dad got up to get the papers ready for delivery. I dozed off for a bit, but then needed to get up and get ready for 9:00 am church. We also packed up everything else and loaded up the van. Just the girls ate some cereal as it was a fast Sunday. We said goodbye to Daralee and Greg and their family as they headed home. They had predicted snow on their roads, so they wanted to get a head start. We also had snow predicted, but not until later. So we attended sacrament meeting. We enjoyed the testimonies shared. We talked to a few people and said goodbye to family before we headed out on the road.

It was quiet so I read to Aaron from a book we bought. I would have read longer, but my throat got dry, and I couldn't fix that without drinking something. Melanie took a nap, but not a very long one. She was really whiny when she woke up and wanted to get out. We ended up stopping at a rest stop. I got a text from Tina saying they had already left Mom and Dad's but wanted to meet up with us along the highway as we passed each other. Based on where we both were at the time we found a spot in the middle and got off at the same exit on the side of the road.

We chatted for a few minutes, but it was rather cold, and we both had places to go, so we didn't stay long. We never got more than a few flurries, so the roads were great.  We got to my parents' house around 2:00. They had a variety of snacks available, but we were still fasting. So we waited for a bit, and eventually we had a prayer and finished off some of the food. Most was leftovers from New Year's Eve.

It was great to see Eva, since it had been a few months. Mike had already left for Utah, so we never got the whole family together. But I got to see Sara and her family before they left. Then we set up our stuff in Chris's room. Eventually we had some dinner and mostly we played games, and talked. We set up the air mattress for David and Timothy and Amy slept on the twin mattress.

In the morning we got up fairly early to make sure we got out in time. We ate some breakfast and said goodbye to everyone. We packed up the van one last time and headed out. We stopped by Becca's to get a couple of things we left there and then we were on our way. I had to call all three schools, and tell them the kids wouldn't be there. Unfortunately I was feeling nauseous again - don't read anything into it, really. I'm not pregnant, I have definitive proof of that. Besides, if I was, would I be telling you that I was nauseous? Anyway I tried to sleep as much as I could. The roads got a little slushy and the big trucks needed chains, but with our new tires we were fine.

Melanie was a little whiny I had to find some way to entertain her. So I sang her some songs. I asked her what song she wanted me to sing, and she said, "B". I've never sung her a "B" song. But then I remembered "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee". I had never sung it to her, but I tried it out. She thought it was hilarious and wanted me to sing it over and over and again. Except it made me more nauseous to turn around and sing to her.

We stopped for an early lunch at Dairy Queen. I couldn't eat anything, so I snacked on a few fries and chicken from Melanie's meal. The kids had fun though. They got ice cream sundaes as part of their meal.

After a trip to the bathroom for everyone we drove on for the last leg of our trip. Melanie took a nap, and so did I. We got home early in the afternoon, and I was feeling awful. I ended up laying on the couch while everyone else unloaded the van. We got back in time for Timothy to make it to his drama class. Aaron took him up there, and did a little shopping while he was in town.

Gradually I felt better, and I made some dinner. I don't really remember what we had. I think we had FHE, but again, I don't really remember. I'm still really far behind, but hopefully I can catch up soon.

Idaho Trip Part 3: Happy New Year and a Wedding!

Melanie woke up way too early for my liking, and lucky me Aaron took her upstairs, and let me sleep. I think it was close to 8:00 when I came upstairs. Breakfast was just about ready. I can't really remember what else we did that day. It was January 1st - a new year. We rested, we played, we napped, we talked, we shopped. Aaron went with Brandon to paint the bathroom in their new apartment. I think Beverly stopped by that afternoon so it was great to see her.

 Melanie and Benjamin

 Amy and Alisa

 Melanie climbing on Aaron

I helped get dinner ready. The sister missionaries came over for dinner. We had ham and potatoes, rolls, salad, etc. Delicious! Then the sisters shared a message with us and did some beat boxing.

After they left Sara and her family stopped by. I was excited to see them. I was so glad they took the time to stop by.

 Melanie and Eden

We were just breaking out the root beer floats for dessert, so they joined us.We talked for a bit, Aaron and TJ worked on the puzzle we brought. Eventually Aaron got the girls in the bathtub, and then Sara and TJ had to leave. Troy was throwing a fit about putting his coat on by himself. Oh, that sounds familiar. I can't remember which morning it was, but Melanie was giving me a hard time about getting dressed, and then when she was finally ready I tried to straighten out her leggings while she was putting them on and she cried and screamed for about 10 minutes because she didn't want my help.

The girls wanted to sit on a stool to brush their hair after bath time.

Friday morning went by quickly. Everyone tried to get ready. The plan was to leave around 8:30 or 9:00 am. It was super cold outside, and I felt bad that I had neglected to bring in the apples Becca had given us. They were frozen solid. We saw the temperatures dip to -2! We left earlier than necessary so we could spend some time talking with family before the wedding. The plan was to drop off grandkids at Stephen and Amber's house (15 minutes from the temple) and the older grandkids would watch the younger ones. It took about 90 minutes to get to their house. Nathan and Amy and their family were already there. Unfortunately Amber was sick with a stomach bug and we didn't get to see her. She was quarantined in her room. Eventually Daralee and Greg arrived as well. They were driving up from Utah Valley where they had spent time with Greg's family. Rather than drive four separate vehicles we just took two. With 7 of us we could have fit in one van, but we'd have to remove carseats and rearrange luggage etc., so we figured 2 was good enough. Kimberly and Joe and their family were already at the temple. With a 4 week old, nursing baby it made more sense for them to be there, so Brittany watched their 4 kids in the waiting room. Beverly arrived just as we made our way to the sealing room. It was great to see almost everyone there in the temple, and we missed the few that weren't there. After the sealing ceremony was over we went back to Stephen and Amber's to pick up the kids and go back for a family picture. It was freezing: 15 degrees I think.

Here's one of the pictures Kaylee's cousin Samantha took

We took some pictures out side of the temple and then headed over to the wedding luncheon. There was about 70 people there. 

They served fresh fruit, salad, chicken cordon bleu, rolls, and then cherry pie or ice cream for dessert.

We sat with Anthon and his girlfriend Kayla.

 Amy was being silly

 

It was a great lunch, but I didn't really get to stay and talk to anyone. The kids were getting restless, and Melanie was exhausted. We did stop by two places on the way back to Mom and Dad's. Gossner Cheese - yum! We got some Muenster, and cheese curd, and flavored milk. And Lower Meats. We found some sliced roast beef - 4lbs for $5.50! Melanie fell asleep on the way, as I expected. 

Honestly I can't remember what else we did that evening. I think we had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. Daralee and Greg's family joined us that night, as well as Anthon and Kayla. Beverly's family came over too. So there were a lot of games, talking, and puzzles etc. Eventually I needed to put the girls to bed. Amy and Melanie were having a hard time going to sleep, so I ended up staying in there with them. But the boys downstairs were being kind of noisy. Eventually I went upstairs. Around 9:30 I told the boys they needed to go to bed, and they were not happy about that especially since their cousins were staying up. They stayed in our bed, until their cousins went home or to bed, and then they moved out into the den. 

Saturday morning after we got up we packed up our stuff and moved it up to another bedroom. Until that night we had the largest bedroom downstairs, but only two kids in there with us since David and Timothy were out in the den. Nathan and Amy were coming up that day and would have 3 kids in their room. So we switched to a smaller room upstairs. It was helpful to get ready a day earlier and decide what we could pack in the van ahead of time. So we vacuumed and changed bedding etc. 

We had quite the full house. It was so much fun. 

 It's so fun to have lots of cousins the same age

 The girls enjoyed coloring.

They also played with dolls. Brittany got out her collection, and the many clothes she had, and those little girls had so much fun. I wish I had taken a picture of them.

I can't really remember what else we did - mostly played and talked. Aaron and a I stopped by a few stores for about an hour while Melanie napped, but other than that we just enjoyed being with family. We had a simple dinner that evening and then went over to the church for the wedding reception. We arrived early for pictures. They had a great idea for refreshments of doughnut holes, hot chocolate and apple cider. They had a lot of mix ins for the hot chocolate including spearmint sticks, pirouette cookies, Ande's mints bits, caramel bits, marshmallows, and whipped cream. The boys weren't happy about me limiting their doughnut holes to 4. Oh well. The kids were a little bored after they ate their refreshments, so I ended up taking them home early. I thought the other cousins were coming too, but most of them stayed. We stopped to fill up the gas tank in the van on the way back. The boys played with Andrew who came back, and I gave the girls a bath. By the time we were done with that the others were starting to come back. Eventually we got the kids in bed. I ended up with Melanie in her pack 'n play, Amy on the bed, and David and Timothy on the trundle mattress. The trundle itself wouldn't come all the way out with Melanie's pack 'n play in there. We stayed up late talking and playing. Aaron and I ended up using our air mattress in the front room. I slept well until Melanie woke up way too early and didn't want to go back to sleep.

Idaho Trip Part 2: Science Museum

Monday was a pretty relaxed day. The kids mostly played at Becca's and we played some games and talked. David complained of a headache and sore throat, and he had a slight fever, so he napped for a bit, and then spent a lot of time in our room away from the other kids. Around lunch time Aaron, B*, my Aaron, and Mike went to do some shopping. Mike was looking for some hunting equipment. I put Melanie down for a nap and the kids watched a movie. I didn't realize Melanie knew what "movie" meant and was not happy about taking a nap while the rest of the kids were watching a movie.

They finished off the popcorn tin we brought

When Melanie woke up we drove into the city to play at the Science Museum. I took lots of pictures. The current exhibit was called launch it.

 This one sucked up scarfs and sent them through a tube and back out to float down over their heads.

 Melanie loved pushing Emry around in the stroller.

 This was a stomp rocket that went horizontal - water bottles on wheels

 This was fun, if you were careful you could make a smoke ring, or rather a vapor ring

 

  Amy pulled herself up in the chair

 You could make a paper rocket and let it float up

  Melanie was fascinated with the bouncy balls

 Emry was getting tired of being in the stroller

 This one sucked up a parachute and let it float down

 Everyone loved the stomp rockets

 Even Melanie

 and Liam

 This one could make these smaller balls suspend in mid-air

 More stomp rockets

 more parachutes

 This one uses a magnet

push the button

 and the rings go flying

  This one catapulted bean balls flying. You had to try to get the right angle to make it into a hole 25 ft away

 make a track for a ball to follow

 Then the building area

 Melanie found a great place to sit

 building with trex

  blowing huge bubbles

More floating balls

We left as the museum was closing and drove to Johnny Carinos. Monday nights their family platters are half price. So we got our three families together and ordered a couple of appetizers, and four family platters. We had to wait for my parents, Chris and Abriannah to get there, so we ate some bread while we were waiting. The food was delicious, and we had lots of fun talking. We had our own little area and I think I walked around more than sat. Poor Liam fell asleep on a chair. David was also starting to not feel well again. We went back to Becca's house, it was snowing again. We didn't stay up quite as late that night.

Tuesday was another relaxing day. The kids played with playdough for quite a while.

We had thought about taking the kids to a movie, but it turned out it would only be Amy and Hali going, so they stayed and watched a movie at Becca's house. We played games some more and I spent some time over at my Mom's talking about all sorts of things. David seemed to be getting worse so Aaron took him to urgent care. As Aaron suspected, it was strep! So they got some antibiotics. Funny story: the PA at the urgent care recognized Aaron, they found out they were both at BYU at the same time, they didn't find any common classes, but he had come through the health professions office where Aaron worked. Small world.

Meanwhile we went over to my parents' house to get ready for dinner. We had tacos with lots of toppings. We even had the option of Greek flatbread as a substitute for tortillas. Yum! We talked a lot and played a lot and watched a movie. Eventually it was time to go to back to Becca's for bed. 

Wednesday morning it was cold. It was 7 degrees or something like that. We took our time getting up and getting ready. We packed up and cleaned up, and headed out around 10:30. We had to scrape the windshield with a credit card, since I hadn't brought our scraper, and for some reason neither Becca nor my mom had one. It all worked out though. Melanie fell asleep sooner than we expected, but took a long nap. We didn't really stop except to get gas. It was cold out, but the roads were fine. Melanie was complaining that the sun was in her eyes. Luckily I had thought to pack her sunglasses.

We made it to Aaron's parents' house in good time. We had a sort of late lunch, and unloaded our luggage into our room. We had a quiet afternoon, and helped with dinner. I was glad David's antibiotics kicked in and he was feeling much better, and was no longer contagious.

We were excited to see Kimberly and her family arrive later that evening. It was New Year's Eve, but we didn't have a huge celebration planned. Mom got out the party blowers and hats for the grandkids, and they had fun making noise.

We also broke and ate the gingerbread house. However I didn't get any pictures of it. Not for a lack of trying. When Aaron got his new ipad I inherited his old one. Unlike my phone or camera the default setting on the ipad is video - I didn't know that. Oh well!

We did stay up really late playing games. The girls went to bed around 9:30, but the boys stayed up past midnight. They don't do that very often, however they seemed to think they could do that for the rest of the vacation. They were mistaken.