Final Guilt Trip

Ok, it's time to finish this saga. I'm sorry if I've bored some of my most avid readers, but this is my only means of scrapbooking right now (not very motivated in paper crafts with all this extra time I have on my hands).

So we finished our vacation in Utah with a trip to Cascade Springs with KC and Sarah. I'd actually never been in all the years we lived there. It was so beautiful and I certainly got my exercise! Tyler ended up with a nose bleed a ways before the end so the momma instincts kicked in and I booked it to the beginning of the trail (where the bathroom was) to get some TP for him. Kaleb followed me and was so kind to take it back to Tyler when I couldn't breathe after I reached the end...I thought it was my end for a little while. Ya know, those instincts apparently can kill a parent in some instances. I hadn't thought about the altitude difference between SLO (150 ft) and the Rocky Mountains in Utah (8000 ft or so). YIKES! I really lost my breath. I think it was the closest I'll ever come to feeling like I have asthma, at least it better be the closest I ever get to it! Tyler ended up bleeding all over his shirt, some on his pants, and all over his hand and face. I think he forgot to plug off his nose since he didn't have the Tissue. UGH. I washed off what I could, didn't let him put his shirt back on, so he wore a zip up jacket the rest of the day, and it was a hot day, poor little man!

Off we went down the mountain into the valley of Heber where we ate dinner at the Dairy Keen where Uncle KC and Aunt Sarah spoiled everyone with ice cream after their food was eaten. It was a beautiful day (this was Wednesday after we played at Kangaroo Zoo).

Thursday was our last day in Utah, so we enjoyed the sun with some fun at the Veterans Pool in Provo. Tammy and I went together with all the kids (no husbands mind you). Tammy had an extra child whom she was watching for the day and her Nephew who turned out to be a huge help (he's 16). None of my kids really knew how to swim and Logan wouldn't stop freaking out any time he was one foot away from me. But it was fun. We were able to go down the water slides with all the kids at least once. Then they closed the pool for an every 2 hour check where you had to stay out of the water for 15 minutes. We decided we were done and left. Tammy went home and we headed to KC and Sarah's for our final night together. We hung out and had a great time. I was able to catch a few Z's while the kids all played Mario Kart Wii together. They had a blast. We ate, talked, and had a very hard time saying good bye. KC and Sarah had gathered little mementoes from all the places we were able to go together and shared them with us before we left. It was so thoughtful and such a great way to remember all the fun things we experienced together. I will cherish all the time we were able to spend together especially now we are so far away. We drove back to the Knighton's for the late evening and enjoyed celebrating Devin and Tammy's birthdays with them. It was great to be there for those two very special friends (they're all special but they were the special one's with the birthdays). :) Thanks guys for thinking of us and celebrating a bit early so we could be there!

Friday morning we woke up early (9 or so) to try to get an early start for California. Julie was able to come to Tammy's so we could catch up a bit before we took off. We'd tried to get together but it hadn't worked until that morning, thanks to her being willing to drive out to see us. After our short visit we tearfully said good bye to the Iverson's and the Knighton's. We were on our way to Julie's home town, Redding, CA to see my sister, Carrie, and her family.

Oh my goodness! What a drive it ended up being. I took a wrong route and ended up going through the depths of the forest at 11:00 pm. Darkness, eyes that don't see well in the darkness, tired from an already 10 hour trip, and tons of deer were not a good combination (don't forget I'm traveling without another adult with 4 children). I just kept praying over and over again that I could make it safely. I think I went 35-40 mph most of the way. I have never seen so many deer at one time in my life. They were at the side of the road usually when it was a flat area. The whole while I kept thinking, "Please don't jump in front of me little deer!" I was lucky enough to notice the solid yellow line had a black spot in it and started to really slow down. Low and behold there was a deer standing in the middle of the road. I stopped, it took its sweet time moving to the side of the road. Definitely beautiful, but the stress won out that night. Once Carrie realized where I was she started following the map and timing how long it was from the last time we talked. She called and said many times, "So, have you now passed (such and such) a place." And she was right on to where I was. We finally made it safely and boy I was extremely exhausted.

After a great night's sleep, I awoke to my children being fed and on their way outside to play on the trampoline. It was so much fun to be able to just hang out with more family! While Carrie and I were talking she said that I needed to call this vacation my "Guilt Trip" since it was right before we were moving to Tennessee and I felt guilty (more sad) that we were going to be so far away from all of my family. :) That's when it was thus dubbed "The Guilt Trip".

The Saturday we spent in Redding was a very strange Saturday. We woke up to dark clouds that got darker. Lightning and thunder thus arose, a bit of light rain, a smidge of heavy rain, very large drops of hail, and then it cleared up and we went to the park and later swam in their back yard pool. That storm came after the hottest day ever in SLO (113 degrees) and the storm had tons of lightning strikes that started tons of fires. It was weird, but a very enjoyable day for us there in Redding.

We went to church together Sunday morning. What a pleasant time we had with our cousins we rarely saw and my sis and bro-in-law I enjoy being around so much. We needed to head out after Sacrament, as much as we would have loved to spend more time with them, so we could get back to SLO at a decent hour. We rolled in around 7 pm, piled out of the van, and crashed into our beds for a long summers nap. NOT! I then immediately had to start more house packing for our move to Tennessee, packing on Monday that is.

We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation to see family (and friends) in Utah and Northern California. It was a great way to spend time with so many of our loved ones before we had to leave them so far behind in our move to the other side of the US. :) But now, we have a great blessing…we are only 10 hours away from Will’s family…a post will come shortly about our visit to Maryland we took at the end of July. I’ll be sharing some fun pictures between cousins that hadn’t ever met and some they hadn’t seen in over 5 years, brothers and sisters reunited, and a new beautiful baby girl amongst us all.