Stood Up

I was planning on spending my time with my visiting teachers this evening but one of them forgot all about the appointment and ended up in Rexburg somehow. It is such a great feeling to know you're forgettable! Oh well, it got me to mop the kitchen floor and get some things cleaned up that probably would have waited. And now I have a great chance to tell you about our trip this last week.

We left town around 7 PM on Wednesday night for a two hour drive to Hagerman. The sunset was pretty as we drove in. The kids did really well and then Leah had to go potty just before the exit. We needed to take the second exit, but Chad thought it might be pushing it, so we got off on the first one so she could water the weeds. We got back on the freeway to see a sign indicating the 2nd exit was 1/2 mile away. Sheesh! We got to visit with Chad's brother, Shawn. Uncle Shawn is fun for a couple of reasons (but not limited to only a couple!): he has old light sticks from the army that you can run around a dark house with and try to hit each other in the head with (that last part is not recommended by the parents) and he doesn't have any kids yet, so he's not so tired of little people that he won't play with you (that last part IS recommended by the parents!). Thursday morning was spent watching the guys work on a storage shed. I have a certain opinion of Chad's family: they are extremely hard workers. No slackers are born into that family (we only marry in...speaking only for myself, not the others). I wouldn't say they are really efficient. They built the same wall twice and then almost had to build it again when Chad asked if they weren't putting windows into it (after it was framed and ready to be erected). I laughed a good one over that! But they all had a good attitude and everything seemed to be fun (if you count standing on a roof in the heat getting sunburned fun!). I especially liked their attempt to beat the heat by moving the swamp cooler up to their work area!

Rebekah tried to beat the heat by taking a LONG nap! It had to be upper 90's by this time.

At 3pm, Thursday, we headed for Salt Lake. I was dismayed that we were heading south in such heat! We got to Grandma's house a little before 8 pm and the kids were thrown into the tub. They were filthy! Chad, Rebekah and I boarded a plane for Las Vegas @ 7 the next morning and the kids rode to St. George with Grandma and Grandpa.

It was stinkin' HOT in Las Vegas! Luckily, we got a small rental car with awesome a/c. I visited a few friends while Chad met with some stuffy architects. We were on complete opposite sides of the valley, so I got to maneuver through LV traffic twice. Yippee. It was fun to see some people and catch up on some things. I even caught the day of a group lunch meeting, so I got to see a few more people that way. Of course, they were mostly taken with Rebekah...show stealer! On our way out of town, the freeway closed for some reason and we were forced off into the surface streets. We got out of Dodge as soon as possible and drove to St. George.

Unfortunately, St. George wasn't any cooler. A couple of degrees don't matter when everything's over 105 anyway. We met up with our kids and the rest of the family for dinner and then headed to the play at Tuacahn. It was Peter Pan and it was very good! I would change the weather though. I missed the last of the play because Rebekah was so restless and it was too hot to stand at the top of the theater. I let her crawl around on the grass. We were SOO tired from the heat and traveling for 3 days that we slept in until 9 am the next morning. My kids are usually waking us up at 7. We missed the family breakfast, but there was not much chance of enjoying it because we were so tired. I couldn't even fake pleasantries. I was doing my best not to bite heads off.

We headed home with full stomachs and then stopped 1 1/2 hours later in Beaver for ice cream. We were too full for ice cream, but tradition is tradition! We introduced one of my sisters and her family to our tradition. Now if they can only find the place the next time they are passing through!

We stopped for fuel in Orem at about 4:30 and I was disappointed to learn that it really hadn't cooled off much. So we stopped at my mom's empty house to steal some food for dinner and steal a cat nap to energize us for the last 3 hours in the car. We left there a little after 7 and got home around 10.

Our kids Loved the Peter Pan play. Daniel and Nathan have been making puppets with the characters they can remember. It really was a very good play. It was well done and we had excellent seats. A HUGE thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for the tickets and meals.