The loooong road home

Well, for those of you who may have missed my stories of my hilarious children this past week, I have been on vacation! We are now on our long drive home, trying to stay awake, and so I am trying out blogging on the road, hoping it will help. So far, so good.

We drove out to see my family this week. It was so nice to see everyone! I wish that we could have seen some of our other friends and family, too, but it was such a long and difficult drive, and there was such a short time for us to be there. If only traveling were a little easier!

The drive was so long and it felt like we would never make it! But sweet Matt helped make everything cheerful and pleasant for everyone, just like he always does. :)

The girls were definitely troopers. Here they are at a gas station at about 4:00 in the morning, raring to go!!

If only my parents would feed me…

It took a very long time to get there. Nebraska is one of my favorite states, but WOW. It’s horrible to drive through. While driving through we got caught in a horrible storm and were reminded by that and some other sights of the awesome destructive power that nature can have. We were grateful to be safe.


Of course, there were about one million potty trips. :)

We finally arrived at my parent’s at sunrise. It’s been a long time since we’ve been in the desert!

We were very tired!! I like my punk-rocker hair in this one:


The girls were able to enjoy lots of fun things like love from aunts and uncles, tea parties with Grandma, and riding the tractor with Grandpa!


Here’s Grandma trying to show them how fun and not scary the older tractor is:




One of the most special things we did was sealings for some of our ancestors. It was a wonderful thing to be in the Temple together with Matt and with my parents and siblings. It was especially neat to be there with my brother Joe, who just got home from his mission. It was very neat to be in the same room that Matt and I were sealed for time and all eternity in!

We also went to the Dinosaur museum together. It was a nice time. :) My girls were just fascinated with the dinosaurs!

My second daughter, as many of you know, has a very boisterous and fun spirit. I love these pictures. She looks like she is ready to take on the wooly mammoth!


Here she’s showing us that this Brontosaurus isn’t so big and tough.


The whole family together:

My girls:

My brothers: living proof that if you leave your face like that for too long, it will stick!

I had fun being with my sisters, especially late-night chats with my sister Chantile. She and I feel the same about healing the body through the mind and spirit, and it was so uplifting to visit with her so much! Here I am, lecturing her about something important, obviously (do I always look so stern??):


I’d say the absolute highlight of the trip, though, was the last morning we were there. We went to church and saw my sister Chantile and my brother John give talks. I was proud of both of them, but I have to say that seeing John get up there was amazing. I knew how difficult it was for my brother to do it, and the courage and determination that it took for him to prepare and present his talk. I was more proud of him than I could ever say. It was a blessing to be there with him. :)

After our visit, we went home by way of Denver. I love the mountains on the west side of Denver, and it was so fun to drive through them as a family!



The final destination before heading home was my home-town, Fort Morgan, CO. I hadn’t seen it in nearly ten years, and it was interesting to see the changes. It is much different now. It’s also amazing how everything seems just a little smaller… :)

There are some sights that never change, though!



This was finished at home, since the on-the-road blogging did not end up serving to keep us awake. :) We’re glad to be safely home, and grateful for the nice trip!!

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