ROAD TRIP!

Several months ago, Bob and I decided that we wanted to take a road trip to Arkansas. Our oldest granddaughter Adi was getting baptized and our youngest granddaughter Sydney was going to be blessed. We decided that since we were going to drive, we might as well take our pick-up, clean our attic out of our kids possessions and haul them cross country to all of their homes! So, that's what we did! It was also the perfect time to give back to Andy his giraffe that he'd sent home from his mission. This was a little hard for me, since I've come to love this giraffe. But, it wasn't mine to keep. So, I took a farewell picture and said my goodbyes.

We were pretty well loaded up! Our attic is now pretty much empty!

We left early in the morning on August 4th. The first night we stayed in Billings, Montana. We simply tolerated the drive until we got to Butte. We've never driven past Butte because that's were we always turn off to go to Rexburg. So until that point it was just the "same old drive!" Once we got thru Butte we were excited! We weren't disappointed either. The scenery was beautiful. I never expected to see such pretty places in Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota. I guess I need to be a little more specific....Northern Wyoming is beautiful. Southern Wyoming, not so much! I compare it to Oklahoma...the two ugliest places on earth...sorry if you are from either of those places...it's just, the truth!





We stopped along the way to see some of the sights. The first being the Little Bighorn Battlefield. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs, but to learn about history as well.

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to see Mt. Rushmore. Not sure why, it's just always been on my list of places to visit. This was the perfect time to go. It was everything I'd hoped it would be. The only thing was, that it really is a destination point for a vacation, not just a drive through and see it kind of a place. I'd love to go back and spend more time in the park to camp, hike and sight see. It was simply beautiful.

We also visited the Crazy Horse Monument in the park. It'll be amazing if it is ever finished.

Just so happened that our time at Mt. Rushmore was during the famous "Sturgis Rally." We shared the park with over 350,00 motorcycle riders! They were everywhere! Nice though, very friendly. I've never seen so many motorcycles in my life. It just added more fun to our "experience"! We took time to shop around some of the fun towns surrounding the park and just have a good time.

We thought it would be fun to spend a few nights camping along the way. Since places to stay around the Mt. Rushmore area would be all booked up because of the rally we decided to drive further away from Rapid City and camp. That proved to be an experience in itself! We settled down for the night, all cuddled up in our sleeping bags with a good book to enjoy. We were as cozy as could be! Not long after we'd settled in we began to feel the wind blowing a bit. Next we heard the pitter patter of a few raindrops. Next we began hearing thunder and seeing lightening in the distance. Before we knew it, we were in a full blown mid western storm! It lasted all night long. We got no sleep and I was afraid a tornado was going to touch down any minute! It felt like we were going to blow away like Dorthy and Toto any minute! Morning finally came, we survived. The ends of our sleeping bags were a little wet, but that was pretty much all that happened. All and all in the end, it was kinda fun!

We camped in Wall, South Dakota. About every quarter mile between Rapid City and Wall we'd see these roadsigns advertising a place called "Wall Drug." Those signs were a great marketing idea. By the time we got to Wall we felt like we'd really be missing something if we didn't stop by and check out the drug store! Everyone else must have thought the same thing. Anyone on the highway stopped too. It was a fun and unique place. We looked around, had an ice-cream and did a little shopping. Come to find out, lot's of people we know have heard of Wall Drug! It's a pretty popular place!

On Friday, the fourth day of our travels we arrived in Arkansas. We got to Danny and Linseys in the late afternoon....I think! It's all kind of blended together now. The kids had their dining room chairs turned around in the window watching for us to pull into the driveway. It's nice to know that it really is "always fun when grandma comes!"

On Saturday we got up early and got ready for Adi's special Baptism day. She looked so pretty in her beautiful white dress. We could tell that Adi was ready for her baptism. She knew all the reasons why she should be baptized and she knew and understood the promises she would be making on this day. Adi, grandpa and I had a nice talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost she would be receiving when her Dad confirmed her. It was special to bare testimony to her of how special that gift is to have. Adi has grown up so much. She is such a sweet little girl.

Dan and his family sang at the Baptism. I loved it! My mom would have loved it too. You'll have to watch the video at the end of this post. I took it while they were practicing before the baptism started. Keep your eye on Luke! The real performance was awesome, but the video was precious!

Sunday was Sydney's special day. Andy gave her such a sweet blessing. Britney had the girls looking so beautiful. She made the blessing dress for her little girls when she was in college. So, first Baylee wore it, then she made a few little changes and Sydney wore it. I think that will be a great tradition.

Family night was a lesson and then a trip to Krispy Kreme. It was fun to be all together. It's nice that we can spend so much time with both families when we travel to Arkansas. They make a real effort to plan and spend as much time with us as they can when we come. We'll all go to one families house for dinner one night, then to the others for dinner the next night. It's great that they live so close.

Since we were coming for the Baptism and Blessing, Dan and Linsey planned an anniversary trip to Washington DC while we were there. We had Grandma and Grandpa duty watching their kids while they were gone. It was so much fun. Britney came and played with us everyday with Baylee and Sydney (so much fun Britney! thanks for spending time with us!) and Andy would come over after work. We swam, went to Chucky Cheese, the library, the splash park, the mall, shopping, the movies....you name it, we did it! Anything that was fun to do, we tried to fit it in! Seth and Adi also had their open houses to meet their new teachers before the first day of school. We got to take them to that as well. I got to go with Seth to his Kindergarten Orientation. That was special for me. Taking Seth to experience school for the first time... really fun! He was so excited and I was glad that I got to be there to see that. It's hard to live so far away and miss so many of their firsts. This one we got to participate in first hand. Loved it!

The days flew by way to fast and it was time to head for home. You'd think we'd dread the drive home, that's usually the way it is, but we we're excited about that too! We took a different route home so we could drive through Rexburg and drop off things there too. Again, we saw so many beautiful landscapes. Wind farms too. Everywhere wind farms! I had no idea there were so many. Huge ones, right by the side of the road. Those things are big!

Driving through Kansas I saw field after field of sunflowers. I love sunflowers! Bob slept through it, but when he woke up and I told him about it he said, "Kansas is the sunflower state!" Go figure. I didn't know that, but now I know why.

Coming into Colorado we ran into another huge storm. I had to take a picture of some of the clouds because we don't see things like this in the northwest. I was sure a funnel cloud was going to drop down any second! Come to find out, when we watched the news that night in our hotel a tornado actually did touch down somewhere in Colorado from this storm! The sky was beautiful in an erie kind of way!

Our Rexburg visit happened to fall on Claire's birthday. D's too, but we didn't get to stay long enough to celebrate his. Sorry D! At least we got to sing to you. We stayed in Rexburg just overnight. That was really, really hard. I won't ever do that again. At least we got to see everyone and give hugs and kisses. We had a birthday picnic at Porter Park and watched Claire open up her gifts and rip into her cake. She loved it! The weather was perfect, no wind, and the company was super. Katelyn asked if I could stay just 5 more minutes!

So, that was it! Arkansas Road Trip 2009. Would we do it again? Yep, in a heartbeat. We loved seeing our beautiful country from the ground, not the sky. So many pretty places. Great to spend time with family. Connect again with the grandkids and share special moments with them. Lately, we've come to the realization that we've come full circle. Our kids are all grown up and have families of their own. It's back to just the two of us again. We're happy with that. The two of us had a great time sharing this trip with each other. We laughed, talked, listened and hardly ever argued! It was awesome.

I often post about visiting our kids in their far away homes and neglect to speak of how much we enjoy our family here. We are so happy to be by Aaron and Courtney and Hank and Max. When I come home from my trips to my kids who are far away I often feel down. I miss them and wish that we could be closer. Coming home this time was no exception. But Saturday morning I got into my car and headed for Hanks T-ball game. I arrived at the field where he was playing, parked my car and began walking. From a distance I saw Hanks team. Next thing I knew this little person was running as fast as his little legs could carry him from across the field. Hank was running to greet his "Nana!" He'd missed me. When he reached me he gave me the biggest hug he could. His little body was shaking he was squeezing me so hard. I'm still sad that I can't have that special everyday time with my other kido's, but times like Saturday make it a little easier for me!







Remember, keep your eye on Luke!