Our Traveling Summer Extravaganza

So, you know when you get so far behind on blogging that you don't really want to blog, but you know you have to and you better just sit down and get it done or you'll never be able to blog again? Well, I finally got off my lazy bum and got it done. Hurray!! The following posts include a small fraction of the pictures from my own personal camera. I plan on acquiring more great picts from my family. I hope that you enjoy what I have!

Many moons ago, Amy and I decided to embark on the journey of a lifetime. Amy's van packed with her four children and my two children (all under the age of 8) traveled across the U.S. (well to Utah and Idaho) and back. My parents traveled out with us, which was soooo nice. One the way back, just us. We definitely had a memorable trip. I don't know that I slept more than four hours a night and being perpetually tired makes two sisters at two a.m. too silly. It was hard to be away from Justin for so long, but I'm glad I made the effort to survive for three weeks away from home. Thanks Measers, for the great trip and AMAZING memories!

For your browsing pleasure, I have divided this trip into several posts. Please view as many as you like, and feel free to comment. Happy reading!

• The Wonderful World of Oz
• MY FAMILY!
• Utah State Hey! Aggies all the Way
• Hangin' with the Hardens
• Way to go, Idaho
• The Caddy's in Pine, AZ
• Driving Mishaps
• Fantastic Friends

The Wonderful World of OZ

To anyone who has driven across Kansas, this would look like a familiar site:

It goes on FOR-E-VER!!! At first we're like, "Oh wow, look at the open space! It's so wonderful to see the whole sky from horizon to horizon." After while we're like, "Oh man, more open space. How long do these endless plains last? Will we ever see a mountain?"

To combat our open-space blues, we made and unscheduled detour at an Oz museum. It was a very fun little place in a very teeny-tiny little town. The town park was a small plot of grass with a bench (bug Amy if you want to see pictures). Their collection of Oz memorabilia was very extensive and quite impressive. If I wasn't chasing around an 18 month old, I may have been able to enjoy it more.

Preston, Maddy, Amy, Garret, Izzy, and Mom at the entrance.

Izzy, Garrett, and Jackson with the lovable Tin Man.

Amy and I proclaiming ourselves joint rulers of the Emerald City.

When we got back in the car we still had pry 100 more hours of this:

MY FAMILY!!!!!

Oh my goodness it was great to be with my parents and see all my siblings. I wish I would've pulled out my camera more. I'm relying on my mom and sister for more pictures of our time together.

The first half of our stay in Utah, I was the only one staying at my parents house. It's was great getting my mom all to myself. I did get to spend lots of time with Aubrey and her sweet little Ari, Amber and her two boys, and Daniel and Ally. Our main goal each day was to purchase some shaved ice with cream drizzled on top. YUM! I don't know why I did not take any pictures of this. I must have been too busy stuffing my face.

It's the second year in a row that all my siblings were able to congregate in one area. I feel so blessed that this happened. I love them all so much!!!

Relaxing (or belaxing as Izzy would say) at the pool.

Amy and Garrett

Ally and Wes

Amber and Jordan

Arianna

Me and my dude

My Grandpa and Grandma Shimer came down from Idaho for Aubrey and Steve's sealing and to see all of us. I was so happy to play some games and spend some time with them.

Grandma and Izzy

Grandpa and Izzy

With some of their great-grand children

Utah State Hey Aggies All the Way!

Daniel and Ally joined me and the kids for an afternoon galavant to Logan, UT. So nice to be back in the place I called home for 4 1/2 years. I really experienced some of the best memories in this place. If I could go back to any time in my life I would pick my years in Logan.

The Beautiful Logan Temple

The "A" where you become a true Aggie.

Around Campus

Old Farm, Apartment Q-2. Need I say more?

Hangin' with the Hardens

We had so much fun with Justin's sister Amanda and her two boys, Alex and Benjamin. We were able to play at their house a few different days. We also spent one morning at this place called The Treehouse. My kiddos loved their cousins and Aunt Amanda!

Aunt Amanda and Wes watching the dog, Charlie.

Izzy and Benjamin are only a few weeks apart. I really love this little guy!

Alex was super helpful with Wes, always looking out for him.

We made the kids dress up like colonial times in the "oval office."

Grandpa Ole brought this super fun water slide over to Amanda's.

The kids enjoyed the creative cupcakes Amanda made.

Wes loving on his Grandpa Ole.

Way to Go, Idaho!!

This was the absolute best part of our entire trip for me. All of my cousins on the Bennett side were able to meet up past Driggs and camp for two nights. My mom and I went up a few days early so we could visit St. Anthony. I ate a pizza bomb from Big J's, went to Horsey Park, and visited some old friends still living on 4th North. It brought back all sorts of memories from my childhood.

Camping was just perfect. We did get some rain the first night up but the kids loved it. Thanks to all the great cooks, we ate some excellent dutch oven food. And, oh man, our hike up Table Rock, was, well words cannot express how much I loved it. Yes it was long and hard and I was sore, but being cold on the top of that mountain was totally woth it. I had forgotten how beautiful the view was from the top. Very grateful to all those who made this trip possible!!

Already for the seven hours of hiking coming up.

Dad and his little bro, Steve.

I love my sis Amber, she ran with me down the mountain!

Everyone made it too the top!

This is my cousin Chris's daughter. I loved her bouquet of wild flowers.

Izzy loved the wild flowers too. Indian Paintbrush was all over the place.

Brooke, Keaton, and Beau setting up their tent.

The Caddy's in Pine, Arizona

When Amy and I set out on this adventure we knew we wanted to see the Caddy's. They are some of our favorite cousins ever. We planned a few extra days to stop and hang out! Deon had this fabulous idea that we meet them at their rustic cabin in Pine. It was seriously the nicest cabin I've ever seen. The food was fantastic and the weather even better!

Wes loved the three dogs running around. Where the dogs went, he went.

He also loved playing in the dogs' water bowl.

Lisa and Deon

Betsy and Sara. LOVE these girls!

The whole gang. We were able to see all the Caddy kids except Debra.

Garrett and Wesley didn't make the group picture. They had both crawled up in their car seats and gone to sleep. I think they were ready to be home.

Driving Mishaps

I don't know what it was, but each day we had to drive I swear we would end up getting to our destination like four hours later than the GPS told us in the morning. There were times I blame the GPS (like dad's little side roads on the way out) or times when getting all six kids out of the car, to the bathroom and back in the car took an entire hour. But we had a few other major setbacks, especially on the way home.

In southern Utah Amy got pulled over for speeding down a windy road where the speed limit was 65. The cop claimed we were going 78. Amy and I and the resume button on her cruise control all know she was going 69ish. He didn't even cut her a break for having such a clean driving record. He did knock her speed down to 74 and hand us a ticket. Plus he set us back another half hour.

Later on in the evening, our friend G. (short for GPS), took us up and down a road and we could not figure out where to turn. We finally did it the old fashioned way and stopped at a gas station. By the time we were back on route we hit what we thought was construction. It was actually a really bad accident with at least one person body bagged on the side of the road. Hour and half later, we were on the way again.

After leaving Arizona, we made our way to New Mexico. We were planning on stopping around 6:00, eating dinner, and sleeping in a hotel. Turns out the hotel we had Bryce reserve for us was a few more hours down the road. I'm pretty sure we didn't make it until close to midnight.

The next day Oklahoma City was a relatively short distance. I was getting so excited because we were all on time to our stop for the night. Then, BAM!! half hour away from our destination we get a flat tire. We pulled off on the side of I-40 hoping that someone would stop. No one did. Amy and I dumped everything out of the back of her van to get the spare tire out. Problem was, we couldn't get off the flat tire. We were both too wimpy.

My disgruntled look because no one stopped to help us.

Amy even tried jumping on the crow bar to get the blasted tire off.

Amy's friend, Janson, saved our lives from the boiling temperatures on the side of the highway.

Mostly though, I can't complain about the driving. Our kids were very good. Thank goodness for the dvd player, McDonald's play place, and a very laid back sister!