I have returned

***Warning*** This is a long vacation post, but try to stick it out...there's some good stuff in there!

After many days not blogging, I am back and ready to go! We went to Idaho and Utah for a little visit with family. We had a great time, but I have no pictures to prove it. I bought new batteries for the camera before we left, made sure to pack the camera, but did I take one single picture? Nope. So, you'll have to imagine the good times shared with family and friends won't you?


Spencer has to schedule his vacation for the coming year shortly after Christmas, and it goes by a seniority system, so whoever has been there the longest gets first dibs on all the good dates. Spencer has been with the company for 8 1/2 years, so he's getting up there in the line of seniority, but still it seems that every year at least one or two of his vacations dates gets bumped because someone higher up wants it. Well this year, the vacation gods must have been smiling upon us because somehow, miraculously, he got the entire week preceding Memorial Day and Memorial Weekend off! I still am a little perplexed as to how that worked out, but I'm not going to complain.


Again, I think the vacation gods were on our side because the day before we left, I got 10 gallons of FREE GAS from one of the local radio station giveaways! Yay me! That filled up the van to almost 3/4 full, so we just topped it off before we left on Saturday morning. Our plans were to head to Idaho Falls to visit Spencer's brother Eric and his very pregnant (we're talking due next week) wife, and their two adorable kiddos. Get this. We made it from our home all the way to stinking Pocatello, ID before we had to fill up!!!! That's 526.99 miles on one tank of gas! (Yes, I mapquested it) How in the world our gas was able to stretch that far, I have no idea. Maybe the free gas was magic gas, I don't know! We couldn't believe it.


We spent the next few days with Eric and Sunny. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins, and we even took them all to see the Joseph Smith movie at the newly remodeled Idaho Falls Temple Visitors Center. I balled. (That's a given) But I have to say my favorite part was watching my children's faces during the movie. And the questions that they asked me after the movie were amazing. They really get it. And they really have such strong testimonies. It was just a great experience.

Next, we mozied on down to Utah to visit Spencer's sister Monica, her husband Al, and their adorable kiddos. We always have so much fun with Al and Monica. They are both hilarious. One of my favorite things about them as a couple is how well their sense of humor plays off each other. It's like watching a comedy routine. They are both perfectly in sync with each other's humor. It's just fun to watch.

Spencer and Al went on their yearly Fly fishing excursion to "Nowhere". (Apparently they have a secret place that they will tell only very few and select people about. To anyone else, it is just dubbed "Nowhere") Usually, they go for several days or the entire week, but this time they could only fit in two days of fishing. But I don't think either of them complained. It sounds like they caught a good amount of fish and had a great time even though they couldn't fish nearly as long as they would have wished.

Monica and I took the kids to see Prince Caspian, and we all loved it! I was a little worried that it would be too intense, but it wasn't at all. The kids loved it and they played "Narnia" off and on for the next several days.

I finally bought the kids some summer clothes too. I really wanted to wait until I got to Utah, because Monica and I usually go up to Park City to get some killer deals. Well, the weather wasn't cooperating and we didn't feel like dragging the kids all over the outlet mall in the cold so we settled for Mervyn's instead. I am so glad I did! I could not believe how many great deals there were! The most expensive thing that I bought were a pair of Capri pants for Hannah for 10 dollars. I looked at my receipt when we were finished and my total was $176, and right below that it showed what I had saved from all of the sales. I saved $156 people! I now love Mervyn's!

Thursday, Monica and I went out for a girls afternoon. We went to Tai Pan first, and I know you will not believe me, but I didn't buy a thing! There were several things that I liked, but nothing that I felt that I just had to have. Spencer didn't believe me at first either. Oh well, maybe next time. Then we went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Yum, yum, and yum.

Friday we went down to Provo to show the kids around BYU campus. The kids loved it. Especially Hannah. She now says this is where she wants to go to college. Then it got me thinking...crap college is only 10 years away!!!! Crap!

I also did something on Friday that I am still so excited about. I went out to lunch with this dear sweet woman! I've been reading Elizabeth's blog for about a year and a half. I love the way she writes, especially on her feelings about mothering those sweet twin boys of hers. We met up at the Wilkinson Center and I introduced her to my family before we left. Hannah was a little freaked out that I was going out to lunch with some lady that I had never met before. We went to Costa Vida for lunch. Again...serious Yum! I had the best time chatting with Elizabeth and getting to know her better. We both laughed because we were both a little worried that it would be awkward and we wouldn't really have much to say, but it turned out great. I cannot wait to visit with her again the next time I make my way southward! Casee was going to come too, but she had to go out of town. I was so sad that she couldn't make it, and hope to be able to meet her next time.

We also met up with one of Spencer's old mission companions too. They served for a short time together in Argentina before Spencer was transferred. It was cool to see his excitement meeting this former companion again. We met his sweet family and our kids played together for a bit while we visited.

Saturday we went out to lunch with Al and Monica and then we watched National Treasure 2 with all the kids. I thought it was pretty good, minus that very obvious black dye job on Nicholas Cage that is...

The kids had a great time playing all week long with their cousins and can't wait to see them all again in a few months for our family reunion. I always enjoy getting together with Spencer's family. They are so much fun, and I look forward to it every time. The only killer is that 10 hour drive, but it's definitely worth it!

Now it's back to real life again. Work, school, laundry, ect... I also really need to get back on the exercise train because I literally ate my way through Idaho and Utah!!