Our True Identity

So the week did get better...

Cole took 2 days to recover. TWO! Not a 24 hour bug. But as soon as he did we were ready for some fun with the cousins.

The entire time Coley was sick Brogan had to play with Braige and McKay... which isn't a bad gig unless you don't enjoy climbing trees. Braige and McKay were in a tree nearly the entire trip! Don't get me wrong... I think Brog and Coley enjoy a good tree climb as much as the next guy, but they don't go to the top of huge trees. And Braige and McKay climb trees like Mowgli. All. Day. Long.

Our first stop after Coley was well was at Grandpa and Grandma Mecham's house. Aunt Betty was in town... we felt extra lucky! It was raining and frigid outside so the kids quickly found Papa Nate's old toys in the den and put them to work... until they remembered how cool the upstairs mini closets are... That was the end of them!
We saw Karate Kid. We watched a few ball games with the cousins! Boy those kids know how to play ball!!! We even hung out at the Mella's house while Gordon had knee surgery! And while there Jessica informed me that she is NOT a fan of people asking her how she is feeling! Under no circumstances is one to ask that question... even though, in my humble opinion, it is exactly what you would ask somebody you love and care about if you were truly concerned!

LUV YOU JESS!

Curtis introduced the kids to snow shack. Every night after dinner he and the kids would head out to snow shack and then to the park or toilet papering or light up the night with "barely legals" fireworks. He is so fun! My kids wish he was their parent!
We moved from Curt and Marja's house to Merilee and Loran's basement apartment at the end of the week. It is nice and cool down there and it was made up perfectly! It was sparkling clean with tidy beds when we walked through the door... and then we trashed it with all of our stuff!

It was so fun to see the family again! We have super fun cousins!

Nate joined us one week after we got to Utah... On the day we originally planned on going up...
Just in time for Ragnar!

Documentation of the beginnings of our UTah Trip...

When my dad called to tell me that Aunt Tammy died I knew we needed to head off to Utah for her funeral. Uncle Steve needed support. I had a few obstacles to overcome before I left.

1) McKay was scheduled for cub scout day camp. (getting your son out the door in the afternoon for day camp is a small victory all on its own.)
2) being gone for 3 weeks meant bills must be looked over and paid for the entire month.
3) mountains of laundry need to be processed.
4) and packed (4 people + 3 weeks = lots of packing)
5) girls camp was 3 days away and I had to delegate ALL my responsibilities there. (if you tried to call me on those days you couldn't get through because I was delegating camp responsibilities)
6) wasn't ready for girls camp.
7) visit teaching...
8) Young Women information being passed from my brain to the amazing people that ran the young women's program of the Lazona ward while I was gone! THey are the BEST!
9) I was the Ragnar (Running4nie) team capt'n and I had a meeting to call and organization was still necessary before we met in Logan, Cache County, UTah at the start line. (That was the funnest race I've ever run!)
10) organize travel plans adding another week...

needless to say... I was a little bit busy for a few days.... and nights...

I knew it would be worth it!

Finally the day came. I fit all preparations in by the skin. of. my. teeth.

I even packed a cooler so that we wouldn't have to stop for food making our trip faster! No stopping for food would mean only 10 hours of travel. We were leaving @ 4:00a.m. making it completely possible to get to the viewing by 6:30 p.m., even adding an hour for time differences, there would be time to spare! I finished all of my duties at 3:00 a.m. which left 1 hour to shower and get dressed before dad and mom picked me up.

Perfect!

And dad was driving so I could sleep...

Our drive up was as eventful as the previous week!

Dad behind the wheel + in a hurry + Becky sleeping sitting up = neck injury.

Lisa and mom were caravan-ing with us in Lisa's go cart.
Her love bug couldn't handle the land speeds dad was trying to set. But we only had a short wait in Flagstaff before they caught up. The wheel well fell off somewhere between Page and Kanab, making quite the noise, which nearly gave mom a heart attack. We were too far ahead and the phone services didn't work on the rez. So in a nut shell... Lisa and Mum were left to fix the car noise on the side of the road by themselves.

Lisa says insert mum's hyperventilation here.

Mum says insert Lisa McGuyver and shoe string here.

Mean while we ripped into Kanab.

We stopped at the gas station to wait for the go cart to catch up.

And that is when my cell phone got services.

The text came through which read,
"HELP" sent by mum's cell phone.

HOLY SHNIKEEES!

Dad began to pace... out on the highway.

I called mum's phone which was just coming into service.

She explained the whole wheel well thang falling off and her trying to flag somebody down and how we drove too fast and she thought death was eminent and how we would never get there on time and that Lisa found a shoe string in her new $90.00 (on sale) shoes and tied the wheel well together and they were now almost to Kanab.

what? Lisa has shoes that cost $90.00? Why haven't I borrowed them? Wait... shoestring is holding Lisa's car together?

And indeed it was.

And it did! All the way to SLC, UT and back to Mesa, AZ. Who knew?

In Beaver we stopped again to top off the tank.

Good thing we did.

The threads were poking through my rear tire.

It was a miracle the whole tire hadn't blown apart during dad's reckless drive!

So we got a little tire changed and Chevron made $120.00. OUCH!

And then Lisa got in my car so that Dad could bring relief to our Mum.

That is when we got the giggles playing a car game with Bailey.

I almost wrecked the van cuz I couldn't see through my teary eyes.

14 1/2 hours later we rolled into American Fork and found refuge at the Damons.

Bless them!

And Marja had whipped up a chicken salad croissant and some fruit for us to wolf down before we left for the viewing (which we were NOW late for).

Bless her!

(This is Marja. She and her sister Merillee are the bestest hostesses known to planet earth!

I love them!)

The kids stayed with Marja. They had enough of car time... and besides they were going to sit through the long hours of funeral the next day.

We made it to our viewing. It was as sad as a viewing could be. And we found lots of comfort in our faith and family... LOTS!

When I got home late that evening everything was beautifully in control!

Marja has a super clean house... even with all our junk strung around!

The kids were Ultra happy!

Uncle Curtis was deemed "the funnest" person alive and carries the title still today!

He took the boys toilet papering.

That is a good story for a post another day!

And all was well.

We found comfortable slumber quickly.

Until 2:30 a.m. when the bedroom door flung open and muffled under heaves and splatters Marja informed me that Cole was sick!

SICK?!!!

The sickest throw ups he ever experienced in his blessed 6 years of life.

And it continued all through the night and on into the next entire day.

So we didn't make it to Aunt Tammie's funeral after all.

And that was just the first 24 hours of our trip to UTah...

Home sweet home

We took ourselves a little trip... We had planned on a 10 day vacation to Utah with extravagant plans of playing with cousins, running a race, playing with cousins, hiking a trail or two, playing with cousins, possibly visiting Bear Lake, playing with cousins and eating AGGIE ice cream while playing with cousins.

It turned into a LOOOONG vacation!

Aunt Tammy died unexpectedly.

Tragic, actually.

And so we piled in the family wagon a week earlier than we expected and headed North. She lived in Salt Lake City... the heart of our vacation spot!

So our 10 day trip turned in to a 17 day trip.

As we were packing all our memories into the storage spaces of our mind, to retrieve throughout the year, mom called...

Grandma died unexpectedly.

Well, she was 88.

She had dementia.

But she was kicken' strong without a mind.

And so we unpiled the family wagon and extended another week. She lived her life in Salt Lake City.... though she had spent the last few years in Arizona soaking in the sun and enjoying the heat. But her heart was always at home in good old Utah.

We stayed an extra week for her funeral which was right before July 4... which granted "holiday pay" and made it so that we extended the vacation for an entire month.

Wow. Vacation for an entire month!!!

It was incredible.

The thought of Home Sweet Home really does exist.

Really! It does.

But as soon as I step outside... that thought escapes!

May I echo every neighbor and soul who puts up with the AZ desert heat?

IT IS SOOOOOOOO HOT!

p.s. Dear Monsoons,

Please come quickly.

We are wilting.