Over the river and through the woods, grandma and grandpa come

Literally over the river and through the woods, Grandma and Grandpa Walker came to our house to visit. We had such a great time! Dad and Derrel got so much accomplished. We had a few projects unfinished projects. Some of them are still unfinished but well on their way. We finally have lights outside in our backyard!!!! Yeah, no more fidgeting for keys in pitch black darkness on the back porch. Even better, the lights are sensored so when someone walks up the stairs, the light turns on!!!! Yeah! The only problem is we have a hole in our sun room floor so they could wire the light outside. But it's WORTH it! Derrel's brother, Devin, blessed their new little baby boy, Lincoln, so we took a little trip over the Baltimore for that. It was great to see them and little Lincoln.
We also went to a little cabin at Blackwater Falls and stayed in a little 2 bedroom cabin. It was so beautiful. The trees were changing colors and there was even a deer outside of the cabin in the morning while we were making breakfast. We fed it good ol' white bread. Lydia named it POPCORN. It was a blast! Thanks for making the trip Grandma and Grandpa! We sure love you guys.

The trip of a lifetime

READER ALERT:

At this point in the post, if you do not want to read the details of our long journey, you just skip to the pictures and forget reading. It is for journaling purposes-not to entertain you=). But it is quite entertaining at times and if you'd like to hear how we really survived such a trip, READ ON. . . . . .

Morgantown to Indianapolis, IN: Pretty boring drive, it was the first leg of trip, ya know. The kids watched a few movies on the portable DVD player. We were lucky and ate at McDonalds for dinner! Yeah. That night we stayed in a hotel from Priceline for $35. It was really nice. We were well rested for the next day.

Indianapolis to Kansas City, MO: The kids did fine but we hadn’t been in the car very long yet. The were really excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. We slept 2 nights there and left early Monday morning. Grandma Cyndee sent lots of things for the kids to do and they LOVED it!! Thanks Dad and Cyndee for letting us crash with you and for taking care of us!

Kansas City to Denver, CO: Uneventful and FLAT-definitely the monotonous leg of trip (besides southern Idaho). Kansas is SO boring! We stopped at a gas station with no station (only gas and bathrooms-kinda weird) and met a guy from Argentina who was starting his residency in California. Did I mention that Kansas is boring? We visited Kim’s brother, Sam and his wife Courtney, and then stayed in a hotel we got on Priceline for $35- WHAT A DIVE!! It was so gross that I didn’t even want to get under the covers-I wanted to sleep in my van. And the people below us kept shouting at us and hitting the ceiling and it was only 6 pm.

Denver to Utah County: We were so excited to see all of our friends and family. First stop was Kirsten and Steve’s house. We visited Scotty for a few minutes. Then we had dinner with the Miller’s and Derrel got to visit with a few of his young men he worked with. Then on to see the Jacksons. We stayed at Jami’s parent’s house (THANK YOU) and her mom was nice enough to let us stay in her very own bed-it was so nice, it was SO fun to see friends in Utah!! We had to pay a visit to Burger Supreme (our favorite burger joint) and it was even more scrumptious than I remember. We saw Elder Amado sitting with his wife at Burger Supreme and Derrel introduced himself and Lydia.

Utah County to Logan, UT: We visited Kira and Aaron and their cute family. On the way up there, we stopped at Derrel’s old job (Sorenson Genomics) to say hello to a few old friends. We went to Café Rio with Kira and Aaron and it was to die for! The kids had so much fun playing together-Lanette is just as girly as our girls and made for a really really fun time dressing up and playing make believe.

Logan to Boise, ID: We drove along side Kira to Boise. On the way, a car pulled up next to us and it was Dallan and Nicole (Derrel’s brother) who happened to be driving up to Idaho at the same time. The viewing for Derrel’s Uncle LaMarr was that night but we got there too late and were so tired, we stayed at Kim’s mom and step dad’s house. The next day was the funeral. We saw SOOO many extended members, so fun! We all celebrated his Grandma Walker’s 90^th birthday.

Boise to Weiser, ID: We stayed with Derrel’s brother DeLon and his family. It was so fun to see them, stayed 2 nights and then it was off to the cabin!!

Weiser to Cabin Creek, ID: Derrel’s dad built a cabin with his bare hands and a few saws and the trees surrounding. It is massive and wonderful and held all 66 in Derrel’s immediate family (and their kids). It was pure chaos and so much fun. We had races, tug o’war, a family dance and mealtimes were crazy but we all ate. Every year the girls have a “Doll Party” where they do really girly things. This year was so cute. Derrel’s mom was Miss Payette County when she was young and so they made the doll party into a beauty pageant. They gave the little girls makeovers and they were taught how to walk and hold themselves like ladies. Cute! The men do “Rendezvous” while the women do the Doll Party. But they were rained out and had to come in the cabin. Well, we had a blast at the family reunion.

Cabin Creek to Boise: We drove back to Kim’s mom and step dad’s house for 2 nights to rest up for the journey home (because there is NO WAY to rest around the Walkers=). We ended up going 4 wheeling with their two 4 wheelers (Fiona and Clarisse). It was so great going up in the mountains where it was 20 degrees cooler and eating lunch. Grant rode in the front pack and LOVED it. On the way back, we stopped at a little creek so the girls could play in the water. We all left the girls and my mom behind. On the way back, the two girls were falling asleep and my mom couldn’t hold both and drive the 4 wheeler so she bungee corded them to the back. It was hilarious! Thanks Mom and Denny for the fun times!

Boise to Springville, UT: We stayed with Derrel’s brother Dallan and his family for a few nights. We played games and had a BBQ with some cousins. It was so much fun to stay with them. I left from the BBQ and went to see our friends, the Howe’s, for a bit. It was fun to see them!

Springville to Denver: The drive was getting harder and harder. This leg was specifically harder because the girls were SO SICK of traveling and did NOT want to get back in the car. We started bribing them with candy necklaces and fruit roll ups (I’m sure that was great for their teeth). But we finally got to the hotel in Denver that we had once again gotten on Priceline. This time I spent $15 more. It’s amazing what a few dollars more will get you on Priceline. It was a fancy schmancy hotel (almost too fancy). I felt a little strange lugging my 3 kids (in their state of being) up to the 8^th floor. I was carrying a baby boppy and diaper bag while we walked past these people dining in their suits and wine (can you imagine). It was a little strange. Then, at 4 o’clock in the morning, Kate woke up crying and crying until 5:30. I told Derrel we mind as well pack up and go now because we'll never sleep through this. We suspected an ear infection but didn’t want to get stuck at an ER in Denver with ALL 3 kids in tow. So we braved the trip from:

Denver to Kansas City: My dad took us out to dinner at a really yummy Mexican restaurant. Then we headed to their house to leave Lydia and Grant and then off to the ER. Derrel and I have decided that we like to visit the ER in as many cities as we visit (we’ve done this a lot). Sure enough, she had and ear infection but the pharmacy didn’t take our insurance so we had to pay full price and it was more than a $35 hotel on Priceline. What a pain in the r-ear. (ha ha, bad joke)

Kansas City to Morgantown, WV: Yeah, the last leg of our trip. I was so excited to be home. They girls were going CRAZY literally and so were we. This is the point in the trip where I questioned my sanity and why in the world we made this trip in the first place. We did talk about going out to California to see Derrel’s other brother (and his name is NOT Derrel). We also thought about driving through Houston on our way out. It was Kim’s 10 year high school reunion. But during this time driving, I was so glad that we didn’t do anything else but go straight home. So, after 20 days of "vacationing," 5,548 miles and 110 hours in the car, we arrived back in Morgantown and were so happy to be back in our own beds. We were so glad to be home and STILL are so glad to be home. We had so much fun and it was definitely worth the trip, but we are SOOOOOO glad to be home at last.

These are all the photos I took. There are more but these are all that I have.

5,548 and counting. . . . . .

You may be wondering why I have these pictures on my blog. Well, to tell you the truth, I'm wondering why I have numbers like these in my van. Somehow Derrel talked me into going on a trip out West in our little mini van. You see, we are back now and the number above represents the total number of miles that we drove in 20 days. The number below represents the number of hours in the car. You may wonder, too, why it is only 10 hours and 28 minutes. Well our van doesn't allow triple digit hour numbers so add 100 to that number and that's the total HOURS that we were in our car. Jealous? Well, stay tuned for more pictures and fun stories about our fun LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG trip!

Our trip to the beach

Cape May, New Jersey
COLD water Lots of sand
Giggles Screams Crabs
Lots of seashells Family Cousins
Rain Sun Wind Clouds, clouds and more clouds
BBQ Tacos Cold Cereal
Talking Laziness Naps
Snoring UNO Laughter
Ferry Sea sickness (Derrel) Dolphins
Brownies Ice Cream
Chick Flicks Kids movies

Family Vacation

Well, we took quite a vacation for Derrel's Spring Break. We drove through 13 states!!! We had SO much fun and the driving went by quickly without any meltdowns or bad weather.
First, we stopped by the Ernstroms'(friends from Utah). We stayed with them for one night in St. Louis. The next day we traveled on the Kansas City where Kim's Dad and step Mom live. We stayed there for 4 VERY enjoyable days. We went and visited both sets of Kim's grandparents. It was so much fun. Dad and Cyndee took extra great care of us while we were there. The girls LOVED getting to know so much family (now that they can remember them).
Next, we were off to Monroe, Louisiana for 4 days. Derrel's oldest sister lives there. The girls had so much fun with their cousins. They went on a paddle boat, fishing, jumped on the trampoline, played a lot of dress-up and horses, Derrel went jet skiing, we talked and had so much fun! Derrel, Kim, Lori and Ted also took a really fun day trip to Vicksburg, Mississippi. We went to dinner and learned more history about the Civil War.
Then, we drove to Nashville, TN where we stayed with another of Derrel's sisters. We only had a day there but managed to tour an old civil war house that was turned into a hospital during the war. It was so interesting. We are glad to be home and be with old friends and in our house but we had a BLAST!!! Here are some pictures of our trip. Enjoy!