A reason to celebrate

These two love-birds (my sister Toni and her new husband Darin) chose to get married Labor Day weekend in Utah. We hadn't anticipated much travel at all this summer, but with all these important family events that were unexpected, it made for a ton of travel!


Toni was a beautiful bride, and I enjoyed spending lots of time with her the week of the wedding. I am so happy I was able to be a part of it. We love Darin and couldn't be happier for these two.


About three years ago, we experienced a driving trip to Utah from you-know-where, and swore we would never make that drive again. But with Dave completely out of days off and our travel budget more than exhausted, we didn't have much of a choice this time. David drove the family to Utah one weekend, flew home on frequent flyer miles home so he could work, flew back the next weekend for the wedding, and less then 24 hours later turned around and drove us home! What a patient and nice husband I have!


We decided that if we were going to make the 21-hour drive, we would try to make the trip there somewhat of a vacation; we'd do it in three days; and see some things our kids (and David) hadn't seen before.


This picture is fun to me because I have such distinct memories of this dinosaur (and the slide in the picture below) from when I was a very young girl.


That slide has got to be about a thousand years old! What a flashback!


I enjoyed going back to the "cowboy culture" I grew up with and realized what a distinct culture it really is. Growing up, it just seemed so normal!


Returning to Mount Rushmore as an adult was fun too, because as a kid I was so unimpressed by it. Isn't it great, when you realize you have gained some perspective on something? Our kids, were not so enthused.




However, we stopped at this adorable storybook village park in Rapid City, SD, and they were mighty impressed by it.


Teyah especially loved this "choo, choo train." After seeing the trains at Carpinteria this summer, she has been totally obsessed (our first kid to like trains). So, when she got to ride this little train all by herself she was more than thrilled!


We kept our path due west and stayed a night in my hometown. It was a total trip taking my girls to the Wyoming Dairy Queen I basically grew up in! It has hardly changed and they sat on the same saddle chairs I sat on when I was their age!


This gorgeous pic, doesn't exactly evoke the best memories. It was taken right in front of the Antler Motel that we stayed in. The motel was fine until we woke up in the morning and realized Dave had been eaten alive by bed bugs! The bites quickly grew into large blisters and after several medications, and two weeks time, they have still not completely disappeared. Did I mention I have a trooper of a husband?


We enjoyed our drive through Yellowstone too. The only scary part was when Teyah's carseat buckle broke in the park. We weren't quite sure how to proceed, but after my impressive husband messed with it a little, he rigged it so we could safely continue on.


The trip from memory lane continued on to Idaho. This is the first house we purchased and the one we brought Aubrie home from the hospital! It was the same owners we sold it to, and they let us see inside, the backyard and updated us on the neighbors! What fun!


I am going to explain further why my husband is so patient. We made it to Utah just before midnight Sunday night. Then, he arose at 4 a.m. to take the early flight back home Monday morning to be able to work. Around 8:30 a.m. he called and said he was still in Utah because Northwest/Delta had canceled his flight due to mechanical issues, and re-booked him on a non-direct flight. After even more delays in Denver, he finally arrived at work at 4 p.m. Needless to say, our plan of him not missing work, didn't go over so well.


The week the girls and I spent in Utah was great fun! We spent time with cousins, Grandma, aunts, great grandparents, etc. Everyone was healthy until the stomach bug started to hit one-by-one.

Unfortunately, I had it the day we drove home. But despite the bed bugs, the flu, and the canceled flight, I still think the trip was worth it! We loved being there with family and seeing Toni so happy. Congrats Toni and Darin! Thanks for giving us an excuse to travel again.