The trip of the thousand Wal-mart stops...

First of all.... GRRR! I am seriously bummed that I messed up on my posting. I had every intention of taking a laptop with us so that I could post while away for the weekend. Obviously that did not happen. So let me start way back on Friday night and catch you up. (Maybe an insanely long post that can count as three?)

Friday: Getting ready to head up to Idaho for the weekend for Tiffany and Steven's baby blessing.

I have known for three weeks or so that we are going on this trip. So Friday morning I started doing the laundry that I needed to pack that afternoon. And the kids were so excited that somebody asked me when we would be leaving every 20 minutes, starting at 10:27 am. Long story short, by the time Brian got home I was a basket case and still trying to pack. An hour after he was home and by which we should have been on the road.... I think my exact words were, "I don't even care! If we forgot anything we can run to the store!" Looking back, that was an eerily prophetic statement.

At 6:30 we finally are loaded up in the car and on our way out of town. We drove for exactly 7 1/2 minutes, then stopped at Wal-mart for some snacks and some McD's for dinner. Twenty minutes later we hit the road again, and had to ask Jacob ten times in as many minutes to please not turn on the car light in the back while we were driving. He so badly wanted to read his book so Brian decided we should stop and get a couple of book lights (one for Jake and one for me) instead of fighting the issue for the next three hours. We tried two other stores with no luck and then stopped at the next Wal-mart. $5 book lights, score!

After that it was (mostly) smooth sailing all the way up to Idaho Falls. Unfortunately our late start meant we rolled into town after 11 pm and went straight to the hotel. Our girls had slept most of the drive so they were not too pleased to be woken up and dragged through the freezing cold into the hotel. And then once in the room it took forever to get them ready for bed and settled down. I then got to get myself ready for bed and discovered I did indeed forget something. The grown-up's toothpaste. I mentally shrugged, brushed my teeth with disgustingly sweet bubble fruity sparkly stuff and decided that would be the first order of business the next morning. And as luck would have it our hotel was right next to... you guessed it, a Wal-mart. ( I don't know. I guess we are just living right...) The second thing we discovered that I forgot was the laptop, and by the time Brian figured out that I could post from his phone, I was sound asleep.

Lila loved to look out the windows and play in the curtains.

Saturday: Getting ready at the hotel.

Watching cartoons in the morning.

We woke up, eager to get over to Tiffany's house and see that new baby. As we starting getting ready I realized that in addition to the toothpaste and laptop I had also forgotten my razor, any form of hair styling products, and I packed exactly one pair of socks for my girls. We got ready as best we could and then I ran next door to the Wal-mart for an assortment of travel sized toiletries and a bag of socks. Tiffany called to see if we were on our way and asked if I would mind grabbing her a bunch of cilantro.

We spent the rest of the day at Tiffany and Steven's, visiting and letting the girls play. Evie couldn't get enough of holding baby Morgan! Every time she held him he would fall asleep so Tiffany started to call her "the baby whisperer". Evie just ate it up.

We had dinner there and then hung out a little longer until Caite and Patrick arrived. (I'm pretty sure the first thing that Evie told both of them was, "I'm the baby whisperer!") We visited for a little longer and then headed back to our hotel, stopping first at Wal-mart so I could run in and grab some bottled water. I had planned to bathe everyone that night so there would be less to do to get ready in the morning and checking out, but again I was so tired I just crashed. Completely spaced the fact that I have a blog, let alone that I hadn't posted...

Sunday: Oh the drama...

We woke up too early, thanks to Lila. After 30 minutes of trying to snuggle her and keep her from waking up her brother and sister, and the rest of the people in the hotel for that matter, I gave up and took the kids downstairs for the continental breakfast and let Brian sleep in a little more. We got back and started to get everyone ready for church and the baby blessing. Grateful that I had all the toiletries I needed to get ready this morning, I was enjoying the morning at a slower pace than I normally get on Sundays. I started to help Evie get dressed and discovered that I had packed two pairs of Lila's tights and none of Evie's. (I also discovered that I hadn't packed either of them a casual outfit for traveling home in. Correction, I had packed a pair of pants for Lila and a shirt for Evie But that was it. Whatever, they could ride home in their pajamas. I didn't even care at this point.) Sigh. I got her as ready as I could and then started to get myself ready only to find I had forgotten to pack my slip. Grrr. Ox firmly in the mire I headed back to Wal-mart for the necessary items, determined that this would be the last time I crossed that threshold on this visit...

But it wasn't to be. After we checked out of the hotel, but before we got to Tiffany's, Lila had a massive diaper blow out and got it all over her dress, her tights and her car seat. There was no time to wash and dry them before we had to be to the church, so... back to Wal-mart for a new dress and tights. 

Seriously. Four trips to Wal-mart in 48 hours. That's just ridiculous.

Anyway... the blessing was wonderful. Afterwards we headed back to Tiffany and Steven's for a delicious dinner and a little more visiting before we headed home. Only right after dinner Jake got sick. And Lila had another blow-out, fortunately before I had changed her into her jammies, because she didn't have anything else to wear and she would have been riding home in a diaper! 

Jake trying to enjoy the ride home, Lila catching a cat nap.

We had a slow trip back because we kept having to stop for Jakey to use the bathroom, and just as we crossed the border back into Utah he lost the fight and threw up. Thankfully Tiff had given him these special traveling barf bags she had gotten at the hospital and he got sick just before an off ramp with a gas station right next to it. (The only one for like 20 minutes either direction.) Jake was a champ and there was no mess for me to clean up. He was pretty miserable for the last hour of the drive, but he didn't whine or make it miserable for the rest of us. In fact the only thing he said was to mention that he really wished he could take a bath when we got home. I hate that any of my children had to be sick, but since they did I am so grateful that it was Jake. He is so good when he is sick, either of the girls would have been a nightmare!!! 

Evie was in a great mood for the whole drive home.

This was our first road trip since we got the hand controls put on the van. It made such a difference! For the past year or so when ever we've gone on a road trip in the van it was a constant battle between Brian and I who would drive. Brian loves to drive and I hate it, but because of his legs I was terrified the entire time while he was driving and couldn't relax at all. This time he drove every minute, both directions, and I leaned back in the passenger side and read aloud to him, without having to worry once about him driving. It was the best part of the road trip for me!

So that was our weekend. Thanks to Tiffany and Steven for having that adorable baby and inviting us up, thanks to the generosity of people in our ward who donated money so we could get the hand controls installed in the van, and thanks to Wal-mart for carrying everything that I forgot to pack. I hope they won't miss me too much if I don't go back for a week or so...