Pit Stop, Utah

Fact: Utah is a long way from Texas. 

There are a lot of cheers with each state line we cross for good reason! When we rolled up to the Statham's house around 8:45pm day 2 of driving, we were ready for a little break. Our kids were so happy to see their friends and everyone pretty much scattered to go and play. Except for Scarlett. She located Oakley and planted herself in her favorite spot, his lap. Once again we were so grateful to have some of our favorites take us in!

On the Road Again, Day 2 CO-UT

Scarlett wasn't the best guest overnight at the Bells. She got up about 2 hours after the adults went to bed and tried to rouse the entire house hold to party with her. Katie kept several of my kiddos quiet for an hour or more until Scarlett woke me up and I went on a silent warpath. Everyone had to lay back down and lay still while Nathan got a few more hours of sleep so he could drive. None of my children were actually able to go back to sleep. Neither was I. I just hoped Katie was able to, good grief!

A few hours later, and now on the road with 6 tired kiddos, Scarlett of course was the first to give. But she is in those stinkin straight backed boosters so her head flopped over at a gruesome angle. In a stroke of genius I rigged my purse strap around the seat to hold her head back, it worked like a charm!

What a lovely drive through Colorado we had! We were so happy to see snow! And the best part was that there was snow everywhere but on the roads. One of our most favorite places is the gorge by Glenwood Springs, the rest stop pretty much blew our minds in the heart of the gorge, covered in snow with a river running right next to it. It was just serene. And cold!

Soon we made our way out of Colorado and up into Utah. It actually warmed up for a few hours of southern Utah. One of Statham's all time favorite things to do is to stand at the steering wheel and "drive". So at every rest stop we would get him out and let him drive while we gassed up the car or took turns using the rest rooms. I still cannot believe how much 10 min of "driving" bought us, he was such a happy baby even stuck in his car seat!

All of the rest of my children needed to run around and climb at any opportunity, and they absolutely fussed more than their baby brother! But overall we had an awesome second day with another great destination, American Fork Utah to see the Statham Family!

Rosie Snuggles

9 years ago Rosie would take my fussy newborn Alyssa and sit in her chair and wrap them up in her blanket and she would calm her right down. Every. Time. Rosie had the magic touch with Aly and there are no two ways about it. So we had to re-inact Rosie Snuggles and we all kind of got to giggling and pretty soon, each of the kids wanted their turn. Rosie Snuggles are the best!

Aly Jota

Scarlett Mei

Ander Man

Ko-dogg

Kenna Jo

Statham John

Pit Stop with the Bells

The week before Christmas Nathan and I decided spontaneously to drive up to Boise for Christmas. Part insanity, part desire for a white Christmas, part wanting to be home for the holidays and partly because we aren't sure we will make it up this summer before we move over seas again. We surprised (most of) our families so there was social media silence as we made our way up to Colorado where the Bells generously let us crash their mini- reunion. We actually had a lot of fun that first day of driving because we had Christmas movies and snacks, and Statham was a genuine trooper. We were also pretty excited about our day one destination, Bells! 

We love the Bells with all our hearts and have since our time in VA with them. Now, instead of being athletes and performers in HS, Marianne is married with a darling baby girl, Kim is married and working full time and Katie just got home from serving a mission in France. Love, love, love these chicas!

As usual Rosemary welcomed us into their lovely home (her Christmas decorations are my favorite!) and makes us feel at home, the same thing she has done since I showed up on her VA doorstep 9 years ago, homesick and scared out of my mind. She and Tom took us in for a few weeks and helped Nathan and I and our little fam get our bearings.
We only had one night but it was a great one. It was Kim and Katie's birthday so we had a birthday celebration and we stayed up with our three oldest playing Fish Bowl. It was super fun and I was reminded about the competitive genes that run through Nathan's family, right through him and into our children! It makes for very fun game nights though! And of course chatting wayyyy past our bedtimes. Thank you Bells for letting us come by, we love you!! A:F6!!!

Scarlett and Preschool

I have loved the preschool that Scarlett has been attending. Ander went there last year as well and couldn't have been happier. So when I started having this feeling to keep Scarlett home at the beginning of this school year, I tried hard to ignore it. She was enrolled and we'd paid the fees. Plus I liked having a break with just Statham some mornings. Preschool is ridiculously expensive and that alone could be reason enough to have her home. But as the semester rolled on and Scarlett was happy and I was happy, I was confused why the feeling didn't go away. Finally over Christmas break I decided to follow this feeling I was having and I withdrew her from her preschool.

For as much as she enjoyed school, she certainly hasn't missed it much. I never would have guessed. And for all of my worries and concerns about her being home, they seem to be unfounded. I have genuinely loved having her home all day every day with me. We get in a lot of snuggles and she is a pretty good little helper most of the time. And it's great to be saving that preschool tuition every month. So I am not sure exactly why I felt what I did, maybe she just needed more Mama time, I can understand that. I needed more Mei Mei time too.

Mommy Survival Strategy

I'm a pretty healthy person, generally. But if I'm going to get sick I can guarantee it will be about 2 hours before Nathan leaves out of town. It always happens. This particular trip was no exception. And he was gone over the weekend of course, because well, that's my favorite. 

Nathan left on a Thursday evening and by Friday I was miserably sick. By Saturday morning I didn't want to get out of bed. A plan started forming in my mind. I needed to go to the store for the essentials but was having a hard time convincing myself to go. I wanted to just stay home and let the kids watch movies all day, but the thought of making them bags of popcorn all day also seemed overwhelming. Then I had a stroke of genius. I had seen these massive popcorn bags at our nearby Winco. I forced myself into the car and headed in that direction. I grabbed bread, milk and a bag of popcorn as big as Scarlett.

The kids settled in for a movie marathon and gorged themselves on pre-popped popcorn while I laid catatonic on the couch. I am fairly certain popcorn was substituted for lunch, snack and dinner. I vaguely remember slicing some apples and cheese at some point, maybe?  Everyone was relatively happy and I survived what seemed like an unsurvivable weekend. Thank you ginormous bag of popcorn and TV!