North Carolina Trip, Days 8-14

 8. We went to Pullen Park in Raleigh and rode the train and carousel. After a rest in Apex, we went to a little cemetery in southern Johnston County (where Myles lives) to find James's 3rd and 4th-great grandfathers and grandmothers. We found them! It was a really cool experience. We then headed to Myles and Skyla's for dinner and a movie.

9. We went to the Museum of Natural Sciences and the History Museum with a picnic lunch in between. It was really tiring, but fun and FREE! After some time in Apex, we went to Brinson and Ceci's house to swim in the pool and eat dinner. They gave the kids a bunch of toys and books, which is awesome.

10. In the morning, we went to Jordan Lake before it got too busy or hot. It was a perfect day. I have nothing but fond memories of Ebenezer Point. Everyone got cleaned up for church once we got back, and some siblings came over to hang out, eat dinner, and play games. James went shopping for trip food for the way home.

11. I spent the morning catching up on this blog and planning next week. We went to church at 1:30 and were joined by Brinson and Ceci, who couldn't go last week due to work. They hung out for a while, and then Christian and Rachel came over.

12. Our alarms didn't go off for some reason, but we left Apex around 7:30 and made the drive to Claude and Tracey's house near Louisville, KY. We arrived around 6:15 and had dinner with the family. I was able to see 3 of my 5 cousins: Sara, Billy, and Ben, plus Ben's kids. My kids had a wonderful time with their 2nd cousins. Watching them play outside and marvel at the fireflies was one of highlights of our trip home. We went to bed way too late, but it was a wonderful evening.

13. After a yummy breakfast, we hit the road again and drove to Salina, KS, through tons of rain and clouds. The weather cleared up a bit by the time we got to Independence, MO, where we toured the visitors' center and had a picnic.

14. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we started our journey home with a stop in Denver at the huge Outdoor World/Bass Pro shop. I'll admit that it was pretty cool. We had to make an unexpected stop in a little town in the mountains because our car stalled right after the tunnel at 11,000 feet. :( At this point, I was completely exhausted and could barely drag myself around the little shopping center. To top that off, Lewis threw up on the floor at Wendy's. After an hour of letting the car cool, we were on the road again and finally made it home at 11:30. I was so tired (and somewhat hungry from being too stressed to eat) that I almost passed out.

I'm feeling somewhat better today despite the huge mountain of work I need to do to catch up. I spent 1.5 hours going through pictures and videos already. James is running a few errands (library, grocery pickup) while I take a little rest. We already decided not to take the whole family next year since we've gone 2 years in a row, and even then, we might fly. Though the car trouble was minimal, it was incredibly stressful to deal with. (Remember, the mechanic in KS said there's nothing wrong with the car?) Also, driving in 3 days instead of 4 really wears everyone down. I found myself pretty short-tempered the past few days. Hopefully, I can make a full recovery and commit to visiting my family again sometime in the future. :)

A couple things I forgot to mention: I read a whole series of books while we were in NC, and it was excellent for my mental health. James made sure we got plenty of Southern food during the week (some bought by Grandpa.) We had Cookout, Zaxby's, Bojangles, Biscuitville, boiled peanuts, and Cheerwine (a case of which came home with us.)

It was a wonderful trip, but there's no place like home!

North Carolina Trip, Days 1-7

1. Getting up early for the trip wasn't so bad. It was one of those mornings where I woke up on my own right before the alarm. We had an uneventful day until after Denver. We almost ran out of gas. Then, after a couple of hours of in 100+ degree weather, the car started having problems and would randomly stall and flash the check engine light. We stopped in Colby, KS, for the night instead of Manhattan, KS. Luckily, we were within walking distance of a couple of restaurants. It was not a fun time, though.

2. The next morning, James found a mechanic to look at our car while we went to the Prairie Museum. The museum was really cool and included the largest barn in Kansas. The mechanic found nothing wrong with our car, so we headed out around noon. It stalled after a few hours, so we figured out that it was just too hot (108!) to function well. We stopped for half an hour and tried to run the AC a little less, and we never had another problem. We also made sure to fill the tank at half full and try premium gas, which was cheaper than regular gas in Vernal. After a long day, we made it to a small town outside of St. Louis. Too bad our plans for the day got totally scrapped since we were 8 hours behind schedule. :(

3. The next day, we drove the rest of the way to Apex with a stop at the Parthenon museum in Nashville. The statue of Athena was really impressive. One more fun stop was at Buc-ee's, the hugest gas station I've ever seen. I had to do the last few hours of driving, but we finally made it at 1:30 A.M.

4. We went to church with most of the family at 1:30. Phew, thank goodness for late church in this case. Normally, I'd prefer to go earlier, but we were pretty wiped out. Lots of people came over after church, and I made some cinnamon rolls.

5. We went to the Museum of Life and Sciences in Durham. It was just us since it's bit more expensive and further away. Though it was really hot, the kids had a great time. We had a short break in Apex before heading to Mara and Ricky's for the pool and dinner.

6. We toured the state capitol. It's a really cool, old building! After a little rest at Grandma's, we went to Christian and Rachel's for dinner and tie dye shirts. It was a lot of fun to make them, and they turned out really colorful.

7. We went to Marbles, the kids' museum in Raleigh. Everyone came over for a family dinner. We did a picture afterward in our tie dye shirts. The colors made it turn out especially good. I think it's my favorite family picture ever!

A Weird Week

I'll be honest, there have been some really stressful moments since we got back from ID. First, we decided it was a good idea to get boosters since we got Covid from our family in NC last time. These boosters had no side effects for the kids, but James and I were really tired and achy for 36 hours and had sore arms. It was a lot like the 2nd shot, maybe a little worse. That made things tough.

Thursday night, we tried going to see the new Thor movie with some friends. Unfortunately, there were technical difficulties, so we went home after sitting in the theater for an hour. :( We got some ice cream, but still, I was super disappointed.

Saturday afternoon, Lewis jumped off the couch and slammed his head into James's knee, resulting in a mild concussion. I played games with our DND friends, plus Samantha's parents, while James took Lewis to the hospital. Though it was hard to focus, I still won 7 Wonders.

Sunday, we visited the grave of James's 3rd great-grandfather in Vernal. It took a little while to find, but it was exciting. We're planning on visiting a cemetery in NC that happens to be 30 minutes from Myles's house and has graves for some of James's 3G and 4G grandparents.

Monday, we split up to see Thor at different times. I really enjoyed it and laughed a lot. I like that most Marvel movies manage to deal with serious, sad topics while still being funny. James got some errands done while I caught up on things at home.

Tuesday, we played DND.

Wednesday, I took Lewis in for a checkup. He got a clean bill of health, so no more worrying about the concussion. I did laundry, packed, and cleaned to get ready for our trip. James brought me lunch to help make the day a little less stressful. I made a point a few trips ago to give the kids more responsibilities and have them keep track of their own stuff. It helps A LOT. Sometimes I forget that they can accomplish quite a bit on their own. This trip has been only a fraction as stressful to plan for. We didn't make any reservations until a few days ago. We're also going to do the drive in 3 days instead of 4 (so, fewer activities along the way), but we're hoping it will be cheaper than last year's as well. We shall see. I do know that gas is more than a dollar cheaper in NC!

Rexburg, 4th of July

We had a good Friday with everyone. I got the laundry done and had a little time to read. Angie and her new boyfriend, Steve, came over for dinner.

Saturday, we went to Kelly Canyon to find obsidian. After lunch, we went to Victor to go kayaking and have a cookout with Grandma and Grandpa Head. Despite the rain and hail, it was really fun.

Sunday was relatively relaxing. Some of my in-laws' friends came over for dinner. The internet worked well enough for me to talk to my family too.

We had a really busy 4th, starting with a concert for Anna and Grandpa Lee at the park in Firth. We all made it on time and enjoyed the music and breakfast. We decided to skip the Rexburg parade and went back for a rest. I really needed that nap. We showed up at the park in Rexburg just in time for Joseph's concert. The little kids played in the splash park for a bit before we headed back. We went to the Lees' in Rigby for a delicious cookout. Then, it was time to head to Idaho Falls for the fireworks while the little kids went back to Rexburg to go to bed. We really enjoyed the fireworks, even though it was a long wait before and after. We played a board game with Sam and Jesse while we were waiting. I hated waiting to get out of the parking lot. We sat there for 40 minutes without moving once. Thankfully, we made it back to Rexburg and got a good night's sleep.

We traveled home on Tuesday and made it back in one piece. Our only real stop was at a park in Tremonton, where we ate pizza. Wednesday was a lot of catching up, and to be honest, I haven't been super excited about today either. I'm starting to stress about the NC trip since we haven't planned much of it yet. I think I need some food and a nap before I worry about anything else. :)

Anniversary Trip, Rexburg

We saw Top Gun on Thursday night. It was really fun! I can see why they waited to show it in the theater.

It was weird and quiet without the kids, but I was able to rest my back and foot. James worked on a project on Friday while I just relaxed, read, and watched a movie. We cooked some delicious steak for lunch and headed to our ward campout for dinner. The weather barely cooperated, but we saw a beautiful double rainbow and got to hang out and sing songs after dinner.

Saturday, we left for our trip, stopping in Heber for lunch. We went to 2 different D.I. stores and 1 used bookstore, where we got lots of treasures. After a quick dinner, we went to Evermore with Devin and Samantha. We had a great time finishing quests, exploring, and browsing the shops.

Sunday, it was nice to have a rest. We watched our ward on YouTube, read for a while, and visited 3 temples in Utah Valley: Payson, Provo, and Provo City Center, as well as the Hare Krishna temple. All were beautiful. We'd packed stuff to eat meals at the hotel, so that was relaxing (and not too expensive!)

We had a busy Monday, starting with several museums at BYU: Peoples and Culture, Paleontology, and Art. After a delicious lunch at an Indian restaurant, we went to the Hutchings Museum in Lehi, after which we went to Cabela's, Winco, and 2 more D.I. stores. (We got more treasures, of course, mostly clothes and books.) For dinner, we went to a huge buffet than included Chinese, American, Japanese, and Mongolian grill deliciousness. After that, we retired to our hotel since we were pretty wiped out.

Tuesday, James had an appointment in Salt Lake, so we left early enough to get there in case of traffic. After a breakfast at Denny's and a stop at Smith and Edwards, we made it to Rexburg. It was really great to see the kids and snuggle the little ones again. I made dinner while Katie went shopping with Melodie. We spent the night at Emily and Rodolfo's since there isn't really space here.

Wednesday, we went to the zoo with Jesse (and crew) and Emily (and crew). The weather was absolutely perfect for that and the picnic in the park afterward. We then went to Costco to get snacks for our NC trip in a few weeks. I was feeling wiped out after we got back, but I made dinner and somehow got it done by 6:40. Joseph left at 5:30 with Joseph, Rex, and Melodie to go to dinner and a play, Robin Hood. James and I stayed with Emily again.

Thursday, we hung out in the morning and went to D.I. (plus a few more places) in the afternoon. We stayed with Emily one more night before gathering our stuff to go to Sam and Jesse's.