On March 25th, the kids and I headed out with Grandma Jeanette in her car to drive as long as we could. Jeanette and I were blessed with food poisoning the day before so we were still recovering. Jeanette more than I. So I drove most the way and we made it all the way to Farmington, New Mexico...about 14 hours. It was really a great drive and day. The kids did soooo well and I was fine driving a lot, so it worked out really well. We did have several little pit stops, but they usually consisted of a stop of to the side of the road so either Sarah or Kaden could tinkle. After our long trek the first day we were only left with 6-8 hours the next day, which was also really great. Jeanette was able to drive the last few hours that day, and the kids still did just awesome! So we arrived in Orem, Utah at about 3 pm on Friday, March 26th...just in time for my Scrapbooking Overnighter in Sandy, Utah...one of the main reasons for the trip.
We were able to visit with so many people that day and it was great. We saw Grandma Daisy, our old neighbors Duffy and Rex, my cousin Ashley and her family, Liz, Danny & David for a minute, Trevon, Coleen, Ava, Violet, Kirsten for a minute, Paul, Jannet, Nate, Heather and Alayssa. Brandon and Trevon got to go on a "date" and were able to attend the Priesthood session together. The kids and I hung out with Coleen and the girls and had fun playing and visiting and eating pizza. It was great to see everyone even though our time was very short. After priesthood we headed back up to my mom's to spend the night, Easter and the rest of General Conference with her, Uncle Chris, Ally, Kaleb, and Great-Grandpa and Grandma Small (my mom's parents.)
(I posted a link to the map...I think it's fun to see how far we went...)
Friday night Madyson and I stayed the hotel in Sandy with Aunt Liz and little (big) David, and Uncle Danny was kind of enough to keep Sarah and Kaden at his house...he even took them to the Nickel arcade that night. I had a great time, as usual, scrapbooking with my family (mom and Liz) and cousins even though we were very small in number this year. It was just so great and worth every minute of the 22 hour drive. I even managed to scrapbook 12 pages in Sarah's scrapbook along with all the visiting and fun we had. (Big THANKS to my cousin Shauna!!)
Madyson and David hung out in the playpen for a while, until David grabbed Madyson's hear and tried to pull it off. He's 4 months younger than her...
Sarah and Kaden got to spend time with Grandma Jeanette, Ava, Violet, Kirsten, Coleen, Trevon and Grandma Daisy on Saturday while I was still scrapbooking. They loved that of coarse!
We spent the next 4 days at Liz and Danny's and just had so much fun with them and their cute little boy, David! Grandma Cook (mom) brought Chris's kids down to play Saturday night and Sunday and that was lots of fun. The kids hadn't seen each for 8 months so they were pretty excited. Kaden and Kaleb just played outside non-stop...luckily the weather was beautiful the first couple of days, and Sarah and Ally played with the babies.
On Sunday we were invited to Danny's aunt's and uncle's for dinner. Well, Danny got a pretty nasty bug that morning, so the kids and I went with Liz. It was very, very yummy food and Great Aunt Colleen had a talking bunny. It would ask questions and Kaden would answer back.
Sarah and I made a trip to Target...here she is trying on a stylish hat.
We got to spend an afternoon with Aunt Kiki (Kirsten) at the mall. We ate lunch, played on the new tree house and dinosaur playland at University Mall in Orem and shopped a little.
More pictures of us playing at Aunt Liz's...
David playing with Kaden's homemade gun...
Sarah crashed and managed to turn herself completely upside down on the love seat.
On Wednesday, the 31st of March we headed up to Mom's (Grandma Cook's) cause she was finally out of school for spring break. So we spent Wednesday night through Sunday night at her house. On Thursday we got to go up to Garland, Utah to watch the Herzog boys (Jay, Michael & Riley-my first cousins) play water polo. It was our only chance to see Aunt Jo. We had a wonderful time with them. I just can't believe how those boys have grown up and changed so much. It was so great to visit with Aunt Jo, Uncle Andy and RaLauna.
Uncle Andy holding Madyson at the polo game.
Kaden and Sarah watching.
We went to a local drive-in afterwards and had yummy burgers, fries and english chips! Here's Michael, Kaden and Sarah watching Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure...they watched the whole thing while we ate...even Michael!...Riley watched some too.
Here I am with my greasy goodness (ranch burger and english chips)...hadn't had it for so long...had to take a picture.
Aunt Jo and Sarah
RaLauna and I at the restrauant...it was sooo good to see her again.
Saturday, April 3rd Brandon(Daddy) flew in. We were so excited to see him. We missed him so much after more than a week apart. We picked him up in the morning and headed down to Provo to see Great-Grandma Daisy. We spent most of the morning and afternoon with her. We enjoyed visiting and watching General Conference with her and her friend Shannon. The kids were very well behaved and both got to pick a bear to take home from grandma's collection.
We were able to visit with so many people that day and it was great. We saw Grandma Daisy, our old neighbors Duffy and Rex, my cousin Ashley and her family, Liz, Danny & David for a minute, Trevon, Coleen, Ava, Violet, Kirsten for a minute, Paul, Jannet, Nate, Heather and Alayssa. Brandon and Trevon got to go on a "date" and were able to attend the Priesthood session together. The kids and I hung out with Coleen and the girls and had fun playing and visiting and eating pizza. It was great to see everyone even though our time was very short. After priesthood we headed back up to my mom's to spend the night, Easter and the rest of General Conference with her, Uncle Chris, Ally, Kaleb, and Great-Grandpa and Grandma Small (my mom's parents.) Sarah on Easter morning!
Kaden slept in that morning...he was sleeping in the play room the night before, but woke up and went and got into Grandma Cook's bed...well he had no idea that Great Grandpa & Grandma Small were sleeping in there, but that didn't bother him. He climbed over Grandpa and got right in the middle. He and Grandma both slept in. Here he is finding his Easter basket.
Ally and Sarah had so much fun together.
Sarah helped Grandma take out her curlers and then she got to put some in her hair.
Ally too....here they are again.
Grandpa Small loved pushing Sarah's buttons and she talked right back to him...it was so funny.
Grandma Cook and the girls...(Ally, Sarah & Madyson)
We had such a wonderful Easter dinner and visit with everyone in between conference sessions. We even were able to celebrate great-Grandma Carma's and mom's birthdays. The kids played and played and played and played....they just loved being at Grandma Cook's. The decorated Easter eggs, hunted for Easter eggs and ate lots of Easter eggs...well Sarah at least, I think she had like 3 in the one hour. Danny, Liz and David were also able to come up for Easter so we were all together and it was wonderful. We headed out early Monday morning (Happy Birthday Mom!)...like 6 am and so the kids slept for a bit longer, which was nice and we were able to have a great first day on the road back home. We stayed the night in Albuquerque and then headed home Tuesday, April 6th. The second day on the road was not so great, but we made it home around 9:30 pm.
Here's Kaden and Sarah in the car with their bunny ears.
The night in the hotel...Kaden and Sarah watching cartoons.
The kids got kites for Easter and were dying to fly them, so once we got to Texas where there was enough wind we stopped and tried them out. Here's Brandon and Kaden in Albuquerque trying to get Kaden's kite to stay in the sky. It was soooo windy.
We just wanted to say thanks to Brandon's parents for letting us borrow their car and helping make our trip possible! Love you!
