Our yearly trek out to Idaho was different this year, because instead of coming from Pennsylvania, we were coming from Texas, which shaved ten hours off the drive - ten hours is lot of hours in the car. We also decided to take our old, but reliable van, which led to us stopping overnight so that she could have a rest. She is 15 years old with 230,000 miles on her, so driving her non-stop doesn't seem wise anymore.
We also took advantage of the drive to get Derek some experience driving and knock off some driving hours. You can see how serious he takes his driving, but what you don't see is me gripping my arm rest and doing everything I can to remain completely calm while my son is driving 70mph on the New Mexico highways. He did great, but teaching a kid to drive is not for the faint of heart. My goodness. (Kevin moved to the back seat and "took a nap" during this time, as he can't handle it.) I just wish we had had him drive on the straighter stretch of road, instead of in the mountains. At least the scenery was beautiful.
That night, we stayed at a small motel in Farmington, New Mexico. I was reminded, yet again, why I cannot sleep in the same room as Derek. He is a very noisy sleeper, and at one point he yelled out in his sleep, "Korean! I speak Korean!" What a dream he must have been having, and he does not, for the record, speak Korean. Ha ha ha! The next morning, the boys were beyond excited to get to eat the continental breakfast - mini waffles and orange juice for the win! And I loved that I could fill up all the water bottles with cold water for the next stretch of our drive.
If you have never driven through or been to northern New Mexico and southern Utah, you really need to go there, if only to experience the indescribable beauty and uniqueness of the landscape. And my cell phone pictures going 80mph through bug and rain splattered windows do not at all do it justice - you will just have to take my word for it. Come and see the mountains and the desert - it is spectacular.Friday was actually a pretty short day in the car, only about six hours, and then we were in Orem at the Draper's home! I was just there last month, which was awesome, but there is nothing quite like a Kevin and Rob reunion. We had less than 24 hours with them, but we made the most of it, with a dinner date, late night pinochle, and a lunch date on Saturday. We always have the best time with Rob and Angela! And our boys had a blast getting to swim in their pool, but their favorite part was talking about and playing games with Elijah. Good times!
Before we knew it, we were crossing the Idaho border on our way to Twin Falls. We had meant to have Derek drive again, but by then, we were just anxious to be home, so Kevin drove . . . and fast. Ha ha!
We got to my mom's house and immediately made ourselves at home. Arthur even found a book for her to read to him, which is one of their favorite things to do together.
On Sunday, we went to church with my mom, and I witnessed the cutest experience of Kevin teaching Arthur to tie his tie. I have a very similar picture of Kevin with Derek doing the very same thing.
After church, my sister, Holly, came over to visit. It was so wonderful to get to see her and catch up, especially because she will be out of town half of our time here. After her visit, I made dinner and we had Dennis and Valerie over to eat. It was so much fun.
Monday morning I started the day in one of my very favorite ways - I walked down my mom's road to the wheat field just in time for sunrise. When I am her house, I often get my workout in with a few miles along her road, and it never disappoints.
After my walk, it was time to get to work on projects at my mom's house, and that meant enlisting my boys in the "fun" of weeding and clearing some things out of her front yard. And we may have had to be strategic about fitting everything in the trash can. Ha ha!
Arthur even got to say hi to the goats my sister, Heather, is keeping in my mom's back pasture. They seemed like they were ready to do anything to get over the fence to that bucket of food, but luckily Heather fed them right after I got the picture.
All of the chores and work of the morning, were followed up by movies and games with Grandma Lynn in the afternoon. Something that was repeated on Tuesday, except without the work ;).
On Tuesday morning, I had the rare privilege of getting to play golf with Kevin and his dad. We played at Highway 93, a course I had heard about a lot, but had never actually played, and we had the best time! And I actually played really well and got my personal best of a 113 for 18 holes (I think the lack of water on the course helped me out) and even getting two pars (and on holes Kevin bogeyed - what!?!). Such a great time!We filled the rest of Tuesday with hanging out with my mom, watching movies, talking, and doing things around the house (like installing her new camera doorbell). It was a great few days before we were off on our next adventure - getting our Lily.
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