travel log-"amony"

We made it. Not that I didn't think we would, I just didn't know if we'd come home with all three kids. I thought we would have left them on the side of the highway somewhere. But much to my surprise Corgan, Lily and Blake were wonderful on the trip. I can only remember threatening them with turning the van around 4 or 5 times. The times they slept were really nice!

The first stop on our trip was Mountain Home, Idaho, where we spent two nights with Aaron's old (and favorite) mission companion, Chris Latta and his family. They even bestowed their first born son with Aaron's name. ;) They live in an awesome, old farm house with tons of cool potential that they are trying to bring to the surface.

Then it was onto Utah. We spent the next week at my sister Dyan's home with her family. I celebrated my 26th birthday there. It has turned into somewhat of a tradition to never be home for my birthday. Every year Aaron says that "This year your birthday will makeup for all the others." Maybe next year... But it's not all that bad. I can look back and think of all the different places I've been on my birthday. I did get my hair chopped off while down there. I went to Lunatic Fringe, where my little sister Krissy works as the receptionist. I think it was a good 5 inches gone. Now when I nurse Blake, my hair won't be hanging in his face! We did the whole Salt Lake thing, saw Temple Square, the Joseph Smith movie, hiked Ensign Peak, ate at Sonic (mmmm....cherry limeade). Then we sat in traffic on our way back to my sisters. Gotta love Utah and their obsession with construction.
Part of the reason going down to Utah was that my sister, Dyan planned a "Cousin Campout" with all the cousins from my dads side. We had about 30 or so people show up. Good times. We slept in our Vanagon. The back seat folds down and becomes equivilant to a full size mattress. Aaron made a sweet cot that fit over the two front seats and Corgan LOVED his bed up there.
After that we spent two nights with my brother in Wellsville, UT. It's just south of Logan. While we were there we went to a small zoo (Lily had a close encounter with a turkey who tried to eat her finger), a cheese factory, the Pepperidge Farms factory, and we drove 20 miles north and visited Preston, Idaho. Got a map at the Chamber of Commerce and drove past the key sites from the movie, Napoleon Dynamite. Lucky, I know.

Blake with his cousin Weston....

So overall it was a good trip. We survived, our kids survived, and thankfully the Vanagon survived. We never did stop at any Historical Markers. Maybe next time.