Day 3- Once in a life time

In the morning we thought we would try our hand at a famous Las Vegas Buffet.

BUT

it was just a buffet.

The food was fine.

No one was starving.

So after our one plate of breakfast we thought we would check out what was under the tent.

A huge amusement park for kids.

The kids walked around and they found a few rides they wanted to go on

but 

we were itching to get on the road 

so we promised rides later in the trip.

They didn't believe us.

Next stop was the Las Vegas Temple.

I am taking this opportunity to side note. 

Some

may not understand why we stopped at all the temples

so

We stopped there because they are special to us.

The symbolize the gift of eternal life

and more importantly

that our family

has

forever 

to spend with one another.

There is a joy found  there that can only be compared

to

a moment

when you feel your children's sticky kisses

or chubby fingers grab for your hand.

There is peace.

It is happy.

It is a place to center yourself.

There is an expression I like,

"Be in the world, but not of the world"

I liked that expression before I got to Vegas

but 

now it will forever hold a place.

There are things we cannot control around us

but 

we always have a choice.

This temple is a sanctuary from the world.

The noise

the gluttony

the filth

Beautiful Penny was so happy to get out of her seat after only 20 minutes across town.

The ground are stunning.

I have seen this temple in pictures and it wasn't my fav

BUT

in person 

it is AMAZING.

The grass is lush and there are little gardens and fountains everywhere.

small little nooks to read and sit

The girls just layed

and stomped

and enjoyed

the 

lovely

green

grass

This was Ellie's favorite temple on the trip.

She LOVED it.

I am posting this while she is at school

but in this spot

I am going to get her to type

why she loved this temple.

So come back later tonight and read it

The window go from the ground all the way up.

I imagine the light just floods into the building.

I could have an entire lengthy post about the water features...

This fountain Penny almost went swimming in.

relaxing before getting into the car

There were some rock gardens on the grounds too.

I found some pockets full of rocks when we got to the hotel that night!

I could say an exasperated "kids!"

but

Dusty's pocket was full too!

We loaded up and hit the road.

Again.

I was glad to be getting out of the city.

I think so was Dusty.

When we were parked at a red light, the girls looked out their windows and on the curb was newspaper boxes full of porn.

The girls asked him why there was naked ladies in the newspaper?

BAHAHA

I thought he was going to die.

After composing myself I had to explain the premise of porn to a very confused 5 and 7 year old.

About a block later

there was a big flashy building 

with the sign

"Gentleman's Club" 

Ellie can read.

But just in case you couldn't

there are pictures on the billboard...

I think Dusty could of kissed  the 

"leaving Las Vegas" sign.

It was seriously only moments before we were back out of the city and back into some beautiful country.

The desert mountains are stunning.

I was itching to get a picture with a cactus or a Joshua tree 

or SOMETHING.

But

Dusty was not stopping.

Finally the girls and I pleaded with him to stop when we drove past this

little "old west" town.

Penny must of been the winning plea

with her use of, 

"I am going to PEEEEEE my pants"

and even luckier for me this place had 

Cacti!!

Dusty was so excited to go to 

DEATH VALLEY national park.

It was very desert-y.

The scenes were stunning.

This is lowest place in the world.

and apparently

the hottest.

Lucy complained the whole time she was here.

and after

8 hours

of detour.

I am confidant that I can say this was a 

ONCE in a lifetime trip.

because

I am glad 

i went

am

glad i 

saw

Even more thankful I took pictures.

Knock it off the bucket list

because 

I am not going back!

haha.

When we got out of Death Valley National Park

it was dark

and the girls were exhausted.

So they missed all the Disneyland signs....

Day 2 (don't worry I won't post 11 days in 11 separate posts... I am not that crazy... sorta)

Day 2 started in Salt Lake City (with no continental breakfast).

We stayed at the the hotel right on temple square.

It would of been super awesome if we had a temple view

but

we got to look at the parking lot.

but

that isn't a complaint

I was just glad we had less than a half a block walk.

Did I mention that on day one of road trips with kids that you try to pace yourself...

you pace yourself because you don't want to kids to revolt so close to home

you will be apt to turn the car around and not even attempt.

We save crazy for day 2

this is your warning.

We started off the day with lovely strawberry smoothies via my magic bullet that I packed.

they were cheap

(but I think I only used it one other time... good intentions I suppose)

Then it was off to the FREE museum.

There was oodles of cool things to see

BUT

the very helpful elderly couple at the info desk

totally told are kids about the awesome kids part upstairs

so we didn't get to see other awesome stuff.

Just awesome kid stuff.

 Like this pretty cool ship (Nephi's ship)

Ellie and Lucy fished for magnetic fish.

Meanwhile, Penny found her new career. Ship-builder.

 Lucy translated some ancient writings on some brass plates.

 Penny found some chickens.

We could hear them clucking and couldn't figure out what was going on.

They needed their eggs collected.

Penny was the only one brave enough.

Seriously

Stuffed chickens 

and the other two bolted like

chickens...

They did some fancy dancing.

Ellie practising her tortilla toss! 

She thought this should be a school sport.

 

A family picture in front of the the Salt Lake Temple.

I printed out these travelling books.

They were filled with facts.

So they got to read tid bits of temple trivia before arriving at each temple.

The seagull monument

(the Utah state bird)

They thought it was so funny that they made a statue of a sea gull.

There is a massive wall that was sandblasted with all these people on the top of the conference center.

The garden was enormous.

and there was lots of water features.

After our little tour of Temple Square (about 4 hours BUT that included Lunch at the Lion House- which was amazing. Dusty and I found ourselves fighting over the kids rolls) we hoped in the car and hit the road.

We still had a lot of stuff to see that day. We took my parents car. It has navigation. Dusty prefers maps.

At  this point in the trip he yelled at the car.

She didn't tell him soon enough to turn so he missed the first exit to the interstate.

Insert yelling.

Then me laughing.

and crying

(because I was laughing at him)

and then insert

children then mocking the car the ENTIRE rest of the trip.

(she re-routed us.... and we made it to the interstate and weren't lost in SLC the rest of our lives...)

The first stop was the Draper temple.

It was not far away.

like 45 minutes. Maybe.

Ellie at the Draper Temple.

She wants a gold door.

Flowers. A big deal to penny.

We spent more time on this holiday looking at

flowers for penny

and water features with Lucy.

 Then it was off to the Mount Timpanogos temple.

It has lovely bright blue windows.

Pretty backdrop.

and this is where we started running into a little warmer weather.

the coats came off.

The kids burned some energy running from the flag to the temple

(a few times)

Dusty didn't really want to stay on the interstate. 

He wanted to see more of Utah so we took back roads from this point.

We stopped off to see the Manti Temple.

It's been my favorite in pictures.

It did not disappoint.

It was stunning.

Even the hinges on the doors are amazing.

This is a staircase to the back of the temple. 

Lucy said it was the longest staircase ever.

It gave her a blister.

Not her favorite temple.

In Manti we stopped for fuel.

We learned an important lesson.

or two.

1) don't let children pick their own snack

2) never let children have sticky candy in a car that is not yours.

I have already learned this lessons.

I was busy getting medicine out so I was unaware of Dusty's upcoming lesson.

It has been learned.

Luckily

 I packed enough wet wipes to clean an army of

8 year old boys.

Next stop.

St. George.

Future home of

ME.

for real.

It was so lovely and warm. 

The air was fragrant with flowers.

The children were giddy 

(mostly because of the sugar)

Couples and families were everywhere walking around the temple and sitting on the benches.

The visitors centre was packed with activities for the kids.

I was in visiting with the sister missionaries and when I came out Dusty and our girls were laying on the grass right out front of the temple watching the bats swoop down in and out of the trees in front of the stark white temple. It was so beautiful.

Lucy is obsessed with bats.

This temple won her heart.

They laid there for a little while just enjoying the warm grass.

We had a picnic of strawberries on the grass by the car and loaded up for our final destination of the evening.

LAS VEGAS.

 I did tons of research on hotels best for kids etc.

We drove into the strip and lights and glitz.

The hotel had a Circus and an amusement park.

I thought the kids would love it.

They didn't.

They HATED it.

It cured all of us of ever wanting to go back.

We found the strip in Las Vegas to be the polar opposite of what we had seen earlier that day. 

It was dirty, noisy, glitzy, and smelt of smoke. It was obnoxious and in your face.

Maybe mine and Dusty's experience would of been different if we had gone with out kids but after spending a lovely day of picnics and fresh air and beautiful buildings and then dealing with the kids outright disgust... I don't think we would ever go back either.

We spent little time downstairs and retired to our beds because we had some busy days ahead of us.

Family Holiday. Post 1 of many...

Penny got a bad case of bronchitis right before we left. 

(well like two weeks) 

and so the day before departure I decided that maybe I should take her in. 

The doctor gave her an inhaler and some anti-biotics to ward off pneumonia....

she was fine. 

The medicine was a pain. 

but the moral is.... 

traveling with a kid with bronchitis and sleeping with a baby with bronchitis.... 

leads to YOU getting bronchitis.

I am grateful it hit me the last day on the way home. 

Longest 8 hours in a car of my life!!!

With that being said. I am surrounded by mess and I really don't care.

I plan on sitting in my chair and doing nothing all day.

because I can.

Day 1

People thought we were crazy for driving but it was so easy peasy. 

I don't think we would consider flying. 

The girls did great. 

We broke the car ride up and the first stop was Helena Mt. 

Penny was THRILLED (for real) 

when we pulled into Costco.

 We bought some fruit and veggies for the road and another case of water and we were set. 

Except I am pretty sure you can't not eat at the cheapest place ever. 

So we did that too.

 (FYI their pizza is ridiculous.... in fact all other Costco's should go there just to take notes)

I also made car books.

It had state maps, state birds, flowers, and other fun info about each place we were stopping.

Ellie loved it. So did dusty. Penny liked drawing on herself.

Next stop- Idaho falls

I sorta expected the temple to be small and not as grand as some of the other temples we were going to see 

but I was so very wrong.

It was so pretty.

It is right across from a very pretty park

with the falls.

A very nice back drop.

Everyone was glad to get out and stretch.

The girls took advantage of the park with Dusty while I made some sandwiches.

We were trying to get to Salt Lake that night and we had two more temples we wanted to see but we only managed to make it to the Brigham City Temple.

It was so so cold so it was a quick stop then back into the car.

This temple is where an old school was.

The history of it was kind of interesting and 

directly across the street in the 

Box Elder tabernacle.

and even if it was FREEZING the girls still thought the green grass was a novelty and took whatever opportunity they had to roll in it!

Happy places

We are actually staying in a hotel with wireless that works!!! Hurray!

We are on our way home today. We just spent four magical fun filled days at Disneyland. It felt like time stopped most days.

You know when you are a kid and time seems to just last forever..... It happened again.
It was awesome.

The girls have some good stories to tell and I will post some very happy moments from the trip but for now we are all snuggly tucked in awaiting the next leg of the adventure.

Sent from my iPhone

Stepping out

This is me getting crazy with my hair.
I needed a change and I have never had it cut or colored like this before...

snow, books, and costco

We have a trip planned in the near future.

I have a to-do list a mile long.

I have been plugging away at it.

but tonight,

as big puffy flakes of snow

are gently falling,

layering the ground and trees with white.

I feel like throwing that list out the window.

I want a fire.

wool socks.

warm tea.

and 

(I should put book but I would prefer)

 a gently whirring laptop.

Today I took Penny to the doctor.

It doesn't happen often.

In fact, 

since penny's brief stint in lock-up

she hasn't been to one.

(I have a soap box about the over use of our medical system for stupid things.... but another day)

She went.

She has drugs.

Hopefully she starts to feel better.

Hopefully I start to get sleep.

I look like a new mom.

without the new baby glow.

I have a brilliant book made up. 

so

if you are ever Mormon road tripping down the i-15 

From Canada to California

email me and I will forward you a book filled with 

maps and 

state by state symbols

temples

and

cost cos.

Yep Every Costco from here to Disneyland!

Ice Fog

This week I got asked to speak at the R.S. birthday dinner. 

That is why I haven't blogged.

I have been huddled in a corner in my house,

clanking away on the keyboard,

in hopes that something lovely might get said.

I was actually hoping for funny.

That didn't happen.

But it's over and now I can come back to my computer and clank at an appropriate speed and I can spew forth whatever comes to my brain.

It has been foggy here.

Not a normal thing for here.

Its the kind of fog that hangs on to everything it touches.

It clings to you, making you cold.

Colder than you have ever been...

(well... 

I guess that depends on how cold you've been.... 

but it's freaking cold....

 in the chilling sorta way)

I feel the need for wool. 

I want a wool sweater

socks

mitts

scarf

longjohns....

I keep trying to talk in a Scottish accent, 

daydreaming that I live in the Scottish highland 

riding around in the moorlands 

on my pony. 

I could go on 

but I will stop. 

I am sufficiently crazy. 

My poor (insert accent) poor wee lasses think I have gone mad.

Okay 

seriously 

Is anyone else amazed that April is around the corner??? 

Next Wednesday is the FIRST day of SPRING!

Shnikies!

Spring here means....

cleaning pens

fixing fences

riding frisky horses

brushing out matted dogs

but for now

I am frozen

and 

only thinking of stew

and

kilts

burly men

ponies

and 

Scottish accents.....

Cone of Shame

This is a kitty cat update...

for those of you who are concerned...

aka

a dear sister....

haha

moving on.

I bought the cat a cone of shame.

If you do not know what that is you need to watch the movie, "UP". 

She hates me.

Last night I dreamt she pooped on my bed.

She, I am sure, was sending me these thoughts via tapping into my brainwaves.

Cats are evil like that.

She really is not a very happy kitty 

but her tummy looks way better.

Its still leaking a bit 

but 

every couple hours I 

swab it and

 squeeze it and 

put polysporn on it.

Who ever invented that stuff needs a medal.

I have also decided that I think I am getting out of the pet business.

Children are bad but pets are worse.

(Kidding...sorta....)

And with that I think it is time to tend to the cat..

or the children...

or the laundry....

Starting Over

have you ever had a really bad day?

Everything you do seems to go to pot?

Yesterday was that day.

The dogs ripped up 9 bags of garbage.

Plus they then were sick.

the ceiling in the barn was disassembled

(long story)

but the cat had been using the insulation as a litter box.

that was under the ripped garbage.

The day continued to get better and better

(not really)

Last night I went to bed looking forward to tomorrow.

I woke up.

Things were shaping up to be a super productive day.

I have heaps of laundry.

I was done chores by 930 

and fixed the barn door which broke

(yesterday.. like I said not a good day)

Came in.

4 loads of laundry done so far.

and  then I notice the cat.

She got spayed a few (3) weeks ago.

She was licking her incision.

I flip her over and it is leaking.

a lot.

but it's not green.

part of the incision is open.

Do you know how hard it is to vet wrap a cat BY YOURSELF???

the wound is disinfected. 

Polysporn applied. 

Maxi pad taped on. 

Vet wrap wrapped.

But now I have to go get ready to go to town because I am out of

Super glue.

This will put a cramp in laundry...

At least I can start over again tomorrow.....

Wreath

I did a little project.

 I look at it and it seems unfinished. 

Maybe it will grow on me. 

Sometimes that happens. 

But for now it hangs by the door.

Right where I see it.

All the time.

I will soon figure out if it will grow on me.

This was a super easy project.

Stuff you need:

1) a grape vine wreath

2) burlap ribbon

3) tin stars (I happen to make them at a super Saturday for my Christmas tree.... )

Wrap burlap around wreath.

Wire on stars.

hang.

BAHAHAHA now that is a set of super complicated directions!!!!!