The Sooner State: Day Three (Independence Day)

Eric's mom had told me that her aunts and her cousin would be joining us for lunch this day. She was a little nervous about cooking for a few extra people, just not knowing how much food to make. She told me what time they were planning on coming and so I planned accordingly.

Then they ended up showing up earlier than they had originally said, but Eric's mom hadn't had time to give the rest of us notice. It was okay for the most part as everyone was dressed and I had already done Shaylyn's hair and I was ready. I went upstairs to get Ailey's hair done only to discover the other family members were already there and Ailey was just not going to cooperate to get her hair done.

I had met these family members years before when we had gone to Nebraska and it was fun to visit again and they are super nice ladies. We had a good lunch and without going into too much detail, with all these older ladies visiting, I realized I really don't want to get old....

{...Not sure what these boys were doing, but they were probably plotting or something similar...}

Eric's moms aunts and cousin left around 2 pm, so we had some time to just relax and chill and that's exactly what we did. I looked over at one point and saw the scene below. I knew I just had to take a picture.

Eric's mom is constantly serving people and this trip was no exception. We couldn't blame her for falling asleep as soon as she took 2 minutes to relax.

After dinner the kids were getting a little antsy and because it wasn't quite dark enough for fireworks, I took them outside to just run around and play. And that's exactly what they did.

They started off racing down the hill in front of Grandma and Grandpa's...

They had fun just being kids and running around and as a usually busy mom, it was fun to watch them without having a million other things that needed to be done.

And because Eric and his brother were once kids, they made sure they had bought Snaps when they bought the fireworks and because you don't need it to be dark to do Snaps, they let the kids go crazy and it turned into an all out war with Uncle Greg on the opposite side. There may have been a kid here and there that opted to be on Greg's side a few times.

And no matter the age, boys will be boys. Eric and Greg had bought little tractor type fireworks and just HAD to turn it into some sort of competition....

I am proud to say I'm the wife of the winner. Although to be fair, I think Greg ended up with a dud.

And though it made this mommy a bit nervous, Eric and Greg helped the kids light flowers. The kids were ecstatic.

I married someone who's a bit of a pyro and I think he only enjoys the 4th and 24th cause he gets to play with fire.

These boys are always giving their mom a hard time and had bought little popper type things to scare their poor mother with. They let me in on the secret so that I could get a picture, but I'm always just a little slow.

{...She suspects nothing and is prepping her camera...}

{...While I missed the action, I got her reaction...}

Eric and Greg had a wonderful group of spectators to create a fantastic show for...

And no 4th of July would be complete without sparklers.

Thanks for a fun and memorable night, Daddy and Uncle Greg!!!

What Happens Next...

The Sooner State: Day Two

By some miracle, we were all actually ready to leave the hotel at about 8:30. We had planned to go down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast as we got free meal coupons because of the mishap with the rooms, but the line for breakfast was insane and the look the hostess gave us when we said we needed a table for 8 was pretty ridiculous. We decided we'd just hit Burger King on the way out as it was just across the street from the hotel, right next to the freeway. 

On our way out of the hotel, we ran across this little guy, just enjoying some breakfast of his own.

After a good breakfast, we were on the road at about 9:30. At some point a couple hours later we decided to stop at Walmart. It was time for a potty break, but Eric also needed something (I can't remember what) and I decided it was a good time to get snacks for Jace that weren't messy and so we didn't have to stop at gas stations so much.

We spent way too much time in Walmart and decided to drive for about another hour or so before stopping for lunch. 

Eric drove for a couple hours after lunch but then decided he needed a break and asked if I was okay driving. I was. The road to Nebraska is nothing compared to California. And because I was so anxious to just get to Grandma and Grandpa's (I really don't like to travel in the car), I just kept driving. We were good on gas and I figured if someone needed the potty, they'd let us know. We made up a little bit of time doing this and arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's around 6 or 7, right in time for dinner.

Eric's mom, brother and aunt had drove up a few days ahead of us and so they were there to welcome us as well. We visited for a bit, ate and then got the luggage out of the car and got settled.

Because Eric's grandparents house is so small, Eric's mom and aunt took turns sleeping on a mattress in the upstairs bedroom and sleeping on the couch. Eric's brother ended up in the open basement on a bed that had been moved down there and there was a blow up mattress on the other end for some of our kids. We tried to keep the older ones out there so they wouldn't bother their uncle too much. Eric and I and the little kids took the two beds in the bedroom in the basement. It was crowded, but we made it work. Even if little people occasionally snuck out just before bed and bothered their siblings.

What Happens Next...

The Sooner State: Day One

For those that aren't aware, Eric's maternal grandparents reside in Nebraska. They've been there their whole lives. (I believe, I think his grandpa may have been born in Iowa or something - but the majority of his adult life has been lived in Nebraska)

Eric spent many summers traveling to Nebraska to visit his grandparents and they came out to good ol' Utah many a time. However, about 5 years or so ago they got to a point where it was almost too hard for them to travel. His grandma has to be on oxygen and from what I gather airplanes and tanks of oxygen don't mix well.

We've been able to go and visit a couple times. The last time we went Ailey was just over a year old and so we were super excited for the opportunity for Grandma and Grandpa to meet Jace. It's been nice to be able to visit them when Nate was only a few months old, when Ailey was a little over a year and now Jace got to meet them.

It was a good trip and so this post doesn't end up being a horrendous amount of blabber to read, I'll break our trip out in days. 

We left the afternoon of July 2nd. While we thought we had everything we might need, we still needed to make a stop at Walmart before we even got on the road. Our destination for the day was Cheyenne, Wyoming.

It was a trip that should've taken 6 hours, but it took us like 9. We had a few too many rest stops and I really wanted mashed potatoes for dinner and while I was looking for a KFC somewhere in the wilds of Wyoming - they don't exist. So we made the somewhat stupid decision to stop at Applebees. It took them FOREVER to find us a table and we got a ton of looks with our big family. (We're not in Happy Valley anymore, Toto.)

Dinner hit the spot and after we got back on the road it was only 20 minutes or so to the hotel. We got to the hotel only to discover that though we had reserved 2 rooms next door to each other - they gave them away because some old geezers doing a car show thought they were more important. So we had rooms like 10 doors away from each other. That WAS NOT going to work, so we all squeezed in one room.

The kids were kind of upset that we got to the hotel too late to go to the swimming pool, but what were we to do? We all went to bed and we planned to be back on the road by 9:00 the next morning.

Here's a couple shots of the youngest two while we were on our forever long drive...

What Happens Next...

June's Joys

And in the feature where I spew all the random things that happened in the month, I now present JUNE'S JOYS...

{...KIDS WAITING ROOM...}

So I take the 3 older kids to the dentist (Eric stayed home with the youngsters) and while they have a regular waiting room and a kids waiting room - my teenagers and preteen opted to spend time in the kids waiting room...In their slight defense, they were playing Despicable Me on the tv.

{...BOY MEETS GIRL...}

One night Shaylyn's best friend came over briefly and had her little sister with her. While Jace has seen this girl before very few times - for whatever reason on this night, he thought he should give her a big hug.

{...He's sure proud of himself, but I'm not sure she liked it...}

{...LITTLE DOLL...}

For Christmas last year, my mom gave the little girls a little doll. She asked which one Ailey would like best and I told her the purple one. But then I got really sad when I realized Ailey pretty much wanted nothing to do with the doll. So when I actually found her sleeping and snuggled up with the doll, I made sure I captured that moment.

{...A TABLE FOR ONE...}

Eric and I finally decided to buy a small fire pit. It was something new for the kids and they enjoyed it. A few days later we still had the chairs up around the pit and Jace thought it was the perfect place to enjoy his lunch. He was so pleased to be eating his lunch outside and in a chair that was just his size.

{...AN EYE FOR ART...}

Shaylyn is into art in all of its many forms. Chalk is just one medium that's allowed her to improve upon her talents. One day I was surprised to walk outside and find this picture in my driveway.

She just looked at a picture on the internet and went to work. I'm glad she's already got shading and blending figured out pretty well. She amazes me daily.

What Happens Next...