Thursday, November 11, 2010

Sisterly Love (part 2) IN OREGON!!

1 car
5 kids
3 adults
1 7 year old
1 5 year old
2 2 year olds
1 7 month old
1 30 year who acted like a 4 year old
2 "crazy" moms
(at least by the end of the trip we were)
3 states
5 car seats
18 hours of travel time
2 weeks of cousin time
20 (probably more) different DVD movies played
1 potty incident
4 puking incidents
2 blow outs by baby Chase
100's of snacks
100's of great conversations
(when we weren't interrupted)
100's of wrappers on the car floor
1000's of "mom", "mom", "mom" from the back seats

Too many fights to count

Too many stops to count

Too many "what were we thinking" moments to count

and....

LOTS and LOTS of tears
(from both kids and adults)

And that was just the car ride.....


But when we got there it was ALL worth it. Plus we had two weeks to re-coop and regain our sanity before the long drive home.

At Sonya's house waiting our arrival was Crystal, Baylee, Brody, Sonya, Kris, Kali, Sarah, Kole, Stella, and Kash.

From then on out we had so much fun the time went by too quickly!


My sister Crystal and her son Brody

Outside roasting marshmallows and eating way too many cookies

Crystal and Baylee

The fire pit where we spent many nights. The way we were dressed you would think it was winter outside....nope...it was August.

mmmm.....smores....

Best buddies


Diana, Kris, Kobe, Sarah, Kole, and I on the boat gearing up to go crabbing


Two peas in a pod Kennedy and Stella

Building sand castles at the beach


Kobe learning to sand board at the sand dunes

It actually got warm enough to shed some layers of clothes





The girls doing what they do best.....playing dress up and with make up

Kade

Ha! These pictures make me laugh every time I see them. Such cheap entertainment!
Blake

Sonya
I am sure she will appreciate this picture of her on my blog:)

Kole

I absolutely love to visit Oregon. Every time I go we have so much fun. It is a great vacation for me because my kids play the entire time and they only talk to me if they need something. I spent a lot of time reading, playing card games with the girls, and just sitting around relaxing. We did all sorts of fun things....went to the sand dunes, the beach, the park, sight seeing, picked tons of blackberries from Sonya's backyard (YUM!), and much more. We got there just in time for Kole's baptism too. That was such a neat experience and we were happy to be there. It was especially great for Kobe since he will get baptized next year. It was great for him to be able to see his best cousin friend experience it first. I think it made Kobe that much more excited for his own baptism.

I love spending time with Sonya. She has definitely been a huge influence in my life. I have always looked up to her and her great example. I truly admire her for her dedication to the gospel. She loves it and it is very apparent in her life and home. She is the type of person that when I am around her I feel like I am always learning something new. She has been a great teacher to me throughout my life. I love that she is not a complainer, because I sure am. She just takes life with a grain of salt and exercises true faith. She is a lot of fun to be around and is always making me laugh....like crying because I am laughing so hard. She is really laid back and I learn a lot from her as a mother and a friend. She has always been a great running partner and I hope that someday we can run another marathon together. It was really hard for me when she moved away from Las Vegas, but I now see that it was the best thing for her and her family. I can tell that she has really progressed and changed (for the better) because of the move. However, I do miss her and love her so much and really wish that maybe someday we will live near each other again....I can always wish can't I?

Also, a little shout out to my partner in crime during this whole trip......Diana. She sure was a trooper. The car ride was EXTREMELY long but Diana made the dreadful seem doable. She is so much fun to talk to and be around. She really is one of my favorite people. I just love her! We had some great conversations and laughed plenty....she laughs at my jokes:) She is such a good friend and I feel totally blessed and extremely grateful to have her as my sister in law. My brother scored....of course she got the short end of the stick:) I hope that the experience was good for her so that MAYBE one day when it is out of her memory I can talk her into doing it again. She really was great and I am so happy that she came with me. She made the trip even that much more fun!!! Plus, it was awesome gaining up on Riley.

4 comments:

ksdavis6 said...

That was such a sweet post, i forgive you for putting up that picture, who could be mad at a sister who writes such nice things about me! You made me cry! Thanks for being such a wonderful sister as well. I love you and your family so much:) Thanks for a fun 2 weeks.

HawgWildinWashington said...

What a sweet post... I feel the same way about Sonya and Diana too! I wish we wouldn't have been on the tail end of our trip and totally exhausted or we would have stopped by too! Who doesnt' love fire pits and smores and crabbing! Glad you had such a great summer and that you have great sisters and sister in laws who help make it that way!!!! Love you and miss you!

Rebecca and Co. said...

Aw, such a nice trip! I really wish I had sisters. You obviously have a lot of love for each other. :)

The Hardy's said...

I love the first part of this post. So creative!