Creating Memories!

I have been planning to go up and see my parents and get out of the heat all summer and it finally happened this last weekend. Ryan has been traveling a bunch for work, so he was not to thrilled to be in a car for 5 hours both ways, so he stayed home and my long lost buttsister (that is Ryan's name for Casey Ann) volunteered to come with me. So off we went, the two of us, with six kids packed in my van. Lets just say the drive up there was eventful. We were doing pretty good until we got to the canyon and I think Diesel got a little car sick and threw up. So we stopped at the bottom of the canyon to clean that up, then we got through Show Low and were on the home stretch, or so we thought. They were paving the road! So we had to wait for a while. After all that time in the car, we all wanted OUT! We stopped at Ramsey Park to let the kids play. All was well until Jackson comes running over saying he pooped his pants. "I'm sorry Mom, it was an accident!" he says. While I was trying to figure out what to do with him, he steps over to a tree and pulls his pants to his knees and goes pee. Don't you love boys! So by now there is poo everywhere, so it was a lot of fun to clean up. We finally made it to Nana's and Papa's, just in time to get some good grub. Papa even took the kids out spotlighting for elk.

Of course being at Nana's and Papa's, my kids were up at the crack of dawn (I'm not kidding). Nana eventually got up and made us all sourdough waffles with buttermilk syrup, to die for! Then Papa took all the older kids to get a load of wood, he was so brave. I don't know how much help they were, but they had a blast. They were driving us nuts in the house that afternoon so we sent them all outside on a scavenger hunt, it didn't last very long, but it was fun. We ended the day with a chicken fry at the church in Luna. My kids loved being able to run free. If only it didn't take so long to get there I would go more often. The ride home was about as much fun as the ride there, we had rain, lots of bathroom breaks and poor Diesel got sick again. Thank you Nana and Papa for everything, we had a blast and thank you to Casey Ann for coming along - love you girl! You are the best! It was exhausting, but I wouldn't trade those memories for anything. These are all the kinds of things I did as a kid that I want me kids to experience too. I do have to say also that I came home to a clean house (even bathrooms) and a happy husband. Thanks babe, I did miss you! (Bear with me, there are a lot of pictures, but I couldn't leave any of them out.)

Here are some pictures from the park.

Hauling wood with Papa!

Every single one of them crashed on the way home. I have no idea where Brock is in this picture.

Here are the kids on their scavenger hunt.

Brock was intent on finding something living - he really wants a pet!

Jackson thought he could spot a pet better from up here.

On the way home!

Doesn't this just say it all!