Road Trippin' to California

When we got home from Alaska we headed to California.

While I was in Alaska I got a phone call from my uncle telling

me that my grandmother had had a stroke and they were not

sure if she was going to make it past that day, Which was a

Saturday and we were going to fly home on Monday.  The

day we flew home I was calling and trying to find out the status

of my grandmother, who wasn't suppose to make it past 12 hrs.

the doctors said.  Well my grandma is a tough old bird, she always has

been.  She showed them and hung on for a week and then passed away

peacefully.  So 10 days after we got home from our big Alaska trip we

headed out on another road trip.  I wasn't looking forward to doing the

trip especially because I knew it was going to be a quick trip because

David had to get back to work.  We left Thursday afternoon and were

home Monday evening.  It usually takes us 16 hours to do the trip but

with our 4 kids it was more like 20hrs.

I asked David if we could try to make it fun and even though

it was a short trip, we made it fun.

The start of the road trip, still smiling

We made it to Beaver, Utah the first day.

We got up ate breakfast and headed south once we

got to St. George I convinced David we needed a break

so that I could walk around at the outlet stores :)

We timed it so that we would be in Las Vegas
for lunch so David could hit IN-N-OUT, then I

begged him to take us to the M&M factory off the strip,

It turned out to be a small nightmare.  But we will

never forget it.

One thing that my kids love about warm places is the

palm trees and also the Joshua trees.

The Coca-Cola factory and the M&M factory are right

next to each other.

Trevyn was really excited to see the Mario Bros.

(Aiden was hysterically crying at that point that is why he

wasn't in the picture.)

And then finally we hit the California border.

After my grandmothers funeral we went back to my cousins

house for a luncheon and to visit with my cousins that I haven't see

in 16 years since my dad's funeral.

My kids with my brothers youngest girls.

My cute niece and nephew,

My brothers oldest two.

Here are all of us cousins.  I am the youngest can't

you tell?

After the luncheon we went to stay with David's oldest brother

and then after church the next day we started for home.

On the way home we stopped on the grounds of the St. George temple

and we had a little picnic dinner across the street.  It was

a lot of fun, I couldn't believe how busy the temple was

on a Sunday, there were tons of families walking around the temple grounds and

in the visitor center.

Then we headed back to Beaver for the night since it was pretty close to half way.

I really enjoyed our little trip together and to be able to see my grandma once

more before they buried her.  I look forward to seeing her again someday!