1st stop

When you are traveling alone with 2 kids and your destination is 12 hours away, apprehensive is the only way to describe what I was feeling. Let me preface my trip with the fact that the week prior my kids spent with Grandma & Grandpa Brown in Kanab. I had intentions to get a lot accomplished but with the flooding I only got in one good day of project work. Needless to say it was not the break I was looking for.  I thought that some space was just what I needed to rejuvenate myself. Little did I know what I needed was them stuck in the car with me for days on end! Really, I truly needed to enjoy them, not being the mom with "pick this up" and "knock that off" and it was wonderful. Rianne and I talked about all kinds of things while Heath slept. She is so smart and remembers EVERYTHING! When Heath was awake he was cracking me up with what he saw out the window and all his "what if" questions, like "What if there was a gold fish cracker so long that we could share it mom?" It also helped that they got along so well there was no "He's touching me" etc. and by the time we got to my parents in Idaho there were only 2 wrappers on the floor (Heath's side). They put thier travel toys back in their bags when they finished playing. I think they only watched 3 DVD's round trip! I also had some really good books to listen to! Who would have thought, the break I was looking for was me in a 12 hour car ride with the kids.
The other thing that helped was how we broke up the trip!
When we left Rianne had made some Tuna Sandwiches for lunch. They tasted so good, when I complimented her she said "well I did mix it with love"J

1^st stop Monroe, UT
Well, technically we stopped at Grandma Brown's first for something to eat. (Best Pit Stop on HWY 89)
Monroe is home to our Twin Family the Smith's. Consisting of Brady, Michelle, Sienna (who is 4 months older than Rianne) and Kinin (who is 10 days older than Heath, lucky for us he is also 2 sizes bigger!). Brady is a friendly pharmacist, who also enjoyed sanding wood for craft projects, which he loved more than he'll admit. Okay he was glad to see us go, knowing when we returned we would bring back a friend for him.J Michelle can cure any aliment and is a creative genius! I was also able to swing over to visit with my roommate from college Tonia Jorgenson, (No picture but believe me she looks great!) I am so grateful for blogs as a way of keeping tabs on what people are doing. It is so great to be able to pick up where we left off and enjoy the visit, and have an added bonus of her adorable kids and Reese's. It was so great to see you Tonia, hope I can make the trip up for your special day coming soon, J and keep me posted!
Michelle is the juice tiger; here we are enjoying our Green Drink!

If you look carefully the pantry I covet is exposed! It looks like a regular cupboard but opens to pure pantry/supplement heaven! We made some cute crafts too, with Brady's scraps from working on finishing their basement. You wouldn't know it had been nearly a year since our girls have played together, it was a total giggle fest and I think they stayed up later than us, and that was way too late! Sienna had a Christmas present for Rianne to open

(matching pearl necklaces inside oysters). The boys entertained themselves; with what would become a theme of our trip and give me even more to covet…the Wii.

Their cat which had been missing for two weeks was found and returned while we were there, see you are blessed when you take in the needy and clothe the nakedJ. Thanks you guys are awesome.  And its off for round 2 in North Ogden!