More Pictures, a Detour, and Road Trip Reflections

After publishing the last post, I realized I was missing a few pictures from some of our fun-tivities!  Before moving on to the next portion of our trip, I wanted to insert them for posterity's sake.  Hahaha. 

Fun at the splash pad!

And more fun.  I like how you can see Eleanor in the background in this one.  {Red/hot pink swimsuit}.  She was having so MUCH fun she didn't want to pause for a picture.  Hahahaha.  Smart girl.

Just to prove that I was there as well. Here I am with Sarah, Freddie, Amy, and Jacob about to play a rousing game of Rummy.  {Emily and Laura we missed you!}

Jacob is no longer a man-child.  He is officially very manly.  Hahahahahaha.  And a cool kid.

And finally, the best group shot of the bunch on Sunday morning!

Another huge and momentous event that occurred while on vacay in North Carolina was the passing of an era.  I traded in my dumb phone for a smart one.  Hahaha.  I've been due for an upgrade for about a year now and have been using this piece of junk cell phone since right before Alex was born.  Not only is the front screen piece missing, but it got terrible reception, was slobbered on a few too many times -- shorting out the sound every now and then, and every time it got dropped the battery would pop out.  And it wouldn't always come back on right away after popping it back in.  Combine that with the fact that calls didn't always come through and I'd occasionally get voicemails and/or texts hours after the fact and you can see just how annoying a phone it might be to deal with.  In short, it was rubbish.

Rest In Peace little Samsung slider.

My biggest anxiety before making our long trek out to see Sarah was that there would be nothing to listen to in the car.  Our multi-CD changer in the Mountaineer had been jammed for a month or so and I had been trying to handle the radio for the last little bit.  Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I really NEED music to listen to while I'm driving.  Especially for that long of a stretch.  And more specifically I really need music that I like and can sing along with should the fancy strike.  I can say, in all honesty, that the hardest part of driving 8 hours by myself with all 5 kids, was having ONLY the radio to listen to.  {I know you're probably wondering what this has to do with a cell phone at this point, but it really ties in.  I promise.}

Once we were at Sarah's I had to take the car in to get it checked out anyway, and while there I decided that something had to be done.  After going through a VERY long and VERY convoluted route to get there, I ended up deciding to replace the stereo/CD player in the car {with one that also had a USB port} and getting an iPhone so that I could hook it up to Pandora for the long drive home.  And yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds.  Hahaha.  

Welcome to the 2010s!!!

HOWEVER, the iPhone is obviously good for a whole lot more than just Pandora.  It also came in VERY handily during all those weeks of no internet hook-up, and having a camera and other helpful apps at my fingertips has also been a boon as well.  And since Scott will be getting an iPhone through work with his new position anyway, I figured I might as well jump on the bandwagon myself.  {Solidarity forever!} {Hahaha}.  I still feel slightly pretentious pulling it out and using it, but I've decided I just need to get over it.  Having a smartphone is a lot more common than not these days so it's not like I'm ahead of the curve or anything.  Hahaha.

So now that we're all up to speed, here is how we spent the rest of our trip.  After realizing that one of my old roommates and BFF's was only a couple hours away from Sarah's house; AND that driving from her house back to ours was actually an hour faster than it would be from Sarah's, I decided that I had to make a detour to visit!  And I'm so glad I did!!! 

Reagan, Jane, and Sophie.

Alex in heaven with a ball.  And the trampoline {not pictured but heavily used}.

My kids had so much fun playing with Reagan and Scarlett, and Heidi really pulled all the stops out by letting them help her wash the dog; make s'mores over the grill; color and put together a 3-D cardboard dinosaur; have a treasure hunt; and stay up late to have a movie night!  It was the best. 

Ethan, Sophie, Scarlett, Jane, and Reagan {on the top step}.

Alex and Grace {on the bottom}.

Thomas in the background and baby Blythe made an appearance as well.

Me and Heidi.  Old friends are the best friends.

I think the kids were really tickled pink to discover that not only were Heidi and I roommates in college, but Scott and Thomas were ALSO roommates our last year at BYU as well.  If I knew where it was, I'd dig out the picture of us from Homecoming in the fall of 2001 where me and Scott and Heidi and Thomas and the rest of the guys' roommates and their dates are all lined up outside of Macaroni Grill {I think}.  It really is a great picture because everyone in it {minus one} ended up marrying their date from that night.  Tender!  Hahahaha.  Anyway, it was really great to catch-up with Heidi and Thomas and chat with them late into the night.  I'm so glad we decided to swing by on our way home!

After staying the night, we headed out the next morning to FINALLY head on home.  It may have been empty still but we were ALL glad to get back home to our favorite breadwinner.  And I'm pretty sure he was glad to get us all back as well.  Hahahaha.  As for the drive itself, it really wasn't too bad.  Thanks to Pandora; the eAudiobook of "Matilda" which I purchased for the iPad precisely for this last leg of our journey; and the GORGEOUS scenery -- it was a totally doable drive.  Bordering on pleasant almost at times.  {Sidenote -- I highly recommend "Matilda."  Kate Winslet is the narrator and she is absolutely FANTASTIC.  She does all these different accents for the voices and different characters and it is completely captivating.  Not to mention it's just a great story.}  The Smoky Mountains really are breathtaking as was the Cumberland Gap area.  And I seriously want to move to Tennessee.  So beautiful! 

Lunch Break at Sonic -- Dandridge, TN

And there you have it -- our Great American Road Trip of 2013.  We are quite the well-worn travelers.  Also very well-worn?  Our car.  After taking the Mountaineer in again once we were back home, we discovered that the engine needs to be replaced.  Since replacing it will probably exceed the car's worth, it looks like we'll need to start shopping around for a new ride.  Hashtag Live, Laugh, Love!  Hahahaha.

Family Fun {Subtitle: Picture-palooza}

We ended up staying in North Carolina for exactly one week before heading back on our way home.  My kids always love being with their cousins and aunts and uncles so we enjoyed a nice little summer vacation trip in the midst of all our moving hassle and stress.  The highlights of our week there included lots of trips to their {awesome} neighborhood pool; multiple viewings of Wreck-it Ralph; a few different outings to the park; LOTS and lots of family bonding time; a trip to the real movie theatre to see Despicable Me 2 {Lipstick Tazer!}; and the introduction of some card games, to boot!  It was a fun and busy week. Here are the pictures to prove it!

Watching Wreck-it Ralph.

And dancing during the end credits.

Penelope with a Vanellope von Schweetz inspired licorice hairdo.

Uncle DoDo is here!

And Uncle DoDo is crashed on the playroom floor after catching a red-eye flight to come see all of us.

Playing at the coolest park ever! :)  There were 3 separate play areas -- a little kid playground; a big kid playground (complete with sand pit); and a splash pad, too.

Jane with her very first sandcastle EVER!  {Please excuse the white-balance.  It's really off, but I was uploading and editing these on our really slow and old laptop and didn't want to deal with the hassle of making them look better.  I think something about the color of the sand put a cast on everything around it.}

Sophie's sandcastle!

Eleanor!

Penelope!

Alex!

Cute little girlie bugs working together to rebuild a castle after Alex knocked it over.

Superboy!

Penelope and Sophie chillin' on the side of the neighborhood pool during the 15 minute "Adult Only Swim."

Playing on the iPad.

Fun with Uncle Jacob and Dodo.

Some more Five Guys with Freddie, Amy, and Jacob.

Grace with the Molly-pop!  {The cutest, SQUISHIEST baby ever!!!}

Sitting like a big boy on the stools and eating his cereal with "mook."  Hahahaha.

One of many, MANY breathing treatments.  Yay!  Hahaha.

Welcome to Vegas.  Nurtz style.

And there you have it.  A picture essay of our week back east.  And since it's only an 8 hour drive away from us, I'm sure we'll be spending plenty more cousin-fun-filled weeks there in the future!

 Sunday family pic.  An Outtake.

4th o' July and Other Musings

My, oh my.  It has been a LOOOOOOONG time, hasn't it?  Let's just say that the stress of moving has had a delayed onset.  Because everything worked out so smoothly prior to the actual move, I kind of just assumed that the actual event itself wouldn't be that big of a deal either.  But I was wrong.  Forget about the week and a half of traveling by myself with all 5 kids {through 5 different states}, or the fact that we had no internet, cable, or furniture for almost 2 weeks -- the hardest part of the past month has been due to the unending upheaval of having boxes of stuff everywhere and the air of transition and chaos that comes along with it.  We've made some progress in unpacking, but the job is still incomplete and it's driving me a little batty.  Also driving me batty?  The kids.  Hahahaha.  They are most definitely absorbing the stress of the move and manifesting it each in their own special little ways.  Hahaha.  

But enough about that.  Before all the box commotion started, we spent a week in North Carolina with my little sister, Sarah, and her family.  It was lots of fun and my kids loved playing with their cousins.  Along with Sarah and co., we also had the fun of seeing my mom, Amy, Jacob, and Freddie who were there visiting as well.  On the 4th of July, I took my 3 older kids to a church Stake party that Sarah was in charge of.  {!!!}  I knew beforehand that it was a big deal and required a lot of work and effort on her part, but for whatever reason, I was NOT expecting the scale of this thing!  When we showed up, there were easily a thousand people there.  There were hamburgers, hot dogs, side dishes, desserts, TONS of games for the kids, live music in the gym provided by Chief Blue and his band {the church building is on the Catawba Indian Reservation in South Carolina}, and a firework display at the end.  It was major.  

Sophie and Eleanor

Amy, Grace, Ethan, and Sophie eating their grub.  We made the smart call and went for hot dogs which had virtually no line.

Meanwhile, all the rest of these people waited in line forever to get a hamburger.

I seriously could not believe how huge this gig was and how much effort and planning must have gone in to making it such a success!  Among all the stations to choose from, Sophie decided the watermelon eating contest was the place for her to start. Hahaha.  Unfortunately, she bowed out none too gracefully a couple of seconds into the contest after almost choking on the piece she was eating.  Poor little supermuppet.  I was a little concerned for a second that I needed to drop the camera and run over and give her the Heimlich maneuver, but thankfully, such drastic measures were not necessary.  After stepping away from the table, she finished eating her watermelon much more slowly and with no further incident.

Pre-choking.

Mid-choking.

Post-choking chowdown.

While Sophie was enjoying her festivities, Ethan was enjoying a little volleyball action and Grace was enjoying a climb on top of a doghouse.  Hahaha.  {It wasn't really a dog house, but I think she wanted to pretend it was.}

The last big attraction that caught their eyes before it was time to go was the face painting station.  After waiting in line for a LOOOONG time, they finally reached the front.

 

In the end, we decided to leave before the fireworks {and imminent rain} and took Amy and Eleanor with us while Sarah and Andrew stayed behind to make sure everything got cleaned up and put away at the end.  

{There's the knife -- tucked into the back of his pants.}

Miss 4th of July herself!  

All in all it was 4th of July to remember!  More cousin fun to come...