The Longest Most Picture Heavy Blog Post Ever

I might have mentioned that we have a pretty big moving coming up, right? We're finally leaving Texas, after six years of being stationed there. Not just at once base either, but three. Sheppard. Dyess. And Goodfellow. Its time to leave.

Well we did! We left! We're gone! We had to go and get a brand new set of tires after the drive from the bottom of the country all the way up to the top, but we made it!!

The past week has been a whole lotta crazy. The kids have never been in the car for more than 3 hours at a time, so strapping them into their seats for 6-8 hours a day, for four days, was just misery. Hallelujah for DVD players and dollar tree toys. I guess we've still got another day of driving on the horizon, plus a full day of flying, but- for the next few days we're staying put in Boise Idaho for a much needed family reunion.

You know what kinda sucks though? The fact that I'm sitting here with my laptop alone in the dark at my Mother in laws house while the rest of my clan is away visiting aunts and uncles and nana's and cousins and ...two thumbs down to being sick. This whole road trip has been pretty miserable for me as far as feeling pregnant goes. I can handle the usual swollen ankles bit, the occasional heartburn- whatever, all of thats fine and dandy. But for the past 3 weeks I've been battling an unknown stomach ailment that has me sucking on zofran and fearing food. Last night I prayed to God to help me be less selfish, and to give more to my husband and kids while I'm feeling so awful. I'm not sure God offered me much of a solution, but today I was able to shew them away to have a good time without me, instead of holding them back- so I feel good about that. And besides, when else would I have a chance to go through my photos? So anyways...

By the way, my MIL's house is making all sorts of creepy noises and I'm really starting to get freaked out.

Ahem...

I mean really, what is there to say about hotel living? Clean sheets, cable tv, one ply toilet paper, freezing cold rooms with the AC cranked up as high as it will go, and bored babies complaining about the lack of castles and theme parks inside the bathroom.

Oh, and we had our cat with us the whole time. So that was fun. I especially liked it when she escaped from her kennel while we were changing her freshly rottened up kitty litter outside of our hotel in Utah, and we had to chase her through bushes and trees while old guys stood around and watched us. Also, how do you explain to a cat that the litter box is not the place for a nap, but rather the fluffy fresh towel lying beside it? Oh... you can't. So they lay in their own poop and all seems right in the world.

And then theres the luggage. Ooooh the luggage.

And that isn't even the half of it. Thats just a quick photo I snapped (because Elie looked pretty dang cute) while Christopher was upstairs gathering round two with the rolly cart. We've spent hours packing and repacking that car- we've got it down to a science now. Because the thing is, we're not just packing for a road trip, we're packing for the next 3-4 months of our lives- who knows when our stuff will arrive at our next base.

Oh my gosh, isn't she so cute sitting there in all of her chubbiness putting on her own sandals? I can't stand it! "Is this the right feet?", she asks after they're on. It makes no difference if we say no or yes, and its usually no, but- she gets them on all by herself like she has for the past couple of months, and takes them off whenever she pleases, like in the middle of the Boise aquarium whiles shes trying to pet the fishies (they won't let you near them if they see you have shoes on, you know).

And this is what we saw when we turned around. Sometimes an angrier version of this, because somebody threw a water bottle that couldn't be re surfaced, or sometimes a happy version of this, because hooray they found a 2 day old cookie in their car seat!! Or a sleepy version, because waking up at 6am sucks when you're 3. Or a laughing version of this, because Pooh bear on the screen in front of them keeps seeing everything as honey honey. Or a bad girl version of this, because somebody got ahold of a hotel pen and took it to the leather seats. WELL. No matter what though, its always a pleasure to spin around and make silly faces at my munchkins. Even if they are telling me that they don't love me anymore, and never will ever again, because I told them we're not stopping for another hour to have snacks and use the bathroom at the hole in the rock rest stop in the middle of nowhere Utah.

Who cares about bathroom breaks though, because we saw UFO's!!

Yesss! We stayed in Roswell our first night of the trip, and I mega geeked out over it.

Alright, so Christopher could only stay in the museum for 10 minutes because the cat was in the car by herself and he had to go tend to her breathing needs or whatever, Evelyn left stinky floating in a pool of alien moss, Charlie kept laying on the floor with his Lovey and Binky (another one of those woke up too early side effects), and Eleanore was terrified of the statues- I had to bribe her with the gift shop to get into half of those pictures- but it was still really fun. I can't wait to give people their keychains and bumper stickers, haha. Or to install my larger than life silver alien bobble head on the dashboard (yep, I'm that geek)!

Another fun hotel room activity:

Office chair spinning. This usually will result in somebody falling down and nearly breaking their elbow or getting a bloody nose, but- it sure is fun for the first 5 minutes of it!

Now lets talk Utah.

I've never been to Utah, its always been kind of a mythical place to me. But wow. It, is, gorgeous. Giant pyramid-like rocks standing out in the middle of nothing, surrounded by thunderous clouds?! Okay! Or massive arched boulders that you could drive an entire train through?! Rock mountains galore. Oranges and reds and breathtaking skies... it was seriously jaw dropping at times. Unfortunately, I was driving through most of Utah, so didn't get a chance to take many photos. I managed to grab a few when we stopped here and there though...

Not bad, right?! And can you believe those awesome teepees?? The kids took their toys in there and buried them in dirt while I was standing outside waiting to take a picture. When they finally came out (Christopher had to go in after them), they were red from head to toe. Their loveys and mermaid dolls have yet to take baths, but continue to sleep in their beds with them. We like to keep a little bit of Utah close to our hearts :)

Laundry is in progress though. Really.

And in the another middle of nowhere gas station, was Lightning McQueen? And the kids just happened to be watching Cars 2?! We had to get out and say hi.

And somewhere else along the line, we got out of the car to walk on train tracks...

AND THEN, we finally made it to Boise.

We pulled into Aunt Jessie's house and tumbled out of the van to our welcoming committee, such a sight to see. The kids played with their cousins for the first time, Nana's met their grandbabies, and dogs licked toes. It was the great way to end our long and exhausting trek across country.

Noni has a stash of toys at her cozy little house that we're staying at, and the kids couldn't be happier. Sleeping on a futon and fighting over who gets the yellow building stick things and who gets the black crayon... magical. The kids keep making her little gifts here and there, whether its a platter of plastic flowers, a pen drawing of a penguin, or a broken bookshelf... they're smitten with her.

And Daddy reads special bedtime stories from Grammy that we brought along to help soften the blow of sleeping in unfamiliar beds. Storytime has always been a winner, but theres just something so comforting about storytime on a road trip. That one piece of familiarity.

Today, we went to the aquarium. ...are you ready for 1,000 more pictures? Fantastic!

So that was a good time. I wish I could have gotten more pictures, but as soon as I'd get a little kid into focus, they'd run off and stick their fingers in the bird cage that specifically says "Birds bite, don't stick your fingers in here!".

Good. Now I can clear my camera and take a billion more pictures of our adventures over the next 3 weeks.

This post took me like 5 hours to write, by the way. Between all of the shadows that I keep seeing that aren't really there, and trips to the bathroom (oh, my, gosh- will this sickness ever end?!), and texting my husband who apparently can't stand being away from me (really, who can blame him?)... until next time, friends :)