Wow...that's all I can say. wow.
I am starting my blog back up. From where it was back in December. Man I fail! lol
The past week has felt like an eternity. During the week that is. I am living in Utah. Yes. Actually living in Utah. We set off for Texas on July 14th. It was a long drive. This drive consisted of lots of fighting when joey and Zach were sitting with each other, switching drivers, eating junk food, feeling sick, many bathroom breaks and a tire blow out at 80 mph. Yeah.
So it was Ashley's turn. I still had a wary mind when it comes to driving on the highway. I felt like I would do it wrong. Like I would inadvertently kill everyone on board. So were workings of my paranoid mind. It went well. Ashley did great! She didn't text the entire time she was driving. We're very proud of her. We had made it to New Mexico and were in the process of driving through that flat desert wasteland when the tire blew.
Now let me put this into perspective for ya.... When a car that big (aka Astro Chevy) gets a blow out at 80 mph they tend to tip and roll over! Someone was praying for us that day. (We did start the trip with a prayer so don:t think we didn't cover our bases before we left). Ashley kept the car straight and on all three of the wheels that were left and we made it to the side of the road. After keeping the kids from freaking out and checking the tire for damages, we found that the tire was in shreds! It was a mess of rubber and wire. It got angry with the high speeds and decided to mess with the car. The cover that houses the tire and the workings underneath it were a mess. There was a dent and every time the car turns even the slightest it squeals for mercy. The tire needed replacing. And it almost looked like we needed a replacement.
We did pack a spare!! But in order to reach it we had to take everything off the hitch and take the hitch off. We piled everything to the side of the road and helped Dad take the spare out from under the car. Rolling it over to the front passenger side we realized a horrible reality.
Even though we had a spare...we didn't have the spare to the van. We had the spare to the car. *sigh* We did a lot of phone tag that afternoon. We called friends from home to find the nearest numbers to call for help. Once we called the correct people we had nothing to do...but wait. We waited everyone abandoning the van for the wind the passing cars gave.
I am a very strange person so I decided why not have a little bit of fun in light of this scorching wait. I waved to some of the cars but Dad told me to stop signaling for help. Dejected, I sat on the back bumper with Ashley and noticed that a lot of the cars passing us were semis. Ashley pumped a fist in the air like a train conductor pulling on his whistle. A semi was passing just as she did and he honked his horn. We all laughed and Ashley did it again. More honks. A light bulb went off in our heads and we couldn't resist.
Soon we had the whole family out there on the side of the road ten miles from Las Cruces New Mexico pumping our fists in the air making the semi drivers pull their horns. We started off just doing it for fun. But then more and more started too. By the twelfth one or so we started to count. Soon it was twenty and even some cars honked their horns. Then it was thirty and forty and fifty! We loved it. It was the best way to kill time waiting for the tow truck. Around number sixty we had cars on the other side of the highway honking too! Both directions that could see us were doing it.
What, I know you asking, was our final score?? 111 semis, cars and motorcycles had honked and or waved to us before the second car came to drive the rest of us to the town. They dropped us (Me Ashley Brittany Zachary Joey and Mom) off at the Walmart to stay in the blessed AC to wait for the car to get fixed. We spent a total of about 4 and half hours in Las Cruces. We were going to be soooo late to the Meyers house!
And we were. Texas is boring. The drive through that desert wasteland is boring. We finally got there about 12 midnight AZ times and 2 am TX time. We were exhausted but the Meyers had stayed up waiting for us and were on some kind of sugar high. Surprisingly enough, the first thing we did at the Meyers was not sleep, but swim. They had a pretty decent swimming pool. About 4 ft deep and 15 ft across by 7 ft. It was pretty neat.
We did a lot of swimming and going to QT. lol David was always asking "You guys don't have a QT? Do you?" Hello!!!???? Doesn't everywhere??? Well maybe not in Ramah. (I swear, if your going like 45 mph and you blink you miss it) but that's another blog. The Meyers place was pretty cool and we were bummed to be leaving so quickly.
If the ride into Texas was horrible the ride away from Texas was excruciating!! If we had done the entire trip from TX to UT taking the same route we did it would've taken FOREVER!!! So we stopped by in the lovely uninhabited Ramah NM. They like the old way of life and the closest walmart or even grocery store is like 40 miles away. After staying the night we got up and headed out for Utah. It was a pretty drive and the Book on Tape helped a lot! BTW if you get the chance I highly recommend Gracling. It is a great book. Anyway we got in to Steve's house and crashed.
We later went to Lagoon!!!!! almost a week later and the stamp is still on my hand. It was great. I got to go on the wooden roller coaster. I was dieing inside! Part of me wanted to stop being a wimp and grow up and another thought i was going to DIE!!! I did it. But was psyching myself out the whole way up the first hill. When we plunged all the air was ripped from my lungs and I screamed after I got it back. It was so much fun!! I couldn't breathe! But it was fun. It was overall a good day at Lagoon. I finally went into the Terroride and Dracula's Mansion. I had been too scared the first time we went so I just plugged my ears and scrunched down in my seat. I didn't want anything to do with it. But it was OK for a haunted house. I got to go on the Bat!! my favorite ride of the roller coasters. Ashley's too. We were literally wiped out about 6 or 7 o'clock and had to head back to Steve's.
We did go up to Logan too for the kids to see the school. We got to sneak into the dorms and go up to my floor. It was pretty lame at first because I expected the walls to be...idk...a little better taken care of. I knew it was a dorm, but it was the girls dorm. I thought it would be a little better. But I do like that my room is right across the hall from the bathroom!! That was a pretty cool touch.
The kids were so happy for me. Time flew by and before I knew it Saturday was upon us. Brittany had been trying to keep a happy face when I finally broke down the night before but the dam broke. Sunday morning was a blur. Partly because I didn't have my contacts on and mostly because of the tears. Kenzy cried openly when she gave me her picture of herself in a pink frilly purse frame. Joey tried to hide it from me and be brave. Zach and I cried together. I even got my Dad to cry. I just told him flat out, Just cry you big baby. I will miss my Dad. I really will. I miss everybody. And I'm kinda mad at Ashley for not crying. Oh and Ash, I hope the note made sense. I was crying when I wrote it and my mind was a little mushed. I love you Ashley. I love you Mom. I promised you I'd post more and I'm keeping to it.
The past few days have been busy. Wait a second. Today's Monday? Yikes. Well....okay. Today was busy! lol On Sunday I went to church with Jeff and you wouldn't believe who I met there.
A Clawson!! Her name was Marilyn and she was Eldon's oldest child. I had no clue who Eldon was until she said Michael was his brother. Cool! There's one of Dad's cousins going to the same ward as Jeff. She wants to keep in touch and I thought that was pretty neat. Church was early in the morning (9am UT time but 8am AZ) and the rest of the day was making do with what was available.
I got to dust AND rearrange the LION KING room!!!! Okay so my Aunt Rachel has been a fan since Lion King came out and has tons of merchandise and collectors items. I got to rearrange the collection and it was pretty cool! I spent a few hours watching TV until Lauren called. She and Jeff were going to go to Temple Square and wanted to know if I wanted to come. I leaped at the chance because she mentioned seeing the conference center!! And to the garden on the ROOF!!! It was awesome!!! I got some pictures too and it was great!!
I woke up this morning after sleeping in to Maya licking my elbow. I don't remember what else I did but I remember checking my email cursing my self for doing so because it was still early and no one could've sent something that quick. So I checked other stuff and to my regret at announcing I read some stories. Well it was one story but like four chapters of it. My biological clock screamed at me that I had forgotten breakfast and lunch was fast approaching. I left the computer to find one of my stuff animals in the hallway. The boys were at their grama's house and I freaked out. I ran up stairs and my Simba doll (that's almost 16 years old by the way) and my cabbage patch doll (who is nearly 17!) were out in the dirt with the dogs.
I got so mad. Mad at the dogs but mostly mad at myself for leaving the door open and being stupid on the computer. After I cleaned them up I stayed upstairs the rest of the day. I shut all the doors and watched some TV till Steve came home. So yeah I accomplished a lot of watching tv. Then I got really bored so I dressed and left the house. For two hours I wandered down the Jordan River and had such a good time. It was peaceful and relaxing to be roaming without a schedule. I loved it. I think I'll make it a regular thing to do.
So I sit here typing this out so I wouldn't forget. I had planning this all morning after doing some school work on the computer this morning. THAT'S WHAT i WAS DOING!!! lol
Oi. Thanks Mom. I really needed to do this.
TTYL Redd out.
