Road trip travelogue (possibly as boring as it sounds)

As can be attested to by the mileage on our sweeet Saturn station wagon, we take a lot of road trips, usually to one of two destinations: Elko, NV or various spots in Utah. Last weekend, it was both! As a road trip veteran, I am well aware of the two essentials for a successful venture:
1. Rockin' music. Check - I opened these three CD's for the first time right before getting in the car. The TaySwift CD was a Christmas present from Cody and the Lady Antebellum CD's were purchased with some birthday money last week, as I have recently become seriously obsessed with Lady A.

2. A working car. This I didn't reeeally have. The Saturn's been running a bit rough lately (totally understandable given said high mileage) so we decided that instead of me going to Utah and leaving the three boys in Nampa, we'd all drive to Elko together so that Chuck and his dad could fix the car, and then they would stay and play there with Chuck's family while I headed to Utah.

And fix they did! It took all day, bless their hearts, and two more car parts being replaced than we had anticipated (both wheel bearings in addition to both CV joints), but the Saturn was running like a dream by about 6 pm.

We did let them break long enough for Pops to take us all out to lunch - aren't we thoughtful? (Thanks again Pops!) We were amazed at how much bigger Eli has gotten since we saw him right before Christmas.

Cute Lily-bug :).

Melissa cemented her forever friendship with Clyde by letting him play games on her phone.

Then it was back to work for the mechanics, and time for the rest of us to play some more!

The boys played inside with blocks (this is some Star Wars battle set-up, naturally) . . .

such a cute little concentrating face . . .

and outside with cousins!

And then it was time for me to ditch out and hit the road, luckily I only had about four hours to drive that night. Of course, a majority of the drive was this two-lane highway. Pops (who has driven that road hundreds and hundreds of times to Thatcher and back) warned me that I wouldn't see a lot of other cars, but that I might see wandering animals since it's open range, so it was really important to stay alert and not go faster than my headlights could see.

So about an hour into that stretch of the trip, I started thinking about what a smooth drive it had been thus far - my music was AWESOME, I had cell service (which we weren't sure I would), the car was driving amazingly well, I wasn't tired at all, and I hadn't seen any animals on the road. I took a minute to say a quick prayer of gratitude for this, and afterwards I realized I should continue to be hyper-attentive, just in case. Sure enough, not even two minutes later I saw three deer ahead in my lane. I hit the brakes and two of them ran off immediately - the third one made me sweat a little, but he moved too, just before I got to that spot. I was sooo grateful that my father-in-law had prepared me for this and that the Spirit prompted me to stay alert.

Which meant that I arrived at my destination for the night safe and sound and ready to see this be-a-utiful girl: Heidi, yay! We fit sooo much into our quick sleepover, including a decent amount of actual sleep! This was her the next morning on her way to a school thing, she doesn't dress up that much just for me :). We had such a blast though, I loved seeing her dorm room and talking and laughing and confiding and facebook stalking. No matter what Chuck/Quinn/any other guy says, talking on the phone is not the same as being together in person :).

That morning I had another hour of driving until I could settle in for the rest of the weekend and adore this sweet baby boy: Chase! Isn't he darling? He's actually bigger than this now, I stole this older picture from Courtney's blog :). It is his existence that prompted my trip - I couldn't wait until April to meet him!

I arrived at the Smith home Saturday morning just in time to crash a bridal shower that Gloria was hosting. The funniest moment of the day was when the shower's co-host walked in, looked at me, and exclaimed, "I know you! I recognize you from all your facebook pictures - you're like family around here!" and then hurried off to finish the party prep. It was sooo hilarious! I got to talk to her later, and she was the sweetest, funniest person ever.

Court and I spent most of Saturday talking, watching Chase be sweet, talking some more, etc. It was so fun to see Courtney totally in her element as a new mom. Chase let me snuggle him for a half hour or so without objecting too much - minus the couple of minutes that I had the audacity to talk to Chuck on the phone instead of giving him my full attention :). I quickly fixed that situation!

That night we went to dinner at Reed's new restaurant in Harrisville: Fat Boy's! It was a-mazing! Reed decided to get out of the franchise business and create his own place, and it's wonderful. Check out their official website and facebook page, and definitely stop in (or call and place an order!) if you're in the area.

I had the chicken fettuccine alfredo - soooo good.

Quick photo op.

Some of the super cool decor in the restaurant . . .

and a bit more. The whole place is really bright and welcoming; I'm excited to take Chuck in when we're there next - pretty sure he'd love the UFO Pizza.

Of course, no one let dinner distract from the main activity: adoring Chase :).

Sunday was a really nice day, too. Will and Heidi braved the snow to join us and we all headed to church expecting to hear Ben and Courtney speak, only to find out there was a mix-up and they were speaking the next week (aka today, I hope it went well!). Church was really nice, and after declining rides home, Heidi and I walked home in the snow tightly holding hands. Will walked with us, all the while saying how much I remind him of Dean Pelton from the hilarious NBC sitcom Community. This backhanded compliment inspired our afternoon activity - watching like five episodes of the show!

While we all adored baby Chase, of course! After that we enjoyed the delicious dinner Gloria made, topped off by a really nice Family Home Evening where Court and Ben shared their talks. Dessert was Court's special chocolate cherry cake to celebrate Ben's birthday earlier that week, and it was really good. And then, all too soon, it was time for me to get back on the road (after Reed helped dig my car out of the snow - thanks again!).

I drove to Elko that night to be reunited with my three sweet boys (whom I'm pretty sure barely missed me with all the fun they were having with Grandma and Pops and cousins!), and then we drove home to Nampa the next morning. It was definitely a whirlwind trip, but luckily we'll be headed back to both Elko and Utah in the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone for letting us come and stay - and a very special thank you to my very supportive husband who encourages me to take these little getaways; I really, really appreciate it sweetheart!

Happy birthday BSA!

February 8th was the 101st birthday of Boy Scouts of America, as I'm sure you all knew. For Cub Scouts, that means the annual Blue and Gold Banquet to celebrate the Scouting program. For me, that means the slightly stressful task of providing dinner and a program for fifty people. Luckily I had all sorts of wonderful help and we had a really nice night!

Here are the boys bringing in the flags.

I was the esteemed emcee for the night.

We did a baked potato bar, chili, salad, fruit, and chicken nuggets for the little kids, and I wisely put the men in charge of serving :).

For the entertainment portion of the evening, I recruited the cheapest acts I could find: the Scouts themselves! I scoured their handbooks and found ways for them to pass off achievements/electives at the same time - the Wolves performed a skit (and created the scenery for 'London'), the Bears made musical instruments out of recyclable materials and performed 'Yankee Doodle', and the Webelos wrote (with a wee bit o' guidance from me) and performed a one-act play.

The Wolves and their skit about how Boy Scouts of America was founded.

The Bears drumming, strumming, and shaking their little hearts out while Maren and I did most of the vocal work :).

The Webelos and their play about fulfilling their duty as Scouts by providing service without accepting pay.

And since it was a birthday party, the dessert was cupcakes! Much thanks to my lovely friend Nicole who came over that afternoon and helped me frost and sprinkle 72 cupcakes (and provided and mixed all the food coloring/frosting).

Then I presented a few awards and before we knew it, it was over and time to retire the flag and clean up - and I was so amazed and grateful by the help we received cleaning up. I'm pretty sure every family chipped in, and the room was back to normal soo fast. And everyone humored me and carefully wiped down and saved the dollar store vinyl tablecloths (which they will understand the wisdom of next year when we don't have to buy new ones!). I say it all the time, but I love working with the Cub Scouts and I really appreciate these families who support the Scouting program so much.

Then it was time for Chuck and I to retrieve our little boys from my mom's house - she graciously watched them all afternoon and evening to lessen my stress. Thanks Mama!

AND they had early Valentine's Day presents for each of us, hooray!

Oh, Clyde - always there to help with the unwrapping :).

Naturally, we needed a shot of the two of us in our matching shirts - Chuck has one since one of his callings right now is Boy Scout Committee Chairman. I have to acknowledge how much help Chuck was as I planned and executed the banquet - he even took the night off so he'd be there to help. He was incredibly patient, even as I argued with each of his ideas that ended up being exactly right - a recurring theme in our marriage :). Thanks babe!

Last weekend recap: we built/met/danced/watched/cheered/won!

Last weekend was super fun and exciting and awesome. Next weekend promises to be super fun and exciting and awesome. This weekend is . . . nice and relaxing and lazy - hence the mid-day blogging!

The first awesome part of last weekend was that Chuck was off work, which occurs every other weekend. Friday afternoon/evening he gathered up his tools and two best little helpers for this project:
That's right, attaching wheels to the bottom of our couches, so they can more easily be moved like this:

(Note: the train table has since been relocated to the bonus room, aka second playroom, to afford us even more free space in the living room.)

Now, why would we need to regularly rearrange the living room so dramatically as to make wheeled couches so desirable?

So we can do this: Play Kinect games on the new XBOX 360! Our previous XBOX 360 was an ebay purchase for Chuck's college graduation in May 2007. About a year ago it got the 'red ring of death' but was miraculously brought back to life by Chuck's tech-savvy brother Lee. Unfortunately, at the beginning of December the dreaded red ring returned and a couple of weeks ago Lee informed us that another rebirth was not possible. So Chuck and Clyde carefully counted out the money from Clyde's piggy bank (the little guy had about sixty bucks, I was impressed!) and combined it with some money that my dad gave us for Christmas . . . and like the little girl in the Parable of the Bicycle, they were still a bit short. I looked at Chuck's and Clyde's pleading faces and rolled my eyes and conceded that sometime before my upcoming girl's trip to Utah, we could probably pick up a new XBOX.

Chuck came home with it the next day.

(Luckily he also picked up 'Dance Central' in an effort to seal my approval on the purchase. What can I say, I'm easy).

Buuut it came in super handy last weekend because these two charming people came to visit:

Quinn and his super cute girlfriend Eden, who (whom?) we got to meet for the first time! So naturally we popped in Dance Central as a way to rid everyone of their inhibitions and get some real bonding in.

Chuck went first to get the party started:
Then I got my groove on:
Then Quinn stood up . . . and pretty much we all laughed hysterically.
I told him if he made the center picture his facebook profile pic (for at least two daylight hours) I'd give him a dollar. He hasn't taken me up on it yet.

Then, after this ridiculously cute passing of the torch it was Eden's turn, and she made the dances look both effortless and cool:
Clearly if she wasn't so darned likable we would hate her.

We did some dance battles, also. Here's my favorite results screen:
Ohhh, yes, my husband beat me - I think it was Lady Gaga 'Just Dance'. I would be embarrassed, but this cements it: Chuck has a good job, he's cute, he cooks, he lets me drive AND pick the radio station (well, mostly), he changes diapers . . . and the boy can dance. Whole package, people.

Eden easily won over both Clyde and Will, the latter of which thought it would be fun to shut her in the pantry for a game of peek-a-boo (a much loved activity in our home/kitchen).

And if closing in ONE person is funny, then closing in TWO people must be . . .

hilarious! Will probably giggled for three minutes straight, it was awesome :).

And then, all too soon, it was time for Quinn and Eden to depart. We had an excellent time hanging out with them - we can't wait to see you guys again!

Clyde decided to fill the void after they left with some Lego Star Wars.

Here his fingers are being Storm Troopers. Everyone raise your hands if you can picture Chuck doing this as a small child (or, Mom and Melissa, if you actually remember Chuck doing this!)

Our exciting weekend continued Sunday with the Superbowl. As I've mentioned, I am a pretty hardcore Aaron Rodgers fan; he's been my fantasy quarterback for the last three years, ever since he took over with the Packers. I think he handled that whole situation with such class and he's an awesome player and I'm super psyched that he's getting the recognition he deserves.

I recycled some old Cricut letters/cut-outs and made this fabulous sign to show our support for Green Bay.

Just to leave no doubt as to which team we were supporting, I dressed the whole family in green and yellow for church. Awesome, right? Chuck even sweetly donned a green/gold striped tie without me even reminding him. Again, whole package.

And it worked (spoiler alert): Green Bay won! Our viewing of the game was pretty low-key, we paused for a couple hours while Chuck attended a Stake Priesthood meeting - meaning I had to diligently ignore texts/phone calls/facebook (basically the Internet in general) until he got back and we finally finished the game - an excellent end to an excellent weekend!