The rest of our vacation...

We finally got on our flight to Denver on Wed and then on to Atlanta. Since we didn't have enough time to drive to Savannah to visit Brandee, she brought her kids up to see us in Atlanta. It was so nice to see them again, they are getting BIG! and to meet Isaac for the first time. Brandee has always been a sweet girl and she is a sweet, lovely woman and mother. Wish we didn't live so darn far apart...
We left Georgia on Friday and drove to Mississippi that day. We did a bit of shopping there and stayed the night. On Saturday we drove to Oklahoma City and decided to stop there since there was a big storm brewing to the west. It came through in the night and it was a bit strange to be warned about what to do in the case of a tornado. In fact, as we watched TV that night in our 3rd floor hotel room, we watched a show on the weather channel that highlighted a tornado that had gone through a town just SW of OK City a couple of years before. Yikes! On Sunday we drove from OK City to home. It was our longest driving day but we needed to just get home.
It was interesting to watch the change in the land and trees as we drove west. It is so green and wet in the east. I love the look of it, but I think I'd go nuts living there, never being able to see very far. Being a Western girl, I like to SEE distances. I think my favorite place was Western Arkansas and Eastern OK. It was still very green, but not so many trees so close together. Lots of cows in lush green fields and there was usually an oil pump or two in the field as well!
New Mexico was my least favorite part of the drive. So much sand and rock. So desolate, particularly once we got past Albuquerque. We stayed on the interstate until Gallup. I hadn't ever been to Gallup before so I can check that off my bucket list. Haha!
As we drove north from Gallup to Shiprock, we got to drive through a small sandstorm. It was very strange to be swallowed up in a swirl of sand, but it made me realize you could easily be lost in one. It was hard to see if anyone was in front of us and I was glad no one hit us from behind if we slowed down.
I was never so happy as to see the Abajo Mts. in the distance as we drove from Cortez toward home. I love to travel and see new places but I love where we live and was happy to be home.

finally in the air...flying over the Rockies to Denver

Brandee and Curtis having a deep discussion

Alabama...rain and green trees

Piggly Wiggly- what a name for a grocery store!

my chauffeur...driving in the comfort of our new (to us) car

the console-check it out! seat heaters!!!! Oh, happy day!

Mississippi...more green trees

an outside shot of the new wheels. Pretty sporty for us!

crossing the Mississippi River and heading into Arkansas...

Such a HUGE river...

Tornado damage in Arkansas. It was amazing to see trees that looked like matchsticks. All their peripheral branches were ripped off. Buildings were just piles of rubble...I was really glad we weren't driving through when it hit!

More damaged trees and buildings...

How do people recover from this? It happens so often there...

Had to stop and eat at Popeye's for Ford. He liked eating there while he was in Basic at Fort Jackson in SC

Nicest hotel we stayed in in Oklahoma City. 

It had a separate sitting/TV area. We felt right uptown there. Curtis even ordered Room Service food...

We thought it was pretty cool to stay here, since it shares a name with our oldest daughter...

I forgot to get Oklahoma, but here's Texas....

New Mexico's sign was the most impressive....notice the lack of green trees....

stopped at a truck stop for a stretch and drink..
watched these swallows flying around, in and out of their mud nests in the corner...

Lots of sand blowing across the road

I mean, lots of sand...

we wondered what our paint would look like when we got home...

I've never been in a sand-storm before...

Ah, there are the Blues! Home sweet home!

Good Things:

generous parents who gave us their car

nice roads to drive on

air-conditioning

awesome kids who took good care of each other and the house 

Durango-an unplanned vacation

I have had a couple of National Lampoon type vacations in my life. Someday I will document the worst one. I need to record it for posterity, so they can laugh about it. We didn't laugh at the time, but have a lot in all the years since. We realize it was the craziness of it all that made it memorable.

But our most recent vacation wasn't supposed to be one of these crazy types. It had been a quickly planned and anxiously awaited trip. Curtis's parents had called us in the first part of May and told us that they would like to let us have their Honda Accord as they were purchasing a newer, taller car. They wanted to know how they could get it to us and Curtis and I jumped at the chance to fly to Georgia for a visit and then take a cross-country drive home, just the two of us. It was going to be like an unforeseen 2nd Honeymoon. At least that's what we thought....

We were scheduled to fly out of Durango on June 2, the morning after we got back from Provo. I had arranged for my mom to drive us to Durango and drop us off since we wouldn't be flying back to pick up a vehicle. That part went smoothly. Then we got in the line to check in and get our boarding passes. The lines weren't moving very quickly, but we thought we were fine. All of a sudden, a guy behind the counter said, "Counter's closed. If you're in line to fly on Flight---, you're late. If you do not have your boarding passes by 45 minutes before flight time, you will not be allowed to fly." 

There was quite an uproar. We stood there stunned. We had been in line on time, but now we were not going to make our flight. Curtis was very calm, when I wanted to be very angry. I thought it was unfair of them to not tell people of these rules when they book a flight. We don't fly often and had no idea that this was the rule. But you know what they say about ignorance of the law.....it didn't matter, we were not getting on that flight. 

Then the bombshell, their next flight out was on Wed. What? What were we supposed to do? We had no car, no way to go home, no way to get to town. nothing. It was a very strange feeling. We spent several hours in the airport trying to decide what the best thing to do was. Should we call my mom? No, she was already on her way to Bluff...Should we call Cambria and have her come get us and then we'd try again on Wed? No. We'd already gotten things all set up of them and they were off and running. I didn't really want to stop and have to start that all over again...Should we try to fly on another airline? No. They wanted about $1000-1200 for last minute tickets...that was not in our budget. 

We ended up rescheduling for the Wed. flight (another $100) and renting a car (more $) and getting a hotel for 2 nights in Durango. Our plan had been to take 4 days driving home, but we decided to split up those days and use 2 of them before we ever flew to GA. We would just have to reroute our trip home and do it faster than planned. It would be fine, just not according to plan. Which is very typical of our lives!

Curtis at the ticket counters trying to get things figured out. The guys were more than happy to help because
Curtis was so nice and was not exhibiting anger at the situation. 

How I spent several hours. With my feet on my suitcase, watching stuff on Netflix or wasting time on FB...

watching river-rafters come down the Animas River. There were  a lot of them...
it sure was running high.

They're all lining up to hit the rapids. Woohoo!

This was a nice, restful quiet spot to spend an afternoon. The river was high and moving fast.
Love that man!!

I hate selfies, but I need to document that I was actually there too!

Lunch at the Animas Cafe, a patio restaurant on the bank of the Animas, at the DoubleTree Hotel.

The food was lovely AND yummy!!

Our dessert, Fried Cheesecake. It was fantastic...MMMmmmm!

Curtis found this shirt at Walmart. It was made for him!!
D.A.D.D.--Dads against daughters dating...

Although this was not a planned part of our trip, I'm actually glad we got this time to spend together, exploring a town we've never really been to. 

Good Things:

discovered a terrific eating place

watched a good movie (Belle)

had a nice, relaxing time with no schedule

 

Highlights of May 2014

Just a few highlights from the month of May:

Surf and Slurp opens- first shaved ice of the year!!

Charles the Insect man...6 pairs of eyes.

Soren gets awards at Pack Meeting. Good Job!!

James has a bout with stomach flu. Poor little guy.

Ford and Shiala bring Kami down for her first visit to Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Why Yes! That is snow. In May! we asked for it.

Curtis gets to play grandpa again when he goes to the BYU Invitational. I am jealous!

Love this one! She looks pretty comfy there!

Montana has had a pretty good time in Idaho. He has gone to lots of fun places with his roommates.
He also had some heartbreak and it was very hard on him. Life lessons. They always hurt a bit.

Cambria, the shoulder angel?
You should have seen the process to get her up there. Oh, my!

The boys helped me plant some seeds in the garden. These are peas.
They were excited thinking about eating them when they grow.

Our little apple tree has lots of blossoms on it. We hope it will provide lots of apples in years to come.

Blessing weekend

We went to Orem for Kami's blessing on June 1. These are just a few random photos of the fun that we had while we were there. We stayed at the Baymont Inn in Provo. (the old Cottontree Inn) We had a wrestling match, some swimming, dinner at The Olive Garden, Church at 9 and brunch in the park after Sacrament Meeting. It was short but very sweet and we were so thankful to have our whole family together one more time this year. (it's sort of unusual!)

brothers wrestling match in the hotel room

poor Jordan, he's outnumbered

Ford is a really good, hands-on dad.

the wait at The Olive Garden was long....

Shiala and Lindsey, our daughters-in-law. How happy we are to have them!

it was nice to see so many of Ford's friends come to support them...
(Derek's friend, Derek, Montana, Ford. Jordan walking in the background)

It was a really nice day for the park. Had to collect the little guys so we could head home
Charles, Cambria carrying James

Kami's Blessing Day

We made a quick trip north to be a part of Kami's name and blessing on June 1, 2014. They had asked Curtis to give her her name and a blessing. It was very sweet to listen to the blessing he gave his granddaughter. She cried a bit, but is such a sweet little girl.
There were a lot of people there to support Ford and Shiala. All of Shiala's family, except her brother, who was out of town I believe, some of Ford's friends, the Lefebvre family and Great-grandma Barton and Stacy and Zoe Black.
After Church we all went to a nice park near Shiala's high school to have some refreshments (donuts and milk and juice) and to have a place to sit and visit. It was nice to get to know the people in Shiala's family a little better.
Here's a funny: Curtis had gone over to talk to Shiala's mom and while they were talking Shiala's little 5 year old niece came up and put her hand in Curtis's pocket. She thought he was her dad. Boy was she embarrassed when she realized what she had done. She wanted to go home immediately. It was pretty funny. I felt sorry for her. I hate when I have done a dumb thing in front of so many people!

Kami, Ford and Shiala. What a cute family!

Kami, Grandpa Curtis and Ford

Grandma Kas and Kami
I am toying with the idea of being called 'bestemor'(best mother) which is grandmother in Swedish and Norwegion?
Then I can be my grandkids 'bestie'!!

Good Things:

FAMILY!!!

The smell of a sweet baby!

A beautiful Sabbath Day.