Oh, Yes We Did

So...everybody was asking if we were going to Utah this summer. My mom wanted to have as many of her kids come as possible. My kids have gone to Utah nearly every summer since we moved to Texas. And I have great memories of visiting there these last few years.

The only problem was, we couldn't plan to go with Jared. He was applying for medical school and we couldn't know if we'd be in the middle of a move during the summer. After several months of very little news in the med school arena, I decided we should plan to go anyway. Jared was up in the air, but the rest of the family needn't be so.

You know what that means? That means I took it upon myself to take all four of my children to Utah alone. Some people can handle this sort of thing; I am not "some people." Being very aware of my shortcomings, I decided to brave the trip anyway.

Starting our journey. July 29, 2016

We have a rule about not eating in the car, so we had plenty of rest stops.

Still happy in Fort Stockton, TX

We were half way to El Paso when we realized three things: 1) Laurel is a terrible navigator 2) Isaac is no help 3) We didn't bring the atlas

No matter, we have the phone, right?

We corrected our course and went on our way.

Eating healthy in Carlsbad, NM

Keeping busy through Roswell, NM

We made it to Albuquerque, a little late, but feeling blessed. The longer day was over; the next day should be a breeze.

Well, lots of stuff went wrong the next day. 1) Laurel is a terrible navigator 2) Isaac is not much help 3) the iPhone is not much help in dead areas 4) almost everywhere in NM is a dead area!!!

At one point when we were nearly out of gas, we found ourselves aimlessly circling the Navajo Dam near Dulce, NM.

Luckily, there were people to direct us to the nearest gas station.  There, I asked for directions Durango, Colorado because it was the only city I could remember that might be close. It turns out, that was backtracking. But they gave us good directions. Well, we still had to ask at a Dollar General later on.

Ellie missed her daddy so much, she drew a picture of him.

The worst was over.

Well, no more major incidents or freak-outs happened for awhile. We almost left Noah in Moab among the red rocks for personality differences, but decided to keep him. Then,  foolishly, I turned off the GPS once we got to the I-80, thinking it would lead through Spanish Fork Canyon and straight to the I-15 which is like home to me. Well, obviously I haven't done this whole driving in Utah thing very much!

To be short, we took the long way there. We almost ran out of gas again, after Kanab. But we made it to the next gas station, thankfully. Already there was a shortage of patience within my own family, and there was more drama brewing in the family I grew up in, but we made it. It was such a relief to see my mother! I never wanted to drive in a car again.

This is a later picture of us, inserted here so the story ends with a smile!