On the road, again

One of my many fabulous cousins (on my mom's side) left for the MTC going to the Barcelona Spain Mission (she is the older sister to my cousin that got married in November). Her "farewell" was over MLK weekend and even though I wanted to go, I couldn't find a way to get away. I knew that it would be a blast and a HUGE party with family and FOOD, but just thought there was no way to go.

Then the Monday before her farewell weekend, I got a wild hare and decided to take the kids out of school on Thursday and make the drive to Las Vegas (a road trip in the new van - Coby couldn't go :( Someone has to earn the $$ to pay the bills). I did lots of laundry, packed suitcases, snax, etc. and Thursday morning we were up and on the road by 6am. Leaving in the dark made me SLEEPY and we had lots of potty stops early on in the trip (mostly because mom had to potty too), but we fell into a rhythm and 14.5 hours later we arrived in LV just in time for a YUMMY dinner!

We partied late into the night (esp. because LV is two hours behind central time), ate WAY TOO MUCH FOOD, the kids got to swim the in hot tub (too cold for the pool), played with cousins, shopped (Costco, Best Buy - all the "big city" places), and had LOTS of FUN! We enjoyed the opportunity to be with family, meet new friends, and have I mentioned the FOOD?

What a fun time, what great hosts, and it was great to hear Makayla's talk on the Atonement. What a great topic to study and teach about. She will be such an awesome missionary! Another cousin (Shayla) will be leaving for her mission to the Madrid Spain mission in March. She was there too. Since most of the cousins on my mom's side are younger than me (by 10+ years) it has been great watching them grow up and go on missions/get married! How exciting!

I also reconnected with an old friend - Colleen Peterson - while there. We share a common friend (Kathleen Briggs) who passed away after years fighting cancer. Kathleen was the most wonderful person! She was a people cheerleader and always saw the best in people! She is an amazing woman!! Colleen is awesome. She has so many talents and abilities!

The time to leave came too quickly and we were off at 4am (LV time) on Monday morning. The trip home was easier than the trip there. We made it home in about 13.75 hours, in time for a quix dinner and bed for the kids (and me, with all the partying, I was TIRED!).

It was well worth the 2 days of driving. That is one of the best parts of living in the panhandle of Texas, we are a day drive closer to family in the West. When we move again that will be one of the hard parts...

I LOVE my family!