Is It Naptime Yet

So we went to Idaho Falls this weekend. My Father’s side had a family reunion. Our first stop was in Logan Utah. It took us ten hours to get there, instead of nine, because we missed exits and had to backtrack to fill up gas tanks. We got there at 10:00 pm Utah time. We stayed at Jon’s niece’s house, Shauntae. We didn’t get any pictures of us or her family, but here is one with Matthew, her youngest.

Lilah sliding, she didn’t want to leave, and Matthew.

He’s the baby and he kept saying how he didn’t like babies. He was cute though…it’s hard when you’re two to have a family invade your house.
It snowed the night we were there, at least in the mountains around us

The mountains outside Shauntae’s house.

It was a nice sunny 85 degrees on Wednesday then Thursday the temperature dropped and a cold front moved in. Utah and Idaho were freezing…well really cold. We also had a lot of rain driving up. All through Provo until we got out of Salt Lake it rained.

We drove by the Logan temple.

It was stormy on our way out of Logan to Idaho Falls.

We had the reunion at my Uncle Don’s motel. Luckily one of my cousins brought cars for her boys to play with. Lilah had fun, and so did Eden…we just don’t have a picture of her.

Dakota is the boy, my cousin Don Jr’s step son.

Here is my father with four of his five siblings.

(Larry-my dad, Marsha- half sister, Don-brother, Mary- half sister, Mike- half brother.)

Here is a picture of my father’s mother.

After the reunion we visited the graves of family. My great grandparents and my father’s father.
I learned that Dad hung out a lot at his grandparents, the Harvey’s, house.

This is my grandfather’s grave. I also learned that he was a Marine in WWII.

Eden helping us pack.

On Sunday we visited several sites. The first stop was at the trailer park my father was raised in.

The neighbor man brought out his trash and my father recognized him. So even though he hasn’t seen this person in at least 30 years, he went over and introduced himself. (This is just like my dad…he talks to everyone, and anyone he remembers.)

Jon and Lilah in front of the trailer park my father was raised in.

Next we visited the school that my Father went to.

Dad, Uncle Mike, Uncle Don.

Lilah and Alona and a stray dog.

(Alona is my uncle Mike’s granddaughter.)

Alona and the dog.

Lilah on a bench in front of the school.

Our little family visited the Idaho Falls temple next.

Idaho Falls, Idaho Temple

I took the following picture…I’m very proud of it. 🙂

Angel Moroni through the trees.

The falls of the Snake river. These are on the other side of the temple.

We went from Idaho falls to Twin Falls, to Ely. We passed many farm fields. They were so beatiful. We’re just not use to seeing so much farm land.

A field.

Some dairy cows.

Eden being silly in the back seat.

Brien and Andrea told us about Snake River. Andrea was driving so she couldn’t look, but Brien mentioned how amazing the cliffs were and rubbed it in that Andrea couldn’t get a good look. Jon was driving so I teased him as we went over, so he decided to pull over and take pictures.
Pictures do not give it justice.

Snake River, outside of Twin Falls, or Kimberly Idaho, maybe both?

The Hansen Bridge over Snake River

It was beautiful driving through the desert at Sunset. The mountains had a purple hue and you could see so far in the distance. I truly love the desert. I love trees and mountains of other climates, but I love seeing so far onto the horizon and layers upon layers of rolling hills. Jon took this picture at the very end of the sunset.

Sunset outside of Ely Nevada.

We drove through Northern Nevada to Ely on Sunday. Stayed with Andrea and Brien, and on Monday we came home. We had to pick our car from the shop and drop my parents car off at their house. We got home just in time for me to do my assignments for my music class. It was a hectic schedule. It was a fun trip. I think we spent around 27 hours in the car. The girls were quite well behaved. We had one of us in the back seat for the end of certain stretches.

I hope I don’t have to go on a car trip for a while. We’ve done three in the last three months. We haven’t gone on one in two years. I’m glad summer travels are over.

My girls have been in their room for two hours. I’m going crazy!!! It’s nap time and they have not slept a wink. They were doing sooo well and then the week school started they decided to not take naps until 4 of 5 o’clock. I’m just so tired of it. Eden gets overly tired and then I have to be right next to her and lull her to sleep. Lilah falls asleep at 5 and then doesn’t wake up until 7 or 8, so she goes to bed at 9:30 or 10. I know daylight savings is coming in which we’ll be falling forward an hour and that will throw there no sleep charade even further out of whack.
I need them to take afternoon naps.
I like to take my showers in the afternoon so I’m freshly showered for my evening classes. I have side swept bangs that drive me crazy when I’m just at home dealing with the girls, so if I were to get up and do my shower before they awoke, or even when Eden takes her morning nap, I would end up pulling my bangs back, but I want to avoid that. It just drives me nuts when they go through these phases and won’t sleep. I’ve just let Lilah up. (It’s just after five) She is getting older and possible doesn’t need a nap. I try to run them around and get them tired out, it just doesn’t seem to work. There are days where Lilah gets soo moody and I can’t stand to have her around because she’s not sharing, she  bosses Eden around, or doesn’t listen to anything I say. She has a melt down whenever you ask her to do something, and so I figure she needs a nap…and then she’s awake for three hours before she falls asleep. ARG! Eden is still making plenty of noise. I’m debating getting her up. maybe a 7 o’clock bedtime, but I’m afraid how early she’ll wake up. it’s just frustrating. I try to spend time with them but I have so much work I have to get done for school, or just around the house. I feel like they want my attention all day long, unless they’re watching TV. I hate letting them watch so much TV. I try to limit it to 1 hour during the day. But lately it’s been whole movies or 2- 2 1/2 hours of PBS. I do break up the PBS, but I still feel terrible. I just feel stretched. I feel like they’re not being self sufficient. The afternoon is my time. I usually try to do more school, or house work. I also feel like I deserve to relax a little while I eat my afternoon snack, but I also feel guilty that I’m not doing work. I have a trip we’re taking this weekend, so since I won’t be home I have tons to do. ( two test this Friday before we leave, which means I have lectures to watch plus I have to study, and two short papers to write for my music class, and those will need reading.) I also have to get laundry done and pack, get my parents car and drop ours off in the shop. There’s just so much. I wish I had a second me to entertain the girls or at least regulate them. Some days are great. Lilah plays with Eden and they’re both happy, but those days or moments are few lately. I just need relief. I can’t wait for the weekend, because I know I’ll be able to relax most of the time(except the reading I’ll need to do for my sex offenders class because I won’t have time to do it this week). But to prepare for it is going to be crazy. Sorry I just had to vent.
(I’m also kinda beginning to ween Eden. Jon doesn’t want to keep her up at night just so I can feed her, so he thinks I should ween her. I’m not ready yet. Or should I say my breast don’t feel ready yet. I went one night without the night time feeding, she only eats twice now, and my breast wanted to explode at 3 am. Then my mammary glands were sore the whole day. I just hate weening. I believe going from two to one feeding a day is the hardest. After you get rid of the second one, the last feeding, I think, just gets smaller to where they lose interest and then I just have to pump a little for a few days and be in a little discomfort. I just fear mastitis like the plague, and I always worry that I’ll get it while weening. So I think that piles on more emotions to my already unorganized, an chaotic life.)