Is It Naptime Yet

Our trip started out rough.

On Thursday I had stomach cramps. Like really really bad ones. I could hardly move. I think it was due to the forth like Eden’s sickness. Jon took off work shortly after noon and came home to help me. I had Naia so he actually took care of her since Julie had errands she was running that day. He feed her and changed her diaper and I even heard him playing with her while I was resting. He sad it was hard work taking care of small baby, well at least feeding her lunch, it took about an hour or so. hehe.
So with me being sick on Thursday I was unable to do any laundry or get anything ready for the trip. We weren’t leaving until the afternoon on Friday, but we were hoping to shampoo the bedroom carpets before we left. (Yeah that didn’t happen, so I now have to think of a way I can keep the girls out of their room for about 12 hours. Um, I’m not sure how I’m gonna do that unless they’re no where near my house for a full day, including nap time.)
So we left late on Friday, 3:00pm. Our destination was Filmore so we weren’t in any rush. Since I was still not feeling well and we were thinking of stopping at a restaurant in Delta on the way home, we bypassed Chuck-A-Rama. 🙁
We just ate at a family restaurant in Filmore called Larry’s and had delicious shakes. The girls ate very little the whole weekend, since we mostly had fast food.
On our way to Filmore we passed the forest fire. It wasn’t as big yet, but it had filled the valley of Beaver with smoke. The sun was also red as we passed through the smoke. We hit Filmore around 8:00 pm Utah time.
We all slept in a little on Saturday morning so we didn’t leave Filmore until 9 am Utah time, in which we needed to leave at 8 Utah time to get to Tooele. Oh well.
When we went out to the car Filmore’s air was full of ash and smoke. Our car had a slight layer of ash covering it.
The smoke didn’t really let up until we reached the outer limits of Delta near Tooele.
Luckily the day was hot, but not too hot for the outside family reunion. We had the gazebo at the park and we were right outside their huge pool. Lilah was not feeling well so we didn’t go swimming. 🙁 When we mentioned we shouldn’t go swimming when we’re sick she decided she was fine but we didn’t buy it. We had a fun afternoon seeing family and doing various crafts. We mostly just sat around and talked and then had a BBQ for lunch, a raffle and some trivia questions. Andrea’s in charge of next year’s reunion, so we’ll see if it’s in Ely. We aren’t planning on going because I want to do a major vacation. (If Jon’s family has one we’ll be there, but that’s because they haven’t had one since Lilah was one. Which means we’ve only missed one thus far since they only do them every two years, but one missed reunion often leads to a second one and a third and so forth.)
After the reunion we headed to my parents hotel. The girls had fun running around and Jon took a couple winks. We ate Wendy’s for dinner, mostly because it was right across the street. When it was around 8pm our time Lilah decided it was bed time and consequently Eden also decided to go to bed. Lilah settled on the couch and Eden laid down in her playpen. They both went to sleep without any problem. Lilah did come into bed with us at one point. She was little heater next to me though and it was cold in the room so I didn’t mind.
Sunday as we were getting ready to go Shauntae called to tell us her boys had caught what she had, so it must have been contagious. (We were hoping it was just allergies.) So with that we we decided to just pack up and head home. I wanted to come home at night so the girls could see the city lights so we left late and even stopped at a park to get some of their energy out. Jon had looked online and the roads had been opened so we thought we’d get home no problem. Unfortunately had we left earlier we could have missed the detour, but we left late. We saw some pretty mountains during the detour and at one point Jon thinks he saw someone pee off the side of the road when we were at the beginning of the detour and just in standstill traffic. It was entertaining to have someone pee at this time.
Eden slept through most of the detour and Lilah entertained herself. At the beginning of the detour Eden kept shouting “Truck go away” or something along the lines of telling the 18wheelers to leave. It worked as we were moving and passing them, but then we were in standstill traffic. Too bad they were right next to us and had no where to go. It was cute though.
After the detour we made it home quickly, though late, 10 pm. Eden had taken a long nap so she was awake to see the city lights as we entered the valley, Lilah had fallen asleep shortly after Mesquite.
It was nice to be home and in our own beds last night. I have Naia bright and early at 8 am tomorrow so hopefully I can get my dishes done tonight.
I made cookies with the girls tonight, so I’m reluctant.

One thing I learned. I really do not like driving on the interstate at nighttime. With the darkness and lights it’s just harder to estimate the distance of the cars and keep track of where they are mentally. I was happy when Jon took over after I drove through the gorge.  It’s fun to drive at night in a way but more stressful to me if there are a lot of cars on the interstate. Of course in the city we have tons of street lights so it’s not as dark driving at night even on the highway.

Well, we went to Utah this weekend for a family reunion. We were also going to visit Jon’s niece Shauntae but she was sick and then her boys got sick and we’ve been kinda having digestion problems, so instead of going up to see them today we came home. (This way we have a day to recoup since Jon only has Monday off.) It’s nearly 11pm. We left Provo 12:30ish and didn’t get home until 10pm. There is a huge forest fire around the Beaver and Filmore area near I-15, will right on I-15, so we had a huge detour that took forever. It’s still nice to be home. We shared a hotel room with my parents last night and I realized how much they both snore. Of course my mother blames my father and my father blames my mother. All I know is if I wake up and they’re snoring it’s hard to get back to sleep. It was still very nice of them to let us crash with them since Shauntae was sick. 🙁
I’m really bummed that we weren’t able to see Shauntae’s family, but I am happy to be home. Details will come later with a few pictures.  Jon took pictures at the reunion and the ones I took were of the forest fire.

Our hike

We found a cactus- surprise surprise.

Notice Carolyn’s cris cross shirt back? Yeah, she got a cris cross sunburn.

So cute.

It’s a blurry picture but I think it’s still so cute.

Carolyn and Lilah at the top of the hill.

One of the views at the top.

Eden’s dusty legs.

Eden gets the royal treatment.

Around the house.

Everyone loves an Oreo mustache on a cute girl.

Eden couldn’t get enough of Jack. Too bad he got enough of her.

The Duck pond.

Brien and Andrea at the pond. It was the best picture I got of them.

(Sorry Andrea.)

Rosy cheeks from our hike and a little pizza sauce from dinner.

The big picture.

The close-up of the smiling Eden.

Saying good-bye to the ducks.

So we left Friday afternoon at 2:09 and got to Ely just before 6.
On the way there Lilah decided she wanted to do camping and hiking, but we didn’t bring anything to camp with and so she’d have to be happy with just hiking. Next time I think we’ll bring a tent if the weather is beautiful once again.
We had delicious shredded beef burritos which the girls just picked apart. After dinner Jon, Carolyn, the girls and I took a walk to to the top of Andrea and Brien’s street. (Lilah wanted to go hiking, so instead we just took Jack for a walk.)
It was a big hill after we had big dinner. Our walk gave Andrea and Brien time to do things that they weren’t able to before we got there.
We just hung out and got settled in the rest of the night.
Lilah slept horribly. She wandered into the living room where Carolyn was and then later she wandered into Andrea and Brien’s room. At this point she slept with me and Jon went and slept on the twin air mattress next to Eden’s playpen where we had Lilah. It was a very interrupted night and Lilah woke up very early since the window faced east. It was just rough.
We had a delicious breakfast though. Chocolate waffles, sausage and strawberries. Afterwards all Lilah wanted to do was hike. So we hiked up the street again and found some ATV trails in the wilderness that were close to the house.
None of us put on sun screen so the girls got a little rosy and so did Jon. Carolyn got the worst of it and I just got a little sunburned on the top of my shoulders, since I was trying to avoid getting an even darker farmers tan.
We had fun and Lilah loved hiking. She kept wanted to go farther on the trail, but we kept it kinda short for Eden and the bright sun, though it was still a long hike.
We ate lunch and Eden took a nap.
Lilah eventually took a nap .
We hung out and watched different things on TV for the afternoon. Teen Witch being the movie that was on ABC family.
Then we ate at Mr. G’s for dinner, a newer restaurant in town.
Service is slower in Ely all around, and this is from our experience and from Andrea and Brien’s confirmation.
After dinner we feed the ducks and geese at the park.
We took a short video of Eden saying bye to the ducks. It was too cute.
On the video we have her saying bye, bye, but right before we took it she was saying “bye, it’s nice to see you, bye ducks.”
Really it was soo cute. I wish I knew a way to put it up besides the youtube method.
Then after the duck pond we went to the house and watched Brien dig a hole for the tree they had bought that afternoon. Carolyn, Andrea, Brien and I talked while the girls ran around from the back door to the front and then around the side of the house. Jon sat on the front porch to make sure they didn’t veer off the beaten path and go towards the street. It was a little chilly for us Las Vegans but it was perfect for the Ely couple.
Saturday night went a little smoother until the morning. Brien gave Lilah one of the candles from their wedding decorations, it’s a light, and Lilah slept until 5:00 am, and then came to our room to announce that the candle hadn’t burned out. ( I had warned her that it was old and may not last the whole night.) She then eventually went back to sleep with us and Jon got up when Eden awoke crying at some point in the morning. It was a rough start to the day and predicted Eden’s mood. Eden was pretty sensitive and would start crying easily on Sunday. Luckily it was the last day otherwise Brien would be getting early training on how to deal with an ornery child, which he’s bound to have with any Harvey genes in the child.
But to tell the truth she was perfectly fine while Brien and Andrea were at church. Of course we did watch the Little Mermaid and paint the girl’s toe nails. Andrea suggested we paint the toe nails, I would never give my girls this idea.They went to church at 11, and we stayed at the house to shower and pack. We waited until they got home and we left about 2:45. Eden fell asleep quickly and the trip back home went smoothly.
It was fun to see and just be with family. I like just being with family, I don’t need a reason or activity to get together.

We went to Ely this weekend and visited Andrea and Brien. It was lots of fun just seeing them and relaxing.
We have some very cute pictures and I’ll post them as soon as I get the energy.
My favorite things about the weekend though:
1. Lilah wanting to go hiking all the time. Though I didn’t, I thought it was cute.
2. Eden gathering all of Jack’s toys for him and wanting to give them to him anytime he came around her but he was totally not interested in a almost two year old. I have some cute pictures of her lying next to him also.
Carolyn came with us, it was really her idea to go, so the girls also had fun having their aunt in the back seat with them.
They love Carolyn.

I really do wish I could bring her on every trip, she makes life easier.

Last night we got a special treat. One of Carolyn’s co-workers gets ticket to The Phantom of the Opera and he had some for last night’s show and we went!
A while back Carolyn asked if we’d be interested in going last minute if Chris had tickets and that she would watch the girls for us whenever it happened, since it would be last minute and late show, it started at 9:30pm and ended at 11:20pm.
It was such a good production and truly a timeless piece. It was the first Broadway type scaled production that Jon or I had ever been too. We also had pretty good floor seats.
It was lots of fun and worth more than every penny we spent, since it was free including the babysitting. 🙂

Carolyn said she had fun with the girls. Lilah kept showing her what she could do, like jumping and once Eden was asleep she was a chatter box.

Carolyn said that Lilah was informing her about all sorts of things, including what people Lilah knew that Carolyn didn’t and then who Carolyn did know. Like Lilah knows Danielle, but Carolyn doesn’t. And one conversation that made me smile was how Lilah said that she knew Anna but Carolyn didn’t. Carolyn said she did know Anna and that Mommy use to work with her. Lilah said that Mommy is a mommy.
Jon thinks it’s interesting how she’s figuring out relationships and who knows who and who doesn’t know who.
I think it’s just one more thing for her to talk about, but I do think it’s interesting to watch her to learn.

Today we did a field trip for Lilah’s class. We visited the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory.
Some of the mom’s didn’t clearly understand that we were meeting at the factory so while we waited for them those of us who were there took a tour through the cactus garden. It was fun. At one point Eden held my hand, Lilah held Eden’s and Britta held Lilah’s. It was cute. I felt like I was playing red rover. At one point Lilah mentioned her hand being sweaty so she stopped holding Eden’s but continued holding Britta’s. They make quite a pair. I watch Britta for the last time tomorrow, so I’ll need to start making play dates with Sam so they can still hang out. Britta loves both Lilah and Eden so it works out well.
We took the small tour through the factory and then once in the store the girls received a sample. I ate most of Eden’s and I told Lilah to take bites of the chocolate since it was a little big. Well she took one bite and then once she was ready for another bite she put the whole thing in her mouth. She didn’t drip any chocolaty saliva so I guess it was alright.
The store was extremely expensive so I didn’t buy anything. I’m also making truffles for a fundraising auction tomorrow for the ward cub scout troop, so I don’t need any chocolate.
Afterwards a few of us went to Mc Donald’s for lunch. The girls kinda ate their food and then they had fun in the play tunnel. It took a while for Eden to get the courage to go all the way in but she did go up. Once up in the maze I was soo worried she’d get scared and would be scarred for life of semi-dark colorful tunnels. When she made it back down the stairs she was smiling so I guess it went okay. Lilah didn’t want to leave until she went down the slide, which was a little tricky to find, so I went up with her and Eden to show her where to go. It wasn’t as gross as I thought it would be, but it still had dried ketchup in the tunnels. After they finally went down the slide we went to Trader Joe’s with Britta and Sam.

Well we finally did it. We went camping as a family. I’m not much for camping. Really it’s the dirt and the outhouses I don’t care for, and those were the main two things we had to put up with while camping at the Valley of Fire this past week, luckily it was just one night.
It all started when I said I wanted to go to this store in St George Utah. I wanted to try on the swimsuit, tankini short set, and rather than just order online and take the risk of not liking it or it not fitting right, I thought a day trip to St. George would be fun along with some good ole Chuck A’ Rama, which I can never pass up, in which you all know that. Jon thought a trip to St. George followed by a night of camping at the Valley of Fire would be fun. I saw an opportunity to go to Utah and I took it. So we went to Utah this past Thursday and the Valley of Fire to camp and came home on Friday. It was good that we went on the trip and I tried on the swimsuit outfit. Thanks to my large hips and small boobs my body was disproportioned for the shorts and tankini set, in which the store doesn’t sell them separate, just as a set. Hello! Most women do not have uniform bodies. I have a size medium top but a size large butt, sometimes I can get the small top and the medium butt, but then I’m labeling my boobs small and that’s no fun, but my butt does like to be a medium. Anyways enough about my body. I didn’t buy the swimsuit combo but I did buy some cute board shorts.

We ate lunch and headed back to the Valley of Fire. We got there by way of Overton and visited the Lost City Museum while we traveled through. (Jon had seen the sign on the way up and thought it might be fun.)
It was $3 for each adult and free for those 18 and younger. ( I wonder if we’d gone there when I was 20 if I could have convinced her I was 18?) I don’t know if the museum was worth $6 plus another $6 for the corn necklaces we bought the girls, but I know they mostly just need the support of income rather than surviving on just donations. We like to support things like this so we did.
Lilah had fun looking at the Indian homes and was asking lots of questions. She loved looking at the representative archaeological sight and asked a million times what the woman was doing. (It was as statue of an Indian women grinding maze, or corn.)
We left the museum and set off to the Valley of Fire to set up camp.
Once to camp Lilah couldn’t wait to hike. I occupied her by having her find animal tracks around our camp, she then started making tracks and would tell us to follow the Lilah tracks, or the Mommy tracks or the Eden tracks. I helped Jon set the tent up and then as he got the sleeping bags ready I went hiking with the girls.  We spotted a jack rabbit that came withing 10 feet of us and also yelled for Daddy when we reached the top of one of the “mountains”. Of course I didn’t have the camera due to carrying Eden most of this time.
After Jon was done setting up camp we all went hiking.
When we were at camp the girls occupied themselves by playing in the beautiful red sand. I did let them play in it but I drew the line at laying in it. I didn’t get any pictures but they sure had fun with it.

It was a beautiful night. We enjoyed a tinfoil dinner of salmon with yummy broccoli, cauliflower and carrot. They turned out great.
The night was windy though. Even though I was spoiled with an air mattress and a new sleeping bag, I felt as though I was awake more than asleep. The wind rattling the tent made it hard to sleep and Eden was pretty restless during the night. Luckily Jon was next to the girls so I just had to nudge him to have him take care of them. 🙂

I was going to take a picture of our tight sleeping quarters but I forgot. Our tent, which we inherited from Jon’s brother Conrad when he had to leave it behind, is just 8×8 feet and about 4 feet tall at it’s highest point. We fit a twin sized air mattress, that I was willing to do without but Jon thought we should use it anyways, Jon’s sleeping bag and the girls bags were folded in half and took up the space of one sleeping bag. We initially borrowed bags from Jon’s parents but they were too light and so we plundered my parents camp stuff Wednesday night before we left and found heavier ones which came in handy on the cold night.

Thursday was cloudy, cold and windy. Our luck with dinner the night before was just that, luck. Jon wasn’t able to get the coals hot and keep them hot on Thursday so our eggs were cooked just enough and the sausage not enough, though Lilah ate it before I could tell her not too. ( Some of the sausages were done more than others and she and Jon never did get sick. ) This was our first time cooking with charcoal, so I think one meal success out of two ain’t bad.
With all the wind I had Eden in the car for most of the take down. She kept getting upset because the table cloth was being blown by the wind and she didn’t want to move from the bench so I put her in the car. She was a real trooper and sat in her seat for the hour or so of taking down the camp. Of course I was in and out of the car. I also gave her books to look at. I think she was just tired form not getting a good nights sleep or a good nap the day before.
We left earlier than anticipated because of the wind.
Instead of doing lots of hiking on Thursday we packed up and drove around. We hiked a little at the White domes. The girls liked sitting in a cave.
Then we went to the visitors center before we left. By this time Eden had fallen asleep so I stayed and took a nap with her while Jon and Lilah went to the visitors center and climb a few rocks.

It was lots of fun. Lilah didn’t take to well to the outhouse but she still used it. Anytime we had to go she’d cover her nose for the whole walk there, but once out she’d breath deeply. I think I hid my disgust for the outhouse pretty well and never vomited while there.
We hope to return there again. Lilah had so much fun climbing and Eden did too. We need to enjoy God’s beauty more often. I think they’ll just be day trips though. I’m not fond of camping, though it was a little fun.

We didn’t take any pictures until later in the trip. Lilah picked flowers while I changed Eden’s diaper. It was very fragrant.

We visited the lost City Museam on our way to camp.

Eden was looking through rocks, or at least holding them up to her eyes. I thought it was funny.

The girls outside a Pueblo.

Outside the original part of the Lost City Museum.

A basket weavers home/ hole in the ground.

Our camp surroundings

Strong girls, high climbers!

Where Jon was taking the pictures from.

Our yummy dinner.

Day 2

Crazy windblown, slept in hair.

I wasn’t able to comb it because of the wind outside and the static electricity in the tent and car.

The cave we found on our hike at the White Domes located at the Valley of Fire.

A picture Jon took while they were climbing at the visitor’s center.

Next thought. Last night we watched the Disney movie Cars. I love this movie. We always watch the extras and they tell how the animators and writers traveled the entire Route 66 to get a feel and appreciation of the movie. Every time I watch the movie I want to go on Route 66 and see the land and heart of America. Every time they tell the sad story of interstate travelers bypassing the small fictional town of Radiator Springs I want to first cry and then take a road trip with my girls. Jon and I are fans of small businesses, along with big, but if we have the money we like to help those who are doing what they love because they love it, not because they make money. Jon wants to do a road trip this summer, but I don’t think we’d be able to financially. One we’d need to buy or rent a car, two we’d need $1,000 just for room and board along with gas. So my goal is next summer to have a road trip with my girls. Maybe along a part of Route 66. I want to travel to forgotten places. (Though I don’t know if I want to stay a night in a forgotten hotel, unless it has been newly refurbished. ;))
I want to see the history and experience some of the old towns of America. I love car rides. I love looking at the landscape and watching the road go by. I enjoyed that as a girl. So this movie makes me sad for those who have been left behind in the wake of advancement. I want to visit quite places with nothing to do other than enjoy the fresh air and run through the sprinklers.