Vacation: Lake Tahoe Coming Home

Did you know it's 13.5 hours of driving time between Lake Tahoe and our house? This doesn't count the gas and meal breaks. Because we were coming home on Sunday, we stopped for church, as well.

Did you also know there are pretty places in Nevada? I'm seriously not joking. I drive through Nevada frequently, and I've never seen a place like this. Just over the mountain from Tahoe is this little place called Carson Valley and it is GORGEOUS. We almost didn't leave. Especially after we found out the ward we attended had been fasting and praying for new families to move in.
Oh my goodness. The valley is mostly ranch land. GREEN IN AUGUST ranch land. The town we were in was clean and small (with a Thai place) and the people were super duper nice. The only thing wrong with this place is that it's in Nevada, so there were also a couple small casinos. I hate gambling. It's just taxes for people bad at math. Sadly, people who are bad at math are pretty much the last people who should be gambling. It's 8 hours from my mama, and 12ish from The Hubs parents. Those are both totally doable one day driving distances. I may be thinking moving thoughts.

Also on the way home, we stopped for dinner in California somewhere at a Denny's. Zsa Zsa is two, right? So imagine our surprise when she stabbed dinner with her fork in one hand and started using the knife in the other to cut between the tines. Clearly, she's going to be a brain surgeon. Also, she now has no excuse for eating rice with her hands the night before.

We got home about 1:30am Monday morning. Our whole family was glad Hubs had taken Monday off from work, as well.

Oh, and our first week back, Phoenix has been setting record highs. Who came back to early? <raises hand>

Vacation: Lake Tahoe Day Four

Saturday the kids and I kept it low key. We rode the trolley to the Rainbow Trail, which is where I hiked approximately forty thousand miles while holding a toddler who wouldn't let me carry her on my back. We went to the stream profile room, which was SO cool, we took Daddy back with us later that afternoon when he got home from his meetings. (But after we had some so-so Thai food in a restaurant rated the best Thai in Tahoe. SO glad we didn't go to that other Thai place.)

The Profile room is an underground room right next to a creek (if you're from Idaho, creek is pronounced crick, trust me). One wall of the room is glass AND it also makes up a part of the stream so you can see the fish that are swimming in the creek and the craw-fish and all the other cool stream-stuff. My kids ADORED this place. It was pretty cool, but to be honest, the best bit was being able to sit in the dark while my kids quit whining for slightly longer than 4.2 nanoseconds. By Saturday, we were ALL pretty much done with this trip.

It turns out a small person inherited her mother's proclivity for travelling poorly. Sorry, honey. Really I am. For both of us.

On our way back to the condo, we stopped to get ice cream. The kids both REALLY wanted rainbow sherbet, so that's what we got them. Zsa Zsa took a couple licks of hers and then stole my pistachio ice cream. And she wouldn't give it back. So I stole Hubs hot fudge. But I gave his back, because I'm awesome like that. Rainbow sherbet is kind of nasty. I guess I can't blame her, but from now on, she's going to get whatever I'm having. This stealing of mommy's food has gotten to be quite a habit the last few weeks.

More Camping Pictures

 These are cows. Husband took the picture from a moving car. We thought it would be nice to show his dad that cows can be raised in such a beautiful area, as well as in Arizona. (wink, wink) Even though I KNOW Husband's family will never move, I can dream, can't I?

 Seriously. Who WOULDN'T want to live here?

And one more of my seriously cute babies.

Camping 2.0

My sister talked me into going camping with her family this weekend. You know, because it went so well the last time. Briefly, here's how the last time went; I had a less than 18 month old, was hugely pregnant, and it rained. The whole time. Our tent nearly floated away. Yes, really. The boy cried the entire night so we packed up camp at two am and drove home. It was pretty much the worst camping experience ever.

Needless to say, I was reluctant to try camping again. Really reluctant. But my sister had an ace up her sleeve; flushy toilets. In my opinion, flushy toilets can make or break a camping trip.

Here it is, in pictures. Pictures I took with a REAL camera, no less! Be impressed.

Yeah, nobody said I was GOOD at taking pictures. 

Just that I can occasionally use a half way decent actual camera. :P

Red Fish Beach

 Paddle Boat Ride

The View. Honestly, I fell in love with Idaho again on this trip. 

On the way home we stopped at Smilie Creek Lodge

Someone did NOT want their picture taken. 

The Grumps had set in.

And the sleepies. 

If that's not the most tired you can be while still eating ice cream, it's close. 

Northern Migration

Well, we made it to Idaho. In a fit of stupidity, Hubs and I decided to try the trek from Arizona to Idaho all in one go. Again. Because it went so well the last time.
This trip the children did beautifully. They played nicely, napped, and only watched one movie for the entire 17-18 hour trip.

Hubs and I both stayed awake the entire journey. I started out this trip in slightly less than stellar condition. I'd tweaked my back (no doubt doing something stupid) and sitting for that long didn't improve things. In fact, I walked like an old woman every time we got out of the car. I'm sure I gained all sorts of sympathy from strangers with my beautiful children and my hunched over, gimpy gait. :/
Luckily, my awesome chiropractor was able to see my Friday, and by the time I left his office I was again walking in the full upright position, albeit still rather sore overall.

Playing In Pioche, NV.

Here are some awesome Boy quotes from the trip.
"Zsa Zsa damaged her toe on the bathroom door".

On Las Vegas: "This is a funny sort of place for a town".

And some Zsa Zsa quotes
"The bugs! They eat me!" followed by a full-on melt down. And the bugs? Gnats. To be fair, she did walk into a swarm and I don't think she's experienced gnats before.

Saturday The Hubs and I got back in the car and drove an additional 4 hours to Driggs, Idaho for the Huntsman Family Celebrate America shindig. We rather enjoyed our free time, ate funnel cakes and square ice cream and generally goofed off. The speeches by Huntsman Sr and Glenn Beck were both fabulous; focusing on the wonder that is America, and our God-given right of freedom. I may have to write up the speech at some point.

My cell phone camera doesn't zoom, but there's snow on those mountains. In July. Just say'n.

We watched the start of the fireworks and then drove to Idaho Falls where we stayed in THE crappiest motel IF has to offer. Seriously. It rivaled the by-the-hour hotel we stayed in during our honeymoon to San Diego, solidifying my theory that poor people shouldn't travel. :)

Both coming and going we got to visit with wonderful friends from our years in Idaho Falls. We wished we'd had time to see more of you. We also wished Bajio Restaurant hadn't closed. Ferills. That place is da bomb.

Father and Sons: The Update

I woke up early to get ready for a training meeting this morning so I was in the shower at 5:45am when I heard, "Hello? Is anyone home?" It's a good thing I was in the shower, because otherwise I'd have peed my pants.

It turned out the guys came back early. Really early.  The Boy started to vomit about 3am and didn't want to snuggle in Daddy's vomit-free sleeping bag, so they got in the car, but then he didn't want to sleep, so they broke camp and came home early.

At first I thought The Boy had just eaten too many marshmallows, but now, I'm not so sure. He ate a few bites of banana this morning, but that's all so maybe he does have a touch of the gastro.

Poor, poor Hubs! I'm going to do my level best to make sure he gets a nap today. Also, poor Mom. What a reward! I get to clean vomit from camping gear today. That's just super.

The SURPRISE

I believe I mentioned two posts ago that a surprise for The Hubs was in the works.
Because he knew a surprise of some sort was coming for his birthday, I had a bit of fun with the misdirection:

1. Discussed hot air ballooning ad nausim
2. Left http://www.cruise.com/ up on the browser of our shared laptop
3. Mentioned it's cheaper to update your passport in Idaho than in Arizona ( by kinda a lot, but not enough to make it worth the trip)
4. Told him I'd need a blood sample and current passport before I could finish booking his "surprise"
5. Oh, did I mention his surprise came a month early? No? Well, a birthday surprise ON your birthday is not so much of a surprise, now is it.

Let me clarify: we're on a budget here, folks. The Hubs is no dummy, but he's also married to an extremely expensive wife (I make it a point to never be more expensive than the paycheck...if I can help it)
He didn't have a clue that we were going to....

DISNEYLAND!!

But first, we wentt to breakfast with The Hubs Uncle E. Have you tried The Original Pancake House. Oh my goodness. I'm still carrying around an extra couple lbs from this place, but it was SOOO worth it. The crepes were awesome, the apple pancake was awesome. I must resist all temptation to reverse engineer these marvels of culinary genius or I will NEVER fit in my skinny jeans. Not that I have skinny jeans, but you know what I mean.

But Idaho Becky, you ask. How did you do Disneyland on a BUDGET?!?!?!

It helps to know someone. A Disney cast member, to be exact, because then, the tickets are FREE!

So I shelled out $120 for gas there and back, $130 for two nights in a three star hotel (I love Hotwire, don't you?) and then about $60 for food. Grandma and Grandpa watched our adorable kids. Strangly, the kids got even more adorable after our absence. Imagine that!

Cheapest three day trip ever.

Plus and also, I got to go to the beach, which is more my thing than The Hubs, but I went on California Scream'n with him, so I deserved it, don't you think? I'm WAY to old for that ride. Needed me some ocean to get my bearings back. People are just not meant to go upside down at 60 miles an hour.

We met Woody in person. He's really very nice. Not much of talker, though.

I ran out of film, eh hem, but The Hubs totally got the sword out of the stone. He's awesome like that. He can even unstick stuck jars! I know. Amazing, right?

To make up for the fact that The Hubs had to smell fish on the beach AND walk in, gasp, sand, I took him clear into Hollywood to eat at the best Thai restaurant EVER; Thai Patio. Seriously. The drunken noodle is to die for. We got FOUR meals so there would be leftovers for dinner (and lunch the next two days).

Love you, babe. Happy Birthday...A month early.

I should mention at this point that yes, The Hubs was taken completely by surprise. So much so that he didn't believe me. I had to show him the email from his boss, granting the time off I'd requested, and the travel bags packed and ready to go. Yes, I'm THAT devious. Makes you a little bit scared of me, doesn't it?

And a big shout out and thank you to Matt's Uncle who so sweetly took us to breakfast AND got us past the gates of Disney with our wallets in tact. You're the best, Uncle E!

An Announcement

Glory Be! is that ALL you people think about?
No. There's not a baby in my belly (although based on it's size, I could be hiding six babies or a small rhinoceros and not know it).

What I have to say is going to astound everyone. Promise.
But first I need to preface it with some information:

I am the world's youngest snowbird.
I am probably the ONLY snowbird with my original hair color.
The only snowbird getting regular visits from a certain red-headed relative.
The only snowbird with toddlers, for pete's sake.
I am a vagabond in the truest sense of the word.
I am, (Mom quit reading here, skip to the next paragraph) dare I say it, a GYPSY.

Which is why it came as kind of shock yesterday when I realized it was time to put down roots.

(That's the part where you should be astounded, or at the very least, mildly surprised.)

I'm ready to grow up, be part of a community, make the world a better place, all that garbage.
The question then, is WHERE do I do it?
This is the fun part. I'll give you a list of requirements, and YOU get to make suggestions! The Hubs and I will spend the next couple years checking them out (hello, recovering gypsies can't be expected to put down roots right away, plus you may have noticed the housing market tanked and we own a house in the second-worst state to own a house: Arizona.) and this will be THE LAST TIME I MOVE. Seriously. Quit laughing Stina people. I mean it!

REQUIREMENTS:

• Less than two hours from an LDS temple
• Established community (Attn Arizona, you do NOT qualify. Most of your houses were built in the last 20 years. How lame is that?)
• At least two seasons (hot and hotter are NOT two seasons)
• Strong Crunchy Community, but not so crunchy that I can't shower daily or use the occasional disposable diaper without being ostracized
• Town of at least 80,000 within an hour
• Sunny lots of the year
• Active Craigslist community, honestly I've about died without Craigslist this summer
• Reasonable property prices so we can have a bit of land and some animals
• Has an institution of higher learning, because I'm NEVER going to stop educating myself
• Has a good midwife
• Not in Utah County, lets face it, those folks are strangely addicted to multilevel marketing 
• Reasonable job market for programmers

Well, what do you think? 

More Trip Stuff

So the whole point of this trip was to celebrate The Hubs oldest niece getting hitched. I have exactly zero pictures of that. Oops. It was beautiful, but you're just going to have to take my word for it. I was busy.

Other Random facts from the trip:
1. Drove 2,170 miles
2. Listened to 1.5 audio books
3. Passed out 3 chew-able Dramamines (love that stuff)
4. Stopped at one Vegas Buffet (and swore never to do it again)
5. Ate out twice
6. Saw five of my friends and three of The Boy's friends
7. Attended one movie
8. Took one (yes, just one) nap
9. Visited my midwife AND my acupuncturist (on the same day)
10. Got my Hair done by one super awesome Jill (thanks honey, it looks FANTASTIC. When I'm rich, I'll hire you full time to make me pretty every day.)
11. Asked The Hubs if we could stay longer 14 thousand times, and that's how many times he said no.

On the way home we stopped at

to teach The Boy about hydro-electric power and water conservation. 

Just kidding.

We stopped because The Parental Units needed to use the facilities and a break from driving with small children. $22.00 and a metal detector later, we were allowed in. The Baby thought it was great game to dive under the ropes guiding the lines and take off in random directions through crowds of people. Lots of people were laughing, and I admit, I was among them. She was just so HAPPY, it was hard to be mad at her. 

The Hubs and The Boy, standing over one of the diversion tunnels several (hundred?) feet below ground.

Yeah, don't think about it. 

The Hubs and The Baby standing above the generator room on the Nevada side.

THE TRIP

Where to start. Ah yes. The Parental Units Joint Decision to travel from Idaho to Arizona in a single day...with two small children.


In a word: insane.
We didn't leave Idaho until mid-morning. Arrived in Las Vegas about dinner time, and the in-laws house at 2am the next day. 17 hours after departure. Can you really call it "driving there in one day" if the trip actually spans TWO days?

Anyway, on to pictures!

The Boy, "helping" with irrigation

The Baby, trying on Mom's running shoes

The Boy LOVES Grandma's house. What's not to love? There are cows to feed (moo), a ditch with tad poles, cousins at all hours of the day, a riding lawn mower, a barn to play in, and quads. He was in Heaven.

The Baby just loves being with Mom.

The Hubs mostly worked, and I did WAY too much, like usual.

The kids and I went out to lunch, rode a carousel,

and watched a movie (How to Train Your Dragon) with The Boy's friend, E.

For a frame of reference, E is only 3 weeks older than The Boy. Yeah.

We found out first hand why you should always put the sun shade up in the car, even when parking away from the sun. The car seats, including mine, were literally too hot to sit in until the A/C had been going a good 10 minutes AND I had spread out the clothes we'd just bought to go between seats and bottoms. It was OK, because in the mean time The Boy had to water my tires. Don't judge, it was an emergency. I simply couldn't handle walking BACK across the mall parking lot in the mid afternoon with two cranky kids. Did I mention it was 115 degrees? See? Emergency. Heaven help The Baby. I have no idea what I'll do when she has potty emergencies. (thanks for the idea, S. Truly, life saving)

Is that ALL you ask? Oh no. There is more. Much more. Stay tuned!

Neglected

The poor, poor blog has been neglected of late. Stinking finals! I did get an A in Sociology and an A (minus) in Anatomy and Physiology, which was a miracle. A HUGE thanks to my momma and sisters for watching my kiddos all day every day so I could cram 16 weeks of learn'n into 8 weeks.Ask me ANYTHING about your skin, bones or muscles. I know it all! (not really, but it's fun to say)
Right after finals The Hubs and I packed up the car and headed west (actually it was south east, but that doesn't sound as dramatic) for a The Hubs-side-o-the-family-wedding. A week in August spent in The Valley of the Sun reminded me why I wanted to go to Idaho for the summer, AND reminded me how cool all my AZ friends are. A week was not nearly long enough to do all my catching up and visiting.

Stay tuned for trip details AND pictures, coming tomorrow.