Trip Home, Eventful

Does anyone ever get any sleep the night before they decide to drive cross country? That's why I took a 2hour nap in the afternoon because I knew that was just what my body would do, not sleep the night before. When it's finally time to go, it's weird to think, "I'll just drive across the country today." And that's when my nausea trigger sets in. (Then I go pick up my car buddy Dannielle, who decided to jump in for the adventure)

1st Leg: Denver, Colorado
We stayed with Aunt Nancy who had fresh tuna salad and pickles waiting for us when we got there. We played Mother May I? in her backyard, and when the 60year old Nancy asked if she could take 2 cartwheel steps, oh yes you may! And yes she did!



2nd Leg: Lawrence, Kansas

On the way, I introduced Dannielle to my friend Mr. Chubbuck at the Wonder Tower. She saw his arrowhead collection along with his rare on going collection. Rather windy and cold up top of the tower.



two headed stuffed calf


Rare Japanese float with a lovely sign telling us we couldn't afford this.



After Torrential down pours in Kansas we decided we better pull off and wait it out. We saw a billboard claiming: "Yarn Store, Salina, Kansas exit 217, 2nd Friendliest Yarn Store in the Universe." After the eyebrows went up with intrigue we decided to find it what this was all about.



I asked the owner what the 1st friendliest yarn store was in the whole universe and her reply, "The one in your hometown." Smart lady. Smart businesswoman. While walking their quaint downtown, we also found a running store that would measure your pressure points in your stance and video tape you running to match a perfect running shoe for your foot. I've always wanted to do this. Who doesn't want to hear things pertaining specifically to them? Although Dannielle can pull off the skirt and tennies, you should not. Results, Dannielle runs on her toes and I over pronate on my right.



After our sign to carry on


I introduced her to my other friend Mr. Lessman.



Lucky for us, he gives tours WITHOUT his shirt on. Who knew? After a few head shakes and a few "Whoas!" We left Mr. Lessman and the children of the corn, and settled in to our hotel.

Leg 3: Nauvoo and Carthage

To make the trip worth it, we took a jaunt up to some historic church sites. It's hard to believe that the Saints had this nice of set up, and then had to leave it all behind.

Brickyard



Schoolhouse (notice how they spelled the word "of" in the sign above the teacher's head)



Printing Press



And sadly, this is where Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet was killed in Carthage, Illinois. I often wonder if it all went down differently and the Saints had stayed, if the church would be even bigger and very well invested. Imagine if they didn't have to start over, how ahead they would be.



Day 4: Morgantown, WV

We stopped at Wendy's to get some lunch, big mistake. Someone needed to inform Wendy's that I was on a cross country trip with three kids and not to put saxozoos in the kid's meals (a kazoo made like a saxophone). I tried to be understanding that they had been in the car for days, but after 30min of constant playing the saxozoos were put in timeout.

We made a stop to a rock garden. (Thank you Kjars for looking up the address I had lost) In the 1930's this man was laid off from his construction job in Springfield, OH so he decided to build things out of rocks. Talk about detail.





We also stopped in on Aunt Joc and the cousins in Columbus, OH and picked a few fresh veggies from the garden.



And then home. Hello Mat. Hello house. Hello clean van. Hello endless chores. Hello errands with kids. Hello kids whining about their awful hard life of making beds and not watching tv until their simple five jobs are done. Hello swimming pool. Hello humidity. Hello internet that goes in and out. Hello friends. Hello routine. Hello clothes in my closet. Hello toiletries in drawers. Hello menu board. But, most of all, Hello Mat.

So Long Farewell Auf Wieder-Van Goodbye

Last day in St. George. It has been time well spent and I wish I could have these good people around me forever, but I must return to my husband who is patiently waiting for us to return. He probably needs a haircut and a hug.



Goodbye Grandma who played Sorry for the millionth time





Goodbye carefree bike rides with friends and without the kids (thanks for the babysitting ma)




Goodbye International Dinner with family







Goodbye Crazy kids putting on their spontaneous fashion show







We leave tomorrow morning for our long drive home. Dannielle is jumping in with us for the adventure. Hope things go well over the continental divide, I pray. But before I go, I will pack my pots. Thanks Andrea for finishing them up for me. I promise to use them everyday. Becket's is on the right and my colander is on the left.

New Discoveries in St. George

Xetava Gardens out in Kayenta is a lovely little restaurant that I'd like to give a kind little review to. Other than the waiter trying to upsell our party on things, the food was quality and unique. It was really well done and had a nice atmosphere.








2) Kanarville Hike off of the I-15. Go right once you get off the freeway, make a left and drive 2mi to 100N. Turn right and follow that road up to the water tower and begin hiking about a mile before you reach the waterfall. Make sure you wear swimsuits and if you can throw in stripe socks, tennies, and Hollywood sunglasses, it makes the hike even cooler.






This hike is refreshing because there is water after about two miles. That would be a must when hiking in July.

Use your empty mandarin orange snack pack conatiners to make mud cupcakes. It will entertain the children for hours.

Micah's dimples always make a splash~



Krave is a fun place to take the kiddos in this oppressive heat. They have self serve frozen yogurt with endless toppings. There is something about letting you serve yourself and making it your own way that really makes me and my kids happy. They are located by the Great Harvest off of the Boulevard.



They even have a giant board to get all your drawing Kravings out.



Blood pressure cuffs are also a new discovery, but that is for you to decide. Casey and I had a blast measuring our resting rate and our increased rate.

My Gramps, the Escapee

My Grandpa was recently checked into an assisted living home. He suffers from Alzheimer's Disease and he is very lost most of the time. He used to be a coach for Dixie College, so people who remember him will often bring up what a good coach he was. It's nice to hear their stories, even though he can't remember them. When people ask him questions, he has a lot of one liners to fake his mind being absent. For example, to make conversation I asked him what he liked to do. His reply, "A little of this, a little of that. That's what I like to do." The other problem with Grandpa Horlacher is that he always feels like he has to be somewhere. He is constantly on the move and constantly packing his dirty clothes for his future trip. They call him a flight risk. They often find him in the parking lot sitting in other peoples cars looking for what he thinks are HIS keys. The owners will come out and wonder why this old man is sitting in their car. Last week he ran away with another Alzheimer's patient (bad buddy to be in cahoots with) and he's also scaled the back wall. Very impressive for an 80yr old man. Yes, you see, he is in tip top shape, always has been, and that's what's makes his escapes frightening, because he could go forever. My aunt once found him walking half way back into town.

To keep his mind off escaping he is so good to help with the ladies-Francis and LaRue. He often gets them drinks of water and helps them get around the home. Just like he waited on my Grandma all those years.



He is also still playful with my children, just like he was with us. He was the best Grandpa growing up. He took us for hikes, mo-ped rides, and often teased and tickled us. It was so nice to see that somewhere in his mind, some things will stay the same.



I've had fun taking him on rides to Dixie Nutrition for frozen yogurts and having him shop with me just to get him out. He is so happy to be out and about, he doesn't care where, just somewhere. It makes me happy too.

Southern Aquantainces

While driving to St. George. I had to stop and visit the lovely Spencers (dear friends from our Hershey days)

And while in Alpine, I had to check up on my Grandma's old house. After her sudden passing, the family sold the house and since then , it has been remodeled for a business. I knocked on the door for a looksy, but to my dismay, they were out of the office. I loved eating Jell-O Pudding Pops on that front porch. Why don't they make Jell-O Pudding Pops anymore? They had that thin sheet of ice around them that you had to break through to get to the goodness.



While in St. George, it was good to spend time with my Mom. The kids could sit and listen to Grandma Rexine read all day. She's got that "school teacher exciting toned-voice" that I try to mimic when I read, but she is definitly the expert.



It was also good to spend time with Dannielle and her family.Everyone who meets Dannielle LOVES Dannielle. We were at her house and we found an egg WITHOUT a shell from her chickens. It was so creepy. It was like holding a water balloon.

It was also good to see old friends Mern, Angie, Becky, Brooke, Traci, and Kenzie. It's always a lovely time to reminisce. I'll have to catch their pictures later.

I'm On Pot

Mat left home to WV Sunday,and I decided to stay out in Utah for a little while (Um, I take that back, I'm staying for a long while). I figure if I'm going to drive my squishy pansy out here, I might as well make it worth it. There's just too many things I needed to do. One of the things I've wanted to do was throw a pot. It just so happens that I have a mom-in-law that knows her pottery (yes, the same mom-in-law that make Millennium Falcon cakes) and she owns a kiln and a wheel. Lucky!

After a mini lesson on pottery, here's what I learned:

1) It's cute to watch the grandmother bond with her grandchildren over clay. The kids worked on clay while I tried to WORK the clay. It's a tricky technique.



2) But, it's not cute to keep getting interrupted every 5 seconds by one of my children. I decided it was time for these chitlins to leave. They continued to do what they do best, be under foot, messy, and talky, talky. Impossible learning conditions. You know the feeling? I started out talking calm to the darlings and then I ran out of patience. The kids slowly started chipping away at my solid rock of learning sanity and then there was no other option but to give them the boot.

Goodbye. Scat!


3) You can't be in a hurry to make a pot. There are several steps, so if you want a serving bowl for Friday, it's not going to happen for a few weeks. This is trimming.




This is the leather hard stage



4) With all these stages to pottery, I had little spats of time to fill in with friends and family.

Met up with some old Hershey folks---Moving Melanie, Sweet Caroline, Cheery Cheryl and of course all of the wet kids.





Walked around the temple during garden talks (Oh yes, my mom-in-law is also a master gardner and she helps direct garden talks down by the temple on Wednesday nights.)



Had time to fall in love with the pineapple coconut ice cream at Hatch's Chocolate store. A must if you are in the downtown SLC. I believe it's on 4th ave. They actually had a show on TLC, but it only aired 11 episodes.




Spent some time at the science museums.



I'd like to thank Micah for SHUSHING all those who made comments about the movie. She was completely oblivious to how noisy she was being by shushing everyone in her loud voice. Honestly, it was pretty funny.


You would think by now that the my potted colander would be done, but it is only 2/3 of the way done. We still have glazing. I needed to get down south, so Andrea was kind enough to finish my little project and deliver it to me at a later date.

To sum it up, I learned pottery is a lot of fun and I am inspired to take some classes, possibly upon returning to West Virginia? Any chance you might free up a night Mat so I can do so? I also learned that you cannot, I repeat, cannot have children around while you're trying to pay attention to this fine art.

Can't wait to see my pot.

Millenium Falcon Cake

After returning from Bear Lake, (Posts are slightly out of order due to Micah's Birthday) Mat had a date with cake. Andrea, his mom, is often hired to make wedding cakes and this paticular wedding cake was a Millenium Falcon Groom's Cake. It was good timing with Mat in town, because he was so into Star Wars when he was younger that he could practically make the cake from memory.

The cake:



The Process:



The Final Touches:



The Final Cake:



And the Wannabe Luke Skywalker, the Groom:



Job well done Mother and Son team.