Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Family Road Trip




At the end of May, we loaded up the van and headed to our Forsyth family reunion in the great, wild West....via LA, TX, NM, and CO. We enjoyed this great and beautiful country we are so blessed to live in. We spent a little over two weeks away from home and drove over 4000 miles.

"Life is Good"! After 2 long days in the car...and half a day hanging out in Decatur, TX waiting for our van to be fixed....yup! The Pack legend lives on....we broke down our very first day on the road...we were thrilled to reach our destination in Pagosa Springs, CO. Aunt "Kiki" and Uncle Nick treated us to a wonderful week in Colorado. It was beautiful. The eggy smell of the hot springs was a bit stinky at first, but we got used to it quickly and the beauty and coolness of everything trumped the aroma. There were over twenty natural spring pools with temperatures ranging from 89 to 118 degrees. 112 about burned us up. I could only dip in my toe. Our ideal temp was in the mid 90s.


We had soooo much fun with Aunt Kiki and Uncle Nick in Colorado. We did so many fun things....Mesa Verde, Pagosa Springs, sightseeing and shopping in Durango, yummy food everywhere we went, camping and fishing at Lake Vallecito (Jack caught a ginormous Northern Pike- I need to ge the pic from Nick) and camping in the SWEET yurt in Mancos. What wonderful memories! We were sad to say goodbye and wish we could've stayed to be with them when they got"hitched." Congratualtions, we are so glad that Uncle Nick is "officially" family..he was from day 1! We love you Kiki and Nick!!


We had called the park in Mancos and found out they had a yurt available. We were planning on tent camping but the weather was a bit chilly. Nick was excited to check out the yurt. Before we arrived, we called him to see how it looked. The first sentence out of his mouth was, "the yurt is SA-WEEEET!" And it was. We picked up pizza from a nearby grocery store-traditional camping food-and made s'mores.....in the microwave. We did have a fire...but everything melted nicer in the microwave. Here's Nick outside of our "Sweet" yurt.


We look like experienced rock climbers at Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO. We had a great time there...and worked off our big breakfast hiking and pushing the stroller up, up, UP the path.


Dinosaur Park Ogden, Utah.

Hilton just posted a few pics from our trip....more to come. We have them on 3 different cameras. It was a special trip....spending the week with Christy and Nick then seeing so many of our dear Forsyth and Pack families.We had the best accomadations on our trip. While in UT, Steve and Kathy graciously opened up the entire basement level to us. Thanks, Ryan, for giving up your comfy bed. Spending the week in the greater Salt Lake area (North Ogden, Farmington, Centerville, Bountiful, downtown SLC). Visiting Temple Square, being in the Tabernacle for "Music and the Spoken Word"...not to mention seeing "Sam" from "ICarly" in the North visitors Center. We got a photo and autograph...ok. I did. The kids turned all shy on me. I had to practically stalk the poor girl. Forsyth reunion at Cherry Hill. Tip: Don't go to a water park until the weather is atleast 80...we did it for the kids! Pack reunion. McFarland reunion. Catching up with dear friends.... the list goes on and on. We had a fantastic time. The night before we left, we headed to Provo. We got to hang with Gabe, Erin and lil' Gabe, Lauren, Hannah and Delaney. Our sleepover in Hannah's basement was a blast! The drive out and home was long and gorgeous, and oh, so worth it. We stopped in Dallas and stayed with my cousin Becky and her family for the weekend before heading home. What a ride! I am blessed and thankful we were able to take the kids on such an adventure. I had the best traveling companions in the world! I wouldn't want to try that trek with just anybody. Hilton, Sam, Maddie, Jack, Sophie and Ella- thank you for being troopers. When things don't always go as planned for us, we like to use a favorite phrase from the penguins of "Madagascar"- "Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave." I remember that first day, when we were on the side of the road with the van overheating, I heard the words, "Mom, smile and wave. Smile and wave." It felt like 2000 degrees outside, but we all smiled and laughed a bit. We used those words several more times on this trip. It seemed to work. We got through some tough spots, but we were smiling and waving through it all. I love my family....my sweet, little Booverbunch and my big extended fam! I am THE absolute luckiest and so seriously blessed girl in the entire universe! Is our family perfect? Heck no! Do we have some "interesting" family...uh, for sure! but they're mine, all mine....and they're perfect for me!

My little family

My little family
This is my beautiful, little family- Hilton, Emily, Jack ( 7), Sophie (4), Maddie (9) & Sam (11). Aren't the azaleas gorgeous? This was taken Easter sunday at my mom's house. The dogwoods and azaleas were in spectacular bloom.