Bittersweet!

As thrilled as we were to see home yesterday, it is sad to think it will be another year till we see some of you again. We had a WONDERFUL time on our vacation. We left early Friday morning and drove straight through to Phoenix. It took about 13 1/2 hours. Faster than we thought it would. The kids traveled great -no fighting really. We travel different than we used to. I used to print games off and find ways to keep them entertained. Now we just bring the laptop and watch movies. How lazy. They don't get carsick that way, though. Saturday most of my family came and spent the day at mom and dad's. We missed you Brandon, Melissa, Adan and Elijah. I met my newest nephew! Brody is so dang cute! Thanks Kalauna for letting me hog him so much. There's just nothing like a little baby. My heart aches today to hold him again. Sunday we went to church with Mom and Dad. I held Brody lots. :_) We had a BIG family dinner that night. Wow, our 7 original people have sure grown into lots more. Monday we went to the Challenger Space Center. That was interesting. During a movie Rylee and her cousin Chase thought we really went into space. Rylee was very concerned about that. Luckily we were still in Arizona when it was over. Then we went to Tucker's for pizza. I got to drive his cool clown car. That was fun for me, not so much for him. haha. Bring back any memories tucker? I went to Kalauna's that night to help with Brody during the night. That was so neat. He is so cute, did I mention that? Tuesday we went to the Science Center. They had an exhibit on Narnia that Chad and some of the boys went to. We spent several hours there. I especially liked the planetarium. We watched a movie about the black hole. I noticed several pairs of closed eyes....then I joined them. My mom walked around there with us the whole time. It is amazing to me how much she's improved. What a change from November. That night we went to Konden's for dinner. They have lots of cute girls. I can't believe how fast they are growing. I've only seen some of them a few times, so I guess that's why they change so fast. Mary made the best Chili and corn bread, and fruit tart. Have I mentioned that before? I need the recipes, by the way. I did really good watching what I ate up till then. oh well. Wednesday was our last day in Phoenix. The kids swam, Kalauna and I ran errands, then we went out to dinner with all the adults that night. It was a great time there! Thanks everyone for all your hospitality and just being nice to me and my family! Thursday morning we left mom and dad's. That was really hard. We drove to the Grand Canyon. What an AWESOME place. I think we hit every gift shop there. Reid just had to see what was in them all. Strange thing was, they were all the same. The canyon was beautiful! Someday I'd like to hike it. Nobody fell over, and we were all even able to look down it. Most of us have height issues. I think we are getting better. Only once did my heart pound really hard. We drove to Page that night and stayed in a hotel. We were able to sleep in Friday, that was really nice, then we drove to Manti. We had a barbecued turkey dinner. It tasted like steak. It was yummy for the first 3 bites. That was enough for me. Then we went to the temple pageant. I haven't been since I was 12. I figure if I go every 24 years I will be 60 next time. Scary thought. We really enjoyed it till the last 1/2 hour when Reid had to go to the bathroom REALLY REALLY bad. Rylee said she did too, then she fell asleep. I was very nervous. As soon as it looked like it was getting over we left fast, then ran to the bathrooms. No line yet. Rylee called out when she was in the stall, "I made it!" The lady behind me thought that was pretty funny. Oh, Reid made it too. We drove to Spanish Fork to DeeAnna's and got there around 1 am. We were all so tired, just plopped in bed. Saturday we went to the Hogle Zoo. We have a pass and wanted to use it, but we should have just come home. We were all so completely worn out. We stayed at the zoo for a few hours then came home. It was a bit warm in my house when we got here, so I turned on my air conditioning! YEAH! It felt wonderful. How nice to cool off in our house. We all slept so good in our own beds. So glad today is Sunday, we just rested, read, and went to church. I think this is far too long for anyone to read, but now I can have it for my journal. Happy Father's Day!