18 hour car ride to Utah

The girls, my Mom, and I left my parents house in Portland, Oregon early Monday morning (the 5th) and drove all day long until we got to Ogden, Utah. On average we stopped every four hours at a McDonald's to stretch our legs, let Savannah run around like crazy in the play land, change diapers, eat, nurse the baby, etc. This was no trip for the faint-hearted. And after four stops at McDonald's in one day, I'm happy to avoid that restaurant for awhile. lol

Our original plan was to go a little further south into Utah to Cedar City, but a snowstorm and exhaustion slowed us down. So we were fortunate to get to stop off at midnight in Ogden and stay the night at my cousin PJ's place. (Thanks for hosting us. It was great to see you and your boys, though briefly. Cole we missed seeing you.)

Savannah couldn't have been happier when she awoke Tuesday morning to PJ's 2year old son Gage. She was ecstatic that there was a little person who had as much energy as she does. And after the 18 hour car ride the day before she had plenty of energy! After a couple hours of play and some new bumps and bruises we headed further south to see more of the family. But not before a quick visit with Uncle Warren and my cousin Angie. We were blessed to get to spend a couple of nights at my Aunt Linda & Uncle Hal's gorgeous home for the rest of our Utah visit. It was so great to spend time with them and to see many of our other family and friends. And it was an extra treat to have my cousin Mariah there too so that we could spend lots of time visiting and reconnecting. My girls especially enjoyed all of my cousins kids. Some highlights include while Savannah was playing with Gage, he pulled out a toy gun from the toy box and was playing with it the way a boy does. Savannah also pulled out a toy gun and being inexperienced with "boy toys" she proceeded to put the end of the gun in her mouth and pretend to blow on it like it was a musical instrument. So cute! While playing at my cousin Elisha's beautiful house, Lexi crawled over to little Andrew and started jabbering with him while playing with his toys happily. And then the funniest was during a visit at my cousins Jeff & Jen's, where Savannah was playing upstairs with their cute kids while we chatted and overheard one of the kids say "she bit me on the arm" and another child said "yeah, she's bitten me like four times" with multiple voices chiming in "me too" very matter-of-factly. I do my best to warn others about this, but unfortunately it is what it is. She bites when she's mad, excited, scared, etc. Luckily no one was scarred. Also a favorite moment was their little girl Brynlee holding Lexi and asking me why Lexi wasn't going upstairs to play too. Brynlee is a cancer survivor and it was a crazy year last year for her and her family. We've been following her diagnosis, treatment, etc. and so it was nice to finally meet her and feel of her sweet sweet loving spirit.