Humongo Road Trip: Part 2

After spending a day-and-a-half with our friends the Everetts (and filching a speedo from their dryer -- see the first post on my trip), we headed north for a five hour drive up to see our friends the Christensens. This friendship goes way back to our days in Rochester, NY when Zach was 3, Hannah was 1 and I still had a flat stomach with no scars and minimal stretch marks. (heh heh, that was 3 c-sections ago!)

Back when we first met the Christensens, Laurie and I had 5 kids under the age of four between the two of us and Hannah was the sole girl-chid. She played happily with all those boys, making up elaborate games like "going on a trip" where they packed everything she and Zach owned into bags, suitcases, and other sundry containers. They would then haul the baggage up the ladder to the top of the bunkbed and go on their trip. They loved this game. I hated it. But we all remember it well.

On the way up, I called my brother, who lives north of Provo, to see if they wanted to meet us for dinner somewhere so we could say hi. We would be seeing him in a few days in Oregon, but truth be told, we were all dying to ogle my cute nephew Wesley who turned 1 last week. Ben and his wife Sara being there was just a bonus! :D We met them at a park where they brought us fried chicken and lots of other junk food that my kids inhaled happily. We chatted and played and oohed and aaahed over how cute Wes is getting, then hugged and headed out for the last bit of our drive up to Fruit Heights.

We haven't seen the Christensens in a few years, and now all those boys Hannah played with as a little girl are gi-normous specimens of manhood (I'm sure they'll appreciate that!) Hannah was a bit shy about hanging with them at first. They all warmed up to each other eventually and had a good time. This picture of them on the trampoline is humorous to me because I know I must have pictures of them jumping from when they were little. Things have changed a bit since then!

The BIG kids on the trampoline:

Ethan, Jacob, Wesley, Zach and Hannah

*****

Laurie eventually had her own girl and another boy and I of course, had five more boys, so together we have quite the crew. They wanted to just hang out, but I had other plans and insisted on dragging everyone to downtown Salt Lake City to see Temple Square and the Conference Center. There was plenty of groaning and whining, but notice they ARE smiling in all of the pictures. The conference center roof was amazing with fountains and trees and fields of wild flowers on top of it! I was glad we went even if they were less than enthusiastic about the adventure.

The Whole Group on the roof of the Conference Center

*********

Inside the Conference Center, looking up at the chandeliers and skylights

*****

Walking the path on the roof -- I love the grassy field they planted to recreate the prairies as they were when the pioneers first came to the valley

*****

On the steps of the Salt Lake Temple

*****

Hannah and the Boys:

Zach, Hannah, Ethan and Jacob

*****

Gid on the roof (he wanted to jump the rope and run in the field!)

*****

Inside the Conference Center with the organ in the background -- that is one BIG room!

*****

The best part of Laurie's house for the littles, Curtis and me was her garden. She told me that she and her daughter Robin regularly go out and eat sugar snap peas to bond as mother and daughter. We happily joined the ritual and ate peas to our stomach's content! They also have a huge patch of strawberries which they'd eaten so many of, they were sick of them. The horror! The little boys and I ate plenty of those too and relished the cool evenings and the sweet smell of grass and garden and giant old trees in her mature neighborhood.

Curtis relishing a strawberry

*****

Curtis and Robin picking peas

*****

Gid in the peas

*****

Eli working hard to get his own peas out of the pod

*****

The Christensens also have a sweet cat named Smoky and perfectly mellow, loving dog named Dottie. My kids were absolutely enamored with the pets. Gid and Eli spent many hours seeking them out and mauling them as only a 2 and 4 year-old can. Smoky and Dottie were totally patient with them, impressing me to no end. This was only the start of the pet campaign that evolved on this trip. More on that to come.

After spending 2 nights with the Christensens, we headed out once again toward Oregon, this time with a scheduled stop in Umatilla for a short stay at Ren's little brother Aaron's house. Where is Umatilla? We didn't actually know either. It's near Hermiston and across the river from Washington in the tri-cities area.

Aaron's family was already in Salem and he would be joining them the next day after work, but it was too far for us to drive all the way to Salem in one day, so he put us up for the night. Aaron's house also boasted a cat: one that plays fetch and likes to sleep on 15 year-old girl's heads (or so Hannah claims!) Aaron very graciously made us homemade lasagna (tasty!) and tolerated our noise and chaos. He was gone in early in the morning, so as soon as we were up, we embarked on the last 4 hours of our drive to Salem.