Day 5 & 6 Of The Cross Country Exodus

The morning started out pretty good. All three of the girls seemed to be feeling better. Gwen was pretty grumpy from lack of sleep and screaming a lot so I ended up having breakfast out in the car while she finished up her temper tantrum. We didn't have far to drive that day and before we knew it we were finally in Pittsburgh. It was so nice to see my Grandpa & Grandma McCauley after 2 1/2 years!! We saw most of my relatives while visiting there as well: my brother Jake had flown down because he got out of National Guard duty early; Aunt Karen and cousins Ryan & Johnny; Aunt Ruth; cousin Mary, her daughter Joanie and son Richie; cousin Katie and son Nate; Uncle Paul; cousin Lynn, husband Mike and daughter Lily; cousin Emily. Didn't get to see everyone but it was so nice to see so many of my relatives after being gone for so long.

We stayed the night at my cousin Lynn's house (thank you so much!!) and stayed in Pittsburgh until lunch time the next day. During that time we had so much fun! Robbie went swimming with my grandpa and brothers; the girls played with all the cousins (Johnny, Nate, Joanie, Lily and Richie) and had a blast; and I got to visit with everyone. It was great, but sad to leave again. Hopefully we'll get to see them all again before the end of the year. Here are some pictures:

Gracie blowing bubbles on the patio with Uncle Jake.

Nana (my mom) holding Georgia.

I will post more pictures of this visit later.

Day 3 & 4 Of The Cross Country Exodus

Day 3 started off a lot better than other days. Grace finally had her appetite back but Gwen was still pretty sick. Today was full of driving driving driving. We drove from South Dakota to Iowa. Nothing special happened. I do have to say that if we had not been able to get a dual screen portable DVD player I don't know how we would have survived this trip. Towards the end of the night Georgia seemed like she wasn't feeling well, but I didn't think much of it because she hadn't got the high fever like the other two girls. So we stopped to feed her around 8 or 8:30 and while feeding her my brother started in with food poisoining. So we went a little bit further to where my dad had booked a hotel for us. It was the best hotel we had stayed in yet. The girls went to bed early thanks to getting them in their pj's and feeding Georgia when we stopped (she stayed asleep when we got to the hotel and slept all night) and we got to bed early but unfortunately my brother was up all night...poor kid.



We slept so good that night, and the next morning we didn't have any problems either. Breakfast was amazing...in fact, it was the best hotel with the best food that we had all trip (from start to finish). We hung out for a while though so my family could get more sleep because of my brother having food poisoning. Gwen was feeling a lot better but now Georgia seemed to be coming down with it (thankfully not as bad though). We had planned on going to Nauvoo that day, but because my brother wasn't feeling well we decided we would skip Nauvoo and drive as far as we possibly could towards Pittsburgh. We passed through the rest of Iowa and all of Illinois without any problem and got into Indiana. It was starting to get a little late and we had planned on stopping around 8 or 8:30 to get a hotel room before Georgia had to eat again but thought it might be better to do what we had the night before and get the girls in their pjs and feed Georgia and try to drive some more. So we stopped, fed her and left to keep driving. My dad had wanted to stay in Elkhart, Indiana but we thought we would keep driving. Well, scratch that when Georgia started screaming the minute we put her into her car seat. She screamed for 15 minutes, gagged on her own spit and threw up everywhere. At least half of what I fed her.



So, we found a hotel, I washed her car seat with our dish soap as best I could, gave all three girls a bath in our handicap accessable shower in our handicap accessable hotel room (no tub sides...an adventure) put the girls to sleep, washed sippies, bottles and binkies in the bathroom sink with our dish soap and went to bed. Needless to say it was a late night...one in the morning late. I was really tired and worn out by this point, and I had broken down and started crying at least twice that day (one time due to the realization that I wouldn't be able to spend as much time at my Grandpa & Grandma McCauley's in Pittsburgh PA as I thought we were going to). What a trip...everything going wrong, bad days getting worse...would it ever get better?

Day 2 Of The Cross Country Exodus

Oh if only the nightmare of our first night had been the end of it all. This morning as I was feeding Georgia she gagged on her own saliva and puked up everywhere!! Robbie had already taken all of our stuff to the car and truck so I had to get him to go back and get me some clean clothes for her. I cleaned my clothes off as best as I could (since she didn't get me all that bad) and we were off!! The day was full of giving Gwen Children's Motrin and Tylenol and trying to get both Gwen and Grace to eat. We spent the day driving through the rest of Wyoming and into South Dakota. We stopped at a National Forest site for a Native American Medicine Wheel that has survived hundreds of years, but the hike round trip was 45 minutes. I wanted to go so bad because I have always wanted to see a Medicine Wheel (I've read a lot about them) but we were already behind on our schedule and so hopefully we'll be able to go back some day to see it (it's located in the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming). Gwen and Grace watched movies a bit that day and did a lot of activities/read books that my parents had gotten for them just for the trip. Here's what Grace looked like after an hour of coloring with a dry erase marker (and the window...and her clothes...and her seat tray...and Gwen as well...good thing it came off with a wipe...bad that it stained their clothes...oh, and the cute car seat strap covers? Yeah, my sister and mother in law helped me finish those off quick before we moved...that's right...hand made baby. I'll post about them on my craft blog sometime in the next few weeks).

Our first big stop was to see the Crazy Horse monument. It is not even close to being completed and it just might be completed before the end of my lifetime, but they have his face completed and it was so awesome to see (even more amazing were the pictures of what this thing is going to look like when it's completed). I have never seen anything like this before and I am so into Native American history/legends/folklore. I have been into it since I was a kid. Again, I missed out on the museum and other artifacts around the visitors center because I had to feed Georgia. We switched formula with her about 2 weeks before moving because she had been spitting up a ton with the regular similac formula and while this helps she's been having a harder time getting used to the taste. Anyways, here are some pics of Crazy Horse (if you want to know more about it, they have a website: http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/ ).

Anyways, a short drive after Crazy Horse we arrived at Mount Rushmore. I have never been there so this was just as cool to me. It was cool to Rob and I in a different way as well...we are big fans of the National Treasure movies so it was cool to see some of the places that they filmed for the second movie. After Rushmore we were all pretty tired and hungry and went to find a place to eat and sleep. It took a long time to finally find a hotel and by the time we did us grown ups just ordered into our rooms and we gave the girls my left over Subway sandwich from lunch that day so we could get them fed and into bed. Needless to say it was a late night and we were so hopeful to get a good nights sleep after having such an awful one the night before.

Day 1 Of The Cross Country Exodus

Day one of the trip started out pretty hectic. I got up early with Georgia, fed her, then ran to the local store to get some cleaning supplies that we had run out of the night before. Came home, started on the cleaning and finishing up the packing, ran Grace over to her 2 year checkup, came home and cleaned cleaned cleaned. We didn't finish cleaning and get out of there until about 12:30...2 hours after I had planned. Oh well. I guess if I had asked for more help from people in our ward we would have gotten out of there sooner. Much thanks go to our next-door neighbors Stacey and Trent for getting us boxes, helping us load up the truck, and watching Gwen and Grace while we cleaned. You guys were a tremendous help and we are so very very greatful. Here are some moving pictures (1. Gwen sitting inside our entertainment center where the TV used to go after we packed it onto the moving truck; 2. Grace playing with one of many balloons that Stacey and Trent gave them; 3. Georgia rolling around and playing after all the furniture and boxes were out of our family room):

We checked around our little aparment to see if we missed anything, then said a last goodbye to Rexburg and we were off!!

My parents and brother and sister are all traveling with us and helping us with the move (definately needed help since we have three kids and a moving truck). The first place we went on this long journey east was a final visit to Yellowstone. It was fun driving through there. We saw a lot of Bison (which Gwen called an ubbalo instead of a buffalo) and a bunch of Elk but we were really disappointed that we didn't see anything more exciting like a moose, wolf or bear. Oh well. We hope to take the kids to a bunch of different places when they get older and Yellowstone is on that list so we'll come back someday. We stopped somewhere in Wyoming for the night and boy was it a long night. Grace didn't want to go to sleep, Georgia woke up in the middle of the night to eat (something she hasn't done since she was 2 months old) and Gwen woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and threw up the little bit of water I gave her. Needless to say by the time I got back to sleep I was really hoping for a better day when I woke up. Here are some pictures from Yellowstone:

Got right inside Yellowstone and Gwen decided that she couldn't hold it anymore so we had to stop and let her use our little potty with her new babydoll in tow.

The bison were the only animals we saw besides a few elk here and there that were too far off to take pictures of.




This bison passed right by our car...could have reached out the drivers side window and touched it.

Grace's 2 year checkup!!

Grace had her 2 year checkup on the 24th. She is 26 pounds and 35 1/2 inches long. I have not had the chance to weight and measure Gwen in comparison, but I hope to do that when we stop in Pittsburgh to visit our family. Her fever had finally broken (after 2 days of it being really high) and she was feeling much better. It was just a viral thing (not strep throat, which she was being treated for just in case) and we know that because Gwen came down with a fever the next day (the 25th) and just got over it, and Grace's nose started to run pretty bad. So, just a cold. She is doing really well though and is ahead developmentally. Weight wise she is average for her age and very tall for her age. All in all she's doing really well.

My husband is a Graduate!!

Robbie is finally done with school!! Hooray!! It's all so exciting. My parents flew in to Salt Lake on Tuesday drove our moving truck up to us, then went to Wyoming to visit my sister. Wednesday I had to take Grace to the doctor cause she had a high fever (103) and Robbie's parents came up. Thursday we spent the whole day finishing most of the packing in the house and packing up the truck before graduation. During all this we still found time to meet up with friends and spend some much appreciated time with them before we moved.

Finally graduation came around. We didn't get to see Robbie walk in to the commencement but we saw him and waved and he waved back. He looked so happy and handsome in his graduation gown. The commencement was about an hour long with multiple speakers and songs. The choir was the best part...they sang so beautifully, you could really feel the spirit.

After commencement was over we separated into different colleges (College of Physical Sciences and Engineering, College of Business, College of Family and Child Development, etc.) for the actual handing out of diplomas. They separated because there were almost 1500 graduates this semester which I guess is the most for the summer semester graduating classes ever. Of those only about 500 were married and of those 500 about 50 were couples graduating together. I was very pround of him and I know that he's glad that it is all over and done with. We went home after graduation to celebrate because my kids were screaming and my brother and sister couldn't get them to calm down. We spent a lot of the night packing for the trip, cleaning a bit, and packing up things we found here and there.

What a wonderful husband I have!! He did so much while in school so I could stay at home with the kids. He worked so hard and did so well in school and I am so proud of him. Congratulations Robbie!!

Moving!!

We are moving in less than a week!! How crazy is that? I only have a few more days to do everything that I want to before we leave. I've been trying to find time to make a few things before we go that will be beneficial for our trip: car seat strap covers (which I just have to sew together), neck pillows so the girls don't have problems sleeping in the car, and a wet bag which is pretty much fabric on the outside and vinyl on the inside so if one of the girls has a blowout or pukes everywhere (Gwen-plums and grapes baby food on the move out here) I have a bag I can stick them in without getting it everywhere!! My sister Melissa is visiting right now (hip hip hooray!! extra help!!) and she has volunteered to do the neck pillows and wet bag as long as I help her out. I am hoping to sit down and work on them on Monday.

I have been packing as much as possible too. The girls room is completly packed. All I have to do is pack their stuff in a suitcase for the trip, put their bedroom toys into their toy box for the move and dismantle their beds. Our room is done except for Robbie's stuff (which he still needs) and my computer. And our living room is done except for a few movies to take on the trip, the toy box, and a few small odds and ends that I have saved to fit into tiny spots. We are getting some paper plates, bowls, cups and silverware on Monday so I will be able to pack the kitchen as well. I am going to sit down tomorrow and make a list of things we need till we move and things we'll need on the trip.

Yesterday our ward had a big yard sale that we participated in. Missy and I sat outside from 7:45 until close to noon and did really well. The only bad part is I have lobster arms...I was in such a rush that I forgot to put sunscreen on. So now I can't wear a few of my shirts thanks to the awesome farmers tan I have...oh, and I have a tan line across one of my calves from wearing my capris instead of my shorts. So, again, shorts only in the house. When we go out, have to wear the capris.

Yesterday my Grandpa & Grandma Sessions and my cousin Amanda came up from St. George to see us one last time before we move. It was so great to see them!! We haven't seen them in a year so it was really nice to have that time to visit and for the girls to spend time with them again. They had never met Georgia, and since we couldn't go down there due to school and work and packing they decided to come up here to visit. Gwen was friendly and outgoing right off the bat (go figure) but Gracie had to warm up to them for a little while. Once she did though it was great. They loved playing with them and showing them their toys. When Gracie got her birthday card from them Gwen was upset that she didn't get something too, so my Grandpa gave her a dollar. He said it was the best dollar he ever spent because Gwen walked around singing "I got a dollar...I got a dollar...I got a dollar" over and over again for the longest time. She carried it with her when we went out to eat and when we went to get ice cream and continued to tell people "I got a dollar." First thing this morning too..."Where's my dollar? I got a dollar!" The girls were upset when they realized that my grandparents were not coming back over to the house. Gracie kept asking where grandpa and grandma were and has already asked me a few times this morning. Gwen too has been looking for them and keeps telling me that they are coming over and not going home. They both cried when I explained to them this morning that they were going home and not coming over again. They had so much fun with them and love them so much. They loved hanging out with Amanda too...Gwen had a blast taking pictures with her phone and both girls wanted to sit with her when she came over and not their Uncle Matt. Hopefully it will not be a long time before we can visit them again....thanks so much for coming to see us again!!

Last Sunday at church...packing a little bit every day...trying to find time for the girls to get together with their friends one last time...oh the joys of moving!! Thanks to all who have offered to help us out...we will be calling to take you up on those offers this week!!