Road Trip of All Road Trips...except we didn't start in CA....Day #1

So, yesterday, March 8th, (Topher & my Anniversary btw!!! :) ) was the first day of our (almost) across the country exodus to move ourselves and probably roughly 300 lbs. of our belongings, from Utah to South Carolina where our new house is waiting.

Our plan was to leave around 2 or 3 and drive the 6 hours to Cortez, CO and then see Mesa Verde that evening or the next morning.

HA! When will we ever learn. Like we would ever actually leave when we plan!! So, we left at 4:30. From Farmington. Then we made a stop in Kaysville. A stop in Bountiful. And a stop in Salt Lake. . . . And by 7:30 we were finally passing Provo! *sigh*

We aren't so good at time management ok! We see that now.

Some tid bits from yesterday that I want to be sure and write down before I forget them are these:

When leaving Topher's parent's house they asked us to stop by the High School in Kaysville to try and say 'bye' to toph's little sister. The drive to the H.S. from their house is maybe a whole 5 minutes, if that. As soon as we were down his folks driveway, Grace wanted her coloring book, (thank you dad and karen btw!!) about 45 seconds later she wanted her fruit snacks (thank you dad and karen again!). When we parked at the H.S. she had just finished her fruit snacks. She handed me her fruit snack wrapper and said "Oh! We here! South Carolina!"

Uh-oh! If she thought 5 minutes was how long it took to get to S.C. then this is going to be a long trip!!

Topher and I cracked up and couldn't stop chuckling about that for a while. Obviously we drastically overestimated Grace's understanding of where we are going and how long it will take to get there.

To further that notion, for the rest of the drive her responses to our suggestions or questions went something like this: Us, "Grace do you need to go potty yet?" Grace, "No. I go in South Cayoyina. (that's how it sounds when she says it)". Us, "Grace, are you hungry? Should we get some dinner for you?" Grace, "Dats ok. I'll eat my dinner when we get to South Cayoyina."

When we told her we were staying in Moab last night and not South Carolina, she started bawling that she wanted to go to South Carolina, not "Mobe!"

Anyway, we had a good drive yesterday and other than Grace's confusion andannoyance that we didn't make it all the way to South Carolina in 4 hours, I'd say we did pretty good.

Since we didn't take any pictures yesterday though, I don't have any to share. So, instead I will post one of Toph and I because it was our anniversary!!!

On our way out of town he took me to Nielsen's Frozen Custard. Now, this may not seem romantic to you guys, but Topher knows me well, because a Raspberry Pecan concrete is INDEED, the way to my heart. It made me so so happy and I decided I may miss Nielsen's Raspberry concretes more than any other tangible thing (outside of my own family of course).

I then told Topher, after lots of hugs and kisses thank you, that our goal in Charleston would be to find ice cream that was a fraction as delicious as Nielsens. We definitely have our work cut out for us, wouldn't you say?

In case Topher ever reads this, I want him to know that I love him so so much. 5 weeks without him was bearable, but probably about as unenjoyable as having brillo pads in place of toilet paper. I missed him so so much. He is my best friend, my biggest fan, my wall to bounce thoughts off, (even when they're stupid), the person that laughs at all my lame jokes, thinks i'm pretty with no makeup, reminds me to be kind when I'm not, and to stand up for myself when I don't. He is my everything and without him, every day life is just not as fun. My family can be wonderful, and they make life fun too, but at some point they get sick of me and Gracey incessantly hanging around ya know? And frankly, on a day after day basis without Topher, life just starts to suck after a while. So, Topher, thank you for coming back! I know grace and I are needy and exhausting and pester you to utter frustration sometimes, but thank you for coming back, and even acting like you missed us. :) Thank you for taking care of us and loving us even with all our quirks. Thank you for asking me out 5 years ago, and for being so "stuck on me". I'm glad you didn't give me the chance to go out with anyone else, when you knew it would just be a waste of my time. :) I'm glad that you put the moves on early to ensure you'd "keep" me (topher's words, not mine!). I am glad I am yours and no one else's forever and eternity. Thank you for "keeping" me and marrying me and blessing us with such a beautiful, spunky daughter. I hope we can have more..but maybe the other ones could be just like you this time. ;) I love you. Happy Anniversary my love.

Anyway. Thanks for checking in! We love you all!

Thank you so much for keeping tabs on us!

Just Because

Look at my adorable husband!!

But you have to admit, when you usually see pictures of men in military uniform, don't you agree that they are usually stern faced and serious looking? Don't you think it is all too fitting that for Topher he has a grin from ear to ear? I love it. It is so like him to be thrilled like a 5 yr. old that he gets to dress up as a Navy Officer. Only it's not dress up, so even better! He had to pay a pretty penny for his uniform and even had it specially tailored to him. I think he looks rather dashing.

I just wanted to post pictures of our house thus far. I think the exterior is done now! :) I couldn't be happier with how it looks!

Here is our backyard. See all that pretty fluffy looking green grass?? Yeah, they'll most likely get rid of all of it and replace it with 'landscaping' sod that is stiff and prickly and not soft to walk on at all. :( That's the way S.C. grass is: stiff, and prickly. *sigh*

But I am so excited about our house and about Topher! He is doing great at ODS and as I said before, he is enjoying himself in many ways.

He sent me these beautiful tulips on Valentines Day, what a sweetie!! I sent him a pkg. as well. I cut out tons of paper hearts and stuffed a flat rate envelope with them. I wrote love notes on them and made him a card. Well, as it turns out, any and all mail has to be 'inspected' by Topher's commanding officer. So, Topher's commanding officer had to inspect the hearts and make sure there was no candy in the pkg. When Topher stood up to leave some hearts fell out of the envelope, completely straight faced his Commanding Officer barked "Don't forget your hearts, sir."

LOL!!! I don't know why, but for some reason that REALLY cracks me up.

Anyway. We are doing all right. Grace still has 3 or so viruses fighting for top spot in little Grace's system. She has strep, a cough, a cold and a fever that just won't go away. She's had all of those for almost a week now!! Not fair!! This poor girl gets sick too easy already, its just sad how much this little girl has to take at once. And yet, do you think she is sad? Do you think she is pouting or whining about being sick? NO! Nothing keeps this little spitfire down. She is happy as ever and wouldn't believe you if you told her she was sick. Granted when she has coughing fits, she always looks at me and says very matter of factly "Mommy, its no fun to be sick". So, I guess she has an idea that there is something not right. But, she doesn't mind enough to slow down at all. :)

I'm so grateful for her strong, fighting spirit. This little girl is a trooper, and it amazes me, because she could easily be a wilting little flower that can't handle it...but she takes everything in stride and with a smile.

Thanks for checking in on us!

I miss my Hubby

I know that there are thousands of women whose husbands have been, will be or are deployed. Some of them more than once, and ranging anywhere from 6 months to 1 yr. or more.

But just because it is so, does not mean that Topher being gone for only 6 weeks is easy.

Gosh darnit I love that boy and even 11 days without him sucks!

I have so much more respect and admiration for women whose husbands leave for months at a time. You are all strong, amazing and courageous women!! Whether you are suceeding, progressing, failing or floundering in your husband's absence, it makes no difference to me...If you and your children are still alive and breathing, I see that as a huge success.

(Isn't he handsome??!)

Anyway, I am not falling apart or anything without Topher...it's just the little things that I miss and its just occasional moments during the day where I just really miss his companionship.

I suppose that's a good thing though, I could be grateful he's gone and be living it up without him I suppose. So I'll be grateful that our relationship is such that I miss him and am not thriving in his absence.

Thinking about him though, I wanted to post a couple pictures of him cuz I love him so darn much.

If you don't care, then don't look at them! If you aren't interested, then you shouldn't have read the blog when you saw it was titled "i miss my hubby"!!

This is MY blog and I'm using it as MY journal entries, so I will post whatever pictures and sappy phrases that I want.

So there. :)

Isn't he cute? This is our little nephew Moroni and I happen to be smitten with him. I also love how adorable Topher is with him. He is such a sweet and kind Uncle, I love watching him with his neices and nephews.

Real quick, I also wanted to just update people as to how Toph is doing out there in frozen Newport.

It sounds like the first week was pretty intense; waking up at 4:15a.m., doing P.T. exercises, having several classes a day, having routine room inspections, getting yelled at continuously, , taking midnight watches in full uniform, having to stand in the back of the classroom if you start falling asleep, being timed while eating, having drills and salutes mandatory to sitting and being able to eat, having to make the bed with a ruler, getting in trouble for doing things correctly if he was one of the few who did so...

Now that he is 2 weeks in it sounds like he is actually enjoying himself in a strange boyish way. He marches everyday and does drills and salutes, listens to Naval History lectures from very dedicated Chiefs and Officers of the Navy and tonight he even got to go out to dinner at the Officer's Club, (a club for Officers ONLY). So he is somewhat enjoying himself, but he is very grateful its only for 6 weeks and not 13 like the guys in Officer Candidate School.

A funny story from his second week, they were having room inspections one day, so their rooms needed to be in tip top shape. They also had to have paperwork filled out for the room inspection to be done and this needed to be placed neatly on their desks. Well, Topher had everything done, filled out and ready for room inspection, but because out of the 51 men in his division only 6 of them did everything right, (including him), HE GOT IN TROUBLE!! I guess that if 6 of them fail, they're all supposed to fail, together as a team! So he got in trouble, for doing it RIGHT! To me, this seems ridiculous, and so unfair. But Topher said that the drill they put his whole division through because of the "failed" room inspection drill, was "kinda fun!". Silly boy. The commanding chiefs THRASHED his room for doing his room inspection properly. They overturned tables, beds, chairs, put his mattress on top of his closet, I mean seriously trashed his room. Then his whole division had to set up a mock room in a large hall, mess it up and then prepare it perfectly for a "inspection", when they didn't perfectly situate a chair, they had to then change into p.t. clothes and do it all over again...I don't see how any of that can in anyway be considered fun, but Topher swears that is was actually sort of entertaining. Such a boy.

So, as much as I would hate it, I guess it's a guy thing. Because he seems to actually be enjoying himself to some extent. Sure he misses us, but I think he is secretly enjoying himself too.

What's especially funny about all the stories he's told me is this: As I said, If I were in his shoes, I would be miserable. I would be hating life. Really. I would. But, I was reading emails from him to his Dad and writing about them to his little brother, and whaddya know? THEY WERE JEALOUS!!! They both thought it sounded like great fun, in fact, I think Toph's Dad's words were something like this "that is so cool! it's like he gets to play Army all day long!"

Anyway, we miss our Topher very much and are looking forward to see him in 25 more days.

Month of Change

Aside from March 2008 when Grace was born, February 2011 is turning out to be the most overwhelming month since the beginning of our mini Andersen family. On January 30 Topher left the Salt Lake Airport at 1 a.m. bound for Rhode Island for his 5 week training at ODS (officer development school). He was to be there for 5 weeks, come home, be with me for a week, say goodbye to his family and friends, help us pack up and move out and then March 15th we would be in Charleston, SC closing on our new house.
That was the plan on January 30th.
Now, not even a week later, Topher isn't coming home anymore. He is flying straight to Charleston to close on our house earlier than anticipated and be there for the final walk through and signing.
I am moving without him now. He no longer gets to say goodbye to our house, our ward, our friends, his family, UTAH in general...
We are probably going to have the Navy just move us nowrather than doing it ourselves, and I'm just a little flustered.

Flustering aside...the end of January was also really neat. Topher got commissioned as an Officer in the Navy. He is now officially Ensign Christopher Andersen, (pronounced Enzin btw).

Yes, I did indeed notice Grace's hand is down her pants...it's lovely don't you think? I've raised such a charming little lady.

Topher also received his Diploma right before he left, so he is now a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering.

These were both such neat things and I am so grateful I was able to be a part of Topher's life for both those awesome occasions. I am so impressed by him, and you can say you hate the word "proud" but DARNIT I am PROUD OF MY HUSBAND!! He has worked hard, and I think he is so amazing. I'm so grateful to be married to him.

Before he left I also threw him a "Birthday Day". His birthday is actually on the 3rd, so our party was a bit early, but since we can't talk or be together or anything I wanted him to have a Birthday before he left. I woke up early, made him his favorite breakfast, set him up on the couch with his baby and a movie, later made him a yummy lunch, and his favorite dinner and a peanut butter ice cream pie. I figured he needed to fill up on my cooking before he was stuck with military food for 5 weeks. They're not allowed to have ANY SNACKS or food of any kind in their room, AND "there will be no desserts of any kind for the first 4 weeks"-as quoted from the manual. :) hahah!
We also went out to dinner with his familiy for his and his little sister's joint Birthday celebration, and I am so so glad we did that now since he won't be back to say official goodbyes.
Here is a picture of the progress on our house in Goose Creek, S.C.

Anyway. I am excited and nervous for this upcoming change in our lives. We will be in Charleston, SC as of March 11th and in our new house, and I couldn't be more mixed with my emotions.
Change, here we come!

Funny Story

I know, I know. It's been a while. A long while. Sorry.

We've been pretty busy.

I dunno. Stuff like TOPHER GRADUATING!!! and us BUYING A HOUSE IN SOUTH CAROLINA!!! seem to take up a lot of time and effort....but. ya know. No biggie. ;)

It's been a pretty busy couple of months though. So. My apologies for the long gap in writing.

Sadly, today isn't really going to be the day I update on our everyday happenings...

however, I have a really funny story to share.

Topher and I have been christmas shopping online the past couple of days and so Grace occasionally looks at the laptop and SEES our purchases or what we've been looking at. Well, for Christmas this year, Grace's big Christmas present is a play Kitchen. SHHHHH!!! DON'T TELL!!

Anyway, she happened to see some of the kitchens we had been looking at.

Her immediate response, "Mommy! Daddy!! I want that kitchen!!!"

Us-"I dunno Gracey. Have you been a good girl? Because Santa only brings kitchens to good girls."

Grace- "Yeah! I been a good girl!"

Us-"Oh, well that's good. But, did you write him a letter telling him you wanted a kitchen?"

Grace-"....oh. no. I didn't....I write him RIGHT NOW!"

Grace proceeds to go to the table grab a pen and a receipt and start scribbling on it, 4.5 seconds into it she lets out a big grunt and drops the pen in exasperation. "Ugh!...I just call him"

Picks up my phone. "Santa? Hello? I want a kitsen for kissmas. Ok. bye!.....Mommy! I did it!"

Me and Topher- mouth open in shock and laughing hysterically quickly stop laughing and say seriously "well, that's good grace. Very to the point."

Grace- "Daddy, I forgot to tell santa. What YOU want for kissmas?"

Topher responds and she immediately makes another call.

Seriously.

This girl cracks. me. up. so bad. She is hysterically funny.

Love her to pieces.

Also. In case you haven't seen Despicable Me. You should. We love it. Grace does too. She had only seen it once in the theater MONTHS ago, and then topher bought it a couple nights ago. At the end of the movie, Vector (bad guy) gets stuck on the moon. We are watching the movie and Grace says "he gonna say 'oh poop' now". Three seconds pass. Vector says "oh poop." Grace says "see!".

What? the? Heck? My daughter is psychic.

Oh, and now she runs around the house saying "He's so fluffy i'm gonna die!!" (Also from the movie)

Well. That's the end of my stories for today. Thanks for reading!

September Preview

I'm going to post more in detail in a day or so of our September happenings...but in the meantime..I just thought I'd put up a quick preview of our latest activites/adventures. :)
We went to the Fair with Ellie and Rachel and their mommies.

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Gracey got to meet her new nephew.

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Gracey and I went to California with my sisters and her cousins. Spent a day at the Wild Animal Park, Sea World and the Beach.

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So that was the past month or so...stay tuned for the stories that go along with the pictures. :)
Thanks for checking in!

No Rejection. And some Memories.

After 10 hours away from home, we were able to leave the hospital with a little Gracey in tow. The biopsy went well. They didn't have to balloon or stent open her aortic arch. The pressures have gotten a bit higher, but her function is still great. So, it will still hopefully be another couple of years before they have to do any corrective work on that front.

Recovery was pretty tough. We all know how energetic and stubborn Grace is, and they wanted her to actually lie down, flat for SIX hours. Can we say CRAZY!?? But by some miracle...we were able to do it. Yes, we. It was a team effort to keep her down.

Topher actually had to leave for school around 7:15, and Grace went in at 7:30, so I was alone for most of the day. When she came out at 10:00, Topher came back for about 30 minutes inbetween his classes to see her, and then it was just me again until about 2:00. We took a nap, watched t.v., told stories...and then there was of course a few moments where we had to fight and argue because she did not want to hold still and she did not want to lie flat, and she especially did not want to be told 'No' a hundred times to all her requests. But somehow, we made it through.

After some throwing up, lots of good vitals, prayers and patience, we made it and were able to head home around 3:00. She has been pretty drowsy and out of it. Sadly though, no silly drunken Grace has emerged like last year to entertain us. Bummer! :)

I do however have some funny phrases from the day:

At 5:30 a.m. this morning, driving to the hospital...

"Mommy, where we going?"

Mommy says, "To the Doctor"

Gracey- "Have my biopee. I not scared."

cue my jaw dropping. Did my 2 yr. old seriously just say biopsy???! I never taught her that word!! Talk about a good listener.

When they gave her an oximeter on her thumb to measure her oxygen levels...they told her they gave her a pretty red light...

"Mommy, who gave me dat?"- pointing to the red light

"Your nurse Tammy did."

"Oh. Dank you Tammy."

After throwing up from drinking too much juice, begging for more, and my saying we need to wait a couple minutes...

"We need to give your tummy a chance to rest sweetie"

"But momma, I want my juice so bad. I won't frow up. Pomise. I not be sick."

After doing her third time throwing up...she flashes me a HUGE smile...

"Mommy! I all done! Feel bettuh now! All done!"

After she woke up from her nap...

"Mommy! Had my biopee! All done now! Cap for me! "(cue her clapping with an exuberant smile on her face.)

When Topher came back from being at school..."Daddy! You back! Good job daddy! Oh, you have your lunch?! You no forget? Good job Daddy!" (cue clapping again)

At home, giving her a meager diet of food, to transition her tummy...Topher hands her 1/3 of a banana...Grace eyes it with raised eye brows, then says very skeptically...

"Dad...is that my dinner??"

"Yup"

"ok". and runs off to play happily.

What a stinking cute.I love her to pieces.

Some other things that crossed my mind today were just memories of where we've been and how far we've come. I had quite a bit of time on my hands during her biopsy, and I decided to use it up by wandering the hospital aimlessly. My wanderings took me to the 4th floor where the Newborn Intensive Care Unit is located. I couldn't stop the tears from coming as I walked down the hall, truly realizing just how far we have come as a little family, as individuals, and especially how far my little Grace has come. It was only 2 years ago that I thought the whole thing would never end and that I thought a solution would never exist that would give us happiness and fulfillment with our baby. I remembered all the feelings of hopelessness, but then remembered how each of those moments of feeling helpless were tempered with the kind mercy of Heavenly Father. He truly watched over us and kept us under his wing through that first 5 months of her life, and past that as well. To this day, I still can't actually believe that we made it through what we did. People I barely know will stop and tell us how amazed they are at us, but I always feel so ridiculous and undeserving. I didn't do any of it on my own. Everything was done with Heavenly Father holding my hand, pushing or pulling me, and sometimes carrying me completely.Topher and I would have melted in a heaping ball of tears if we had done it on our own. We would have given up. More so, not only would we have not made it through, but we would never have grown in any way.

I am truly amazed at Heavenly Father. At the love he has for us. At his endless mercy. At his infinite knowledge of our nature and capacity to endure and potential to grow.I am so grateful that he loves me so much, and that he has never deserted me. I'm so grateful he has stayed with me through thick and thin. He was with us in every room, and floor of the hospital, through every surgery, biopsy, cath lab, echo, blood draw, ng placement, long night of feeds or fussiness. He has never left us. And I am truly humbled and amazed that anyone could love me that much.

I apologize this post has turned into a mouthful of testimony. But I am overwhelmed at the moment at how blessed my little family truly is.

All of this is what I came to a realization of today while wandering through the hospital waiting to see my baby's sweet face again.

Once again we were blessed with perfect results. The hospital called and Grace has no rejection. None whatsoever. She could not be healthier.

Now, medicine and science say that that will not last forever. She can't live on this one borrowed heart forever. But my faith in God's love for me says that Grace will be just fine. She will continue to grow and flourish, to smile and love and to pout and sass. No matter what we have to face in the coming years, she will be o.k. because our Heavenly Father loves us.

Im grateful for my family and little girl that is so beautiful and sweet, and such a miracle. And Im grateful for the reminder. I needed it. Makes me wish biopsies were more than once a year. ;) Or......

maybe not. :)

z

Biopsy Day 2010

Hello all. It is that time of year again. No, not for the beautiful fall weather, but for Gracey's annual heart biopsy. We woke up at five, got to Primary's at six, and grace just went back with the team at 7:30.
She did not go back happily either. In fact, she was crying, bawling, and begging me to not leave. It broke my heart, but i waited to start crying until she couldn't see me anymore.
I think that is some thing that is so unfair and hard. Acting strong for her so she is less frightened, when really I am shaking in my boots and want to cry for my mommy as well.
I sure hope it helps her a little to see a smile on my face instead of tears.
Anyway. The whole biopsy will probably take about 3hrs. There is the potential of her aorta condition having worsened, in which case they would need to place a balloon or stent, and then the procedure would take longer.
Afterwards, she'll go into recovery, hopefully wake up happy and then we'll also need to do an Echo and a visit with Dr. Norlin.
So. Prayers would be very much welcomed today.
Thanks so much for your concern for us, and for little Graces well being.
We love you all,
Alysia & Topher
And of course Gracey

Funny Things of Lately

A couple of days ago, I played piano at the Conference Center. I remember that when I left, I had my purse, a bag of piano music and my sunglasses.

The next day, Grace was in the process of putting her Daddy to sleep (really this means Topher was laying HER down for a nap...but Grace is usually way more successful in her attempts to lull daddy to sleep) when I walked into her room. She quickly lay back down, sure I was about to reprimand her for putting Daddy to sleep again while mischievously waiting to crawl out of bed and cause havoc...but alas, I was tired, so I just sat down next to an almost asleep Topher and snuggled. Grace, seeing this was very relieved and excited at the implication she could get up and play. So, she hopped out of bed, went to her little purse, slung it over her shoulder, grabbed her sunglasses, put them on, and informed us "Ok, I go buh bye now. I go pay pano. I come home see you later. Love you. Bye." And proceeded to walk out of her room. Topher and I had our mouths gaping open in pure astonishment of how grown up and adorable she sounded. It was so so cute. About 45 seconds later, she reappeared in her room. "I come home see you! You miss me?! Daddy, you good girl, I bring you treat." - at this point she reached into her purse and pulled out 1 piece of popcorn from our movie earlier that day. She handed it to Topher and again told him he was a good girl, so she brought him a treat. Then, "Mommy, you a good girl?" Me: "I think so". Gracey: "I bring you treat too mommy" - and pulls out another piece of popcorn.

How cute is that?!!!

Then today, we went to a Ward function...my 2nd ward function of 3 1/2 yrs. of being in the Ward...I know I'm not so great at them. Anyway, I was by myself with Grace and felt pretty awkward and like a loser, as I usually do at Ward functions and I was basically just really grateful I had Gracey to be my security blanket. We were sitting outside the church on the grass by ourselves, my feeling totally vulnerable, and Grace hops off my lap and says she will see me later, she wants to go play. What?! No! You stay with me!! So, I gave her my best pouty lip and said please don't go! I will miss you!! She looked at me very seriously and said "Mommy, its ok. I come back soon. I miss you too. It's ok." She then kissed my cheek, hugged me, and ran off.

This evening, we were feeding her dinner and Topher was struggling getting her to take the last few bites. She put her hand on her tummy and said, with a pouty lip, "My tummy hurts. Cant eat it. My tummy owie. I need a doctor. Check my heart. Check my tummy. I need my medicine. Take me to Doctor." This was all on her own!! No encouragement or anything!! Seriously?! Wow. It was hilarious.

Pretty much, Grace is just getting more and more personality by the day. She is so happy and loves life so so much. She loves her cousins and her best friend Emma and just loves to play and be with those she loves...which is about everyone she knows. :) She is just so happy and full of joy and I love being her mommy so much right now. :) She is a cutie and we love her and I just had to share these cute little moments from our past few days. :)

Thanks for checking in!

Love the Andersens

Summer Vacation

Topher's Spring Semester of school ended the first week of May. But, his Summer Semester started exactly one week later. So, we decided we really needed to take advantage of our one week of Summer and try to do some fun things. My dad was sweet enough to invite us to Capitol Reef with 2 of my other siblings, and generous enough to extend the invitation for free lodging as well. :) He worked out a great deal on a fabulous cabin in Grover, Utah. (Really hopping place...lemme tell you. I think the population MIGHT be 25) The cabin had a huge kitchen, bathrooms for the couples, a large living area, a fire pit, and a gorgeous view of a small lake and picturesque farming valley. It was breathtaking at sunrise.We headed down there late on Thursday night. My Dad, sister & I all caravanned down, arriving somewhere around 10 or 11. After a couple rounds of Password, played half asleep, we finally hit the sack.

We woke up the next morning, had a tasty breakfast and headed into the park.

Of course, pictures by the sign are mandatory.

After our photo-op we went to the visitor center where we sat forever because my Dad needed a 'quick' potty break. Yeah, right. ;) It's obviously not quick, if every other person waiting for you says you took forever Daddy. :)

While waiting in the Visitor Center Topher and I traded off caring for, (which means chasing after) our kicking, screaming & biting daughter. She would NOT hold still or let us hold her. She wanted to get down and run amok! She wanted to pull all the books off the shelves, take as many treats as possible from the register counter and shove them under her arms, stand on the kids table and jump until tipping, run around and into people's legs, and throw her head back and scream at the top of her lungs each time we picked her up. Yes, it was a joy. Which is why she eventually ended up outside on my lap, trying to eat dirt.

After we finally left the Visitor Center we headed down the street to a cute little country homestead that they have turned into a mini museum/pie pantry. We got some home made berry pie (thanks daddy!) and ate our lunches. Yes, you heard that right, lunches. We spent most of the morning doing nothing but deciding what to do. :)

After this, we headed to a small overlook of the inner valley. We went and climbed rocks, played hide and seek and learned from my Dad that, "you can't run all over. and you can't get so close to the edge of that cliff. if you fall off, you'll be dead". One doesn't often hear such loving words from a parent. Rachel then proceeded to inform me and Topher that she can't fall off any rocks, because then she'd be dead. *chuckle*.

We spent the good part of the next couple hours just going to various overlooks or viewpoints, taking little 1/10 of a mile "hikes".

Eventually we met up with Joey, Dacia & Ellie Belly to do the Great Wash hike.

This one was actually a few miles and had a bit more scenery. It was such a neat walk/hike! It went right in between two canyon walls and was just a lot of fun. The walls were fairly steep and some were a very pretty red rock. There were some wild flowers, various fun little caves and some awesome echo canyons. I have never in my life heard echoes as cool as the ones we made in that canyon. So fun!! You could actually hear your entire sentence repeated back to you a couple seconds after you initially shouted it out.

We took our time in the canyon, letting the kids explore all the little caves, taking pictures of all the wildflowers and shouting at various canyon walls.

After the hike, Topher and I went and had a very pricey outing to the town's ONE and only grocery store (so overpriced!!!) and headed back to the lodge to make dinner.

We had a great night eating dinner, building a fire, roasting marshmallows, and later Topher even did some stargazing and told the older boys some campfire stories.

I don't think I had ever really enjoyed campfires until I met Topher. I used to really not like the smell or the smoke, or even the heat. It was all just a little much. But, for some reason when I'm with Topher a fire is so much fun. I love the way it smells and love being with him. I even wanted to sleep in his sweatshirt for the next couple days after the fire just because of the way it smelled!

Anyway, the next morning we left around 11 to make it back in time for Toph's little sister Anni's STATE track meet! She is extremely talented in Track, esp. the 800 meter and we were determined to be back to support her in her race. We made it with plenty of time to walk around and take in the atmosphere and energy and then watched Anni run and do a great job! She got a new personal record, way to go Anni!! And we were really happy we got to be there for her. :)

So. That was our weekend vacation of fun before school and I'm so glad we got to do it! We really want to go back to capitol Reef again sometime this Summer. Maybe in the Fall? Supposedly they have some pretty awesome orchard picking going on in the Fall and I think that would be a lot of fun. Any takers? :)

Thanks for reading our latest adventure! I'll try to be better at updating! But in the meantime, thanks for checking in!!

Love the Andersens