Too many memories too capture, so we’ll take it day by day

I have no idea how I’ll ever be able to share all of the pictures or experiences we had on this once in a lifetime trip. Cole and I decided at the last minute to take a trip down the Oregon coast to celebrate our 20 year anniversary. With an anniversary in December and that being the busiest month at the hospital, I’ve never been allowed to request time off. We used to take a weekend trip or do something fun, but over the past 7-8 years, with travel ball and school events and all the other thousand things we were in charge of, we just quit celebrating. I was not gonna let that happen for this anniversary!  We saw a gap in the schedule and I rearranged a few days and it gave us a week to take off together and see the sights of a Bucket List Dream I’ve had for years. We left after work Tuesday and drove as far as week could. We detoured to the hot pots in Fillmore. We’ve never been there before and decided, why not? In the pitch black, we drove out to the middle of nowhere, following just the guidance of my google maps! Thankfully we could hear people talking out in the darkness, so we walked to their voices and saw them soaking in the warm water. It was cold outside and Cole teased that we should go back and go for a dip. Keep in mind it was already 8 Pm at this point with hours and hours to go! I kindly declined and we journeyed on...but we WILL go back! Haha!  We listened to the election chatter as we drove and were surprised how long we were able to keep going before fatigue set in. We stopped  for In-N-Out fries and shakes by Lagoon and drove clear to Snowville, just before Burley, before finally deciding it was time to call it a night. We ventured down a few dirt roads looking for the perfect spot, but ended up going back towards civilization and parking in an empty diner parking lot. The air mattress was already ready to go, so we awkwardly plopped ourselves inside the back and sleep came easily. Morning came early when the diesels started their engines and patrons pulled into the parking lot of our makeshift hotel. I climbed into the front seat and zipped over to the Flying J to potty while Cole stayed on the air mattress. We glanced through election results again and headed off to start our grand adventure! 

I don’t know how I’ll ever catch up, but I have to start somewhere

I’ve been trying to decide for months and months how to get off of Facebook. It has been the easiest way for me to document our family history, but I’ve grown so sick of all the other stuff that Facebook brings. A few days ago I came across my blog while I was looking for pictures for Kaitlin. It was so uplifting and so fun to read. It was different than my Facebook posts, and I decided I needed to start here again. 

It’s been so weird without Kaitlin. Having one child leave the nest really puts everything into perspective. I have been spending lots of time with Alli. The boys are in the middle of teenage hood and are busy with baseball and golf and dates and so Alli and I have just been on our own. After I picked her up from school the other day, we ran to Bahama Bucks, a new shaved ice place by our house. We enjoyed the ice, but had fun playing the games the most! A few days later I heard about the Kanab rodeo and on a whim, after I picked her up from school on Friday we decided to head to Kanab. We packed up my car, and took off on our adventure. After the rodeo, we found a spot to spend the night and crawled in the back of the car and snuggled in for a movie and some stars through the sunroof. We stayed in the church parking lot because it seemed the safest! I didn’t think we’d sleep good, but we sure did! Especially Alli, she slept so soundly! After the sunshine came, we woke to bells chiming Choose the Right! It was really cool. We found a gas station to potty and then got a yummy breakfast at the cutest western themed restaurant. It was YUMMY! We spent the next couple hours cruising around Kanab in “da Buster” and loved seeing the horses at Nest Friends. The leaves were turning colors and were absolutely beautiful! We left the sunroof down and explored Moqui Cave and just had a blast. It was simple, cheap and fun and a fun memory we’ll have forever!