IDAHO!
In to the second week of our trip. On Friday, June 27th we started making our way from California to Idaho. On the way out we stopped by Summer and Philippe's to drop off the excess groceries we all purchased for the beach house and to say bye. We left Vista at 11:30 CA time. We got slowed down a few hours by the mass exodus of Californians to Vegas for the weekend. It was totally annoying. Without getting off the freeway in Vegas we were in Las Vegas for over an hour. We were hoping to make it to Provo so we could stay free at the Landons' and fortunately we made it there at 11:30 Utah time.
The dog, Crash barked at us for a few hours which was pretty annoying. We got acquainted with the cat Xena who is awesome. Jean and Ross were on an anniversary trip and were extra kind enough to let us crash so we could handle the final 4 hours of the trip to Idaho. Xena is a cat they rescued. She is seriously one of the most beautiful cats I have ever seen and she is a bit schizophrenic. For our less than 12 hours there she would race Jared up the stairs to bat at him through the rails. She "attacked" his feet and overall entertained me. She also gave me a bear hug around one leg. Kindly she left her claws in for this.
We left Utah by 9 AM our time, 10 AM local time. Because of this we managed to be in 5 different states in less than 24 hours: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and then Idaho. Jared and I were shocked at how beautiful Cache Valley and Southern Idaho are. It was so green which I guess is unusual but they had had a rainy June. Sometimes we forget that we really are city people and it is fun to fantasize about buying a ranch up there. On the way home we drove through Garfield County in Southern Utah and I would so give up city life to live there and just enjoy God's creations. (But then we made it back to Phoenix, and I woke up realizing how much I love this town.)
Carey and I were texting our progress back and forth. Apparently the family was anxiously awaiting our arrivals. It was awesome to see all of my sisters and most of their families. I got to meet Will and Greg Stalcup for the first time and maybe Isaac Stewart. (I don't remember if he or Gideon was a baby the time the Stewarts stayed with the Baileys in Gilbert.)Until Wednesday we had 28 people staying in the same house. Todd had to get back to work so the number dropped to 27 for the remainder of our stay. I was grateful I had done all of my family's laundry at the beach house in California because if I hadn't my family would have been naked or wearing dirty clothes for the majority of the week.
A side note: If I got any of the time-line or groups wrong please let me know in the comments!
The kids enjoyed vacation bathing standards as we didn't want to hog too much of the bathrooms. I thought we all did an excellent job of sharing space, 3 bathrooms, 1 kitchen, and 6 bedrooms. My boys really enjoyed the slumber party family room where the majority of the kids slept. I enjoyed hearing stories from both my mom and dad as I helped wrangle kids for bed time. All of the kids enjoyed hearing naughty stories and I never tire of hearing how my dad tried to outrun my grandpa when he was in trouble. (Mom and Dad, you both need to start blogging your childhood remembrances and your remembrances of our childhoods regularly!) I also enjoyed my dad's singing of "Angel Lullaby" and I can't remember the hymns my mom sang but I loved them. I remember it is a hymn that shares a title with a more commonly sung hymn and I was surprised when she started singing since I expected the other song to come out. I love that my mom played the accordion growing up and even played on TV once.
My boys also enjoyed eating outside with all of the kids away from Jared's and my watchful eyes. Dinner was always excellent. The chicken, beans and rice we had on Thursday night was awesome. Reid's Dairy in Idaho Falls has awesome ice cream and great grilled cheese sandwiches.
I loved going to church at my parents' home ward. My mother gave an awesome Sunday School lesson. Getting so many kids to the proper Primary classes was fun for Jared and I. Unfortunately Kes was sick and the Primary leaders separated Gid and Maxwell. Gid, Maxwell, Bryn, and Noah were the only ones who didn't have cousins with them in their classes.
Their ward has a weird policy though that I didn't find out about until after. I was sitting during the actual Sacrament trying to figure out why so many parents with crying babies weren't taking their babies out until after Sacrament was finished. It didn't bother me, it was just unusual. At least one of my sisters did get up and leave with their distraught child and I learned the reason why no one else leaves. Their ward does not take Sacrament to those out in the halls so one of my sisters only got the bread. I am sure they have some logic to it, but I think if you do something like that you should put it in neon lights above the Sacrament table or something to inform the visitors and new people something like "If your baby cries or screams stay seated until after the Sacrament. It will be okay." When I had toddlers and babes I was in a ward where everyone was judging you and staring at you if your kids made a quiet peep never mind actual tears.
The best part of Idaho was being with my family. I am so lucky to have 4 wonderful sisters and 2 wonderful parents and so many great nieces and nephews and brothers-in-law. And not that I have any say, but, Alyssa when you get married you need to get married in Idaho, Utah, or last choice Arizona (it would work great for Carey and I, not so much for anybody else, but we would let everyone stay with us, which gives us 4 bathrooms and 8 bedrooms) so most of us can be there.
My main activity in Idaho was going to Walgreens. Jared had a cold or allergies or something and I had to pick up my prescription. I went there 4 times I believe. Other activities included going to the temple grounds for family pictures, going to Reid's Dairy, going to Yellowstone Bear World, going to a splash park in Rexburg, going to the swimming pool, and walking along the Idaho Falls greenbelt.
On Saturday we ate pizza. Just so everyone knows, if you want Jared to visit offer him pizza before he comes and feed him pizza as much as possible while he is there. Jared is a pizza fiend. I felt bad for Todd who is rocking his diet (already lost 30+ lbs and looking quite svelte) and could not partake of any pizza. I rode with my mom, Noah, Kes, and Max to pick up the pizza from Papa Murphy's.
On Sunday we celebrated Jared's birth, life thus far, and future life by eating brownie sundaes. My mom buys the best candles.
On Monday we separated into groups. The men and most of the older children went shooting and the ladies and the younger children went to a splash park in Rexburg. Elijah, my dad, Brynja, Jensen, and Spencer were lucky enough to do both. My dad called us on the way out the door to let us know he would meet us there. Carey told us to get the swimsuits for that group of kids and somehow forgot Jennie's in the rush. Luckily Elijah was wearing basketball shorts so we lent Jen his swim trunks which were way more comfortable than the jean shorts she was wearing. I had to stay in the shade because of the major sunburn I was rocking so I happily helped tend to the babies, Greg and Lucy. The splash park was mostly uneventful except that we lost Isaac. Isaac had a pattern he was following and my dad was watching him. Isaac flitted out of the pattern so it was a bit stressful looking for him. I remembered Cameron talking about how sometimes he runs off to the bathroom in public places so I thought to look there. I found him in the boys' bathroom and helped him get redressed. I was much relieved to have found him safe and sound.
Monday evening we headed to the temple grounds for family pictures. Grandma and Grandpa bribed the grandkids with a trip to Reid's Dairy afterwards. The ice cream and waffle cones were awesome and we had fun checking the animals out at the farm. We saw roosters and chickens up in trees which I was sure to take many pictures of. Overall, it was a wonderful day. I agree with Tom though about the wearing white making you look fat. The white looks good and I am sure if I was skinny the white would look great on me.
Tuesday Jared, Dad, Jonah, Noah, and Elijah went to play Frisbee Golf or Disc Golf. Jacob and Todd went to Pocatello to get the tires changed on the van, and the rest of us took care of the kiddies at home. Cameron did a super fun story time which ended in a dance party. Some of the highlights from story time include Felicity standing up next to her mom also holding a book, Greg sitting attentively on my lap listening to the stories, Isaac sitting on my lap listening to the stories and Aunt Alyssa reading the super long dragon book with several of the kids clambering over each other and her to get a better view. Dance party is always a high light and we enjoyed watching each other's "moves".
My mom had gone and purchased a sprinkler and splash balls for the kids and when she returned we got the kids ready to play in the backyard. After listening to much whining and crying about the splash balls, I stopped the game. No parties were innocent. The whining went something like this, "So and so splashed me." and me responding with, "You splashed them. If you don't want to play with the splash balls and you aren't getting anybody then nobody will get you." After awhile my patience ran out and I took the splash balls away. I think games like that really require men around to keep the kids from being sissy whine babies. During the remaining water play Ashlee, Greg, and I set up shop in a shady spot of the lawn monitoring the kids.
Wednesday, the Baileys divided off for a family day, Alyssa went to work, my mom went in for an emergency root canal procedure, and the rest of us went to Yellowstone Bear World. Jared and I drove Kes, Steve, and Greg in our car and everyone else was divided among the rental Expedition and Cameron's van. Once we made it to the park we gave a crying Greg back to Ashlee so we had Kes and Steve only. We had a lot of fun in our car and Steve is only a lot bit mischievous. Steve's back was killing him and he needed an appointment some time next week. I would share some of the other naughtiness that took place in our car but I don't want to give my mom a heart attack. We all made it out of Bear World alive (barely). Thanks Mom and Dad for funding the adventure. During the trek, my camera and camcorder batteries died so there is little documentation. We did get to feed the bears and elk and stuff which was a lot of fun. I even got a few of the bears to beg despite the annoying group of people with us that refused to follow the directions from the guide. Seriously, they were a super annoying family swifting our food after they over-tossed their own.
Thursday is a day I wish I could block from my memory aside from the happy ending part. Mom still needed to recuperate (oddly enough) from her root canal and Alyssa had to work once again so the rest of us went swimming at the local indoor pool. Jacob stayed home with a napping Lucy. The pool made me nervous from the beginning since the lifeguards weren't very attentive and there were only 2 watching a super large pool that was full of people. Because of this I was working at keeping a good eye on my kids and as many of the nieces and nephews as possible. Jared and some of the kids had been at the diving boards and I would glance over there occasionally. I saw Elijah fall off the high dive from the top of the ladder onto the cement. I saw a man try to stop Elijah's fall but I didn't know who it was or how successful they were. I don't think I have ever screamed so loud. Most of my sisters also saw this happen. I was freaking out (understatement) and couldn't understand why there was what seemed to be no response from the lifeguards. There were some curse words aimed at the staff there and a lot of anger from me. It turned out my dad had just finished swimming laps and had decided to go over to the high dive. Because of that (which I credit Heavenly Father with) my dad was there and able to drastically slow down Elijah's fall so his head only hit the cement a little bit and he came out of it with no broken bones or serious injury, just a lot of really bad bruises and a few scratches. Poor Jared had to watch the whole thing helplessly from about 8 ft away. He had been standing in line at the low dive. The only other time I remember being that angry (as I was with the pool staff) was with the idiot nurse from Jared's initial stay at the hospital post motorcycle accident. The pools were never cleared and the lifeguards seemed completely untrained in how to handle any sort of incident. We are all blessed that Elijah wasn't seriously injured (as he should have been) because of their lack of response. Basically the situation left me a lot nervous to ever take my kids swimming again.
Thursday night Mom and Dad manned the kiddos so Carey, Ashlee, Steve, Cameron, Alyssa, Jared and I could go out to raise a little ruckus in Idaho Falls. We tried to find some cows to tip but ultimately failed. We headed again to Reid's Dairy. It was too cold to eat the ice cream outside so we all piled in to the rented Expedition. I thought it would be neat to drive around the temple at night so I asked Steve to meaning we could park over there and all enjoy our ice creams. I guess I wasn't clear enough and poor Steve didn't catch the purpose of us parking over there so when I asked if we could drive around the falls after we were parked for a bit he about died with wanting to eat his treat as well. We all had a good laugh and then he finally was able to eat his treat. We went down by the river and walked along the greenbelt. The river was super high and super rapid which left Steve, Ashlee, Jared, and I all deciding not to take the kids by there before leaving town on Friday. On the drive home I took a picture and the flash about gave Steve a heart attack thinking he had gotten a ticket since in Ohio they have traffic cams just like us in AZ.
Friday was spent packing up. Jared, Grandpa, Elijah and I don't know who else went for a super early morning round of Disc Golf. We made sure Elijah and Xander had a chance to play catch with Grandpa before leaving town. I was sure to get cousin pictures in age groups. And then we headed off to Salt Lake.
I am so grateful my parents and Alyssa opened up their house to all of us so we could have such an awesome reunion. Thank-you to my mom especially for the cleaning, shopping, and preparation that only a mom would realize needed to be done. The food was great and Idaho is beautiful. We look forward to many more visits in the years to come.
