When Mom leaves town.....

(This is Rachel) So Mom left to go to Utah with Lauren and left the rest of us here at home for 9 whole days. We are still alive, but I just thought I would show everyone what we have really been up to......

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Mom's not here to tell us to be reasonable in our TV hours and so we have spent lots of time watching TV including Dad's favorite movie- The Princess Bride.

And when I don't feel like making another meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner consist of cookies, cupcakes, candy, cereal and any other unhealthy food you can think of. Dessert for every meal!

Mom's not here to tell us to not be weird or do crazy things, so.......why not drink straight from the milk carton?

And if Megan can do that, then why can't I eat watermelon straight out of the watermelon.

And who is going to stop me from playing with my food?

We have also done massive amounts of redecorating the house which included many trips to Goodwill with old furniture to make room for all the new furniture.... :)

Mom is the one who tells us not to be weird, but Megan and I don't usually listen anyways. So this is what happened while we made Sunday night dinner.....

***Disclaimer: In reality, I am totally kidding. We did watch The Princess Bride but haven't spent too much time watching TV. We have eaten lots of fruits and veggies and real food (not just junk food) and are trying to not eat/make too many cookies. Megan did not actually drink out of the milk jug, but I DID eat the entire half of the watermelon straight out of the rind and I loved it (best way to spend your last day of summer by the way). I always play with my food and make smiley faces, so that is nothing new. Moving out Lauren's bed was the only piece of furniture that has been donated to Goodwill because we are rearranging Lauren's room and nothing else. And Megan and I.....there's no hope for us to not be weird. So whether Mom was home for that or not, it still would have happened.

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We miss Mom lots and can't wait for her to get home!!!!

BYU Here I Come!

My last chemo treatment was July 26th. I had a PET/CT scan last Wednesday that came back clear, which means I'm still cancer free!!! My biopsy on Monday showed no signs of rejection which means I don't have to even get labs drawn for two months!!!! So far, I have a healthy school year ahead of me!

There's only two nights left of me sleeping in my bed at home. Literally. Mom is planning on getting rid of the mattress once I leave because it's getting pretty old. I have two packed suitcases in my room, a duffel and one more suitcase awaiting last-minute items, and only two days in which to finish it all. A little crazy, but I'm SO excited!!

Coming to the end...

Somehow we survived and made it to week 3 of our trip and we had lots of fun!!! By the way, this is Rachel. We went and visited Dad's parents a lot and I think this picture of Dad and Grandma is really cute!

Nathan got to go to JIMMER CAMP!!!!! So basically, Nathan was taught how to Jimmer. We all thought it was really cool and one of the main highlights of the trip for Nathan was getting a high-five from Jimmer Fredette.

Megan would've gone to Jimmer Camp as well, except that she and I were at EFY all week. So one day she decided to miss a couple hours of EFY to go watch Nathan at Jimmer Camp so that she could see Jimmer. Funny story becuase Jimmer didn't show up that day!! But both of us had a fantastic time at EFY!!

This is my counselor group of girls- we had lots and lots of fun!!!

On our last day of our trip, we hiked to the Y on the mountain. Illinois is incredibly flat so the only difficult part of the hike was how the air got thinner. And even though we weren't even up that high, the air was definitely harder for all of us to breathe.

And then we got to drive back home. We left the mountains and hills and returned to the flat lands and humidity of the midwest.

And the final view of the odometer read.....

That's a lot of miles. Between freeway driving and driving around town we averaged less than 60 mph. So if you do the math, that is about 115 hours we spent in the car. Luckily, our wonderful van survived the whole journey and so did we!!!!

Visiting Victoria BC

This is what it looks like driving around in the Northwest - green, lush evergreens. Rachel says that is why we can breathe easier there - because the trees provide so much more oxygen.

Blair, Lauren and I left the others and drove up to Washington where we hopped on a ferry to go visit Victoria, BC, Canada.

The ferry boat doesn't look that large, but it is fascinating how many cars they can pack in there down at the bottom.

Arriving in Victoria is almost like going back in time. There are horse and carriages, totem poles, double decker busses, street performers, beautiful hanging baskets, and wonderful people.

This was the view from our hotel - the parliament building lit up and cruise ships in the background.

The next morning we were off to Butchart Gardens. They have been blooming for 100 years now. The colors literally took my breath away!

We were the first ones at the rose garden that morning. What are the chances of being there when the delphinium and the roses and the hanging baskets are all in full bloom? These are just a few of the hundreds of pictures we took.

Then we walked over to the sunken garden - also incredible!

The Italian garden was near the end of our visit - by then, all the tourist busses had arrived.

We took this trip because Blair and I were celebrating our 20th anniversary. We invited Lauren to come along. She hasn't been on any school trips - either we were moving or she was too sick. So, we thought this was a good alternative. She had more fun that she thought she would and we enjoyed focusing on just one child for a few days.

Trip vs.Vacation

Just so no one misunderstands, this was a trip, not a vacation. See, there is a difference. On a vacation, you don't drive 6763 miles, you don't unpack and repack 14 times, you don't spend 7 full days in a car with 6 bodies and tons of luggage, you don't drive kids to and from basketball camps and EFY, you don't do laundry, you don't try to fit in visiting everyone you want and need to, you don't make doctors appointments in states you don't live in, you don't need an oil change in the middle, and your husband doesn't work remotely for portions of 2 weeks, staying in town so that he can help drive to the next location.

However, a trip like this is full of so many memories and I don't know that I would really trade it. It is so comforting to be with family. We have amazing brothers and sisters who fed us well and gave us comfortable places to sleep. We played lots of games, cuddled with lots of nieces and nephews, enjoyed beautiful scenery, crossed 15 state lines, laughed until we cried, and took hundreds of pictures.

Maybe sometime we will hop on a plane, hop off and grab a taxi to deliver us to a hotel where we will unpack and stay put for a week and actually vacation, but probably not anytime soon.

19 More Days....but who's counting?

Just wanted to interrupt the travel log to mention that Lauren does her daily countdown of how many more days until she gets on the plane to head off to school. She is SOOOOOO EXCITED!


We arrived home Monday night late and were at the hospital at 8 am Tuesday morning for the final round of chemo. She is struggling with this one and hasn't felt very good. Let's hope she improves quickly over the next few days so that her enthusiasm isn't thwarted!

Road Trip - The Oregon Coast

I love the beach!!! I told the kids it was my therapy and I will now try to recreate the entire beach experience as best I can.

Anticipation - walk down the path and this is what you see...

Then you go to the end of the walkway and look to your left...

Look to your right...

Keep walking and you start running down the hill ...

There is nothing quite like the Oregon Coast, especially around Haystack Rock. It is therapeutic to go there. I love to put my feet in the sand and watch the waves and smell the ocean air. We haven't been there for 4 summers - way too long.

If you are lucky, you will come upon a sand dollar. (and Rachel's flip flop tan)

Lauren's favorite thing to do there is to take pictures from all different angles.

Some of us enjoy exploring the ocean life attached to the rocks.

Others enjoy building sand castles.

The wide open space is plenty of room to throw footballs, frisbees, trac ball or baseballs.

These 2 girls always dig some kind of hole and get in it.

The water is a bit chilly but beautiful.

It doesn't get much better than a campfire on the sand while watching the sunset and eating s'mores.

Thanks Mom and Dad for bringing me here for as long as I can remember!

Thanks Blair for driving 3000+ miles to get me there again!!!