Marc and Megan Logo

family photo family photo family photo family photo family photo family photo

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Some highlights from our trip

Day 1 - Woke up at 3:41am. Spent about 14 hours in the car - Marc, me, and my Mom and Dad - before arriving at Matt and April's near Ogden, Utah. April fed us some delicious tortellini soup with spinach and sausage, which really hit the spot after eating snack foods most of the day. Visited there with April and 2-year old Kelly for a while, before heading up to Smithfield to see Dawnette and family.

Day 2 - Woke to the smell of blueberry pancakes and bacon. YUMMY! We were introduced to their two new baby kittens, one white and one gray/black. Since they could only keep one of the kittens, they offered to let us have the gray one. We decided to name him Watson. (They later decided on "Sherlock" as the name of their kitty.)

Attended the Logan temple with Mom, Dad, Dawnette, and John.

Click to enlarge.

Played soccer in the front yard with McKayla, Dennison, Truman, and Malachi. Went on a nice little hike up the canyon with everyone, and spotted tons of dragonflies. When I tried to point them out to 2-year old Malachi, all he noticed was the dog poop on the trail. :) Ended the day with an ice cream cone from Casper's. Oh, while we were waiting at the car for the others, Marc taught the kids some karate moves. Here is Malachi showing his stuff.

Click to enlarge.

Day 3 - We relaxed at home most of the day. Played more soccer. Went shopping with my big sister, Dawnette. She and I ended the day with pedicures. I believe self-pampering is a healthy activity! I tried to convince Marc to join in, but he was too busy watching a movie on his new laptop. Oh well, next time. :)

Day 4 - We met up in Ogden with four of the eight siblings for a family picnic with Mom and Dad. After eating lunch, we chatted, played with the kids, and tossed a football and softballs with each other... until we were all so hot that we returned to Matt's house for Popsicles and air conditioning.

Click to enlarge.

Drove down to Provo with Mandi and Adam. Had dinner at Guru's and watched part of Casino Royale.

Day 5 - Went to Church. Hung out with Mandi and Adam all day. Played with Watson. Went on a walk with Marc, and then later went on a walk with my little sister, Mandi. Mom and Dad arrived later that night, excited to enter the MTC the next morning...

Day 6 - Bid farewell to Mom and Dad, well for a couple of hours anyway. They checked into the MTC and got their name tags and then came back for lunch with us, before attending more meetings in the afternoon.

Click to enlarge.
Don't they look so great?!!

Marc, Mandi, and I did a little shopping and then later played Skip-Bo. Marc and I checked out the mural that my Dad painted at Mandi's work, and then took a stroll around BYU's campus. We made French Bread Pizza for dinner and Apple Crisp for dessert. Jamie and his family joined us from Idaho that night, which was a treat! With it being our final night in Utah, we really soaked up the time with everyone. We enjoyed some much-needed quiet moments with Mom and Dad.

Day 7 - Woke at 4:45am. Shared hugs and kisses and tears. It was hard to leave the state where both of my sisters live. In my ideal world I would live across the street from both of them, or at least around the corner. Hopefully one day!

Click to enlarge.
Mandi, Dawnette, and me - both my sisters are expecting! :)

It was even harder to say good-bye to Mom and Dad. They'll be in Australia in just a few days - on the other side of the world for a year and a half. But, I'm so proud of them... and it gives us an excuse to make a trip to Australia! :)

It took us about 12 hours to drive back home to California. We listened to a book on tape that Mandi let us borrow - Outlander - which actually made the trip seem to go faster. What a relief to finally get out of the car. Watson traveled really well.

After arriving home, we cuddled Einstein before introducing him to our new kitty, Watson. Here's a video of their first introduction. (DISCLAIMER: Please ignore our annoying, high-pitched kitty-talking voices.)



And, then this is the following day, after we had given Watson a bath. The first clues that Einstein and Watson are going to be good buddies.



As you can see, we had quite the trip! We had a fantastic time in Utah. It was great to spend time with two of my brothers and two of my sisters and their families. And, it was wonderful to have some time away with Marc. There really isn't anyone I'd rather be with than him. I love our time together!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How fun, I am so jellous of your name picking ability, we just got a new puppy and are miserable at naming her. So far "angeL" and 'Co co"have been tried on her, but I think they both stink. give me hints. She is a white bischon frise. Scuppers is the other one.

_lafawnduh

Carrot Jello said...

Keep CoCo. It fits her. Is it just me, or does Einstein have a reallly long tail?

Marc and Megan said...

lafawnduh, thanks for the compliment! Female names for pets are a little bit harder to think of, but here's what we came up with: Dumbledore, Mopsy, Penelope, Scarlett O'Hairy, Duchess, Ace, Genevere (means pure white wave). BTW, we know another dog named scuppers! ;)

carrot, when we got back from Utah, we noticed Einstein's tail seemed extra long, too... but he also seemed 10 times bigger than when we left. His tail wasn't always that long, though.