Our journey to Salt Lake was perfect! Every little detail was as it should be – such a blessing. We arrive with plenty of time to get settled and rest up before our first session. We were even able to check into our lovely room early!!!

Once settled we were able to go pick up our convention goodies! I always love that part, it ‘s like Christmas in July. We got the c-u-t-e-s-t little, red bag.  Isn’t it darling?

We got three awesome new stamp sets along with all of our make and take supplies.   This week was filled with shopping, eating out at yummy restaurants, fellowship and everything Stampin’ Up!

A few of the highlights of this convention: The new Holiday Catalog!!!!!  It is chalk full of some really fun and exciting stuff.   I cannot wait to share all of it with my stamping buddies.  I also got really jazzed about  Project Life by Stampin’ Up!  Until hearing about it this week, I was very disconnected about the whole concept of it, but after seeing it demonstrated, explained and even getting my hands on it, I am sold.   I am planning to get my hands on it and even challenge some of you to take a challenge with me.  Are you interested?   I hope you are, it will be so much fun!    Also congrats to my awesome up-line, Jen Jacobsen who is just a SU Rockstar and got lots of awards and is once again in the top 100 demonstrators in Stampin’ UP!

I love the Prize Patrol Stamp Set and Die Cuts that I got, it was so exciting!!  Prize Patrol also gave out a DSP that I have been wanting along with two other stamp sets that I am excited to use.  I am so excited to play with all of my new goodies.

All trips need an adventure, right?  Well this trip even had a little bit of that.   When Hayden (birthday boy) found out I was going to be in Salt Lake he asked me if I could check out a record store there that he had heard about.   I truly did not think it would be possible, nor was I sure if it would be worth it.  I was proven wrong in both instances.

So, I get directions from the front desk for this record store, they made it sound like it was not too far and they failed to mention that it was not a great part of town.   Luckily my friend Stefani offered to come with me.  I am ever so thankful that she did.   I probably would have gotten lost if I had gone on my own and it would have been pretty scary for me to ride that train alone.  There were several unsavory characters on board.  =)

Stef and I  ride the train as far as it will go and then we have to walk the rest of the way.  It was about 6:00 PM and it was still 96 degrees out.  We saw a few things along the way that made us realize we are not in our little bubble any more.  We make it to Randy’s Records and I find two great vinyls that my birthday boy had on his wish list. S C O R E!!   While I was wrapping things up Stef called a cab for us.   I was so thankful to not have to go back the way that we came.   It was a funny little journey, one that I will never forget and I hope that my birthday boy will always appreciate.

If you know me at all, you know how hard it is for me to be away from my family. This year was no exception and probably was even a bit harder for this girl. Why? You may or may not wonder, but I am gonna tell you. Ha! This particular trip always falls on two very special birthdays. That of my first born and that of my best friend. Do you know the sadness and guilt that comes along with that alone? Well take that and add that it was my baby boy’s 13th birthday!! Yep! His momma was absent for his 13th birthday! What momma could be so remiss?

The beautiful thing is that my boys love me so big that they graciously gave me their blessing. God has a way of working all things out for the good.

Shortly after all the flights were booked, the convention fee’s paid etc. I remembered that we had planned a special 13th birthday date with our son. We had planned to take him to his first concert!  You can guess the sheer horror when I realized this concert – that never made it on our family calendar- was now on the same date that I actually flew out of Colorado?  Oh the turmoil and grief I put myself through, how selfish of me to forget. Once again. God showed up, once again my boys poured out their grace. I so did not deserve it.

Once again, all things worked out beautifully.

God gave me peace to live in the moment. To enjoy the place that he had me in. Although I occasionally wondered what Hayden was experiencing the evening of the concert and how Kip was doing with three teenage boys at a rock concert, I was able to just find contentment in what I was experiencing.

The boys had a fabulous time, it was as magical as I had hoped it would be, Hayden went to see Journey, one of the very first groups I saw in concert. He loved it just as much as I loved it 25 years ago.  <3

Summer holds a dear place in my heart because I get to spend more time with my family. I enjoy the more relaxed schedules, the sleeping in a bit later, staying up a bit later and our little getaways.

I cannot imagine doing life without my best friend and our two little minions (and their friends). Every little trip is an opportunity for adventure and great memories.  This trip met that expectation and more.

This past weekend we took a day trip to the Sand Dunes.  Our goal was get there before all of the water disappeared,  we finally made it!

It was a blast, just hanging out and playing in the water.   Kip and I kept commenting how great it was just watching our kids be kids.  Something about water just brings the kid out in people.   When we first got there they were all uncertain if they wanted to take their shoes off and walk through the water.  Once they did, they hunkered down and played for a nice long while, splashing through the water and playing in the sand.

As fun as it was to play in the water, the Dunes were calling us.  We all agreed we needed to climb to the top of the highest one.   I had forgotten how ‘un-fun’ it was to walk through deep sand.  However, I was not going to be the one to crack, so I trudged along behind everyone else.

It was a beautiful hike, we could see a storm starting to come over us, and we were pretty unsure if we were going to make it to the top in time.   The boys made it up much faster than Gillian and I did, in fact they pretty much ran up the last climb.   Gillian would have gotten up with the boys but she insisted on walking with me.  Love my girl.  We had fun just taking our time.

Once we got to the top, we heard thunder in the distance so we all ran down, some of us tried rolling down – @sandinplacessandshouldntbe.    As we got near the bottom it started to sprinkle – I’d say we had pretty awesome timing.

As we went back across the water, we were all very shocked to find that the water temperature had changed dramatically.  When we first got there it was so warm and inviting, as we were leaving it was cold and refreshing.   It was just a perfect little day trip.   A memory worth storing.

Everyone still smiling…….must have been a good day!

After we were sufficiently heated up from the warm temperatures at the Grand Canyon, we gassed up and had a quick bite to eat before we headed back on the road.  Our next big trek was to be this one, Arizona to California.   The only place we had a specific date we had to be there was our hotel reservations for Disneyland.

During our long hauls, the kids were really very good.  Hayden figured out if he slept, it made the time go by faster, consequently he took a few good naps.  When he wasn’t sleeping, he’d be playing games on his Ipod touch or Hang Man with anyone who would play.

Specifically for this trip I put together an activity box for each of the kids.  I included their gaming systems, puzzle books, snacks, paper and markers.  I also included a new travel journal for each of them and brought adhesive so that they could put postcards from each place they visited into their scrapbook.  This was a fun project for us to work on also, while we were traveling.  Both kids did a great job on them and just have a few finishing touches to add now that we are home.  The idea is for them to add to it whenever we travel.

We got into Anaheim pretty late that night.  Lemme just tell you, “it ain’t no fun, driving a big RV down the California highways!”   SERIOUSLY   I was terrified and I felt for my poor dad.  These crazy people would get so impatient that we were going the speed limit that they would speed past us ON THE SHOULDER!!!  I was so happy when we found a place to call home for that night.  We found a lovely RV park not too far from Disney and as we parked in our spot, we were greeted with the amazing firework show that Disney shoots off every night.   I cannot tell you or begin to explain the magic and awe of that moment.  The kids, my mom and sister and I just sat and watched, it was a very memorable moment.   What a great way to end the long trip of that day and stir up the excitement for the next day’s event.

With the wonder of Disney dancing in H & G’s head, I was surprised that they could actually fall asleep once we got our beds made.   It was a blessing that we could all fall asleep so easily that night.  The next day, we showered, had breakfast and drove to our hotel.  We were not able to check in right away, but our biggest concern was finding a place to park the house on wheels.  We were going to have to find 6-9 free spaces to the back of the property to park the rig in.  We circled the property two to three times, with no luck.  We all began to hedge our guess as to how many times we would have to circle before we found a spot.  Hayden, the optimist guessed the closest.   It was truly a God thing, we saw an area that would work but there was ONE car parked right in the middle of several empty spots, “If only that car would leave soon, or we knew who owned that car” Our third time driving around and out of several hundred guests, we spot the owner of the car. My dad got out and chatted with the guy and asked if he would be willing to move to another spot,  and God Bless that man, he did.

We were able to pick up our Disney packages and plan out our first day at the park.   Dad spoiled us and reserved a nice Penthouse room for all of us as part of our package.  The grounds were so pretty, I love the plants and foliage in California.

In the Lobby

Dad & Mom

One very excited little girl

A beautiful flower at our hotel

Saturday, June 12th 2010

It is 5:00 am and Hayden has been up since 4:30, dressed and ready to go. I scramble to get my last shower at home, Kip tries to wrap up a few work issues and Gillian stumbles downstairs wrapped up in her soft blankie ready to sleep once we load ourselves into the Motor home (ya right).   Excitement is definately in the air, Kip and I are trying to think if there is anything that we could have forgotten to pack- don’t you just love how we do that?  We are all packed and practically out the door, seriously….that is not the time when you are going to suddenly remember that one important thing you forgot.   That does not happen until you are at least 10-20 miles away from home.

5:15 AM   Mom, Dad,  and Nicole (w/ Shaney in toe to spend the week with her cousins Zippy, Bennett and Piper) arrive.  The Hustle and Bustle begins, loading those last few things into the RV and making sure everything is ready for our house/dog sitter.

5:30 AM  We are leaving Anasazi Court and headed South on I-25 to New Mexico.   Everyone is a bit sleepy, but the buzz is all about our destination for that day.

We make a few stops for gas and lunch along the way.

~ 7:30 PM we pull into the  nice KOA Park that we had reserved, it was somewhere between Williams, AZ and Flagstaff, AZ.  It was a very nice facility, pool, gift shop, camp fire, cafe.  The kids really enjoyed it.  We were all very tired, once we  found our spot we pulled in and hunkered down the homestead.  We got all of our beds ready, had a bite to eat, enjoyed the campfire for a bit and went to bed.   Awwww……I have to say I was really surprised at how well I slept.  Kip and I had the bunk and it was very comfy.

Hayden on his bed, winding down for the night.

Sunday, June 13th

Mom, Dad & Hayden are the early risers and this morning was no exception.   They were up and had a good warm breakfast before any of the rest of us were awake.  Leaving the late rises to have cereal, I usually trade more sleep for less breakfast…it is worth it.  Once we were all up, we packed up our beds and converted the bedroom back to our family room (I think it is so cool how RV’s can transform so easily).  We showered, changed and were back on the road for about and hour and a half.  Our first stop was to the amazingly beautiful Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon

We spent a good part of the morning walking along the South Rim of the canyon, taking lots of pictures.  We saw a few people being pretty foolish out on the exposed parts of the rim and it made us all wonder, but it was Hayden to ask, “Has anyone fallen down and died?”  We were sure that there had been many such cases and in one of the gift shops, there was a book all about death in the canyon, called  “Over the Edge:  Death in the Grand Canyon” .  Of course we were all intrigued and Kip decided he had to read it.   It is a book worth reading if you are interested in stuff like that, it is truly amazing some of the things that have happened in the Grand Canyon.

Dad, Gillian, Hayden, Nicole, Mom and Kip

One of the other big topics of conversation spurred by the kids was “how was the canyon formed “ and  “how long did it take” .  Luckily we had a long trip ahead of us to share with them the different theories on those topics.

Not too far from where we posed for a few pictures a little critter caught our attention and the attention of many others around us.  This little squirrel (we named Oreo) had apparently scored a treat.   As with most National parks the animals are not that afraid of people and he just sat right in front of us on the wall to eat his Golden Oreo.  The funny thing is that Oreo, like most people pulled apart his Oreo cookie and at the cream center first and then ate the cookie.  Ha!     You can tell this squirrel is not starving, he was so cute and plump.

Oreo

Oreo begging Gillian for a handout

Oreo savoring his treat

“Given enough time, nothing is more changeable than rock.”  Enos Mills

]]> https://www.csrussells.com/2010/06/25/at-long-last/feed 2 https://www.csrussells.com/2010/06/23/the-making-of-a-family-vacation?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-making-of-a-family-vacation https://www.csrussells.com/2010/06/23/the-making-of-a-family-vacation#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:36:11 +0000 http://www.csrussells.com/?p=870 For the past couple of years we have tried to plan a couple of different family vacations and for a variety of reasons they didn’t work out. Hayden and Gillian were so gracious and understanding when we didn’t make it to Mount Rushmore last Summer but they continued to talk about going somewhere out of Colorado.   We have created many wonderful family memories around our beautiful state; camping trips, fishing trips and day trips.  But, the itch to explore the world around us was growing.

Many conversations with my family had taken place, every one had “a dream” or an idea of the perfect Family Vacation.   I knew that somehow , some way we were going to take a trip, but I really did not think it would happen the way we as a family had dreamed it.

Even three weeks before we were on the road, I did not think our plan was going to happen.  However,  the following week, my sweet daddy flew out to purchase The Motor Home.  When the kids found out…they celebrated and started to get very excited.

When Papa arrived home we hurried over to check out this new beauty.  Wide-eyed, Hayden and Gillian simultaneously say “oh wow!”

I couldn’t believe it….we are one step closer.  This trip may happen!!!!!!

Next tasks:

1. Get everyone’s schedule to work for the same 10 day period.         Check
2. Map out & agree on our route.      Check
3. Shop for and stock RV.      Check
4. Pack & load.         Check
5. Buckle up and we are OFF!!!!!!  Wooohooooooooo!

Our solution? Space Bags and Ziplock Bags.  

These clear (on one side) bags make it easy to see what each bag contains,  The other obvious benefit is allowing more storage and less space.   Since I didn’t have a huge, heavy suitcase to lug around, I packed one bag each for the four of us- I was able to pack clothes for 7 days including swim suits and towels.  Additionally for  the kids,  I  used a Space Bag for each of them and I also packed a Ziplock bag for each day to include the fresh clothes for that day.   If you need to label which days they are to wear what clothes you can do that on the bag.  I really only needed to do that on our Disney days, because I wanted to color coordinate us in bright colors so that they would be easier to find, if I needed to.

We also used the space bags to pack our bedding each day, with the big blankets, sheets and comforters, it was really important to make those as small as possible.  Once in the bag, just use something with a vacuum and suck the air out and plop in storage.

All in all, I was pleased with method of packing, and I personally would do this again.

Over time, we have gone on trips to places where a year or two before we enjoyed some of the best times of our lives. However, when we returned, it just wasn’t the same. Different phase-of-life, different expectations, who knows? But it just doesn’t work. Seems like the only way to have a great trip is to just not expect too much and if it greatness happens, it happens.

So, when we loaded our snowshoes in the car last weekend to head up to our annual Sunday School couples’ retreat, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Last year, we took our snowshoes with us, not sure if we would have enough snow or if we would even feel like exerting the energy required. We did end up going and it was incredible. It was bright and sunny and there was a ton of snow. We snowshoed for an an hour or two enjoying the exercise and giddy-dizziness that come with working out at high altitude. Then we found an area of deep powder and just plopped down., making a snow recliner for each of us. We talked and napped in snow while the sun smiled on us. Perfection.

This year.

Well, it was different. The night before we were planning on going snowshoeing, I talked with a friend who was going to hike in the same general area early in the morning. I told him to hook up with me and let me know how the ‘conditions’ were (this was a retreat, after all, and we were not planning on getting up early). At lunch he told us it was all hard-packed snow and we really didn’t even need our snowshoes. Discouraged, but not broken, we decided to just go on a hike instead.

We decided to drive to the trailhead and when we couldn’t even get to the trailhead due to the deep snow (and I have a 4WD) we were glad the snowshoes were in the car.

We started hiking in, carrying our snowshoes with us, and within about 1/4 mile we realized we would need them. I haven’t done this enough to be very adept at putting them on my feet, so after Kim had hers on, I told her to go ahead while I finished putting mine on. I’d catch up later.

Five minutes later, when I finally ‘sort of’ had my shoes fastened I headed out. After awhile I caught Kim (actually she was waiting for me, but I still ‘caught up’ with her). We were walking on the raised section of a double track road and the snow was a foot or so deep, but firmly packed. Then I stepped a little to the left and – ‘ploop’ – I sunk up to my thigh (this was WITH snowshoes on my feet). I put my hand down to try and get some leverage and when I pushed down, my arm sunk up to my shoulder. I was stuck. Apparently, bright sunlight and warm temperature made the conditions somewhat different than what our friend had experienced 8 hours earlier.

Eventually I got out and we continued carefully on our way. The snow was anywhere from 2-4 feet deep and it was incredible. Like last year, it was very sunny. Unlike last year it was horrible windy. But it was still good. We plodded along for a mile or two and just enjoyed the conversation (short words, grunts, nods, gasping for air) and the time together.

We were at the foot of some 13-14K-foot mountains and looking back to the East we could see Pikes Peak from the ‘backside.’ Seeing Pikes Peak made us think of our kids back home so after realizing we’d climbed high enough to have a ‘couple bars’ on our cell phones we gave them a call.

Big mistake.

Gillian was having a very bad day and cried the whole time she was on the phone. It was a very heartbreaking phone call. It made us just want to pack up, head home, pick her up and give her a big squeeze.

We said a quick prayer for Gillian, then continued on our way, sinking every 50 feet or so to our knees or thighs (my knees, Kimmy’s thighs :-)). We continued for another hour or so and then headed back down. Too windy for a snow recliner this time.

When all is said and done, it was a great trip and it was part of a great weekend, which including driving home in borderline white-out conditions.

Yep… things change, but even when we were up to our waist in snow, with cold wind blowing in our faces, with the knowledge that our little princess was at home crying her eyes out, we were still outside enjoying the gift of being together, the gift of laughter and the gift of a late-coming, God-given maturity–which means that we are fully aware we love our children (and a lot of other people) more than we love ourselves.