Back from Vacation, not all it cracked up to be, paying off

I figured that it was my time to chime in once again. Summer is screaming by and I want to remember as much of it as I can. I can't believe that we are already halfway through the year! We just got back from Utah for the 4th of July. Before that Rachel and the kids spent two weeks in Raleigh. Rachel had been planning a trip back to Raleigh for quite some time. She loves to go back and visit with our friends the McGees and get out of the heat of Arizona. The kids also like any chance they can get to go on an airplane. I was listening to them as they were preparing for the trip. They were talking about all the fun things that they wanted to do. I asked them what one thing they are most excited about and they all said going to the bathroom on the airplane was definitely on the top of their list. You have to love kids and they way they look at things.

I was preparing myself to not have Rachel and the kids around. I knew that I would play some extra golf and stay up late watching movies, but I knew that I would more than likely be very miserable. I was assured by several friends that I would have the greatest time and that I was lucky. I knew better. I got Rachel and the kids up and ready for the airport. They had to leave around noon so we didn't have to wake up too early. The kids were all very excited and each had their own backpack they were responsible for. We loaded up the car and took off. We got to the airport and unloaded. We got to the ticket counter and were informed that I could not go back with Rachel to the gate because I would not be allowed. I was not happy about this because I wanted to spend as much time as possible with them before they left. I went back to the ticket counter and told the guy to give me a pass and that I would worry if they let me thought or not. Of course, they didn't say anything and I went right through security with them. We spent the next hour sitting and watching the kids. The kids went to the various stores and looked at all the fun things they could buy. Aubrie and Boston ended up buying some colorful rocks from one of the stores. I went to Starbucks and bought smoothies and other goodies to help fill them up. I hate how airlines now charge for every little thing. Pillows, blankets, snacks. It is no wonder they are struggling! The time came to leave and I hugged each child and gave Rachel a squeeze. I rounded the corner and could hear Sophia yelling after me. I said a quick prayer for Rachel because I knew that she had a long trip in front of her. I got to my appointment and started the week. I got a call from Rachel letting me know that she had arrived in Minneapolis and that they were doing fine. I could tell that she was tired and she said that they were having a grand old time. Sophia ended up not sleeping one second on the whole trip. I went about my day and got a lot of work done. I heard from Rachel as soon as they landed and I was grateful that everyone was safe and sound. We spoke for a while and then she said that she needed to get the kids to bed. I hate not being around Rachel and the kids. I wanted to be there with them for family prayers and nighttime prayers and every other little thing. Plus being three hours apart makes it hard as well since you seem to lose more time with each other.

In order to help the time go by more quickly I planned to do a bunch of projects around the house. I did not tell Rachel what I was up to, but had told her that I was hiring a group of guys to come and paint the house. I figured that I would do the painting and use the money that I would have paid the professional painters to do other things around the house. I also cut in a storage space under the stairs, put in a basketball court, put french doors in the office, put an epoxy flooring on the garage floors, removed pavers, put down 1 1/2 tons of quarterminus, framed in the front room and other various things. The painting was insane. I quickly realized that it was a much bigger job than I had expected. I also realized that it was a job that professionals should be doing. I got out my big latter and started to paint the front room. The 20 foot ceilings were daunting, but I survived the taping and painting without killing myself. I also realized much too late that the paint that I got was not all the same color and that the store had not created equal colors! Needless to say I was busy almost the whole time that Rachel and the kids were gone. It really helped me to not focus on them being gone and did help to make the time go by much more quickly. Taylor Price came over to help me with other projects and I was grateful for all his help. My brother-in-law also helped by telling us how to do everything and how he would do everything. We almost snapped and buried him in the desert.

On Father's day I was really bummed not having Rachel and the kids here. Rachel sent me a text and told me to check the blog. I was excited to see what was up. I logged onto the blog to see cards that Rachel and the kids had made me! It made my father's day much better and I was so grateful to Rachel for being so thoughtful. I went to church (fine it was only for the hour that I taught!) and taught my lesson. I then headed home and watched golf and rested from all the work I had done that week. I was invited to go over to the Lorenzana's for Father's Day dinner and had a great time. We had steak and lots of good food. I even got a grab bag. I am lucky to have such good friends. I called Rachel and the kids and was able to speak to them. It was great to hear them and all that they had to say. The kids shared every detail with me about all that they had been up to. I will leave it up to Rachel to fill in what all happened.

The next week was more of the same. Lots of work and counting down the days until I flew to Raleigh to meet up with Rachel and the kids. As the week wore on I started to panic because I realized that I was not going to be able to complete all of the projects I had taken on plus the painting did not turn out as well as I had hoped. I continued to push hard and work well into the night every night.

Finally Thursday arrived and I got up very early to catch my 7:00 a.m. flight. I was to bounce through Houston on my way to Raleigh. I was able to call Rachel and she told me that she had rolled her ankle the night before at a church volleyball game. I was sorry to hear that she was out of commission. I had no idea how badly she had turned her ankle, but was glad that nothing was broken. I got into Raleigh and Jason picked me up at the airport. It was good to see him and to catch up. We got to his home and the kids all came running to see me. It was so good to see them again. I found Rachel on the couch with her foot elevated to relieve the pain that she was having from her ankle. It was good to hold her again and help her with the kids. Everything seemed to be normal again even though we were miles from home. The next morning we woke up and headed down to Myrtle Beach. It took us a little over 4 hours to get down there. Of course we had to stop at the outlet mall on the way and get some much needed things! I really do appreciate Rachel and all that she does for the family. She is always thinking ahead and capitalizing on sales and keeping the kids clothed. I am sure that if it were up to me they would continue to wear the Old Navy 4th of July t-shirts from 2008!

We got into the hotel and lugged everything up the elevators and settled into the room. The kids were climbing the walls and wanted to go swimming immediately. We all changed and headed down to the pool. The kids had a wonderful time in the pool, lazy river and hot tub. We grabbed some grub and then went to bed early since we were all wiped out. The next morning we got up and hit the beach. It was great to see the kids and Rachel out in the water. They were all bogey boarding and digging sand castles and doing the normal beach stuff. Sophia got into the beach as well. She liked to go out with me into the water and to dig with Ethan on the beach. We kept going back and forth from the beach to the pool all day long. Later in the evening we had dinner and then headed out to play minigolf. The weather did not cooperate and we returned home to play cards and hang out. The next day was another beach day and we had another great day. Later in the afternoon we went bowling at the hotel. The kids loved to bowl and play video games and it was a great time. Boston really had a great time bowling and had a great time every time that he got a strike. He ended up bowling over a hundred. Ethan also had a great time. He loved to run up and throw the ball in lots of different ways. It was fun to watch him. Aubrie is getting so old. She is only a few days away from being a young woman and I am not ready for it. She is a wonderful daughter and a great helper to Rachel. After bowling we ate tacos and then headed out to play minigolf. We found a fun mini golf place near the hotel and the kids had a great time playing. It was fun to watch everyone take their turns and encourage each other. At the end of the round we had snow cones and relaxed in the humidity. Sophia fell asleep in her stroller and we were able to get her home without waking her. She was spent after a long day at the beach. That night we played cards and then hit the sack. The next morning we checked out of the hotel and then headed to the water park. The kids had a wonderful time with the tube rides and the lazy river. I was allowed to take Sophia down the tube rides and she had a blast. She kept telling me to go. I was getting tired of dragging her and the tube up to the top, but continued to do so as she directed. After 4 hours we were baked and headed back to Raleigh. I forget how hot it can be with humidity. It was 98 degrees with 95% humidity! YUCK! The ride home went fairly quick. The kids slept and Rachel was good enough to keep my company for the ride back. I love driving with Rachel. We are able to spend good time together and just talk. It was a great ride back. As soon as we got back we unloaded the car and started to do laundry and prepare for the trip back. Rachel is very organized and clean and I did not fully appreciate that until this trip. I am grateful for her because everything is always clean and orderly. It would make everything much more difficult otherwise.

The trip back was much easier. It was a direct flight and Sophia slept. We did have a couple of outbursts, but the portable DVD player made everything much easier. We landed and got all of our stuff on the shuttle bus and loaded it into our car. I was excited to get home and show the family all that I had done. I pulled into the driveway and took them around the side of the house to show them the basketball court. The boys went nuts and started shooting hoops immediately. That made me feel really good. I went on to show them the rest of the house and it was great. It was so good to be home again! We started getting ready for our next trip. I had work the next day and got home later that afternoon to help Rachel pack. We left Thursday morning for Utah. We headed out around 8:00 a.m. and began our 10-hour-journey. The trip went well and everyone seemed to tolerate it well. We got into Provo and dropped our stuff off at the hotel and then headed to the mall. There was a sale at Justice and Aubrie was able to get some more things. We also went to Cafe Rio for dinner. Rachel loves Cafe Rio. We only have one here and it is over an hour away. We headed back to the hotel and crashed. We were able to sleep in and that made it much better. The main reason that I wanted to go up to Provo over the 4th of July was to see family, but also to go to the Oquirh Mountain Temple open house. I wanted the kids to see the temple and get a better understanding of what it looked like and what to expect. It was a great teaching experience and the kids really had a great time. It was awesome to see the temple. We also drove up to the Draper Temple and drove around up there for a little while. The kids liked the temples, but did not like the driving. We headed back to Provo for Sophia's nap. I left Rachel, Ethan and Sophia and took Aubrie and Boston to Escape to Witch Mountain at Movies 8. Aubrie told me that the theater smelled like Pooh and I had to agree. We watched the movie and the kids really enjoyed it. After the movie we went back to the hotel to get Rachel and Ethan and Sophia. We could not think of anything to do. I spoke to my Uncle Jim and he said that they were going to the Orem Owls baseball game that night and that there would be fireworks after. Rachel and I decided that the kids would enjoy the game so we went. It was a great time. There was a play area right off the field and Sophia had a great time. We ate lots of popcorn and soda and took it all in. At the end of the game the fireworks went off. Sophia laid back in my chest and watched. She really liked it a great deal, but was not too found of the big booms. We headed back to the hotel and called it a night. The next morning we woke up early to go the the parade. I went out to the car to discover that someone had keyed our car and scratched it up and down both sides. I was ticked and had to file a police report. We made our way down to Center and 3rd East and parked. We met up with the family there and had a great time watching the parade. I can remember the parade from when I was a child so it was fun to watch the kids take it all in. They ran after candy and threw the poppers. It rained a little on us and then really heated up. It seems like the heat has followed us no matter where we have been. At the end of the parade we headed up to Dave and Marilyn's for a BBQ. We had a great time swimming and eating. We headed back to the hotel for Sophia's nap. I stayed with her this time while Rachel took the other children up to Bridal Vail Falls. The kids climbed up the falls and got all dirty and wet. Rachel called to tell me that they were having a great time. They got back to pick us up and we had Olive Garden for dinner. After dinner I dropped Rachel, Aubrie and Boston off to go to the Stadium of Fire. The Jonas Brothers were the main draw this year and Aubrie was super excited to see them. She did not know that we had tickets for her and she was out of her mind when she found out that she was going. I took Ethan and Sophia to my Uncle Jim's house and we set off fireworks and visited. I headed back to Provo in time to see the fireworks from the stadium of fire. It was nice that our hotel was right next to the stadium. Rachel and the kids came home and told us all about all that they had seen. I was so happy that they had such a wonderful time. We called it a night and then headed to bed very late.

The next day we woke up late and headed for home. The trip was great until we got to Camp Verde. The highway was a parking lot and we took a detour through Jerome and then into Wickenburg. I was glad when we finally got home 12 1/2 hours after we began. It is nice to be back with Rachel and the kids and safe.

Last night we had family home evening. Sometimes Rachel and I get frustrated with the kids. They fight or yell or tease and sometimes we feel that we are not doing the best job as parents. At the end of Family Night each of the kids on their own got up and bore their testimonies. It was awesome to see and I can tell that the Lord really has prepared this generation for what is coming. I am grateful for my family and love them very much.