Surprise!

One week in October I was having a hard time. I was just depressed and tired of doing mommy things every day. I knew my whole family was getting together that weekend in Idaho to celebrate Tyler's birthday, my dad's birthday and Eric was bringing home a girl. Blake's parents were also there that week. Wednesday night I talked to my brothers and both of then tried to convince me to drive 14 hours to Idaho for the weekend. I thought they were crazy. I was so sad that night and cried myself to sleep. The next morning I woke up at 6:45 and decided maybe I should go back for the weekend. I decided if I could get all packed before my visiting teachers came at 10:00am, I would go. I had everything but snacks ready by 9:45, and was just waiting on Blake's ok for me to go. He called at 10:30 and said I was crazy, but he was ok with it if I wanted to. So he came home to say bye to us and we were on the road by 1.

I drove until about 11:00pm that night to Rawlins, WY. The kids got up at 5:45am(6:45 our time). We showered, ate and were on the road by 8:00am. No one in my family knew I was coming! I called Tyler(my brother) because I knew he was taking the shuttle to Idaho that day and thought if he just rode to Ogden I could go that way and just pick him up there, but I still wanted it to be a surprise. He couldn't get to Ogden until later, so that didn't work out, so I just went straight up to Idaho. We stopped in Pocatello first to visit Kaydi and Garrett. Then drove to Idaho Falls and spent some time at Grandma Great's with Grandma and Grandpa Jones(Blake's parents). Then we went to my parent's house. My mom's reaction was great! She had absolutely no idea. Then when Remi went downstairs I could hear Cindy screaming then she ran up and gave us all big hugs! We got to surprise Tyler too. Then we went to Cindy's volleyball games that night. It was so fun to see her play varsity volleyball. She has come a long ways since I first started playing with her when she was like 6. She is awesome. After the game I went to Kristi's house(it was like 10). She was shocked to see me in her entryway. I think her and her husband both thought the other one knew I was coming.

Kristi told me Friday morning they were going to be making Plum freezer Jam. I had called Julie a couple weeks before to get a recipe and she said they were getting ready to can peaches if I wanted to come. I told her I would be right over. So Friday morning I called her "to get a recipe" and she said they were getting ready to make jam. I told her she needed to give me warning on these things so I could come. Then I walked into her house like 10 minutes later. Her reaction was the best. She screamed and screamed, it was loud! We had fun making jam together. She even kept me being there a secret from Eric. So I got to surprise him that night at Kristi's house when him and Joanna got there.

Friday afternoon we met up with Blake's mom and our nephews at Ethel Boys to play on the playground. The kids were having so much fun together. Then Remi fell and got hurt. Usually she doesn't stay hurt for long if there is something fun to do, but she said she was ready to go. So we went to Kristi's house to get ready for dinner and Eric to come. She babied her arm a little that night and just seemed really tired. We had a fun night doing a piano recital for all the kids who are taking lessons, and some who just wanted to play for fun. Then Cindy played for us, then Joanna. She was very talented. She played the piano and sang. The kids were even amazed by her. Especially Alissa. She has always loved singing and when Joanna was singing Alissa just stood next to her and stared. It was so cute. That night Remi woke up a couple times saying her arm hurt.

Saturday morning we went to see Katelyn play in a soccer game and Remi went home with them. I asked Julie to keep an eye on her and see if she still babied her arm. That afternoon when I got there she was still being really careful so I took her in after dinner and they said she had a broken wrist and put a splint on it:( Poor girl. When we got back to Kristi's house that night Blake's parents came by to say bye to us and they brought Remi a "nurse" hat(a witch hat) and some medicine(skittles). Her splint was purple and she was very proud of it. I don't think it hurt her after that, she was just proud of her splint. Sunday we went to church and ate at my parents then left on our long trip home. We stayed the night in Rawlins again then got home Monday around 6pm. It was a crazy trip, but really fun! The kids were surprisingly amazing in the car. They even memorized the 2nd article of faith so they could get their favorite blue and red slushies!

The one thing I forgot this trip was my camera! So all I have is my memories, no pictures.