the first 36 hours

This post could also be called "When  We Travelled North."

A long time ago (like almost two weeks ago). We packed up the car and headed out of town. Our first stop was of course in Kingman, AZ. Yes, you have heard of Kingman - its in that song, Route 66. Its a great little town, I'm sure for lots of reasons, but our reason is Redneck's Southern Pit BBQ. Some of the best BBQ west of the Mississippi (yes, I do realize that Kansas City is west of the ol' Miss, but this place is good!).

Here is our Grace as we await our delights. Please note the sign on the building behind her - we really were in Kingman.

See, its on Route 66.

Our next stop was Vegas. This picture is a bit blurred, but most people in Vegas seem a bit blurred, don't you think?

We stayed here. Fabulous if you want a roomy one bedroom suite, non-gaming, a family friendly pool with no swim-up bar and a better price than you'd pay for a room in Kanab (if you were headed North the other way).

We were well-rested after our night there and ready to hit the road. See -

We stopped for lunch in St. George. A cute little town. I'm sure we need to check it out further another time.

Then we drove and drove some more and more and more, and found our way here.

That's Provo for all you non-BYU folks. Dinner at El Azteca Taco Shop. A must if you haven't. Love their chile relleno. Is this a travel/food-logue? Yes, yes it is.

And finally - bonus points if you can tell me what the above picture is? Nate and I went there on our first date after his mission. Cliche for sure. But we like it.

The next stop was up through the canyon to a little place called Park City. A fun family reunion of sorts was about to begin...

a tale from the past

Yesterday we returned from a week long trip (please note, "vacation" was not used in that sentence). We journeyed over 1600 miles and saw a LOT (including 46 different states, 5 Canadian provinces and 4 Mexican state license plates). I will tell you more about the trip and journey another time (like when I get my laundry done).

In the meantime, let us reminisce:

The year was somewhere around 2004 or 2005. Nate was driving the machine - a late 1988 (technically an '89 but it was one of the early models put out in '88, it was fancy like that) Pontiac Grand Prix. It was the deluxe version with the paint peeling off the hood. Very sweet. Also, it was missing the driver's side rear view mirror. It was a classic, trusty vehicle (may she rest in peace).

He (Nate) was on the transplant service. This is the service where he would be with the team that would meet with the donator's  remains and, um, retrieve the donated "items." The "items" would then be rushed back to the hospital where a recipient would be prepped and ready to receive such donations.

On this particular day, traffic on 170 was nuts and the transplant team was behind schedule and needed to get to another donation situation which was in the opposite direction of Barnes. Seeing that Nate would be going to Barnes and not to the next donation situation, the donated "item" (a liver, if I remember correctly), was packaged into a cooler and placed into the backseat of the 1989 Pontiac. Nate and the liver rushed off during morning rush hour traffic and made it to Barnes and the waiting recipient in plenty of time.

The story is one that cracks me up. I think it would have been even better if the liver was put into one of these:
















Its actually a lunch box you can send to school with your kid. See, you can buy it if you click: here. I kind of want to get one to send to work with Nate.

self-family portraits

This is us in Del Mar. We self-took these several weeks ago.

I love our self-family portraits.

We all have to smush close together and attempt to smile at the same time.

The results are never photogenic, but they are so very us.

14

Hey there. Happy July 15 to you. We generally celebrate the 15th of July around here. Why you ask - you know why - its our anniversary! 14 years today. I thought we'd look back at the last few anniversaries.

#9
Here we are at the Tim McGraw concert in 2006. Nate said he had never see me scream like a teenager before that evening. Clearly he must recall we were teenagers when we met, I guess I just didn't scream that much. What he must have meant was that he had never see me stand on my chair and drool over a cowboy before. The concert was awesome.


#10
Tour of St. Louis. Our 10th anniversary coincided with the start of Nate's chief year (last year) of residency. With absolutely no chance of having vacation time to go out of town, we had to settle for a Saturday that he was actually not required to be at the hospital. We found a lovely, kind soul who took care of our kids for the ENTIRE day, and took a tour of the city we had lived in for the last 8 years. It was such a fun day!


#11
We had just moved to San Diego. It seemed appropriate to celebrate on the beach.


#12
You get two pictures here. On our actual anniversary we were on a familiar route: I 55 from St. Louis to Chicago - one last time. A couple of weeks later we were in Salt Lake. this family portrait at the temple cracks me up. I guess Jimmy needed to grow a foot or two.

A few days later we cruised up to Brighton. This is the site The Proposal. I'll have to tell you that story sometime. It involves a minor car accident, some fibbing, lots of skiing, and some kissing. Most proposals should involve those things, dontcha think????


#13
Last year in Monterey, CA. BEAUTIFUL


#14
Its still a mystery. Lets just say that at some point a weekend getaway is planned. In the meantime, we'll be all mysterious (because I love being mysterious with a good mustache).

its getting hot in here

I am now going to plow right ahead and tell you all of the hot and pricey excitement we've been having around these parts.

First off, the picture above is my happy place. It is where my mind has been going during the last 8 days.

During the last 8 days:

*     My car had a transmission overhaul.

*     Our back picture window shattered into millions of tiny pieces. We aren't sure the cause but are zeroing in on a crazed bird (you do know of my "unrealistic" fear of birds, right? I think now it can be classified as "realistic").

*     An after-hours a/c repair visit was necessary as suddenly the compressor and fan decided to begin the dying process. The unit was basically ICU-worthy for 2 days until the repairs could be made.

*     We have been visited by caterpillars every day INSIDE our house. And these are not the cute, squishy green ones straight out of an Eric Carle book. Oh, no - these are nasty brownish-pink ones. They are worth a quarter to any child willing to touch them and throw them out into the back yard. This then encourages the birds (see above my feelings about birds) to come and eat them. The children (including Nate) love to watch this Circle of Life demonstration out the back window (well, the window that isn't boarded up, that is).

*     The day following 9 days of call was the day that an emergency case was added at the end of Nate's clinic day. This case was bumped to later. This was also the day of our mid-week date.

*     Nate's car's a/c has decided to quit. This is not good news in July in Arizona.

*     It has rained a few times. This is good news, but please note that boarded up windows are not as water-tight as real glass ones. That will be remedied in 2 hours. I am looking forward to it.

During the last 9 days:


*     My parents came to visit - super fun!

*     My sweet, new nephew was blessed.

*     We discovered we could see the fireworks from the fancy resort 2 miles from us in our backyard - a most excellent way to end the 4th. Grace even lead us all in the National Anthem. The neighbors next-door erupted in laughter, but joined in by the end.

*     We had tons of cousin time and pool time and Pokemon time.

*     The children made extra cash eliminating caterpillars from our home (see above).

*     Nate and I went on a mid-week date - never happens, but should more often. Even dates that start late have a happy finish.

*     I finally saw Captain America. I find myself thinking about many of his amazing, ahem, "qualities."

Thank Goodness Its Friday!!!!!!!

the omnivore

Thoughts on vegetarianism by Grace:
"I don't like to eat meat from cute animals, unless they are really tasty."