Moab Vacay

So... I got back from the Microsoft Teched Conference in L.A. on Friday, and decided to take the family to moab, and do some hiking in arches. We loaded up Sat. morning, and were off by 8 am. I drove for a while, but as it turns out, was more tired than I thought, and let Amber drive for a bit. The drive went without incident, and arrived at arches at about 12:15 am. I decided that since we had lots of fruit snacks and granola bars, I didn't need to waste time getting lunch. Everyone was done with being in the Van, and welcomed the hike. So far so good! What a wonderful little family outing. Not such a story book ending... stupid Moab

The hike started with Amber carrying Zach in the carrier, me with the backpack, and the other 3 walking/ running. Travis was eager to show him manliness by running and jumping off of big rocks. Amberlee was weaving in and around rocks, and balancing on the rocks lining the pathway. Bridget (2) was taking all this in, determined she was an equal to her older siblings, trying her best to do the same. So we took a break, the kids taking in as many fruit snacks and water as they could. 100 yards down, a mile left to go... The first kid to hit the dirt was Bridget, as she was doing so well mimicing her siblings. I could tell Bridget was wearing down, but still determined to reach the delicate arch, I pressed on, carrying her on my shoulders. I had also taken Zach from Amber, and so was hoofing 2 kids up a steep rock face. As I brought up the rear, I can only describe the craziness before me as being a circus. Travis was running, zig-zagging, and trying to jump off of everying on this dangerous incline, Amberlee was pouting, saying that it was too big, and not watching where she was going. And Amber was feeling the weight of the 8 little water bottles she was carrying in the backpack. Still determined tho, I pressed on with Zach in the carrier, and Bridget on my shoulders. Amberlee got really whiny, so I asked her if she wanted to hold my hand. She really wanted to, so I held it out, just out of reach, and kept it that way, as she chased me up the hill. She still had a lot of energy. Bridget got off my shoulders, I took the backpack, and Amber walked with Bridget. She saw all the cool piles of rocks that people had made, and thought it fun to knock them over, with Amber yelling at her to stop doing it... every time. We made it to the top of the steep incline, with all the kids saying they wanted to go home, YAY! I pushed them on and the next part was much easier. Travis was still running around, jumping off of everything, making Amber nervous. Amberlee was moving much faster as well, and Bridget no longer wanted to be held, and decided she was as cool as Travis, making everyone nervous.

I really enjoyed all the looks from everyone passing us, as if to say, "what were you thinking?" Yeah, that had already crossed my mind. But, determined to press on, we made our way to the arch, passing the cliffs of death that scared the crap out of us, but oh well. Our stay at the lookout of the arch was brief as Bridget and Zach melted down into a fit of rage on a small peice of rock with drop offs on both sides. I found this really cool bug and distracted the kids by having them look at this bug. I got sidetracked, grabbed our backpack, and rushed back to the kids. They sqealed/ screamed, and I asked what??? Travis' reply was, "the bug... you just stepped on it" There was a silent moment, and a slight sadness in the air. We left the crime scene quickly, and made our decent down the mountain. We had snapped a few pictures... it was worth it. Bridget was still being a woman, determined to climb down this mountain her own way, and no man, especially Daddy, was going to tell her differently. We stopped for a break, and Ambelree climbed a 15 foot steep boulder. It was a great picture moment. Then Travis wanted to climb it, a little scarey, but he made it. Then our little princess... wanted to. I took pitty on her sad demeanor and said, ok just a second. I was unstrapping zach from me, when Amber said, "you'd better get up there!" I handed him quickly to Amber, and ran, she was already 3/4's the way up, and as I sprinted up in 4 steps, she had scrambled all the way up. What stubborn child!!!! Well, we took a pic of us up there, and I helped her down. She had to be like Big Sis & Bro. I told Bridget to wait, while Amber helped Zach get saddled up on me again. Next thing we heard was crying. My heart sunk, and I told Amber to run. There was a ledge with a 2 foot drop, that she didn't manage, and had a nice imprint in her forhead. We dusted her off, dried her tears, and under sobs, I asked her if she wanted to ride my shoulders again. Her crying immediately stopped, and she smiled/ laughed and said Yeah!... she was fine... that girl!!!

So, with the pack mule loaded up with kids again, we headed down the mountain. Amberlee was flying on the way down. On one occasion, she didn't clear a rock, and went down hard. She was bleeding from her knees, and elbows. I let bridget walk with Amber, and held Amberlee's hand for a little bit. The trail was full of loose gravel and Bridget went down. So, I put her back on my shoulders. We finally reached the van, and I think I shed a tear of joy.

Its not over yet folks... We went into town to find a hotel. Apparently there was some sort of dumb event going on, and everything was booked. Heck, the nearest hotel with vacancies we heard was an hour and a half away. We found one hotel with a suite for $315 a night. Ick, but its for the fam. They said it had a King size bed, and a queen size pull out. We took it, and went to pizza hut for dinner. The food was yummers, and lifted the spirts... and what was Amber thinking giving Zach so much Pepsi??? we'll get to that later.

Back to the hotel, the kids were going nuts! Travis was bouncing off the walls, and bridget squeezing Zach until he screamed. There was a really big Jacuzzi tub, and we were all dirty, so we got our swim suits on and took a family bath. Afterwards, we got jammies on, and pulled out the quant little twin size pull out bed... so much for the queen pull out. We tried to arrange the kids on the couches. Zach was so grumpy, we put the disney chanel on the tv, and let the kids watch it, while we got into our bed and tried to put Zach to sleep. We realized at this point we should have brought the play pen. After walking the floor for a while with him, and trying everything under the sun, we finally turned off all the lights, and tv, and made it pitch black dark. That did the tric.... nope, still crying like a sun of a gun. Bridget got up, and came to me. I felt bad for her, because the couch she was sleeping on smelled... so I let her cuddle/ sleep with me. Zach was still fussing, and I fell asleep for a bit. at close to midnight, I woke up and Amber was still fussing with Zach. Truthfully I had heard him off and on, until then, but decided I needed to be a good husband and father. I took Zach out to the van to let him try to cry himself to sleep in his car seat. Almost an hour later, and a really tear stained face, I decided to try a stroller ride. So I got the stroller out of the van, and took him up to our hotel floor. I walked the main hallway a couple of times, but he was no closer to sleeping... curses!!! I then went back to our "Suite" and walked the floor with him for a little bit. A sleepy Amber asked me if I wanted her to take him, I've never handed anything off so fast. I don't think she expected a reaction like that. He was so frustrating! The rest of the night he was a little better (very little). He would sleep in 20 min chunks. Bridget found a way to hog a king size bed...

So, 7:45 came fast, and in line with the rest of the vacation, Bridget was throwing multiple fits. Her and I stayed behind while the rest of the family ate the continental breakfast. Finally she put her shoes on... blue tennis shoes with her pink sunday dress, whatever. We made it down to breakfast, I didn't feel like eating, so I took the stuff to the car, and checked out. We made it over to the church building by 9:30 (a little late since it starts at 9:00), only to find the parking lot empty. A sign on the window said that it was Stake Conference, and that all the wards were meeting later, and at the stake center. Amber just laughed, and I admit I was getting a little crazy at this point. We gave up, and changed in the car into comfy clothes, and said goodbye to stupid Moab.

I wasn't a big fan of the single lane highway down to Moab, so I figured i'd take I70 to I15, not looking on map, just knowing that they intersected. We went for a while, and I noticed the van compass said south west, when I really wanted to be going north west. Then the gas needle started to drop down/ below 1/4 tank... and there was no town in sight. I turned off the A/C and decided to stop worrying, there was nothing I could do, but to ride it out as far as I could. Well, I am happy to say we made it to Salina, and filled up there. Realizing that we were at the intersection of i70 and hw89, I realized we could go up to Manti, and see the temple, and somehow salvage our broken Sunday. So, we grabbed some Burger King and headed to Manti. The kids were tired of the van, but were renewed with the thought of seeing the Temple. An hour later we had 2 screaming children, and me wondering, "When the heck are we gonna get to Manti???" Apparently the highway forked, 89 went to the right, and 28... went to the left. I had missed this, and somehow was on highway 28, and well past any hope of going to Manti. 2 screaming children, 2 children with dashed hopes of Manti, a supporting wife that was still trying to find a way to fix my mistake, and a crushed Sunday. We stopped on the side of the road to stretch our legs, and played the I-Spy game for about 15 min. Then we headed home, with our heads hung in shame.

Home-Sweet-Home

Free Chocolate Fridays!

I felt like blogging so here ya go...
I'm a sucker for free stuff. Dave is always making fun of me when I get the Free Wal-Mart Samples and any other samples I can get. I even love going to costco just for the samples.
Now who doesn't love chocolate?! Mars will give away 250,000 couponsevery Friday to be redeemed for your favorite Mars product, including M&Ms, Snickers, Twix, Dove, 3 Musketeers and Milky Way. You’ll receive your coupon by mail within six weeks. Limit four coupons per household during the offer period. Offer valid from 9:00:00 AM ET to 11:59:59 PM ET on the Friday only of each week beginning 5/8/09 and ending 9/25/09.