Summer 2014 (Part 2)

The next week the kids and I headed back to Kansas with my parents. Luckily it was a non-eventful drive and the kids were troopers.

We had so much fun hanging out with family and playing with cousins! Why do I not have any pictures of cousins??!

One day we headed up to Kansas City and went to the Lego Discovery Center.

The kids had a blast building Legos and looking at all of the characters.

Papa, Gigi, and aunt Barbara came with us too.

Emerald city!

Luke adores his aunt Barbara and wouldn't leave her side.

They also got to ride a flying ride, build and race cars...

...and became certified Master Builders!

The boys enjoyed running morning errands with Papa, who would treat them to a donut and pop.

Morning shenanigans with Henry :)

Good times with Gigi

We also got to celebrate Gigi's 70th birthday while we were there! My mom threw a party and transformed the house into a 50's diner.

We made wooden postcards with old pictures of my grandma and wrote memories on them for her to keep.

Madelyn was our waitress and took everyone's orders for dinner.

My mom made burgers, fries, and shakes.

My dad enjoying his with the throw-back pop bottles we found at the local grocery store.

It was a really fun night! We ended with toasts to grandma and a movie from the year she was born called, "Dear Ruth"

On our last day we went to play a little more at grandma and grandpa J's.

The kids had a blast riding around the block on grandpa's pink tractor. Henry was napping but I have a feeling we will have to let him ride when we go back next month. He is obsessed with tractors just like his grandpa J ;)

Unfortunately the roadtrip home was much more adventurous than we would've liked. Thankfully my niece Ariel came back with us and we split it up in 2 days. The first day went fine and we arrived somewhere in Wyoming that night. Poor Henry was feeling sick and did not sleep most of the night. Between him and the other kids I think I got an hour of sleep. We were so ready to come home. The next morning was really stormy and I didn't like driving in all of the rain and wind right next to a bunch of semi trucks. But we were making good time and expected to be home by early afternoon. Then we saw a sign that I-80 was closed at Evanston, just an hour and a half away from salt lake. This was so unusual in the summer but there had been a large crash and part of the road was missing. So we stopped at the Little America for lunch and were hoping the road would open up soon. While we were there we found out from several others the severity of the crash and that it might be days before they could open up the interstate again. We needed to find a new way to get home. We found some back road by mirror lake and kamas that would get us to park city and on home that way. It was slow-going and windy and even slower with a lot of semi's too. Right after Ariel took this picture we curved around and I saw something in the road that looked like cardboard or something. I couldn't swerve around it because I couldn't see if there was a car in the other lane, but as soon as the van straddled the object I knew it was bad...and big. A big rock. A few minutes later, we were out of oil and out in the middle of nowhere. 

At this moment I was SO grateful Ariel was with me because I needed to get help but couldn't possibly make my 4 kids hike a dangerous road with no end in sight. I was still worried about leaving Ariel on this small shoulder with them but I had to find help since my phone had no signal. (In hindsight I think just calling 911 would've worked!) I walked down the road and turned down a hill toward a campsite by mirror lake. I walked all around trying to find the camp supervisor, asking those around me where I could find him or a working phone. After awhile I was aware that this was taking longer than I wanted and I didn't know if my little family was safe and it started to hit me that we were very vulnerable. It was just us and these few people and the elements around us. I started crying and praying more fervently than ever. And then I found them! They were a sweet older couple. The man took me up to the van to get the kids and load them in his truck and then we drove up to the top of the mountain where I could call Jonathan. I think I shocked him when I was very matter-of-fact about our situation, but he let me know he was on his way. Then our rescuer took us back to his RV where they had snacks and movies for us. Seriously they are my angels and I will be forever grateful to my father in Heaven for putting these good souls in our path. These are a few pictures Madelyn took while we waited for Jonathan.

Jonathan made it to us a couple hours later and we were finally on our way home. It was SO good to see the mountains and to safely step foot inside our home. I am so thankful for my dear niece and her bravery and faith, for my resilient children, my loyal husband and for my Heavenly Father in hearing and answering my prayer that day. It was certainly a lesson about the power of prayer for all of us and a day we will never forget.