We made it home!

        I have really enjoyed posting pictures and explaining our trip bit by bit. I did want to take a minute and just summarize what we did and how it went all in one post.
        We started out getting on the ferry in Ketchikan. That in itself was crazy. We were all packed and ready to go and just waiting until it was time to go. I thought we had to be at the ferry at 9:00, well at about 7:45 I decided to look again at our itinerary and noticed that the ferry left at about 9:00, so we were supposed to be there at 7:00. Cody got the kids in the car while I called to make sure they knew we were coming. Luckily it's only about a 5 minutes drive to the ferry. We got on and got our little room. It had a bathroom with a shower in it, and my kids all decided that they wanted to take a shower on the ferry. Mind you, this was at about 9:00 PM. We were also hungry because we had planned to eat dinner with some friends at 8:00, but missed that, so we got some dinner after the showers. Then we finally got to sleep.
        The next morning we were in Canada, customs was easy, except Abby was grumpy when the guy was asking who each of the children what their names were and she did not want to answer. We had a talk about how she needed to be happy and answer any questions the guys at the borders asked her so that they did not feel the need to pull her aside and ask her more questions. I got little sleep on the ferry - I was worried that I was not going to wake up in time to get off - so I was very tired. Finally when most of the kids, except Autumn were sleeping, I pulled over to the side of the road and took a nap. Autumn was reading and she said she'd play with the kids if they woke up and wake me up if anyone came close to the van. She was also supposed to let me sleep for only about 30 minutes or so. The next thing I knew, everyone was awake and making a lot of noise. I looked at the clock and I had slept for about 1 1/2 hours. Autumn said that everyone was fine and as they woke up she gave them a snack and something to play with. She figured I needed my sleep. Well about five minutes down the road I passed a huge billboard that said, "Women, don't hitch hike on the Highway of Tears. Killer on the loose." At the bottom, it had pictures of 2 victims. That freaked me out a little, but I was glad that I had decided to sleep when I did. Had I seen that billboard before I napped, I would not have pulled over, and I really needed to. We drove all day until about 9:00pm only stopping at rest stops to go to the bathroom in "Big stinky holes" as April called them and to get gas. Cody had gotten us plenty of drinks and snacks, so we didn't have to stop for food.
       The next day, we were back at the US-Canada border by about 10:00 am. It was pretty fun to see how excited my children were that we were going back into our own country. They did make the comment that "People from Canada are almost just like us." We got to Seattle and decided to take the ferry, the traffic on I-5 was horrible. I had told my family not to worry about dinner for us because I figured that we would not get there until late that night. OOOPS. We were taking the 3:00 ferry and that would get us to my dad's at about 4:15. I called and let them know that we were almost there, but that if they had other plans they did not need to worry about us. My dad met us as we got off the ferry and took the girls in his car with him. We works right next to the ferry terminal. That night we had dinner at the lake.
       We spent the next two weeks at Misty's house or my Dad's house. It was a lot of fun just hanging out doing nothing. We got the car fixed and getting a rental car from them was interesting. I was taking my mini-van in to get work done, so the dealership was giving me a rental. As I was at the counter to get it I said, "I have four children, two of which have to be in car seats." The guys said, "Oh, all I have are small compact cars that hold 4." Give me a break. I am taking a minivan in. They are a dealership, they should have something comparable to let me use. They ended up having to rent a small SUV from Enterprise.
      At the end of the Washington part of the trip, we got to go to Amber's place to see her little boy get baptized. It was good to get together, and my brother, Clinton's family was there (minus him and one of his daughters.) More time spent with more cousins, and my children were loving it.
      Next came the trip to UT. Somehow losing that hour crossing into ID killed me. It was a long day with a lot of driving, and I was tempted to stop and not make it all the way there. Grandma Nelle came to the rescue. She and Tenny (Cody's sister) drove through Logan Canyon to drive my van the rest of the way for me. It's only about 45 minutes, but I hated that canyon in the day when we lived there, so I was really thankful I did not have to do it at night while I was dead tired. At Nelle's house we got to play at the beach and see all but one of Cody's siblings and their families. Tenny and her girls were there, and Mac and his kiddos came up. Zeb and his friend played with us as well. The girls also got to ride horses and Abby decided to change her name to Cowgirl Abigail Davis. She has a love of horses.
       While we were there I checked my e-mail and noticed that I had gotten an e-mail from the college telling me that if I really was going to be gone until September they would have to consider someone else for the teaching position because class started Aug 28th. I frantically e-mailed back that I could come home early and would be happy to. We were going to the beach, so Cody kept checking my e-mail for me and would call me when they had e-mailed another question so I could tell him what to say in reply. This was a Friday and they were going to make the decision by Monday, and if I were hired, I would have to be back home the following Monday. Monday I got a call and they offered me a job. This meant some quick change in plans. For we still had Cody's dad and grandparents to see, as well as a trip to Lagoon.
      So, in two days, we saw, two sets of Grandparents, went for a short visit to Temple Square, visited Cody's Dad, went to the church Distribution center, and went to Lagoon. It was a crazy two days, but I'm not sure I would have been forgiven had I not gone to Lagoon. These change of plans also meant that I would not get to take my kids down to BYU or go to Colorado and visit the relatives there. That was sad.
      After that, we started back on our way home. The drive from UT to Washington was much easier, and we made it back in time to have Birthday cake with my dad. The next day was "Misty wear out the kids Day". She played with them while I vegged and repacked everything.
      Our trip back through Canada was uneventful, and I did not stop on the side of the road to rest. We stopped in one town and played at a park, then as we got close to Prince Rupert, I remembered that the ferry leaves there Sunday afternoon as well. So, I was hoping we would get there in time to catch that ferry instead of waiting for our the next morning. We did not make it, we got there about 20 minuted too late. Had we only not stopped and played or got stuck with the police man behind us. Oh well, we went and found the little tiny church building and played in the grass until it was time to go get in the ferry line to sleep until 4 in the morning.
       It was great to be home. As we were puling into Ketchikan the girls were looking and saying, "I see Dad's work." "Look, there's Safeway." "Hey, there's our church." (The funny thing about that one is that you can't actually see the church, but it has a communication tower across the street, and whenever April sees the tower she says she can see the church.) Cody was waiting for us when we got off, and everyone wanted to ride with DADDY, so we traded cars.
I had a meeting that afternoon for work, and then I got to just relax. It took me a few days of relaxing before I felt relaxed. Then Cody left to go elk hunting, and I was alone with the kids again. (Not so relaxing)
       All in all, it was a crazy trip, but it was a lot of fun. The time with family is precious and I only wish we had more of it.

Misty's job: Wear out the children

On our way back home, we drove to WA and spent a day at Misty's house so it was not three days straight in the car. She told me that I could relax and she would wear out my children for me. She took them to a Primary Activity and they had fun. At the end of the day they were just falling asleep wherever they were. She really did wear them out for me. She took these pictures, and they are even on her blog, but how could I finish my trip without posting them here?
And it's not like they were staying up too late and fell asleep, they all just crashed doing whatever they were doing. And NO, we did not pose Autumn and Abby for this picture, they just happened to be almost symmetrical.

Lagoon

Autumn was crushed when I got my job and heard we were going to have to go home early.  Part of that was because she thought we would not be able to go to Lagoon.  We made it there though, and had an absolute blast!! We went with 2 of Cody's cousins and their children and Aunt Shay. We had to leave to go visit grandparents, but then Aunt Shay and Uncle Frank took Autumn and Abby back for a few more hours until everything closed down. They had a lot of fun playing with their cousins. In fact, when it was time to go, no of the cousins were happy that their time together was over. Autumn got to go with the bigger kids and ride some of the bigger rides. It was hard to get pictures of her, so they were just posed.

April and Aleah
Aunt Shay and Autumn
April and Stacy
North and Jared
Nathan and Aleah
Abby & North
Abby and Emma
Autumn
Thanks guys for the wonderful time.

Grandpa Bruce and Mama Rhonda

After temple square we went to visit Grandpa Bruce and Mama Rhonda.  After visiting for a while, Abby politely told Mama Rhonda that she should start making dinner.  They decided to take us out for dinner instead and the girls were all excited when Grandpa suggest McDonalds.  After dinner, we went back to their house and North had a blast playing with the dog, George, and his fishing pole.  We were glad that we were able to spend time there. (I have a picture of the kids and grandma and grandpa, but it will not post.)


He is his father's son. This fishing pole was in the toy cupboard at Cody's Uncle's house. North grabbed it and took it around with him all day long. He took it into Deseret Book and was not happy when I did not let him take it around Temple Square with us. After running around and playing he went over to the chair and just sat down and held the fishing pole like he was sitting on the edge of a dock fishing. It was sooooo cute.

Temple Square SLC

We went to see temple square. The girls wanted to touch the temple and see where General Conference is held. They had a lot of fun. April and North were  "done" having their picture taken by then.   Autumn was excited to get a new set of scriptures with her name on them. We even got to go on the roof of the Conference Center.

This is us and the Salt Lake City Temple.  (One of the only pictures of me from this trip.)

Here are the kiddos in front of the temple then just outside of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

The whirlwind - Getting a Job

The plan was to spend the month of August in Utah visiting family. However, I had applied for a teaching job at the college here. I got a call one Monday and they offered me the job. The only thing was that I had to be back in Ketchikan the next Monday, and I was driving. It is a 30 hour drive to Prince Rupert and then a 6 hour ferry ride. So my three weeks to visit everyone turned into 2 days. We got it done and even spent a day at Lagoon. Grandma was sad to see us go and not have the hope of us coming back like originally planned.

Horses

Abby loves horses - especially Papa Mel's horses. Mel was not up to par, so Abby never even asked to ride them. However, when the opportunity arose to ride a horse or two, Abby jumped at the chance. She rode bare back and with a saddle. All the girls got to ride on a horse as it was led by Uncle Leo (Ellen's brother who was up) North missed out because he was asleep. Somehow I lost the picture of Autumn riding.


After all the horse riding, Abby told me she wanted her name to be Cowgirl Abigail Davis.

Dance Party

We were at Grandma Nelle's house for Raspberry Days. Part of the festivities was a Family Street Dance. Tenny and I decided we'd take the girls to it; North was already asleep. She got everyone ready, and I took them to the dance party while she finished getting ready. We got there and April insisted we dance on the road instead of the grass - because it was a "street dance". They had a blast dancing, but by the time Tenny got there, the two little girls were ready to go home. By the end of the dance, only Tenny and Autumn were still standing. The others fell asleep on my lap.

Bear Lake

We drove from Misty's house to Ellen's house in one day. That was a long day. I forgot to take into account the time change, and by the time I was still around 2-3 hours away, I was tired. Luckily, Ellen decided to come and rescue us in Logan. She and Tenny (Cody's sister) drove and met us in Logan. Then Ellen drove my van through the canyon to her house. We got there around midnight, and I was glad to be there.

The next few days were filled with fun at the beach. The kids had a blast. We put lots of sunscreen on, and still got a little too much sun. It was fun to Play with Tenny and her girls, Zeb and his friend, and Grandma.

They played in the sand,

rode the sea-doo,

enjoyed the water,

and just had fun.


Here's some more of the fun we had.

How Far Back Can You Remember

With much thanks to my sister who tagged my sister who tagged me. (Yeah right.)

20 years ago...
1- I got to play with the high school band as a junior high student at Clinton's graduation.
2- I blacked out playing soccer.
3- A girl in my class had leukemia and our school did a fundraiser "Project Sunshine" for her.

10 years ago...
1- I celebrated my first anniversary.
2- I was pregnant with Autumn.
3- Cody and I lived near Bear Lake.

5 years ago...
1- We started our adventure here in Alaska.
2- I saw my first black bear getting into our garbage and caught my first salmon.
3- I cried as Autumn got on the bus for her first day of Kindergarten. (okay, so that was only 4 years ago)

3 years ago...
1- We had a Dodge Family Reunion in UT and got to visit Cody's family as well.
2- I became pregnant with North (although we didn't tell anyone until week 18.)
3- I was very busy with three little girls running around the house.

1 year ago...
1- I roasted in Arizona at my cousin Maile's wedding. (Actually I didn't roast too bad, the dry heat was nice.)
2- We had fun fishing with Mel and Ellen. (Mel caught a 200 pound halibut on that trip.)
3- My friend Vicki moved here.

So far this year...
1- I drove from Alaska to Washington to Utah and back to fix the van and visit family.
2- I took all my children to Lagoon with some of Cody's cousins.
3- I got a job teaching a math class at UAS Ketchikan. (I start next week.)

Yesterday I...
1- Cleaned my kitchen.
2- Watched the US Women's beach volleyball team win their second Olympic Gold Medal.
3- Enjoyed being home.

Today I...
1- Will cook a roast for dinner.
2- Hopefully will find out how much I will be making at my new job.
3- Will probably clean my house some more.

Tomorrow I...
1- Will play with the kiddos.
2- Will work on my classes - the homework schedule for the math class I'm teaching and do some assignments for the education class I'm taking.
3- Will send Cody to Idaho to go hunting.

I am choosing not to tag anyone this time.  :)

Accident Prone

"Is April just accident prone?" is a question we got several times on this trip. She was constantly tripping over herself and falling, sometimes all on her own and other times with a little help from others. To list some of the "accidents" she had: She fell at the park across the street from Misty's house and scraped her knee, elbow, and hip; she had a run-in with my dad's drive way and scraped he face and her knee again; she got a "sliver" in her big toe at some time and pointed it out to us at Amber's house, but when we finally got it out, it looked more like a thorn; she got her finger shut in the car door; added to these, she was constantly tripping and falling.

In response to the question, "Is April accident prone?" I often responded, "Well, she is the only child we have taken to the ER, and she has already been twice."

So much for getting a family picture taken on this trip.

Her face:


Her knee:


Her elbow:

Getting the cousins together

At the end of our time in Washington, Amber's son was getting baptized, so we all headed down there. My brother's wife, Jenny and their children were close for a family reunion with her family, so she and four of her children came up as well. The cousins sang at the baptism. Afterwards, we all went back to Amber's house and ate and played. My dad made a rocket launcher that he brought with him. It is made from PVC pipes, an air compressor, sprinkler valves, batteries, and switches. He saw one made at a park elsewhere and made one himself. While we were at my dad's house, Autumn enjoyed helping him make it. The rockets are made out of card stock. All the kids, both little and big had a blast playing with it. We took the opportunity to take pictures of the future missionaries in the family that were there and a picture of all the cousins there. We only wished Dawn and her kiddos and Clinton and their other one could have been there. That would have made it complete.

Marine Science Center

On a different day we went to the Marine Science Center and looked at the tanks they have there. They have volunteers that show the children the sea life and explain things to them. My children had fun with their "buddies". I was a little disappointed though. When I was young, they had a tank that I was able to put my hands and arms in and pick up star fish, sea urchins, and many other animals. My children were only able to touch the animals their "buddies" got out of the tanks with two fingers. I guess the new system is much nicer to the animals.



North and Tyler "hanging" out together at the science center



I'll add more pictures here in a day or two, but the computer is being funny right now.

Waterfront Park

We got to enjoy time with Misty during the day while my parents worked, and we often got to keep Joslyn from daycare to come play as well.  One day we went to the waterfront and played at the "beach". We had had fun playing together.

At the waterfront, Autumn collected crabs to bring to North and Tyler who were stuck in their strollers. She brought small live ones, and then larger shells of dead ones.



North did not like them at all. I think it is because he has been on crabbing trips in AK while the larger live crabs were crawling around on the floor of the boat. Tyler wasn't scared at all and even thought they would make a nice snack.



Meanwhile, the other girls enjoyed turning over rocks and finding crabs and anything else hidden underneath.





After playing with the boys, Autumn decided to make a seaweed mountain. They topped it off with crabs and a star fish leg to make a face.