company EIGHT: {too-yah part 1: the drive}

Jack-ism: Too-yah--The state just above Arizona and next to Colorado. ☺

We had been looking forward to our trip to Utah for months, but I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the drive there. We've taken plenty of long road trips before, and I our kids are good travelers, but this would be a first with six kids, and also the first time we would drive from Texas. From everything I had heard from friends that made the trip, the first day was the hardest...since it to the whole day just to get across Texas!!!

The big day finally arrived...we left super early in the morning, a little before 4am. We wanted to get our hours of driving in, so we could stop early at the hotel and rest before starting really early again. Can I just say that Texas is BIG??? It was 10+ hours before we saw New Mexico!! On the plus side, there wasn't a lot of traffic, and we were able to make good time. I sat in the middle back next to the baby, so I could feed her along the way, so we wouldn't have to stop quite as often. Ryan was pretty excited about being able to sit in the front with his dad, and have control over all of the electronics.

I have to say, it went really well. Better than I would have thought, which was a nice surprise. The kids watched a ton of movies, ate a ton of treats, and played games on the 5 billion electronic devices we have. Really. It was pretty barren through Texas, but beautiful in its own way. We totally laughed though, when we were driving through an area with NO houses...literally, we couldn't even see one house--but we saw an ENORMOUS football stadium. Totally Texas. The high school stadiums here are better than most mid-level college stadiums, and apparently that's true even in the middle of nowhere!

We stopped the first night in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, not too far over the border. We got in about 6pm, and had time to eat, relax, and get the kids down. The next morning came way too fast, but we just scooped the kids up and put them in the car. We were headed to St. George first, so we decided to go through the Navajo Indian Reservation to save some time. It was beautiful...and deserted. For 300 miles we mostly just saw scenery--not many people, and no cell service. Kate wasn't feeling very well, and it got to the point where we needed a bathroom right away. I was worried, because there were no towns to be seen, and it's not fun to be a girl and have to stop on the side of the road, especially when you're sick. But...lo and behold, we came around a corner and saw an LDS church, sitting all by itself on the side of the road. We were so excited! There was a big gate around it, but since it was Sunday, it was open. We drove in, and everyone was able to go in and use the bathroom and get a drink. There wasn't anyone inside the building, but when we came out, the missionaries were there. They were living in a trailer on the back of the property, so they had seen us come in. It was fun to talk to them and take a little break from driving.

After New Mexico came Arizona, and the gorgeous red rocks continued. It was feeling like home! We stopped at a huge bridge right at the top of the Grand Canyon to get out and stretch, and enjoy the scenery. We probably stayed a little too long, but it was much needed rest. After huge thunderstorms, and torrential rain for most of the rest of the day, we finally pulled into St. George that evening. SUCCESS!!! We were staying with one of Rick's brothers and his family, but another of his brothers was also there with his family to greet us. It was so good to be home. WE MADE IT!!!!

I packed SO much food!!