Road Trip

Evan had a week off of school (spring break) and we decided it would be fun to drive to Utah and visit family and friends who we don't get to see that often. So, Monday morning (March 24th...Monday after Easter) we hopped in the car and drove from Spokane to Logan, UT in only 11 hours. Sam did sooooooo good! He is a super traveler. We kept him busy with his books. The key was giving him some variety. He knew when we'd try to recycle a book too soon. He'd say, "No...No..." and we'd give him a new one (a book he hadn't had in a few hours) and he was a happy camper. Nice. Sometimes they'd even put him to sleep...an added bonus. :-)

We spent the first few days in the Logan area visiting relatives and spending time at "the cabin." My extended family built a cabin on my Grandpa's old ranch land. It's beautiful there and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We saw many of my aunts and uncles and cousins that live in Cache Valley as well as Evan's aunt and uncle. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the people we saw, but I didn't. Oh well...next time. :-)

There's a swing at the cabin and Sam loved playing on that! He'd swing ALL DAY if he had his way.

This is my all time favorite picture from the trip. I just love Sam sitting on the old tractor with his dad. Man...they are such cute boys! I love them so much...

Of course Sam loved climbing the stairs at the cabin. He gets so excited about climbing up them. Aaahhh...such joy in simple things! :-)


On Wednesday morning we drove down to Salt Lake and met up with Evan's parents and Shelley and Kimball (Evan's Sister and her husband). Grandpa Thacker took Sam outside to play with the ducks. He was a little apprehensive about the ducks.

So, here's where I was a total slacker in the picture taking department. Wednesday night we drove down to Provo to hear Brian's (Evan's brother) Men's Chorus concert. It was an amazing concert and I so wish I would have taken a picture of all of us with Brian in his Men's Chorus suit. Darn. Again...Oh well, next time.

Thursday morning we met up with Brian for breakfast and then spent some time on BYU's campus. It was so fun to be there again. I forgot how much I love that place. So many happy, happy memories for me. It was fun for Evan and I to drive around Provo and walk around campus telling stories of our time at BYU. We also met up with some of Evan's cousins for lunch. It was a great day. Again, I wish I would have taken more pictures!

After lunch at the Cougareat we went to visit Uncle Bud and Aunt LaPreal and Aunt Marilyn (Evan's great aunts and uncle). They live in Provo and Evan's cousin Lori and her little boy Trayson came to visit too. It was fun to visit with them too. I DID take a picture here....Yeah!! Yeah!!

Thursday night my Aunt Nadine (my mom's sister) planned a big shin-dig at her house for many of my Nelson relatives. Gosh, it was so fun to see lots of my cousins who I haven't seen in a REALLY long time! Unfortunately, the only picture I took was of Sam with his second cousin Nathan. They were super cute eating dinner in their respective high chairs. Three cheers for Nadine for having TWO high chairs on hand!

Friday and Saturday night we stayed with Shelley and Kimball in Salt Lake. It was great to spend some quality time with them in their home. There is a nice spirit there and we felt lucky to be there. Again, I wish I would have taken some pictures of Sam with his Aunt Shelley and Uncle Kimball. Goodness, if there's one lesson I learned on this trip it's...take more pictures!

Friday night we had dinner with some of our Boston friends who now live in Salt Lake. It was so fun to see them. I had many roommates during my tenure as a single girl and Melyn and Jodi were two of the very best! For me, the term "roommate" is a term of endearment. My roommates are like family to me. I love them! Here's beautiful Jodi holding Sam.

When I lived with Jodi and Melyn one of our favorite desserts was "Diabetes in a Bowl." It's basically warm and slightly underbaked cookie dough with icecream and chocolate sauce on top. This time we changed it a bit and it became..."Diabetes in a Pan." We baked the cookie dough in a small cake pan (cookie bar style) and then put scoops of ice cream on top with chocolate sauce and all four of us (and Sam) ate the whole thing out of the pan. Oh my goodness...soooooo GOOD!
We had a great trip. I loved having Evan by my side 24/7. He's such a good husband...my best friend in the whole wide world! The three words I love to hear him say the most are, "I'll change him" and I got to hear those words a lot on this trip. It was great! I'm grateful we traveled safely and returned home in one piece. It's nice to be home again, but I'm already excited for our next vacation! :-)