Last Monday, July 7, I rented a Jeep Liberty and set out for Roosevelt with Steven, Emma, and Kevin. This is a big deal because, as you may remember from my previous blog, I don't do the driving on long trips. I do the sleeping! We stopped about every 2 hours to stretch, etc., and I had to stop twice to close my eyes for a few minutes. What I learned is that caffeine in Diet Coke takes time to work and makes me super-jittery!!! I didn't feel completely alert until we got there, and then I had the shakes real bad. For the trip home Dad gave me three Jet Alert tablets (200 mg caffeine each). I rationed them out by taking a half tablet every 2 hours, and I never did get sleepy or very jittery. Keep this in mind if you have trouble staying awake like I do.
We stayed for 3 days. It was the first time I had been back since Mom's death. It was a little strange; nothing was different and yet everything was different. Dad seemed okay, although he informed me that he thinks he has lung cancer. He told me that when he told Susan, my oldest sister, she started crying and he wished he hadn't told her. I didn't start crying. I told him I didn't know how to respond, so I would be like Scarlett O'Hara. "I'm not going to think about it today. I'll think about it tomorrow."
On Tuesday, we pretty much stayed around the house driving him crazy. Too much noise! On Wednesday, we went boating with my sister,
LouAnn, and her family. We had a blast! When I first got in the water, Emma and Kevin didn't want to get in. But after some coaxing, they finally did. Kevin had one hand on the tow rope and one hand firmly grasping onto me. When I tried to pry him loose, I realized his hand was doubled wrapped around the strap of my swim top. Needless to say, it's a good thing I was wearing a life preserver!
Steven and Tyler, my niece Camille's son, had a great time TRYING to get knocked off the tube.
LouAnn, Kevin (my Kevin not
LouAnn's husband, Kevin), and I had a nice, slow, relaxing ride. Kevin even pretended to fall asleep. Emma started getting more and more brave as she rode with Steven and Tyler, but after going over a big wave and having their arms smack against her legs, she decided she had had enough.
I rode with Camille and
Suelyn and the ride got pretty scary. I was saying, "Oh, man...oh, man!" and the girls started laughing at me saying I sounded just like their mom (
LouAnn). That made me start laughing hard, and then they started laughing even harder saying I laughed just like their mom. By this time I was laughing so hard I was crying. I think Kevin (
Heaton) thought we were having such a good time that he could go even faster, which made me say, "Oh, man!" even more, which started the whole thing all over again. It was
alot of fun!
That night I had my other sister, Joan, come over for dinner so I could visit with her, too. We had a nice time laughing and talking. Later that night, Dad and I sat in the living room and talked for about 2 hours. It was really nice. He showed me my grandmother's handwritten autobiography. I enjoyed reading it and learning a few things I didn't know. For instance, Clara Malinda Johnson Olsen (my grandma) had a sister named
Rebecca. I found that so interesting considering that Tara Malinda was named after Clara Malinda and she has a sister named
Rebecca also. Emma came looking for me and Dad started singing to her all the little songs that my grandma, Delora Caroline Wilkins Sullivan, sang to him when he was a little boy. It was such a tender moment. (And I don't mean that in a funny way, Tara!) I was really grateful that he took some time to make a wonderful memory for her and the boys.
The next morning, Thursday, he pulled out a book called
The Children's Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett and began reading silly poems to Kevin. One was about how "dogs are meant to bark and bite" and "lions and bears to scratch and fight" but children should never "tear each others eyes out"... or something like that! It was hilarious! I've really got to find that book.
We left around noon and headed for Provo. We stopped in
Heber to eat at Dairy Keen, our favorite place. In Provo, we picked up Logan who had been at baseball camp at
BYU all week. (He rode up on Friday with our good friends, the
Harrises.) He was sunburned, tired, dirty, but completely happy. He also looked older to me. Funny how that happens!
We stopped at a gas station in
Springville and Logan informed me that they were
sellin
g
Webkinz inside for $10 for the big ones. If you know about
Webkinz then you know that that's a great price! I decided to buy a beagle for Emma and a Little
Kinz tiger for Kevin. When we got back in the car, I realized that Logan had used the rest of his money to buy Emma a Little
Kinz alley cat and Kevin a Little
Kinz tiger, and himself a frog. Yes, that means Kevin got twin tiger cubs that day! Emma named her dog Buster and her cat Beatrice. Kevin named his twins, Ace and
Duece. (I think I spelled it wrong. It should be Deuce, but it can't be changed now. Oh, well.) I think that brings Emma's total to 9 and Kevin's to 4. Anyway, on with the trip...
We made pretty good time and the kids decided they couldn't wait to eat dinner in St. George, so we stopped in Cedar City. I thought I would stop at Panda Express, but I didn't tell them. As I
pulled around the corner toward Panda Express, Kevin blurted out, "Thanks for taking us to Panda Express!!" It was great.
The rest of the ride home was pretty uneventful and we were sure glad to be home. Like Dorothy says in
The Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home."
Emma is turning 8 on August 5th. She is so excited to be getting baptized. Her baptism is August 9th at 4:00 pm at the Warm Springs Stake Center for anyone who would like to come. She is also excited to be able to go to Activity Days now. We were invited to go last Tuesday, July 22nd, for a Mother/Daughter Spa night. They welcomed Emma to Activity Days and gave her a binder with a Faith in God for Girls book. Then all the moms and daughters got to choose a pair of flip-flops and jewels to decorate them with.
time ever to paint with nail polish. She did a pretty good job!
