Its Over

I am finally home. I got back last night, and I was sure done driving for at least a week. But then tonight I had to drive to a church building kind of far for a church meeting. But at least I got to drive Matt's car. Not my van thank goodness.

I was planning on being home sooner than yesterday, but things came up that couldn't be ignored. At first I was going to leave on Tuesday. But my sister wanted me to stay so that we could do a little bit of book shopping together, and just hang out. So, of course I said I would stay. I love buying books. After we got home, about an hour or so later, we discovered that Andrew had diarrhea. Lucy had had it for a few days, but it wasn't too bad, and she was eating a ton of food and drinking. And of course, she is still in a diaper. So, poor Andrew wasn't feeling too good. Then about 11pm, I moved him from the living room to the hallway (he liked sleeping in the hallway. We couldn't figure out why) and he said that he didn't feel so good, and then proceeded to throw up on his pillow, his blanket, the floor and the stupid stuffed huge spider man that my MIL insisted on buying him. So, I wasn't going to be leaving on Wednesday either. He had toast and applesauce like crazy. And a banana too.

So, left on Thursday, and I got home last night. I had been gone for almost 3 weeks!! It was so nice to be with my sister and talk to her and discuss things. Last Sunday night we stayed up until 4 talking about stuff. And it was nice to be in California again.

I do not think that I will ever attempt to do that much driving again by myself for a while. Or ever. But it was worth it this time, and I may not have the chance to go back again for a while. Hopefully my kids have some good memories out of it.

I've got tons more to say, but its late, and I'm tired. I wonder if any of you are even still reading my blog? Oh well, even if no one but Shell is reading at least I get this stuff out of my system and I feel better at the end of the day.

Still alive

Hello all. I am still alive and still not home yet. I am just dreading the drive home. It is so boring. It is all desert and absolutely nothing interesting to look at. At least my kids get to watch movies, I only get to listen.

My week in California was busy and fun. Lucy had a fever on Monday, so we kind of stayed at home and didn't do much. Tuesday I drove all the way out to Beverly Hills to go to the Beverly Center. The H&M there was the closest with not only women's but children's clothing. I don't think I have ever seen so many high end stores in one place other than walking down the Champs Elysées in Paris. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Coach, and many others were in there. Felt a little out of place. But I got some great stuff!!

Wednesday we went to the LA County Fair. The kids got to see lots of animals and I got to eat my Hot Dog on a Stick with Lemonade, Cotton Candy and the cinnamon rolls that they always have. Yum.

Thursday was a bit of a this and that day. But that night my best friend and I got to go out to dinner by ourselves and then watch a movie without our kids. It was nice. Although she fell asleep before then end and I had to keep waking her up.....

Friday was a crazy day between packing, going to lunch with my dad, going to see Matt's dad and driving to my sisters. But we made it in one piece. Although tomorrow I have got to get some new windshield wipers for my car.

Yesterday my sister and I went to a Time Out For Women put on by Deseret Book. I would link it but I'm trying to type fast so that I can sit and talk to my sister for a while. It was great. I had another whole Saturday without my kids. I will go into more detail about it when I get home, but if you are LDS, and there is one coming near you, you should go.

I will be back at the end of the week with pictures, lots of opinions and some rantings. I don't know if I'll catch up on reading all of your blogs, but I'll try.

Later....

Update on our trip

We have been having a great time here. Friday we went to the restaurant that I worked at for four years. That was a lot of fun. My best friend, her two kids and her husband went with us. It was a bit of a circus, but the food was good. Lucy was the garbage disposal, eating her dinner, finishing Andrews, and helping one of my best friends boys to eat his food too. Not to mention her ice cream.

Saturday my FIL came to get my kids, and kept them all day. I went to the wedding, and it was so amazing to be without my kids for so long! My friend looked beautiful, and I got to be around adults for an amazing amount of time. Although when I start to talk about Europe, I get diarrhea of the mouth. I just can't shut up!! Need to work on that.

Yesterday we had a party for my kids birthdays. Matt's family came, and some of my family. They got so much stuff, I'm glad I didn't pack too much when we drove out here. Hopefully I'll have plenty of room.... My grandma brought a spider man cake, and he was really excited. I got to see some of my cousins too, and that was nice. I won't be able to see them for a while. North Carolina is pretty far to go from the west coast.

I will post pictures later. I'm on my parents computer, and I am not seeing a USB cable to upload pictures on. I'm luck I can even get online!!! This week is going to be busy! Lots of friends, family, and places that I need to go. I think today I'm going to go to a store called H&M. There are two fairly close by, and since I haven't been to one of those since Germany, I am way way excited!! Have a good week all, and I will catch up on reading you this weekend when I'm at my sisters house.

Bonne semaine!!

Nous sommes arrivés

We arrived at our first destination!!! I drove almost 1,000 miles all by myself with two kids. And I survived. Nothing exciting to report other than we did it. I am glad I won't have to drive anywhere tomorrow. I will probably not post very much while on my trip. Hopefully I will be so busy that I won't have time to type very much. But when I get back I will have a lot of pictures. We did see some lightning, but no rain. It was really cool, and it kept the kids occupied for a little bit. We watched a lot of movies, or rather they did.

Today once we got to my sisters, the kids had a great time playing with their cousins. They all were exhausted. It is nice to see my sister again. Have a good week everyone, and check back here and there.

GoodyBlog

I don't know if any of you have noticed a link I have called GoodyBlog. It is a blog associated with Parents magazine. It has giveaways, and all kinds of links to articles, and advice for parents and all kinds of other stuff. So (I'm not getting paid for this, just thought you all would like to know) head over there sometime. I find it interesting, and I'm sure some of you out there will too.

I know you won't believe it

There is another country in Europe that I am fascinated with. I know, you thought I was a loyal France lover. I do love love France. But I also love Ireland. I think it started with meeting someone from Belfast area while on my mission, and getting to know him a little. Then my last companion was raised in Derry. And after spending six weeks with her and hearing her stories of Northern Ireland, I was hooked.

Last October, the weekend before we flew back to the states, I booked a flight on my favorite European airline Ryan Air, and flew to Dublin. Took a bus up to Derry, and spent the weekend with my friend and her little family.

I would post pictures, but the computer place still has the disk (and the computer) with our hard drive information on it.

While I was there I saw how the curbs of the sidewalks were painted different colors so that you would know what part of town you were in, Protestant or Catholic. They had flags flying also so that you would know for sure where you were. We walked the old wall of the city of Derry. It was so cool. From there we could see Bogside, where Bloody Sunday occurred, and the sign that says "You are entering Free Derry". It was so fascinating to hear stories.

While I was in Germany, I was at our little shoppette that has a small book area. I found this book by Morgan Llewelyn called 1916. I picked it up, and read it and then bought the other two, 1921 and 1949. I LOVED them. They are historical fiction, and I love me some good historical fiction. This author has done her homework. They are so well written. There are of course some love scenes. I try to skip those and read the meat of the story.

I found a Half Price Bookstore here. Of course I go all the time. Unfortunately I have about 8 books in my room waiting for me to read as a result. But I didn't pay full price for them!!! Anyway, while I was there, I saw a book that had as its title 1972. I bought it, and I finished reading it last night. January 30, 1972 was when Bloody Sunday (the one sung by U2) occurred. It goes through the 20 or so years before this happened, and also what is going on throughout the world. I couldn't put it down. I am fascinated by the history and of what is still going on to this day in the North of Ireland. I have a whole different opinion of the IRA and the other groups in Ireland that are fighting for the Six Counties in the North.

I highly recommend these books. There is one more coming out in February of 2008. You can be sure that I will be reading that one too.

I figured it out

Last night I was turning lights off and getting ready for bed, when I saw another cockroach!!!!!!!!
I looked around for my shoes, which happened to be fairly heavy and would do the job well, when I saw it go for the front door, and go out through a small space underneath. So that is how they were getting in!!!!! Now I either have to call maintenance and tell them the problem, or figure out how to block it so that they stay out. Maybe it was those bug noise things that pushed this one out. Since I've gotten them, every time we find a cockroach it is in the same area, right by the front door. I'm pretty sure because of the angle of the rooms and where I had to plug in the bug things, that is the only place they could handle. At any rate, those bug repeller things are never leaving our house!! They will follow us everywhere we go.