Idaho Day 6 and away we head to Home

Jon and I woke up at 5:30am this morning to start packing the car for our long car ride back home. Last night I was getting things out of the car when I pulled the wipes container out of the trunk it was frozen solid. How funny! I never worry about that stuff in Wa. W turned the car on to warm it up and loaded the car and when we finally got all the kids in the car and ready to leave this is what the temperature read in our car it is actually 7:15am 7 degrees brrr! and as the drive went on

8 minutes later the temperature dropped to 3 degrees! Craziness, I will take 45 degrees and rain any day over the bitter freezing cold. It eventually warmed up as we we going along to like maybe 25 or so.

The kids were kept entertained by there Christmas gifts they brought with them and the portable DVD player. We bought chains because of the time of year we were driving in and passing through the Blue Mountains in Oregon bare and dry. We were making really good time but the kids and Jon and I were getting hungry so we used our trusty GPS to find an eating establishment and we stopped in Kennewick at the good Old Country Buffet. Good for us and the kids. I love those places because of the salad bar. When everyone was full we headed back for the drive home. By the time we got to Ellensburg flashing lights on signs indicating freezing rain/sleet/snow winter driving conditions etc.. We hit the top of the pass and it was scary 35mph driving and crystallized pretty dangerous stuff falling on the road. Lucky for us it was only for 5 miles. We headed down the pass got on Highway 18 and made it home at 7pm. We unpacked the car and found a bazillion pieces of food. We could have fed the whole neighborhood not sure if they would eat it but we could have. Even though we went for a funeral it was so nice to see family and it is times like this that I wished we lived a little closer to Jon's family. Jared, Taylor and Isaac had a blast playing with their second cousins. I am just glad we made it home safe without even having to use the $85.00 changes we bought.

Idaho Day 5

Today is the Funeral and the temperature at 9:35am (we left our clock on Wa time) is 12 degrees people, Brrrrrrr! We headed to the church building for the service and it was a really neat funeral service. Jolene gave the life story (Jon's Aunt) of her mother and in the end Amy Belnap (Jon's cousin) gave her Facebook quotes that the family had written and I had held it together pretty well until Jolene shared the part about Taylor and the wand.

Jon and I told the kids that their Great Grandma Hunsaker died and my 2yr old looks at me and says, "Why did great grandma die? and then my princess Taylor told us that she is giving her something to put in her casket her Tinkerbell wand. My little girl sure did love her. Amy Belnap's comment. Keep this story somewhere safe.... then when's she's 15 it will remind you why you keep her around. :) What an amazing understanding little children have. In fact, the primary lesson today was on how each one of us is a prince or princess to a King. I can totally see grandma choosing Taylor's Tinkerbell wand over a real wand any day. She was just like that.

When we arrived at the cemetary boy was it cold! There were 12 ball bearers. Six at the church and six at the cemetery. Jon was one of the grandsons at the cemetary

The beautiful casket and spray of flowers.

Some of the family huddled under the tent trying to stay warm.

Lynn (Jon's Uncle) gave the dedicatory prayer and it was nice and short because we were all a freezing out there.

The top of the box that the casket will go in.

The grandsons putting there flowers on the casket.

Mike and Katie huddling together in the cold.

Isaac stayed asleep the entire time at the cemetery. After this we all headed back to the church for the lunch the relief society put together for us all 150+ family members to feed.

After the food we took the kids back to Bob and Sara's to change clothes and then we headed back to Great Grandpa's house to hang out with family. And this time it was Taylor's turn to drive.

Isaac hamming it up for the lens.

Grandpa/Papa with 3 out of his 5 grand kids.

Isaac, Taylor and Madeline up to something.

Mike and katie snoozing away after there long drive ti Idaho the day before.

We then decide to take family pictures. All the grand kids with Great Grandpa and Grandpa/Papa

the silly one.

4 generation picture with the boys

Megan making Isaac an angel.

and the girls.

Idaho Day 4

After Jon and I worked out this morning (yes people I brought my DVD Last Chance Workout with me and my hand weights) we headed to hang out at Great Grandpa's. The kids were busy playing Tea Party in the kitchen.

And since we are out in the middle of nowhere we let the kids drive up the long driveway to Grandpa's house. Jared in deep thought and

concentration.

Tonight was the viewing of Great Grandma and I had forgotten to bring an extra skirt and Jon forgot his belt so we headed over to the local Snake River Plaza and found them at JcPenney. We went home to get changed and then stopped at McDonald's on the way to feed the kids. When we arrived there was so much family and it was nice to see people. Jon's cousin Brian K was there and the last time he saw Jon and I was when he got married and Jon and I were LARGE and in charge. I went up to him to say hi and he looked at me with a blank stare. I finally had to say Heather Jon's wife. He looked and said, "Holy Crap"! I guess I look quite different to say the least after that Jon and the kids and I went to the casket and Taylor put the wand in a tucked it beside her. She looked so peaceful. I guess the hardest thing today was to watch Great Grandpa shed tears for his bride of nearly 70yrs. This February they would have had there 70th wedding anniversary. The kids had fun playing with there cousins and Nev and Taylor reunited once again. It was so cute. At one point towards the end of the night we were looking for Taylor and Nev and I found them in the bathroom and I said to Taylor, "What are you doing?" she said, "I was supervising". How sweet!

Idaho Day 3

The kids hanging out on Uncle Bob's chair watching a movie.

Isaac making cute faces watching the movie.

Self portraits with Jared.

Taylor looking as cute as ever.

More self portraits with Taylor and me.

This day wasn't to eventful except heading to the local Walmart to help Great Grandpa buy a new TV. The kids had a blast running around and the coolest thing about the Walmart there was that they had a section with church movies and books and I even found stickers with CTR on them the temple and more. After that we headed to Perkin's for lunch. I had the salad bar with a chicken breast. So far so good with my eating habits being away from home. Jon and I actually worked out this morning for 45 minutes and it felt great.

Idaho Day 2

Being i nthe car for awhile is obviously not Taylor's thing. Hmm can you tell by the look on her face? At one point I turned around and she had her shirt off and wrapped around her head but we won't be showing that picture it is a little to revealing. Isaac out again.

And Jared with the portable DVD player.

Then Taylor hit the somber land with Jared still WIDE awake.

We finally arrived at about 6pm Idaho time. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay with Jon's Uncle Bob and Aunt Sara. We settled in there unloaded the car and headed over to Great Grandpa Hunsaker's to visit and to see Papa as well. He flew in Sunday morning so the kids were sure excited to see him but kept constantly asking, "Where NeNee"?

I love this picture! This actually turned out really good. With all of them smiling.

Unexpected road trip to Idaho Day 1

Jon and I had known for a while that his Grandmother Irene Hunsaker had been in and out of the hospital for the last couple of years and we would get the call that she wasn't doing to well and then the call would come that she was on the mend. Finally the call came late Friday night that she had passed away at 88 years of age. I am so glad that the last couple of summers we were able to go visit and let the kids get to know her. She fell in love with Taylor. This picture was taken the summer of 2008.

We talked about Jon just going and flying because of the weather conditions but we decided to drive and take the whole family. Saturday morning we told the kids that their Great Grandma Hunsaker had died and Taylor said that she needed to give her something to place on her belly. She was going to give Great Grandma her Tinkerbell wand because she got a new wand for christmas. We explained to her that if she gave it to her she wouldn't get it back, she said I know. So it was decided we packed up on Saturday did some last minute snack shopping and loaded the car Sunday morning to head out on our LONG drive. To break our drive up going there we stopped in Pendelton, Oregon to stay with Jon's cousin Wade and his wife Laura and there two boys and three foster kids. Surprisingly with 8 kids it was fairly calm. I wish I had taken pictures because Taylor had a blast playing with there foster daughter Nev. They were even generous enough to feed all of us Sunday dinner.We woke up the next morning packed everything back up and hit the road to Idaho. Here are the kids happy as clams in the PJ's hanging out.

Taylor excited about something, Isaac playing with Elmo and Jared guzzling water. Let's just say we got aquainted with quite a few rest stops along the way.

The driver in deep thought.

And the self portrait of me.

After we had left Oregon Isaac zonked out.

Janitor in Training

My little one loves to imitate anyone in the household and lately he likes to do what I do. This last week I was on my hands and knees scrubbing both bathroom floors and he thought he would take a baby wipe to clean the kitchen floor.

So proud of his good job!