Days 3 - 6

I was hoping to upload my photos so they could be included in this post, but we think Eva hid the camera's USB cable and none of our other 400 million USB cables fit the camera, so the photos will have to wait.

I also want to apologize to all of our friends in UT that we didn't get to see. We were only there for three days, and all three days were filled with family stuff. We seriously need to plan a longer trip out there so we can see friends as well! But not until we can either afford the 6 plane tickets or until we no longer have little babies - we are not huge fans of driving 21 hours straight with a one year old!

Thursday was Grandpa's funeral. They had a private viewing for the family before the service (which was actually a graveside service, not a funeral, that was held inside as early February in UT is cold). It was wonderful to see the room filled with Grandpa's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren (I believe he has 17 great-grandchildren, now 18 as the 18th was born the day after the service), and the other friends and relatives that came. The service was short, as he requested a simple service. Rob read his obituary then his bishop spoke for a few minutes. We finished outside and the Disabled Veterans gave Grandpa a 21-gun salute as he fought in WWII. Grandma was given the flag draped over the coffin in a very touching ceremony. Rob got to be one of the pall-bearers.

After the service, we all went over to Rob's Aunt Amy's house for a family lunch. We spent the rest of the day there, spending time with family. The older kids discovered the trampoline and the tonka trucks in Amy's backyard and had a blast jumping and digging up flower beds (upon discovering that is what they were digging up, I started to go out and stop them, but Amy and her husband pointed out that nothing is growing in flower beds in UT in February and they weren't hurting anything). Eva took a long nap on Rob's mother's lap.

We spent the evening at Brittney's house. We discovered that Brittney's dad, Roy, is a fan of Captain America, just like Jack. Roy and Jack put on their Captain America pjs and watched the Captain America movie (with the rest of us). It was nice to just sit and not have to think.

Friday was our last full day in UT. Rob's parents and sister Becca came over to Brittney's house that morning. Brittney and I went out to lunch and Rob, Becca, and his mom and dad spent time playing with the kids. Eva crawled up on Dad's lap and took a nap :) After lunch, Rob and his dad, and Rob's mom, Becca, and I drove out to Grantsville. Rob's other set of grandparents passed away about a year ago, 12 weeks apart from each other. They did not have a funeral, so Rob hadn't gotten a chance to say good-bye to them yet. We visited their graves and said our good-byes.

It was so weird being in UT and not staying with them. When we lived in ID, their house was a second home for us. We drove down about every month or so and always stayed with them. I'm so glad now that we took the time to spend that time with all of Rob's family in UT! I wish our kids could have gotten to have those experiences. We'll need to do a post about those memories so they're never forgotten.

Rob's parents and Becca headed off to their hotel and we drove home through Tooele. One of my very best friends from my senior year of high school, Justin, and his wife and family lives in Tooele and we were able to stop by for an hour to say hi. It was wonderful to catch up! We haven't seen them in 9 years.

Rob and I were able to spend some extra time with Rob's dad that night (Mom and Becca were out with family). We got take out from the Olive Garden and spent an hour or so in their hotel room just talking. We haven't gotten to see Dad since we visited OR in 2008 and probably won't see him again for a couple years, so we were grateful we got to see more of him! Fortunately Rob's mom will be out here in June, so we'll get to see her soon!

Brittney and I went out to Sonic one last time that night after we got home (she and I managed to go out every night we were there so we could spend a little bit of time together - I miss her!), then the next morning we packed up the car again. Eva decided at that point that she really liked Roy and spent the last few hours we were there happily curled up on his lap.

We drove home via the Southern route, stopping in Provo for a few hours to have lunch with my brother, Travis, and sister, Susie. Travis and I went and got Brazilian takeout and Sus and Rob took the kids to the park to feed the ducks and play soccer (and get out some energy). We had a wonderful time visiting with them and were so glad we got the chance to see them as it had been over a year since we had been able to! Susie gave the kids a pillow pet shaped like the BYU mascot (a cougar) named Cosmo, some bath toys for Eva (which we later discovered were left at her apartment), and gave us a game called bananagrams. Rob and I apprehended Cosmo for the ride home and he made it much more comfortable for us to sleep between driving shifts :)

The drive home was long. Very long. We have decided we do not want to be truck drivers. We made it home safely though around noon on Sunday. The worst thing that happened was that I got a speeding ticket in NM. My first in 13 years. Oh well :) The cop passed me just as we finished driving down a mountain and I was going 83 in a 70. He was really nice and dropped the ticket down to the lowest one he could. One ticket every 13 years isn't too bad! And as Rob stated, we're lucky as that was the worst thing that happened in 42 hours of driving :)