California reunion 2013 #4 (Friday - Sunday)

 We left for St. George friday morning around 9:00.  We drove for 2 1/2 hours then had our lunch at the Griffith Observatory near L.A.  That's the Hollywood sign behind us.

 It would have been fun to spend a whole day here, there was a lot to look at and learn.

 We got on the road again at 1:30.  The rest of the way to Las Vegas was very busy with traffic - lots of people going to have fun for the weekend I guess.  It was very stressful driving for me, especially for me being a passenger.  You just don't know when the driver is going to slow down or stop.  Doug is a great driver, but he was just being more aggressive than I would like.  I would see the cars slowing down ahead of us, and I would grab onto the handle on the ceiling of the van and tell him to slow down -which he would have, but it was just too abruptly for me.

We stopped in Barstow around 3:30 for gas and a bathroom break but it was so frustrating, we had to go to three different places to find a working bathroom.  We tried a park to let the kids play, but they didn't have one, then we went to a grocery store- they were broken, ran into a Payless - they didn't have one, then found one at a gas station but had to literally wait 15 minutes for a guy to finish his business.  That quick stop was not as quick as we had hoped - sigh- love traveling.

We stopped in Primm for dinner (just before Vegas) and got through the construction near there and traffic was better after that.  We got to my Aunt Shelly's around 10:00 pm ( another 11 hour day traveling).

We took a day for ourselves in St. George so we could break up the driving.  So in the morning we went miniature golfing and played at the arcade.  It was hot, but we still had a fun time - hey I got a hold in one!

 After lunch and naps we met up with a family that we knew from Vernal.  They moved to St. George a year ago.  It was fun to visit and let the boys play together.  -Tyler didn't want his picture taken,

 But he did if it was just of him - love that boy :)

 Charity Smith - expecting her 6th, soon to have 5 boys and 1 girl.  I don't know how you'll do it Charity.

We left Sunday morning by 8:00.  Damon woke up sick with a fever and he slept most of the way home.  He threw up once, but handled it well with a ziploc bag.  By this time we were all so tired of being in the van.  The girls would be grumpy and there isn't much we can do for them.  We watched a lot of movies and let the boys play a lot.  Some would sleep, but usually not everyone at the same time.  Once everyone was asleep except for Kaylee - she was fussy and no one was there to help her, so she got to watch Baby Signing time by herself.  We were making pretty good time, but we had to slow down for construction and a blow-out diaper from Jenna.  It was a great sight to see Denver as we pulled through the canyon and saw the plains.  It was amazing how flat it was looking out.  This was my first trip going on I-70 - the canyon is very pretty and the tunnels are very cool.  It was another 11 hour day traveling - so good to get home and sleep in our own beds.  We put everyone down later since they all slept in the car and amazingly they all slept in the next morning - it was great.

Thanks for the great reunion everyone.  So many fun memories with such a great family.