Across the country in 15 days

Now that we've been home for almost four weeks, I figured it was due time to get this post finished. So sorry for the delay- this post is a long one.

It was a little over three years ago when Spencer (along with his dad) took our car on it's first cross-country trek. They slept at rest stops, fit in church history tours, visited with friends, and still made it from west coast to east in just 4 days, 3 nights. However, with two kids in tow, we decided to take our sweet time, and make it a family vacation never to be forgotten. And what a family adventure we had! Tropical storms, tornado warnings, car troubles, babies being born. . . yup, we experienced it all! The girls are now totally seasoned travelers. Read on for a more detailed account of our escapade. . .

The trek began on August 29th. Grandpa Al was the only one the girls managed to get a picture with before getting into their car seats.

With newly purchased portable DVD players, we were set for the next 53 hours of travel time ahead of us (and can I just say- best purchase ever)!!!

DAY 1- Sunday, August 29th

Left Camarillo at 8am

Arrived in Oro Valley, AZ (just outside of Tucson) at 4pm

Total time: 8 hours

Total miles: 537

We stayed at my parents time share resort in Oro Valley, AZ.

DAY 2- Monday, August 30th

We took full advantage of our 2 bedroom condo and spent the morning relaxing- we went to the gym, swam, layed out at the pool, and even did laundry! It was super nice knowing we only had a short drive ahead of us.

Left Oro Valley at 12:45pm

Arrived in Las Cruces, NM at 6:10pm (includes the 1 hour time change)

Total time: 4 1/2 hours

Total miles: 298

We checked into a Marriott there in Las Cruces (paid with bonus points- sweet)!

One of our nightly activities was coloring the map Spencer's parents sent us with to track our journey. Madi loved doing this, and I love having the map as a travel record. Thanks mom and dad for the great idea!

Day 3- Tuesday, August 31st

Left Las Cruces, NM at 8:40am

Arrived in San Antonio, TX at 6:40pm

Total time: 9 hours

Total miles: 593

Stayed with: Brewers

Day 4 & 5: Wednesday 9/1 & Thursday 9/2

It was great seeing the Brewers again (it'd been a long 3 1/2 month absence since our last reunion). We had two full days to play with them in San Antonio. Not being used to the heat and humidity yet, we chose to stay indoors as much as possible. But we did venture out for dinner at Rudy's and a boat tour of the Riverwalk (super cool), as well as a visit to the Alamo (definitely a must see:)!

No matter what we did, it was mostly just great being together. Oh how Madi and I have missed having our friends down the street. The girls had a blast playing dress-up (a new favorite thing for Madi), jumping on the trampoline, and Melissa even planned a Pinkalicious Party for Madi, Lexi and Lexi's friend Macy. SO much fun!

For quiet time: eating popcorn while watching Tinkerbell- could it get any better than this?!

My two princesses! This is Madi's "sweet face". She likes to put her hands up to her face which usually drives me crazy in taking pictures, but I actually like it here!

Day 6: Friday 9/3

After devouring more Texas BBQ with the Brewers, we left San Antonio Friday afternoon and headed north to Austin (a little over an hour drive). We got to the Oylers a little after 4pm. When Chad got home from work we headed out to dinner at The County Line. I loved this place- mostly for the live music outside and the masses of hungry turtles wanting to be fed!

Day 7, 8, & 9: Sat. 9/4, Sun 9/5, Mon. 9/6

We spent a fabulous Labor Day weekend with the Oylers. We kayaked, we swam, we laughed, we played, and we ate real good! It's always great spending time with some of our bestest friends and it was awesome seeing how well our kids got along. Madi and Cole are seriously two peas in a pod.

And Elle and Henry were completely adorable together.

I couldn't get enough of watching our kids interact and I'm super excited to watch them grow up together.

A few random pics from the weekend:

Henry enjoying every drop of his meal at The Salt Lick!

Our group of "serious" kayakers.

Elle's 2nd life jacket experience went much better!

Cole and Elle in their twiner outfits!

The Oylers sporting their BSU pride!

Capitol of Texas (under construction)

Monday afternoon (before the BSU game) we decided to head into the city to check out the stadium and capitol. We pulled in, turned our cars off, decided on going to get some ice cream, and then loaded back up- only to find that our car wouldn't start! Lovely! Car troubles are not the thing you want to deal with when on a road trip. Being a holiday, the best that could be done was have our car towed to a local Nissan dealership and then looked at the next day.

So we tried to dismiss the stress we were feeling and enjoyed our last night with the Oylers.

Day 10: Tuesday 9/7

Our car was fixed pretty quick- we got the call around noon that it was ready to go! A pretty penny was paid and we were on our way.

Left Austin at 1:30pm

Crazy drive- lots of rain, wind, and tons of traffic! The 213 miles took us 4 hours!

Arrived in Plano, TX at 5:30pm

We'd been talking to Clark along the drive, making plans to go up to the hospital (my sister-in-law had been there on bed rest the entire summer- 11 weeks). So you can imagine our surprise when we pulled up in front of their house and Clark comes out to tell us that JoSue would be getting wheeled in for delivery at 7pm!! Holy Cow! I guess the babies knew we were coming and wanted to make sure they got to see us (so I like to think:)! After reality set in, Clark headed up to the hospital. We brought a few things in, fed the girls, and then headed up to the hospital as well. We didn't want to get in the way, but I wanted to be able to see Jo and say hi before she went in. We got there in time to take a few pics. . .

Taken less than an hour before the babies arrived.

Suited up and ready to go!

Clark and Jo's Dad

We didn't stay for long. We drove over to the shopping center across from the hospital, got dinner for Spencer and I, bought some snacks for the car ride the next day, and then headed back. Spencer was sure they'd still be in surgery, but I'm glad I went back to check. When I asked the nurse about the Rudd babies she tells me they had just been wheeled down to the NICU!! WOW- that was fast!

Leah was the first to be born at 7:44pm

3 lbs 15 oz

Zachary was next

3 lbs 5 oz

And then Caleb

4 lbs 12 oz

It was incredible to be with Clark and Jo on the day of their triplets birth. I felt super lucky to be there- and the first of all siblings to meet our newest nephews and niece!

The babies already look different and have grown a lot. Leah and Zachary came home from the hospital this week and Caleb should be coming home tomorrow. It kills me to live so far away and not be able to be a part of these little guys lives. Luckily my amazing sister-in-law is great at keeping up with her blog and we'll be able to stay caught up with their growth and changes that way. Thanks Jo!

Day 11: Wednesday 9/8

Got up early, packed up the car, picked up flowers, and headed to the hospital. We spent the morning with Clark and JoSue, with a trip down to the NICU to see their babies one more time, and then were on our way.

Left Plano at 12:15pm

We drove through a huge tropical storm (wind and buckets of rain) the entire way (well, all but the last 2 hrs of our trip)! It was definitely our craziest day of driving. Hwy 69 actually shut down soon after we drove past it. Had to include the traffic report just for some factual backup on my story:

OKLAHOMA CITY — A severe thunderstorm packing heavy rain strong winds blew over a tractor-trailer rig, damaged structures and brought down electrical power lines Wednesday as remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine entered southern Oklahoma.

Durant police said a tractor-trailer rig driver was transported to a hospital after his truck overturned on U.S. 69 near Colbert. His condition was not immediately known.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said the highway was closed after a possible tornado or a microburst, strong downward winds from a collapsing thunderstorm, moved through the area about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Troopers say utility crews were trying to clear downed lines off the highway.

But when all the rain cleared, it made for a gorgeous sunset! Sorry, this picture doesn't do it justice- I snapped fast while driving past wide open hay fields.

We made it safely to Kansas, arriving at 8:40pm.

Total miles: 463

Total time: 8 1/2 hours

Stops made: 1

Day 12& 13: Thursday 9/9 & Friday 9/10

It was fun to finally get to see Shaun and Lindsay's new home and check out their area (which we absolutely love). Since the kids (minus Tyler) were in school most of the day and Shaun had to work, we just enjoyed hanging out with Lindsay and Tyler. Madi especially loved all the attention she got from Aunt Lindsay (who's pregnant with baby #5- due next month)!!

It's always fun spending time with cousins. Madi was on cloud nine the entire two days. Numerous times each day she'd tell me, "I'm having such a good time mom. I love my cousins."

Love the bandanas in these pics! We decided to go on an evening walk and it was a little misty. Madi had just got out of the bath and I'd put rollers in her hair. Brittany came up with the headband idea- genius! And they look so stinkin cute!

I love Madi's face in the picture below- mostly because it shows how happy she was just to be hanging out with her cousins!

Friday afternoon we were able to get together with the Walker family for an outing at Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. It was an awesome place (wish we had a farm like that here- I'd go back again and again). And it was tons of fun to see Matt and Chelsy and get our kids together. With all there was to see and do, the kids didn't get aquainted like I'd hoped they would. Plus, Madi was super tired (fell asleep on the 5 minute drive home), which of course equals cranky! But they had a great time together nonetheless.

Madi and Elle loved feeding the goats. They both even went into the fenced area to give pets and hugs!

Aren't these the cutest little tractors?! I thought it was a very fitting picture to take with cousin and friends from Kansas! :)

Friday night we left the girls behind (thanks Lindsay and Shaun) and went out on the town with Matt and Chelsy. It was super fun to hang out just as adults. And we couldn't have asked for better company. We went to dinner at Jack Stack and then grabbed some ice cream at a hip gelato cafe.

Day 14: Saturday 9/11

Left Overland Park at 8:30am

Arrived in Lexington, KY at 6:30

Total time: 9 hrs. (including time change)

Total miles: 601.6 (all on 1 1/4 tanks of gas)

Stops made: 2

We stopped taking pictures after leaving Kansas. I think by this point we were all really tired of being in the car, living out of suitcases, and just wanted to get home. I did love this last part of our drive though- the horse farms in KY were incredible and the leaves were already starting to change through West Virginia, making these last two days of traveling simply breathtaking.

Day 15- Sunday 9/12 - Last day of trip!

Left KY at 9:30am

Arrived in Virginia at 5:40pm

Total time: 8 hrs 10 minutes

Total miles: 525.3

Stops made: 1

Overall, my 1st cross country road trip experience was pretty awesome! Spencer drove the entire way. But don't even start the "oh, poor Spencer" comments, cause look at what I drove with at my feet the entire way. . .

Now do you see why he opted out of sitting shot gun?!?

I would definitely do a cross-country road trip again, but without the cramped conditions. I could have also done without the car troubles. But we'd love to see all our friends and family again. And I really did love all the time we got to spend together as a family.

BIG thanks to the Brewers, Oylers, Rudds, Terry's and Walkers for your incredible hospitality and for making our trip unforgettable! We love you all!

The Water Cycle

I taught Madi all about the water cycle last week and now none of us can get this song out of our heads.

Zoo, apple picking, and conference

Fall is here and I love it! I'd been wanting the temps to drop a little but then I hate how fast they fall (tomorrow's supposed to be a high of 59). I wish it could stay in the high 60's, low 70's for an entire month (or two). After a bunch of rainy days, Friday was gorgeous. I wanted to get out and enjoy it, so I loaded the girls up and went to the Zoo. It was a lot of fun- a nice change from our regular afternoon schedule. However, I was glad that I'd planned it so we could ride the Metro back with Spencer. By 5:30pm the girls were tired and it was nice to have a little help.

Saturday morning we got up early and went apple picking at Homestead Farm. Up until now we've always gone to Butler's Orchad, but we've definitely found a new favorite place. The apples were huge, juicy, and delicious; they provided wheelbarrows and buckets to help with hauling the apples (and kids); and they even had a whole kids area with animals to pet, hay bales to jump in, etc- all for free!! The only bummer of the morning was Elle getting stung by a bee. Luckily there was no reaction. She cried for maybe 30 seconds and then was fine (such a tough little girl)!

It was supposed to be a high of 68, so we all came wearing long pants and hoodies- which we all quickly shed!

That afternoon some of those apples were put into an apple pie!

Other highlights of the weekend:

1) Watching General Conference- not sure why I thought my girls would be quiet and drama free though. But the talks I actually heard were fabulous- leaving me uplifted and wanting to be more patient, more loving, more grateful, more supportive, and overall a better mom and wife. Luckily I have it all recorded and will be re-watching several talks in the mornings on my elliptical.

2) Joining the Musgraves (including Scott's parents and new baby Samantha) for dinner. Spencer brought over his apple pie (as well as a lemon pie he'd whipped up) for dessert.

3) Finding a huge Harry and David gift box on our front step with a note, "Welcome back home!" from our landlord. Isn't she awesome!!

13 and then 14 months

Where does the time go? Everyday Elle gets older and I get more annoyed with myself about not recording all her new tricks, quirks, and changes in personality.

I'd written down a few things about Elle when she turned 13 months but then never finished the post. Life got a little hectic, we drove across the country, moved back into our townhouse, and now she's 14 months old.

So, to jump back a month and a half ago. . . here's what I wrote and some of the pics I took of Elle during her 12th month of life:

Elle's such a busy little body these days. Sometimes I find myself getting frustrated with her desire to empty everything and get into everything, but then it's that huge adorable smile she'll flash afterwards that gives me a little added patience.

Not only is Elle obsessed with emptying things but she then loves climbing into the bucket, box, basket (or whatever it is that she emptied) afterwards. I never knew a simple basket could provide so many hours of entertainment.

Along with her desire to explore, Elle's obsessed with any and all animals (birds, dogs, cats, crabs, ducks, fish, etc). "Duck" was actually a new word this month.

She's also:

- almost walking (stands unassisted for long periods of time then takes a couple steps

- down to one nap on most days (usually 10:30am - 12:30pm)

- still only has 2 teeth

- not a big milk drinker (finishes maybe 1 sippy cup full a day) and prefers 2% over whole

- takes such good care of her baby- pats her back, gives lots of snuggles, hugs, kisses, etc.

- already developing food preferences- shakes her head "no" when offered food she doesn't want

- obsessed with sunglasses and putting them around her neck

- very determined

Elle's quite the fighter. She doesn't give up very easily. One morning (in Camarillo) while I was off on my run, Elle was at the front door playing with shoes while Madi was watching Dora. Madi looked up, saw Elle holding her flip flop, ran over and snatched it out of Elle's hand. In telling this story, Spencer was amazed at how quickly Elle belined it over to Madi and fought to take the flip flop back. In the end it was Madi who gave up.

I was glad I'd recorded all this because even just 2 months ago seems hard to remember. Right after Elle turned 13 months her two top front teeth came in and she started walking more. It was day 2 of our cross country trek when we checked in our hotel and Elle (probably sick of sitting in the car all day) walked across the room! Spencer was out getting dinner, so he missed it, but Madi and I were cheering for her. Elle ate up all the attention, and was thrilled to keep performing. She'd pop up, walk some more, and then with her hands up, give us a big grin- almost like asking for the applause.

Now, at 14 months old, Elle no longer crawls. She walks everywhere (and is very determined to do it herself). She's not as cautious as her big sister was at this age. Elle's actually quite the opposite. Madi was never one to climb onto things, get into stuff she wasn't suppossed to, and do things after I told her no. But Elle's got her own agenda. She climbs, she explores, she laughs when I tell her no, and loves scattering things around the house (usually in places I would never think to look). She's got a mind of her and will fight to have things her way. I learned quickly that I have to be tough with Elle. She's at the age where she totally understands what I'm saying, can respond with a shake or nod of the head, and needs to be held accountable for her actions.

Elle's already had to be in time out. Luckily it went over nicely. She sat where I told her to, didn't move, cried the entire time, then walked right over to Madi afterwards to apologize with a hug. It was a great moment for me- mostly just to see that she knew she did something wrong, was obedient with my orders to sit for one minute, felt remorse for being unkind to her sister, and fixed her action with a big hug.

It's good to be back in a routine with a regularly scheduled nap, same bedtime, and bed. I think Elle missed it. Now that she's down to one nap she's finally sleeping 12 hours (7pm-7am) at night (it'd been 11 hours up till now).

Elle's been having lots of fun exploring her new environment- probably too much fun. Last week of unpacking was exhausting. One day I climbed up to the attic to put a few things away while the girls were playing down below. When I turned around to come down, Elle was already half way up the ladder!!

Other things to note about Elle now that she's 14 months:

- Not sure if it's possible, but I'm pretty sure she loves babies more than Madi.

- She's got two teeth up top and two on the bottom with a few more coming in.

- She's becoming a lot pickier with her food preferences. Not sure what was going on this week, but she refused almost everything I gave her. Ahh... here we go again!

-Luckily she finally likes milk, but she also likes to stand at the fridge and whine for her sippy.

- As much as I work with her, Elle refuses to sign and she doesn't talk much. She's said words here and there, but doesn't use them consistently.

-Instead of talking, Elle likes to whine. She whines for her sippy. She whines for her binky. And she whines for her giraffe. Those are definitely her three comfort items.

We sure love our silly little girl!

Up and running

And I'm back! We finally have internet again. You'd think it wouldn't be such a difficult thing to get set up, but for some reason it took a whole TWO weeks to get figured out! At least we have cable now (came as a package deal- something I was initially against, but have been loving) which has provided me with hours of internet-less entertainment!

Updates will be coming in the next day or two. But for now here's a pic from the first day back in our old place (before our stuff arrived). Source of entertainment- a good rain storm (we've been getting a lot of these lately) and a bag of popcorn! Awesome!

Life as of now

Our stuff arrived a week ago. We still don't have internet yet (I'm posting this with the faint signal we're getting from someone else) which is a little annoying with all the posts I have yet to finish, and pictures I'd love to add. But we are moved in! It feels good. It was actually super nice coming back to our same place- makes putting things away that much easier. I feel like we have more space too. With Spencer not in need of an office anymore, the third bedroom is now solely Madilyn's. She loves, I love it!

Spencer's been back to work for a week and a half and couldn't be happier (or busier). He's got his own office now (with a window overlooking K and Connecticut!) and a blackberry=official grown up status! He would contest that. The days have seemed a little longer for me, probably since this week I was focused on getting unpacked, while entertaining my overly dramatic three year old (more to come on this), and cleaning up after my crazy one year old. I'm not yet used to being without Spencer all day long. I know I shouldn't complain about his work hours (I realize many see their husbands a lot less)- since they're bound to get longer, but it's been an adjustment. We drop him off at the Metro about 8:00am and pick him up at 7pm (I know, a totally normal work day. but remember we'd been on "vacation" as a family for 6 weeks before this).

I have so much more to say and tons of pics to post, but this will have to do for now.

We're home . . . literally

We got back Sunday night. It was quite the trip (more coming on our travels later). My cousin and her family lovingly offered us a place to crash (thanks Jenna and Jason- you guys are the best). Then Monday morning the house search began. Talk about exhausting!! We'd been looking at places on craigslist the past few weeks and had several appointments lined up. We turned an application in on a cute little house in Rockville- lots of space and a fabulous yard (play structure and all). We were excited about it, but still not sure since two other families had also applied. We then spent our afternoon looking in Alexandria, Virginia. We found one place in Alexandria that we thought would work for us. But truthfully, something just didn't feel right. I felt rushed and a little sick to my stomach thinking about the amount of rent we'd be paying every month for places we weren't totally sold on.

Monday night we got back to my cousins (and might I add what troopers the girls have been through these long long days and hours and hours spent in the car) and read an email from our old landlord saying she just received a call from the realtor who was processing our rental application on that house. She asked if we were moving back to the area and if we'd be interested in moving back in. She mentioned how she'd rather rent to us than anyone else and would be willing to bring the rent down "considerably". At first, we were not too wild about moving back to our old place (there is just something exciting about moving into a new home, the feeling of a fresh start...).

We decided to call our old landlord anyway, just to see what she had to offer. Her offer turned out to be an offer we couldn't turn down! She lowered our rent by quite a bit. In comparison to what we would have paid had we rented the house we were interested in, we are saving $600 a month! Muhahahah!! Now we can really put away a good chunk of change so we can buy our very own house in a year or so (and hopefully a bigger car too, which we desperately need!!) We got the keys this morning and officially unpacked our car for good. Our storage company is moving all our stuff back in on Saturday morning.

To make a long story short, WE ARE BACK! It was quite bizarre returning to a home we thought we would never return to, but we feel we made the right decision. We were really happy here for 3 years. This is the only home Madi and Elle have known and we made so many great memories here. And we are excited to make a few more!! So... we are happy, we are richer, and we are so glad we don't have to walk through another rental property... hopefully ever again!!

Along the Road

We've been gone for an entire week now and have stayed in 4 different places. A detailed report of our travels will be posted once be arrive in Virginia next Sunday- I just couldn't let the blog go undocumented. We left San Antonio on Friday (after a fabulous visit with the Brewers), and are now enjoying labor day weekend in beautiful Austin, TX with the Oyler family. We've eaten more than our fair share of BBQ (Rudy's and The Salt Lick to name a few) and are loving spending time with dear friends. Some of our labor day fun has included: paddle boarding on Lake Austin (Spencer & Chad), kayaking Lake Austin (all of us), playing at Zilker park, wadding in Barton Springs, relaxing at the pool, celebrating Ryann's 30th birthday (today), and staying up late playing games. Good times!

We head up to Dallas Tuesday morning, then onto Kansas on Wednesday, and arrive in Virginia Sunday night. We're still searching for a place to live- but that's a whole other story. SO much to look forward to!