Mylie and Grandma's Excellent Adventure (and Mommy)

I know if I don't sit down soon and write this all out I will forget! Mylie, my mom and I just returned from a "most excellent adventure!" We drove to Iowa to visit my little sister Courtney who was about to have her first baby. We left Thursday, August 13th as Courtney was going to be induced on Friday morning. Mylie and I left Star at 6:15 a.m. to drive to Idaho Falls. We loaded up into Mom's car and drove until Ogallala, Nebraska. Yep, 1000 miles from Boise to Ogallala in one day. Mylie was awesome, really awesome in the car. She was content to listen to her headphones, color, read, and play dolls. We didn't even hook up the DVD player. Friday we drove about 700 more miles and arrived in Davenport. Courtney was still at the hospital, no baby yet. We stopped by the hospital and then I stayed in the waiting room and Mom and Mylie went to the hotel. Little Lila Kristine was born at 11:48 pm and weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long. She is such a beautiful baby with lots of dark hair. She now shares the same birthday as Jeff.


On Saturday, since they were still in the hospital, we decided to drive to Nauvoo for the afternoon. It is about 2 hours away from where Court lives. Nauvoo is a church history site for the Mormon church and has the original buildings of the early members of the church who lived there in the 1830-1840s. It was so neat! We were only able to stay for a few hours, but it was so beautiful to see the Temple and to visit some of the sites. Earlier this year I read the "Work and the Glory" series and it was amazing to see all the places I had so recently read about. I was amazed, intrigued and brought to tears... mostly at the same time. Mylie learned how to make rope, bread and horseshoes, just like the pioneers did. On the way back we drove through Carthage and were able to see the Carthage Jail.

Sunday, we went across the Mississippi River to Moline, Illinois and had lunch and visited the John Deere Museum (and gift shop for Blake). I know I am from Idaho, but I am not a farmer ... Holy COW! I cannot believe the size of some of the farm equipment. So huge. Court and baby Lila were released from the hospital that afternoon so we spend the rest of the day ooohing and awwwing and loving on that baby.

And so went the rest of our week. Lila is so adorable and Courtney is doing such a great job. It is a neat thing to watch someone you love so much become a mom. Becoming a mom is such an amazing thing. I know that Courtney will do an amazing job. Lila is a lucky little girl. Bailey flew in on Thursday and it was fun to all be together for a few days.

Overall, Mylie did a good job while we were there. I tend to think of her as older than 4, and expect more from her than a 4 year old. I need to work on that. She had fun loving on her new cousin, playing in Courtney's front yard, playing with Uncle Jason, helping Mommy and Grandma cook, taking baths in the jacuzzi tub at the hotel, taking pictures of everything to show Daddy and Blake, and having an adventure!

Blake did great while we were gone. Jeff is the best ever. He really is. Alicia/daycare was on vacation the same week we were gone, so Jeff used a good chunk of his vacation and he and Blake lived the bachelor life. The 2 days he had to be at work, my friend Melissa kept Blake for the day. I was very hesitant to be away from Blake for so long, but knew he was safe and loved and had lots of fun while we were gone. We would talk to him on the phone everyday and then most days talk to him on Skype (video conferencing). In total we were gone for 11 days. That was a long time to be gone from my baby.

Our drive home was uneventful, we left Friday afternoon and got to Idaho Falls on Saturday evening. My Mom doesn't mess around when it comes to road trips. We made awesome time and she even let me drive for 45 minutes. With the trip there and our side trips, we probably drove around 3900 miles. Wow! I'm so glad our drive was uneventful, I so glad that we had safe travels, no car problems, no real problems at all. It was so neat to see so much country. I've heard lots of blah things about I-80, but I thought everything was beautiful. I had some observations on our way back:

*Iowa - so pretty! It is so green with rolling hills. It is strange to look out on the horizon and not see any mountains. The rain is CRAZY there. It would rain so hard and the streets would fill with rain. The thunder was so loud. Someone told me they had 6 inches of rain in the last 2 weeks. I don't think we get that much all summer in Boise!

*Nebraska - I have never seen so much corn in my life! It was amazing to think about how much corn is in all those cornfields and how they harvest it all. Also, windmills are amazing. We have windmills on farms in Idaho but they are far off the road. As you are driving along these massive (and I do mean massive) windmills are right by the freeway. I was a bit enamored with the windmills. We drove through Omaha at sunset on our way back and I was itching for my camera in the back. The sky was the most amazing orange/gold color and the city was perfectly silhouetted against the sky.

*Wyoming - vastness. That is the word that I thought of driving back through Wyoming. Western Wyoming and Eastern Wyoming look every different. Western Wyoming is green and mountainous and beautiful. I've spent time in Western Wyoming all my life. Eastern Wyoming (to me at least) wasn't the same kind of beautiful as the other side of the state. But it was so vast and gave me such a feeling of awe. Somewhere between Laramie and Rock Springs (I know that is a large area, but I can't quite remember where we were, I'll have to ask my mom), we both just felt like we were on the top of the world. There were plains and blue sky as far as you could see. It was truly breathtaking. You couldn't help but think about the pioneers, the mountain men, the trapper and traders as they passed through there.

I definitely have my parents' sense of adventure and travel. I love to see new places and to learn about the history there. I was a bit hesitant when my mom wanted to drive, but I am so glad we did. I am so glad that I got to see new things and travel in new states that I had not been to before. I am so glad that I got to spend all those days with my mom! It was so nice to just talk and talk and talk. Although we talk most everyday, it is different on the phone or email than sitting right next to each other or in the next bed over. I'm so glad that Mylie and I got to share this adventure. I was very nervous I wouldn't be able to go because Court was 8 days late and I had to be back for the beginning of the semester. It would have broken Mylie's heart as we have talked about going to Iowa for months and months.

And of course, I am SO glad that I got to love on baby Lila and Courtney. There is something about new babies, so fresh from Heaven. To see that sweet little thing, right after she was born was amazing. I'm pretty certain that the last person who hugged and kissed her was Grandma, before sending her here. I'm so excited to be an aunt again! Only two months until I get to see that sweet baby again! Let the countdown begin!