July 10 on 10: Stephanie

Today was a special (boring) 10 on 10 because today was the last day of our road trip. We were going to split up today's drive home from Omaha into two days, but we were anxious to get home so we did 14 hours today. I'm glad we did, because it wasn't that bad (felt like 8 hours to me) and had we stopped in Cheyenne like we had planned, we would have been there by late-afternoon and we didn't need to be there that long.

We had SUCH a good trip. Staying with the Farrars was the best - the cousin bonding was priceless and we loved being in their home, visiting sites, and spending the 4th of July holiday with them. Visiting Nauvoo with them was really really cool, we all want to go back someday... in 10 years when it's more age appropriate for the kids. Even though the drive was long and I don't want to turn around and do it again any time soon, that part was fun too! I really loved our hotel nights, hanging out and jumping on beds with kids, not having to fight Henry to stay in his bed all night (because we let him sleep with us), and even sleeping in most mornings (for Rob and I, the kids got less sleep than normal). It was fun family bonding. The kids did awesome in the car, considering what we put them through. We got home and gave each other high fives because it felt like we had accomplished a big task and that we did it as a team!

6am: when I saw these two sleeping I started to doubt our decision for an all day/early start drive, knowing they weren't going to wake on their own AND that, therefore, I could have slept in another hour or so. 

7am: watching a show already

9am: looks similar to 7am, except that they're out of their pjs

11am: using the notebooks Aunt Lisa got for all the kids for our road trip

noon: she was sad, a snack and holding mom's hand helped.

1pm: rest stop playground

2am: best.

4pm:

5pm: 9 states later and we're back!

7pm: Driving through Provo canyon. Honestly, of all the states we drove through and all the landscape we saw, Provo canyon beats them all in beauty (rivaled only by Colorado's Veil, we thought). And it's a 20 minute drive from my house.