39 hours, 2500 miles, 3 gallons of wiper fluid and zero puking

This Swan family trekked far far and away last month.  We tossed aside good sense and snubbed our noses at expensive air fare to buckle up and drive down to visit some sweet sweet grannies and witness a beautiful wedding.

In our first three  hours we barely missed a short stretch of freeway near Burley where 20 cars slid off.  We were forced to take a long, slow snowy detour and I think that was just a really nice way for God to protect us. 


We stopped in Cedar City and buckled up for another long drive to Phoenix via Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam.  Southern Utah definitely has some amazing landscapes.  We look forward to returning there sometime when the boys are older and the heat is ON.  

 

After lunch in Vegas a taxi company called and said they had Scott's backpack that he had accidentally left a few weeks ago when we attended my niece's wedding.  That was a MIRACLE.  A miracle that someone in VEGAS cared and that they called us just minutes before right before we drove away from that weird town.  We praised God for his goodness. 

Here is the Hoover Dam.  It's awesomely huge and an amazing wonder.  HOW did they do this before even microwaves were in kitchens?  I can't really do more than peek over the edge.  Even the pictures make me feel a bit woozy and force me to lean back in my chair.

It was evening by the time we were finished there.  It was so very busy that day.  It took about 45 minutes to drive down to it from the freeway.

Not my choice for an overlook view, but we are in Nevada.  Nevada is bizarre like that.

I have no idea why Joel wanted to show off his calves for this photo, but it is cracking me up.

They roll you through a line and take your picture so you have the option of buying prints on the 2nd floor.  Pretty dam smart.

 We visited Scott's Grandma.  She's a sweetheart of a lady and let me win in Scrabble the first game.  The boys ran around trying to make up for the lost time in the 5 -point -harness car seats. 

Back on the road for a day through snowy Flagstaff to Albuquerque.  The drive was okay.  The boys did very well.  I had packed lots of surprises for them to play with.  One of their favorites was a klik klak game from the dollar store.  Trevor told us he would teach us magic tricks with it to do when we teach the 3 and 4 year olds in Sunday School.


We also were thankful to borrow a 2 screen dvd player for the boys.  It was handy!  Although, I pulled the plug every so often-- especially when there was a nice view to take in.




In Albuquerque we stayed at a hotel with an indoor pool park-- complete with lazy river, splash pad, and surfing place.  It was fun, but too cold for Joel.  Poor Keri was forced to sit a lot in the hot tub with Joel ; )

We spent our New Year's Eve here.  Scott and Trevor did dozens of laps around that fast moving lazy river. 

The next day was a beautiful wedding for Cousin Melissa. 

These two are blessed!

And time to visit with family.

Someone 42 inches tall took this picture.

We got to meet Luis and Eli.  The boys all had a snowball fight after the rehearsal dinner. 

And the next day it was home again, home again, jiggity jig.