Utah! Day 1

We left for Utah on a beautiful Thursday afternoon (June 7th to be precise).  But let me back up a bit.  Give you a preamble of sorts.

On Monday night/Tuesday morning, Clark fell ill.  He claims it was due to copious amounts of Bugles consumed on Monday evening.  He asserts that they make him feel awful every time he eats them.  He awoke at about 2:30am and proceeded to spend the next 5 hours in and out of the bathroom (though it is uncertain whether he actually threw up).  This made for a fitful night of sleep for Shanny, so I ended up sleeping with Julia.  Clark continually assured me that it was the Bugles, and that it wasn't a bug.  And he is sticking with his story even now.

Tuesday night, Ella threw up.  Ella is a funny little barfer: if she is sick, she only throws up once per day, about an hour after we put her to bed.  It does make the clean up easier than if, say, she threw up in the toy bin or some other random place.  It does involve stripping a bed and bathing a child, but it could be much, much worse.  She seemed better the next day, and in fact didn't throw up again.  I was hoping this was another fluke puke.

Julia went to a friend's house Wednesday afternoon.  She seemed her happy, chipper self.  I got a call a few hours later informing me that she had thrown up.  The guilt I felt at giving my sick child to someone else, and thereby leaving someone else to clean up a giant mess and possibly infecting their children, was immeasurable. Oh, I felt so bad.  Julia came home and looked ILL.  Pale and weak and sad.  She sat on the couch for the rest of the day.

And then we were down to one.  By Wednesday afternoon, I was sort of freaking out about getting sick myself.  A) I hate being sick.  Hate, hate, hate it.  B) I couldn't afford to get sick.  Not when I had to spend all of Wednesday packing and preparing for a trip, and then all day Thursday traveling across the country!  Commence prayers.  Many, many prayers. 

I think the prayers were answered, just not in the way I had hoped.  I worked like a mad woman Wednesday afternoon and evening, packing and cleaning.  I finished sweeping the kitchen floor, the very last thing on my to-do list, at about 9pm, sat down, and felt sick.  I then spent most of the night throwing up.  It was reminiscent of my pregnant days.  It was also a good reminder that I hate being pregnant, and don't want to do that again anytime soon.  However, I finally got a few hours of sleep, and woke up Thursday feeling pretty good.  Not 100%, but pretty good.  What a blessing that I got everything done before I got sick, and then I was feeling better before I had to board a plane full of strangers.  What. A. Blessing.  Julia was still sick Thursday morning, but by the time we got on the road, she started perking up, and was feeling much better when we boarded the plane.  We all made it through the flight smashingly well, with no sickies at all.  Again: what a blessing.

I was unsure how the flight would go, and prepared with beaucoup treats and snacks and "presents" from the dollar store.  Seriously, wrapping them all up made it all the more exciting for the girls.  The thing that surprised me the most were the window clings.  I had heard those were great, but didn't expect them to entertain my kids for more than about 3 minutes.  But both of them, Ella especially, loved them.  Ella would go back and forth between the plastic sheet they came on and the tray, peeling and sticking over and over.  I think she did it for a solid 30 minutes.  She LOVED it.  She also got a princess puzzle (9 interlocking squares), that she played with quite a bit.  I had no idea she would like this kind of thing so much.

And after a few hours, we made it to Utah!  We crashed at the Blockburger home and spent the rest of the night recuperating and storing up our strength for the excitement yet to come. 

We also got to meet Dustan (my sister Whitney's fiance [now husband])on Thursday night, and discovered what a delight he is!  We are so glad he is part of our family.