I left Sunday June 30th to drive to Virginia and pick up Amber. She needed to move herself and her two girls to Utah and didn't want to take their car so she needed a ride. We had to install a hitch to our van so I could pull a small U-haul trailer. Tanner went with me so I wouldn't have to drive by myself. We drove all the way to Amber's house on Sunday and got their late that night. She was staying at the hotel she worked for so we just met her at the hotel.
The next morning we hooked up the trailer and got everyone packed {including Bruno, the guinea pig} and got ready to drive to Chicago. It was a LONG way and we were all exhausted by the time we got back to my house. The girls and I had a great time singing in the van....Tanner didn't love it!! We stopped at Subway by my house because we were all starving too!!
We spend the next day at our house and Jason took the girls fishing while Amber and I went and ran some errands. It was nice to have a break from being in the van.
Amber was up most of the night sick and finally walked to Walmart for some medicine about 5am the next morning. We were a little slow moving because we needed to make sure she was going to be ok to drive. We got on the road and drove to Cheyenne. Luckily, it was our shortest day of driving and we made it to Holly's house about 4pm. She had dinner and cupcakes for us. She had also planned to take us to the fireworks at F.E. Warren Air Force Base. It was a fun night and I'm glad we had something to do to celebrate the 4th of July. We had a little trouble getting the trailer hooked back up to the van {we had to take it off to go to the base}, but we finally got it! {thank goodness for answered prayers}.
It was FINALLY our last day of driving......Amber was up again all morning sick and we got another late start this morning, but we knew that it was our last day and that we would be in Utah by the time the day was over. We had never been so happy to see mom and dad's house! I had driven 2924 miles in the last week and I was EXHAUSTED!!! {Thank goodness Jeff was there to help unload the trailer and take it back to U-haul for me!}
We had planned a Surprise Birthday Party for mom on Saturday {Christie did most of the work} and it turned out wonderful! The biggest surprise was that Ryan and Jen drove from California for the weekend and ALL 7 of the kids were there and all 14 of the grandkids. It was so fun to see everyone and to take a picture for mom! {we were only missing Jason}.
We spent the rest of the time hanging out. I was able to see MaryRuth and Ron and Judy. We went to Burger Supreme and Mi Ranchito's and we hung out together. We workout out at Curves and I even ran a few miles around mom's neighborhood. It was nice to see everyone for a few days before I had to head back to Chicago.
On the last day we went up to Bridal Veil Falls and took some pictures with Amber and the girls. {and Tanner and me}. We had Tanner take a picture of mom with the us and I love how it turned out. Utah is Beautiful!!
Tanner and I got up early Wednesday morning to drive home to Chicago. It was a LONG two days of driving!! We made it home on Thursday night about 9:30pm and we were both EXHAUSTED. It had been such a long 10 days, but I'm grateful that I was able to help Amber. I am grateful for all the blessings we received during this process and for the love of a Heavenly Father who continued to reassure me and bless me that I could do this and continued to watch over and protect me and the kids. I felt his spirit with me multiple times while we were on the road and I was so tired I could barely think straight. I'm so grateful for the power of the priesthood and the blessing of the Holy Ghost.
That was awesome you guys were able to surprise Cindy for her 60th birthday! You should have driven to CA to say you went coast to coast ;)
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