Well we woke up in Provo with the worst blizzard we have seen in Utah. In fact, it had been unusually warm the entire week(s) before that morning. Took us about 30 minutes just to get out of Provo, and we considered turning around several times because it was a total white out. Then once we got about 2 hours out, we hit Snowville. CLOSED ROADS! I got out of the car and started walking to see how many trucks we were behind to make a guess as to how long we would be stranded. I talked to one trucker, 8 semi's in front of us who had been there almost 6 hours just waiting. I walked a little farther and it was Semi's as far as I could see. Miles and miles! We waited a total of 3 hours before deciding to go a different route. All while contemplating if we should just head to Idaho for the night, for the weekend, or turn back and go home to Provo. I was afraid that if we waited to travel on Christmas Eve we would hit closed roads again and miss Christmas. Dan was quick to say that Christmas would come even if we were in the car and it would still be fun because we would be together. Luckily we didn't have to see if the optimist was right! :) Once we got to our new route, we learned that the road (the one we waited 3 hours for) opened--so we headed back again! 16 hours in the car and we finally arrived!
^^The picture doesn't look as bad as it was. We were inching our way out of town.
^^sad when we realized we hit closed roads.
^^....still waiting and going a little cross-eyed waiting for roads to open! the kids were AMAZING in the car both to and from WA; sadly they never slept either way, but they also never fought or threw tantrums! Win!
We got there in time for Christmas Eve, and when we went to go wrap some presents, we discovered we had none to wrap! Hahaha.. So Dan and I left the kids at home and tried to go find cheap presents so that the kids would have something to open--ya know, because we are good parents and left their gifts in Provo. We also snuck in a mini date at red robin! :) We found a Sofia the First dress-up for $1, and some Anna dress up shoes for $4 for both girls! Shopping done! :)
I didn't get pictures of Christmas Eve, or really anything else with family for that matter, so sad!
^^christmas morning! Luckily Santa found us and brought a coloring eisle, a rocking moose, and big pink pillows!
Holding scooters > riding scooters
^^ shopping at the mall in style
^^drawing herself a chalk snowman because there wasn't any snow for a real snowman.
^^Star Wars in reclining leather seats? A hundred times YES!!
I surprised Dan with a painting of the Provo tabernacle--we have a copy in our church building and he always commented on how much he loved it. So I tracked down the artist in SLC, got a painting, and also had him sign it and personalize it. It says: to SDR on the bottom. He loved it!
He surprised me with an iPad mini!!!! He is always great at gift giving! He got it so I can blog easier---so blog I must! :)
The night before we headed home, we learned that the main pass was closed! Of course, right?! Well, by the time we got there it was open to cars and just closed to big trucks, so we lucked out! Just outside of the pass, Dan noticed our car was driving weird, do we pulled over---FLAT TIRE! :)
So Dan Unload the car in the snow to change it. Luckily we had forgotten the kids presents from us, so we didn't have to unload as much! ;)
We Drove 40 miles at 30mph to the next town to buy 3 new tires! Luckily the store was really quick and got us back on the road after only an hour and a half. We really lucked out getting the flat where we did; it was daylight, and not too stormy. We passed a car, later that night, who had the same thing happen---the husband and wife were unloading all of their Christmas stuff onto the side of the road, but for them it was blizzarding and full of semi's. So yeAh, we were lucky!
Despite all the car trouble and all the money spent fixing tires and fueling our car for 6 extra hours, we still had a great Christmas. One big adventure to remember for sure!
Such a good guy!!! He never complained about our flat tire!
Waiting for our tires to be fixed in baker city, Oregon --so no sales tax on those tires!! :)
Other things to note about our Christmas:
-Dan and I going on a date!! Steve and Cathy, Vern and Nicole, and us ate at Costa vida and went to Star Wars, which was AMAZING! And also, Aaron babysat for us and sylvie had TWO poopy diapers haha. He was great and got them to sleep after changing her! I could get used to going on dates!
-playing games
-overeating
-shopping---went to a cute mercantile in Richland with very yummy food.
-scavenger hunts, hide and seek, coloring, playing at play area, and watching movies with cousins.
-loving and hating the dogs
-watching movies
-having a wonderful Christmas program
-scooter rides with the girls
-flying dans helicopter and watching him perfect his landings
-staying up late
-opening presents
-and enjoying the Christmas season with family. It was worth all the crazy road mishaps!
Just glad nothing got stolen like the last time we were there for Christmas! :)
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