2023 :: week 47

November 19

Sunday was our first full day in Utah. We were all a bit tired after our long day of driving, but were able to rally in time to go to church with the Nielsons at 10:30am. We got to hear Daniel speak in church, which was fun. The older three kids went with their cousins to class, but Miles stayed with us. Both Anthony and Miles dozed off a bit during Sunday School. After church the older three went to the Nielsons, while Miles, Anthony and I went to Sacrament Meeting with Doug & Tina. Doug and Tina sang a beautiful musical number with their choir. That evening the Nielsons and Matt came over dinner and we all hung out until bedtime. The Nielsons had school Monday and Tuesday so we didn't stay up too late. Most of the kids gathered in the basement while the adults visited upstairs. Nana and Papa's Utah house is a great because it has a lot of space in the basement for visitors and kids

November 20

Monday morning we drove up to Midway to go to the Homestead Crater. Last year a few of my cousins did a "sisters weekend" together and among other things visited the crater. I was intrigued and wanted to make it happen sometime when we visited Utah and this trip was the perfect time to do it. The crater is a geothermal spring located inside a 55 foot tall beehive-shaped limestone rock with a hole at the top. It formed over the course of over 10,000 years, but only was opened to the public in 1996. The water mineral water is always in the 90-96 degree range, so you can swim year round. We got to spend just under an hour floating and gliding around. It was hard to swim too much because the water is very deep--about 65 feet! Unless you were scuba diving, you were required to a life jacket. We had a fun time and I'm glad we did it. That afternoon Anthony and Will went with Doug to Sadie's basketball game at Copper Hills High School in West Jordan. That evening we had an awesome dinner with the Toms and watched the Chief's/Eagles game. Trevor grilled steaks, Laura made alfredo, and there was plenty of pizza and fruit for the kids.

November 21

Tuesday we spent much of the day in Provo and Orem. Papa took Anthony and the boys (along with Grant) to a card shop in Provo. Carly picked her girls up from school a little early and along with Lauren, Nana and me went to Cubby's for lunch. That afternoon Anthony and I took Elise, Millie, Will, Lauren and Elliott to Provo to visit BYU campus. We walked around and marveled at all the changes, as well as met up with good friends Candace (statistics professor) and Darren (Honor Code office). While walking across what was known as Brigham Square when we were students Will pointed out that he is "way closer in age to the college students than [we] are." Ouch! Walking into the library was a little trippy. Much of it has changed, but the 5th floor where I spent so much time as a student looked mostly the same. That evening we went to UVU to watch the women's basketball team take on Westminster. It was so fun to watch Uncle Daniel coach and the Wolverines won 76-42. Almost as much as the game, the John kids loved getting to go to the locker room for postgame celebrations with the team. Shooting hoops and running around the practice gym was the icing on the cake.

November 22

Wednesday was a full day. In the morning Anthony took our van to Provo to get checked out by a mechanic referred to us by our mechanic in Overland Park. We spent over $3K getting our van road trip ready (overdue break and alignment issues) and were very concerned when we started smelling a strong chemical smell when we used our brakes. It turns out it was nothing, we must have run over some brake fluid on the highway that splashed into our undercarriage. Phew! Lauren and Will went with Nana and Papa to Tabitha's Way Food Pantry. Elise went as well and they spent a few hours organizing the various foods that were donated into categories that made sense. After the kids worked at the food pantry they went to movie theater and saw Trolls (Sadie joined them after her basketball practice). While the big kids were at the movies, Carly, Anthony and I took the four younger kids to the Museum of Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point. We had a great time and were able to see most of the museum before we had to pick up the big kids. That evening we headed back to Thanksgiving Point because Nana & Papa treated us tickets to see Luminaria. The grounds were covered in thousands of lights and decorated in various themes (gingerbread, icicle, North Pole, etc.) and music played as you walked along a path that guided you through the park. I thought the fire & ice was cool, and the light show on the hill was fun too. They even had a reindeer! We had a great time.  

November 23

Thursday was full of food, football and family. We ate our Thanksgiving meal around 3. At some point in the late morning we took some of the kids to Harvey's Park. Everyone contributed something for to the feast. Anthony and I were assigned potatoes--sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes. We made knockoff Ruth Chris sweet potato casserole--substituting extra oatmeal for the pecans. Doug made turkey, gravy and stuffing, as well as a few pies. Carly brought green bean casserole, corn confetti and oreo pie and a pumpkin roll for dessert. Tina made a double bath of rolls. It was a very delicious Thanksgiving and I know our kids are going to want to go back to Papa & Nana's house again next year.

November 24

Friday was nice and laid back. In the afternoon we visited the Toms again. Trevor picked up a Costco pizza for people to snack on while we hung out. The kids had a lot of fun with their various toys. Miles and Elliott jumped with Hannah (and sometimes Riley too) on the trampoline they keep in their basement. Laura had some Christmas crafts for the kids to make while we chatted. Hannah has a doctor's kit and she gave lots of check-ups to anyone who was willing. It was fun to see the Toms on their home turf. Laura is having a baby in about 2 months, so traveling is going to get a bit harder for them. We also spent the day monitoring the winter storm that was making its way across the country. 

November 25

Friday a storm started moving west to east across the US. After much deliberation and consulting with our parents (who have much more road trip and mountain west driving experience than we do) we decided to leave for home around 10am Saturday. This way we were after the storm, and by leaving later in the day the sun would have more time to melt any ice on the road. It turned out to be a good move. We saw very little snow on the road until the eastern side of Wyoming. We passed the time by listening to the BYU at Oklahoma football game. We had low expectations, but the Cougars hung in there and ended up losing 24-31 in the final minutes of the game. That night we stopped in North Platte and no one slept great. Increasingly we are feeling like driving straight through makes the most sense.