Love Always, The Desert

"My plan" was to leave in the morning on Monday June 8th but on Sunday night June 7th Grace began throwing up and somehow I knew that "My plans" had just changed! I decided Monday morning that I would continue to pack up the car and get things ready so that I could leave early Tuesday morning. My earlier plans had included a stop in St. George to see a friend whom I had known since I was 6 but had not seen in years, who just happened to have driven in from Arkansas and then stay the night at another friends house in Cedar City. This plan was accomplishing a couple desired outcomes, One, I would get to visit with some good friends and Two, it would break up the long drive to Colorado! Now since the plan had changed I had resolved to perhaps not getting to visit with friends and that I would just make the mad dash to Grand Junction to stay with Jimmy's Grandparents on Tuesday bypassing the stops in St. George and Cedar. Then my handy dandy friend in Cedar (Mari the Amazing) offered the kids and I a room in their hotel, this would now enable me to still leave Monday and not get anyone else sick in the process.

So after a million trips up and down the stairs and what felt like hundred of trips out to the car I got everything packed/rather shoved into the van. We were gathering to have family prayer when Grace quietly left the room, on a hunch I followed her and found her once again getting sick. I asked my Father to give her a blessing and what a tender, sweet blessing it was as she lie on the floor, her body exhausted from being ill, he said such loving words and he himself choked up as he felt the Lords love and concern for little Grace. Within just moments of the blessing she seemed to regain a bit of strength and so we again gathered to say a prayer and said our tearful good-byes and loaded into the car.

IN THE MEAN TIME
I can't forget to mention the excitement my Mom was having while I packed. My van's light indicating "low tire pressure" had come on the day before and since I had just had some repairs done a few days previous I figured the sensor had just been bumped and I would stop at the tire shop and have them put a little extra air in the tires on my way out of town. My Mother being the good women that she is insisted she would just run it down there while I worked on packing, well a while later I called to see if everything was alright and she informed me that my two front tires were totally bald and that one of the back ones had a nail in it!! Lovely, just what I had hoped for, another complication, but we took the hit in stride and she returned with two new tires and one repaired.

Now the other issue with my van was that we had been told that as soon as I arrived in Colorado I should also have my back breaks done, so that was "my plan", well again my Mother was persistent and she took the van to yet another location to have the back breaks done!! This was truly a blessing, as my long drive to Colorado would soon prove some of the Lords little miracles performed in order for us to make a safe journey, my Mom had been in tune to the spirit and I am grateful for that!!

As we were driving out of the City I looked in my rear-view mirror and realized this was a picture worthy event, me moving from Vegas for the first time, so I pulled to the side of the road and took a quick picture and then proceeded to the freeway entrance. It was just after 6pm when we left Las Vegas so I was glad that we were only traveling as far as Cedar.



Just before entering the Gorge the Sun was setting and for anyone that doesn't know, Sunsets are one of my most favorite things, especially the ones in Las Vegas, well this Sunset brought a little tear to my eye as the entire sky was orange with streaks of pink, it felt like the Desert was giving me a goodbye gift, one last sunset for me to remember it by! I just had to take the last off- ramp before the Gorge to snap a couple pictures so I would always remember that moment.



We stopped briefly for food in St. George and then pulled into the Hotel at 9:30pm Utah Time (8:30 Vegas time). We took the few things in we would need for the night and quickly crashed in our beds, it had been a very long and emotional day.



The next morning we woke refreshed and enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the hotel, packed into the van again and headed down to St. George for a visit with my friend Kim Randall (Carter). Yes, I know that I was headed in the opposite direction of Colorado but I really wanted to see her! We ended up having a wonderful time catching up, her Mom fed the kids some lunch and we all laughed and laughed talking about the good ole' days!



The visit with them went a little later than planned so as we headed back to Cedar again my awesome friend Mari offered us a place to stay, this time with them since Grace was now out of the danger zone! It was so fun getting to see Mari and let the kids play in her fantastic basement!!


Wednesday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed to Grand Junction, Colorado! Thus far the weather had been beautiful but as we turned on to the I-70 from the 15 the clouds grew a bit darker and the rain was on and off, however the kids were wonderful and we only made one very quick stop for gas so the total time to Grand Junction was just under 5 hours!! We were just in time to eat a home cooked meal at Granny and Grandpa Boogerts and then we walked to the park near their home so the kids could run around after being stuck in the car. That night I stayed up late talking with them about the kids and Jimmy and all that we had been up to since our last visit! They were so gracious to let us stay with them and the kids love getting to spend time with their Great Grandparents!!

(This Picture of Grandpa Cracks me up, that is not a real mustache, but the fluff that was flying off the trees!! Silly Grandpa!!)

Well that is enough for now but just wait, the second half of the trip is when it really gets exciting!! I will post later about the crazy storms, and the moment we saw Jimmy for the first time in 6 weeks!! Can't you feel the suspense building!?!?!


Love to you