Going Home!

Zach finished up his internship on Friday, August 11th and we hit the road bright and early Saturday morning.  We loved our time in Arkansas, but we were anxious to get back home. The first day we drove about 5 and a half hours to Salina, Kansas. 

 I tried to keep the boys busy- but the DVD player ended up being the best in car entertainment. The boys watched Scooby Doo Meets Batman over and over and over again.

 Ryan was so excited for the road trip home. He woke up before anyone Saturday morning. put on his shoes and came into our room announcing, "It's time for the road trip! Can I go wake up Brady?!" It was like Christmas morning for him. On our way out to Arkansas in May I prepared separate bags for each day we'd be in the car with different activities and several wrapped presents for along the way. This go round I was not as organized and not nearly as ambitious when it came to road trip preparations. I was just ready to be home. Ryan's first question when we got into the car was, "So mom, when do I get my presents?!" Sorry dude.

 Instead we had to make do with some pipe cleaners. Brady kept his glasses on for a good half hour and then put them on his stuffed monkey for the rest of the trip.

 These are Ryan's Batman glasses. He was pretty thrilled with them. I am thrilled with this picture.

 Not quite as thrilled with this picture, but I had to document my glasses too!

 We stopped for lunch somewhere in Kansas. I got Applebees To-Go so we had about 15 minutes to kill while they made my oriental wrap (yum). We went into a Sporting Goods store while we were waiting. The boys held hands across the parking lot and just kept holding hands in the store. It was adorable.

 We got to Salina, KS in plenty of time to explore so we went to a park before dinner. They had a splash pad that the boys enjoyed and lots of play ground equipment to go play on and dry off.

 Brady loved pushing Zach around and around on this merry go round.

 After dinner we went to check out some Kansas fishing. We didn't catch a thing, but it wasn't from lack of effort- we spent what felt like forever (to me) at the lake. We were all exhausted when we got back to the hotel.

The next day we drove a little over 6 hours to Denver. Our good friends from Orem, the Bedwells, moved to Denver a couple weeks earlier and we were really excited to see them. Ryan was super excited to see his buddy Addison again. They picked up right where they left off. 

 Both Brady and Landon grew up so much this summer! Landon is 6 months younger than Brady- but you wouldn't know it- he is just as big or bigger than Brady. They look more like twins.

 Addison was so sweet and got emotional when it was time to say good bye. The Bedwellls were some of our best friends in Orem- we even knew them during our undergrad in Provo. We will really miss them this year. I'm sure we will make our way through Denver again someday and we will definitely look them up!

 We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Denver. The breakfast was amazing. After an awesome breakfast we got back in the car for our longest drive of the trip- 9 hours to Orem. Brady loved riding on the bell hop- it took some serious convincing to get him off it and into his car seat again.

 I would not suggest saving your longest leg for the last day of a road trip. I was ready to have it be over after an hour. We hit about 100 miles of rain in Colorado (I'm not exaggerating). It was a long, long day but we survived. Ryan's face in the next picture sums up our feelings about being home.

This is Ryan getting out of the truck after pulling into our driveway for the first time in three months. As I was putting Ryan to bed that night I asked him, "Are you so excited to be home?!" He said, "Mom, I am super duper HAPPPPYYYYY!"

It's great to be home.       :)