Cali Trip Part 2

For those of you that are jumping into the story from here you might want to read from the beginning here.

We started the 7+ hour drive through the Mojave desert Sunday afternoon at 12:15 p.m. Utah time, which would have got us to Visalia, CA around 6 p.m. California time. We would have made it too, had it not been for two things. Neither Leslie or I had thought about the "Vegas traffic" until we were in it. We had forgot that many people from L.A. and the surrounding area go to Las Vegas for the weekend and then go home .... ON SUNDAY.

As we were passing Vegas at 2-ish I thought that it would be "too early" for traffic to be really bad. I didn't take into account that Game 5 of the NBA Finals was a mere 4 hours from tipoff. We made it through Vegas while Kendrick was sleeping, but he woke up soon there after and proceeded to scream. He thought we'd give him a break, go potty and stretch out in Primm (which I'm slowly growing more fond of by the way).

We were off the road for 5-10 minutes. We went into one of the casinos for Les to find a potty and as soon as we entered the doors, Kendrick's eyes were as big as saucers and he was looking at all of the lights. I couldn't help but laugh as we walked through the casino, up a ramp to the bathrooms.

Going back downstairs to the casino was not as entertaining as the first time. Kendrick looked around, but not as quickly as he had earlier.

We were back on the road in the next few minutes then came to a halt before the next exit. We sat patiently when we heard over the radio that they had closed ALL sorth-bound lanes of the freeway and all but one of the nouth-bound so that they could land a Life-Flight helicopter on the freeway.

Everyone must have heard the same thing because all of the sudden there here a ton of people out their cars walking up and down the lanes of traffic. I asked Les if we should get Kendrick out of the car and she didn't see a problem with it, so we got out.

Les grabbed the camera and started taking pictures, both with her camera-phone (which some of you received a text) and the regular camera.

We had a giant bag of Dum-Dums so I opened it up and started walking up and down the highway giving them out to complete strangers. It was a blast! I would ask parents with their windows down if they wanted some suckers. The parents would say no, but their kids would be grabbing at the bag already. It was nice to be friendly when most people were just pissed off that we had to sit in traffic.

After an hour of chilling with many other drivers, the Life-Flight helicopter took off and we knew it was time to get back in. The funny thing was, when we finally did start moving again, there were people still walking down to their cars. We couldn't help but laugh and think, "Didn't you guys realize they were going to open up the freeway after the helicopter left?"

We soon came upon the accident and this is what we saw.

If you look in both of the traffic pictures, you can see an over-pass. It was just on the other side of that over-pass that the motor home rolled over. If we had not gotten off the freeway for a little break, the accident might have been right behind us, or worse .... we might have been in it.

We heard on the radio right after passing the accident that there was one confirmed fatality but didn't hear what happened to the other people that were in the accident. We felt so grateful that Heavenly Father was watching over our little family. Before every vacation that my family ever went on, after the car was packed (and sometimes after the family was packed in the car) my dad would always have a family prayer and ask Heavenly Father to protect us and help us to get along.
I decided to do the same thing on this trip, and I'm glad that our prayer was answered. In fact, I had been planning on saying another prayer in St. George, but had forgotten. My lovely wife, suggested that we say a quick prayer to thank Heavenly Father that we were safe.

The rest of the drive was pretty un-eventful. Les watched a movie, while I listened the the final round of the U.S. Open. Yes, I said listen. I have XM radio and I was able to hear the play-by-play of Tiger's amazing comeback. It was a blast to listen to.

We got to the hotel around 7:30-8 ish. I hung out with Kendrick while Les went to get dinner. "Where did you get dinner your first night in California?"

Where else? IN-N-OUT!

*** Look for more on the trip soon ***

Haaave you met Ted, Robin, Barney, Marshall and Lily?

Leslie and I have found (thanks to my friend Brandon) a new TV show that we absolutely LOVE. It's called "How I met your mother" and it's about a guy named Ted and he is telling stories to his two kids in the year 2030 about how he met their mother in 2005-2008.

Brandon let us borrow the show on DVD and we have plowed through it very quickly. We are currently watching Season 3 online before Season 4 starts on CBS in the fall.

We highly recommend it to anyone that loves to laugh. Just remember to "Suit Up!"

Californ I-A (Part 1)

Recently we took Kendrick on his first BIG road trip. Yes I know that Les took him down to see Danny and Brandy in Arizona before Christmas, but this was a 10-day, 1,726-mile trip (give or take 100-200 miles) to California. The occasion ... F-U-N!

Well, to be honest, it all started when Leslie's friend Rachelle invited her to go on the trip. I didn't want to be left alone at home (where's the fun in that?) so we asked if I could come too.
Long story -- short, We rented a car and Rachelle was all set to ride with us ... but had some stuff she needed to do before she left so she decided to drive herself.

So off we went (to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of OZ ... lol), neither Les or I knowing exactly how Kendrick would do in the car. The plan was to get to St. George, stay Friday night and Saturday night and go to Visalia, CA on Sunday.

For the most part, Kendrick was great all the way to St. George. We did have to stop occasionally to switch drivers and feed him, change him and just plain get him out of the car for a few minutes.

We got to St. George around 4 p.m. and after getting situated, threw our new swimsuits on and went to the pool. ... ... Now I know most of you are thinking that there should be a picture of this momentous occasion .... .... but there isn't. Why? Because Les and I were just as excited (actually more so) to get the pool as Kendrick was and forgot to grab the camera.


This is a picture of Kendrick at Leslie's dad's pool ... more of those to come.

Anyway, we thought that Kendrick would be like his cousin Kelsey and Addison and cry and scream his head off as soon he hit the water, but he loved it! We jumped in the kiddie pool where Kendrick could stand up and touch the bottom, even though he was wearing his life jacket.

Daddy started itching to test that life jacket out so we got in the big pool (which admittedly was colder than the kiddie pool), but again Kendrick was fine. He love laying back and just chilling in the water.

It started getting dark so we dried off and went inside. Kendrick went to bed and got in a wonderful habit of sleeping through the night. YAHOO!

Saturday was a lazy day. After Kendrick ate breakfast and played for a bit, he started getting fussy so we put him down for what turned out to be a really long nap. By the time he woke up, ate lunch, Les and I had lunch/dinner and we cleaned up a bit, Les and I were too tired to go to the pool again so we just vegged inside. We were gearing up for what we knew would be a 7+ hour drive to Visalia the next day.

*** Look for more on the trip soon (and by soon I mean the next day or so.) ***

Cali

We're coming to Cali!!!! I am so excited that we are finally going to be able to go to cali to visit. It is going to be our first family vacation with Kendrick.... not sure how I'm feeling about the drive down but oh well. :o) We are only going to be in the Cypress area for a few days but I am excited to go and see some fam.... Kelly I better get to see you and your new little boy!!!

We haven't been to cali since K & E were sealed almost 2yrs ago! We will be there the evening of the 18th - the morning of the 21st. So everyone make some time to see me. :o) jk sort of! Anyways we'll be posting pix when we get back.

Also, as a side note... I am signing up to do pampered chef! If you would like to host a show or even do a catalog show let me know!