We're Alive and We Survived!

Really, we are. We've just had a really busy summer. Hopefully, I will have a chance soon to catch everyone up on it. (Maybe when school starts and it is less crazy around here.) For those of you who aren't reading all my new posts in Google Reader, make sure you scroll down and read all of the new posts and then click on "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page to make sure you see all the new posts from before summer that I just added.

In the meantime, before I update you on all of the happenings of the summer, here is what we spent our 2 1/2 week summer vacation doing--by the numbers:

Miles driven: 5,495

States visited: 11 (Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada)

We had to include Texas, even though that is where we started and ended--it is a really big state and we drove almost 1500 just getting in and out of Texas. In fact, on the first day, J.D. kept asking if we were out of Texas, yet. Finally, after we had been gone from home for about ten hours, we were out of Texas.

Hours spent driving/riding in the car: 72 (three solid days!)

This was on Day One when everyone was still gung ho!

Hours all four kids were all asleep in the car: maybe a total of 2--at the very end of the trip when we were almost home and it was 1:00 in the morning.

(J.D. is actually pretending to be asleep in this photo because when I turned around and said, "Oh, they are all asleep," he popped his head up. I made him lay back down so I could take a picture.)

DVDs watched by the kids: Countless and many that Jim and I can no longer stand! We had 2 DVD players going almost the entire time--one for Janalynn to watch Baby Einstein movies on and one for the boys.

Pounds lost: 4 (between Jim and me). This is even though we ate at some of our favorite restaurants--In 'N Out, Pizza Factory, Iceberg, etc. and ate WAY more fast food than we like to eat and feed the kids, but we still managed to lose a little weight and not gain any. We didn't weigh the kids to see if they gained or lost weight, but they ate plenty!

Attractions visited: Yellowstone National Park, including Old Faithful; Stoneridge Resort in Blanchard, ID; Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, ID; Riverfront Park in Spokane, WA; Nana's "Special Room" in Cedar Hills, UT (this was a favorite of the boys, even though it was a short hour and a half stop); Dixie College Cabin in Pine Valley, UT; Grandma & Grandpa's House in St. George, UT; Sandhollow Reservoir in Hurricane, UT; Scottsdale Links Resort in Scottsdale, AZ; Kami & Tim's house in Tempe, AZ; and Trent and Ashley's pool in Phoenix, AZ.

In front of the sign at Yellowstone

On the train at Silverwood.

On the beach at Sandhollow Reservoir by Uncle Merril's boat.

Family visited: Nana, Grandma & Grandpa, and all of the kids' aunts, uncles, and first cousins.

Friends visited: Many, many, but sadly missed a few.

Holes of Golf Played: 63 by Jim and 5 by J.D. (He got bored at that point and spent the rest of the time watching and riding in the cart)

Holes of Miniature Golf Played: Many, by all, but I think Joey played the most. He just ran around with his ball and putter and put his ball right by the hole, put it in, then ran to the next hole. Luckily, we had the course mostly to ourselves. Janalynn didn't play, but she had fun putting her head on the ground like she was trying to stand on her head.

Loads of Laundry: 12 (Had to throw that in because it seems like I spent much of the trip packing and repacking and doing laundry)

Hours spent going to/from and at the Honda dealership in Coeur d'Alene, ID getting the van serviced and fixed: about 8--luckily it was a minor repair and didn't cost too much, but they didn't have the part when they told us they would and we had to come back the next day on our way out of town with the loaded van and all the kids, and Nana, but all things considered we were lucky and it wasn't worse!

Number of Different beds we slept in: 7 (actually not bad considering how long we were gone.)

We had a wonderful time, but were happy to finally be home. I'll post more details and pictures soon!