Lately

Lately it's been really nice weather in Boise. Takeshi and Emiko had a play date with mates and we decided to have a picnic in the back yard. They played so well together. Playdates are easy when the kids are easy. How cute are these guys?

 So since the weather's been nice, it's been great for mountain biking. Last week I went for a ride and fell, face first, down a cliff face.  So that was exciting. I learned from it though, and think next time I'll totally have it.
I remember thinking "Well looks like I'm gonna crash down this cliff, I hope I'll be ok"
Then when I was sliding down, it didn't feel too bad or too fast so I knew I was going to be alright.  When I got up I was shocked to find out that I felt just fine and carried on my merry way. I felt bad for Jobecka. I'm sure it looked horrible. She said I was tangled in my bike just going down the cliff face.  She told me I had dirt in my teeth when I got up and looked at her hahahahaha
These are the 'war wounds' from that crash.  A couple of bicep bruises and a scratch on my calf. My poor body.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm too old for this kinda stuff, but I don't think so, how can something so awesome be bad for you?
These last couple of rides we've stopped at the top and simply kept quiet and listened to the silence.  It's been really nice and so beautiful. I love the foothills.

Then, on Friday, we headed down to Utah to attend our nephew's farewell shin-dig. He's off to Jamaica on the 6th of May and so this is the countdown for him. I'm glad we went.

We got in late and so stayed at Dru's parents place. It was raining pretty bad, we had to take it slow the last hour. The next day there was a short 'sunny' window and so Dru and I took the opportunity to go mountain biking, for the first time, up Muller Park. It was really nice. Lot's of people on the trail, but that's how it is man. It was fun, all the same, and I got up to Elephant Rock in record time, for me. I love that I can feel myself getting fitter every uphill I bike. We contemplated going further, but realized we needed to get back and get to our nephew's place.

Here we are at the top. I look like I've exerted myself, but Dru looks like he's just meeting me at the top there and has done nothing. Men!!!
We headed out to Day break and hung out with our family for the rest of the afternoon.
It was Stacey's birthday and so Kristin, kindly, looked after our kids and we met Pugs and Stacey for dinner and some ice cream.  It was nice to catch up with them. We went to a restaurant that, I guess, we should've made reservations for, so Dru and I left early I try and 'wait it out' and get a chance to sit down at a decent time. We waited for about 35 mins I think. By the time Pugs and Stacey got there we only had to wait another 10-15 mins I think.
We could sit listening and telling stories for ages with these guys. We looked at the time and realized we'd forgotten about time and had to say goodbye. I'm glad they're out mates.
We came home and Luke (my nephew) was preparing his talk he had to give at church the next day.
We sat and chatted to him for about 30 mins or so. It was nice to have some one on one with him.
I asked him about what he was going to talk about and he tried to sum it up for me and then told me "I can't wait for you guys to hear this talk, it's gonna be so great"
Dru and I laughed. Totally Luke.
We went to bed  happy.

I got up early and made some rice for the after party and helped out where I could.  Their church didn't start until 11am, which was really nice. It made it easy to help out, get things sorted, help the kids get dressed, and get dressed myself and ready for church. I've never left for church so early. Kristin had saved us seats in the front, which I thought was great.  I wanted to be able to focus on Luke. Dru, however, was upset he had to sit SO CLOSE to the front. It went against everything inside of him, to be THAT CLOSE to the front of the chapel, hahahahahah I was laughing at him, cause it's good for him to be there with us.
He WAS in the back and then came up with us. It was a big move for Dru and showed his loyalty to his family and peer pressure (more like it)
Luke's talk was really good. He talked about Christ and it really touched my heart. I don't know why we dont' talk about Christ more over the pulpit. It makes me sad. Anyway, it went really well, and he was right, it was really good.
Dru and I caught up with a couple of passed friends on our way out, which was really nice. We headed back and helped set things up for Kristin. I couldn't believe how fast some people made it back to the house!!
Kristin had decided to make 'cafe rio pork salads'  It was really good.

I caught up with Janiene (sp?) Allred, although she's recently married and I have no idea what her married name is, and that was nice to see her kids and meet her new husband. Then I talked to Dru's cuzzie for a little while and heard the latest with their family. Then I got to talk to an old family friend, Julie for a while, who seems to be doing well, just busy. Then I was able to talk to my mate Eden for a while and catch up with the latest on her. Emiko was being a ratbag and so she bounced between Dru and I seeing who she could annoy the most in a short amount of time!!
I was able to get something to eat and headed over to the table to catch up with family.

Dru and his brother did the dishes in the corner, which helped out a ton, but probably was a safe place for Dru to be, in a corner, with his brother, not having to socialize with a bunch of people, lucky there's me to represent, right babe?!!!

Things started to die down a little and then I decided I was gonna try and get to know Luke's girlfriend, Rachael, for a little bit. She seems nice.
We then just hung out and talked for a while until we had to face facts and start packing up, getting ready for the ride home.
Our family got a picture with Luke.

 His siblings.

 Boise Nakaya's

 Bountiful Nakaya's

I just like this shot cause of how Emi's looking at me and how Takeshi looks like he's in pain.

We packed up, said our goodbye's and headed back to grandma's house.
Once there, we left the kids with Grandma and said our goodbye's. The kids were staying (apart from Emiko) to go to Disneyland with their Grandma and Auntie in CA for the week.
They were so pumped. Emiko had fallen asleep in the car, so it was perfect timing to be able to say goodbye without a 'freakout'.
Takeshi started crying, I don't think he realized that we were actually going to leave him. I gave him my phone number and put it in his pocket and told him he could ring me anytime he wanted. He seemed to do better with that. I felt a little bad for him but knew he was going to have the time of his life, and would be just fine.
Brooke sent me pictures of T-shirts she'd made for them, for the special day.

Takeshi is Buzz, Masaru is the martian, and Yuki is the cowgirl. So cute right? They'll have the best time.
I'm a little sad that I'm not going to see the kids for a week. I miss them, but they'll be ok and I need to get over it.
We headed back to Boise and got in super late. We only unpacked the essentials and jumped straight into bed.
What a great weekend. We're glad we made the trip down and are happy we were able to be there for Luke.
We're gonna miss him man. 2 years seems like a long time when you're close to the person. He's gonna be so awesome though.
Love you Luke xx

Random post about life

 Here's Dru turning the snorkel around in the blizzard.  Apparently it's not good for it to get water going down it.  This was coming home from Pocatello the other day. I forgot to put it up on my Moab post, so here it is.

 He comes back in the car and goes "That'll wake you up" hahahaha

 Every year they let the sheep out, in the Boise foothills.  So for a couple of weeks your riding with the sheep.  It's pretty cool. I love it.

 Here they all are.  Cool right?

 Then yesterday our friends invited us to go for a hike with them up Table Rock.  So we went with them.
It's the Jares family that used to live 2 houses down from us.  We miss them something fierce.
It was SO NICE to be with them.
Here's all the kids and a photo bomber.

 Here's all of us at the top of the Rock.  I just noticed I look like I'm wearing white gloves.  I wonder if that's because of wearing gloves mt biking?  Strange.

 As you can see, it's pretty windy.  This seems to be Boise's windy season.  It makes for some pretty crazy riding that's for sure.  I rode on Saturday night and got blown off trail, then tried to counter it and fell into a bush!!!  Oh well.

Dru carried Emiko in that backpack 2/3's of the way.  35lbs man, what a rockstar.  Didn't even complain or say it was hard.  If that'd been me, I'd make sure everyone knew about it hahahaha  I just carried about 10lbs on my back of water and snacks!!!  I didn't complain.

We love these guys man and are really glad for their friendship.  They're a great family who have given us a lot.  I'm glad we know them.

So in other news..............................I was released from my primary calling, at church, as the music leader, to the children.
So yesterday was my last day teaching them.  I was a mess.
Crying, blabbing on about how much I love them and how much they've done for me. Truly, primary has been one of the biggest blessings in my life. Those kids are so wonderful and I've learned so much from them.  They're honest, crazy, pure, simple, faithful, fervent, obedient yet curious.  What an honour to be with them for the short time I was.
 It was an easy calling for me, so I'm sad to see it go for that reason as well.
As Dru would say "A calling in primary is like being called to Paradise"  He hopes and prays he'll be called into as a primary teacher one day and they'll forget about him and he can be there forever!!!  He also said nursery would be the best cause they have snacks and you just play with the kids hahahahaha  Dru man, crazy guy.  One day they may call him back, for now he is where he is.
So I was called back into the youth girls programme as the President of the girls.  In church we call it the Young Women's President.
I'm feeling nervous, overwhelmed and a little surprized that I've been called.  I'm a good counselor or adviser, but a President?  I don't think so.  I'm no good with paperwork, remembering things, meetings, setting a good example and things of this nature hahahaha
I've picked my 'team' and feel really good about them.  I think we'll do great things together.  With this team I may just make it by the skin of my teeth.  They're great women who'll help me out a ton, I know it.
I feel a little sorry for the girls  as the President they had was one amazing women.  I served with her 2 years ago and learned so much from her.  I couldn't be more opposite, which I don't know is a good thing.  I know it'll be tough for the girls to adjust and I'll be patient with them as it'll be a loss for them for sure.
Hopefully I'll do alright.  Time will tell I guess.
A few people told me 'Congratulations', I feel like it's more 'good luck' right?

Kids stuff

So when we were in Moab there was this huge rock crawling machine that took people for 'tour' rides.  It was pretty amazing.
Here is Masaru's 'lego' version of that beast.
Pretty neat right?  I love his people in there as well.  Cute.

 Here's some of his latest drawings he's done as well.  I think it's pretty good.  But I will acknowledge he's my son and I'm bias.

This is how he went to school the other day.  His Auntie found him these legit rugby shorts for $1 at the second hand store.  He's been wearing them ever since.  I think he would've worn them to church as well if they weren't so dirty!!!
He's dressed in all his Allblack gears.  Waitta represent Masaru.  Little kiwi in Boise is not a bad thing.
Speaking of which, I was at soccer on Saturday and was setting our chairs up etc and this guy approaches me and goes "Excuse me, where are you from?"  I'm like "New Zealand" and he says "Me too" and we spend the next hour chatting up a storm.
Apparently he's a highschool rugby coach here and has transformed his team into something awesome.  I told him Masaru did rookie rugby and is planning on doing it again this summer and into the 5th grade.  I pointed him out and told him he was big and fast and to 'look out' for him in the field.  It was really nice to hear a true blue accent.  Love it.
He said one of his boys started rugby in the U12 and is heading to BYU to their summer camp and will probably play for them and he reckons, has a good shot at the Eagles team.
I said to Masaru "See man, you play your cards right, you could be on your way man"
Me and my big dreams,  I need to settle down!!!
The kids all played great games on Saturday, by the way.  They're great athlete's.  I'm proud of them.

Masaru also went in for his yearly doctors visit.  He's 90th and and 92nd percentile for his weight and height.  Still running strong with those numbers.  He's never dropped from the 90th since he was 9 months old.  I wonder if he ever will?  Or is he gonna stay big?  We'll see I guess.

 Takeshi's latest and greatest creations.

 Here's his drawing of a dinosaur.  He said "If there were dinosaurs I'd ride them to school" hahaha

 Here's Yuki's latest and greatest.  It says "The hardest thing (about being turned into a frog) would be......"Eating bugs and sleeping outside"

 This {above} cracks me up.
Would you like to have the Princess as your friend?
"I would not like the princess as my friend because I do not like princesses."
Hahahahaha TOTALLY a Yuki answer.  She's NEVER got into princesses....................like...........ever!!!  Crack up man.

 This is hilarious as well.  Sorry it's sideways.
It says "Why did the witch turn the prince into a frog?" (Her answer) "Who knows"
hahahahahaha
Yuki cracks me up man.  Love it.

Here's Emiko with one of her BFF's, chilling in the sunshine.
She got her physical done as well.  She's 54th for her height and 77th for her weight.

So that's about the sum up of the kids, as of late.

Moab 2015

Ok man there's a TON of pictures, like always.  So sit back, relax and come with us on the journey of Moab Utah 2015.  Always a messy party.

I was given the assignment of being the photographer for the weekend.  Dru's brother, Ryan, had brought his nice camera but was too busy to be the photographer and we'd forgotten our nice camera and so it worked out.  His camera is really nice, like really nice.

We headed out from Boise around 1pm and got to Bountiful around 6:30pm.  Our friends, the Wallins, were already in Moab, staking out a campsite for us and his sisters family got there around 6pm and had things set up.
 Ryan's front tire had fallen off at the beginning of the day, that's right you heard right.  He was coming from work and his front tire just fell off.  Tire went rolling down the road, car pitched hard left, if he was on the freeway, they'd all be dead.  So he got that fixed and ended up following us to Moab.  I think it was safer for us to travel together considering the tire.
He figured, later on, that he'd put his car into this place to be checked out and wondered if they had messed around with that tire.  If so, they've got trouble on their hands.  Thank goodness it happened the way it did and when it did.  It could've been a lot worse.
We got into Moab around 11:30pm.  The kids did pretty well, considering, and we quickly got them into bed and got things set up, unpacked and worked out.
We were smashed and so went to bed at around 12:30 and I had a great sleep.  In saying that though, no matter how good I sleep I always wake up in the morning with really tired eyes and look pretty tired the whole time.  Oh well, lucky I wear sunglasses most of the time!!

We decided to do the Kayne Creek trail.  The last time we'd done it was when my younger brother, Haydn, was over here.  So it'd been a while.  It was tons of fun.  I loved it.

 Part of our camp site.

We threatened the kids with their lives if they got out of the tent, without us, in the mornings.  So they'd wait and yell at us when they woke up, to come and get them out.  Hahahaha  they never got out, good kids.

Dru prepping the car for the weekend's activities of rock crawling.

There was also my nephew's friend, Sam, who came with us, this day, in his jeep that you can see right in front of us.

Beautiful right?
The Wallin's 'old school landcrusier' was a favourite amongst the kids.  We had to figure out a system to allow each child a decent amount of time in there, but also not drive Brandon and his wife, Lynn, crazy!!!  No small feat.

The cuzzie shot.  These two seemed to get along alright for the most part.  I didn't hear Takeshi complaining so my guess is things went pretty well.  I hope they can be good mates.

They air down their tires so they can have more traction on the rocks.  Hence the 'flat tire' look on the back tire in this shot.

Father and son and my nephew.

Ryan's car.

These cars are amazing to me.

So here's Sam's car.  He doesn't have any 'lockers' on his car, so things are a little tougher.  A locker, locks out the tires so they both go together rather than just one going and the other spinning.  I'm sure that makes no sense to anyone.........................look it up.

Here's Sam doing what he's told.  He did such a great job.  He's also lucky he's got great 'spotters' who know that he doesn't wanna total his car!!

Cuzzies.  Takeshi and one of the twins.  I think this is Tate.  But Yuki just told me it's Seth.  So who knows.  Poor twins.

Hanging out.

Contemplating.

There was one instant where we were like this {above} and it felt really tippy you know.  Usually I bail on Dru, but this time I closed my eyes and stayed in the car with him.  He looks at me and said "Are you alright?"  I'm like "No" and he said "Waitta not bail on me babe"  I'm like "Yeah be impressed mate" hahahaha

Here we are stopping for lunch.  There's one thing you gotta know when camping with Ryan, you eat well.  We had french dips this lunch with other stuff as well.  He did all the shopping as well and we all just split the cost.  He's pretty awesome.
This lunch stop was a nice resting place.  Close to water so you could clean off your feet and enough trees so you could find a private spot to pee and shade from the sun and shelter from the nice breeze.
Everyone gets along so well.  We laugh and tell stories and share together.  I love it.

Then we set off again.

Look at that dirty/cute face.

I've always thought this would be a great place for family pictures.  But who's clean in these rocks?  It'd be too much of a hassle.

The 'happy' couple.  Come on Chris, you could've smiled mate.  Kristin's smiling and she's got a dog who threw up in the car on her lap hahahahaha

Cuzzies.  These two get along so well man.  They were in the car with us for 80% of the weekend and their conversations were hilarious.  Ella called her grandmother the 'old lady'!!  Crack up.

So this is one of the Wallin's children called Aspen.  She rode in our car 98% of the time.  She did last year too.  Yet she has full rights to riding in the coveted 'old school landcruiser'.  I don't understand it, but Dru and I love her company.  She is the nicest girl.  She just turned 13 and she's so good with our kids.  If Yuki could be like Aspen, I'd be one happy mumma.

Moab is and has always been so beautiful to me.  I'm glad we go.

One of the few pictures of me in it.  Emiko had to pee and so that's me all day.  So I passed the camera to Tess, my niece, and she took a couple of shots.

The whole trail took from around 11:30 until around 5:30ish I think.  I had fun and the kids did too.  There was no crashes/injuries/meltdowns.  It was a great ride.
We got home and made dinner straight away.  We got the kids fed and then cleaned and then into bed.  What a hassle man.  Moab would be so much easier without kids, but that's not what it's about right?  They'd be so upset if we didn't take them you know.  I remember taking Masaru when he was around 9 months old I think.  What was I thinking?  Was I crazy?  It seemed to work though.

Once the kids got into bed most of the adults were smashed.  We were up late the night before so the adults went to bed around 9:30 and the teenagers stayed up till around midnight they told me the next day.  As long as they put the fire out properly, that's all we ask.
Emiko decided she was going to wake up at around 2am screaming about, who knows what, and wake up the entire campsite.  Sorry people.
Dru calmed her down after 5-10 mins and so in the morning I took 'kid' duty and let him sleep in.  Apparently she wasn't in the 'right' spot, then Yuki started crying cause she thought Takeshi had stolen her pillow.  They had the same pillow case and she was confused.
Kids man, they'll be the death of us both.

The next day we got up and decided to do 'Poison Spider' trail.  It would be a little quicker by and hour or two but still fun.  Here we are all heading out.
The older boys decided to mountain bike, so they didn't come rock crawling.

So Brandon pointed out to me the motorbike trail on the other side of the river there.  Can you see it?

Here's a closer look.  Can you see it now?  I told him he was crazy.  Doesn't that seem dangerous to you?  Maybe it's better than what it appears.  One wrong move man and you're falling to your doom.

 Cuzzies.

Luke had a turn driving.  His Dad's in the back.  He did great.  This is how you'll see everyone, hanging on for dear life!!!

 Ryan's licence plate always get hammered every trip.  I'm surprized it's doing so well.

 When I was taking this picture I thought to myself "His mother isn't going to like this"

 Brandon's t-shirt almost makes him camouflaged.

 The kids LOVED doing this and did it most of this whole trail.  I'm always amazed at the protection that surrounds us and our children.

Luke doing some more riding with his father's guidance.

 They call this the 'birth canal'
That's all I have to say about that.

 Look at that front tire popping up.

Everyone watching the action.  I love looking at everyone, at times like this, and just having a moment you know.  It's nice.

Having fun off the ledges.

Beautiful right?

All of us at the top, just chillin for a second.  We tried to get a panoramic of the view, but it didn't work out.  Sometimes pictures just can't capture the majesty of the view you witness.

 Angel Emi.

2am Emi

 Aspen and Emi hanging out.

 Time to stop for some lunch and get a gourmet meal done by Ryan.

Can you spot Masaru?
We had a nice lunch just sitting around and talking.  We'd figured that there was a couple of 20 year anniversaries this year in a couple of marriages and one 22 years.  Dru and I felt like the 'young bucks' coming in at just 14 this year!!!

 For the last part Skylyn got to drive her Dad's cruiser.  Lucky her.

 Here's batman and robin.  Takeshi acting nice then being himself below !!

 Beautiful.

 Then I handed the camera over to Ryan when we'd finished the trail and he took a few pictures of the kids.  Good right?

 I love these pictures of these two.

This picture cracks me up.  He's just throwing a frisbee but look at his body!!!  Crazy.
Then Luke took a bunch of kids to the park and we went back to the camp site with Emiko.

The kids told me that Luke brought them a shake or ice cream. What a nice cousin right?  They love him. 
Dru and I decided to go for a mountain bike ride on this trail called 'Captain Ahab'.  We left Emiko with Auntie Kristin and went on our way.
The uphill was some of the easiest uphill I've done, yet the elevation was pretty decent.  They just made it switch back and forth so it wasn't as harsh, unlike Boise, who likes to just make trails go straight up the guts hahaha
It was pretty fun.

 Here we are at the top.  It was beautiful.

We then kept on going and started to run out of light.
Then the down hill was pretty technical.  There were ledges and cliff faces and biking on slanted rocks.  I crashed a couple of times and my confidence faded with the sunshine and I started to tense up.  So I ended up walking the last mile.
Soon it was pitch black and Dru and I still had a ways to go and figured we were stupid to not take the lights.  His brother told us we'd have it finished in 2 hours easy.  We figured we'd be fine.  But for the last 30 mins we were walking in the dark.
Ryan, Chris and the twins came searching for us.  We saw a car going back and forth the highway, accross the way.  Then we heard someone shout out "Dru".  We both yelled back then they shouted if we were alright, to which we responded yes, then the car drove away.  I figured they were just checking to see if we were alive and then went back to camp.
Then the car came back though and Ryan had set off on the trail, with a torch, to meet us.  It was nice to have his torch rather than our phone light and talk a little on the way back to the car.
It made for an interesting conversation and the kids were happy to see us, alive and well!!!
Emiko lost it and was simply tired.
So we simply got the kids in their PJ's and put them to bed.  That was hard enough, we both were just not in the mood to do the whole 'bathing' thing.  So in they went, sandy and all.

Dru had crashed a couple of times and was sore.  We were both sweaty and dirty and tired.  We decided to make a makeshift shower and bathe ourselves for the good of all.  It was really nice to be clean.  We then ate and simply sat infront of the campfire talking for a couple of hours.  It was nice.
Everyone went to bed except Dru, Ryan and I and we talked about random things.  It was really nice to just sit and hang out and be warm.
I fell asleep in seconds and had another great sleep, apart from Emiko waking up again at around 2am claiming there was an insect in the tent.
Dru went to the rescue again and calmed her down.  By this point I'm sure everyone wanted to shoot us.  Nothing like a 2am wake up call when you're camping right?  Lucky she's so cute man.
So I did morning/kid duty again to allow Dru some much needed sleep.

This next morning, the older boys decided they wanted to do this trail 'Porcupine Rim' and Ryan was going to drop them off.  I wanted to do another ride and Dru and Ryan decided I should try 'Slickrock'.  Dru wasn't feeling good and so I simply went with Ryan while Dru stayed back with the kids at the campsite.
Thanks babe.

Here they are at the beginning of the trail.  They're more downhillers rather than climbers.  I can understand that.  Downhill is fun.

It took a lot longer to get those boys up there than what we'd figured. So Ryan and I didn't get onto the trail until around 1pm!!
It was clear up there man and so on our way down Ryan was bombing it down the gravel road.  I thought I was going to die.  There was no railing along the road and a steep cliff face.  I havn't felt that close to death since driving with his father, years ago!!
I tried to act cool, but inside I was coming to terms with being ok with dying.  It didn't help that while he was speeding down the road he said "Oh my brakes seem to be giving out"
WHAT!!!! YOU DON'T HAVE BREAKS???
I said nothing but, again, figured I was going to die and Dru and Leslie would never find us and wonder what happened.
But we didn't die and I guess Ryan has more control of his car that what I trust, or we were simply protected cause it wasn't our time to go!!!
Dru drives much slower than Ryan and that's how I like it thanks!!

We got to slickrock and I had a blast.  It was so crazy steep in some parts.  Like you wouldn't even believe it if I told you.  If you'd seen some of these up hills you wouldn't believe that you could ride up them.  If I hadn't seen Ryan go up them, there's no way I would've thought it possible.  So I tried a couple of times and came up short.  I need to practice more.  You have to basically be parallel with your bike.  Pretty crazy. I came down them though and just sat way, way back in my bike and hoped for the best.  I was proud of myself.
I'm sure Ryan was bored, but I'm still grateful he took me.
He's an amazing rider, I didn't tell him, but he's impressive.  I'm sure him and Dru would've had a blast together.  He told me Dru started biking when he was 12 because he stole Dru a bike.  Hahahaha brotherly love?
He said they used to come down to Moab with bikes with zero suspension and do these trails.  That's amazing to me.  He was telling me how pumped they were when the front suspension was introduced.  It sounded like they had a ton of fun.
I simply can't compete with someone who's been riding for 30 years!!!
I really liked the slickrock trail. It wasn't as technical as Captain Ahab and just different.  That rock is something I've never ridden on and it was something else.
I crashed only once and almost crashed again but Ryan caught me.  Lucky man cause I was going off of a 6 foot drop!!!
Ryan told me for biking for roughly a year I'm doing ok!!
I took that as a compliment, as he doesn't hand them out too easily.  Maybe he wasn't impressed with my riding and was trying to be nice?  Who knows.

We didn't get the chance to do the whole loop cause we ran out of time.  So we headed back to the campsite and helped clean up and get onto the road.

The Johnson's were already gone!!! I forgot to say bye.
We said bye to the Bountiful Nakaya's and the Wallins and headed out onto the road.
We had a long haul to Pocatello where Dru had a hotel for us from his work.
He had a meeting the next day and so we had to get there that night.
It was pretty quick to Bountiful.  We stopped for some dinner at a diner.  It was a nice stop.
But getting from Bountiful to Pocatello was pretty bad.
Both Dru and I were so tired and bobbing and weaving everywhere.  We're useless.
We managed to make it to the hotel and get things sorted.  Masaru and Yuki wanted a shower/bath but the other kids were tired.
We went to sleep in seconds.

I still woke up with tired eyes though.
Dru woke up early to get to his meeting and I had to wake up with him to drop him off.
The kids just watched TV until I came back.

We hung out for a little while, then went down to get some breakfast.  After we ate our fill we went back and got changed into our swim gear and went swimming in the pool for a couple of hours.
We had the pool to ourselves.
I remembered a story about a girls son almost drowning at a hotel pool, so simply sat there watching my kids like a hawk.
Takeshi jumped straight in and almost drowned.  I guess he figures he can swim?
He did it multiple times!!!
Emiko ducked under for a little scare.  I told the kids I couldn't play with them cause I had to have eyes on them the whole time.  So they played with each other while I made sure they stayed alive!!!

We then went upstairs, showered and watched some more TV.  I took a 30 min nap and then was woken up by Emiko.
We checked out at 1pm and went to McDonalds to their playland until Dru had finished.
I met some crazy people there man.

Dru then said he was done at around 2:30 and so I made my way back to his work place.  I thought I was lost and then miraculously made it.  Lucky I guess.

There was a blizzard happening through all of this and so our ride home was slow and steady man.

I still haven't gotten over the trip and it's Thursday night.  As I sit here typing I have a couch with a mountain of washing that needs to be folded, the kitchens' a mess, the bags needs to be stacked in the garage, my bathroom's are a disaster and I feel run off my feet.
But such is life and I wouldn't trade it away as it was the funnest weekend!!!

I.LOVE.MOAB

The end.