Day 8
The kids slept in until 7:30. After breakfast we all went to the DI to visit Grandpa Kip at work. The kids each got a dollar to spend. Abraham got a jump rope and Mercy got a baby doll. Hyrum put his dollar in with Dad and they got a box set of the original Star Wars on VHS. They plan to sell it on Ebay and split the earnings.
We also stopped by Desseret Book to exchange Matthew's present for the right size. The rest of the day consisted of lunch, packing, video games, dinner, more game playing, and a little more packing. Matthew and I went to Auto Zone and Smiths, and Matthew and Naomi tried out the two player version of 7 Wonders. The boys managed to make the toilet over flow as they were getting ready for bed and flooded the hall. Fortunately, it was clean water and an easy fix. It's actually quite amazing that over the course of eight days, the kids hardly made a ruckus or a mess or any kind of inconvenience. They were all so well behaved. The adults played two more rounds of Codebreaker before going to bed just after 9:00.
Travel Day
We got up and going around 5:30 am. Matthew and Kip loaded things into the van and I got the kids dressed and ready. We said our goodbyes and were on the road at 6:20. It was cold and snowing, and while it was really beautiful, it was also really slick and dangerous. Just before reaching the point of the mountain the van spun out and we dove tailed rather wildly for over 100 feet before making a safe stop on the side of the road. It truly was a miracle that we didn't spin entirely out of control and that the otherwise busy freeway was totally clear around us for nearly 45 seconds and no one else was adversely affected by us. We stopped at a gas station at Thanksgiving Point for Matthew to calm his nerves and to let some air out of the tires in hopes of improving our traction a bit. The ice cleared up as we drove through Utah County, and by the time we switched drivers before heading into the mountains, the roads were just about dry. I drove from Spanish Fork to Moab, where we stopped for a mid morning snack and to stretch our legs.
Matthew then drove to Cortez, where we took a potty break and switched drivers again. I drove from Cortez to Gallup, then Matthew got back in the drivers seat for the final stretch home. We hit a little snow and lots of wind the last hour or so, but the roads stayed dry and we pulled into the driveway just after 6:00 pm. It was the longest it's taken us to make the trip, and Matthew's nerves were quite frazzled, but the kids behaved remarkably well and all but one of us was happy to be home. Mercy, upon seeing our house, started crying and demanded to go back to Grandma's house.
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