Our trip to Utah...day 1

So after an exhausting week of packing for 8, keeping the house clean, and the laundry under control...Wednesday finally arrived!  I have always hated driving in cars since I was a kid...I won't blame it on any one thing...more a combination of a bunch of things that involve 6 kids, sandwiched in the back of a suburban!  Ha ha...my parents call it memories, I call it a recipe for a migraine!
Phil and I try to "keep it real" when we travel...I hate the whole messy traveling car look, it already seems like we attract so much attention as it is, having such a huge family piling in and out of our car...so I like what little attention we can control, to be somewhat not junky!  Ha ha!  I know, I'm so wierd!  So instead of bringing along snacks that would just end up being smashed into the back seats, we started our trip off with McDonalds:)  Nothing like bacon, egg, and cheese in the morning!  The first 4 hours were good...we ate, no one had to go potty...everything was sweet, until we hit "Freedonia"!  Wow!  We made the mistake of telling our kids that when we stopped to get gas, we would also stop and get out to get something to eat.  What we didn't know, was that the only visible restaurant around was another McDonalds!  Okay, so I'm all for McDonalds...but twice in one day?  No.  So we tried telling the kids that in the next town, we promised to get something to eat...we started asking them what they felt like to get them excited...oooh big mistake. 
Anyone with kids knows...that when they flip, they flip fast, especially when they're either hungry or tired...and my kids were both!  Ugh...the next town was Panguitch...talk about a town!  I'm not worried about offending anyone because I'm pretty sure they haven't heard of the internet yet...they only had 2 "name brand" restaurants...Subway in a gas station and Arby's...in a gas station...how lovely!  Yeah so to make a sweet trip sweeter we all got out at the local gas station to go inside and eat at Arby's!  How do you know you're in Utah?  Maybe when suburban that parks next to you has 8 kids showcased on their back window!  Ha ha!  Loved it!!!

After a meal that left me seriously re-"thinking" Arby's...we were on our way again...!  We arrived a mere 5 hours later to Lehi, UT!

Now the real fun begins...

Thursday morning we woke up and went over to Gramma Debbie's and Papas house for scones with the cousins!  Tony, Jessica, and their 5 kids were staying at their house.  Phil, Me, and our 6, were staying with Shauna and her 3 kids around the corner:)

It was so much fun to see the cousins all hanging out together!  Now get ready for a million photos...

Silly side note about the below picture...My father in law is a complete stud!  He owns a few homes close to his and then of course has his daughter super close too, so as we're pulling up to the house he's loading his riding lawn mower up onto a trailor so he could go take care of the lawns that needed to be mowed, if you knew my father in law this wouldn't come as a surprise:)

Before breakfast was finished he was already back and armed with 2 cans of Wasp spray, so he could spray a nest that was like super high.  I think I was the only one completely curious about how he was going to do this...wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt, on a ladder no less!

I wish I had gotten a video!  Phil has some awesome stories of being on the phone with his dad while he was taking down wasps on the other end of the line...and when asked if he was getting stung, he said yeah, but finished the conversation without a hitch!  Now I can honestly say I totally believe that story!  A few swats and a lot of yelling "Get out of here!" to the wasps...he took their little nest down!  I have to say...it was pretty awesome!  (Don't let the picture fool you, there were wasps flying all over the place!) 

After breakfast it was off to Cowabunga Bay!



Finally Phil pays attention...but Berlin is so over this scene!



Cowabunga Bay was seriously fun...the day continued with dinner at Brick Oven Pizza

To Be Continued...