Road Trip!!!

Last week I decided that I needed to take the kids home to Oregon. It was Dallin's last week off of school and I figured it may be our last chance for a while. So my little sis Cami came over and Tuesday morning she and I and a car full of kids took off toward home sweet home. The kids actually did awesome (thanks to a DVD player). You wouldn't even know Dallin and Eden were in the back most of the time. Tanner and baby Claire did pretty good too. Our first stop at home was in Monmouth (near Salem). My sister Elizabeth just bought a brand new house there and we were very exited to see it. They had to buy a four bedroom home because they have 3 boys and are now expecting twin girls in October. That just would not have worked in their little 3 bedroom home. Also, her husband Maurice just started a new job working for the state in Salem so everything worked out perfectly. There house is great and should fit a family of 7 just fine. Bed time was hard being away from home and this picture represents two hours of Mommy's hard work. Shhhhhhh...just tiptoe away...After the first night I just let them stay up until they were too exhausted to fight it.
Wednesday we took the kids to see their friends Arwen, Noah and Joshua. It was so good to see them. Then I went to my sister Laurel's house in Beaverton. She let me host a lunch for my two childhood friends Angie and Amy. It was so good to see them and each of their little babies. Amy has lost 40+ pounds in the last few months so it was fun to see her new look. That night we went to Larry and Michelle's for dinner and all the Oregon Dickinson's came. The kids had a GREAT time with their cousins. I noticed that Dallin had improved a lot being around other kids lately. Afterward, we went to Larry and Lori's and spent the night in Heidi's old room.
Tanner had us laughing so hard when he was playing peek a boo with Lucy in the playpen. He would totally squish his face when he would duck down. What a funny little guy. Wednesday morning Lori made a yummy pancake breakfast and took me out to buy a new skirt. Then we met Larry for lunch at McDonalds and the kids played at the indoor play land for a long time. That evening we went back to my sister Laurel's and had a dinner with my parents and siblings. That was a grand old time. Dallin and Eden played with more cousins and I realized how much I was missing my parents. We had a BBQ and visited outside until it got dark. My 3 sisters and I stayed up late and had a slumber party (okay, we went to bed before midnight, but we are old mommys now). Friday we made the trek back home to Cali and brought along Peter's littlest sister Lucy who is 10. She will be staying with us for a week and a half. The kids just love her.

Once we got back to California the road tripping didn't stop there. Peter's old college buddy Rod called and told Peter he would be at Lake Tahoe this weekend. We haven't see he and his family since graduation (literally, we actually walked with them). We drove the two and a half hours on Saturday and met up with them and their 2 little girls. We had a nice BBQ dinner at their relatives cabin and then set up camp at a nearby site. This was the craziest camping experience ever. The main reason being the BEARS!!! Rod's wife's family has been camping there for like the last 30 years and they had lots of bear stories. I guess they are all over the place. Once I saw the site I believed it because each lot has a lock box to put your food in. You can't even lock any food, toothpaste or lotion in your car because they have been known to break the windows and open car doors. Okay so after hearing about 10 different bear encounter stories I was pretty much freaked out. We had a campfire and roasted smore's and all was good but I was dreading the nights sleep. I made sure to go to the bathroom twice before bed because there was no way I wanted to get up in the middle of the night. We also forgot tanners playpen so that made things tricky too. After sleeping for about an hour I woke up with a full bladder. Determined to hold it I lied there awake hearing every little sound outside the tent. The kids were also tossing and turning a lot which woke Tanner up and so I had to hold him for a couple of hours trying to get him to go back to sleep. I hated being awake because with every noise I was sure that a bear was going to slash through the tent at any moment. I heard dogs barking in the distance a few times throughout the night which was not a good sign. Several hours later I finally asked Peter to tell me the time. I was hoping it was like 5 or later because I was beginning to be in a lot of pain. It was only 3:30! I decided that waiting until morning was not going to be an option and told Peter that I was going to risk the walk of death to the bathrooms. Luckily Peter and Rod went with me and it was uneventful. In fact, thankfully, I don't have a bear story to tell. Just a long night and a sore neck from sleeping with kids all over me. At least now I can say I did it and we actually had a good time.
This is tanner and Claire on the way home from Oregon

This is beautiful Lake Tahoe. I have never seen such blue water in a lake before. It reminded me of the Caribbean a little bit. So gorgeous.