These treks out west are always quite the adventure, and the older Kevin and I get, the less we like to do it all in one shot – which unfortunately means that it takes forever to get to Idaho.  Oh well.  We left on Thursday, after Kevin finished playing in a golf tournament, and headed out of Texas, which is quite the ordeal all on its own – ha ha!  We did stop for lunch at a Dairy Queen, aka: Texas Stop Sign.  They are one of the few fast food restaurants you can find in the tiny towns that make up west Texas.

We stopped in Roswell, New Mexico for the night, and the kids were a little confused about all the alien paraphernalia all over town, including at our hotel.  Even the elevator floor had alien stuff on it – ha ha!

The next day, Friday, we were up and out early so we could make it to our friend’s house in time for dinner.  The late night the evening before did the boys in, and totally fell asleep.  Oh, I should also mention that this was the inaugural long trip with my new car, and it worked great – even if we did have to pack pretty light. We had the car carrier up on top to hold Kevin’s golf clubs, so that helped too.  I especially loved having Apple Car Play to use as we drove, since my van is way too old for such fanciness.

We got to Katie and Tony’s house just in time to have some dinner, and then the boys went down into their basement, which is video game heaven.  (They own every Nintendo system, as well as almost every game ever made because Tony finds them at garage sales.).  While the boys were having a blast, Kevin and I stayed up way to late playing pinochle with Katie and Tony.  It was so much fun, even if the boys seemed to constantly destroy uu – ha ha!

Since we were limited on time in Utah (only about 16 hours, including sleeping time), we managed to find a way to still spend time with our other dear friends, the Drapers.  We met at their house, and then left the boys there to hang out (Derek even helped make breakfast), while Kevin and I went out to breakfast with Rob and Angela.  It was so much fun, and over way too quickly!  I guess we should just feel blessed that we got to see them at all.

When our plans to swing by and say hi to our friends Brent and Marilyn in Ogden fell through, we decided that instead of getting to Twin Falls extra early, we would use that time and visit our Lily.  It was a few hours out of our way, but man, it was worth every second when we saw the surprise and happiness on her face.

We took her out to a late lunch/early dinner, and it made our hearts so happy to see her, and to see her with her brothers.  We feel incredibly blessed that our kids are best friends.  We loved getting to be with her, even if it was only a couple hours before we had to head out.

After visiting Lily, it was just another 2.5 hours in the car, and then we were in Twin Falls and with my mama.  I hadn’t gotten to see her in person since last summer, and it was long overdue.  So glad we will have a week together.

And on a side note, we pulled into town right about 7pm, and Kevin grabbed his golf clubs and headed out with my brother-in-law, Stuart, as well as my nephew, Luke, to sneak in nine holes of golf.  Stuart and Luke will be out of town during our whole visit, and the three of them had a blast getting to golf together.