Our Trip; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Our little jaunt to California turned out to be quite a trip. Not exactly the trip I had imagined, but quite a trip nonetheless. The drive down was great. We shaved about 2 hours off of our drive time and the kids didn't even fight all the way there. That alone is a miracle in and of itself. It was kind of a weird feeling to go back to the place that had been home for most of our lives and feel like a visitor. Things had changed, like new shopping centers had been built on Main St. and older buildings had been renovated. Other things I had forgotten about, like just how much dirt there is in the desert and how it is very common for people to have nothing growing in their yards. We had so much fun spending time with our family and I was reminded of how much I really love them all. We were able to get most of the family together under one roof several times during our trip and it was great to just hang out, eat, and chat. A couple of Austin's uncles play guitar and Austin had a ball getting to jam with them. The first night we were there Austin and Ryan stayed up 'till midnight playing guitars together. Austin was in heaven. It was especially fun for the kids to be able to spend time with their cousins. There is a special feeling among the cousins, like they just know they belong to each other in a special way. It was exciting to see how they had each grown physically and in personality. Seeing old friends was lots of fun also. We finally got to see their precious babies who had been born while we were gone. I am fortunate to have many old friends that go way back and it was great to be with them again. We finally got to have the In-N-Out burgers we have been pineing for...not only once but three times! We also visited La Casita and Los Robertos multiple times. We definitely got our Mexican food fix. A few unexpected things also happened to us on this trip. The second day we were there our car overheated on the freeway between Barstow and Hesperia. My brother-in-law rescued us and then my car sat in the shop getting fixed for the next 3 days. The day after my car broke down I recieved the news that one of my oldest, closest, friend's mom had passed away that day. This news was so upsetting and I couldn't think straight for days. I have so many fond memories of spending time at my friend's home as a teenager and of being around her mom. Though I wish it hadn't happened at all, I was thankful that it had happened while I was down there so I could be there with my friend. It was tough to see her hurting and I wish I could take all that pain away from her. I decided to extend our visit until after the funeral which was three days away from when I had planned to return home. A couple of days later the kids and I headed out in our newly repaired car to go visit my Grandma. We were about 40 minutes into our journey when once again our car broke down. This time the transmission went out. I called Aaron in a panic to tell him what happened and a second later my cell phone died. I couldn't believe that I was stranded on the freeway in San Bernardino with no phone and three hysterical kids. I had absolutely no idea what to do. Fortunately, we prayed desperately and then things began to fall into place. I know that Heavenly Father heard our prayer, then gave us His help and protection. About an hour and a half later a tow truck dropped us off at a shop in Hesperia. After it left we learned that that shop didn't fix transmissions and we had to have it towed a second time. It then sat in the shop over the weekend until it could be looked at on Monday. The evening of the day that my car died, Aaron flew in for the funeral. After a couple of missed and delayed flights he finally arrived. Boy was I glad to see him! The funeral service was very nice although it was hard to get through. My friends and I wondered what we were thinking when we put on our mascara that morning. Determined to end this trip on a good note, Aaron and I took the kids to Knott's Berry Farm that Monday morning. It was there that we received the call from the shop informing us that to fix our car would mean paying more money than the car was worth. Suddenly, we weren't in the mood to ride roller coasters and we spent the rest of the day moping around the amusement park. After much thought we decide that the best thing to do was to trade in our deceased car for a new one. We found a great deal on a beautiful forest green Yukon Denali and made the purchased. The excitement of owning a new car was dampered by the fact that we had just paid off our car and were now forced to get into having a new car payment. Such a bummer. The up side was that we now had reliable wheels and could finally go home! The ride home was not a fraction as peaceful as the ride down and it seemed to take quite a bit longer. I can't even say how happy I was to drive down the hill into our little valley. Home at last!