California Trip

A few days before Christmas, Ron and I decided we would surprise his family and drive to California (every one was going to be in town except for us). The plan was to have Christmas morning at our house, get the car ready to go, drive to my mom and dad's house and spend the day with them and then leave from Laramie to drive to California that evening.  Drive through the night and just play it by ear as we see how far we got down the road.

Weather changed those plans.  We determined that if we went to Laramie, we wouldn't be able to get home or go to California so we decided to watch the weather and leave from Cheyenne and go down I-70 that evening, and not see my family for a few days.

Weather changed those plans. We then decided that we needed to get out of town ASAP if it was going to happen.  Snow was coming down and it was just a matter of time until the roads closed.  We loaded the car as quickly as possible and hoped to beat the storm by getting ahead of it a little bit south on the 70.

Weather changed those plans.  As we drove south, the 70 was looking worse and worse, so we decided to hit the 40 and head across there.

Weather changed those plans. The 40 was yucky as well, so we ended up driving down to the 10 and going across to California.  It added an additional 5+ hours onto the trip and if we would have known that it is what we would have had to do ahead of time, we probably would have just stayed home.

The kids were AMAZING travelers.  I am not kidding.  We were in the car for 26 hours straight (with limited bathroom and food breaks) and they were awesome.  Very minimal problems. Especially considering we didn't tell them where we were going for the first 16 hours of the trip.

We arrived at Ron's parent's house at about 5:00 p.m. on December 26th. We videoed our entrance.



Before we left the house, I took a few quick pictures so I could send text messages to Ron's family as appropriate.

This was my view looking back. My dad always considers it a successful packing job if you can see out the back window, so Ron did good!

 We got a few shots of all of the grandkids while we were all there!

One day, Ronnie's parents watched the kids and Ron and I went to San Diego.  I have been to the outside of this temple before, but never inside so it was wonderful to do a session.

Proof that Ronnie and I are HORRIBLE at selfies.

One of many nursing/bathroom/food stops on the way to California.  The kids were very impressed with this cactus.

Snuggles with Grandpa (she is not asleep, as it seems).

Cuddles with cousin Tessa (and a little tablet watching mixed in).

Siblings getting along.  With electronics.

Aunt Toni and Brynlee

Aunt Sandy, Kendree and Brynlee. We got to see lots of extended family.  It was wonderful.

Aunt Katie and Brynlee

Uncle Jeff and Brynlee

Brooke and Brynlee

All the little girls loved their Brook-ie!

On our way back to Cheyenne, the weather was a little more favorable and we were able to take the normal way home.  Up I-15. We stopped to have dinner with Aunt Kari at Inn N Out.

We stayed the night with Grand Dad and Great-Grandma and took the opportunity for a few pictures.

 And of course we stopped to see Grammy as well!

Weather got in our way again, but luckily we made it all the way to Laramie this time.  We spent one last night at Grandma and Grandpa's and then packed up the car for the final 45 mile stretch to make it home.  We were packed to the gills.

When we made it home the tree was very, very droopy.

And my living room looked like Christmas had exploded (because it had).

Because of the weather delay, we got home at about 10:45 a.m. and had church at 1:00 p.m. Needless to say, we dropped everything and just got ready.  This is what I had waiting for me when we got home from church.  I hate nothing as much as I hate unpacking.

The aftermath of the droopy tree...

Even with all of the weather issues and extra days in the car, and clean up afterward, it was great to see everyone. We had a great trip and always are happy to find an excuse to travel to California.