Highs and Lows

Low: Forgetting my camera for our trip. Yeah, I'm a big winner. (So, to compensate, the internet will be providing pictures to fill in the visual gaps that would otherwise be in this post.)

Low: Troy letting our cat, Memo, out of the house, after we had kept her inside so we could take her to the vet to kennel her for our out-of-town trip.

Low: Slipping on the icy/frosty stairs as I go outside to try and find our cat. And, slipping again on the icy/frosty stairs coming back in when I can't find her, and getting a huge bruise on my shin.

High: Our cat coming back about 20 minutes before we headed out of town, so we could vaccinate and board her anyway. YAHOO! Especially since she never comes back that fast after being let out.

High: Our hotel, Embassy Suites. The swimming pool, the yummy cook-to-order breakfast (got a Denver omelet both mornings-yum!), the pull-out couch turned bed, the free parking, etc. etc. etc.
Low: Troy drawing with pen on the leather chair in the hotel room. After much scrubbing on my part, luckily it (mostly) came out. Very grrr.
High: Jakob losing a tooth at dinner the night before Pete's test. Did you know that the tooth fairy can come to hotels?

High: Eating dinner at Village Inn. I ordered a crepe that had Nutella (chocolate) and cream cheese on the inside, and bananas and strawberries on top. It would have been slightly scary to watch me eat it because I was scarfing it down so fast. But from here on out, when I make crepes, I'm totally adding the cream cheese.

Low: Having to threaten the kids within an inch of their lives to get them to stay in bed and go to sleep that first night. And then waking up at midnight to Jakob's watch alarm (which he somehow manages to set all the time even though I un-set it all the time), and finding Brock playing by the front window that looks out to the hallway at the front of our hotel room. At midnight.

High: Going to the Utah Museum of Natural History. It was easy to find (about two blocks from where Pete was taking his test), and we were the only ones there, along with a grandma and her 3-year-old grandson. The kids didn't really care about the mineral section, but loved the dinosaur bones and the bugs section, which made me squirm in my skin, because even though that tarantula is behind glass, it's still big and hairy and a spider. There's a little play area there with puzzles and a digging area, and I think we spent the majority of the time there.

High: Going back to the hotel and getting a little nap, along with Troy and Ivy. It was awesome.

Low: While dozing in and out of consciousness, my other boys were watching Pokemon 12: The Fight Against Some Very Angry Dragon Guy that Keeps Blowing Up the Good People That Can Open the Different Universes. Yes, I believe that was the actual title, and it very much sucked.

High: Getting coloring books for all my kids, along with new color crayons for each of them. Hours of entertainment.

Low: Not having a yellow crayon in my/Ivy's crayon box. I mean, who doesn't include yellow, but has three purples in there?!?

High: Eating at Benihana Friday night. Oh, mama! And an extra bonus-they have this yummy soup as the first course, and it has mushrooms in it. I hate mushrooms, but Jakob wanted to try my soup, and he ate the mushroom part!

Extreme high: Pete passed his CIH!!!! Congrats!

High: Going to see Pete's parents, and having all his siblings and the in-laws and the nieces and nephews come over. It was wonderful to see everyone.

High: Jakob got to spend the night with his cousin, Ethan. He did great, especially since that was his first sleep-over.

Low: Running into a bit of a snow storm on the way home.

High: It wasn't too bad, and it was only during a small part of the drive. The kids were great in the car, and even slept some of the way.

Low-and-High: Being tired. I have oodles of laundry and catching up to do, but it was an awesome trip.