Our Lewis and Clark Caverns Adventure

We finally did it! We went on a little vacation with only a few slightly minor incidents! My mom and dad asked us if we wanted to go up to Lewis and Clark Caverns with them this week and stay at the cabin over night. We jumped at the chance to go. The kids were over their pink eye, Conner was done with the flu, and the kids were close to being done with diarrhea. Yes, it was a very, very, very long week. We left Friday morning and the Taco car drove us all up in luxury to the cabin where we picked up mom, dad, and  Elise. We enjoyed Horton Hears a Who (at our house Joel has changed it to Porton and Poo- which is very appropriate for this trip!) and Little Einsteins as we drove through the beautiful Montana country side seeing the cows and horses as we passed through. Mike woke up that morning not feeling the greatest but to quote him "dang it if I was going to let another trip pass because someone got sick" so we headed on to the caves.
 We got there bought our tickets and hiked 3/4 of a mile up to the mouth of the cave. I had Conner with me in the front pack that I had to dig out of the baby stuff because you have to duck down pretty low in the cave so they suggested it. On the way up Mike took a turn for the worse and had no energy at all, so Elise (who had just hiked one of the Tetons ran up it with Joel on her shoulders. She is amazing!!!  

We get to the entrance of the cave (Mike barely ;)!) And start our tour. Joel did great and Elise did a wonderful job helping Joel! By the way- have I ever mentioned we LOVE aunt Elise at our house!!! Lewis and Clark Caverns is a limestone cave that has beautiful rock formations. Its the largest of its kind in the northwest.

So here is to the look back later and laugh part of the story. We were 1/2 way through the cave - there was no turning back now. Conner started fussing so my dad took him to see if he could calm him down. He did his business and calmed down okay. Dad told me he was stinky but I didn't see anything leaking out anywhere so decided to keep trucking along and we would change his diaper when we got out of the cave- no big deal. He started fussing again so I stood in the back and nursed him a little to keep him quite and we went stinky again. ALL OVER. It went down his leg, a little down my leg, all over the floor. I didn't know this kid had that much in him! There was really nothing I could do so we just stayed clear in the back of the group and tried to let the smell waif behind us and pretend like nothing happened. While this was all going on Mike was laying on the cave floor feeling like he was dying. We got to the end- changed the poor kid and hiked down the 1/2 a mile down to the car. Yes, I am sure we will laugh about this later and yes, when the kids are a little older and not in any way, shape, or form sick of any kind- we will attempt to go through the cave again- it is a very neat experience and I recommend it to anyone (just watch where you step ;-)!)

So with that done we went back to the cabin. Had a fun evening. Woke up the next morning, looked in the mirror and realized that my eye was really red. Yes, now Mike and I had pink eye. So while washing and sanitizing our hands every 3 minutes we decided to go on with our plans. We played around the cabin for a while and explored, and threw rocks in the river (by the way - if you want to hear Elise scream louder than anyone I have ever heard- watch a snake wriggle past her - twice!). After lunch we went and got the rubber raft and kayak and drove up the river a ways and floated down to the cabin. Its always a lot of fun and Joel had a blast!

We had a wonderful, albeit slightly insane, little vacation this weekend. We are hoping next weekend goes better. We are heading back to the cabin for a family work on the cabin weekend! If anyone has any ideas for fun kids games and activities about families let me know!
And to finish off our weekend, Mike got diagnosed with bronchitis and a 3 lb jar of honey  dropped off the top shelf and landed on top of my nose so now it is a little swollen and very bruised to go along with everything else! Yes, we are a pathetic group. And I really hope someone laughs at this -something good has to come of it!
I think its time to just skip this week and go on to the next! Any one else?!

The family curse has struck again!

We have a curse in our family. Whenever we have a fun activity or vacation planned- someone gets sick. This has happened over and over and over and over and over again. With different camping trips, date nights, vacations..... you get the idea! So, for the last month we have planned to go down to Park City with some friends and stay at their family members cabin, do a little shopping, and have fun. I was very looking forward to it. We also have Mike's sister and her family staying with us. So what should happen. Yeah, you can probably guess. Yesterday (I am supposed to be on vacation right now!) who should be diagnosed with pink eye... oh, both boys! We should be contagious free by tonight so long as no one else got it (and I am not holding my breath).  So right now I am blogging my complaint in hopes to break this dreaded curse.

Here is to never planning anything again! All vacations will be spur of the moment with absolutely NO planning!

We will see how this works ;)!

Some times things are too good to be true...

And sometimes there not.
So to begin my story, Mike and I have been looking for a bigger vehicle off and on for the last while. We were looking for a good deal with not deadline involved. We've called dealerships, looked on craiglist, and scoured KSL.

So this week, we find what looks like an amazing deal on a 2000 Suburban. Mike calls on it, and asks very specific questions on its condition, all inside, outside, and mechanical. Mike is a mechanic - so he knows what questions to ask. We didn't want to drive 3.5 hours with two kids if it wasn't what we were looking for. After hearing that yes, it did have some problems (they couldn't verify the mileage because the instrument cluster was damaged - for us not a big deal at the price -- we would drive it til it died and then replace the engine) that made us understand why the price was so low, but we would deal with that. They said it was in otherwise great shape with the seats, and the exterior, blah blah blah. We knew it wouldn't be in as great of shape as they claimed, but definitely had potential. So, we decide to at least go down and look at it. we left in like 20 minutes forgetting about everything, like directions, treats, toys, everything to make a trip nice.
We get in the car-- and about the time we hit Blackfoot, Joel starts throwing up. We should have seen this as a sign...We decided keep going- because he didn't have anything else in his stomach and he was sleeping, and he was going to be sick weather we were in the car or at home. We thought he might have eaten something that upset his tummy and then being the car aggravated it.

So we arrive in SLC with Joel still throwing up and Conner screaming his head off because he was sick of being in the car. We walk up, and soon realize that everything they told us was a lie. It was in AWFUL shape and there was a lot more damage than they told us there was. Mike test drove it, and it was far from mechanically alright. While Mike was test driving it, I sat on their very disgusting couch nursing Conner to happiness with a sick 2 year old next to me. Yes, Joel did throw up a little on their couch, and no, I did not feel the least bit sorry, in fact, I hope they feel guilty for lying!!! So we left feeling a little dejected making the long drive home, where Joel miraculously was back to his old self as we passed Marsh Valley.

So fast forward to Tuesday. Mike calls from work and says there is another good deal on a 2004 Chevy Tahoe... in Salt Lake that was just posted on KSL that morning. He said he called and told them right up front about our last trip and told them he wanted the truth! So, the guy told us all about it. We decided to try and forget our last trip and go down and have a look. We told him that if everything was as he said, we would have not problem buying it. Mike (who works 1 hr away from home) caught the noon bus home and we headed down. The guy told us that if we headed down he would consider it sold and hold on to it for us. Thankfully! So another trip to SLC to look at another car. We got their, and YES! They were honest about everything on the car. It was so nice to work with people that valued integrity! So thanks! Our patience and trip payed off. We loved the car!

So, meet our the newest member of our entourage (we know own 4, yes, that is the number four, vehicles. A little pathetic, I know, considering that there are only 2 drivers!)

Joel refers to it as "the Taco" and is his "truck-car."  So hence it has reluctantly been nicknamed. And we know have a 2000 Subaru Forester for sale if anyone is interested!