Over the river and through....

...Yakutat, Juneau, Seattle, Portland, Boise, Idaho Falls, a drive south to Brigham City, and to Grandmother's house we went!

Are we there yet?

...not really, Zach's a very good traveler!

My parents had planned a two week trip to Utah, and I'd been debating for months whether to go with them. When my mom was talking with my grandma before their trip, Grandma asked whether I was coming. I had decided I wasn't, but immediately felt guilty knowing I had the opportunity to see her and was passing it up. So, like most of our recent trips, this one was kind of last minute.

Why so many stops along the way to Grandma's? Well, despite the awesome flight perks we enjoy (courtesy of Darius...thanks love!), we're still limited to standby travel. Our "milk run" flight leaving Cordova always has 2 stops before reaching Seattle. From Seattle we were hoping to get to Boise and connect to Idaho Falls, but after checking flight loads I knew chances were slim to none. Portland was our way to get to Boise. From Portland we barely made it on the flight we needed to, enabling us to make our connection from Boise to Idaho Falls. As usual, Connie is good enough to make the drive up to Idaho from Salt Lake to pick us up. James and Brooke were also at the airport to meet us, and we had lunch with them before heading down to Brigham.

Zach with his Great Grandma. This alone was worth the trip!

I opted for just one week in Utah instead of two. Unfortunately I think the process of actually getting to Utah sucked up most of my energy and patience, so I think I got things started on the wrong foot. I did enjoy seeing Grandma and the rest of my family, but I'm so glad to be home now! Darius wasn't able to come with us, and it was hard to be away from him.

Ben and his cousin Hope, hanging out at Strate's abode.

On Sunday most of the family congregated at Grandma's house in Brigham City, and Dad barbequed some halibut and salmon that we brought with us from home. I was busy being a helicopter mom, so unfortunately I wasn't able to visit with everyone as much as I would have liked. Ben & Zach unknowingly enjoyed wearing out me, their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. I counted in my head and I think there were at least a dozen of us that pushed the boys around in a play car.

Zach loved this car! He must have been it for an hour or more.

The rest of our time in Utah we spent at Carrie & Bobby's home in West Valley. Ahhh....if I must go slightly nuts on "vacation", there's no other place I'd prefer to do it! Thanks for putting up with us Sis!

Carrie & Bobby got a puppy just a couple of days before we got there. His name is Skoog (Carrie, correct my spelling if I'm wrong) and he's a handful, but so adorable! Of course, puppies like to lick, nibble, and jump (sometimes tackle) so Ben & Zach mostly enjoyed his company. They also had fun in the sprinkler, and the mud it made in the garden. Hopefully the chives they trampled made a full recovery.

I was lucky enough to have help on the return trip home. I was expecting to fly solo with the boys, but Joy was able to come back with me. We got off to a good start, but things got pretty hairy at the end. Fortunately we did make it home in a day...and managed to skip Idaho Falls, Boise, Portland, Juneau and Yakutat.

Love you Grandma!