The Traveling Circus

There will be no pictures on this post. Sorry. I don't want to go through all the suitcases to find the card reader right now. Maybe next time. We made it back from Alaska, safe and sound. We had a good time with the Munyers in Anchorage right before we left. The largest incident we had with flying was when Ben got held up in security for awhile. He packed a screwdriver in his carry-on and it took security quite a while to figure out what it was, and then they had to inspect it. But our flight was on time! We flew into Portland overnight and neither of us got the sleep that we needed. Apparently flying isn't a pregnant woman's friend. The next day my ankles were swollen. I remember one of my ankles being swollen that large before- I was 6 and was stung by a wasp. It was disgusting and not very comfortable. And I had killer heartburn to top it off.

The next morning we packed and left again. This time we piled 14 1/2 people into a 15 passenger van, which was surprisingly far more comfortable than an airplane. And we were dragging a boat that was piled with luggage and food. We weighed 13,000 lbs. I can only imagine what people were thinking when we all got out of the van at KFC- 13 people, one of them pregnant, and a 6 week old baby. And then we had to order. We drove 4 hours to Grandma Sharp's house in Richland, Washington. Saturday we got up and drove 4 hours to Great Grandpa Ogle's house in Moscow, Idaho. We visited him for his 98th birthday and then drove back 4 hours to Grandma Sharp's. Around halfway back half the car got "caged monkey syndrome." Perhaps you've experienced this before: too many people, too long having to sit in the same spot, no possible way to be entirely comfortable, no one's had enough sleep, and, well, you go a little bananas. We were lucky in that Russell, who is only 6 weeks old, slept in the car nearly the entire time. Despite the caged monkeys, it really wasn't a bad trip. I can remember much worse in a car with only 5 people.

Monday we drove 4 hours to twin lakes. We spent the week there mostly playing on the boats. I did go for a tube ride, a very mild one, and even that I felt later. I was a little sad that I didn't get to try wakeboarding, but I can't imagine trying to get up on the wakeboard for the first time, and being pregnant. I have a hard enough time keeping my balance. I got a tan. That hasn't happened in several years for me. Thursday we got a big wind storm which kept us off the lake for most of the day. Ben filled his time by joining his brothers to make a potato gun. The wind got really bad and the dock started to float away. It was quite entertaining. The huge pine trees were making us all a little nervous. One fell and landed on a power line and we lost electricity, which meant no water because the water pump no longer worked. We stayed the rest of the week without it. For the most part, it wasn't that bad, everyone went to bed a little earlier. And the men had to do most of the water hauling for the toilets. And we had drinking water until a couple of hours before we left on Saturday. The worst thing was that our air conditioner stopped working. It really wasn't that hot, but we found out that the noise from the air conditioner was the only thing allowing us to get any sleep, because we were sharing a room with a 6 week old. And at this point my killer heartburn had lasted for a whole week. I think I got cranky.

Saturday we drove the whole way back- 8 hours- and then unloaded the boat and the car. I don't really remember Sunday, I was mostly comatose. Monday I started taking Prilosec, and within 8 hours of my first dose my heartburn was gone, and it hasn't come back since, even through enchiladas and late-night cheese fries. I can handle being pregnant for a few more months now. We are really enjoying the time with our family here. We got to go to the temple, and we only had to drive 45 minutes to get there! Ben is working with Dan while we are here. I feel bad that he is working the whole time we are here, but I think he is enjoying the time that he gets to spend with Dan before he leaves on his mission in September.