Drive UT to MI & Jake's Bday

The drive to MI was much easier than the drive to UT.  After being on the road for over 8 days I think the girls finally submitted their will to us.

Scarlett has a hawk eye for all windmills and water towers.  

We drove through a HUGE storm.  Everyone on the road drove with their emergency flashers in order to be seen.  The rain was so loud that we couldn't hear our audiobook.  It was a tense few hours.

The second day on the road was Jake's birthday.  I felt bad cause his bday kinda sucked - but since he spent my bday at the Ford Racing class I didn't feel too bad ;-)  I took my bday badge and modified it for him.

This video is of Jaide's happy shimmy-dance - it makes me laugh every time!!!

These girls have lots of teeth and love to use them to crunch and munch.

Scarlett's favorite part of staying in hotels: the luggage cart!

Jake's fabulous bday dinner (he didn't feel like dealing with a restaurant).  He picked out a frozen mac and cheese from the mini selection by the hotel front desk along with some ice cream.  Glamorous!

Luckily the room had 2 TVs... so he got to watch off-road racing while the girls watched a cartoon (and I stood in the corner snapping pictures like a creepy stalker).

I made Jake a BYU fleece blanket and got him a few other gifts to open on the road.

Jaidey Lady refuses to crawl - instead she does the army crawl:

I know I've already posted about these PeaPod Tents.  But I LOVE them!  On this vacation the twirls slept in 9 different rooms and I can't believe how well the slept!!!  It worked like a charm!!!!!!

Before we loaded up the next morning, Jake jacked up the wheels so he could tighten the lug nuts.  What a good dad!

The first thing Scarlett did when we got home was jump in her polka dot chair and kick her feet up.  Silly girl!!!  We also had a lovely surprise on our counter and in our fridge.  Laura had sneaked in a bought us groceries!!!  Love her!

Will we drive to Utah in the future?  Yes.  But... probably not for several more years.  I think once the girls can play games and get their own snacks it might be easier (of course, flying will be easier then too...) we were able to bring a TON of stuff back to MI with us in our stow-and-go compartments (so surprised at how much we fit in there!)  So it was worth while this time to drive.  And now we know what they're both like.  I think the biggest factor in our future travel method comes down to the fact that Jake spent 6 of his precious vacation days driving cross-country.  If we drive again it will probably be with whoever flies out to help me drive.  We'll see if I have the same resolution after the next time we fly....