Our 'Journey' to Evanston

I'm not a big fan of the word journey. The reason being that it's the most overused word in reality TV! Haven't you ever noticed how every contestant no matter what show they're on, refer to how amazing "this journey" has been?!?! Next time you watch a reality TV show--you'll see what I'm talking about! And just for kicks and giggles--count how many times the word 'journey' is used in one single episode.

On December 19, 2008, we set out to travel to Evanston, Wyoming, to spend the Christmas holiday with the Staleys. In all honesty, it was a true journey. We left the house with enough time to arrive at the airport...only to find that in Portland--the Sky Cap isn't open at 2:00pm--say what???? YEAH. Nope. One has to take their luggage inside to check it. Well, we still needed to park our car at the airport, which included a shuttle ride back and the need to check our luggage: three suticases each weighing 50 pounds + diaper bag + man purse + coats + carseats + carry on bag. May I mention how much I love those $3 and $4 carts to lug your stuff around at the airport? The best $3 bucks I've ever spent in my entire life. Anyway, we decided to take turns checking in while the other waited out in the car with the kids. Yes, one would think that security would be flagging us down while our car sat there...but no--not a single person said anything! We weren't complaining--we one by one got all of our luggage checked and boarding passes in hand.

We were warned that while the flight had not yet been delayed--it would likely be. The previous SLC flight had not even departed and was 3 hours delayed. By the time we got through security and to the gate we found out our flight had been delayed. Three hours total, in fact. Yes, oh yes. So we did the bathroom breaks, changed bums, fed the fam, and chilled.

My testimony of iPhones with movies on them grew substantially on this trip.
Thanks, Papi.

Could she be anymore precious?!?! I mean, honestly.

While waiting, I called my good friend and colleague, Diana, asking her to take us in for the night since my father-in-law, Dave, said the roads weren't safe to head to Evanston. I told her we'd be arriving shortly before 10pm and would continue to update her. SIX HOURS later we landed. Why did a 1.75 hour flight take so long? Well, let me just share. There was a huge snow storm in SLC, which shutdown all runways and the airport so we circled, flew to Twin Falls, Idaho, to get more gas, and then were warned that upon return to SLC if we weren't allowed to land we would fly to Grand Junction, Colorado, to get more gas and then back to SLC to try again. Fortunately, we did not have to do the latter but in all it amounted to six hours on a plane with the kiddos and a SMALL plane I might add...Ryan couldn't even stand up straight, he had to duck! Oh, yeah, the bathroom was broken...so no potty brakes. The A/C was broken too. They did say that if we really needed to do the deed we could always use a cup and dump water down the toilet to make it manually flush. Thanks, Delta. And H-NO, we managed to not have to use the bathroom and had zero accidents. Phew!!!

We arrived at 1am and left the airport about 2:15am. Everyone got to land when we did so the rental car counters were swamped. All employees but one for each company had gone home for the night so they were slammed. We waited, patiently, but exhausted. We had to stop by Wal-Mart for more formula and then we finally made it to Diana's house at 3am...she graciously waited up for us and put us up for the night complete with a hot breakfast that morning. Diana--what would we have EVER done without you and your amazing family?!?! We're forever grateful. I actually considered that part a big blessing--we got to visit and enjoy some time together catching up. Even though we didn't get to bed until after 4am we felt that we weathered the madness and long hours quite well and the girls did remarkably well. We were so blessed through the whole ordeal and that we actually made it! (By the way, Portland airport closed for three days the day after we left due to weather--we really got out of there in the nick of time)! We arrived safe and sound, we were watched over, and our girls all in all enjoyed themselves. Might I add, Sofia introduced herself to two young girls on the plane and asked them to be friends--entertaining herself with them for awhile and Sydnei coo-ed and goo-ed with her sweet smile and dimples at everyone around her. She's quite captivating, ya know.