We made it!!

Ok here is the FINAL wrapup on the trip to Boise! Wanted to get in some pics and let the story end here :) We made it to our temp home while we continue to either 1) wait for our contract with our renters to be up or 2) purchase a new home!

Leaving Strongsville, OH

Headed into Indiana then Illinois....

Eating at Portillo's in Chicago. Ethan got a Chicago dog with a PICKLE!! ICK!!

And into Iowa. Which we were lucky enough to see the WORLD'S LARGEST TRUCKSTOP! Definitely worth a trip to Iowa...

The Mississippi River....looks COLD!!

Brylee enjoying the River and drive...she did SO well for going over 2,000 miles!

There was no welcome sign to Nebraksa so this is the best we could do. Which was fine with us because Omaha was the WORST weather and we plan to never, ever go back there!

Into Wyoming and Utah...

Took a break in Utah and played with cousins at the Utah Children's Museum..

I asked Alexis to give me her reporter face for this pic....too funny!

Said goodbye to the Henze clan and headed to Idaho...ALMOST HOME!!

Stopped in Preston, ID to see cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents. SO fun and so great to see everywhere! Kids got to meet their new Aunt Kelly too!

Of course, the fam had to pose for pics too...

Said goodbye to the Beckstead crew and headed the last 314 miles to Boise! Sunshine and clear skies!! I will say it again, we were EXTREMELY watched over during this trek home. We had a really good time as a family (which is a lot considering the quality time we had together!!)

Kids could barely wait for the truck to be parked when we arrived in good old Three Oaks and RAN down the street to find friends. Alexis found her good friend Maddy and played the day away, and also went to an activity day daddy/daugther date that night. SO FUN! Ethan and his good buddy Jordan were inseperable and went swimming at the hotel. They even decided to go to bed early so they could have more time the next day to play! There have been a lot of sweet reunions here. We are still missing our Ohio "family" terribly, but looking forward to visiting again soon! And now the story of the Beckstead family continues in good old Boise, Idaho.

Travel to Idaho - Days 4, 5 & 6

Ever heard of storm chasers? Well we are storm run-awayers! We got up bright and early Tues morning and learned that a snow storm was going to hit right where we were headed later that evening, so we decided to outrun it!! We left lovely Nebraska (hoping to never, ever return again) and headed WEST! Let me just say, the wind was HOWLING!! Which isn't normally a big deal unless you are pulling an RV in the dead of winter. It was VERY slow going but we made it out of Nebraska and into Wyoming! Wyoming was the state we were dreading most because of its winter weather history. WELL...it wasn't bad at all! A few snow flurries here and there (and the incredible wind) but we made it all the way across! We decided to keep on, keep on, and headed for the Utah border. Through Park City, into Salt Lake and we BEAT THE STORM!

It ended up being 10.5 hours in the car, but so worth it to have family to stay and play with, and no icky hotel bed to sleep in! Kids were once again fabulous on the drive. The highlight for me was when Alexis read a Bailey Kids book to Ethan for over two hours. I loved listening...she is such a good big sister!! Bry was a trooper for such a long day too. She took a nap and hung out with the fam.

After getting into Salt Lake we decided to take a break for a couple of days - since our household goods aren't scheduled to arrive in Boise until Saturday. So we spent Wed at the Children's Museum (with cousins), went to dinner with Thane's bro and girlfriend (so glad to FINALLY meet her!) and went to see the Blindside with Kristy and Colby - which I highly recommend! So great to see family after having been secluded in Ohio the last 8 months of our lives...

Thursday morning we got up and decided to head to Preston, Idaho to spend a day with Thane's parents. That's right - WE MADE IT TO IDAHO! We are so very excited to be so close to home. Tomorrow we close the gap and drive the last 300 miles. We cannot wait! It has been a long trek - but so worth it! I promise pictures are to follow.....

Travel to Idaho - Day 3

Tonight we rest our heads in beautiful Sidney, NE. Beautiful if you enjoy dirt, truck drivers, wind...and s'more dirt. LONG DAY across the very WIDE Nebraska. Nebraska is a freakishly wide state. My family was much watched over today though!! After yesterday's scary end to the drive we were pretty apprenhensive about what today would bring. It was VERY windy (not fun with the trailer and I'm pretty sure every passing car looked at us like we were idiots!) but we saw blue skies and even some sunshine along the way! I'm so glad that Heavenly Father heard our prayers for weather that would be safe for us to travel in!

We didn't see any cool sites today. There is NOTHING in Nebraska. If I never, ever make it back here again, it will be too soon :) We did cross over into the Mountain Time Zone (one step closer to home) and Alexis only has 8 more state license plates she needs to see for her list to be complete. Ethan is fast becoming a master at MarioKart and lego Star Wars on his DS. It is amazing what will entertain you on a looooong car ride.

Low point: the one redbox we found was BROKEN! So we settled for purchasing Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and both kids watched it individually. They colored a lot of pictures and only fought a tiny bit....which I will take considering how much quality family time we have had in the last few days! Actually I am quite enjoying my time with the fam. I mean - who gets to spend 5 straight days (24 hrs/day) with the ones you love? Thane commented that it is amazing that we still like each other even with the past 3 days behind us. I am so thankful for my family - they are amazing!

Brylee was great again. She got some new toys and played, talked, and ate a LOT of vegi-puffs again. She has developed a double chin in the last couple of days. She definitely let us know tonight when she was ready to stop - but she is a pretty great traveler!

I know that lots of people are offering up prayers that we travel safe and we can feel them! And keep them coming. We have really been watched over and are so grateful. On to tomorrow...

Travel to Idaho - Day 2

Started out the morning with a little less enthusiasm than the previous morning - at least we didn't have to say any goodbyes today though! Spent most of the day traveling through the rest of Illinois and across Iowa, finally resting in Omaha, NE. Barely made it to Omaha though! It started snowing and it took us almost an hour to go the final 20 miles to the hotel. Thane is an expert trailer puller, but I was still freaking out pretty good when the trailer would slide a bit. BUT - we made it. Kids thought it was great fun and are once again spending the night swimming in the pool.

All I can say about today is thank goodness for Redbox! So nice to stop along the way, pick up new movies, and return them in a random city! Kids had a blast watching movies, playing DS (again) and reading. Alexis and I also had played some intense games of travel Connect-Four! Brylee took a tiny nap, but was pretty happy for almost the entire ride.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. We might be holed up in Omaha for awhile, but we are praying the snow lets up!

Travel to Idaho, Day 1

Thought I could attempt to do short entries each day on our way back to Idaho!!

Yesterday morning some friends had a goodbye breakfast for me...yummy food and GREAT people! Going to miss everyone a lot.

Started off this morning with ANOTHER round of goodbyes at the hotel with our good friends the Hinckley's. Alexis and Camryn hugged and cried...and cried some more. How I am going to miss that girl! She gave Alexis a very sweet scrapbook and I truly believe they are going to be roommates in college someday! :) Alexis cried quietly in the backseat for the first hour, but began to cheer up after. This is why we are NEVER MOVING AGAIN! Too hard to make such good friends, and then have to say goodbye.

Today we went through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois - stopping for the night in Ottawa, IL (30 miles outside Chicago.) We ate dinner at Portillo's (thanks to a great recommendation from Rachael) and met up with an old friend of Thane's there. Kids were so great in the car! Alexis entertained herself looking at all the different license plates (she is trying to find one for each state - we are thinking Hawaii might be a tough one!) Ethan played DS, watched movies and played with Star Wars toys. Brylee didn't take a single nap, but hardly fussed at all! She is such a trooper. She did eat a TON of Gerber puffs though - whatever keeps her happy!

Kids love staying in hotels and swimming at the pool. Hoping to wear them out so everyone will sleep great tonight!

I am going to try and remember to bring my camera into the hotel at night so I can post the pics we have taken along the way.

Wondering to myself a lot today when we will make it back to Ohio again. Never imagined we would live there, and never imagined missing it so much already! But as this chapter closes, another one begins...right?

Activity Days

Alexis hasn't been in activity days long in Ohio, but she sure loves it! They are an amazing groups of girls and really great leaders! They had a small goodbye celebration for her last week, I know both Alexis and I are going to miss these girls!!

They gave her a goodie box with all her favorite treats and a goodbye note from each girl. She told me that they were so special, even I don't get to read them! :)

Future RS presidents :)

We'll miss you!!

Ode to Ohio....

Our days our numbered here in Ohio so the kids and I thought it would be a great idea to take some pictures of the things we are going to miss very most! First of all, let me say that these pics are on a totally commercial level. The thing we are going to miss most - without a doubt, above anything else - is all the wonderful people we have been fortunate enough to meet and become friends with here. We have only been here for 7 short months, but these people have had such an impact on our lives! It's truly amazing how quickly you get attached to a place. The ward has been so great to us and we will miss so many of the families here. We were so welcomed here and have truly found a home here in little old Strongsville, Ohio. We hope also, that we have left a small footprint here as well :)

Ok - moving away from sappy stuff, here are the places the kids and I have decided we are going to miss most! (In no particular order...)

The Library

The kids and I come here at least once/week and love their selection of books! I think Alexis has read just about every Boxcar Children book they have! The librarians know us by name. Gonna miss that!

The Wooden Playground

Ethan LOVES these wooden playgrounds that are all over the different cities. I'm not a huge fan of them, but we spent many afternoons playing here in the summer!

Panera Bread

I have a love/hate relationship with Panera Bread. Love their food, and I have some great memories with friends here. Hate them because they made Thane work SO much while we lived here.



The Mr. Hero Guy

This gentlemen has stood outside welcoming would be lunch patrons to Mr. Hero EVERY day that we lived in Ohio. This guy has waved to me EVERY day. Rain or shine, blazing humidity or snow (and I mean SNOW!!) He'll never know it, but it has a big fan in me!

The Rec Center

I am going to miss this place!! Ethan takes his karate here, we have gone swimming countless times, and I workout here...all for SO CHEAP!! Wish the West had something similiar. Not looking forward to Idaho Athletic again! Oh well.


Sheetz

Warm turkey subs and fueled my caffeine addiction...need I say more? Although I'm looking forward to the Maverick again!

There are so many other things as well, but we'll just have to keep them in our memories!! Thanks Ohio for all the great things you introduced us to!

"Why to the North Pole of course!!"

Well this is a really late posting (but I was a bad mom and forgot to bring my own camera so I was awaiting pictures) but we got to experience a really fun Christmas FHE tradition this year!! The making of the Polar Express! My friend Sharyn has this fun train-shaped cake pan that makes several pieces of a train. All the kiddos got to decorate a couple of sections of the train (and adults too!) and then we put it all together on a licorice track, complete with peeps snowmen and trees, and cake mountains!

Jacob and Ethan trying to decide which goodies to put on..

Alexis working on hers...

Silly boys...



Mom getting into the spirit...



The finished product...





Kids are so proud!

And of course this is to be followed up by a reading of the Polar Express! I LOVE this new tradition and it is going to be a part of the Beckstead household from now on (I have already ordered my cake pan!) Thanks Bertasso fam for introducing us to this - you'll have to meet us in Boise next year so we can do it again!

Fourteen days...

Well I guess this is the journaling part of this whole blog thing. There won't be any cutie pictures for this post. Just wanted my sense of panic and amazement on record! We found out earlier this week that Thane will need to be in Boise February 1st for his transfer with Nestle. So crazy! That means we are leaving on January 23rd. That leaves us FOURTEEN days to be ready to go - and ready to say our goodbye to Ohio. It's going to be really hard, but we are up for an adventure once again. We currently have no place to live in Idaho (our renters are in our home until July) and we are crossing fingers that we can get out of our lease here (it's looking pretty good.) I will say I am not going to miss renting ONE BIT. I miss so much a home of my own. But - I have had a roof over my head so I can't complain.

We are opting to drive across the country as a family (we are completely nuts!) The kids are already packing their "travel bags" though and are very excited! We'll see how they feel about it when day 3 or 4 of traveling comes along.

Yet another crazy chapter in the story of the Beckstead's!

Hoopsters and new toy!

Ethan started a basketball camp yesterday for 1st and 2nd graders(he is a boy after his mother's heart!) I am going to TRY MY VERY BEST to not yell and scream and such at his games. I'm just a touch competitive when it comes to my favorite sport!!

Here he is lining up for drills..

Little action shot...

He is really enoying karate (and is also very good at it!) but he wanted to try a little basketball and see how he likes it! He is great at dribbling...might have a point guard on our hands!

Meanwhile Thane decided that we "had to have" a plow for our wheeler! Here he is enjoying his new toy...

and enjoying it some more...

and then heading to the neighbors to enjoy it some more...

This toy was purchased before we knew we were heading back to Boise (aka the land of no snow) so I'm sure we are going to be terribly laughed at when he is using this to shovel all 2 inches of snow there! Oh well! :)

Hold the macaroni!

I admit that I am a big old chicken when it comes to feeding my babies "real" food. I'm terrified they are going to choke, or have allergies (I still have nightmares about finding out about Alexis' milk allergy!) But I have been a lot braver with Brylee and the older kids thought it would be fun for everyone to eat Macaroni and Cheese together! Sounds like fun - and it was! Here is Brylee enjoying her first taste of the yummy powdered cheese pasta...

Ah...cheesy bliss.

Flashforward to an hour later. Brylee has a head to toe rash, puffy ears, cheeks, hands... you name it! DARN! Is it the mac? Is it the roni? Is it the powdered cheese? Only time will tell, but for now we are holding the macaroni!

On a happier note, we had a wonderful New Years. 2009 was a crazy, wild, bumpy ride for our family, so I'm really looking forward to what 2010 is going to bring!! I love that each new year you feel like you have a "fresh start." Reset those resolutions and get moving! I think 2010 is going to be the best yet - I can just feel it!!

Here are the kiddos doing some fireworks. Oh wait - you can't see Ethan because he is hiding behind the house. Kid is STILL terrified of fireworks! I guess that's what he gets for being born on the 4th of July!

And finally here is Brylee's new trick of the week. She discovered she can barely reach the piano keys when standing against the bench and she LOVES to play! Time for lessons! :)




I can't wait to see what fun adventures the New Year brings for myself and our family! :)