Quick trip to Idaho

My Grandma, Jesse Gropp, died on June 1, 2009. We found out that evening and started driving the next morning to Boise. My Dad, Lynnae, Andrea, for kids ages 4 and under, and I all caravan up to Cortez, Colorado. Then after Lynnae and Dad got a little cat nap we(Dad, Lynnae, my kids and I) got in the van to drive the rest of the way. We met my in-laws in Burley Idaho to give them the girls for a couple of days. They(Lita, Papa, and the girls) were super excited to spend some time together. We pulled into Boise extremely tired and in need of a shower and a bed. When we didn't have accommodations prepared for us, Lynnae and I got a hotel room(in the same hotel that Jim and Candice were staying in) and went over for some refreshing. Lisa,my sort of cousin, met us and treated us to dinner---tons of thanks--- and Bryan, her new husband, is super fun. After dinner we headed over to the Funeral Home for the viewing. We then headed over to Les and Sherry's, my aunt and uncle, house to practice the song for the funeral. My cousins, Amanda, Lisa, Summer and I sang Consider the Lillies. The next day we went to the grave-side funeral( it got extremely hot, so Lynnae nipped things in the bud) and we all went to the Church for a delicious lunch. We visited and played. We stayed up late talking. Overall it was a pretty good, short trip. I only wish it had been for a different reason.

My next step was traveling to Blackfoot to visit with the Holloways for a couple of days. It stayed wet the entire time I was there, so we spent most of our time inside. It was good though, because I needed to rest a bit before making the huge trek back to Texas.

Early Sunday afternoon, my kids and I left Blackfoot, Idaho in pursuit of my Sister-in-law, Andrea. She was staying with her sister in Layton, Utah. I received the address earlier in the day so I could print off directions. We made pretty good time. However, when we pulled onto the street I realized that the numbers on the houses were not going to reach the number I was given. Without a cell phone with me I began to quickly come up with ideas of how to find the house. After driving around the neighborhood a bit I decided to stop at one of the houses to ask for help. The kind man I asked said, "It is alright, the roads here are screwy." I followed his directions only to find that they were not working either. I saw an older lady walking along the road(with a walker non-the-less) and asked her for help. She did not know either, but just passed a lady working in her yard. So I drove around the corner while this older lady with the walker walked and we asked the sweet even older lady in her yard. Neither one could help. But, the walker lady said,"If you aren't offended by the Mormons, church just let out and the building is not too far from here." Not being offended I drove over there to find the parking lot almost completely abandoned. I got all 3 kids out(David had leaked through his diaper really bad) and went in. I asked a middle aged couple clearly cleaning the building if they knew the streets around here and they said no so I found 2 men(probably in a Bishopric) and asked them. They both looked at the address I had written down and pointed in a direction telling me I needed to go 'that way'. I said, "Wow, that is really vague. I have never been to Layton and have no idea where to go." One of them said that he was about to leave and to wait for him and he would lead me over there in his car. As he was saying this it began to rain. I mean really rain. Like horizontal pounding of water. Then the hailing started. I was holding David and Jessica was whining for me(she had a fever and just wasn't feeling well), while Cailyn looked nervous. I decided that I was going to put the kids in the car one at a time and then the couple cleaning offered their help. They said, "Will she let us hold her(talking about Jess)?" I said, "Probably not, but he won't care." So, I handed David over to a complete stranger, picked up Jessica and held Cailyn's hand so we could run to the van. We had to wade through ankle deep ice water. Cailyn and I both had flip-flops on and our toes were frozen within the first step outside. We got the kids in the car, I turned on the heater and we followed the nice brother around(seemingly in circles) until he stopped in front of a house that had the right house number, but it was on the wrong street(or so I thought). I told him that it wasn't the right street number, and he replied, "I used to throw newspapers in this neighborhood and there is no such street here." I decided to go to the house and knock on the door. I felt relief as Andrea opened the door and with her sweet voice said, "You found me!" Earlier in the day, Andrea asked her sister for the address and was told to ask her children. They had a little miscommunication about the numbers and I was given the wrong street. All was good though. With the help from the Lord through service of those around me I was able to find it and we went on to my brother's house to eat with his beautiful wife, Candice.