Idaho trip part 1 - the drive

Once upon a time there was this girl who lived in Texas and wanted to go to Idaho for Christmas. Because she loves Idaho and many people in it. Well she convinced her sweet and loving husband that it was a good idea. 

If you haven't guessed yet, this story is about me. 

So back to the story, I convinced Ryan that going to Idaho was a good idea. I've looked forward to this trip for months, since June! So the week that we are going to leave finally rolls around and I'm ecstatic. Like jumping off the walls, par core status. 

Well, the day before we leave I'm working on packing and I look down at my beautiful little toddler and see red rings around her eyes and her olive skin is white and pale. 

"Mommy. I sick." 

Of course. So I take her temperature and it reads 103.9 degrees. 

After a few doses of Tylenol and increased fever I take my girl to the doctor and lo and behold she has not only the flu but also strep. 

So we started her on her antibiotics and medication and pushed the trip back by a couple days. It's only a couple days, right? No big deal. 

A couple days later, Emma's fever has broken and she's in good spirits. I take AddiLyn's temperature, it reads at 103. 

Of course.

So I take her to the doctor, she tests negative on flu/strep. Yes!! But the doctor said she probably has the flu and it's just reading negative because we tested her so early.

So we push the trip back yet another day and a half. 

AddiLyns fever goes away so we figure we're in the clear and we head out! 

Woo hoo! Finally!! 

At last, we begin the 24 hour excursion. 

The first 4 hours goes great. The girls are happy, Emma's excited about the fun activities I have for her and the change in schedule and everything is going great. 

6 hours into the drive I fed them and they both fall fast asleep. Even better! 

They both slept a good 2.5 hours. Once they woke up though I knew something was off. I reached back and touched AddiLyn and she was burning up. She was acting jumpy/ panicky but also lethargic and slow to respond. Her fever was scary high. So we pull over and Ryan takes Emma out to play and get her energy out and I pull Addi out of her car seat and brought her to the front seat with me. I grabbed an icy water bottle and held it to her armpits. Of course she hated it, but her fever was so high (105 and climbing) I knew I needed to cool off her core temperature fast, and that's one of the fastest ways to do it! I also gave her a dose of motrin, and made a concoction of essential oils (peppermint, eucalyptus, and lavender) and rubbed her chest, forehead and feet with it. 

Poor baby. 

Meanwhile Emma and Ryan are running laps around the parking lot, Emma laughing her head off.

Within 20 minutes AddiLyns temperature was down to 98 and her smile was back so I fed her again, put her back in her car seat and we were off once again.

We ended up stopping every 3 hours so I could check up on little Addi and Emma could run around for 20 minutes to get her energy out. I was able to keep Emma busy almost the whole day with new crafts, coloring books, stickers, books and crafty scissors. AddiLyn slept almost the whole day, she was wiped out. I had her on ATC motrin so her little body didn't get too hot.

We stopped at Albequrque for the night which was wonderful. We all slept great.

The next day was harder. The girls were both so over being in their car seats. We left early and within 15 minutes both girls were crying. Then we almost ran out of gas. We couldn't find a gas station, but we did find this pretty temple. 

So that was interesting. 

I eventually got Emma involved in some activities and was able to keep little Addi happy. Ryan and I switched off a lot. It got to a point where I wanted to drive the rest of the way because I was tired from entertaining babies. Keeping kids happy while traveling is no joke!

This is her "I'm losing it" face. And then.....

All in all we survived the trip there. It really wasn't too bad with stops every 3 hours so Emma could play and I could snuggle and feed AddiLyn.

The crying wasn't consistent until about 2 hours before we got to Rexburg... I wanted to cry that last 2 hour stretch myself. I actually did cry a little bit. 

But hey, we're alive! And in Rexburg and happy to be with my family at last! :)

Gaylord Ice

I'm a little behind on my blogging, we've been traveling. 

Ryan and I got the opportunity to celebrate the holidays with PeisnerJohnson&co a few weeks ago. I will just take this time to say, I love the company Ryan works for. He's got great co-workers and he likes what he does for the most part and there is room to grow and climb to higher positions eventually.  It's such a blessing having a job that you like. The hours are sometimes a little crazy at certain times of the month but it could definitely be worse.

Here are some pictures from the company Christmas party at Gaylord (such a weird name, I know.) it's a luxurious hotel with all sorts of cool things. Like ice museums and stuff.

They haul ice in and carve it into these cool sculptures (each year they have a different theme) and then they have these sculptures in these rooms where the temperature is kept at 9 degrees. Freezing! Luckily they give you huge old parkas to wear as you go through it.

Everything you see is ice made of ice. 

Ryan and one of his co-workers, Paul.

This is a pretty accurate depiction of their personalities :) 

The nativity scene wasy favorite part. So beautiful!!

We had a dinner afterwards, with a multiple course meal and fancy dining. It was beautiful! 

The night was great. And even better, we had a great babysitter who got the girls to bed on time and texted me updates throughout the night so I didn't worry. And then I came home to a perfectly clean house. Score!