Magic!
A big shout out to Pete and Amanda for introducing us to Lemi Shine! (3 pack w/ free shipping!) It has made such a difference in our dishes. They sparkle again! We can now invite friends over without being embarassed – THIS STUFF REALLY WORKS! If Lemi Shine needs a sales rep I would be glad to do it because it is that good.
This post was mostly for my sanity on the car ride. It was fun to write and keep track of what we did while we drove across the country. Don’t feel forced to read this – just know that we made it and it wasn’t too bad.
Thursday July 2, 2009
5:30am roll out of bed, get dressed and load the last few things in the car. Pump Milk, Change Diapers, and load kids in the car. 6:15am ROLL OUT! … ready for 2 days of driving. Pleasant Grove Utah to Mukwonago Wisconsin! Forgot Bens retainer L 6:30am ROLL OUT (again). The strategy of leaving early so the kids will sleep the first part was semi successful. Benji was bright eyed and bushy tailed when we woke him up to go pee and get in the car. He made sure that I packed him some underwear just in case he pees his pants on the long drive!! He is ready for Wis Con Sin! He is still wide awake, keeping Dad company along with 107.9 and the morning Show. Packer was also excited and awake for the first hour, he‘s asleep now. Cali drank 2 ounces and has been sleeping. And Mom (me) took a nap on I-15 since I am very familiar with that road J
8:00am we just passed the Utah to Wyoming border. The sun was beating down on me so my nap is over. Benji needs some breakfast – hostess donettes and a piece of bread with his sippy of milk. He showed me the train that was on hill to the left. The first thing in Wyoming are a few firework stores and a few Utahish billboards ie. “this is the placeâ€. Now we are passing some windmills. Ben has got the MP3 player going – a little mix but loaded on the country side for me J. Benji just spotted the windmills and is asking when we will be out of this town (state). He’s getting sleepy now.
9:00am We just left the Little America in Wyoming. Benji needed a potty stop so we got gas (25$) and changed diapers and ended up nursing the baby while the boys ran around the trees and sign. Packer is very happy about his Pinecone that he found under the tree. Events leading up to this included everyone being awake. Packer had thrown up his milk at some point along the way. And Ben and I started the first 20 minutes of “The Time Travelers Wife†audio book..
We just checked in With the Falabella car – they are just leaving Ogalalla where they spent the night and Pete and Amanda were at mile marker 191 – we’re at 81 – so about 100 miles off.  Benji needs chips. Back to our audio book, (I never made it to the restroom – hopefully I won’t regret that!)
10:45am I AM regretting not using that restroom!!
We are almost to Rawlins Wyoming (24 miles)! This part of Wyoming has a lot of wooden baracades out in the pastures. My understanding is that they stop the snow drifts. They intrigue me on where they are located. I wonder what it looks like out here in the winter time but I don’t plan on driving here in the snow. The Audio book is intriguing – it has a few parts/words that could be done without. P&A said that there is a cop sitting here waiting near Rawlins so we’re watching the speedometer. Cali has been angelic this whole trip – she is just starting to fuss right now – I can’t blame her. Packer is already asking to get out of the car seat and Benji is asking if we are there yet. Benji is begging for a Capri Sun but for potty stops sake I am not giving in yet. We just passed a passenger train, and Benji informed us that we are faster than all of the trains. Now we’ve got a little Gin Blossoms going.
11:05am 1 mile outside of Rawlins – found the cop – lucky for us he already has someone else pulled over.

Here I am on my little computer doing my Travel Log – this is fun – Mile Marker 209 – WY
Benji
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Toy: Spider Monkey
Favorite Animal: Hippo
Best Friend: Pacen
Favorite Thing to Do: Play with Packer
Favorite Treat: Fruit Snacks
Favorite Song: Frosty the SnowMan
Favorite Show: Dragon Tales
Favorite Shirt: Blue Super Heroes
Favorite Super Hero: Captain America
Favorite Icecream: Chocolate with Brownies
Favorite Book: Scooby Doo
Favorite Movie: Mike Wizowski (Monsters INC)
Favorite Toy: Purple Ball (wiggle toy)
Mom or Dad? Big grin… You and You
Packer
Show: Mickey Mouse
Color: Green
Ben:
Song: The Way You Look Tonight
Color: Green
Food: Hamburgers
Treat: Chocolate Chip Cookies
Toy: Computer
Super Hero: Captain America
Ice Cream: Peanut Butter and Chocolate
Shirt: Dinosaur One (exercise)
Book: Book of Mormon, Harry Potter
Animal: Cheetah
Show: LOST
Thing To Do: Dance
Best Friend: my wife? My siblings.
Favorite Movie: Sandlot or ShawShank Redemption or Good Will Hunting (TV versions) All Super Hero.
Jana
Song: Upbeat Country – Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw White T-shirt, SOLD
Color: Blue
Food: Mexican – burritos
Treat: Chocolate
Toy: Puzzles
Super Hero: Jinx ( GI JOE)
Ice Cream: Chocolate Loaded with anything except nuts
Shirt: T-shirts
Book: Book of Mormon, Church History Historical Fiction
Animal: Monkey
Show: Pushing Daisies
Thing To Do: Chat with Friends
Best Friend: Ben. Family. Erica and LaNell
Movie:
11:30am I HAVE TO PEE SOOOOO BAD! I just gave in and gave the boys their Capri Suns.
11:45am grapes. I have requested the next available bathroom stop J
12:26 – finally made it to a gas station in Laramie!!!! Wahoo . 30$ in gas and everyone with empty bladders, grab a knife for sandwich making and we are off a little before 1:00pm.
1:00 PB and J in the car, Cheetohs and Grapes. Now I am tired and trying to get the kids to take a nap so I can too.
2:20 I fell asleep for a bit. We’re in Nebraska – almost to Sidney. The boys are napping. Ben ad I listening to our book, and Cali is trying to fall back asleep but fussing for now. There are cops out all over today. Udine already got a ticket so Ben has slowed it down to 80 instead of 83. They are in Lincoln NE, Pete and Amanda are about 40 miles in front of us.
3:30pm Ogallala NE – kids are still asleep. We are listening to our Audio book and I’ve been playing minesweeper. We’ve already been gone for 9 hours!! Still lots of green rolling hills and fields and very little population and settle land. I wonder if this part of the United States will ever get settled or populated.
4:40pm Everyone is awake again – we’ve gone 310 miles on this tank of gas – the light just came on so we’ll be stopping soon. Cali is trying to be good but chewing on the bottle and not really drinking it. The boys just woke up and are in good moods. They are watching Backyardigans ( they wanted signing Times but our Arcos seems to be broken – I couldn’t get it to turn on and that has all the movies so we are restricted to Backyardigans unless we get the Arcos working). 10 hours now – if we were going west we’d be to Oroville! We are crammed in here with ice chest and food boxes, diapers and wipes and diaper bag, my pump stuff and this computer, ekectronics bag, stinky jammies, my atlas, more food and drinks – water for me, Capri Sun for Benji, Milk for Packer and Diet DP for Ben. We’ve got the big jogging stroller and the Knee board that are taking up a bit of room in the back. Sounds like Cali needs some attention. We’ll be stopping soon. Maybe in Lexington, NE.
5:00pm  Stop in Lexington NE, 43$ on gas.
5:20pm McDonalds drive through – Angus burgers for Ben and I and Happy Meals for the kids. Cali is cranky.
6:20 Cali finally falls asleep. But now the boys are getting restless and mom is getting impatient and sick of crawling to the back seats to pick up toys, get taffy out of shoes, fix the DVD player, calm Cali, get them a drink… I can tell that we are all about done for the day. Just 50 miles to Lincoln NE so that is our goal for the day.
7:23 pm Now we are really done. Cali is crying again. Packer is whining. And I am done, I’m just sitting here typing and ignoring and hope Lincoln gets here fast! See ya there with happy kids that will get to run around a little bit before bedtime.
DAY 2
9:00am Check out of the Econo Lodge in Lincoln, $20 of gas in the old silver mini van ( that is trucking along most nicely ), complimentary donuts for the boys, raisin Bran for me and a Bagel for Ben. Ben is just remembering the Midwest to Utah trips of his youth and how they would get Dunkin donuts around 4am on the first morning out and then the 2nd morning they would get to eat Sugar cereals – like honey smacks!
Everyone did good last night – we got in around 8pm which was really 9pm in NE. We let the boys run around a little on the grass and then we just chilled in the room. Watched kid shows jumped on the beds, Cali was so happy to roll around and be free, Ben and I played online Settlers and chilled. The boys stayed up late since we were all in the same room but we all woke up feeling good this morning.
9:30am Are we Out of Nebraska yet?
10:15am Benji really needs to go to the bathroom so we stop in Council Bluffs ( or just East of there).
10:25 back on the road, eating some tootsie rolls and tootsie pops.
10:40 Packer stinks. He has a sore bum already so I go ahead and change him in the car. Now I am enjoying the Iowa cornfields and a little morning rain. The corn is definitely knee high by the 4th of July – that is tomorrow! I’m excited for the 4th. I love our country. I am thankful for my freedom and the land of plenty that I live in. I believe that America was set aside for the restoration of the gospel and that God prepared it for these last days. O beautiful for Spacious Skies for Amber Waves of Grain for Purple Mountains Majesty Above the Fruited Plains! We are passing some big wind mills on the right – the boys are very intrigued J.
12:00pm I just fed Cali. The boys are watching Signing Times. We are listening to our Audio book and eating Beef Jerky. We are just rolling through Des Moines Iowa.
2:23pm We just filled up at a stop between Iowa City and Davenport, $41. I took a nap for a good hour and am feeling rejuvenated now. Ben got the MP3 videos working so the boys are happy with that and I gave Cali some formula a while ago so she has a full happy disposition for now.

199 Miles from Chicago on I-80, Still in Iowa.
4:50pm  we just paid our second toll and are crossing the Illinois to Wisconsin border!! SOOO CLOSE! There was a detour from I-80 we had to take the 280 near the Illinois border but not to bad. I finally beat minesweeper! The kids have been good. Our Audio book is good but they keep swearing and it is driving me crazy. We just got on the 43 which will take us to Mukwonago. It’s been a good trip. This morning was a little rough but the afternoon was a lot better. We are super excited for the fun week ahead of us. Excited to spend it with family and see lots of extended family. Excited for Kopps Custard and lots of custard in general. Excited to each cheese and candy raisins and shop for Packer and Brewer stuff at the local Walmarts. Excited to swim and play in the sand and … I’m just excited for vacation.
Saturday July 4, 2009
10:30 am Happy 4th of July!! We are just leaving Rick and Jen’s house in Mukwonago and heading for Kopps in Port Washington. We told the kids that custard is magic ice cream so they are excited to get there and Benji is hoping that Custard doesn’t taste like mustard.
11:00am We just passed Miller Park where the Brewers play Baseball – lots of excitement from the boys. Cali is asleep Packer is asking when we go to the Con-Do. Benji is asking if Pack is awake for icecream. And we are trying to explain to Benji what 1.5 or 1 and a half means. He can’t quite grasp that concept. It’s either 1 or 2 – 1.5 means nothing to him.
12:30pm Mmm My tummy is full of custard! Vanilla Kopps custard – that was good. Ben and I also shared a burger, Fries and onion rings. Benji loved the Chocolate and Vanilla. Packer ate a little and loved the onion rings and fries. Cali whined the whole time because she wanted some. I let her eat the wafer that comes with it. So we are back on the 43 heading north and still deciding if we will take this all the way up or if we want to drive the Lake Michigan coast.
1:45pm I will admit that Wisconsin in the summer is beautiful. The big trees are amazing and it is very green. Now they just need to get their winters under control! We just drove through Manitowac and are looking out over Lake Michigan. Wow! This is pretty much ocean front property. I am always amazed that this is a lake. I’d love to come and explore it sometime.
I’ve been enjoying the confederations Cup games all month on ESPN. The US made it to the finals which is very unlike them. Brazil also made it which is no surprise. I spent a year and a half in Brazil and usually cheer for them BUT not when my country is in the mix. The championship game was today and the US had it – 2-0 at half – It was then very frustrating to watch Brazil score 1, 2 and then the 3rd goal for the win – BLAHHH!
Ben, Jana, Michelle, Cali, Packer, Benji, and Mia
On Friday we went to the Real Salt Lake Game. The new stadium was awesome. Now they just need to bring the ticket price down a little so that we can go more often. The Falabellas, Hancocks and Papas went with us.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking, (for the most part).
Fathers Day!
Funny Face Boys - Cali was asleep and she didn't match!
I got Ben a cool kite for his birthday – It’s a big power kite so it needs some decent wind – we tried several times so far but no luck yet. The same day that we waited 4 hours for wind we finally gave up and went to dinner – at dinner the wind was blowing the food right off our plates! not cool
Cali trying to be a big girl. She has decided that she doesn’t like rice cereal – She wants real food.
Tracie and John came and played on Friday. I wish I had free flights like them! and I wish I had all the pre-parenting energy that they still have!
I’m glad Benji got a haircut – why didn’t anyone tell me that he NEEDED one?
Cali’s new basketball blanket – LaNell and I are doing everything that we can to make her a baller!
Cali zonked out on LaNell’s lap – this was the day that she didn’t wake up for 17 hours and then she fell asleep 2 hours later – that was not a new trend however – she barely takes one nap these days. We like when Coach Brown is off for the summer.
We went to the parade on Saturday morning – it rained right before show time so the boys hid in the stroller.
At the Parade – Benji caught on to the candy idea pretty quickly and rounded up a good stash – Packer was a little slow this year.
AND TODAY the US SoCCER TEAM beat the number 1 RANKED Spain!! in the Confederations Cup. I love WATCHING SPORTS. LOVE IT.
The Night before Last I decided to roller blade on a new trail – it was getting dark so I took the dog. It was a great trail ( not much of a workout because the dog pulled me the whole time.) To make a long story short I hit a branch and tripped and the dog kept going so I got pulled across the pavement a little – I haven’t had skinned knees in a long time!
Summer is going too quickly 🙁
We Went to the Carnival Last Night! It is Strawberry Days in Pleasant Grove so we went for it even though it was threatening to rain and we couldn’t go until 8pm it was a success. Our boys actually went on a few rides, no scary ones but I felt that any ride was a success at this point. It helped that Pacen and Camry were there and they are experienced DisneyLanders so these rides weren’t scary for them. The Hancocks kept us out to late but we had a good time!
The First and Favorite Ride
Glad this ride had an umbrella cause the rain started coming down while they were on it.
I always Wanted to Marry a Cowboy!
Benj with the death grip on the carousel!
Packer was shivering from his wet rained on clothes but still enjoying it.
Proof that Cali and I were there too.
Erica and I got to go on the ORBITER together! Bringing back memories from summer '96 when a bunch of us went to the fair!
And This Was A Busy One!
7:30 – Cali wakes up and needs to eat
8:00 – Let Cali wake Ben up and make him get up for work.
8:15 – Vacuum downstairs so that I can do an exercise TV workout.
8:20 – Try to workout but the vacuum must have tripped the wire or whatever that would be called cause the Cable Box reset and Exercise TV will be available shortly. A few situps later Benji wakes up… looks like exercise is not top of the list anymore.
8:30 – Breakfast for the boys – well if you count sippies and cereal in a bag as breakfast that is.
8:45Â – Laundry, Dishes, Emails, Cali down for a nap, Â Lesson Prep for Sunday, make lunch, find Mikilas long lost overdue movie, get kids dressed.
11:00 – Play group and picnic with the ward. Lots of peops came and my boys actually went and played instead of sitting on my blanket with me so it was a success. They even got brave enough to try the big trampoline by the end.
1:00 – Grab some stuff and load the kids in the car for some afternoon errands.
1:30 – See LaNell on her bike ride, she had only gone 15 miles – just started – (psycho)!
2:00 – stop at the bank
2:20 – Mikilas work to give her the movie cause really can you pay 30 bucks for an old used lost movie.
2:30 – grab balloons and Candy for Grandpa Johnsons 86th?? birthday.
2:45 – Go to my grandparents house in Orem. They’ve been at their “summer home” in Kanab recently and go back tomorrow so we were glad to catch them before they left. Benji and Packer chose to stay there while I took Cali to the Dr. which is weird if you know my mommas boys but they do really well with their great grandparents and Benji didn’t want to hear Cali cry when she got her shots.
3:30 – Cali to her 6 month well check. Healthy Happy Baby – weighed in at 15.3 and 25 and 1/2 inches. 3 shots and we were out of there.
4:10 – Pick up the boys and say goodbye to my GP’s.
4:20 – Stop at the mall, say hi to Joel and hit a few stores.
5:15 – Home Sweet Home. Try calling the concrete guy one more time…
5:30 – Hotdogs for dinner.
6:00 – Clean Up, kids playing, Ben not home yet.
6:10 – more laundry, I’m tired, Ben is working from home between 7and 9pm so the kids and I head upstairs for some Toy Story 2. That’s a good movie – we watched it twice 🙂 There’s a 3rd one coming out right? can’t wait. I snuck in a few phone calls with family and friends and planning for tomorrow. Called my Dad – he’s home alone – that doesn’t happen often at my parents place so I thought I would check in.
9:00 – Sing songs with the boys. Cali goes to bed.
9:10 – teeth, scriptures and prayers. Bedtime for the boys.
9:30 – Time to do my blog. Some ‘us’ time – he’s on his computer and I’m on mine – we’re both doing computer stuff so that counts – right?
and my super happy baby even with the immunizations this afternoon. She’s just learning to sit. Don’t you just want to kiss those cheeks? I do. Love her.
On our way home from my soccer game last night there was a little dog in the road. He had a collar on and we were right by the animal shelter so Ben decided that we should take him to the shelter… well, an hour and a half later we had learned that the shelter was closed for the night and there is no where to leave the dog and it takes the police quite a while to come get an animal. I can only hope that his owners are at the shelter looking for him this morning so that our wasted Friday night wasn’t a total loss.
HomeOwnerShip really should come with a manual – we’ve been here Five years and are still just figuring things out!
my netbook - I think that's what its called - the surrounding items are to give you an idea of how little this computer is.
Other stuff going on around these parts…
It's hard to get a R.S. lesson prepared with this little one making cute faces at me - even harder though when she is screaming at me so I won't complain.
we've been using the spotting scope to spot cool things
we spotted this hot air balloon one morning
Cali is a real roller now. She can do it without thinking. I wanted to do a post about her horrible pooping problems because I literally have been changing her outfit 3-5 times a day... is this a genetic defect or do I need diapering lessons???
Joel - the new buisness owner - still making time to be a good uncle
LaNell is a champion Baby sitter
movie time with dad
I love how clear this picture is….
am i drooling?
why can't big people feet and buns be cute like this?
see! just not cute - but I do love this warm weather - barefoot is the way to go!
and I am finally learning how to put video on here. I wanted to post these last time but I couldn’t figure it out.
I changed 6 stinky diapers in one morning! that is crazy. Can’t be too healthy for any of us. Maybe we need to change our diet?.. 2 kids in diapers should not equal more than a diaper an hour. No wonder I feel like I got nothing done.