Our Family of Six: July 7 - 10: Road Trip & Aunt Kari's House

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

July 7 - 10: Road Trip & Aunt Kari's House

July 7 - Monday

Here we gooooooo!

We got all packed and loaded and left at 8:45 a.m. We prayed, listened to a General Conference talk and then did our own thing for a while. I listened to "Small and Mighty."

Only a couple of stops. A rest area and a gas station where we ate Subway, gas station food and a quick stop at Sonic for a corn dog for Noah.

Then we all listened to "The Girl Who Drank the Moon." We all got into it and really enjoyed it.

We ate snacks. My snacks were PopCorners, nut mix, and little chocolate donuts. The kids had all sorts of snacks from z bars to Dum Dums.

We ate at McAlisters at Independence, MO at 6:30 p.m. I love this place. Everyone got something they like. Yay!

Funny Sofie face:

We stayed at Home2 by the Airport - Room 337. We were all settled by 8:30 p.m. Great travel Day.

Here's Sofie's set up with her pandas on the sofa bed.

Kira and Isak shared a bed and Noah shared with me.

July 8 - Tuesday

Day 2 of traveling:

We ate our free breakfast, packed and left at 9 a.m. We prayed and listened to a general conference talk. We ate at two gas stations. One gas station, Isak got fried chicken and Sofie and Noah got corn dogs. Kira had a homemade peanut butter sandwich. At another gas station, we got treats:

Kira and Sofie shared Oreo bites. Noah got white donuts. Isak got M&M ice cream sandwich. I got a Snicker ice cream bar. Mmmmm.

We all listened to "The Girl Who Drank the Moon." It's a 10 hour audiobook. But we continued to enjoy it and wondered what would happen next!

When the kids needed a break from the audiobook, I listened to "The Girl with the Red Scarf." This is the book for Isak's summer homework. Interesting book that follows a girl in China during the cultural revolution.

We arrived at Sidney, NE 5:30ish. We made great time! Easy travel day. We got McDonald's for Sofie, Kira and Isak. Twenty piece nugget and smoothie and fries. Noah got mac and cheese from Applebee's. I also got a chicken quesadilla from Applebee's. We got all of the food and ate it in the hotel room. We went to bed at 9ish. We stayed at Hampton Inn, Room 300.

July 9th, Wednesday

Day 3 - last day of travel!

We were up and going and left at 8:30 a.m.! Here's Kira and Sofie at breakfast.

My favorite directions: Straight road for 490 miles...no exits to worry about! Haha!

We prayed and listened to another general conference talk. We stopped at the Lincoln head monument in Wyoming. This is the view from the rest area:

Lincoln head.

We took time to read about it because the kids were curious.

Then we took some pictures:

Some bicyclists came and I asked one of them to take a pic of me with the kids.

Then back on the road, the lovely straight road. :)

We finished "The Girl Who Drank the Moon." And I finished "The Girl with the Red Scarf."

We stopped at our usual spot...Sonic's in Rock Springs, WY. Kids got slushes and food. Then we got back on the road.

We arrived at Kari's house at 5:30 p.m. Another easy travel day. Dramamine really helps Sofie and Isak. Kids were patient and we enjoyed our audiobook.

We unpacked and got settled at Kari's house.

She had yummy pulled pork sandwiches for us for dinner. Then we walked to the park and played some pickleball and basketball. Aren't they cute?!

Sofie slept on an air mattress in Khloe's room. Isak was in Kaden's room. Kira was in Sadie's room. Noah was in the guest room with me.

July 10, Thursday:

Sofie and Khloe did a spa day. I got to enjoy their services. Kira and Kari did too. They did a good job.

Watermelon on the patio with Moose:

Then the kids went to the Layton temple to do work for their 9 greats grandparents from Norway! Pretty special.

Kira, Sadie, Isak, and Mason.

I was so amazed at how BIG the temple is. The Franklin Temple is a small one story temple. I almost got dizzy when I looked up to the top of the Layton temple!