2013 Vacation Days 1 and 2 - Prep

We had a lot of fun on our vacation last year, but there were many things that we knew we didn't want to repeat.  For one, we didn't have the luxury of packing at a leisurely pace.  You may remember that Brandon and I went to Moab for the weekend while the kids hung out at my parents.  Then we picked them up, repacked the jeep, and drove to Colorado.  It worked because it had to, but I do not recommend doing back to back vacations like that.  

This year the US Army helped us have some extra time to pack.  Brandon had to literally sign in and out for his leave.  His leave started on Monday which meant we really couldn't go to far on Saturday and Sunday.  We took advantage of those two days and got everything together without much stress.  

Here is a list of all the things we needed to pack. I like to start making these lists about a week in advance.  That way I can add things to the list as I remember them.  

If you take the time to read this list you might notice that some things that we usually bring our missing.  Namely the tent and other camping stuff.  Yep, that's right, we didn't camp this year.  We wanted to, but we needed to bring the triple stroller on the trip and that meant we didn't have room for the camping stuff.  Plus we really only had one night open to camp and it didn't make sense to bring all the equipment along for just that one night.  But don't worry, we plan on going on many weekend camping trips to make up not doing it this week.

 And here is our list of food that we wanted to buy.  Our vacation is the one time of year we buy things like pudding cups, capri sun, and string cheese.  

The kids had fun hanging out.  They sort of helped as we cleaned up the house and got things packed.  This is Lydia looking cute.  

And here is Charlotte showing off her pen drawings on her favorite canvas.

We let them eat lunch on the counter because hey we were on vacation.

Sunday was the start of daylight savings time for the year.  I did NOT want to get out of bed and get ready for our church that starts at 8:30.  The only thing that got me up was the fact that I knew I was going to get up at 5:00 for my vacation the next day.  I could not, in good conscience, miss church and then go on vacation.

Through some miracle (named Brandon), we all were ready for church, fed breakfast, looking good, and ready to go with time to spare. We even had time to take these pictures to prove how cute our kids are and how awesome we can be.

Char and Lyds really got into the photoshoot and started hugging because they know I love that.

They threw in a kiss too.  These girls are so loving toward each other.

And here is proof that I do have good hair days.  Please remember how good my bangs look in this picture. There are pictures of later in the vacation where my bangs don't look near this good. 

Church went well. The time change actually worked in our favor because Derrick didn't want to take a nap until after church.  We were sustained in our new calling as Primary Teachers (We are in Sr Primary - thank goodness).

Then we came home and finished getting ready.  We took naps and just relaxed all day.  After the kids were in bed Brandon started loading up the jeep.  He was so full of energy from his nap that he stayed up until about 2:00 in the morning loading the jeep and cleaning the house.  Around 2:00 am he went to get signed out.  Then he came home and climbed in bed with me for a few hours before it was time to get up and get started with the real part of our vacation.