Wow.... Christmas

Christmas was far too rich for my taste this year, and I'm the one who buys everything. I open my "store" a couple of days before Christmas (any earlier and the temptations to open wrappings and 'mention' what somebody was getting would turn to sins). Each of the kids gets to come in my room and pick out something for everyone else from an assortment. So really, there were only 6 presents for everyone under the tree, but 6 x 7 = 42, so the tree appeared to be floating on top of a tidal wave of wrapping paper and bows. The kids were thrilled with their booty-- Alison shrieked in rapture every time she opened another Barbie. Santa brought Malynn and Sophie BFC INK dolls-- his compromise to American Girl Dolls. Does Santa know my children, or what?! Malynn's doll eats at the table with us (a battle not worth the fight). Sophie had to get a green stocking cap to match her doll's. Morgan was more than happy with Legos and XBox games (as was Dan. About the games. I haven't seen much of either of them-- what I mean to say is I haven't seen much productivity from either of them) I got a new toaster and blender. Heaven. We've suffered, literally and painfully suffered, with the ones we got from our wedding almost 12 years ago. I actually saw a lady bringing back her fancy schmancy toaster (the same glow in the dark one I got) a couple of days after Christmas. I guarantee her previous one wasn't 12 years old AND burned her toast. She wouldn't have been so picky! Dan also got me the Glee soundtracks. I started in on Alison's high pitched shriek. Rapture! Say what you will about the show (but I think it's great, so don't tell me if you think it's bad), those kids have pipes. Santa brought Dan a little digital video recorder. It has been used by the kids to record "priceless" memories. Priceless for us, because we will use them as ammunition if they ever date someone we don't like.
We did try to add the spirit in to our festivities. The Hansen family is all about Christmas traditions, so I try, I really do try to incorperate them into our insanity. We reinacted a sad production of the nativity. Malynn was the grumpy angel. Morgan was Joseph. Sophie was a noncommital Mary. Alison did pretty good as a shepherd and a wiseman, but only because Dan was with her. Heidi was a wandering baby Jesus. It will get better some day. Please say it will. They did sing Christmas carols with gusto. I'm surprised at how many they know. Not too many of the old classics, but they still do a good job. I'll see if I can't pull their singing off of Dan's phone-- such things are usually beyond my skill set.
Since then, I've been fighting the endless battle to compete with 6 people on a daily basis. How to convince the kids, "yes, you eat three meals here, you should have to clear the table/unload the dishwasher three times a day." Or "For crying out loud! The floor is not the garbage can!" Or "How could you honestly think that Heidi wanted to be pushed down the stairs?!" "STOP FIGHTING!!!!!" I kind of wish it would snow so they could go outside and play. Not that they can't now, it's just that all of the sogginess of WA in winter would disappear under an enchanting blanket of white.

My Sweet Boy

Morgan is such a sweet guy. At the Christmas party his primary class had this past weekend, they had a white elephant. Most of the class are girls. All of the boys were good-- one took back his own gift since he wanted the gloves. Morgan kept the little set of Legos he got, even though it was one he already had. I told him he could go to Walmart and replace it with another. He was excited about it all night. The next day he came to me and said he wanted to donate the set to the school toy drive. "It means I won't get anything but the knowledge that I did something good." On Monday, he made sure the toy was in his backpack and he took it in. He said that "the knowledge" was good. Now he wants to go to the grocery store and put together the fixings for a holiday meal for someone.
Morgan may not be the sportiest boy around. He may be a little more dramatic than I would wish for him. He is sweet and thoughtful and sensitive. I'm afraid that the world might be unkind to him, but I could not ask for a better boy.

The Saga Ends

In case anyone has been feverishly awaiting the conclusion to the Christmas Gift Box saga, here it is. They are done!!!! Hip-hip-hooray!

If anyone wants recipes, let me know. Everything tastes wonderful (I think) and Brother/Dr. Lothyan was pleased with the results. As of last week, he had one referal from a doctor he took a box to.

Kiss Macaroons

Chocolate Dipped Lemon Spritz

Almond Christmas Trees

Molasses Cookies

Holiday Breads: Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Lemon, Coconut, Orange Cranberry

Holiday Cream Cheese Mints

Double Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Fudge

Cream Fondants: chocolate mint, orange, coconut, and cherry

All of the pieces

Here is a box all put together.

(pay no attention to all the junk in the back)

The final product: 25 boxes all gorge-i-fied up (X two)

Vindication

Malynn, Malynn, Malynn. I love her, but some days life with her is more than I can handle. A little history on my sometimes sweet oldest daughter. I couldn't nurse her because she chomped my bits off, but even if she hadn't, I'm not sure she would have made it. There was no cuddling her, holding her close, and feeding her a bottle. She always sat face forward with her beady blue eyes gobbling up the world while she ate. Most people don't see it, but she is stubborn as the day is long. Seriously, as the day is long. At 1-2 years old, she would torture Morgan, making him cry on a daily basis. All she had to do was apologize. (And she could have. She was talking in three or four word sentences by the time she was 18 months old) Nope. Never. Would rather die first. She'd go without her favorite dessert before she'd admit she was wrong.
Life hasn't gotten easier for/with her. Sometimes we can direct her force in a good direction. She can be absolutely darling. She's made me cry tears of joy several times. She is beautiful and graceful. Malynn is the spunkiest little dynamo around. She is hardy-- none of her many spills and stitches have fazed her. Tough little buggar. When she was three and Morgan was six, we had them in swimming lessons. For their last couple of classes, they got to jump off of the high dive. Morgan was pretty sure it was a bad idea and I had to get up on the board and dump him off the edge (always the caring mother, I). Malynn scoffed at him. Psht. What a baby. It wasn't that hard. Stubby little Malynn with her baby gut hanging out climbed the ladder and got to the very edge of the board before she second guessed herself. After the moment's pause, she jumped right in.
My Mom says Malynn serves me right. It's the child she cursed me with because she had to raise me. Thanks Mom. I'll be sure to pass this tradition on. If Malynn gets 10 Sophies there is something seriously wrong with the eternal justice system.
Today I went to parent teacher conferences. "Malynn, Malynn, Malynn" says her teacher as we sat down. With that beginning I knew Malynn had found a new sparring partner. I still don't think she puts Mr. Brennan through our special brand of mother/daughter camaraderie, but he's definitely getting some of her attention. He said she just can't back down. She has to be right no matter if she knows she's wrong. She found his buttons and she pushes them, but she's never overtly bad. He even hunted down her first grade teacher and asked Mrs. Schmitz "What the heck?! What did I step into with this little girl?" I started laughing. Or maybe it was crying. My shoulders were shaking and tears were in my eyes. Most people get the darling side of her and I'm glad she has that side to her personality and that she's capable of showing it. But finally, FINALLY I am not the only one (besides Dan of course) who has witnessed her merrily leading someone down the path of insanity from trying to battle her.

Cookfest Update

I'm almost done. I borrowed a friend's stand mixer and have my kitchen aid going-- two double batches makes a lot and fast. The bread is done. Hooray. The cookies are done except for the kind I can't freeze. Fudge, done. Two types of fondant, done. Two colors of cream cheese mints, done. I have two more fondant flavors to do, one more color of cream cheese mints, and chocolate-peppermint bark. It'll all start all over again the week after we get back from Idaho, but it won't be as intense, since I will only have to do a batch or so of everything to refill the coffers. I've come to realize I'm not so good at guesstimating recipe outcomes.
I'll take pictures of the finished products. My freezer is full. My kids are certain I will never bake for them again, but they do enjoy all of the spoons and bowls they get to lick. Alison has a burn on her arm from trying to steal a cookie off of a pan I just pulled out of the oven. At first I black listed her from the kitchen and threatened her cute little life if she got close. Then I realized that I could encourage her help in a healthy way. I got out a little apron for her and she is now my number one helper. We scrub her up, put on the apron, and she gets to dump ingredients into the bowls. Instead of being under my feet and torturing Heidi, she is happy and our morning baking goes so much better.

I'm not complaining

And I'm not. I'm really not. I set myself up for this. If I keep reminding Morgan that he's old enough to start taking responsibility for himself, I should take my own advice. Here's what happened. Rewind the year back to February or so. Dan came to me and said that a friend wanted me to make Christmas goody boxes for his office. Sure. I love to bake and make candy. I have lots of delicious recipes (thus my "curvy" stature) and like to share. Dan thought about a dozen or so boxes. I would even get paid to do something I love! Excellent. I've thought about it all year. I've collected recipes and had ideas in mind.
Fast forward to the last couple of weeks. Oh. It's 50 boxes. Okay. Still doable. I had a blast ordering Guittard chocolate (mmmm), Christmas boxes, shred (who knew a 10 lb box of shred was as tall as Heidi and double the width of my munchkin?!), bags, ties, ribbon, etc. For awhile, the UPS guy was my dayly visitor. I know I have to get busy. Let's do the math. Four kinds of cookies, with a half dozen of each per box= 1200 cookies. Four kinds of candy, with a dozen or so pieces per box= 2400 candies. And last but not least, 4 kinds of bread, one mini loaf per box= 50 mini loaves of bread. I spent one whole night hyperventilating after I figured this out. And I really like my sleep, so I was kind of bummed about it.
Still, I procrastinate. After all, this kind of baking/cooking involves hours and a clean kitchen. It's mostly the clean kitchen that stops me. That and bows. Somehow I got the insane idea to sell some bows at the same time. I spent three days making Christmas bows to sell at a boutique. They are darn cute. And I do hope they sell. But I didn't have the time.
Then let's go to yesterday when I found out the boxes will be delivered in two shifts-- one the 1st of December and the next the following Monday. During the next three weeks I have three parent teacher conferences, swimming lessons, I am teaching a RS class on caramel apples, and we are headed to ID for Thanksgiving. Oh, yes. And Dan left on Wednesday and will be gone for two full weeks. We leave for Idaho the day after he gets home from Buffalo. We come back on the 28th (Saturday) and I need the first batch of boxes finished by Monday night. Are you getting as short of breath as I am?
I am being blessed. While we still have our meltdown moments (I'm the one crying and screaming and kicking the floor), the kids are trying to be self sufficient. Today I got 218 Molasses cookies made. I ran out of shortening and had to stop. I need to make two more batches. I'm going to start on fondants for the candies this afternoon/tonight. Hopefully I can get a couple of batches of that done.
I'll get it all done. They will look and taste spectacularly. I might not be much of a person after I'm done, but my creation will be a success. However, my dear, dear friends. There probably won't be any Christmas goody plates from us this year. I'll be all baked out.

Happy Halloween!

This past weekend we did the Murder Mystery party "Powar and Greede". It was set at a movie premiere during the 30s. We were all involved in Hollywood somehow. I was the has-been actress turned gossip columnist. **Spoiler alert** I did it! After 14 years of doing these parties, I was finally the murderess! It does make a girl feel good. (thanks Susan for the picture!)
Heidi as the cutest darn garden gnome in the world! I have several costumes she could have worn.... then I saw this one in a costume catalog. I resisted. I saw it online. I resisted again. I saw it at Walmart. I resisted again. Then, the next time I went to Walmart, I had to buy it. It truly was kismet and she's as cute as I knew she'd be.

"Straw-ba-ba-ba-ba-berry, Strawberry Shortcake! I know a girl, and there is no one sweeter, she's got that special touch! Best friend in the world, and when you get to know her, you'll love her very much!..... She's so ba-ba-ba-berry extror-di-di-dinary! She's Straw-ba-ba-berry Shortcake!" It was so very funny to hear a preteen/very young teen who came to our door trick or treating say, "I love Strawberry Shortcake! It is so sad that they've changed her." Which change? The original one, or the current one?

It shouldn't come as a surpise that Sophie is a princess kitty. She was going to use Malynn's old Mulan costume until I found this little number. $6 well spent. Happiness can be bought. I don't even have the heart to put it away with all of the other costumes.

Malynn as Hannah Montana. We couldn't find a modest costume that didn't look like it would fall apart after one use. Thank goodness for sparkly material and fancy bangles. I do have a complaint-- the glue they use to glue those little sequins on gums up the needle and the whole sewing mechanism. As if my possessed sewing machine needs more issues. All worth it, because she LOVES the dress. It may make some church or school appearances if I'm not very watchful.

Morgan as the Grim Reaper. In choosing this costume, there was much ado in the Williams house. Sophie is terrified (the screaming, running, burying head in parent, wailing, gnashing of teeth variety) of all things injured, gaping, bloody, or skeletal. You may be confused, as am I. Isn't this Scooby Doo's number one fan?! Isn't Scooby Doo all about ghostly things? Aren't there some downright scary Scooby Doo movies? I guess she compartmentalizes it all. Cartoon gore vs. costume gore. I'm kind of glad the neighbor didn't put up her scary Halloween decorations this year. Sophie never would have made it past their house to the bus.

Malynn's Musings

To learn to figt you must yose yuor power of poling your strangth up looking at you mind in your brian thats inside your head that gives you power to fight at night. Save your energe for the contest of vots to be the winer of konfu.
I'v often seen you in far off places you look so fermilyer. I think my mom trend you 2 yers ago my mom can bet you up when ever you choose to figt.
Malynn likes to write. When her 1st grade teacher would ask her for a written weekend report, she would come up with these amazing adventures we would have. Going to zoos, on picnics, buying 10 Barbies, and beating the neighborhood boys at basketball. If we ever really did something, she would record that too, however, it was always at the end of her fantasies that she would write, "and I was happy." When I asked her about it, she said we never do anything fun. I agreed. We never do. Something about dragging 5 less than cooperative kids around to "fun" things diminishes my spirit.
I think I've mentioned her songs, as well. I love her imagination! She needs practice and more education, but someday, I think she will really go somewhere with this. Malynn is fearless and embraces her current obsessions passionately. The key will always be to direct her obsessions in a healthy, righteous direction.

Sophers and her cats

A couple of weeks ago, the kindergarten classes held an open house that spotlighted the kids and their collections. The hard part wasn't figuring out what Sophie's collection should be, it was rounding up all the critters from their many hiding places (i.e. the basket on her bike, under/in her bed, the little girls' room, endless...). We found 25 of her cats. There are more, but we couldn't find them anywhere. So, you see, it's not a stretch to call her a crazy cat lady. We have encouraged this obsession a little too much.

Last month, I was actually contemplating getting a real cat for her. I watched Cat 101 on Animal Planet. I repeatedly checked the Humane Society site and found a couple that I really liked. Then the neighbor's pesky cat got into our house, thus ending my jaunt into that form of insanity. Cats, like children, never stay where you think they ought. Cats, like children, may seem clean (hours spent grooming suggest this), but unfortunately, I know where those tongues have been. I guess it was a better fantasy than getting a dog. Still. I really should have known myself better.

Adventures at Bedtime

This is Heidi's big girl bed. It was so funny to watch her that first night. She squealed. She wiggled. She jumped. She truly enjoyed herself. It may have been too soon to put her in a bed. I forget in my excitement to leave babyhood behind (weep! she really is growing too fast) that the crib is an excellent cage. I still have to lay by her to get her to sleep for naps and bedtime. It's a sacrifice to take a nap with her, but motherhood is ALL about sacrificing.

A couple of nights ago, Dan asked me to come upstairs with the camera. That automatically makes a mother leary. Sure enough. Calamity. Alison had dumped 1/2 of a thing of baby powder on her head and face. It was everywhere! The funniest thing to me was the wispy white ends of her eyelashes batting up and down as she looked at me with chagrin. How to maintain "The Eye" as I laugh? Her reasoning? "But, Mommy, it's good for my skin." Yes, my love, but not for your lungs, the carpet, nor my sanity.

Mounds and mounds of crunchy, spicy leaves

Well, that's what I would call this post if we lived somewhere with more leafy trees. As it is, we crunch/track in the house mounds and mounds of pine needles. Have I ever said how much I love fall? I do. I truly do. The feeling in the air-- that barely there bite that grows into a huge chomp out of the thermostat by the end of October. The smells too. In New England there was a spicy smell from all of the decaying leaves. In Idaho, there's the smell of harvest and the turning over of dirt to plant new crops. Here, the mountain smells get stronger and earthier. I think I love the fall here even more than anywhere else because I've learned to appreciate the few wonderful, heavenly days of perfect temperatures, blue skies, and the joy of more than one child in school.
Now, let's add Halloween in the mix and the world is perfect! Blah, blah... all the bad things about celebrating a pagan holiday in costumes of poor taste. Hooray! Dressing up! Free candy (i.e. not free, merely trading stashes with everyone in the neighborhood)! Spooky decorations! Carving pumpkins and baking the seeds! Murder Parties! Glazed doughnuts! Caramel Apples! Ghosting all of the neighbors! Seriously! What's not to love about this time of year and Halloween?!
Here's our favorite Halloween carol that we sing all year long:
(the website for the music-- the song is "This is Halloween": http://library.thinkquest.org/J0111082/html/Activities/Witchessailing.html
Witches sailing through the sky
On their broom sticks way up high
Black cats howl as they go by
For this is Halloween!

Jack o' lanterns big and round
On each gate post can be found
Ghosts and goblins all around
For this is Halloween!

Ooo-ooh, Ooo-ooh! This is Halloween!
Ooo-ooh, Ooo-ooh! This is Halloween!

Let us borrow an old sheet
Make a costume nice and neat
And go walking down the street
For this is Halloween!

To the windows we will creep
With our ugly faces peep
Scare the folks who are half asleep
For this is Halloween!

Ooo-ooh, Ooo-ooh! This is Halloween!
Ooo-ooh, Ooo-ooh! This is Halloween!
BOO!

Last year we found another one about "Oh my Darlin' Frankenstein". I need to find the words again, because it was a favorite. Our favorite book is "Fright Night Flight". I found it when Morgan was a baby and it never gets old. At one point I read it so often (with the voices) that I had it memorized and could "read" it on command. Ah, the little gray cells, they are much diminished.

Ohio trip 2009 part VI

Ugh! Are we done yet?! The next whole day was spent driving to Ogden, UT. Surprise, surprise. We did stop at the Platte River museum. Hard not to. It's an overpass over the freeway. That's a cool place! They give you earphones and you walk through an interpretive museum covering the groups of people that used the Oregon/California/Mormon trails. Despite the many stories of hardships I've heard (and there are a lot of them), I somehow got the impression that for most people, it was just a three month walk across the country. This whole trip was eye-opening. We all know I would have made a pioneer era trip miserable for all who accompanied me. For crying out loud! I groused the whole way and I had an air conditioned van and only had to make two pb&j based meals on the road AND had motels (or generous friends/relatives) to stay with. I would have died along side the trail, with a sign stapled to my body saying, "I told you I was dieing".

Day 11. 872 miles. 12 hours on the road (or on top of it!)

In Ogden, we stayed with Dan's sister Valerie and her husband James. Dan's parents live with them. It was another lovely-to-be-there resting place. We were there from Wednesday to Friday. It only seemed natural to end our church history trip with an excursion to Temple Square in SLC. Knowing our propensity for chaos, we stayed clear of official tours. The kids loved the Christus statue. Malynn somehow got ahold of the camera and shot several pictures; some of them quite lovely. While we were sitting in front of the statue, Alison leaned over to me and said, "I like Jesus, but I don't care about Joseph Smith." I think we exposed her to more than her three year old system could handle.

Day 14. We were so sick and tired of packing and unpacking that we plowed through the 800 miles back home. Usually we stop halfway at my parents' home in Weiser, but oh, the pain. The pain, I tells ya! It was better to bite the bullet and drive home to our beds. We pulled in at 11:15 pm. Sweet! I'll never leave home again.

Ohio trip 2009 part V

We left Sunday after church and drove as far as Macomb, IL. That was a nice motel. I regret we spent so little time in it. Day 9. 530 miles. 10 hours in the van.
The next morning we went to Carthage to visit Carthage Jail, the site of Joseph Smith's martyrdom. Another sacred tour ruined by our family. Is that 3 now?
As much as I love reading history, seeing it quantifies it so much better. To see the tiny cell where the original 10 men were held and then the small room they were put to keep them safer and cooler. The bullet holes in the door. The window (obviously not the same glass) that Joseph fell to his death from. The missionaries did their best to bring it to life.

We learned from previous experience and took the secular wagon ride in Nauvoo. Wow. That must have been some city during its heyday. Then we meandered around the different buildings. The kids made a sisel rope with the old timey rope machine. We saw how they made candles, carded and spun wool, made bread (mmmm..... homemade bread with homemade butter.... is there anything better?), loomed fabric and made rugs from scraps, and how they made barrels. Dan and I realized quickly that our 3 month food supply won't save us from our lack of knowledge if there isn't electricity or running water. We played in the little pioneer game center. Morgan kept wimping out on me for the stick pull. Sophie was a wiz at the climbing bears. We all sucked at the stilts, but earned at least a B for trying so hard.

Dan spent a lot of time at the Browning gun smithery. He found a new love. Did anyone know that the famous Browning of gun manufacturing was LDS? I didn't, but it's another fascinating element to the story. We went to the blacksmith shop and saw how they made wagons, the wheels, and horseshoes. Because we were the only ones in our group, we got the little horseshoe the Elder made. We also got "prairie diamond" rings-- or rings made out of horse shoe nails. One of the best things was finding one of my companions from my mission wandering the sites with two of her daughters and her mom. Why hello, Sister Albert! Gorgeous as ever.

It was affecting to be there. Once again, there is just a spirit that lingers in a place made holy by sacrifice. I've seen Dan cry twice in my life. As we read the plaques with journal entries on Parley Street, he finally had to stop reading aloud. American history has a few unpleasant places. This was one of them.

What a long day! Not over yet. Back in the van and drove into the night to Lincoln, Nebraska. Day 10. 404 miles. 7 hours of driving.

Ohio Trip 2009 Part IV

Finally! The part of the trip about Ohio. It was nice to be at Nels and Christina's. Nels is my brother just younger than I am. We were always close growing up and it's hard to be across the country from each other now. They have 6 kids, so the house was a cacophony of noise with all 11; a symphony composed of shrieks, laughter, and chaos.

Dan took Morgan, Malynn, Sophie, Nels, Haley, and Nicholas to Cedar Pointe, the roller coaster mecca of the US. 17 roller coasters, with the 2nd highest in America, packed into one thrilling theme park. Since poor Malynn is "the shortest in 1st grade, dramatic sigh", many of the rides her 6 year old cousin got to go on, she missed. Sophie is the same height as Malynn, but she didn't seem to mind so much. Nels, with the Hansen family virtigo curse, stayed with the little girls, while Dan of the iron stomach took Morgan, Haley, and Nicholas on the high flying rides. They came back late, sweaty, exhausted and full of joy.

Christina and I played with the kids and went to Kaden's horse riding physical therapy. We ate at Pizza Hut, which was far more entertaining than it should have been.

On Saturday we started the church history part of our tour by going to Kirtland. The LDS church owns the original township part of it-- Whitney's store, the woodmill/ashery, and the homes. The aura of reverence these places hold, never cease to amaze me. Of course, three adults could never contain the joie de vivre of 11 kids, so there wasn't much reverence to be found around us. Tour #2 ruined. The thing is, there are some amazing places there. The upper room in Whitney's store was where they held the first school of the prophets. At least the kids will have been exposed to opportunities to feel greatness even if they are too young to appreciate it.

(The kids standing on the bridge over the creek where several of the early Ohio saints were baptized. They did understand the importance of that.)

We went to the Kirtland temple after that. It's owned by the Community of Christ (formerly known as the RLDS church). Tiny as far as temples go. Despite all the building has been through, it still carries a spirit of sacredness. Great care has gone into its renovation.

Another part of Ohio that I loved seeing was the Amish community. Wooster is right in the middle of Amish heartland. They were in the middle of their oat harvest. The sheaves of stacked oats were beautiful. There are two sets of ruts in the roads: those wide ones made by cars, and the metal scarred narrower ones made by the buggies. We went to Lehmans Hardware Store. They have a website. Go to it. The store was a wonderland! I think I went crazier than the kids, if that is possible. Yes, it is! The store was wonderful! If it wasn't so humid, I think I could live in Ohio.

Ohio trip 2009 Part III

Are we seriously packing this much into a vacation?! The kids are grudgingly becoming accustomed to our new life. Endless hours on the road. Get out. Look at stuff. Get back in. Eat fast food (well, they liked that part). Morgan spent most of the trip under a blanket playing Nintendo DS. Malynn, Sophie, and Alison had movies to watch. Heidi put up with all of us, only because when we got to the motels we let her jump on the beds.

(Caught in the act! *Side note. The ARRL is trying to make sure that ham radio operators are not included in any legislation which prevents cell phones usage in cars. Us amateur radio operators must be of higher intelligence and can multitask better since we've taken the test, right? Sheesh!**)

We got up Tuesday morning and had breakfast at a rest stop/park in Chamberlain, SD. One of Dan's new ham radio buddies told us we needed to stop there, so per law of the radio, we did. Wow! I've never seen a river so big. The Snake River is a meandering creek compared to the Missouri River. It gave a whole new meaning to the D & C scripture about man putting forth his puny hand to stop the Missouri.

After breakfast we got back in the van and drove. And drove and drove and drove. We drove through the rest of South Dakota. We drove along the southern end of Minnesota. We drove through the southwest chunk of Wisconsin. We circled around Lake Michigan in Illinois. We drove across the top of Indiana. And finally, we drove to the center of Ohio. Originally we had planned to get further in SD, but the day's activities took longer than we thought. My itinerary had us stopping in Sioux Falls, SD and then driving to South Bend, IN the next day and from there, to Wooster, OH. Unfortunately, to stop before Chicago seemed too soon, but there wasn't a safe place to stop close enough after to make it worth not driving the extra three hours to Wooster.

Green. Everything is deciduous green. Things that I noticed along the way were the rolls of hay vs. the rectangular bales I'm used to. Lots of soybeans and corn. Can you tell I grew up on a farm? It was still fairly hilly during this part of the trip. Gotta say, if you're driving through Chicago, I suggest you do it at midnight. No traffic and the city is lit up gorgeously. Be prepared to spend $20 in toll roads. It was sad to drive past the dieing cities of the rust belt.

We pulled into Nels and Christina's driveway at 7 in the morning. Nels was just leaving to play racquetball. The look on their faces was priceless as they saw our van. All I could think was "Thank goodness! We're here!"

Day 4. 1058 miles. 22 hours in the van.