Big final trip before Tom leaves

Tom leaves for Jerusalem in two days *sniff, sniff* so we took a final trip down to Colorado and New Mexico to visit his two sets of grandparents. We were also very blessed to see most of the rest of his family because they came, too. It was very fun to see everyone, and very sad when it was time to say goodbye. It would have been a lot easier if Tara and Megan hadn't decided to have kids. Geez. I hate the thought of them being big toddlers when we get back. I pretty much thought someone was ripping my heart right out of my chest when I had to say goodbye to everybody. I think I cried all the way down Mommer and Popper's dirt road (and in our car, that's a long time).

Me and Jojo in Manassa (we went to New Mexico first to Mommer and Popper's, then up three hours to Colorado to Grandma and Grandpa's, then back down to New Mexico again).

Daddy taking Jojo for a ride on Grandpa's 4-wheeler. She loved it.

4 generations: Shaun, Kelly, Tom, and Jackson.

Jackson playing with the apples from great-Grandma's tree

This was on our way there. We stopped at Chama Grill for dinner, where we just happened to run into great-uncle Jack, and then played around with the kids in the parking lot to get their wiggles out.

Which reminds me - the ride there...hmm. It was interesting, to say the least. MapQuest says it should take 11 hours. Yeah, right. We left on a Wednesday morning at 6:45 am. I think we got to Mommer's at 3:00 in the afternoon...the NEXT DAY! (Popper says we win the award for taking the longest to get from Provo to Mora). We had about a million stops for the kids, a few for me and Tom, and some unexpected catastrophes. Okay, maybe not catastrophes, but we almost hit a couple deer (one of which caused me to leave about 20 feet of skid-marks), and Joni got a bloody nose when it was dark and screamed the entire time, refusing to put a tissue up to her nose. So you can pretty much guess what that whole thing looked like in the light of day.

Fast forward a week, and we're on our way home, and in almost the exact same spot as where we almost hit a deer (I still think it was an elk, Tom), and this time we almost hit....

A BEAR!

Yup, you read right, my friends. I was driving along between Taos and Chama, everyone else was sleeping, and a bear came barreling up over the ridge on the side of the road, ran in front of the car, right through a barbed wired fence, and straight up a hill. Here's a picture to prove it...

It took us a minute to dig out the camera, so it's not the greatest picture. But I'm pretty sure the image is ingrained in our minds (when I slammed on the brakes, everyone woke up, so we all got to see. Joni kept saying, "That bear is my friend! He is my friend!").

These next few pictures are at Mommer and Popper's. Here is "Abba and Omi" with all four grandkids - Joni, Jackson, Eva, and Shaun David.

Here is Jackson saying goodbye to Omi. I swear he could tell what was going on. He gave her about ten hugs.

Little Jackson with his great-grandparents, Mommer and Popper.

Me, Jojo, Megan, Tara, Kelli, and Emma. I could just cry looking at this one. Tom's sisters are my buddies. I'll leave it at that - I just hope they know I love them just as much as my own sisters.

I was sure grateful to both sets of Tom's grandparents for letting us crash their houses. All of my own grandparents have been gone for a long time, so as soon as Tom and I got married, I decided I would adopt his grandparents as my own - and they've been nice enough to let me. :)

It was a great visit and we will miss everyone a lot!

P.S. Since we're living like nomads right now, I thought I would update those who don't know our status right now - just before going on this trip last week, we moved all of our stuff out of our Provo apartment, and into my mom and dad's shed and basement. Tom leaves for Israel on Sunday, while me and the kids will be staying with my parents for two months. On October 3rd, the kids and I will be joining Tom in Jerusalem.