that time I drove to Utah by myself...

Okay, not really by myself. I took my girls with me...but I did all of the driving by myself. All 20 hours of it. 

Day 1: head out around noon after church and lunch. I figured the girls would sleep like they always do Sunday afternoons. 

I was wrong. 

Weather app said it would be clear. 

It was wrong. 

Thought it did make for an incredible view as we drove past the edge of the storm. It was literally like a wall of darkness passing overhead. 

But we made it. To the middle of Nebraska (also known as the middle of nowhere). Ryan rented us a hotel room after I told him about how far I would get and the girls settled down after a ride on the bag cart and a few wiggles and giggles. 

Day 2: After breakfast at the hotel (Leah ate enough for 3 people. Big people, not little or medium sized people.), we headed out for our shortest day of driving. 

Destination? Colorado and Leah's favorite Blythe! We loved our pit stop in the mountains. It was a little out of the way, but so worth it. We arrived early afternoon and took the girls to a park to run, run, run. 

Kate fell in love with Watson the dog...aka "Stinky Watson." 

Leah fell in love with Blythe's beau, Ross. 

It was so great to catch up!

Day 3: Our longest day. We ate a yummy breakfast with Blythe and headed out. This is what we looked like when we headed out. 

We stopped for lunch and two snacks and that is it. We could not have been happier to see THIS sign and then pull into my mom's driveway. 

Grandpa Richard welcomed the girls with open arms and I collapsed on the driveway. I have to laugh when I compare this pic with what we looked like 8 hours before. And all we did was sit in a car!?

Actually, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. I never got too tired, and if I thought I was headed that direction, a quick pit stop and run around in the grass always did the trick. The girls watched one movie each day and other than that, we listened to audio books and music. I listened to my own audio books when they were sleeping/watching movies. I looked back once and Kate had found Leah's hat in her backpack and was doing some sort of pretend play with pink bear. 

They were great. The drive was great once we got past Nebraska and had something to look at. The car worked great. And we made it alive. 

No complaints here! 

I might even try it again someday!