the.amanda.sewell

We were going to stop in Ft. Riley, KS to visit a friend, Sharon, but when I called her she did not reply. What I did not realize was that she had her wound from her c-section open after years and she was in the hospital at the time. I am sorry that we missed her. I did not realize that Kansas City was so close to Independence. I kept driving looking for a hotel to stop at and suddenly I was in Independence. I was actually glad to be there since the area is really rich with church history sites, and I thought it would be a great place to stop. We stayed overnight, and in the morning went site seeing. First we went to the Independence Visitors Center. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the downstairs pioneer area made just for little kids. I was so thankful that they had this area and I am sure the sister missionary who was touring with us was thankful too, as when we went through a recreated pioneer bedroom, E decided to climb into the bed and sleep (embarassing as heck) and there

Today began with M, E, J and I playing with the rest of the family in Cedar City. We had lunch at Costa Vida (which is really yummy). We went to park Discovery and hung out. M had to leave at about 2 pm to go to Las Vegas with his dad in order to catch his flight, so I decided that there was no sense in me staying another night in Cedar City, I might as well get on the road as well, so I began the trip. The scariest/most memorable part of today's journey was right before we were almost to where we were stopping for the night, there was a very drunk driver on the road with us. They were swerving all over, so I dropped back behind them because I was scared to pass them. Then I watched them hit a guard rail and cause sparks to shoot out because of the metal on metal, and then over correct and swerve in the other lane. I was terrified. It was late. It was high in the mountains and rainy. I am just glad that I had guradian angels looking after me. We ended up staying the night in Wheat

M decided that he would see me off on my long trip to Canada and across Canada. Since it was a long weekend, we drove to Utah together. We had a really good weekend together. We spent the night at a Bed and Breakfast which is something I had never done before and in spite of the antlers on the wall above the bed, it was wonderful and relaxing! Ml's sister K took the two kids for the night, no small feat for her since she already had two young ones of her own and it was just her. Another highlight of the weekend was going for a drive up the canyon. I remembered driving up the canyon once when I was going to school at SUU, and so we went for it. Well, it turned out that we had driven another way before, however, we broke in the shocks on the van and kept on driving and ended up going on a wonderful drive around a lake and through Zion Canyon, which was so gorgeous. I had to stop and take some pictures. Then we drove to M's parents house and spent some time with them, a great end

So, I am days away from my journey across the country with two small children. Our trip will take us from AZ to VA and then on to Canada, across Canada, and down the West coast and home. I am really excited about it. I have so much to do before we leave. I don't think the kids "get it" that we are going away for a long time. Anyway, what am I doing here. I have to get to work. I will update here as I go.