Arkansas Part 1

Sorry for the overload of pictures! I drove out to Arkansas on Saturday June 7th. It was my first time to drive out by myself.  I prepared each of the kids their own tupperware of snacks, so they could pick from it anytime that they were hungry.  I also had a backpack full of extra clothes, medicines, diapers and anything else we may need without having to go through all the luggage if an accident happened. It was a huge life saver. I didn’t let the kids drink that much either, so that we could limit the stops we made for potty breaks. They all did amazing.  We stopped every 4 hours the first day and made it to Wichita, Kansas. We had left at 6:00 a.m. and made it to Wichita about 10:00 p.m. and we were so done being in the car.  The GPS had lead us the wrong way trying to find the hotel.  It said to turn left off of the interstate and it would be on the left about 1/2 mile down the road.  It was a completely empty street. Nothing except a warehouse, which is where the GPS kept saying it was the hotel! After about 15 minutes we finally found the hotel to the right of the interstate.  I did learn to have a backup for the GPS after this trip! The next morning we got up and had breakfast and then got on the road around 9:00.  It rained the entire time that we were driving. Not just sprinkling either, but a huge down pour.  I always say I miss the big storms of the south, but not while I am driving.  We got to Dardanelle, Arkansas to David’s parent’s house around 3:00 that afternoon, where the rain continued for the next day.  It was insane how much rain there was those first few days.  The kids were all so excited to see Meme, Papa and Austin! Well all the kids except Lizzy.  The poor thing had here molars coming in and was sooooo clingy to only me! If anyone attempted to come to her, she would start balling.  She was like this for the first week and a half about.  It was so hard!! She had to be near me at all times. The only relief was that she took 2 naps a day and both were about 2 hours long! It was awesome. She also had no problem at all sleeping in a pack and play and sharing a room with me at the different houses we went to,  which was such a huge blessing!! The Torgersons have a huge above ground pool that the kids had been talking about for the past month. They were so excited to go swimming in it. Unfortunately it was FREEZING that first week we were in Arkansas. It was only in the 70s and that made the pool so much colder and it was raining off and on that whole week too. David being the huge fan of swimming that he is did not let that stop him.  He was in that freezing pool every chance he got and just had no idea it was so cold.  The other kids weren’t quite as anxious to get into the pool!   We had a great time hanging out with the Torgersons. They even took the kids to Branson, Missouri to see Jonah  and the Whale. They made a day of it on Tuesday and had the best time! I didn’t want to torture anyone by taking Lizzy to a play, so I went to Bryant, which is about an hour and a half away to see all of my family.  We ate a lot and I spent the night at Pam’s and then went back to Dardanelle on Wednesday.  Then Thursday we headed to my mom and Dad’s house in Hot Springs, which is about an hour and forty minutes from Dardanelle.  We stayed at Mom’s until Saturday and had the best time. 

Throughout the first week Lizzy was throwing up every night in her bed for about 6 nights. It was horrible. There was a virus that went around to all of us. Parker and Ellie (Pam’s little girl) I think got it the worst. Parker couldn’t keep anything down and it started at about 12:00 Thursday night and then until the next afternoon. Poor kid was so exhausted and tried to play at Grandma’s, but just couldn’t do it and ended up snuggling with Uncle Gabe most of the time.  David and Maggie thankfully never did get the throw up bug. I got it but only for about 6 hours on Wednesday night at Sherrie’s.  It really got in the way of our having as much fun as we had planned. 

On Sunday was Father’s day and all the DeVaux’s went to Marji and Jim’s for our celebration.  Mom made brisket, which was delicious, and everyone else brought sides and desserts.  It was so fun to have so much of our family there.  Trish was not getting in until the next morning, but there were still 14 grandkids there and they had a great time together. Not nearly as much fighting as there was 5 years ago, when all the kids were so young. We all pitched in and got a new chair for Dad and Mom brought the cushion for it and wrapped it up. Dad was stumped and had no idea what it was and mom was glad to fool him.  Then that the kids and I headed back to Dardanelle to the Torgerson’s. Austin, David’s youngest brother, got his mission call and was opening it that day.  It was so neat to be there for that special occasion and I am going to write more about it in a different post. 

Sunday night we headed back to Bryant and stayed at Pam’s house. Trish got into town that Monday morning and we went to Larry’s Pizza (a delicious pizza place where they just walk around with so many different kids of pizza for you to eat) They also have an arcade area for the kids to play at, so it is a great place especially for our large group. Unfortunately, Lizzy is at an age, where she wants to be with all the big kids, but I don’t leave her on her own in a public place like that, so I didn’t get to eat as much as I would have preferred. It was still a lot of fun to chat and eat with everyone.  The rest of the week we went swimming on day at a great pool in the area. The kids all loved it and got nice and tired.  We went to Hot Springs and hung out with Mom and Dad and took all 15 kids to MidAmerica Museum on Thursday I think. It was a lot of kids and we got asked frequently what daycare we were with! Then on Friday we went swimming at Lake Catherine. This was the lake we always went to, when we were little kids.  There used to be a dock in the middle of the swimming area, but they took that out. It was a lot of fun to go back there and all the kids had the best time.  Playing in the sand, in the water and having a picnic all made for a great time for all.  Even Lizzy, who usually does not like the pool did love the lake and would just splash around in it. 

             All the DeVaux Grandkids! 15, with 3 on the way!!

We had lots of sister time too.  It was a little difficult without David there and Lizzy was RIDICULOUSLY clingy to me and only me.  Even so, we had some willing Uncles to help out with her! We went and got pedicures one night, went to a yummy mexican restaurant one night and then on the weekend we did a lot of shopping.  It was so fun having all of us sisters together and we are so lucky to have 2 great sisters-in-law that we love to hang out with.  There were tons of laughs and great times the whole time.  Who knew that half of them would be pregnant at the same time!! A fun year ahead of us. 

On Sunday I headed back to Dardanelle, because I was planning on leaving on Monday morning to head back to Utah. The whole time I was driving to the Torgerson’s though, I was thinking that I should stay and go to the temple with Austin for the first time.  He would be going on Saturday and I just thought it would be a shame for me to leave a few days before and for David to not be there.  The thought just kept coming to me, so when I got to the Torgerson’s I called David and told him to listen to everything before he commented.  So I told him he should fly out Wednesday and then he could drive back with me Saturday from Memphis.  To my surprise he agreed! We booked him a flight and then I called all my family and told them that we would be there for a 3rd week! They were all excited…I think.  We hung out with the Torgerson’s until Tuesday, I think. (It was a long three weeks.) Then we headed back to Bryant. On Wednesday night David got in at about 11:00 p.m. That way he was able to get a full day of work in and only had to take 2 days off.  He was happy with that.  Wednesday was a long day! We were so excited for David to come. I think this was the longest we went without seeing each other.  The week before we came to Utah, he was in Idaho for 3 days for a company retreat and we really didn’t see each other that much for a full month.  So on Thursday we hung out with my family at Pam and Micha’s.  David went to get some mexican food for lunch for the brothers and then everyone came over that night and we had yummy barbeque for dinner and visited with everyone. We packed up and went back to Dardanelle that night.  Then on Friday we hung out and tried to swim, but it was too cold! I don’t now where we were, because it definitely wasn’t Arkansas in the end of June.  Saturday morning we all packed up and took the 3 hour drive to Memphis, Tennessee. Molly was sweet enough to baby-sit for us in the church building next door, so that we could both go.  Gabe, Dad and Mom are all temple workers and were working that morning in the temple. Our session was at 1:00.  We got there around 12:00 after driving through so much traffic AND rain  on top of that.  Then we said our good-byes afterwards and thanks Molly and my mom for watching the kids and started our 23 hour drive back to Utah. It was bad traffic and raining for probably 60 percent of the time, but by 3:30 p.m. Sunday we made it back to Utah and were so glad. It was a pretty good ride, minus all the rain, the GPS giving us wrong directions, oh and being in the car for 24 hours! The kids were amazing though and did a great job.  We really only stopped to go potty and grab quick bites to eat.  It was great having David’s help this time.  The hardest time is always from about 2:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift. Luckily our new van is much more roomy than our other one and a lot more comfy for the passenger trying to sleep. It was great to get home and Biscuit was especially excited to see us!

The craziest thing was that even after 3 weeks I still wasn’t quite ready to go home. I really would have been happy to stay…forever! After being in Arkansas for so long, my thoughts that  I missed home were definitely confirmed and when the time is right for us to move back someday, I have no doubt how happy we will all be to be with so much great family!