Tia Allred Blog

These toddlers are becoming:

opinionated
stubborn
cuter
louder
smarter

The list could go on.  But what it really does is make grocery shopping a big pain.  And some of my grocery shopping trips are big "stocking-up" ones.  And it's hard fitting two toddlers, and a bunch of groceries all in one cart, not to mention keeping the toddlers happy and the noise at a minimum.

The toddlers have also gotten smatter--and really insist on getting out of the cart the whole shopping trip.  This shopping trip, I was desperate, for them to stop asking and for space in my cart--and so I told them they were only allowed to get out if they held on to the cart the WHOLE time.  And I was actually surprised at how well they did.  But it took us forever to finish, since Vivienne's short little legs can't take very big steps.  We essentially shuffled around the rest of the store.

But hey, for happy kids, I'll spend a few extra minutes shuffling around!

We gassed up at the station and bought some muffins, doughnuts, chocolate milk, and bananas since our hotel didn't have a breakfast and we didn't want to waste too much time.  This trip, I became obsessed with powdered doughnuts.  And I won major points from the kids, by letting them indulge in the powdered doughnuts while in the car.

After piling back into the car, we made a quick little drive up to Salt Lake City and walked around Temple Square and then grabbed lunch at the mall.








After that, we were headed to Boise!  We took a little stop at this gas station claiming to be "in the middle of nowhere" with a llama and a sheep out front and a little vending machine to buy them treats.




After we got to Boise, Brett took the kids swimming at the hotel while I went and got us some Olive Garden take-out.  Then we all ate dinner late that night in our room.  After we wrestled the kids to bed, we watched a million episodes of Forensic Files on TV, because it is the show I seem to always watch and get sucked in to while I am staying at a hotel.  I love it!

Day 3 was the only day we didn't do a lot of driving.  We stayed put in Utah and did a little exploring!

First stop was the Bean Museum.  I grew up visiting this museum often as a child and it is fun and free!  They have totally revamped it since then, too.  It is full of all sorts of animal exhibits and information.  Both Landon and Vivienne love animals, so this was a total hit.  Plus, we ended up meeting up with some of our friends from Mesa that had moved up there--the Staples.  The kids had a great time together, since they are the exact same ages.  My cousin Ruthie tagged along too, and she is a great little babysitter.


The big brown bear started growling and did freak our sensitive Landon out, just a little bit!

We grabbed lunch at the BYU Creamery on 9th, afterward.  Because no visit to Provo is complete without visiting the creamery.  Unfortunately the kids were too tired, so we didn't go to the BYU Bookstore and let them pick out a book.  I was really looking forward to that.  Next time we are in Provo, we will definitely be doing that!

We also squeezed in a few more snuggles with Aunt Cass before we left!

Once we got our Krispy Kreme donuts and loaded into the car, we had another little chunk of driving to get us to my aunt and uncle's house in Utah.  But we took a nice long lunch break at a fast food joint with a play place.  Which was super nice.  And Vivienne's diaper leaked on Brett when he was carrying her back out to the car, so they both needed wardrobe changes, haha!

What I learned this stretch of the car drive--is how amazing stickers and slinkies are for road trips (bless the Target Dollar Spot).



We rolled into my aunt and uncle's driveway right in time for a big, fun family dinner.  My aunt and uncle were sweet enough to organize and host this dinner for us so we could get to see some of our family before we made it to our final destination and new home.  My sisters, some cousins, and even my grandparents were there since they happened to be up there visiting and we were all able to cross paths.

Brett drove the moving truck up to Washington, and then flew back to Mesa on Sunday evening.  We spent some time with family and did a few final preparations.

Some random happenings from our first little bit in Washington...