Lucy has this funny (or not so funny) thing about
meals. 
She has to have them in order.
For example, if it’s suddenly dinnertime on a crazy summer
day and she realizes, horror of horrors, that she somehow managed to miss lunch
it won’t do to just have dinner and be done with it.  She must have her lunch first, then dinner. 
Order in all things for that girl of mine makes her happy.
Her meal antics drive me nutty at times…apparently the whole
wide world just may come to a screeching halt if three square meals aren’t
consumed in one day and no amount of explaining or sweet-talking can change her
mind at the end of a long, two-meal summer day. 
But I can relate in a way. 
Although I couldn’t care less about making sure breakfast comes before
lunch, I have to keep records in my own particular order.  We have just begun some summer road trips and
I can’t even think of documenting them until last summer’s road trip that has
been sitting in my “drafts” has been published.
No, that would be my own horror of horrors.
I guess that even a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants girl like
me still craves her own kind of order in life.
So here are the pictures of our road trip last summer. 
Yes it’s old news and yes, they were just taken from my
iPhone .  They are far from fabulous as
far as photography goes.  But they
capture precious moments in time.  And as
you know, I love to do that.  These
pictures document my falling in love with road trips.
And they are double duty photos because some of them
document the places where I feel in love with Dave twenty-some years ago.
Yes, I took my girls on a trip down memory lane and we had
some good adventures along the way.  I
won’t go into detail, but sometimes just having a picture re-tells the full
story to the ones who were there.  To the ones it means the most to.
We drove from Utah back to the desert with a big stop in Provo.
First stop was the gas station Dave took me to for slurpies in our first “sort-of” date.  
We drove by the MTC (missionary training center) because hey, who knows when or if these girls will spend time there some day (they are all planning on it…)  
And most importantly we drove there because that was part of the love story as well.  That’s where I took off to half way through our romance.  

Of course we had to go touch the temple because that’s what we do.

I had such a hankering to cart these kids up on a hike to the “Y” at BYU, but we didn’t have the time.

I sure hope we can make that happen this year.

I love being on that great old BYU campus with my kids.

…and walking through Dave and my old “stomping grounds” where we fell in love:

(Lots more about where we lived back HERE.)

Best road-trip toy:

…and these are the books we listened to.  The above one is a great book for kids.  Loved it.  There’s more about the actual book version over HERE.

And I know I’ve mentioned this one before:

Everyone should read that book, so interesting.  I am STILL planning on writing a review soon because it’s made me think a lot.

Lots of hours in the dark listening to this while these girls did this:

Notice the bugs.  

Our windshield became a graveyard for them.

We had a really interesting hotel experience late, late, late in the night.  I wrote about it back HERE, but the only picture I got was this the next morning:

Had to drive the girls down the strip so they could see all that hoopla.

Out-of-seatbelt-stretches at drive-ins:

Nothing like being enclosed in a car for hours on end for some girl bonding.

There we go, all documented.

Now I’m ready to bring it on for this year.

Can’t wait.

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8 Comments

  1. I am loving learning about the Mormon religion (I am a devout Catholic though). My question is, are all children expected to serve a mission? What if a child chooses not to go on a mission…are there any ramefications? Is it of their own choice if they serve of not?

    1. A mission is something that every person decides for themselves. There is no ramifications if you don't go. Every person can choose what is best for them, to go or not.
      My husband served a mission and learned so much. The love he felt
      for people you serve for two years has overflowed into many parts of
      his life. He also learned Russian,
      because he went to Lithuania on
      his mission. I did not serve a mission because we married before inwas old enough. We are encouraged to serve but not on any way required.

  2. I'm the same way with posts, but I'm about 3 years behind at this point. Heaven help me!

    If I can be so bold as to answer the above comment, young men are expected to serve a mission. All youth are encouraged to be prepared to serve, but the responsibility does not fall on the shoulders of young women. There are no ramifications if a young person does not serve. However, there may be reasons they are not able to and there may be ramifications based on those reasons. (I really hope I'm saying that right.) I myself served a mission and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made, so I encourage my daughter, nieces and friends to go as the Lord directs them. There are also many ways to serve. A nephew of mine had physical limitations that meant he couldn't leave his home. He served in a temple in his area. (Shawni, my apologies for hijacking your comment section.)

  3. I am with you Shawni, love road trips. I also love being on the BYU campus, I never got to attend there, but have been to Education week many many times. I am going this year with my 21 year old married daughter, staying in the dorms, can't wait for that mother/daughter week. I hope you plan to take your kids some day, I usually go see your parents, are they speaking this year? Thanks for your posts, I enjoy keeping up with your family.

  4. I have heard that a man who didn't serve a mission has a harder time finding a spouse. If they grew up in the church.

    1. Perhaps in some instances this is true but the men that I know personally who have chosen not to serve missions are married and active in church, however they do wish they had chosen to go when they were younger. My father-in-law did not go but he and my mother-in-law are leaving in Septemver to serve a mission together in Russia.

  5. Shawni, you know you said about how Lucy has to have her meals in a certain order – what does she do about dinner if she hasn't had lunch & you're about to have dinner?

    Will she have her lunch & shortly afterwards want her dinner too?

    Just curious as to how you handle it.

    Have a lovely holiday:)

  6. If your son didn't go or couldn't go would you worry about his being able to find a spouse? Would it be something he would have to explain to people for the rest of his life?

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