Camping 'til Thursday

We are up at Bear Lake again this summer. Yay! Another tradition that our kids will "always" remember us doing even if it only ends up being this year and last year. It is a good thing that I came last year and had personal experience with how nice it was, or I don't I could have made myself come up. Cause I'm here by myself (without Corey). Corey's family is all up here too, but I'm the lone parent over my crew. Corey was sick last Wed - Fri and was in bed and unable to work, so I was on duty all alone over the weekend. Then he felt better after I got him some Ultra Pepto on Friday, and Saturday he was able to function better, and as we discussed the family plans of coming up camping this week, we decided Corey needed to catch up on work that he had missed over the past 3 days. Also because he had taken the whole week before that off for Park City. So he had to show up this week, which means this was going to be up to me to make happen. SO - this morning, after having Saturday and Sunday to get myself mentally prepped to work hard, I took charge this morning and got the kids to clean and practice. We wanted to be done so we could leave between 2-4, so that we could get to the campground between 4-6. We got the house very clean. I wanted Corey to feel happy in his peaceful little kingdom for the next 3 days. Yeah, we're staying up here until Thurs! Last year it was just two days, so yeah, this is gonna be a mental marathon for me for the next few days. Maybe this is prepping me to be a widow. Hope not. Ok. So - I kept wanting to do clean and vacuum one more thing at home, but we finally left around 3:30. And we were happily on our way - two cars, 10 kids. Mel drove the fiesta and followed me with Hyrum and Wes in the car with her. When we got to Logan, right after turning off of Main street, I heard some weird thumping. It sounded like something was in my tires. I pulled into a little parking lot, looked at the tires, didn't see anything alarming, so we got back in and drove up the hill again. Same thumping. I pulled to the side of the road to look again. Something is not right. But it all looks fine. I guess we'll keep going. Then as we drove, the sound went away, and I looked in the rear view mirror and saw something that came loose from the car. Oh good, I guess it was a big rock stuck in there or something! Weird. Well glad that sound is gone. Then the tire pressure light came on. Oh no. I pulled over right as soon as I could. It was 4:45. We had just barely started up the canyon. And I got out in time to watch the tire deflate and I could hear it loose the air it had in it. Oh GREAT.

UGH!! I was not happy. What is up with Logan and flat tires!?!?! (see last pics at that link) I drove through Logan last year this exact same time when I got a flat! Are you college kids planting things in street to ruin our tires? I stewed for a minute and felt stressed and was slightly resenting Corey and this situation. It's not his fault he was sick, but I was still kinda mad at him. I sent a voice message letting him know we got a flat and didn't say but was thinking "AND YOU'RE NOT HERE TO deal with this and THIS SUCKS and I've got a van full of little kids and what am I supposed to do!?!?!" I didn't want to read his replies, I just wanted to vent and was trying to think as the kids were all asking me what was going on and what we were going to do. Do I call a tow truck? I did read a few of his texts learned that the spare was under the middle seats, so I had to take out the seats. Ugh... this stinks. and I also read his message saying that putting on the spare would be the fastest way to get on the road again. Ok, that is what we will do then. OK, so we know what we are going to do. I tried to search for youtube videos on changing a tire for Honda Odyssey as Corey sent a few "attempting to be helpful" texts of encouragement saying: "Having put on the spare myself, it's not hard, I did this a few weeks ago, You got this!" yada yada and it made me want to punch something. I first had to calm down and get a good spirit about me if I wanted to be able to think. Before I could do that, I had to get rid of little kids asap, cause I needed it quiet. SO, we decided for Mel to take the 3 youngest kids and keep going. And she could take one of the biggest kids (Hyurm or Wes) and I needed one. Hyrum and Wes decided H would go with Mel, and Wes would stay with me. I told Wes thanks, I told Mel and H thanks, and they were off. OK, back to putting on the spare. We got the seats out. We found the spare. I offered a prayer, asking the Lord to help us be able to put the spare on, or if it was okay, to send someone who could help us.

Us out trying to figure out where to put the jack... 4:56...

And at 5:07, our rescue angel was by our side. I was so thankful!

He coached Wesley through changing the tire. He taught Abi how someone needs to watch the cars driving by and make eye contact with them so they slow down. If people get hurt when changing a tire, it's usually by being hit by passing cars. He asked for Wesley's name. We asked for his. His name was Cory/Corey.

He and Wes changed the tire, while Abi and I watched traffic to keep them safe. He is from Draper. He and his wife were coming back from Lava Hot Springs, so they passed us going down the canyon and then turned around to come back and help us. Isn't that nice? Aren't you just so grateful for people like this? Especially when you're the one being helped? Yes. I want to give a shout out to him on facebook and probably will when we get back home from this camping trip. He was in a white car - and he followed us for a minute down the canyon, but then they must have turned, I was trying to watch as I drove, but suddenly his car was gone! And, sure, he might have turned down a street, or, maybe.... he was one of the three Nephites! Although none of them were named Corey (3 Nephi 19:4). So that would mean he would have had to have lied to us about his name, and the three Nephites probably don't lie, so it probably wasn't. We started driving on Main toward a Les Schwab... but soon found a Goodyear Place. We hung out inside.

And they fixed it and didn't charge us for it. So that was nice! Then we went to Smiths to buy some hardship ice cream sandwiches, and then we were on our way. We went and checked into the hotel first, so that I wouldn't have to do it later with kids in tow. Then we did a little shuffling back and forth with Hyrum so we didn't have to pay to have two cars in the campground. Then we were finally there. The kids had dinner, Mark helped us put up our tent.

We had smores by a roaring fire.

And the gates close at 10:30, but I left at 10. Now I'm back at the Worldmark with NODP.

Four little monkeys laying in the bed. One will probably fall off and bonk his head, so I'll take Peter to sleep with me in the Murphy bed so they're not overcrowded while they sleep. 

They watched a bit of tv while I got us settled in the room and worked at the computer here. Overall it was a good day. I get grumpy sometimes, like Peter is most every morning (like this morning)...

Our cute grumpy Peter. Having the flat tire made me feel grumpy and gave me stress, but it turned out good and it was ok, and I am so grateful for that guy for coming back and helping us. And I know the kids will love being up here camping this week, and I know I'll have delightful moments too. Here's to hanging tough until Thursday.