Our big adventure

We decided to take the short trek up to Idaho Falls to visit my grandparents over the holidays and it turned into the not so short trek. The 3.5 hour drive quickly morphed into a six hour drive due to treacherous weather and near death tire blowouts.

The roads were pretty nasty but my dad was driving the beast and we had plenty of weight in the car (all eight seats were taken) to create traction. We had to drive 30 mph for a large stretch of road and just before the summit of Malad pass we had a tire explode. My sis and I have the worst luck when it comes to tires/driving/snowy Idaho roads, etc. Luckily my dad was driving this time and we made it safely to the RIGHT shoulder without shutting down I-15 or attracting seven highway patrolmen (another story for another post). Our biggest concerns this time included the ginormous snow banks we pulled into, the frigid winds on the pass, and the semi truck blown slush that pelted us every sixty seconds or so.

Since the car was filled to capacity (by people and luggage)- getting the tire and all needed gear ended up causing quite the ruckus. Zeb FREAKED when all the doors and trunk had to be opened and he had to be thrown around the car. The roads were SOPPING wet and the wind and slush was FREEZING. The car was on a crazy angle in the snow so properly placing the jack was near impossible. I stood a few feet behind the car on the watch for semis and large vehicles unable to switch lanes in time (we were at the top of the pass on a bend) while taylor had to fenagle the spare out from under the car (he was the only one with long enough limbs to get it without having to lie down in the river of sleet and dirt). Kent and my dad worked on removing the blown tire, Laney tended to banshee baby Zeb and her Hank, and Daysa hung out up front listening to her IPOD and playing with her new Blackberry.

Here's a shot of everybody thinking "why in the trash is she taking a picture right now?"

Finally after at least an hour of unpacking and fixing and repacking the car we exited the freeway onto the frontage road to back track to the nearest gas station so that we could fill up the attached spare with more air. We were all so dirty and wet and cold at this point. Laney even claims to have been hit in the side of the head (while sitting IN the car) by an insanely fast flying rock from a semi whizzing by. She says she's lucky to still be alive- or at least have her vision.

Once we made it into Idaho Falls at my grandparent's house everything calmed down. It was GREAT to see all the cousins and aunts and uncles and my grandparents! The adventures on the road were well worth the trip up.

Like usual I didn't get any pictures with all the family- but here's a cute one of Zeb sleeping in the hotel. This kid slept better on vacation than he has at home in quite some time. Ridiculous!!!