Visit with the Giles

We made the trek to Utah in January to visit the Giles.  This time when I say trek I really mean it.  We got rerouted through Rupert when an onion truck overturned on a bridge on the freeway.  It was a 40 minute delay.  Not long after we were back on the freeway we hit some debris.  Rusty never even saw it, and I only caught a glimpse the split second before we hit it.  We continued on for about a mile, when Rusty went to pass a semi.  He said he thought that it sounded like a flat tire about the same time I asked if the sound was coming from the semi we were passing.  He quickly slowed down and we were blessed with a very close exit.  We took it and pulled over to see that our back drivers side tire was completely slashed in about 5 places.  We spent the next 30+ minutes changing to our spare tire.  I have had my car for 5 1/2 years and never pulled the spare out.  We had to get out the manual and figure out where all the gear was.  Of course it was under the kids' seats so we had to put them in the front seat and remove all the car seats.  This was after we had removed all the luggage from the back.  It was about 10 degrees outside so the kids were all huddled in blankets in the front.  We turned the car off so noone got carbon monoxide poisening.  When it was finally changed we checked the tire pressure and found the spare to be quite low.  We limped along to the next exit where we found an air hose.  It was a poor excuse for an air hose but eventually it did the job (about 5 minutes to the spare tire).

Despite our exceptionally long journey, we had a great time once we got there.  On Saturday morning we hiked up to Bridal Veil Falls in the snow to watch the ice climbers.  That afternoon we had an all kids birthday party, complete with cake, presents, hats and candles.  Uncle Shaun joined us for that, too.  Saturday night we went roller skating, then had pizza for dinner.  Once the kids were in bed we played games with John and Wendi.  Sunday we went to church and hung out in the afternoon.  Kyleigh, Alyssa, and Haley worked on their duct tape art and came up with what they believe is a landmark invention, the duct tape pillow.  Monday morning we went to trafalga.  We played a round of black light mini golf and watched a mini-show in their 3-D theater.  We then said good-bye to the Giles, and went to Ikea to get some stools for Holly.  We met Shaun and Debbie for lunch before heading back to Boise with a thankfully unremarkable trip. 

The girls have already been asking when we can see them again.