September 11, 2026-Partying at Degray and Happy 21st Birthday (party) Reagan!

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On our Utah trip, Robby and I would wake up before our alarms most days. This would happen even when our alarms were set to go off early. Now, that hasn't been happening at home this week, but I was little worried that would happen this morning in the camper. I was so happy when I looked at the clock this morning, and it was already 8:30. That was wonderful.

Robby took the dogs to potty, and then I got dressed. We decided to go and walk the dogs, and we had not gotten too far when it was started raining. We knew that the rain was coming, but we thought we had a little bit of time.

We hurried back to the camper and settled in during the rain. And it rained and rained and rained. We kept looking at the weather hoping that it would clear and hoping that the 6:00 shower that they forecasted was wrong. 

Thankfully, after a 2 hour rain shower, it finally cleared, and the sun came up leading to a beautiful day. We all loaded up and headed to get ice and of course Sonic drinks. We filled 4 ice chests with sprites, waters, diet cokes, and cokes. Then we came back to the camper for a little bit.

Around 4:40, we loaded up the 7 pans of watermelon, the 6 pans of cookies, and the 10 bags of chips along with the 4 ice chests and headed to pick up 25 pizzas. We had the food and just needed Reagan to supply the people!

The party was at a professor's house, and it was the perfect location. They had a lake completely stocked with all kinds of kayaks and canoes plus a little pavilion. Reagan and her friends were there when we drove up, and they were all working hard getting things ready.

Our big boys showed up soon along with Shannon, and they all went to work helping get things out of the van and set up everything that we had. Then people started showing up. The party officially started at 5:30, but the group picture happened at 6.

I counted 59 in the group picture, plus Shannon who took the picture. When I counted everyone else that was not in the picture that showed up later, I think that there were 67 people at Reagan's 21st birthday party. 

After our group picture, Reagan prayed, and then the kids started to eat. They ate and ate, but we still had plenty of pizza left. We also had plenty of cookies and watermelon left. My boys and Brett all had cookies and pizza for later. Reagan and some of her friends took watermelon and pizza. Plus I gave two pans of watermelon away to the teachers who were there. 

Not only was it the perfect location, but it was also the perfect evening. Keaton, Campbell, and Whitman all kayaked. Anderson did a lot of paddleboarding-that was his first time to paddleboard. Graham didn't get in the water. I think that Reagan had the best time tonight-I know that we did.

When it started to get dark, we started to pick up. Cleaning up didn't take too long plus we had lots of empty pizza boxes to bring to our trash can. Once at the camper, we unloaded some things and then took the dogs on a walk. Now, it was just 10, and we had the whole night ahead of us! 

September 10, 2026-Partying at Degray

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This was Campbell and Keaton's first day of Mother's Day Out so they were up early plus we took some first day of school pictures as well. As soon as they left, Whitman and I started on school. I thought without the girls there to bother him, I could help him knock school out sooner.I was wrong though. I have just given the boy way too many things to do in the day. He doesn't mind so we will be pressing on, and like today, what we get done is what we got done.

I was able to print out some more curriculum this morning-poor Whitman. Plus I got school out for next week which is something I have been doing for what seems like forever-pulling school out every Thursday for the next week. This afternoon Robby and Whitman headed to Degray just as Campbell and Keaton were getting home. They girls had a good first day, but they hadn't finished at church. Around 5, they had to head back to work tonight too.

This left me with no one home, not even a dog. Plus I didn't have my computer so I could/should have been productive, but I was not! And it was wonderful.I did run by Nonna and Pops' house on my way to church to pick up 7 pans of watermelon. We have 6 pans of cookies and 7 pans of watermelon.

Once I got the girls, we headed on to Degray. Now, of course, since we passed a Buccees, they had to stop. I just sat in the car and listened to my book. They were back in no time, and in no time we were pulling up to the camper.

We unloaded all of the watermelon, and thankfully it all fit in the fridge. Then we took the dogs for a walk-next up is a shower for me.

September 9, 2026

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• It was really a fairly uneventful morning. We did our school work, and I tried to get a few things done around the house. The most eventful time was working on Campbell's math which we only did half of. 
• The girls finished school before Whitman did, but we all still left the house around 1 to go to Nonna and Pops' house. I brought 2 watermelons for them to slice for Friday. Pops wasn't sure my watermelon was enough, but we shall see.
• When we came back home, I was exhausted and laid down for about 30 minutes. Then I had to hurry for the rest of the afternoon to get everything done. I managed most things, and then it was time for church.
• Campbell and Keaton spent forever getting ready for church tonight. You would have thought that we were going to a wedding or some fancy event-not Wednesday night church. They really were super happy to be back.
• After church, Robby and I went to Shannon's house so she could help me make a few dozen cookies-I think it was around 17 or so. We will have plenty of cookies at least on Friday. We were there a bit late because making that many cookies isn't quick. 
• When we came home, there were a few more things to do, and now I'm headed to bed!

September 8, 2026

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• It is strange how after being gone a bit, you can so easily get back in the swing of things. There are still some things that I need to tweak since we are down quite a few kiddos from this summer. I need the littles to do their chores earlier and to take a bit more responsibility. 
• Don't get me wrong, they do help quite a bit, but no one ever does much without being asked and when I do ask, they eventually do it but usually I have to remind them.
• Campbell left early this morning to go to work at church. While she was gone, Keaton and Whitman worked on their school work. It was a little bit of a long day, but we managed to get all of school finished, plus a few extra school things done.
• When Campbell came home, she started on her school. She had to make a schedule for her college classes about when she needed to complete things. Things will continue to get busier for her as work starts very soon. 
• This afternoon I ran some errands with Robby. Then we came home-he worked in the camper while I played a game with Whitman. Robby and I just reloaded the camper, and now I'm going to finish my game with Whitman and then hopefully read some of my book. 

September 7, 2026

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• This was not yet a normal day-we haven't had a regular day at home since dropping Anderson off at school. Even if we had been home, this wouldn't have been too regular of a day because it is a holiday.
• We didn't really celebrate any because Robby, Campbell, and I headed to Ouachita for Tiger Preview Day for Campbell. This was her first official college visit, and I think that she really enjoyed it even though she thought it was too early for a college visit.
• We went to the education department. Right now Campbell is thinking about Occupational Therapy which falls under education. The dean was excellent and she made teaching and all the other things sound so good. 
• Campbell won the trivia game which included a bag of Ouachita swag. While she was at that meeting, we made the rounds and saw Anderson and Graham. Robby had already seen Reagan during a meeting before. 
• We then went to the lunch where Graham and Reagan snuck in and ate with us. It was fine, and then we went on a campus tour. The tour was great-it so helps to have a good guide. Then we were about to leave when Campbell remembered that we hadn't stopped at the bookstore. 
• She quickly found herself a shirt in te bookstore. Then we headed to Sonic for a pre-drive home drink. The drive home was quick, but I was sleepy. When we made it home, I laid down for a few minutes. 
• Then Jason came over to drop off a shirt. When he left, I went to town trying to do a few things from my list. We had just sat down on the couch when the Wilsons wrote mentioning that they had cookies so we ran over there for a few minutes!

Ultimate Utah Adventure By the Numbers

 Here is a rundown of some important and non-important numbers from our trip:

Days: 16

Nights: 15

Miles Driven: 3,433

Miles Biked: 28 

Miles Hiked: 40.4

Longest Hiking Day: 7 miles (Capitol Reef)

Time Zones: 3

States Visited (counting Arkansas): 8

National Parks Sites Visited: 10

Tire Change: 1

Time to Change Tire: 24

Pictures Taken: 2,372

Favorites: 

Star Ranger Program, Narrows Hike (Whitman)

Ebikes at Zion, Bryce Sunrise Hike (Keaton)

Bryce Sunrise Hike, Rustler's Restaurant (Campbell)

Bryce Sunrise Hike, Zion Narrows, Hot Chocolate at Rustler's Restaurant (Tara)

Narrows Hike, Ebikes at Zion, Bryce Sunrise Hike (Robby)

September 6, 2026-Ultimate Utah Adventure Day 16

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We woke to our alarms at 6 this morning. I don't like hearing alarms ringing in the morning. Robby stirred first, while I tried to decide if I could just lay in the back while he drove us on towards home. I didn't do that though and instead got ready and took the dogs out.

We then started on our way. The day went incredibly smoothly. Actually, all of our travel days have gone smoothly. We never once said anything to each other about tires this whole trip because we did not want to jinx anything. Robby's tire pressure monitoring system never went off, and I wanted to ask him the whole time if he had just turned it off (I could see that it was on!)

Even though we had no tire problems at all this trip, we still changed a tire today. Robby had to stop to potty at a rest stop when we were already in Arkansas (we had stopped before too). When he was walking to the camper, he noticed that the trailer tire was a little bare and was showing some of the cords. We pressed on though towards home.

After a while though, he said that maybe he would change the tire to be on the safe side. Changing a tire in a gas station parking lot under a tree is a lot easier than changing it on the side of the interstate. He took a exit in a few miles, and I started the timer (I didn't tell him about my timer.)

I got the jack, and Robby had to remember how to put the jack together which seemed to take the longest of all the parts. Then he unscrewed the thing a ma bobs and picked a tire from the trunk (yes, we carry two spare tires for the trailer.) In no time, he had the new tire on, and I put the jack up while he aired up the tire. We were back on the interstate within 24 minutes which I think is pretty impressive.

Soon we were rolling onto Jacqueline. We had the kids help unload the camper, and with their help we were finished with in an hour for sure. They did a lot of bringing it in the house so when I came in, I had a lot of things to put up. That was fine though because I just steadily worked on that all afternoon.

I am also steadily working on the laundry! Usually, we use both washing machines, but the second one is up the stairs so I'm not sure it is really worth all of that! It will all get done when it gets done! Campbell headed out to play volleyball and to Sonic tonight while Robby and I went to the Wilson's house for supper. Keaton and Whitman stayed here and vegged out for a bit. 

I will try to do a trip by the numbers post tomorrow. However, I will tell you now that we hiked almost 40.5 miles on our little trip!