The Land of Oz: 5000 Miles of Fun: Blanding

The last family trip we took to Utah was in the summer of 2004. We got a great deal on some airline tickets and had only three kids at the time. Now, six years later we have 5 kids and even if deals were to be had on tickets (which there weren't), buying seven plane tickets would have still been way out of our price range. So we decided to do the unthinkable and drive out west. We knew our ten year old mini-van was not up to the task. Even if it didn't give out completely, which we are positive it would have given the fact that we are now at the stage where we are pouring money into it for repairs every few months that are basically just band-aids to spare its life for just a bit longer; it's also just not big enough to haul a family of seven and all of the luggage needed for a three-week trip. So we decided to rent a van. It was still a mini van but so much roomier and with the stow-and-go seating, we had ample room for all of our junk. It was SO nice! And it was great not to have to worry about the cost of repairs if we had a break-down along the way.

So, with everything in place and a lot of last minute stress, we packed up and headed out. The trip out was to be the hardest since we decided to drive it straight through. We hoped that the excitement of the kids would get us through the looonnnngggg hours ahead. And actually they didn't do too bad, considering.

We stopped for dinner and took advantage of a long strip of grass to let the kids let off some pent-up energy before loading them up for what we hoped was the night.

Partway through the night, I had dozed off for a bit when Kalen decided he was too sleepy to drive, so we pulled into a rest area for a nap. Of course, as soon as we did, every single kid woke up grumpy. We knew that sleep was no longer an option. So we switched drivers and I drove for awhile so that Kalen could get a couple hours of sleep. We'd have made it for a good while if our gas tank hadn't alerted us that it needed more fuel. So of course the kids woke up again when we pulled into the gas station. After gas and potty breaks we headed out again. It started to get light by the time we reached Denver and it was so much fun to see a change of scenery from the corn fields of Iowa and Nebraska. The mountains were beautiful and we had fun driving through all the tunnels that brought back memories of all the road trips my family took when I was a kid.

We stopped in Rifle, Colorado for breakfast. We went to Walmart and bought food and then went to a really cute little rest area to eat. They had a fun wildlife exhibit in the information building. Oh, and the Jehovah's Witnesses are up really early and made sure to give us some reading material for the drive.

Finally, after 28 1/2 hours, we reached Blanding.

It was SO much fun to reunite with everyone. The kids have cousins that they haven't even met before and others who they have met but don't remember at all.

Kendall had so much fun with all the boy cousins close to his age. I thought this picture was funny. They are standing oldest to youngest but they get taller the younger they get!

One day we took a trip to the dinosaur museum in town. They had some pretty neat stuff for such a small place.

Kaya loved this replica of an ancient fan best of all. It even worked!

With all the running around to different places, playing games, back and forth between Susan's and Grandma's, people tended to wear out occasionally:

I thought Natalie and Spencer were so cute together.

We were able to visit with so many people that we hadn't seen in years while we were there. We went to see the Shearer family who Kalen knew from his high school years and I knew from my college years. Their daughters Misty and Marla were my roommates at USU and Marla is the one who introduced me to Kalen. Well, we were so excited to find out that Marla and her family were actually visiting Blanding at the same time! It was so much fun to see them and their cute little family. (They have four little blond boys who are just adorable).

One of our big Oswald reunion traditions is to have a temple trip to do baptisms. Kalen and Taylor and I were all able to go on this one to Monticello. It was so much fun and so good to get to the temple again.

The 4th of July is huge in Blanding. I mean enormous! It was really fun to be there for their celebration on the 3rd (the 4th being a Sunday). The day started bright and early when several family members participated in the Fun Run or the 5K races. Kalen and Taylor did the Fun Run which is a mile long. Taylor could have done the 5K but he didn't think he was ready for it.

Our nephew Tanner took 4th place (and 1st in his age group) in the 5K and Taylor took 1st place in the Fun Run. We were pretty excited for him and I think he was pleased with himself too.

Later that morning we all went to the big parade. This parade was WAY more fun than any I've been to in a long time. There were so many different floats and lots of candy thrown out for the kids. And lots of water from various fire trucks. The very last truck completey drenched the kids who were expecting the lighter spray that the other trucks had been shooting.

After the parade we headed over to the big festival where they had booths of every kind and lots of fun activities for the kids.

That evening was Kalen's 20th High School Reunion. We took Kaya with us and left the rest of the kids behind to play with their cousins. It was fun to visit with a few of the people that I knew and I know Kalen had a great time catching up with old friends.

While we were visiting the kids spent a fun afternoon at the lake.

And getting their faces painted.

The kids came for the last few minutes of the reunion so everyone could meet them and then we decided to track down Mrs. A, Kalen and best friend Harvey's old drama teacher. We found her at the set of a melodrama that she was in charge of and had a fun chat with her.

Kendall who has a fascination with acting, even got some advice from her and said afterward how much fun she seemed.

We met up with the rest of the family for the fireworks that night, which was a small miracle because it was so dark and there seemed to be thousands of people gathered who all looked the same. The firework show was pretty spectacular and the kids all loved it. Kaya was so cute shouting "wow!" after each one.

Then we took Harvey back to his mom's and had their other friend Taylor join us for one last visit before parting ways.

The rest of our Blanding visit consisted of church on Sunday, lots of good food, hilarious stories and fun chats, and even more games and play time.

Steal the Flag.

Lover's Leap.

A hilarous nighttime search for Shonnee's missing necklace.

Monday morning Kalen, Susan and Sherrie took all the boys to Monument Valley for a few hours. We knew that we had a long drive to Duchesne later that day so we decided not to have the whole family go. They had a great time.

We spent some last minute time loving the cute little puppies.

And after all the goodbyes, we were off on our next leg of the journey to visit the Potter side of the family in Duchesne. On our way we stopped off at Arches National Park. It was really beautiful and so amazing to see all those cool formations.