Wild Hair

Sometimes I get these wild ideas that sound exciting and exhilarating in my head. I run with these schemes and burst in full force, then halfway through think, "What on earth am I doing?"

I did just that this last weekend. I packed the three little kids in the suburban and we were off on a very quick adventure north.

I was gone from home for 61 hours. That's it. Of those 61 hours . . .

26.5 of those hours were spent driving. I was the lone driver. It was not unpleasant. Eve made a cave for herself in her spot.

Hyrum got cozy on his side of the car, and Micah disappeared into the back seat, sleeping like a teenager most of the way to Idaho.

16.5 of those hours were spent sleeping. I was exhausted, and I rested.

The remaining precious 18 hours were spent visiting people I love. Eve and Mom looked through Mom's box collection, sharing stories where each came from and why each was special.

Kids watched "Monsters University" with Grandpa, picked apricots from the tree, and brushed the horses.

We also had a picnic Saturday afternoon at a park--in the most glorious 82-degree weather I've experienced in a long time.

Both of my sisters brought their kids, and we played games, ate, and visited for the evening.

The kids had boat races in the ditch and laughed and splashed (and Hyrum fell in. Someone always falls in.)

Micah passed off his horsemanship merit badge with Dad.

Then before it was bright but still very early, I kissed Hyrum goodbye and the other kids and I headed south to Utah where we dropped Micah off with Brad's mom for the week. My kids have each spent a week alone with their grandparents, and I love the opportunity for them to have alone time with people who love them.

I've been taking sunset pictures this year, but my favorite time of day, by far, is sunrise. "Alone" in the car as the kids slept, I watched the sun rise over my beloved southern Idaho.

I've lived in Arizona longer than anywhere else, and I love my adopted state, but my heart always leaps as I drive through the bean and potato fields and cross the Perrine bridge over the basalt rift in the earth with the Snake River below.

Eve threw up in the car (in a bag, thankfully) before we arrived in Salt Lake, and she was pretty miserable the rest of the way home.

She mostly slept. Every gas station I would turn in a Redbox movie and pick another for her to watch while I listened to Hamilton by Ron Chernow on my iPad.

Eve has been an only child this whole week. Lily left for girls' camp early Monday morning and the boys will fly home tomorrow. She's unaccustomed to the solitude and while she's pretty independent, I can tell she misses her sibs.

I can't wait to have all of them back together tomorrow--I've even missed the fighting. A little bit.