Utah of Bust: Cousin Andrew Gets Married

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Utah Road Trip Diaries: Day 23, we spent the day with family in anticipation of my cousin getting married. The ladies got their nails done and we all enjoyed visiting both before and after the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

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Utah Road Trip Diaries: Day 24 is our last full day on the road and we spent it with family. We camped in my brother’s driveway last night in East Nashville. This morning he had everyone from the extended family over for home-made Eggs Benedict, his specialty. It was superb. The rest of the day was wrangling little boys before the wedding, trying to keep their white shirts relatively clean and them out of trouble. My cousin Andrew had a beautiful wedding to Kayla. We are so happy to have her officially in the family. After the wedding, the party continued at my aunt and uncles house with visiting around a campfire. We are anxious to get home but this was a nice way to end our trip, surrounded by so many people that we love. 

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Utah Road Trip Diaries: Day 25 means HOME. We enjoyed visiting with family, and even squeezed in visiting with some of Daniel’s family on our last leg (didn’t get any photos though 😏). We drove over 5,000 miles through 14 states (TN, AL, MS, AR, OK, NM, CO, UT, ID, WY, KS, MO, KY & GA). I drove almost half of that time and discovered it was easier to drive out west where there are less people than it is closer to home. We had no TV for the entire 25 days and the kids had limited movie time and screen time in the car. We had some amazing experiences as a family that I hope we will look back on when life feels hard or is pulling us in different directions. The trip had its ups and downs, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. It got us in a different rhythm. It let me see Daniel in a new light and see his skills shine. I really appreciate him. Hopefully he saw some good things about me and appreciates me in a different light as well. The kids were fantastic travelers. I think Daniel and I were more grouchy at times than they were. It will be interesting to try to ease back into normal life. I hope we keep some of the good habits formed over the last 25 days and forgive the harder stuff. I hope we have more adventures in store, both close to home and on a greater magnitude. 6 National Parks, 2 state parks, 1 national preserve, 1 national monument, Walmart parking lots and BLM land... we had quite the adventure in September.

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Trip Stats 
Camping Locations:

Pickwick Landing State Park in Tenn. 

Gore Landing City Park in Okla.

Wallydocking in Guymon, OK (FREE)

Family Base Camp in Alamosa, Colo. 

Mesa Verde RV Resort in Mancos, Colo.

Sand Flats Recreation Area outside of Moab, Utah

Upper Big Bed Overflow on the Colorado River outside of Moab, Utah (FREE)

Boondocking on BLM land outside of Goblin Valley State Park, Utah (FREE)

Singletree Campground in Dixie National Forest in Utah

Hyrum Lake State Park outside of Logan, Utah

Big Creek Campground in Bear Lake State Park, Utah

Gros Ventre National Park Campground, Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Western Hills Campground and RV Park in Rawlins, WY

Wallydocking in Hays, KS (FREE) 

Hanson Hills Campground just past Columbia, MO

Moochdocking in my Aunt and Uncle's front yard (FREE), Ashland City, TN 

Moochdocking in my brother's driveway in East Nashville, TN 

 

States Covered: 
TN > GA > AL > MS > TN > MS > TN > AR > OK > NM > CO > UT > WY > CO > KS > MO > TN > GA > TN

Significant Stops: 

Black Mesa in OK (highest point)

Mesa Verde National Park in CO

Wilson Arch in UT

Sand Flats Recreation Area and the West Rim of the Porcupine Trail in UT

Arches National Park in UT

Goblin Valley State Park in UT

Capitol Reef National Park in UT

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in UT

Bryce Canyon National Park in UT

Hyrum Lake State Park in UT

Ogden Dinosaur Park in UT

Logan Canyon in UT

Canyon Trail in Logan, UT

Bear Lake State Park, UT

Grand Tetons, WY

Yellowstone National Park, WY (The Grand Loop including Old Faithful, Hayden Valley, Grand Prismatic Springs and Artist Point in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone)

Rendezvous Mountain, Jackson Hole, WY

Jenny Lake, Grand Tetons National Park, WY

Cousin Andrew's wedding to Kayla, Ashland City, TN

Daily Miles Traveled: 
227 miles ⎮ 445 miles ⎮ 403 miles ⎮ 325 miles ⎮ 191 miles ⎮ 125 miles ⎮ 14 miles ⎮ 106 miles ⎮ 88 miles ⎮ 101 miles ⎮ 345 miles ⎮ 50 miles ⎮ 160 miles ⎮ 142 miles ⎮ 283 miles ⎮ 556 miles ⎮ 390 miles ⎮ 415 miles⎮ 162 miles

TOTAL Miles Traveled: 4,528 miles (I have missed mileage somewhere since it doesn't coincide with my notes above of 5,000+)

Days on the Road: 25

Previous Trip Posts:

Preparing to Head West

Utah or Bust, the First Leg

College Friends and Wallydocking 

Utah or Bust: Black Mesa to the San Luis Valley
Utah or Bust: Wolf Creek Pass 

Utah or Bust: Mesa Verde 
Utah or Bust: Moab Part 1 (Sand Flats Recreation Area and Mountain Biking the West Rim of the Porcupine Trail) 
Utah or Bust: Moab Part 2 (Arches National Park) 
Utah or Bust: Goblin Valley
Utah or Bust: Capitol Reef

Utah or Bust: Grand Staircase and Bryce Canyon 

Utah or Bust: Hyrum Lake near Logan, Utah 

Utah or Bust: Chilling at Hyrum Lake 

Utah or Bust: Ogden Dinosaur Park

Utah or Bust: Last Days in Logan 

Utah or Bust: Bear Lake to Grand Tetons 

Utah or Bust: Rendezvous Mountain and Jenny Lake

Utah or Bust: Headed Home 

 

40 Years

I spent the morning flipping through old photo albums. There have been so many changes in the last 40 years and nothing makes those changes more evident than looking at the past. The snapshots I came across show a relatively happy family who have been on many adventures together.  

This past Sunday, my parents celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary. I've been feeling a little guilty that we weren't all together to celebrate this milestone, but when your family is spread out it's not always possible to celebrate in person. But that doesn't mean that I am any less proud of them.

Forty years is hard to wrap my head around. Fifteen years ago my siblings and I threw our parents a 25th Anniversary party. It was our first such party and thankfully it was a success. Our family makes a big deal about the 25th, but really every year that people choose love and decide to stick it out is cause for celebration.

In their 40 years of marriage, my parents have lived in three countries, raised three children, and helped countless people during the course of their marriage, starting when they were missionaries. They have seen all of their children graduate from college and pursue careers in different fields, and have also been blessed with four grandchildren.

I want to take the time to share about my parents non-traditional engagement and wedding. If you know this story, feel free to skim or just look at these old photos. 

Forty years ago my dad was a missionary in Africa. He was single and after three years working on his own, he was ready for a change. He made plans to return home to America, presumably in search of a wife. On his return trip he made plans to travel around the world, stopping in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to see his Aunt Rosabelle and Uncle Joe Cannon...

At this same time, my mother and her family were working as missionaries in Papua New Guinea. They had left Canada several years before to pursue working with the indigenous people of this large island. My mom had raised her own support and was working and serving the people alongside her parents, Ray and Elizabeth Lock.

When my dad arrived in PNG, my mom was just returning from a week-long trip in the bush (back country). The story is that she was flea bitten and dirty, having just traveled some distance. My parents met and immediately took to one another. During my dad's three months in PNG, he wrote a letter home to his mother saying that he met a girl. He wrote a second letter saying that he was getting married.

Basically, my parents met, got engaged and were married by the time my dad's visa ran out and he had to leave the country. My mom's family was working in PNG, so they were able to attend the wedding with my dad's uncle officiating the ceremony. My dad's mom (my grandma) received the "I'm getting married" letter first! She had no idea who my dad would be returning home with.

This whole scenario blows my mind a bit – the fast engagement, the difficulty with communications from the other side of the world. In this day and age, my Nana in Canada and my parents in Arkansas have a day-to-day glimpse of my life and their grandkids!

Back to the story...
So, in PNG the custom at the time (I don't know if or how much this has changed), but at the time, women were purchased for a bride price. The price would typically be livestock – pigs and chickens and maybe some money. After the price was negotiated, the two families would celebrate with a mu-mu (cooking a pig in the ground) and a big celebration.

For my parent's wedding, they did a mock ceremony where my dad came to purchase my mom. One of my uncle's acted as the family negotiator. As part of the ceremony, my parents said they would marry for love and not for a price. The PNG people thought this was very funny. After the antics, they celebrated with the traditional mu-mu.

Later, for their real Western wedding, most of the local people did not attend because they considered my parents to already be married! Also, the day of the wedding, someone decided that the open-air church building should have walls. So my parents were married in the tropics, in a building with no breeze, and no air conditioning! 

So that is the gist of the story of how my folks met and got married. I have given several speeches about this event with lots of fun props and photos (in Jr High and also college).

It's a fun story to tell and really gives you a glimpse into my parent's life and my own roots. I like to say that adventure and spontaneity are in my genes!

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! I love you and am so very proud of you! Thank you for choosing to stay married every day.
 

See Jack: Wedding Edition

It's been awhile since I have had a chance to upload videos, so here are a few from our weekend in Canada at my cousin Brianna's wedding. I plan to get back to posting more regularly on Wednesdays next week.

This is an ongoing series of videos that I am sharing so that our extended family can keep up with how Jack is growing and changing in these early years.

See Jack and many of the Lock Flock enjoy dancing together at Brianna and Peter's wedding. 
Technically, this video should probably be labeled: See a compilation of my brother dancing with everyone in our extended family that was willing to groove.

See Jack attempt to jump into the hotel pool with my cousins. 
He chickened out at the last minute.

See Jack and cousin his Izzy have fun in the hotel lobby. 

I'm sure these guys were annoying great entertainment for the front desk.

Parenthood: Late Night Wedding Receptions and Toddlers

Last week I wrote about flying with a toddler for the first time. As with all new experiences, it posed some challenges, but it was good experience overall.

As I mentioned, we spent a long weekend in Canada where we attended my cousin's wedding.

Before heading to Toronto on Friday, we stopped to visit my Nana (on Thursday) and then spent the night at one of my aunt's houses.

Jack had fun playing with my sister's kids as well as playing with some of my younger cousins.

In addition to traveling solo with my toddler, I had the added responsibility of several freelance projects and was grateful to have family who were willing to watch Jack while I snuck off to find internet and wrap up some of my work.

Once we were at the hotel in Toronto, Jack was happy to jump in the pool with his cousins as well as run wild with his first cousin, Levi.

The wedding day was a challenge. It was cold and rainy and my sister had a migraine (and she was also traveling without her spouse).

While she crashed in our room; my mom, my nana and I watched the kids in the lobby. Hotel lobby's and toddlers are not a fun combination.

As the day went on, more relatives appeared and we somehow managed to get all of the kids ready and to the wedding on time.

The GPS on my phone would only work when I had wifi. This meant finding where I needed to go while I was still at the hotel and then hoping I didn't get lost or go off of the map as I drove around the greater Toronto area.

The wedding took place in the afternoon and was beautiful. Brianna, my cousin, was a perfect princess.

After the wedding, it was back to the hotel. Jack fell asleep on the drive back so I sat in the car for over an hour in order for him to get a good nap before the wedding reception.

After a quick snack, we headed to the reception. It was a full course meal with lots of visiting and dancing. The kids loved the dance floor.

The wedding was a lot of fun, but also stressful. It was the first time I have really felt that I am an old mom.

Without Daniel there to be a second set of eyes on Jack, I found myself constantly on the run to keep up with him.

Jack wanted to be on the dance floor. He wanted to watch the band. He wanted to get into the box of props for the photo booth. He wanted more ice cream.

A couple of times I stopped to talk with a relative and realized that Jack had disappeared.

Thankfully there were plenty of family members around to help bring him back to me on the occasions where I struggled to find him.

Daniel and I love new experiences, but we have a saying that there are things in life that we are glad that we had the opportunity to do, but that we would never do again.

Attending a late night wedding reception without a spouse to help watch my child falls into that category. It was fun, but totally exhausting and nerve wracking. I'm glad I went but I wouldn't do it again – at least not by myself.