Our Crazy, Long Thanksgiving Trip

We thought it would be a good idea to get a head start by leaving on Monday before Thanksgiving to beat the "big storm." We drove to Salt Lake and stayed with my sister and left early Tuesday morning before the "big storm" that had been forecasted. We drove to Las Vegas and stayed a the Excalibur. We thought it would be fun and it kept Rob entertained on the way down there because we told him we'd be staying in a castle. When we go there though, you could see the tram between the Excalibur, Mandalay Bay and Luxor from our room and that was all Rob was interested in. We rode the tram and he didn't want to get off. He could have ridden it all night. The next morning we left before the tram was open to we had to think of something else to get Rob's attention. We told him when we got to Aaron and Wendy's that we would go to the beach and build sand castles. It was still a 4 to 5 hour dirve to San Marcos so we heard a lot about sand castles and the beach.

The view from our room!

I called my mom after we got into San Marcos and she told me that Bingham County, ID was pretty much closed down because of a snow storm. I guess the storm that was suppose to hit Utah stayed north in Idaho. Although I was standing outside playing in the warm weather of California, I really missed the winters of Idaho growing up.

We stayed with Carson's brother Aaron and his family through Sunday, thank you Wendy! Thanksgiving was great! Carson's parent's were there too and his brother from Rosamond, CA came down with his family. After dinner we all walked up to a park and worked off dinner.

Fun at the park!

Then the next day, we took a train to the beach. Rob was so excited about the train.

The boys had a really good time and loved playing in the sand!

We got up Sunday and started our drive back. We weren't sure how far we'd get but we wanted to get past Las Vegas. That place is crazy! (no offense to anyone who lives there.) So we got to St. George and ordered take out from Cracker Barrel (I love that place!) and the hotel had Polar Express that we watched in our room Rob was glued to the tv!

Fun in the room!

Monday we drove to Salt Lake because Carson had a meeting on Tuesday he had to go to before we could finally head home. The Marriott downtown was really nice and we had a good view of the City Creek project.
In total, we were gone for 9 days and 8 nights, we stayed in 3 hotels, 2 homes and traveled over 1,800 miles so it was time to get home. I loved going to California and spending time with family. There never seems to be enough time and we'll have to try to get back there before we let too much time pass by.

There's always too much to say!

Most of August was uneventful, thank goodness. For the last weekend, we went to Salt Lake for my nephew, Josh's baptism. On Friday, though, for an early anniversay, Carson and I stayed the night at the Grand America Hotel. Thank you to grandma and Chris for watching our two boys. As we were trying to get to the hotel, traffic was worse than usual. We found out from listening to the radio that a man gone AWOL from his marine unit in Washington state had shot a police officer in the leg and had been killed by the police. By the time we did get checked in, we had a nice view of the whole scene from our tower room. They left the body out for more than 7 hrs, uncovered. Carson just kept telling me to stop looking out the window. We ordered room service and went swimming later. It was a nice treat.

Amazing views from our rooms!!!

The next weekend was Labor Day and that means "Fair Time." We got up and went to the parade. The whole family was there. Some crazy girls, Jess,Hannah and Emma (my nieces) were having a good time. This was also the time that Daniel decided to start walking.

Rob sat in his lawn chair and ate his sucker!

Another niece, Serenity was in the parade!

We had a week between the next adventure when we went to Page, AZ for 10 days. Carson was working at the Glen Canyon Dam and the boys and I decided to go too. We stayed in a hotel next to the highway so Rob always had trucks and cars to watch. On the weekend we went to the North and South Rim of the Grand Canyon and played in Lake Powell.

The North Rim Visitor's Center

Lee's Ferry

The South Rim

Lookout Tower and Hopi House

After we got back from our adventures in Arizona, we decided to celebrate Daniel's first birthday with his cousins and family around him. We were home for another week, trying to catch up a bit, before we took off to Blackfoot, again. We had a great time and the weather was great! My 11-year-old niece, Emma, made the amazing birthday cakes that Daniel devoured!

Rob went to Oakley's Dutch John Birthday party (lucky kid had 2 parties). It was lots of fun and Rob was the man of the house, surrounded by all the female guests!

Then of course at the end of the month we have Halloween! (the outfits were not my idea!)

Who is this blond hair, blue eyed boy???

No More Excuses

I have no "good" excuse for not updating my blog. I've been lazy, I guess. I'm not into writing a big novel so I'll just use the pictures I took to let you know what we've been up to with our two boys.

In April, we signed up Rob for an 8-week Preschool Enrichment Class at the Vernal Rec. Center. It was on Fridays and afterward, Carson and Rob would go swimming! Doesn't it look like fun?!

Daniel was getting so big we moved him into an inflatable tub, he loves it!

Daniel loves the swing, he did exactly what Rob did the first time he got it, went to sleep!

Just a funny shot! Rob turned his toy basket at the end of his bed into his new movie watching and nap spot. I swear, that kid can fall asleep anywhere.

For Memorial Weekend, we went to Idaho to visit my parents and go to the cemetaries our loved ones are buried. We also were able to meet my little sister's twins that were born on April 29th, Mason Christopher and Sage Christine.

Daniel had fun on grandma's two steps in the front room!

ISLAND PARK

We went up to Island Park this year before everyone else. We enjoyed being by ourselves with the exception of my parents for a couple days. When my parents came back up during the week, they brought up Serenity and Josh for a couple days before my brother and sister came up with their families. Rob had a great time playing with his cousins. I love it up there! Wish we could have stayed longer...

THE COMBS "BEST DAM" REUNION

It actually started out as just a boys weekend, in the planning stages, but then the guys wanted to bring their families and then it turned into all of Carson's family descending on our little part of the world. We had them stay in the guest and bunk houses, which helped out a lot, and I guess our house was base. Some people biked, some hiked, there were illegal fireworks one night and even a late night movie on the projector. A large kick ball game took place across the street in the school yard as well as a volleyball game, too. It was a real success w/ 5 brothers and one sister, including his parents. In all, I think there was about 27 people here from 4 different states. Oh ya, let's not forget the rafting. Grandpa even rafted.

The Rocket and the Water Balloon Launcher

Fireworks Show

Bike Rides and Family Shots (actually missing 2 brothers)


The Birthday Cake, Brewster from Chuggington

Let's just say, Rob was very happy with his presents from us and grandma, more Cars!


Brother Time!!!