Trifecta!!!...

Planning a vacation is always so hard! Limited time and limited money... but the hardest thing of all being trying to figure out a way to visit everyone I want to visit, using the same plane ticket!... especially since nobody lives in the same place anymore!

But somehow this time I was able to make it work out and with only the slightly higher cost of a multi-stop itinerary along with the fine services of the Salt Lake Express! :) And it all worked out great!.. at least for the most part.

So here's a little journey through the highlights (and just a couple of lowlights)... in a nutshell!

Grand Rapids, MI

All my planning went as planned and I was good to go by 11pm the night before my 10am flight.☺

But when I went to check-in on line, somehow my flight had been changed to 6:30 that next morning! Somehow I was able to get them to change it to the more Godly hour of 8:30, but still! Geesh!.☹

Driggs, Idaho

Whitney and Jade picked me up in Idaho Falls and we went for dinner at Red Robin. ☺

Then we went to a random dance recital in Rexburg (which I'm sorry to say just wasn't that good..) ☹

But when we got home and those 3 little boys started jumping around like crazy and hugging my legs, well... ☺ ☺ ☺

And of course TV night after the kids are all tucked into bed is always one of my favorite things when I'm out there because I never, ever get to watch TV with anyone else back home! ☹ So that always gets a big ☺from me. And Aaron's gourmet popcorn cannot be beat!.. especially when accompanied by orange soda! ☺

Next up, Bangkok Kitchen ☺for Ondrea's birthday, just the grownups and Lochlan since the rest of the kids were at school, but pretty much as soon as we got our food Lochlan began having a major meltdown. So thank goodness for those handy to-go containers...

☹

Lets see...

Then I got an iPhone! ☺ (Epic! You have no idea! Thanks Aaron!)

And took the first ballet class I have taken in nearly 25 years! ☺ (And it felt so good! haha *Not!*)

The McKee's have a wonderful little path that runs near their home that meets up with a little stream... and in the springtime there's even water in it! So we spent alot of time walking down to it. ☺

Unfortunately it was just too steep of a climb down for gramma...☹

We all got to go see Jade's end of year gymnastics program, all 4 generations of us!.. and Jade was fantastic! Could not have been more proud of her! ☺

And Big Hole BBQ to celebrate afterwards was delish! And the traditional "Game Night With Gramma" went off without a hitch. ☺

And I almost forgot about our traditional drive out to The Teton Ranch! ☺

But all good things must come to an end and before I knew it I was saying goodbye to all these guys...☹ ☹ ☹ ☹

Salt Lake Express

They did a good job getting me from Driggs to Boise.

The drivers were great!

Even though there were some really stinky passengers on board... and we were all crammed into a really, really tight space! ☹

But still, all in all, I'll give it a ☺ but only because the cute gentleman sitting butt-cheek'd next to me thought it was pretty stinky as well...

Boise, Idaho

I always love going to Boise! I mean, who wouldn't love visiting these precious little girls!!.. and taking that semi-annual excursion to Costco (and Walmart)!

And it's always so much fun to be able to hang out with these girls and watch them play! ☺

And play along...

And we always do lots of photoshoots! ☺

And "Selfies"...

I got to see Rachel's end of year preschool program! ☺ ...and let me tell you, she is just the most wonderful little performer! But I am SO sad that I didn't manage to capture any video of her singing Tiny Bubbles! ☹

We drove out to Mountain Home to see Jon's new practice and to drive by their new home... and to stop by the local Carny. (Don't you think that cute little blue elephant looks a little bit like Shaylee? ☺

We took a lovely stroll out at the Birds of Prey Nature Preserve.☺

And stopped for icees. Oh my YUM! I had the Pina Colada! ☺

And I almost forgot to mention the new mattress topper on the futon which was just so amazingly comfortable! Seriously, a couple of the best night's sleeps I've had in years!☺

But once again... all good things... yada yada ☹

Love you guys! See you next time!

Stay tuned for the "Tri" part of the "Fecta"...☺