I Made It

So I made it to California at about 9:30pm last night after about 12 hours of driving. Yesterday was exhausting, but it was so nice to finally get here. The dogs were total rock stars. We actually forgot they were in the car sometimes because they were so quiet.

The drive was fairly uneventful. The first night we stayed with my old youth pastor and his family. It was really nice to see them, and I absolutely love the kids. The dogs adored them as well and were relatively good. Unfortunately, they were a little hyped up that night and disrupted my sleep a bit with their "defense mode".

On Friday morning, we took off for New Mexico and drove about 8 hours before we reached our campsite. We hung out at the site for awhile and just relaxed. My brother is the camping champion and set up the tent in like 2 seconds flat. Oh, and by the way, if you ever go camping, an air mattress is the way to go. I don't think I've slept that well in awhile, but I think the rain helped some too (it rained all night). The dogs were really good and only barked a few times from their kennels in the car.

Saturday's drive was pretty boring. There wasn't much in most of New Mexico or Arizona (at least where we drove through), although there were a few random things that made us laugh- like the Petrified Forest National Park with its teepees, random statues and petrified wood. It was a really long day though and we were very happy to get to the lovely state of California. Oh, and that first bite of In-n-Out Burger was quite delicious!

Thankfully my dogs are getting along very well with my parent's dog- Brinkley. I was slightly worried about attempting to mix 3 male dogs together, but so far its been really successful, despite a little barking & attempts at asserting dominance. But now they're all buddies.

Today was busy, but fun. We celebrated Father's Day with my dad this morning by having one of my family's signature breakfasts (Ranch breakfast, mmm), opening presents and playing a board game. Then, I got to visit my grandparents at the nursing home. It was a little hard to see them in that kind of place, but they're both doing pretty well. My grampa was really chatty and my gramma is doing awesome for having hip surgery a week ago.

Then, I drove up to L.A. and got to meet my nephew Luke at the hospital. He is the most precious thing I have ever seen. He is a little champ and is steadily growing stronger. I got a sweet little smile from him and he even grabbed my finger a little. :) Don't worry, I'll post pictures soon. My sister and brother-in-law would appreciate any and all prayers that he continues to progress in this way and that he would get to come out of the hospital asap (rumor is, he could be home in 2 weeks at the latest!). So far, he has beaten all the odds, and we can only give credit to God for that.

So far an awesome visit and I've only been here about 24 hours! I start Vacation Bible School tomorrow with my 3 year old nephew Danny, can't wait!