Trip to MO... finally!

Sorry for the delay, but I have finally not only got the pictures from my mom, but I have a free moment to put them on the computer and blog little bit about our vacation/trip to visit grad schools. The first day we left around 4:00 pm and drove to Denver CO to spend the night with our friends the Phipps. We pulled in around 12:30am, way after every one's bedtime in their house and our car. Chris claimed he didn't hear us enter his house, go into our room, which was right next to his, use the bathroom etc. and get the kids settled for bed. This worries me since it could have been anyone in his house, and he had just left the door unlocked. It must be his exhaustion over the new baby... right? Maybe they should think about an alarm system, or a dog. ;)

The next morning, very early, we were up and Doug and I were off to visit the University of Colorado, Denver campus and their Landscape Architecture program. It was a little scary trying to navigate Denver freeway systems, but we managed with only one mishap. The campus is located in downtown Denver, which was kind of cool because downtown Denver is very exciting and pretty with historic building and such. We had to park on the street and use a parking meter, which I had never done before and so I felt a little bit like a hick, but oh well. The school was very nice. We toured the whole building (the whole program is located in one building) with a very nice lady who answered all of our questions, but she had very little knowledge that I needed, such as how much rent was for a three bedroom apartment, how do students with families fare here, and how on earth would I deal with 2 kids in downtown Denver? Most students in the program are in their late 20's early 30's true, but few were married and even fewer (if any) had kids. The drawback to Denver was that we would have to live fairly close to campus because parking is outrageous, and there is no way we could afford rent there (we're talking $1200+ a month for a two bedroom apartment). But Denver had a wonderful facility, and we could get instate tuition after the first year, and big bonus.

After seeing what we wanted to see and wandering around Denver for a while discussing options and taking in some sites, we made our way back to the Phipps. Our plan had been to stay the night and take off for MO the next morning, but we decided we didn't want to cool our heals that long, even though the Phipps are so awesome. So we packed up and were off once again by 12:30. It was 11 1/2 hours to my parents house, and so with stopping for dinner, we made it in about 12, which put us in at their house at 2:30. This was nice in a way because we got a whole extra day with my parents instead of getting there one evening and then Doug and I leaving for Kansas the next morning. And my parents were more than glad to spend time with their grand kids.... and us. :)

My mom spent almost the whole day playing dress-ups and imagination with Evelynn and Eloise. I came into the playroom once to find my mom sitting in the middle of the floor with a hodgepodge of dress-ups on, several necklaces, and a toy dinosaur, talking to Evelynn who was the dentist/doctor that kept coming in and out and in and out to check on her patient. Mom had the biggest smile on her face. I had come to see if she needed to be relived for a while, but obviously she was having way too much fun, so I left and took a nap. It was wonderful.

The next day Doug and I drove the 4 hours up to Manhattan KS to check out Kansas State and their program. It was a very different feel from Denver. Manhattan is a college town, and Kansas State is a big university like BYU, so there were students everywhere (in bright purple since it was game day the next day. KSU colors are royal purple and silver)! The town was a lot bigger than I expected, but very nice, a lot like Provo with no Orem attached. I felt much more comfortable there than I had in Denver because it was a place that I could see myself actually raising kids, where as Denver I got a slightly panicky feeling just thinking about trying to do that. The program was great though. We talked to several ex-BYU students who gave us the skinny on the program and professors and pros and cons. There was even one guy who was in his first year who had two kids and one on the way. We talk to him for a long time since that is where we hope to be. We even found one professor who had gone to Denver for his masters and was now teaching at Kansas. We asked him which program he thought was better and he said if you wanted to be a professor of Landscape Architecture, Denver was a better school. If you wanted to practice landscaping in a company or on your own, Kansas is better. Well, Doug wants to practice, not teach, so that was very good to hear. On top of that, the assistant dean talked to us and she told us what it took to get into this school, and we knew we could fully meet all of those requirements. It was very heartening. Truth be told, I would much rather go to Kansas than Denver, and m0re than Utah State or Georgia, which are our other options. I always said I never wanted to go back to the Midwest, but after visiting the school, I knew I could live there and not be too intimated. Plus my parents are only 4 hours a way, which is a HUGE bonus.

Doug and I didn't take any pictures of our visit, which was silly of us but there you go. All of these pictures are from my Mom and Dad, most of while Doug and I were gone. They had so much fun without us, as well grandparents should. Mom and dad took the girls to a nature center with a kids area and nature trails. They had lots of fun.

We need to go this way Grandpa!

Yes, that is a giant toad she's sitting on. Eloise wouldn't get anywhere near it.

Walking the trails. Eloise is pushing the stroller so all you can see is her fuzzy head. Humidity did amazing things to here hair. :)

Eloise mastered the "CHEESE!" for pictures on this trip. It was so cute!

What huge smiles you all have!

Grandpa and the big cheese!

We went to a permanent carnival park that had lots of rides for little kids. The merry-go-round was a huge hit.

I made Evelynn go on the roller coaster with me. She balked at first and was scared, but after the first hill she was having a blast, like I knew she would.

Coming off the roller coaster. No tears! Success!

Here is an example of what humidity did to Eloise's hair. It was awesome.

Evelynn decided all on her own to go on the swinging boat. We had so much fun having a screaming contest with by brother Mark and Doug who were sitting across from us on the boat.

It was nice to see some people I knew in my home ward on Sunday, but truthfully things have changed so much since they took two wards and made three that I hardly knew anyone and the ward was half the size it was when I lived there. I also had the realization that I have lived longer in Provo than I had in Carl Junction. I lived in CJ for about 4 1/2 years--one summer before high school, then 4 years of high school, and then one summer after my freshman year of college. After than I got married and haven't really been back since. I've lived in Provo almost 7 years! I still think of Missouri as my home, but it's changed so much, as have I, that I don't know if I can really claim it any more. It's more just where my parents live. It kind of makes me sad, but then again, I'm an adult now and I've made my own home, so it's ok.

Tuesday morning we left to go home, very early. We left the house about 6:15 am and started our drive. Doug had hurt his back before the trip, and he just didn't feel up to driving so I took over and he promptly fell asleep. I then proceeded to drive through an intense rainstorm that only can happen in the Midwest for 3 hours on a two lane highway, getting passed by reckless semi trucks and having to pass old men in farm trucks going 30 under the speed limit. It was quite nerve wrecking, but we made it through. We had planned to stop in Denver again with our friends the Bishops, but we had made such good time that we arrived in Denver at 4:30 their time and it seems a waste to stop to early in the day. So we pushed through and made it home in Provo around 1:30 am. We did the entire drive in one day. It was intense, but the only reason we did it was because the girls were absolutely amazing in the car. I'm not kidding, hardly any problems at all. That was in good part to the DVD player the Simmons let us borrow (THANK YOU AGAIN SO MUCH!!!) and a good stock of movies. Oh what a trip! I figures out that I was in the car with Doug for 47 hours... almost two days of the 6 day trip. But it was worth it. Seeing the schools was worth it in itself, but visiting family is always wonderful. Hopefully we'll be able to do it much more often if we end up in Kansas. Applications are due in January, so I'll keep you all posted as to how things turn out!