DAY 58

Today I am grateful for: Car DVD players

The adventure has begun. We drove around 350 miles today from Salt Lake City, Utah, to outside a little town called Bosie, Idaho. I am extremely grateful for the DVD player as it kept Jamin happy for all of the 6 hours we were on the road. We have discovered that Kael is happy as long as he is eating - so we will just keep on feeding him all day tomorrow.

The scenery here is amazing, and in some places looks remarkably like the Australian country areas as well - although theirs seems much greener than ours.

Where we stopped for morning tea (still in Utah).

Where we stopped for lunch - in Idaho.

From the road in Idaho.

The RV park we are staying in has a veggie garden that guests can pick veges from. Alas not much available but the corn was quite photogenic:

The boys are asleep which is nice. Fingers crossed they stay that way all night but I doubt our luck is that good. Danny and I have earplugs. Sadly Alison is on duty as 'mummy' is the only person they seem to want most nights.

DAY 57

Today I am grateful for: Skype

Today I am grateful for the wonderful people at Skype who made free video calling available to anyone with a webcam and decent internet.

I can only image how incredibly difficult being away from loved ones would be without the chance to talk face-to-face when the time zones match up. I love calling Alison and finding out how their day has been, chatting with Jamin and Kael, and occasionally catching Danny as he walks up the stairs from a day at work. It makes the world a much smaller place. I also love the fact that when I call Rowan in New York he is often home for the night after work, and we both gets lots of work done while talking, just like we did in the office!

That is Oma Moes on Skype today. The boys get excited whenever anyone calls and then lose interest after a couple of minutes.

In other news, we have had a busy busy day getting packed ready for our trip tomorrow. This is where I spent most of the day today - the kitchen:

I made a batch of blueberry muffins, Anzac biscuits, a potato and spinach frittata, philly cheese dip and a yummy creamy fettuchini dinner. I was cleaning up after dinner and Alison referred to me as 'her kitchen maid'. I took it as a compliment ;)

Also, the Dorothy tail got a work-out today. Photos courtesy of Alison. I was busy in the kitchen baking something.

Not sure if I will get internet to post daily over the next couple of days, but I promise there will be a blog per day even if they all get posted on the same day.

Tally ho!

DAY 56

Today I am grateful for: A day with Kael

If yesterday was Jamin day, then today was Kael day. We spent 3 hours together in the morning and another 3 in the afternoon. Aunty was on babysitting duty. I know I was thankful for Kael earlier in the week, but he is just so darn cute that I couldn't see past him today!

Kael is turning in to a very funny little boy. He sits and chats in his own language, bops along to the music and gives me random coy smiles.

Tomorrow we pack the trailer (American for caravan) ready for our 17 hour road trip to Vancouver on Saturday. Looking forward to our adventure. Not looking all that much forward to all 3 of us adults trying to get some sleep in the caravan with two fussy-sleeping boys. Fun times!

Al and I went for a drive up the mountains to the ski resorts this morning. Grabbed this pic on the way down. Not my best work but wanted to show I did something else today other than chasing Kael around the house with my camera like the paparazzi.

DAY 55

Today I am grateful for: Hanging out with Jamin

Today Jamin and I spent some quality time together. We baked some biscuits and looked at some fish in the super-huge sporting and camping store that we visited in the afternoon (more on that coming up). It is amazing to be spending time with him again after these 4 months apart. He has grown up so much. Makes me wonder what he will be like when I see him next in another 4 months.

Today I am grateful for Jamin cuddles, kisses and unprompted declarations of love.

And I am grateful for Alison and her great snapping of photos with my camera. Thanks Al!

We headed out to a GIANT outdoors store called 'Cabelas' today (actually it is worthy of the description 'Behemoth).

Wow - what an eye opener, and a little creepy as well. It is mecca for the outdoorsman (or woman) of the family. Along with anything you might need for day of hunting, camping, fishing, hiking etc they also have life-like displays of taxidermied animals arranged in their native habitats - the wilderness, the forest, the snow etc. Jamin loved them. Alison and I were saddened by the carnage. Coming from Toowoomba, we haven't had much exposure to hunting as a sport (unless bargain hunting counts?).

I was having a look at the gun section (because I could) where I came across around 10 young guys trying out the wares. I overheard them discussing why they thought sawn-off shotguns should be legalised for them to use. Goodness me. "We're not in Kansas anymore Toto".

There was also an extremely large section for camouflage clothing. I think there was something there for every occasion including formal wear.... for the smartly-dressed woodsman I am sure.

It really is a different world here in Utah.

DAY 54

Today I am grateful for: Persevering

Alison, myself and baby Kael went for a ride this morning. Now I'll be the first to admit that I am not the most coordinated person around. Actually I am quite bad. Normally the only riding I do is on a stationary bike in an air-conditioned gym, so this activity was bound to be filled with entertainment value for anyone accompanying me.

Sadly Alison lives on a hill, and you guessed it - our ride went up the hill first. In the first minute of our ride I managed to nearly fall off twice, veer on to the wrong side of the road, jam up the gears and half way up decide it would be wiser to walk to rest of the way instead of tempting fate any further.

Alison, on the other hand, is a trooper. Not only did she manage to get herself up that hill, but she dragged an 8kg Kael up there behind her in his chariot.

So once I got the bike semi worked out we were on our way up many hills in the general direction of the mountains. At the top of the main hill I thought I might actually keel over and die. My heart was pounding, my legs were complaining and my lungs were working overtime. Riding the exercise bike doesn't feel like that for sure. I was hoping Alison would say that was the end and we could turn around and cruise down the hills with the wind in our hair. Sadly not.

We persevered and today's photo shows the reward .What a breathtaking view.

I half expect Laura Ingles Wilder from 'Little House on the Prairie' to wander into view, offering me some water for my parched horse.

Alison told me a story that when she and Danny were riding this area for the first time, she was so stuffed from the hills that Danny pushed her on her bike up the hill whilst riding his own bike at the same time. That is true love for sure.

Today I am grateful that I didn't give up.

DAY 53

Today I am grateful for: A beautiful view

Today was Jamin's actual birthday (as opposed to yesterday's Australian birthday and Saturday's birthday party) - meaning he got many more choices than he would normally get the other 364 days of the year. Following eggs for both breakfast and lunch and a post-lunch birthday meltdown he chose to go and throw rocks in the river as our afternoon activity.

I was surprised by the incredible beauty of the mountains. Being the end of summer all the leaves are still green, the mountains clear of snow and the rivers happily running. It was a great way to see why Salt Lake City is known for it's mountain activities as well as being the centre for the Morman faith.

I'm grateful for being in such a beautiful place.

DAY 52

Today I am grateful for: Kael

I had something else planned for the blog today, but Kael was being unbelievably cute this afternoon and I couldn't help myself.

Today I am grateful for this little man, who stole my heart and won't give it back.

I was thinking today about all the 'labels' we wear. I have many.

Daughter

Sister

Aunty

Friend

Leader

Worker

Organiser

Colleague

Photographer

Writer

Cousin

Confidant

Co-conspirator

Partner in crime

Wanna be kitchen queen

Sunshine chaser

Advice giver

Secret keeper

But no matter how many labels we wear, there will always be more we are searching for. I am on an eternal quest to find:

Wife

Beloved

Mother

Grandmother

Accomplished

Happy

Is that the total of our lives... the labels we wear? What if in the end the labels we have are not the ones we want? I don't think you can give them back or exchange them for new ones. They can only be earned or bestowed by others.

Maybe life is is the journey of attaining and maintaining each of them in turn. It's the journey not the destination. Something I need to remind myself daily.