Day 1: From Happy Valley to Las Vegas

Renting a minivan to travel from Utah to LAX was a thousand times cheaper than buying tickets for the whole family...and a whole lot more fun.

We were supposed to leave at 11am(AIS). But, of course, we were lucky to pull out of the driveway by 2pm. It is fairly common to see Utah families stuffing 7 people and 13 suitcases in a Dodge Caravan - but not on Sunday afternoon. I'm sure our neighbors who saw us packing the car (while they walked to church) thought we started off on the wrong foot. Rumor has it that at church, many prayers were offered on our behalf.

The prayers worked! We managed to make it 47 minutes into our journey before our first 'incident'. 47 minutes is our personal record. FYI - our definition of an 'incident' is one that causes weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth (child or parent - it doesn't matter).

We stopped at a Texaco after 40 miles to make some luggage adjustments and fill up the tank. While I was pumping gas, Elijah(3 years old) decided to wash his hands with good ole fashioned American unleaded (I guess he thought it was my Dad's Brut aftershave). The weeping started when he rubbed his eyes. The wailing started when Emily rapidly swept Eli to the Texaco bathroom for a full, fledged professional eye-rinse. With the skill of a high ranking OSHA inspector, Emily saved Elijah's eyes from permanent damage...and also created a new mental illness called Texacobathroomphobia.

It only took 2 hours for Elijah to calm down and 4 hours for his clothes to dry. We stopped by the George LDS Temple visitors center to regain some spiritual strength and let the car air out. It was the perfect reststop. I think that Emma learned that Heavanly Father loves us 4 (meaning, the quantity of four). Victoria, of course, thinks it might be as much as a googel.

From St. George we continued (without incident) to Las Vegas to sleep in The Westin's incredible beds. Enjoy this 6 minute video of our St. George reststop.

Fly Away - The Music Video

For two weeks (From Nov 18th to Dec 7th) the seven of us traveled from Utah to Uruguay, stopping in Vegas, Los Angeles, Peru and Chile. Those two weeks were like a cross between "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and Home Alone.

Tori is quick to point out that I'm thinner than John Candy and funnier than Steve Martin. I'm quick to point out that Tori is NOTHING like Macaulay Culkin.

Enjoy this 4 minute travel montage - set to Lenny Kravitz' popular song 'Fly Away'

I'm really going to start blogging. Really.

Last week I spend 4 days in Montevideo's Hospital Impasa recovering from pnemonia.

It is interesting how spending a week in a South American hospital motivates a person to reflect on their life, think of changes that are needed and spawn new strategies and ideas on how to achieve long term goals.

It wasn't too long ago that a close friend has a similar experience while spent several days in a United States hospital, also recovering from pnemonia.
Perhaps it doesn't matter whether the hospital is first or third world - maybe it is just a side effect of pnemonia.

So, after living abroad for six months (and recently deciding to stay one more year) and receiving hundreds of email inquiries from friends and family about our experiences, it is finally time for me to get serious about my blog.