Our trip to Oklahoma

I thought I would post a not so brief re-cap of our trip to Oklahoma, since it was one we will not soon forget! It all started out fine - we arrived at the airport with time to spare and our flights were as good as flights can be (thanks to the tv's at each seat - what a life-saver!). Our first mishap happened after we got our luggage and went to pick up a rental car. I had made reservations online and had the confirmation number with me, but forgot to write down which company. What, like that's important? Thank you, Tristen for being available to check my email for me. After that we were good to go. We were all exhausted by the time we made it to the hotel after 10 pm. At about 3:30 Rylee woke up throwing up and an hour later had it coming out the other end (that was really fun to clean up!)

The next morning I realized my phone would not work at all while we were in OKC. I was so frustrated, you don't realize how much you depend on your phone until it doesn't work. The kids enjoyed the horse show, especially Rylee. She was in heaven. As we were leaving to go to lunch that first day we got a call from a friend in the ward informing us of a death in the ward. That dampened our spirits some. Then later that day we got a phone call to let us know that a horse Chad had raised and then sold, that was suppose to show the next morning, had been sold again and would not be shown. He had really been looking forward to having this horse show, so he was very disappointed!
Gunnar had been complaining that day about chest pains, but because of his previous tendencies to over react (we don't know where he gets it from!) we were bad parents and didn't do much other than give him some ibuprofen for the pain. At 2:30 am Thursday morning, Jess came into our room to tell us that Gunnar is in alot of pain and can't breathe! So we decide to run him to the emergency room. It wasn't too far away and the doctors & nurses were very helpful. After taking all his stats and x-ray, they concluded that he was suffering from allergies, or a mild case of bronchitis. What happened next was the highlight of the trip for Chad & I (if you thought we were horrible parents before you are really going to think we are horrible now). The nurse came in with a pretty good size needle and told Gunnar he needed to give him a shot and the best place would be in his backside. Of course Gunnar's response was, "You've got to be kidding me". He dropped his pants and laid across the bed. The nurse asked him what his level of pain was on a scale of 1-10. Remember, he hasn't given Gunnar the shot yet, but Gunnar asked, "you mean, how bad does the shot hurt?" I thought Chad was going to fall over laughing! The nurse said, "no, your chest pains?" Gunnar's reply was a 6. Then the nurse said, "that's about to change" and stuck the needle in his cheek! We can only laugh about this because by morning he was feeling much better and wanting to go swimming!
Thursday was Zach's birthday - so I spent the morning with the kids in the hotel room working on his cake and then we finally made it over to the horse show and watched a few classes and did a little shopping. We were going to take the kids to the zoo, but by the time we were done at the show we didn't have enough time before it would be closed. So I took the kids on my own the next day.
That night we got another phone call with more bad news. I guess we should learn not to answer the phone anymore. I guy that Chad has known his whole life, that was at the horse show, had a heart attack and died right there on the fair grounds hooking up his truck to his horse trailer. I think that put Chad over the edge! He was pretty down. That put a little damper on the birthday celebration. We just had cake in the hotel room - well Zach & Rylee were the only ones who were still hungry enough to eat any.
Friday morning the kids and I ran through the zoo and then raced back to the horse show to wish Chad good luck and get settled in to watch him. Chad did a great job and the mare did also, but the judges were not in agreement. He ended up taking 5th place. Which I guess sounds pretty good, but he really felt like he should have won! We said our goodbyes to everyone at the show and headed to our favorite restaurant - "Chelinos" for the third time in three days! When I say it is our favorite I mean it really is our favorite. We go there every day for lunch when we are at the world show.

We got to the airport with a few hours to spare. We were all anxious to get on the plane and head home. This all changed for me when they announced to the passengers of the flight leaving from the next gate that the flight attendants would not be serving drinks or anything because the last flight coming in was so bumpy they would not be allowed out of their seats. My heart just skipped a beat - I really hate flying and hearing that put me over the edge! I guess I have to be glad all my kids are tough like Chad. We did indeed have a pretty bumpy flight, but they all thought it was great. I was sitting with Rylee & she was having a blast. She acted like she was on a roller coaster ride! We landed safely in Denver only to find out our flight out of their had been delayed 1 1/2 hours. We were supposed to fly out of there at 9:40 pm and now would not be leaving until 11 pm! At this point we just had to laugh! We couldn't believe how this trip had turned into one upset after another.
Somehow on the way to our gate, Zach lost his Ipod and was devasted. We retraced our steps a few times and asked several airport employees if anyone had turned in an Ipod. No luck. We went back to our seats, Zach & I were both on the verge of a breakdown when this lady came over with Zach's Ipod in her hand. She said she found it on the floor and recognized it has his. I have no idea how she knew it was his, but it was definitely an answer to my prayer! She saved the day for Zach! We ended up taking off around 10:45 and landing in SL a little after midnight! The kids had all slept that last leg of the flight and immediately fell back asleep when we got in the car! We sighed a great sigh of relief as we loaded up the car and drove out of the airport - until we realized that both of my car's headlights were now burnt out! Ooops! We had to drive home with the brights on!
I promise I have not made any of this up, nor exaggerated in the slightest! It was definitely a trip we will not forget. Zach was a trooper and tells us he had a great birthday! He won the award for the best kid on the trip. We are very happy to be home! Thanks to all those who tried to call on Zach's birthday., and for the emails. We got your messages Saturday morning when I finally turned my phone back on!