We're Back in UT

Well, I guess it's late, but I wanted to write a little so I don't get hopelessly behind. We drove back from CA on Wed. and had a pretty pleasant drive with a few exceptions at the beginning. We decided to let Bailey have a little one-on-one time at Grandma and Grandpa Fox's house and so she stayed behind.

We didn't want the other kids to get upset that they couldn't stay too, so we didn't tell them Bailey was staying until we were pulling away from the house. Chase plays this game with the kids all the time where he acts like he is going to leave me when we're going somewhere and the kids get a big kick out of it and think it's funny. So, this time it was Bailey that we were leaving behind and we told them it was because she didn't go to the bathroom when we told her to before we left. She had actually stayed behind under the pretense that she hadn't gone to the bathroom yet. At first they were all on board with this, until we really started to leave. Addie rolled down her window to wave goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Fox and yelled out the window wondering if Bailey was still in their house. We kept on driving down the street and Addie finally tells us, "That's not very nice!". So, we fessed up and explained that Bailey was going to stay for a little while and let Addie have a turn at being the oldest. Also, Cam wouldn't have to sleep in the basement anymore but could share the bed with Addie. We explained that they would each get a turn staying with Grandma and Grandpa by themselves when they turned 8 years old, which we had all discussed with Chase's parents. They both seemed ok with this and we went to the store, bought some snacks for the road and were on our way.

We drove a back way to the freeway, down Dale Evans Pkwy and actually saw a helicopter take down some guy on a hill just past the juvenile detention center. The helicopter swooped back over the road and then came down real low and hovered over this guy who looked like he was on his knees with his hands in the air. At least that's what it looked like. We thought it was maybe some kid that tried to escape the "juvie".

I was busy pointing out the helicopter to the kids when I turned around to see Addie with tears streaming down her face. I asked what was wrong and she burst into sobs over how she missed Bailey. She wanted us to turn around and go back to get her. Just a few minutes earlier she had been excited because Bailey wouldn't be around to not share her toys with her. Cam sadly chimed in with, "We only have 5 people in our family now." We told them it's ok, we all love Bailey, she's not going to be gone for too long and that we would call her when we got back. This wasn't enough for Addie as she told us that she loved her more than a phone call. Chase and I tried to cheer her up to no avail for more than an hour or at least it seemed.

Cam ended up falling asleep only to wake up after Addie had calmed down and started his own emotional breakdown. He started bawling about missing Grandma and Grandpa Fox. We told him we could talk to them on the phone as well when we called Bailey. This didn't seem to help as he went on and on howling. He told us, "I miss them more than the whole entire city!". So, we enjoyed about 3 hours of crying and blubbering in the back seat until everyone finally calmed down. Amazingly, Emery was the best behaved on this trip. I'll have to make a mental note of putting the kids to bed extra early the night before we leave again, and maybe cut back a little on sugary snacks. I think that their emotions ran away with them and lack of sleep and extra sugar probably didn't help any.

We got to UT around 7 or 8 that night and Chase and the kids had decided to play a prank on my parents. They told them that we had left Bailey at a gas station. The kids both went on and on with their stories, which didn't match up and weren't very believable (shocker). It was funny watching them try to pull it off though.

Well, we miss our Bailey Boo! In fact Addie came down the stairs tonight at bedtime and began sobbing to me about missing Bailey again. She cried hysterically for about 30 min. Earlier today Cam told me that we were all having a hard day and began listing the reasons why... the kids not finishing their breakfasts, Emery almost knocking someone's cup over, Emery playing in the detergent, and Bailey not being here. Even Emery was calling for Bailey today... "Bayee, Bayee!" It's nice to know that your kids actually love each other. It's been very sweet to see the reactions over Bailey. We can't wait to see Bailey soon, but we know she's having a lot of fun with her Grandma and Grandpa.

We miss everyone in CA and we had a really great time. Hopefully, we'll get to visit again sometime soon.