On Thursday, September 25th we left Wyoming to head back to Ohio. Now that our house is under roof, we needed to get all our stuff and bring it to our new home. On Thursday we drove to Bismarck, ND. We drove through Montana and part of North Dakota. In ND, it was interesting to drive past where they were drilling for oil! Also, ND is a very odd state with sever of the 'World's Largest...' items including the World's Largest Holstein Cow, Buffalo, and metal sculpture! Didn't expect to see those!
Friday we continued our drive through the rest of ND, all of MN and just into WI where we stopped at Scott's friends house. We had a blast!! We stayed with him and his wife for 2 nights, had a cookout with their family, and even took a trip to Costco (my first time ever being there!).
Finally on Sunday we made the last, really long, leg of our trip back to Ohio. I was texting with Scott's Uncle Guy most of the day and just when we got into Ohio I took a picture of the arch and messaged him: 'Welcome to .... (fill in the blank)' and he responded 'O-H-I-O'
We finally made it back to OH late on Sunday night. And our first stop was Skyline!! We just had to get some chili dogs:)
I am SO thankful that we had the chance to spend so much time with Don and Charlotte, our amazing neighbors who let us stay with them! And their animals H (their dog) and kitty remembered us!
Monday morning, I was so excited to go visit folks that I didn't sleep in much. I let Scott sleep in till about 9 or so while I went and did some errands. Then, I just couldn't wait, I went to the bank and surprised Allison!!! I walked in, peered behind the counter to the drive-thru part, and Allison looked toward me. The look on her face was priceless!
We have been searching high and low for a good Mexican restaurant in WY/MT and haven't had any luck yet. It's more Tex-Mex and not what we like. Well, we couldn't resist! Our first lunch back in OH and we had to go to El Toro!! And well that night for dinner we also went to El Toro! (can you tell we really like Mexican?). I was hoping so much that our friend Monica would have been working, but she must have had the day off. We miss you Monica!
After lunch we went and spent the afternoon with my parents. They had no idea we were back yet! We pulled in the drive way and I thought for sure my dad would have seen us. He was in the office in the shop and apparently didn't see us! Out working on the combine was his friend Kenny and I motioned to him, 'Shh!'. I snuck in and said to my dad, 'Did you miss me' and he just said, without looking up from what he was writing, 'uh huh'. Then a few seconds later he turned and looked and said, 'It's you!' and then reached out and hugged me! Now he is not normally a hugging person, so this meant the world to me! Then he spotted Scott and said, 'Well, I guess they don't have razors out in Wyoming!' haha! For the last 4 months, Scott has said he's on strike - he won't shave till the house is done! Well my dad just couldn't believe we were there. By the end of the afternoon we saw Dad, Kenny, Uncle Jed, Cousin Jason and Ron too! They were all working on the corn header for the combine and of course put Scott to work too.
My mom was out at the time but when she came back I had her come with me for a few more surprises! We headed to town to the dog grooming place to surprise Tracy Dohme. Little did I know that Shala Urlage was there too (I think the last time I saw Shala was probably around 2004/2005!)!!! As I was walking toward the door to the dog grooming place, Shala comes walking out and starts screaming! I'm so excited to see her too and then coming ever so slowing around the corner is Tracy Dohme. She was in complete disbelief I was there! It was great:) It was so much fun surprising them both!!
When we got back from our surprises, my dad had to show us his toys! He got a Honda Silver Wing Scooter! We couldn't hardly believe that it has 600cc's! Then he couldn't wait any longer to show Scott his new Camaro SuperSport. And lastly he got a sprayer for the fields and they were all out admiring it. Plus we had to take a ride in the Camaro! Dad seemed to have a little too much fun showing us all the horses. And speaking of horses, a visit home wouldn't be complete without seeing my horse Ceasar! He may be 27 years old, but he's still my baby and as happy as can be.
We headed over to my little brother Ty's new house to say Happy Birthday!!! It was supposed to be a surprise but Jenna said that my dad was so excited we were there to visit that he spilled the beans to Ty, haha!
We went back to El Toro for dinner with Scott's mom! After dinner we went to her place and she got out all her baby pictures. We spent I think 2 hours going through them. All this time Scott wasn't sure there were any! Let me tell you, he was an adorably cute kid!
Tuesday we spend the morning and lunch time with our wonderful neighbors Don and Charlotte! And they were so nice to take us to their favorite Mexican restaurant! After lunch, we went over to see our other neighbors, Anzel and Mavis! While we were sitting out chatting with them, our friend Jack drove by and quickly turned around to come say a quick 'hello'. I think we shocked him! He wasn't expecting us to be there!
Later that afternoon we headed to Columbus to visit Scott's Uncle Guy and Aunt Carol. The last time Scott saw them was when this picture below was taken, when he first returned home from the military back in 2008. I had never met either of them before. And we were treated not only with an amazing home cooked meal (Aunt Carol you are AWESOME!), but Scott's cousin Kenny and his wonderful kids Reed and Clark came over too! It was so much fun to meet them and learn so much about them. They have such a wonderful family. Carol and Guy even let us stay the night so we were able to spend more quality time with them. Before we left, they surprised us with a really fun bald eagle (by the way we named him Dougie after the pot belly pig that seems to wander our OH neighborhood! Just seemed like a fun name!) and they also gave us the 'Welcome Home Scott' sign that they made when he returned home from the Army! That was so nice! We actually plan to have a memory room at our house and this is perfect! Thank you guys so much! And I have to tell you all a fun story - there is a picture of Uncle Guy with his dog Lulu. Lulu always wears her harness and it's the cutest thing. It's like her little tuxedo! They said she doesn't like it when they take it off her. She reminds me a lot of our silly cat Tuffy.
Below is Scott on the left and his brother Paul on the right from Christmas 2008.
Wednesday we detoured to Bellefontaine to visit Scott's Uncle Gene. He unfortunately suffered several strokes this past spring and is still recuperating from them. We are so thankful to have gotten to see him and spend an entire afternoon visiting with Bev and Gene. We told Gene all sorts of stories about our adventures in WY.
When we got back, we finally went over to see our house. It was still just like it was before, but not fun for me to go through it. It didn't bother Scott, but it was pretty emotional for me. We still haven't sold our house quite yet and I was getting emotional over the thought of needing to stay back in OH to keep up with the house to get it sold... luckily we decided that wasn't necessary. I don't mind staying in OH, but I've had to be apart from Scott in the past and that's what I don't think I can do!
That night was a great one! We went and visited our friends Jack, Katie, and little Serena! My goodness she is getting so big and loves to 'cheese' for the camera! It was so much fun just hanging out and playing with Barbie's with Serena. And I finally had the chance to give Jack his snake rattle:)
Thursday was the day I was DREADING! We went in the morning to pick up the Penske truck. We opted for the 26' long truck, just to be sure we had more than enough room (didn't even fill half of it!). While waiting for the truck to be ready, we were talking to the rental guy about our Wyoming adventures. He surprised us with a nearly $400 additional discount!!! In total, the rental truck was only ~$1,900 including the insurance. What a great surprise and we are SO appreciative!
We got to the storage unit and everything was there with no issues. I think we started loading up at about 10:30am. A little while later, my dad's friends Ron Fritz and Ray Cates came by! Scott had the original block and transmission to his '66 Ford truck that he gave them. We just don't have the place to store them and he didn't think he'd ever use them again (so no use taking them with us). Plus we know between Ron and Ray they'd be put to good use. And the two of them were so amazing and helped load the heavy stuff - all the wood working tools! And Ron even left his dolly for us to use (we can't thank you enough!). They had to leave to go help my dad get the combine ready to harvest Ron's field, but it was so much fun to spend time with them and hear lots of their fun stories:)
We were more than halfway done loading everything up by ~ 1pm and I went to get food. Scott thought of the perfect way to take a lunch break!
Scott's mom even came by for maybe about an hour while we finished loading the last little bit. Boy it was a HOT day! We were both sweating like crazy, but we did it! By 3pm we had everything loaded up and ready to go.
Afterwards we chilled and hung out with Don and Charlotte for a little while before we headed back to see my folks. When we got there Dad was no where to be found. Mom said he was up running beans so we headed that way! I believe it was last year that my dad got his new combine and it had been YEARS since I've ridden in it with him. Not only did he give me a ride but he couldn't wait to give Scott a ride in it. While he was out with Scott, Ron and I heard them honking the horn on the combine. I found out later that a little bunny ran out of the field and they saw a hawk swoop down and get him!
When we got back, my brother Darren and the boys stopped by real quick. But I'm glad they did because I've been saving our second snake rattle to give to them! They thought it was really cool.
My parents neighbors Ted and Mary also walked over for just a few minutes! We wish we could have spent more time with you both but thank you so much for coming over to say hi!
After we all got back to the house, we ended up going and getting pizza with mom and dad. My dad is so funny! He always does this - we eat, then he has ice-cream, we all sit in the living room and while we're chatting he falls asleep. Then as soon as we get up and say it's time to leave he comes up with something to keep us another 30 minutes! It's just one of those things I'll always cherish.
I'll tell you my dad cracks me up! He is so attached to Scotty that when he found out we weren't leaving till Saturday he insisted that we come by again on our way back to WY, and Scotty agreed:)
We were originally planning on leaving on Friday morning, but we decided that we'd sleep in a little and then spend the day doing some odds and ends around our OH house to get it ready for the open house. I pulled weeds, trimmed a few of the bushes and trees that hung into our yard plus I trimmed our crazy black berry bush!! It was so tall it was laying on the top of the garage. We took our time and got everything in tip top shape for the realtor.
That afternoon we were spoiled rotten by Don and Charlotte! They made grilled T-bones, corn on the cob, mac n' cheese, and baked beans! Boy oh boy that was a great meal. And I'm not usually a big fan of steak, except for T-bones and Don you outdid yourself!
Friday night we headed back to Darke County to spend the evening with Ty and Jenna. I just can't explain how much fun we had with them! We get there and Ty made Scott's day by letting him drive the 4-wheeler into his back woods. Of course I went with him and it was so peaceful and relaxing back there. They are so lucky to have such an amazing place. This whole summer while we've been building our house, the two of them have been renovating their new place. I'm just so proud of them, of all they've accomplished, and of how hard they've been working. I've grown so close to Jenna this year that it was so hard to leave.
Our last night in OH was bittersweet. We had a great time coming back, visiting and surprising so many people, but we were ready to hit the road. Saturday morning we visited Scott's mom for breakfast then headed to my parents one last time for a quick lunch. There were 2 really hard things about this trip - leaving and saying goodbye to Don and Charlotte and then doing the same with my parents. The worst is saying goodbye to my dad. I admit I've always been a daddy's girl and seeing him get choked up when we had to leave was the hardest thing. He kept trying to convince Scott to stay saying he'd have a job for him all fall if he did!
But finally we headed out. We were both pooped out! We had had a very long week and only ended up making it to Bloomington, IL till we crashed at the hotel. The next morning, we were in a fun and crazy mood so we decided it was time for Scott to have a 'shave down'! First he cut off just his mustache and fluffed out his beard to see what he's look like if he was Amish. Then he cut just his side burns and then a stripe down his chin. We had way too much fun with this! But now he looks like 'normal Scotty' to me. However I have to say I already miss the beard so now he's going to grow it back out! We headed out that day for WI. I couldn't believe it but on the way we drove past the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile and the Planter's Peanut Mobile too!!! I'd never seen them before in person!
Then on Monday we left WI and headed to Bismarck, ND. Just one day left till we see our babies!! It was so hard to leave the cats and we just can't wait to get back to them. Tuesday is our last leg of the trip back to WY. Here's the fun part. After we unload the rental truck, then we have to drive it approximately 9 hours one way to Hyde Park, UT to drop it off. It won't be too bad because we're going to drive through Yellowstone on the way there and then through the Tetons and Jackson Hole on the way back. I've never been to UT or Jackson Hole before - plus we get to drive a little bit through Idaho too.
Here are pictures of our time in OH plus some of the drive too. Enjoy! More pictures/info of the UT/Jackson Hole trip in next post:) I apologize, they are not in order below - first are the pictures from my camera and then from my phone. Click on the first one to make it bigger then you can easily scroll through. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment