Brodericks: End of school VaCaTioN!

VACATION! September 3-23

And yes, by every meaning of the word…we actually had a vacation! It was so perfect! Before we left, I spent the last 10 days in Wooster packing just about everything. Shaun was busy working trying to finish his stuff in the lab so it was pretty hectic but we made it!

We flew out September 3^rd at 6 am. So we were up around 3 am. The girls did pretty well on the flights and I was grateful to have Shaun there for tag teaming. We flew into Vegas and picked up our rental car (we got a free upgrade to a van. It was AWESOME!) And drove to St. George to stay with our friends the Stauffers! We met the Stauffers in our first married ward. It was so great to see them! We had a great time going to the splash pad, eating at a fancy restaurant and seeing the St. George temple. My birthday was on Friday, the 4^th while we were there. It was a really great birthday because I didn’t have to worry about doing laundry, packing, cleaning, etc. It was nice to just spend the day with our friends. Shaun surprised me and got some GF cupcakes so we could have a mini celebration for Claire, too. They were really delicious! And Michelle got me two new books to read! Hooray!

After we said our sad goodbyes (on the 5^th) we drove up to Spanish Fork and made a quick stop at my old school. The girls were definitely in need of a stretch break!! There are only a few people that still work there who I know and they are in the office. I enjoyed our quick visit and we headed next to Beth’s house. (Shaun’s sister)

She lives in Lindon. We stayed in her basement and it was a great setup for us. Claire had her own room and Kate was in our room. Everyone slept awesome (which makes vacation so much better.)

The week was filled with so much fun! Going out to eat with family, celebrating Claire’s 3^rd birthday, getting spoiled with Kneader’s French Toast, visiting family at their houses, going on a date with Shaun to the temple, Eating at this incredible restaurant with my brother, Tyson & Brittani. And checking out the new science building at BYU. We really wanted to spend some time in the BYU bookstore but we forgot about how they have devotionals and the bookstore closes. L Another time.

We finished our UT stay by spending half a day at temple square! It was so awesome to see the new city center mall, walk around and show Claire all the cool things, and we actually went on top of the Conference center, which was a first for us. Considering all of the stuff we tried to cram in the girls did really well.

I never thought I would want to move back to Provo/ Orem area but going back this time I could really appreciate it for what it is and maybe someday we will end up there. It was just so nice to spend some much time with Shaun’s family. They are so sweet to us and our girls. Plus, my heart LOVES the mountains!

Then, we continued driving to Idaho to spend some time with my family. It had cooled off quite a bit and we actually had to go buy the girls some socks so they wouldn’t freeze.

We had a great time in Idaho. We drove up to Rexburg one day to visit the Hansen family. We met them while living in Ohio. They were great friends to us. We also got to spend some time with my grandparents and with my aunt Leisa and Uncle Stacy.

While home Shaun ran a race with my mom and brother. The girls and I stayed home since it was so cold. We forgot to pack our winter coats. But Shaun enjoyed spending time with them.

Shaun headed out to meet with the movers and wrap up everything with our house. Then he drove our car to Mississippi. The girls and I stayed several more days with my parents and then flew to Mississippi. While I was home, both of my brothers came into town to visit. It was so fun to be with everyone (Just missing Seleta).

We spent a lot of time outside playing. Claire practiced taking turns with Teancum on the slide. The day after t the girls were definitely in need of a stretch break!! Teancum left Claire didn’t want to do the slide because she couldn’t take turns. Haha silly kids.

While we were with our families we also took the opportunity to have our father’s give us blessings. It was interesting how similar our blessings were. We are definitely meant to be in Mississippi. The adventure awaits us!

I was not looking forward to the 3 airplane rides by myself but I just kept telling myself it will be fine and by the end of the day we will be there. Well, on the way to the airport Claire started throwing up. Then, we get there, I unzip the suitcase to change her clothes and the zipper completely breaks. In the meantime, my suitcase is too heavy and the overcharges will be $100 unless I can figure something else out. Thankfully my mom had an extra small bag in her car that I stuffed a bunch of things in and used as “Claire’s carry-on.” The rest of the day went great. We made it just in time to walk/ run for our lives to get to each flight and then made it Jackson Mississippi. Grateful that everything worked out.

We were so sad to see this vacation come to an end. We really had such a fabulous time! Thank you to everyone who made our stay so fun and memorable.

St. George