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This is my brother Max holding Roman at Ryder's birthday party that we had before we left on our California trip. Max started giving bites of the birthday cake and won Roman over instantly! 
Look at this cheeser!! I love this stage of kids! A cute little person who finds everything funny and can make everyone around them crack a smile and laugh with them! It's their own baby super power! Cuteness
So we had to say our goodbyes and tackle the long drive back to Illinois. I am grateful for the time we are able to visit and when we do have to leave, it's usually the time when I start thinking on the next time we can come back again for another go around! It's a good two days drive to get us back home and we left around four in the morning. I woke my boys up and got them into the car all nice and comfy, well as comfy as a seat belted person can be, and we start out. The boys get to go back to sleep and I blast through six hours of driving until we can spot a McDonald's for some breakfast. And we must be super lucky because we just happen to stop at the one McDonald's that Ronald McDonald is visiting for the morning!! He was hilarious and when I asked if we could get a picture he said "Why sure! You know this is going to be your new Christmas card for the year!" And then he actually jumped and landed in his picture taking pose and we all scooted in! Roman was not impressed with this guys white painted face and let him know it with big "I'm scared of you" tears! Clay thought it was all cheesy, Hayden found it all funny, and Justin was still in a daze and was looking for "sausage, eggs, and pancakes!"Back on the road again. We had a few more breaks, but made it to our hotel in Nebraska before 7 pm. I had the boys take baths and get ready for bed, then we all ate Chinese food in our jammies while we watched some cartoons. Everyone was in bed by 8:30 pm and I tried to get some good rest to be ready for the rest of the drive the next day. Roman apparently didn't get that memo! He had a hard time falling asleep. I made him a bed on the floor with the big comforter from the beds and surrounded it with pillows, but he bonked his head once when he rolled over too fast or something and was not a happy camper. He finally got back to sleep close to 10 but that only lasted until 3:00 when he woke up crying and I discovered he had a bad blown out diaper. Bath time for Roman. My original plan was to be out of the hotel by 7 am and I knew it was going to take Roman awhile to get back to sleep after taking a bath, so after Roman was cleaned and dressed again, I packed everything up, loaded the car, and put all my sleeping babes in their seats. We were on the road again at 4 am. Roman instantly went to sleep in his car seat and everyone else practically slept walked to the car and were now zonked out again too. I don't mind driving in the morning hours. I actually prefer it to night time driving. I wear contacts and driving hours and hours at night in the dark really hurts my eyes. I was almost giddy that I would be getting home a lot sooner than I had originally told Nate. Thanks to Roman we were now on track to be home before dinner and could go out as a family together!! I'd say blessing in disguise for sure.
A funny thing happened when we stopped for lunch. We were in Iowa and there was a ton of construction going on. I told the boys as soon as I saw a good place to turn off the interstate we would. It was a least an hour after I said that, when the golden double arch of McDonald's beamed ahead. I wasn't really in the mood for McDonald's but we were pulling over. Everyone got out of the car and I bustled them in. Right when you enter this McDonald's you are in the ordering line, so I was making sure none of my boys had crowded and was steering them all to get a booth when a lady that I had past by not even really looking at her just trying to herd my crew about, said "Lacey?" I looked up and there before me stood a lady from my very own ward!! "Shelly? What are you doing here?!" She told me that she was traveling back from Salt Lake with her son and two dogs in her car. She also told me it was really funny that we saw each other because they were not planning on eating in the restaurant and were just going to go through the drive thru, since they didn't want to leave the dogs in the car, but she had to come in to use the restroom!! Oh my goodness, it is a small world some times!! Had a good chat with her for a few minutes and then we each went our own way. Lunch was our last stop and we arrived back to our own home even before Nate was home from work! Vacations are always a blast and are to be cherished. They also make you glad to be back home and back to your own bed! After all that driving I slept good that night!
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