Surprise Trip to Washington

The weekend before Halloween, my siblings and I took a trip up to Washington to surprise my sister and her husband, Shavonne and Derek, when they blessed their first baby, Samuel Robert Wood. We all have been waiting a long time for them to have special baby of their own, so when my sister, Kim, suggested that we drive up and surprise them for the baby blessing. We all jumped on board.

Warren and Kim drove up from Utah to my house, then we took my van and picked up Sharon and Nancy. Jamie flew into Washington from a business meeting in New York, and Ian and his wife were already up their visiting. 9 out of us 10 kids were there but sadly we missed having Shaina with us. We stayed at my sister Rebekah's house.

(This was a picture of us crammed in my van on our way home from our trip. Jamie and Nan are in the back, then Sharon and Kim are in the middle, and Warren and I are in the front. We had to sit on our bedding and cram stuff in every nook and cranny, but it was a blast!)

 There is a store along Interstate 90 called the 50,000 silver dollar store. It use to be the 100,000 silver dollar store but for some reason it went down. I don't know if it got robbed or sold some silver dollars but whatever, it is still a cool little store with all sorts of knick knacks and MMontana memorabilia.You have to stop by whenever you travel that way and you can't miss it! Seriously, you can't miss it, they have advertising signs each direction telling you, "Only 60 miles till you reach 50,000 Silver Dollars, " then 30, then 10, then 2...you get the picture.

Sharon, Kim, Warren, and Nancy holding up 50,000 with their hands.

 While in Spokane, we went to a pizza place but the pizza was so gross that I won't even give it the honors of naming the place. However, it was great to hang out with family. Mom and Dad drove in from Newport, about 45 minutes north of Spokane, and spent the weekend with us kids at Rebekah's house.

 When it was time for Shavonne to show up at Rebekah's house, we all hid in the bedroom. Shavonne came in and was told to put coats and stuff away in the bedroom. When she opened the door, we all yelled, "Mazel Taff!"(Spelling?) She seemed speechless and confused, then she started crying and said, "You all made it!" It was a great surprise!

 We played games, watched movies, and held baby Sam. It was a great trip and I am really glad that we could celebrate Sam with Shavonne Derek. He is a special baby who came to a very well deserving Mommy and Daddy! Congratulations Shavs!