Annual Migration

I took a little sabbatical (again) from blogging and maybe my next blog will be about that (and thank you Tracy for noticing I was gone.).

In my family it is tradition that the first Saturday of December is set aside for the "girls" to go shopping. I'm not sure how long we have been doing this, maybe 12 years. We started when Madie and her cousin Ashley were little girls. We'd get up WAY TOO EARLY (because my sister Marrla is a morning lunatic!) and we stop for a Krispy Kreme donut and then head off for shopping.

Here we are at Krispy Kreme. Did you know that Krispy Kreme has Pepsi and not Coke. I should write them a letter! From the left is Marrla and Ashley, then Madie and Chelsea and the whole gang: Kristin, Mom, Chelsea, Madie, Marrla, Madalyn, Ashley and Jill.

We always go to the same mall. Provo Towne Center. One year we went to the Gateway, which is an upscale outside mall in downtown Salt Lake. We froze. So we are sticking with the old stand by. Provo may seem a strange choice but it is our choice because we actually have to travel a bit to get there.

This year we (hubby did anyway) rented a 15 passenger van. After we picked it up I thought I'd better try driving it since I would be putting my family at risk with me driving. Alex was with me and I kept asking him if I was in the lane. I honestly couldn't tell. The van was a beast compared to my Honda Civic.

Here is my view of the van. It looks (and felt) like a bus! Madie here wtih Kristin who I know is probably wishing she could have stayed in bed a little longer on a Saturday.

Saturday morning Madie and I drove over to pick up Kristin. This is Kristin's second year of shopping with us since she only joined the family 16 months ago. First thing she wanted to know was why we had to leave that early. We all know it's Marrla's fault. Normal people don't get up before the chickens but Marrla does.

Here are Madie, Marrla, Madalyn and Chelsea pretending to be mannequins. They look so natural don't you think?

We then met up with my mom, Marrla (the evil morning person), Ashley, Marrla's granddaughter, little sister Jill, her daughter Chelsea and Chelsea's friend Madalyn. (Kristin's step daughter, Bronwen, couldn't make it this year...bummer.) We pulled into the WalMart parking lot and loaded up the van while the South Jordan police watched us.

We were off for some hot Krispy Kremes and then off to the mall. We stopped at Penney's and by 10 AM I was in desperate need for Diet Coke. McDonald's, I love you!

Here is Madie at McDonalds trying to drink upside down to get rid of her hiccups! (Once again, thank you Tracy!)

We shopped until those of us almost 40 and older were draggin around and the girls and the teenagers were still gun ho for more.

We had quite the time and I am very glad that no one got car sick in a van that was possessed by an evil spirit and weaved while I tried to keep it under control and my knuckles turned white. We all got home safely!

And here we are at the end of the journey! And see it looks like everyone is smiling and still in one piece!

We dropped Madie off to meet up with her boyfriend and though it would be great fun to embarrass her. What else fun can you do with teenagers? We all went into the pet store to meet him. He was a good sport and even took a picture with us.

Now I can't wait until next year!