Utah Trip Part VI: Makayla's Play and Going Home

After arriving back in Utah from our anniversary trip, we only had a full day (Saturday the 30th of July) to do stuff before driving back home and most of that stuff included packing and driving down to St. George. At the Blaylock's I packed while Erik went to grab Elisa from Isabelle's house in Sandy. And by pack, I mean I went to a garage sale around the corner from Lisa. I got a free bag of fabric, some fancy Thanksgiving plates that I gave to my mom, and a couple of Christmas items. I tried to get Lisa to snag their couch (they were practically giving it away) but it was gone before she could make up her mind. Eventually I did get everything packed in the van, just as Erik came back with Elisa. The van was stuffed full of junk that I've acquired from the trip.

  

Saying good-bye to Lisa

We stopped in to see my mom and Tootsie. Mark was there but didn't come down. We didn't stay too long, just long enough to eat lunch (smoked pork tacos), give my mom the plates from the garage sale and Tootsie a candle I bought in Savannah, and both of them honey from the gift shop in Savannah. I also left a few things behind, so I grabbed those while I was there.  

A picture with Snowy Toes, the only cat who hasn't warmed up to anyone besides my mom. 

One last picture before we leave

Then we drove the 3.5/4 hr drive to St. George. We wanted to make sure we got there in time to see Makayla's play, The Little Mermaid. We debated whether or not to go out to eat someplace on the way to the theater or go back to Erik's parent's house. We chose the latter, since they had some leftovers (hamburgers, hotdogs, and potato salad) for us from some church activity they had the night before. Then we all drove to the theater in Hurricane to see the play, some of us for the second time. I enjoyed the play; I thought it was really good. The cast was talented, and the costumes were fun to see.

These two cuties sure enjoyed the play!

Grandpa spoiled the kids with candy during intermission. 

Ariel's and Eric's wedding.

Makayla played an Eel (flotsam or jetsom). She got to wear heelies!

 

The Full cast on stage. The costumes were super fun!

The kids refused to take any pictures with the cast, except Makayla.

Makayla and me. I don't know why my head was turned weird. 

The next day (Sunday July 31) was our big driving-home day. 

But first, some puppy-love!

Gabe made up his own game to play.

Heading out the door, with armfuls of their stuff and maybe some cash from Grandpa

The drive home was interesting. First, we had a long delay near Mesquite from bridge construction. Then as we got closer to home, we saw a semi-truck turned over on its side, and miles of backed-up traffic to follow:

Cutie in the car.

I was a split second late in taking this picture, but you can still see the trucked turned over on its side. Right under Erik's nose.

Then, those pretty puffy clouds you saw in the picture of Elisa turned dark and gray. We didn't see any funnels of course (I don't think they form to easily in this state), but those were definitely tornado clouds! It's hard to see in the picture, but the clouds were so low, it looked as if the top of our van would scrape their undersides! 

A tornado cloud if I ever did see one!

Then, it started to rain. And rain and rain and just downright pour. People started to pull over to the side of the road. I don't know what the point of that was. We just drove really slowly. At least we were going someplace. It didn't last too long, thankfully, but it did slow our already delayed drive down even more. Oh well, at least we weren't stuck in the line-up of cars on the other side of the road, waiting for the turned-over semi-truck to be cleared. We finally made it home around 7 or 8.