Betsy's Trip to Utah and Back

After a very busy week, Betsy is so excited to be going out to Provo to help Jessica pack up her apartment and store he items away until Devon gets out there in August.

She left Louisville at 7:50 am on Monday 4/22 and arrived in Salt Lake City at 2:15.  She picked up her rental car - actually an SUV and headed south for Provo.  It was great timing.  Jessica was home with her roommates packing up.

The apartment was "a organized mess."  The girls were so creative.  Since they were packing up their rooms, and because their rooms are so crammed pack with stuff, they moved their mattresses to the front room so they could use the bed space to for packing suitcases.  Jessica had two packed and most of her bins, etc.  She was well prepared for me.

First on the agenda was to purchase another suitcase (one that is really for Devon).  I took her to Target!  We loaded up on what we needed, had to ignore stuff we wanted, and returned to finish up.  I took her out for dinner that night and headed to the hotel.

The next day, Tuesday, I headed over as soon as she woke up so I could pack up the kitchen - always the last to be packed while she packed up the bathroom, another last minute place.  Then we started to load the SUV.  She was so lucky that two friends were around when we needed to move the TV.  They loaded it in the SUV for us, then we took the microwave, dishes, boxes, and everything that wasn't going home into the SUV.

I took Jessica up to the MTC to return her uniform and say goodbye to her co-workers.  Then I dropped her back off at her apartment before I drove 4 hours to St. George.

As soon as I arrived in St. George, Kevin, Shauna, Linda and my nephew Jordan loaded up into the cars and we took Jessica's stuff to the storage facility.  Shauna had everything well organized so we were all set with a specific spot for Jessica's stuff.  It only took 10 minutes to unload it all.  Next stop was to visit Dad at the rehab facility.  He was eating dinner.  He did a great job eating, but didn't recognize me at all.  He seemed a bit tired too, but that is because he is still on pain medicine from his hip surgery.  We visited with Dad for 30-40 minutes before leaving for our own dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  YUM!  I had a steak.  After dinner we talked and shared stories back at Kevin and Shauna's house before heading to bed.  Kevin and Shauna are trying to distribute Dad's stuff.  They asked if I wanted anything - really that's a question for Mark - I have no idea what Mark would want or not want.

Wednesday - around 9:00 am I was back on the road to Provo.  I needed to get there to help clean up the apartment and try to fix Jessica's DEAD computer.  She called while I was on my way back up (a 4 hour drive) to say her computer wouldn't start... UGH!  She was panicked.  She went to take her final while I continued driving.   We'll have to deal with it when we get back to Louisville.

That night I took her and my niece Alex Hodge out to Cafe Rio for dinner - YUM!!!  We were there 2 hours.  Then I met up with La Sisathom and his wife Jenny and their two adorable children.  We visited for another hour before it got too late.  Around 9:45 Jessica and I headed up to SLC to spend the night. I always like to stay up there to avoid traffic with an early morning flight.  Our flight is scheduled for 8:15 am.  We also have to return the rental car and carry 6 pieces of luggage - it all takes time.

We did it!  At 7:00 am we pulled into the car rental return.  At 7:15 we were on our way with 4 huge pieces of luggage, 2 carry on, 2 back packs and we made it.  It was so heavy but we made it.  Bags and passengers were through security and ready to board - done in perfect timing!  We met up with Jessica's friend and roommate for our return trip home!