My Name is Kris and I Blah-g

Well, the big Westover family reunion is taking place in Nauvoo, Illinois this week. Much of my immediate family has already left. Mom, Dad, Debbie & Matt took off for St. Louis on Saturday and left their dog Mandy and Dad’s van in my care. So far, so good. Mandy has settled in nicely. I wasn’t sure how she’d react to being away from home. Some dogs get depressed and such but she has done well. She’s found her hiding spots and knows where her food is and enjoys spending time with my dogs. Unfortunately, we have a beastly cat who is not a very good host. Garth for all of his life has been “one of the dogs”. He never has had a problem with Jesse or Rachel, our mutts but since moving to Utah, he has an axe to grind with Mom’s little Pekes. He just doesn’t like them. Mandy will mind her business and will literally be staring off into space and Garth will come out of no where hissing and getting ready to strike. He’s been banished to the basement more than once and it’s only been two days. I think Mandy kinda likes it, to tell you the truth. At one point she tried squeezing through the bars of the gate at the top of the stairs so she could go antagonize the cat. I nipped that in the bud quick but figured if she liked the torture, then I’d bring the cat back upstairs.Jeff and family took off for Nauvoo this morning. Apparently the excitement there was almost too much to bear. I can only imagine what it must be like to be in their van – all 8 of them and possibly their dog, too. They intend to “rough it” and to that I say good luck and no thanks. I have my own stress regarding my part of the journey to deal with!Which leads me to this…Wednesday is travel day – just me and Michaela. Since anyone who I could hit up for babysitting is either in Nauvoo or currently en route, Michaela will accompany me to work Monday and Tuesday. So far, she’s done well. Thank goodness for Noggin.com and my lap top. She’s been occupied most of the day. School should help take care of the rest of the time on Tuesday. As for traveling, Michaela and I will be flying – we hope. Since Mike gets flight benefits, we fly for free when seats are available. Seats are NOT plentiful this time of year. I have listed us to fly on 3 different flights out of Salt Lake on Wednesday. Two leave around noon and the other at 6:30 in the morning. As it stands right now, it looks like we’ll take our chances on the first flight out. It means changing planes in Vegas and that is where the problem lies. There are only 10 available seats on that flight out of Vegas. If I can get us on that plane, we should be ok flying through Omaha. I know! OMAHA!! I hope I don’t get stuck there. At least if we get stuck in Vegas, we have the option to fly back home or at least get some cheap buffets. The thought of not making it to St. Louis on Wednesday gives me a head ache. There are other options that day but it means getting to the airport by 5:30 and possibly not leaving until after noon and not arriving in St. Louis until after 7pm and then getting in car and driving north for 3 hours with a 4 year old and a map from mapquest. I get to relive the stress on Sunday when we try to come home. The first flight out is nearly sold out. My chances are better on the 2nd flight but that goes through Phoenix and that in and of itself is scary.So, we’ve loaded up our DVD player, lots of movies, some magazines and coloring books. We’ll take our chances and hope for the best!