Thoughts

I thought that last year would be our most blogged year of all time!
We even signed up for a real website domain name (www.TheAlstonFamily.com)

But it turned out to be our LEAST blogged year yet. A lot of that was because our Year of America didn't come with quite as much battery power and internet access as we originally expected. :/

I've also relied a lot more on Instagram and Snapchat this past year. They tend to be faster, and I can share photos at a glance versus spending a lot of time uploading and waiting for blog posts to publish.

There is a lot that I miss about the blog journal, though! It's always been a fun record of the kids and our family adventures in a storytelling way that you can't really save in other ways.

All that is a way of me saying that I've missed the blog and will work harder to make more time for it. :)

In the meantime, February has kept us quite busy preparing for Beth and Derek's wedding, which was last weekend!

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. McDonald!

We had so much fun celebrating and hope we'll continue to have a lot more fun pictures and things to share soon. :)

Snapchatting Our Road Trip

Because our blogging capabilities have been limited, I just wanted to throw a quick shout out there to Snapchat. If you follow me you'll see real-time glances at our trip like this!

 

 

 Just sayin' . . . ;)

Snapchat handle: salston18

#YearOfAmerica

Year of America - DAYS 1 thru . . .

I'm not sure how many days to squish into one post here. I really thought I'd be better about this "blogging-on-the-road" thing. But it turns out that we have very limited access to wifi. Also I'm actually, like, ENJOYING the road trip and get myself all worn out by the end of the day that all I want to do is flop onto our air mattress and pass out for 12 hours!

But we look like pros, right???

**Other options we're looking into include: mobile hot spot (although that really SUCKS up your data), and possibly making a daily Starbucks stop to post blog updates that I otherwise write each day in the car (haha!) it's a work in progress...**

In the meantime, our Year of America trip is off to a GREAT start. We are now on Day 11 (probably Day 12 by the time I actually post this) and I can't believe how much we've done in such a short period of time! There is a ton I want to share, but I'll try to keep to the point.

(Meanwhile continuing issues include limited photo editing software, and our power inverter for the car not being strong enough to charge up the laptop satisfactorily. So, there's that.)

***

DAY 1
On the way out of town that morning, we stopped at Jamba Juice for breakfast. My mom (the kids' Gram) got us a gift card to start off our trip. The even better surprise was that Jamba does Thirsty Thursdays, and we were able to upgrade our drinks at no extra cost! *success*

For those of you following my Instagram (link also in sidebar >) you will know that we completely MISSED our first stop at Craters of the Moon in Idaho because of my awesome (read: poor) co-pilot/navigation skills. Instead we did some quick re-routing and ended up visiting the high school of Napoleon Dynamite in Preston, Idaho!

"Hey, Napoleon - gimme somma your tots!"

This high school was way bigger than expected. We let the kids run around for a few minutes, and then drove down to Logan (since it was a way that we had never taken to Utah Valley before).

The Logan temple was incredible! Jon and I both gasped when we came around the corner and saw it up on the hill. It looks like a castle!

The grounds were amazing, but after 10 minutes or so we were getting exceptionally hot. Summers in Idaho rarely reach over 90 degrees where we are at, and even then there is always a breeze. Heading into Utah, the temperatures quickly jumped to 103, and we were NOT used to it. Thankfully we brought tons of waters and stayed in the shade as much as possible. We were excited to make it to Great Grandma's and enjoy her air conditioning. ;)

That night we snuggled in bed and wrote our first entry in our homemade travel journal (including taking this Instax selfie). We talked all about our favorite parts of the day and got our first postcard ready to send.

The next morning I met up with a friend in Provo for some Yoga. We had never met in real life, so it was a treat to see her in person and make our friendship solid! Way better than just meeting somewhere to try and fill an hour with small talk, haha. Jourdan is just beautiful inside and out. Hopefully next time we can get our families all together on the road!

The rest of the day brought awesome food, naps, and an evening of birthday celebrating for my cousin's son Zane :D

Zane, Chels, Philip, and Tate

 Best cousin Meg, with Tate:

The burger place that we always said that we would try, but then never did when we lived in Provo 11 years ago, and then finally went on this road trip! Old school and yummy.

 

Thus ended Day 2.

We had a fantastic visit with Great Grandma Carolyn, and are so glad that the kids get to know her more!

One of Edwin's favorite parts of Grandma's house were the old phones she has on display. Although they were working at one point, these are no longer connected, but that didn't stop Edwin from talking to his pal "Buddy" on them daily! We're really not sure if that is supposed to be a nickname for someone, or an imaginary friend, but it sure was cute!

Kate and Grandma bonded over reading books together and looking at old pictures.

 
I'm glad that they are able to have these moments and build memories. :) The kids were only able to meet one other Great Grandparent in this life (my Grandma Bailey) just a couple weeks before she passed away. Living only a few hours from Grandma Carolyn has been an awesome excuse for us to visit when the weather permits.

Our Year of America transportation looked pretty awesome in front of the Wasatch mountains:

DAY 3
On the way out of town we dropped off post cards and got to see the Provo City Center Temple up close.

Because we came to the open house with the kids, Nonna and Papa, and Aunt Beth back in January, we decided not to walk around at this stop, but instead headed into Springville and drove down to Bryce Canyon with the Weber family!

That's them in our rear view mirror. *creeper status*

 We set up camp, then immediately went to check out the views :D

Pictures just cannot get close to how awesome this place feels. It is incredibly unique and beautiful. Absolutely one of my new all-time favorite places.

Everywhere we turned it was like a completely new angle on the canyon. You don't think it can get any better, and then you take two steps to the left. We just kept saying, "Wow!" I don't know how else you could describe it.

More of the meat of our trip and details on Days 4-12 coming soon!!

Year Of America: Less than a month!

We are less than a month away from our Year of America departure date, and plans are in full swing!

While I haven't been talking about it much lately, this trip takes up most of my daily thought. It is a slow going large project, which has its own designated folder on my computer desktop of ideas, camping hacks, packing lists, menus, itineraries for each state, and maps. I also have a Pinterest board of cool things to see and car trip ideas for kids. Slowly I have been sifting through these articles and picture posts to find exactly what will work best for our little family. :)

I now have road trip specific calendars hanging on our pantry door in the kitchen so that our whole family knows when we are leaving, and where we will be on each day. Together we made a paper chain link countdown so that we know visually how many days are left until the big road trip :D

cute, and mildly terrifying...

This week we also started a list of all the crafts and projects we want to make for our car ride to be more enjoyable. Starting any of these before now just seemed silly because a) I would need to store them somewhere, and b) I didn't want the kids to get REALLY excited 3 months ago and then lose interest by the time the road trip actually got here. So we spent most of the last few months making lists and gathering ideas, and now we are finally going out to purchase things and make stuff.

The whole point of making the Year of America our family theme for 2016 was so that we could spend time bonding together in a unique way, while seeing many parts of the country that we have never been to. The last thing I want is for this 3 week car experience to feel like torture, or have us rolling our eyes and wishing that we had thought of "this" or "that" because we are miserable and want to go home early. My ideal would be that we have a simple and stress-free vacation where everyone is comfortable, warm enough, cool enough, full of yummy food, hydrated, happy and entertained, loving each other, and that all of our supplies are easily accessible and nothing gets lost. :D Ahhh, that's the dream!

While Pinterest is full of LOTS of ideas, I wanted to be realistic about how much time and money I was spending to create hours of toddler-car-ride-entertainment, and I also wanted to create things that would entertain them repeatedly for long periods of time, not just a "once and now this bores me" type of situation. I also didn't want anything sticky or potentially melty, and the activities had to be age appropriate because my kids can't spell or read yet, and their imagination is great only within reason. (I didn't want Kate to get frustrated with having to stay in the lines, or reading coloring prompts when she basically just draws jellyfishes and scribbles on everything.) She also can't do bingo or alphabet challenges on her own, so hands-on, tactile, and snack oriented games definitely sounded more appealing.

Here is what we have planned so far to make our road trip enjoyable for everyone:

A prize box. Ahead of time I will be wrapping small prizes that we can open as we go. Some will be individual things (like play-doh or sidewalk chalk), and others will be family goodies (like giant bubble wands or U.S. Flash Cards). I found this great idea for DIY scratch off cards for the trip, so each day they will scratch off a picture of where we are going to go and when we get there and the kids "FIND" the landmark, we will open a prize!

I also found this Car Scavenger Hunt which is something we can do all together as a family, and whoever points out each item will get a snack. :D Once the whole sheet is full we will unlock a prize to open for the trip. (I am laminating all this stuff because I especially like activities that are reusable!)

Calming Bottles. I found lots of recipes for these online. They are bottles full of goo that you shake and then watch as they "calm down". We are planning to do a couple with glitter and one with alphabet beads or little toys to play "I Spy".

Personalized Plastic Tubs. This one is REALLY important to me. Each kid will have their own plastic tub with a lid on it to keep their own toys, snacks, stickers, and activities in. This way there is no fighting over what belongs to whom, the car stays less cluttered, and Kate and Wynn are responsible for their own clean up each day.

Snack Necklaces. The day before we go, the kids will get to make necklaces with pretzels and cheerios to eat and wear in the car :D I'm hoping this will help them be less messy without loose snacks everywhere ;) I can dream.

Binoculars. This week we will be making binoculars out of toilet paper rolls. The kids can look for things extra well with their own personalized spy goggles! Paint and stickers, here we come.

What types of activities and games do you play with your family on long car trips?

Thankfully we will only be on the road 3-4 hours each day, so nothing incredibly long at one time, but still. Being in the car and away from home every day is going to be a challenge. Tell me your ideas! :D

14,474

That's a lot of miles.

In fact, it's the added up total estimate for our Year of America road trip. With all our specific stops and sight-seeing interests, 14,474 is the distance in miles that it will *roughly* take us to travel in a big circle through all 48 continental United States.

I crunched the numbers officially this week. Take that number and figure out the cost of gas, plus lodging, plus food, plus incidental expenses, car maintenance, also paying ahead on our rent for while we are gone, and having a buffer for emergencies (not to mention our inevitable desire for souvenirs and the occasional novelty food that is famous in a particular state here or there...) and you've got a BIG undertaking.

SO big, that it's too much for our little family to handle entirely right now.

We knew going into this plan that it might be way over our heads. But we went for it anyway! I don't regret at all hoping that we could make it. I thought that MAYBE if we stretched we could make a big chunk of savings by the Summer, but it looks like the numbers are a little more grand than my imagination supposed. :)

That being said, we are happy to announce a modification to our trip! We are going to complete the first couple weeks of the original plan, and cut the loop down to 7 States on the West Coast.

New road trip map! Roughly.

I know that is 41 states less than our original plan, but we're going to save our goal of seeing the Midwest, East Coast, and Southern States for another time. We are pretty bummed about the friends and family that we will be missing, as well as all the National Parks and landmarks that we will have to wait on, but ultimately, this modified version is going to rock, and we're still super excited!

The main point of this trip was to see America. And we will still be doing that.
We wanted to go and see places that we had never been. And we will still be doing that!
Most of all, we wanted family togetherness, bonding, and building a tradition of travel and exploration. And we will still be doing that. :)

With our new plan, we will:
A) be spreading out our stops to see MORE of the parks and friends and family that we were already going to be hopping between,
B) have the ability to travel comfortably and explore WELL within our budget, and
C) we will easily be pulling off this trip completely debt-free while not breaking the bank for the time we are gone.

The New Route
Start: Rexburg ID
Craters of the Moon National Park, ID
Lehi, UT
Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
Flagstaff, AZ
Sedona National Park, AZ
Mesa, AZ
Las Vegas, NV
Hoover Dam, NV
Bakersfield, CA
Clovis/Fresno, CA
Sequoia National Park, CA
San Francisco/Oakland, CA
Loomis/Sacramento, CA
Humboldt Redwoods State Park, CA
Portland, OR
Yelm/Seattle, WA
Coeur d'Alene, ID
and back to Rexburg, ID!
(I highlighted all of the stops that either Jon or I --or both of us-- have never been before!)

This whole major road trip has been such a learning process. It's also been great practice for our family to work on setting realistic goals (ha!) and working together toward a savings plan. :)

The new 7-State Loop has some awesome features, and best of all it is full of some of our most favorite people! Ultimately, it's going to be a couple weeks, instead of 6. It's going to be a mix of camping and sleepovers with friends. It's going to be one of the craziest family vacations we've ever done.

It's going to be awesome. :)

Oh, The Places We'll Go!

Earlier this month we shared our new and exciting theme for the year: a United States road trip of epic proportions! But there are a lot of different ways that we could make this happen. This whole trip plan started based on the concept of the optimal road trip, outlined in Randal Olson's blog post here.

We took the map and list of landmarks, and customized it to the Alston family's interests, and where our friends and family live. Below is a general overview of our planned stops and landmarks we will be visiting! (All cities and states are listed in the order we plan to go.)

This is BASICALLY the route we will be going, except for some specific stops that have been changed to suit our needs

I tried to make this as easy to read as possible... States are listed in CAPITAL LETTERS, and different state visits are separated with a line that only has a hyphen. Cities where we are planning to stay overnight (or close areas) are indicated in parenthesis, in case you would like to volunteer to have us visit you, or know someone we should visit! Otherwise we will be camping almost the entire way. LDS Temples we plan to stop and take a picture at have ** around them. (We probably will not have time to do work in these temples, especially because we have two toddlers with us.) The main goal is to see the temples and share the beauty of a unified worldwide church with our kids. :) We have even added a couple more to the list in the past few weeks!

Thank you to EVERYONE who has contacted us so far with ideas and your favorite places to see. We are adding in and researching as many of your suggestions as possible!

Also, big thanks to Nonna and Papa Alston for the Idaho State Parks pass, and Beth Alston for the National Parks pass. :D  #ExtendedChristmasAwesomeness

Ready to see where we're headed?? Here we go!

Leaving from: Rexburg, IDAHO

Craters of the Moon National Monument, IDAHO

-

Lehi/Orem/Provo area, UTAH (overnight)

*Provo Temples*

Bryce Canyon National Park, UTAH (overnight)

-

Grand Canyon, ARIZONA (overnight)

Phoenix, Flagstaff, Sedona, Mesa, ARIZONA

*Phoenix, Gilbert, and Mesa Temples*

Mesa (overnight)

-

Hoover Dam, NEVADA

*Las Vegas Temple*

Las Vegas (overnight)

-

Fresno, CALIFORNIA (overnight)

*Fresno Temple*

San Francisco, CALIFORNIA

*Oakland Temple*

*Sacramento Temple*

Loomis, CALIFORNIA (overnight)

-

Portland, OREGON (overnight)

*Portland Temple*

-

Yelm, WASHINGTON (overnight)

Seattle, WASHINGTON

*Seattle Temple*

Sammamish, WASHINGTON (overnight?)

-

Coeur D'Alene, IDAHO (overnight)

-

Glacier National Park, MONTANA (overnight)

-

Fort Union Trading Post, NORTH DAKOTA (overnight)

-

Mount Rushmore, SOUTH DAKOTA (overnight)

-

Ashfall Fossill Bed, NEBRASKA (overnight)

-

Fort Snelling/Minneapolis, MINNESOTA (overnight)

-

Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison, WISCONSIN (overnight)

-

Des Moines, IOWA (overnight)

-

check out the border of KANSAS

head to Nauvoo, ILLINOIS

*Nauvoo Temple*

Springfield, ILLINOIS (overnight)

-

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MISSOURI (overnight)

*St. Louis Temple*

-

West Baden Springs Hotel, INDIANA 

-

Louisville KENTUCKY (overnight)

or just straight to Mammoth Cave National Park, KENTUCKY

-

Cincinnati, OHIO (overnight)

-

Detroit, MICHIGAN (overnight)

*Detroit Temple*

-

Christmas Story House, Cleveland, OHIO

*Kirtland Temple*

Edinboro, PENNSYLVANIA (overnight)

-

Niagara Falls, NEW YORK (overnight)

*Palmyra Temple*, Hill Cumorah, Sacred Grove

-

Shelburne, VERMONT (overnight)

-

Mount Washington Hotel, NEW HAMPSHIRE

-

Acadia National Park, MAINE (overnight)

-

USS Constitution, Boston, MASSACHUSETTS (overnight)

Harvard University!

*Boston Temple*

-

The Breakers, RHODE ISLAND

-

The Mark Twain House

Hartford, CONNECTICUT (overnight)

Yale University! New Haven, CT

-

New York City, NEW YORK (overnight)

Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Times Square

*Manhattan Temple*

-

Liberty Bell, Philadelphia, PENNSYLVANIA

-

Cape May Historic District, NEW JERSEY (overnight)

-

New Castle Historic District, DELAWARE

-

Annapolis or Silver Spring, MARYLAND (overnight)

*Washington DC Temple*

-

The National Mall: White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, etc.

WASHINGTON, DC

-

Arlington National Cemetery, VIRGINIA (overnight)

Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, VIRGINIA

-

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, NORTH CAROLINA (overnight)

Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kitty Hawk, NORTH CAROLINA

-

Lost World Caverns, WEST VIRGINIA (overnight)

-

Charleston, SOUTH CAROLINA (overnight)

Fort Sumter and/or Fort Moultrie

-

Okefenokee Swamp Park, GEORGIA (overnight)

-

Spring Hill, FLORIDA (overnight)

Orlando, FLORIDA

*Orlando Temple*

Harry Potter World!!

Tallahassee, FLORIDA (overnight?)

-

USS Alabama, Mobile, ALABAMA (overnight)

-

French Quarter, New Orleans, LOUISIANA

*Baton Rouge Temple*

-

Vicksburg, MISSISSIPPI (overnight)

Vicksburg National Military Park / National Cemetery

-

Elvis Presley's house: Graceland, Memphis, TENNESSEE 

-

Little Rock, ARKANSAS (overnight)

Toltec Mounds Archaeological State Park

-

Oklahoma City, OKLAHOMA

*Oklahoma City Temple*

Platt Historic District-former Platt National Park area

Chickasaw National Recreational Area (overnight)

-

Dallas, TEXAS

-

Carlsbad, NEW MEXICO (overnight)

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

-

Colorado Springs, COLORADO (overnight)

Pike's Peak, Cascade, COLORADO

Denver, COLORADO (overnight)

*Denver Temple*

-

Casper, WYOMING (overnight?)

Jackson, WYOMING

-

Rexburg, IDAHO

*Rexburg Temple*

The End

Whew! So there you have the gist of it. 48 states in 51 days. Some states we just pass through quickly, and others we spend a couple days exploring. It really is a sightseeing and photo taking tour as much as anything. We really have to be picky and choosy about where we are going and what we spend time and money to see! I wish we could do more in some areas, but experiences like So Cal, Chicago, visiting The Alamo, and seeing a show on Broadway will just have to be part of another trip someday. :)

So give us some input! And if you know anyone in these areas that might want to be part of our adventure, let us know. We love all you wonderful people and are excited for this great experience together!

"To travel is to live." -Hans Christian Andersen

A Theme for 2016

THIS. will be the biggest and best theme yet.

48 states, 22 temples, 51 days

#AlstonsYearOfAmerica

It all started last year when I shared a road trip FB post with Jon. Some of you may remember this post being shared around. It looked something like this:

It's a circular trip, so you hop on the trail in whatever state you're in, and ride it the rest of the way around until you're back home. I said to Jon "Next Summer??" being ENTIRELY serious. And ever since then, this Year of America plan has infested my brain.

For a couple of years now, Jon and I have had the major travel bug. We have talked about taking our family permanently on the road. It's part of why we tested out Pineapple Snow (Steph's etsy shop) to see if it could become self-sustaining. If I was able to sew-on-the-go, then we could live in a semi-permanent state of movement, and with our converted bus-turned-camper with built in sewing studio, we would homeschool and visit whomever we wanted WHENEVER we wanted, all year 'round.

Screen shot from our shared Pinterest board: Home Bus

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Enter: IDAHO.

The transition of moving to Idaho and being faced with school, work, and debt decisions made us slow down and really re-evaluate how we were approaching everything. We learned some extremely valuable things. And if you know me, you know that if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it right. There is no room half-bakery. That being said, I became a budget-Nazi. Jon has been working his BEHIND off with two jobs, and we basically pretended like his teaching job at BYUI wasn't even there. Aside from tithing, we completely ignored those paychecks and threw them down to paying off bills and savings. We have a goal, and a plan, and we are well on our way!

Let me just say this: by April of this year, we will have everything completely paid off, and start working on a great savings, to accomplish the YEAR OF AMERICA 100%. debt. free.

This is our year.

The Year of America is a reward. It is a goal. It is a test run.

With the major push of family world traveling catching on, I have been jonesing so badly this year to get out there and start! Families like the Boyntons: @radish.so.red and the Hunts: @wanderlust.crew on IG have been inspiring me like crazy. I am so thankful for their examples and amazingness. Check them out! Preparation takes time, and I know it's worth it.

So here it is: We are gifting ourselves 51 solid days of togetherness as we traverse the entire country! (Or at least, the 48 continental United States). We decided that if we're ever going to make the idea of travel-life happen, we need to make sure we can do it and will enjoy it. Doing the Year of America road trip is a way for us to jump into a new state-of-mind and lifestyle, with minimal risk.

So the plan is this: July 21st 2016, when Spring semester comes to a close, and BYUI has a 6 week Summer Break, we take off from Idaho and head south to Utah. Then Arizona, Las Vegas, California, up to Oregon, and well, you get the idea. We will make it back to Rexburg on September 9th, with the weekend to spare before Fall semester starts on Monday the 12th. 

Is it crazy?? Probably.

It is exciting?? Heck yes!

Are we going all-in to this plan? ABSOLUTELY.

But here's the best part: WE WANT YOU TO JOIN US.

Seriously, everyone.

Since we are seeing the ENTIRE country (I mean, within reason) we plan to visit as many of our friends and family as possible, AND if you want to come along for parts of our trip, we would be absolutely ecstatic! We realize that we won't be able to see everything in every state, and are going to have to pick and choose the major highlights. But that is where you especially come in. Tell us where you have traveled, where you have lived, where you grew up. We need to know the ins and outs of your state knowledge! I have done a TON of research up to this point, but I want to know your favorite things: places to eat, things to see, where to go, how to do it right. If you were a tourist in your home state, what would you absolutely not miss?

Also, there will be t-shirts! :)

Ultimately, when everything is said and done, the point of our yearly theme is ALWAYS to bring us closer together as a family. We discussed the pros and cons of doing this now when the kids are so little, and we worry a bit about them not remembering the whole thing. But we realized that you don't do things just because a person might or might not remember it. We still celebrate Christmas and birthdays before the kids really know what's going on. But that's not the point. It is the experience, establishing a tradition, and a mindset. It is something that they grow into, and something that we can learn from and having amazing experiences with too. The major goal here is to bring our family closer to Christ.

Closer to Love.

Closer to Forgiveness.

Closer to Peace.

Closer to Happiness.

Closer to HIM.

We are so excited to spend this time together, build memories, (see as many temples as we can!) attend church across the country with fellow Latter-Day Saints, and appreciate the beauty of the world that Heavenly Father has created for us--starting with our own backyard.

"No, never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery." -Washington Irving

So throw it at us! We have 6 months to officially plan, save, make reservations, partner up, and as we come your way, come and play with us! The Alston's Year of America is going to be the best Year ever. :D

Itinerary coming soon...