You know you're in Iowa when . . .

 . . . there's a chicken at church. 

The two day trip from Utah to Iowa can be summed up as follows:

Twizzlers, bags and bags of sliced apples, Taco Johns, Pringles, gummi worms, Hubba Bubba, Subway, Coraline, Legends of the Guardians, Toy Story 3, Brandon's vasectomy playlist, Spirited Away soundtrack, Dilbert, Junie B. Jones, sudoku, invisible ink activity books, word searches, mazes, snow in Wyoming, swollen rivers throughout Nebraska and Iowa, mini mart after mini mart, semis galore, rocky mountains turning into rolling plains, and a one night stay at a hotel. This thrilled the kids almost as much as a trip to Disneyland. It did not thrill me however, when I went in and out of the hotel to the car four times in the middle of a thunder, lightening, and hail storm to retrieve vital necessities such as Pull-ups and cell phone chargers, and when Rachael spent the majority of the night on top of my head flailing uncontrollably like an infant exhibiting the startle reflex. (Worst night of sleep I've had in long time.)

I'm happy to say it was a very uneventful trip. There was no vomit, no spilled milk, no involuntary pant wetting, no ultimate fighting, no flat tires, no running out of gas--not even extreme whining. (Though Rachael did ask me when I picked up the kids from school on Friday morning to leave for our trip, "Mom? Are we there yet?" No lie.) I guess my kids are getting older, so--physically speaking--I'm thinking life only gets easier from here on out. (That kind of blows my mind.) Kate was a huge help, as were the movies that kept everyone pretty well sedated through especially long stretches. But really, all the kids were super helpful with Rachael, reading books to her, picking up the things she accidentally dropped . . .

We made great time on Day 2, getting into my sister's house in time to actually bathe and get in bed at a decent hour. (Except for Rachael, who didn't go to sleep until almost midnight again, preferring my head to a pillow, and doing more flailing.) We were hoping to get in early enough that we would be up to going to church with my sister's family the next morning. And boy am I glad we made it.  I just love going to church in different places, because there's always an interesting cross section of people that tell you something about the area you are visiting. And today's church service in Iowa definitely did not disappoint.  

I didn't actually get to witness this myself, but apparently the kids had a little lesson on faith that was illustrated by a chicken following them down the hallways of the church building. I'm still not totally straight on how this taught faith, but I know Will could explain it to you. He is now dead set on having a chicken for a pet. And he wants to move back to Iowa. I told him the humidity would kill me (that and the bugs) so he could put it on his own personal bucket list for when he gets older. The living in Iowa part, not the chicken part. I'm down with that. I want a bantam--the cute kind with feathers down their legs? This one is pretty cute too. It's full grown: 

My sister, Elizabeth:

He's in love:

 
I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

P.S. Brandon's brother Trent and his wife Laura had their first baby today! Yippee!  They named her Liv. Isn't that pretty? (Arwen would be pretty too . . .)