Quick Trip to California

Glenn’s dad got ordained a patriarch on Sunday. His parents offered to pay our travel expenses if we wanted to come. So this weekend became a spontaneous, impromptu family reunion. We spent Thursday getting ready to go, having just barely decided to go. We wanted to leave by 8 p.m. but ended up waiting for Glenn’s brother Mike to show up from BYU. So we left at 10:30. He also had to rearrange a bunch of plans to come. We managed to drive to Elko, Nevada, and got there very late at night. Our favorite motel, the Comfort Inn in Elko, was all booked for a rodeo in town. Glenn was miffed by this and blamed me for not making a reservation. We like that motel because it’s a great deal and comes with a full breakfast.

Friday morning we got breakfast at a nearby restaurant that belonged to a casino/inn. Right after that very filling meal Jaelyn announced she was hungry. That kid never stops eating. The kids did pretty well in the car except for Caelan. He had to be held and nursed a lot. We gave up trying to keep him in a car seat for hours on end. It’s just not realistic. I can’t be the only one. He just came down with a cold and is getting a molar (and possibly other teeth). I’ve been trying to wean him lately, but I had to nurse him more during this trip just to console him. We also kept him on Motrin pretty much round the clock for the whole trip.

Glenn and I listened to the sixth Harry Potter book on tape (it’s the one the library had) while everyone else watched movies in the back. I dozed off for about half an hour through Reno and woke up as we pulled into the California inspection station. I was horrified about being seen with a baby on my lap, but the inspectors were only concerned with bringing fruit into the state. The inspector asked to see our cooler. Glenn said we didn’t have one (which was true), but she insisted on looking through our luggage anyway. She wanted us to roll down the back window. It doesn’t work that way, so Glenn got out to remove the bike rack and open up the back. When she realized this, she decided it wasn’t worth it and sent us on as we were.

We were greeted in California by huge billows of smoke. I was aware that the entire state is on fire at the moment, but it was something else to experience it. I put Caelan in his car seat as we drove through Donner Pass and those windy roads around there. He was not happy at all by this, so I took him out again near the end of the drive. We got to Colfax around 4:30 local time.

We spent the three nights at the Wilsons’ place (some neighbors) in what’s called the Cave. This is a room behind the garage. It’s kind of strange. It has a bathroom and a closet that has a door that opens to the garage. It’s on a hill, so along one wall is a ledge of futon cushions that’s about three feet above the floor. This is where the kids slept. On the floor is another futon, queen sized.

The winds must have changed, because the smoke wasn’t nearly as prevalent Saturday as Friday. This gave Glenn B. a chance to emerge from his office (he’s extra sensitive to smoke and pollution and chemicals) and entertain the grandkids for a while. My parents came up from San Mateo in the afternoon, which was nice. My mom even got a cranky Caelan to sleep on her lap for a while. All of the Hammer grandkids were there except two: 17 out of 19.

Sunday at church Glenn B. Hammer got sustained as stake patriarch. I spent most of sacrament meeting walking Caelan in the hallways. I nursed him during the second half of sacrament, which put us both to sleep until the end of the meeting. I woke with a cramp in my neck.

The stake president came over that night to ordain Glenn B. a patriarch. He’d been given special keys/permission from Boyd K. Packer. Several of the louder grandkids had fallen asleep, and we miraculously got the rest of the kids to be quiet enough for the ordination. Monday afternoon 14-year-old Brandon got his patriarchal blessing from his grandfather. He was very excited to be the first.

Monday we planned on leaving right after dinner, but I got a bad headache around then. I had to lie down for a couple hours for my medicine to work. We left around 8 but without Mike this time. He wanted to attend a singles activity later that night, which Glenn called a Snack-N-Mack.

We drove nonstop to Elko and got there around 2 a.m. The Comfort Inn was full again, but we got a place at the High Desert Inn across the street. This place was very comfortable—my first night in a long time that wasn't too hot.

The kids began bickering in the car Tuesday during the drive, but we got them all home despite the temptation to leave some of them in the Nevada desert.