Family Date Night!

I feel like a broken record, but having Luke back in treatment was hard on the older kids.  It didn't take long before we started to feel like they needed some special time with us.  So instead of Danny and I doing our Friday night date, we decided to make it a Family Date Night!  The kids were so excited!  We decided that while the kids and I could just take the Expedition to the hospital, that wouldn't be as much fun as taking Frontrunner and Trax to the the hospital!  Plus, it avoided us having two cars down there.  Win, win. :)

I checked Claire out of school just a little bit early so that we could get to the Clearfield Frontrunner station in time to catch the train.  We had to do this right, because at that time of the day the trains only run every hour.  We'd get pretty delayed pretty quick if we missed our train!  Well, I tried to be a good mother and leave Claire in school until the last possible minute.  But I didn't take into account that my lovely girl just can't hurry!  It was a little stressful.  :)  But, thanks to some wonderfully timed stoplights, and the kids and I running to the platform, we got onto the train literally right before they shut the doors!  Phew!  We were starting things off on an exciting note. 

It was worth every bit of stress, though.  The kids LOVED the train!  I think the girls' favorite part was the fact that they didn't have to be buckled. :)    

Johnny loved looking outside as the cities just whizzed by us.  He's such a boy.

We had a wonderful trip into Salt Lake on the train!  And I loved that I got to enjoy my children instead of having to drive.

The best part of all was that I managed to get us off at the right stop, and on to the right Trax line!  Seems like a no brainer, but I've screwed that process up more than once. :)  While the Trax don't move as fast as the Front Runner, the kids still thought it was so neat!

Once we were at the hospital, the kids were so happy to get to see Luke.  We spent some time playing, but Luke wasn't feeling very well.  Chemo will do that to you. :(  So once Grandma got there, we left the smallest of the small ones and proceeded with our date.  We hated leaving Lukey behind!  We still haven't gotten used to that.  

From the hospital, we starting making our way back north.  We still had dinner and a movie to do!  We stopped in Bountiful and had dinner at The Pizza Factory.  Their family deal is such a great way to feed our family, and the pizza and breadsticks never disappoint!  We had enough time to enjoy our meal at a mostly leisurely pace, and still stop at the dollar store for movie contraband. :)

When we decided we wanted to take the kids to see a movie, we knew we had to try out the new AMC Theater that we'd heard so much about.  It was supposed to have these oversized, reclining chairs that when the arm rest was removed made giant love seats.  We got tickets for "Mr. Peabody and Sherman", and it turns out all the fuss about the theater was completely warranted!  It was awesome!  I'll never see a movie anywhere else. :)  We all cuddled up in one love seat (even though we paid for everyone to have a seat) and enjoyed the movie.  

We know that this will be another difficult season for our family.  But we grateful for all the help we are receiving that allows us to do everything we can to take care of everyone.  Even though Luke needs a lot of attention right now doesn't mean we forgot about our other three amazing kids.  We talk a lot about how strong and brave Luke is.  But I think Claire, Sophie, and Johnny are every bit as strong, tough, patient, faithful, and resilient.  What a wonderful Family Date Night!  We'll be doing it again soon, I'm sure!