Introduction

Hi there. I was 'elected' (aka by an executive order from mom) to blog our trip, but before that, I am going to give you a bit of background. First let me introduce my family. 

We are the Engstrom family. We are an Eternal Family. We love each other, even if we sometimes forget it in the emotions of the moment. 

We are also slightly Electrocuted. We are farmers (kind of). We have cows that are contained by electric fences, so most of us have touched the fence just wrong and been zapped. 

We are also Extraordinary, and we are not quite typical in several ways. For instance: We homeschool. We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And, of course, we belong to a six-girls-no-boys family. I have five younger sisters. No brothers. My mom and dad have their hands full! 

We are Exploring. We are going on a cross country trip in a motorhome. We are also Edacious. (How many of you just looked that up?)

Now I will spend just a moment introducing each member of our family individually. 

Next oldest from me, 12 years old, is Emergent. She is a beautiful girl just starting to come into her birthright as a  beautiful and fun young woman. She is very detail-oriented and often helps me by gently correcting my absent-minded mistakes. She enjoys sports, ice-skating, and reading. 

Then comes Elegant. She loves to have things exact. She is a beautiful 9 year old, who loves to dance, and is almost as shameless a book lover as I am. She is sweet and stubborn, with a little spice of temper.

Next is Expressive. She is very emotional, and whatever she feels, SHE FEELS, and does not hesitate to let you know in no uncertain terms! She is very loving and a little timid around strangers. At 6 years old, she has blond hair and is the only one so far to inherit mom's curls (though even her curls are more extreme and emotional than mom's).

Next is the little 4 year old, but you had better be careful about using that adjective around HER. She is NOT little in her own eyes! She is always longing for 'big kid' jobs. She is fearless most of the time (except when there are dogs around). She is Enthusiastic, Energetic and Estimable! But don't worry, I am not going to make you remember all those names. I will refer to her as Enthusiastic, and she certainly is!

Then comes the baby of the family, our little Enchantress. She is so cute, and has tons of energy (I think another fitting name would be "Everywhere"!).

As my Dad is (thank goodness!) Employed, he won't be with us the whole time. But he will be there for a good two weeks. He is an Electrician, and since he is on the town council, he is also Elected.

I already have an 'E' name, so I will use it. Myself, I am Emma. You will probably hear enough of me in the next little while, so I will spare you the introductions.

My mom I saved for last, since she was the one who started this whole thing. She is Ennobling, always seeking perfection. She is Envisionary and has never lost sight of the goal for this trip, even when it seemed crazy. She is also Encumbered. After all, she has six daughters at home 24/7!

Now that the introductions are over, I want to get on to the main point of this blog: to detail our family's cross country trip;  There and Back Again (that was for you Lord of the Rings fans). We will be going from our home state of Utah across the country, as far as New York and Boston. 

This is the story of a trip. But more importantly, this is the story of a family. This story starts fifty years ago with my Great Grandpa Harold Johnson.