Cat Tales

Once again, my brain has deceived me.  I was excited to finally get all the boys back in school.  My youngest is on C track this year, which means he started school end of July, went to school for a whopping three weeks, then went off track.  Today should have been the day he went back on track.  My other two boys started school a couple weeks ago, so I was looking forward to getting back to a good routine of sorts.

Last night I came down sick.  Not really sick, just a major sinus headache and suddenly no energy and no appetite.  I made sure to drink a lot of water and I went to bed early.  My sweet husband took care of breakfast & getting kids off to school this morning, with the exception of my youngest.  I got up finally at 8:15 and got him to school before 9:00.

My mom and sister are here visiting since they have doctor appointments, so I was at the table visiting with my mom while my sister had breakfast and I got the phone call.  It was from the elementary school, which of course, is not typical this early.  It was Josh, sounding very distraught and holding back his tears, "Mom, I don't go back on track until Wednesday."  He could barely get the words out, he's so soft hearted.  I could tell he was frustrated with me.  "I'll be there in a minute to get you, Josh, I'm sorry."  Thank goodness I'm feeling a bit better today.  Not completely back to normal, but okay to drive.

The moment I hung up, my black cat came through the screen door with something in his mouth.  First let me explain the screen door.  It's one of those cool ones "As Seen on TV" with magnets in the middle so that it closes as soon as you've gone through it.  We've only had it for a couples days, but trained the animals how to use it right away so that they can come and go as they please.  Brilliant idea (dripping with sarcasm).

If you know my cats, they've been known to bring in things they've caught before, so this is nothing new.  But this time I could see yellow hanging out of Friday's mouth.  He starts to meow with it in his mouth as if asking me, "What would you like me to do with this present I've brought you?"  I call to him and he comes right to me.  My goal was for him to follow me back out the screen door so we could deal with it outside the house.  Instead he sets it down at my feet.

It was beautiful!  A little bird laying on my kitchen floor, on it's back with it's feet trembling.  I had no idea whether or not it was hurt.  I grabbed a napkin to pick it up gently, but apparently was too gentle and the bird flew right out of my hand, so of course the cat had to do his job, which is hunting and chasing...in my kitchen and dining room.  I wish we could have had a camera man ready with video going of the event.  It could have been a scene in a movie!  The bird landed in my basket of medicine bottles on the hutch, so of course the cat is right there to get it out.  I was right there to get it out, too, but the cat startled the bird and it flew across the kitchen.

The bird had yellow and green and gray feathers.  It was so pretty!  It's the type of bird you would see in a walk through wildlife exhibit at the zoo.  The thought crossed my mind for half a second that we could keep it and then as Friday (the big black cat) jumped onto the island, knocking things over as he goes, I remembered this is exactly why we will never have birds as pets.  Not to mention the fact that they are loud, obnoxious, and messy.  I picked up Friday, chewed him out and sent him away.

The bird had landed in the windowsill above the kitchen sink.  There's no screen in that window so this is my chance to catch it and set it free.  I very carefully moved away the bottles of soaps and cleaners that sit in the window in hopes to not startle it.  I also had to move our big box fan and gently open the window.  A miracle happened and the bird stayed put.  Once again, I caught the bird in the napkin and this time, held my hand out the window so the bird could feel the breeze and I said, "Are you ready little bird?  One, two, three, go!"  The beautiful bird flew over to the table and landed on the soft seat of a patio chair, probably to finish having a heart attack.

I don't know how Friday managed to catch that beautiful bird without hurting it in the first place, but I am so grateful it wasn't hurt and that I was able to see it!  Seems like all the other birds around my house are those dirty birds that ruin everything.

After chasing a cat and a bird around my kitchen and finally setting the bird free, I remembered my poor ten year old waiting at the school for me.  Back to reality and the consequences of my scrambled brain.  Thank goodness my son is so forgiving!

Wedding Day--A Comedy of Errors

My sweet little girl is all grown up.  After being a year younger than everyone else and the tallest in her class, she actually quit growing in 6th grade, at about 5'2".  By high school, everyone else finally caught up and surpassed her and she didn't like being short, so she started wearing spike heals to school.  By her senior year, that phase had passed and she joined the barefoot/minimalist community.

All of that is beside the point.

Sara and Bruce decided to get married.  Bruce is in college on a math scholarship two hours north of us.  Sara and Bruce have been together for well over a year and didn't like being apart, so they made plans to change that situation.  We were given three weeks notice to plan the wedding.  Sara had wanted it to be a quiet ceremony between the two of them until the day she had me help her try on her dress to make sure it fit right.  It took me about half an hour to tie up the back.  During this long arduous process, I asked her, "If you don't want anybody at your wedding, who is going to help you into your dress before the ceremony?"  Her response was, "OH!"  And that is how I, her mother, got invited to her wedding.  It feels good to be needed!

Sara's mother in law offered to take care of the flowers for the ceremony and asked if I could help her with some flower arranging.  We spent much of that Friday in search of extra hydrangeas, since the ones she had bought were already wilted.  After searching the valley high and low, we eventually found a hydrangea plant at Smith's grocery store.  Hallelujah!  Since we had floral paint, the color of the hydrangea's really didn't matter much.

I helped with the flower arranging as much as I could until I had to leave to go pick up the groom and help them run errands, one of which was to pick up his tuxedo and another was for them to get their marriage license.  Luckily, we had all the paperwork they needed for that to happen!

Upon returning home, we had a family wedding dinner at Golden Chorale.  This was the place of choice since the food is already cooked and there's a great variety!  Bruce is the oldest of 7 kids in his family and Sara the oldest of 4 kids.  We figured it would be easier on the kids to not have to wait for their meal to be prepared.  Luckily dinner went as planned!

After dinner, Bruce's mom returned with a few of her kids to our house to add final touches to the florals.  There were many bouteniers and wrist corsages and of course, a beautiful bridal bouquet!  By this time the hour was late and I was exhausted, on the verge of grumpy and decided it would be wise to get organized since the wedding was to take place at 8am the following morning.  Zack was not at home to hear the announcement.  Elijah and Joshua were asked to gather their church clothes, specifically their black suits and lay them out with white shirts, black socks, and black shoes.  This would make our morning oh so easy, I was just sure of it!  Bruce's mom had taken her girls and found cute dresses that were all the right colors for the wedding and so I wanted the boys to match as well.  For this to work, the chaos had to happen that evening.  Josh found his clothes right away.  Eli couldn't find his black pants, so we decided he would borrow Zack's extra pair of black church pants.

Guests finally left around 11pm and I hit the sac around midnight but couldn't sleep.  I will add that I got the prompting to set my alarm...so I did.  After tossing and turning for what felt like hours, I probably fell asleep around 2am.  I had set my alarm for 6am.  Just a side note here.  I have an iPhone, which means when the alarm goes off, it doesn't stop for about 15 minutes before it finally gives up on you.  Apparently Matt had set his alarm for 5:30 and we slept through it (another iPhone).  My alarm went off at 6, and we slept through it.  Seriously, I haven't done this in years and it absolutely baffles me.  The only explanation I can find is that my sleep cycles were so far off that I was in a very deep sleep.  At 7am, Sara came out of my bathroom after doing her makeup and said, "Mom, are you going to get up and get ready for the wedding?"  I jumped and asked why she hadn't woken me sooner.  She told me she thought I was being rebellious because I didn't want her to get married.  Aack!

And so the fun begins.  I took THE SHORTEST SHOWER of my entire life.  I think it might have lasted 30 seconds, basically enough time to get my hair wet and get out.  I had Matt wake the boys and told them they got a two minute shower and to get their suits on right away.  We were supposed to be at the church by 7:45 and I had to get me ready and help Sara into her dress.  Thank goodness the boys had their suits set out!  By the time I came out of the bathroom with my hair blow dried, Zack was out of the shower, "Mom, my suit is in my locker at school."  (He had a choir concert that week and had left his suit at school.)  My jaw hits the floor and I am speechless, which seriously doesn't happen very often.  I finally decided to search his closet to see what might be a good alternative.  I figured we'd have to find Elijah's black pants so Zack could wear his spare pair.  Zack had a black suit coat with white pinstripes.  That was close enough.

Next Joshua emerges with his outfit on, complaining, "Mom, these pants are WAY too big for me in the waist and super long.  I don't know what's wrong."  You've got to be kidding me.  He takes off his belt to show me the size.  Yup, they're Elijah's pants.  No wonder why Eli couldn't find them the night before!  So Elijah takes Zack's pants upstairs to Zack and puts on the pants Josh just took off, so the question of the day is, where are Joshua's black pants?  I searched high and low.  Not in the drawers, not in the clean laundry baskets, not in the dirty laundry baskets.  Nowhere to be found and I'm running out of time.  So Josh puts on his beige pants with his black suit coat.  *heavy sigh*  Elijah is the only one dressed as planned in his black suit.  I have the boys all find blue ties and decide I can't do anything about this conundrum.

At this point, I'm in my dress and my hair is as done as good as it's going to get.  I have no makeup on and no jewelry on yet and Sara is ready for me to help her into her dress at the appointed time we are supposed to be arriving at the church.  I laced her dress up double time!  I had the boys brush their teeth while I put on my makeup and we headed out the door, arriving to the church 30 minutes later than planned.  This being only 15 minutes late for the ceremony, I was somewhat pleased until Sara said with a scared voice, "Mom, I left Bruce's ring at home.  It's in my jewelry box."  I told her to sit tight and I'd go get it while everyone pinned on their flowers.  No big deal, right?  That's what I kept telling myself, anyway.  Ring acquired, back to the church I go.  When I walked in, Sara had the look of death on her face and nobody else was around. "Mom, I forgot the marriage license, it's on my dresser!"  You've got to be kidding me.  I hand her the ring and walk back out, drive back home, grab the license and head back to the church.  I'm thinking, "If she forgot anything else, this marriage is not happening today."  By the time I return, it's 8:30.  Sara had also left her veil at home, and there it stayed.

The ceremony was beautiful and only immediate family was there. We took pictures and dispersed.  The newlyweds left for Midway for professional wedding photos and a short honeymoon, while the rest of us decided we deserved a big breakfast after the surviving the morning's chaos.  Matt and I fixed belgian waffles loaded with fresh berries and homemade whipped cream, hash browns, and bacon.  We feasted 'til we were stuffed and then hung out for awhile before deciding we needed to get on with our Saturday.

Everything turned out okay in the end, but I sure felt like everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  Meanwhile, the happy couple have started their Happily Ever After!

I have since gotten phone calls from my beautiful daughter sayings things like, "Exactly how does one cook a chicken?" and "I thought I knew how to cook until I left home." and "We are so tired of eating the same thing every night.  What else can I cook with these ingredients?"  As the mom, it's so nice to feel needed and to have the opportunity to hear my little girl's voice again.  I miss her hugs and her amazing smile.  I miss my best helper.  Time to do some more training with the boys.

Epic Fail

The past few years I have attempted to make carmel apples with my children.  We have discovered that this is no easy feat.  Last year we decided to try to slice the apples and then dip them, due to the carmel not sticking to the apples the year before.  We found the carmel did not stick to the apple, but only to the peel.  Weird since it didn't do so well the  year before.  I think we didn't let the carmel cool off enough for it to stick to the whole apple two years ago.

This year I started my carmel and then started digging for candy thermometer, only to realize we'd broken it last year after making candy.  Frantically I sent my children to the neighbors to borrow a candy thermometer as I stirred constantly.  Soon a thermometer arrived and we began the watch the temperature rise on our carmel.

Sara came to my rescue and continued stirring while I prepared plates for rolling the dipped apples once the carmel was done.  I had forgotten how long it takes carmel to reach it's final temperature at soft crack.  After getting the plates ready, I helped dry the apples after Zack had washed them, then stuck a stick into each apple.  I turn around to look at the carmel and it's a dark brown.  UGH.  The temperature gauge was still not at soft crack.  Just my luck.  I did not calibrate the candy thermometer to test its accuracy.

We managed to get a few apples covered in the overcooked carmel and rolled in candy.  After letting the carmel cool off, we attempted to cut and eat the candied apples.  Cutting was extremely difficult, and eating was impossible.  *heavy sigh*  So much for our exciting FHE plans.

About this time Zack asks if we have any pretzels.  Why yes we do!  Big pretzel sticks came out of the pantry and Zack proceeded to melt some almond bark, covered them in candy and set them out to dry.  Zack rescued the evening and everyone enjoyed a yummy treat.  In case that wasn't enough, he covered an apple in chocolate, added candy, and then shared it with us!  What a sweet heart.

Maybe we'll try again another day after I have purchased another candy thermometer AND calibrated it....if that's even what it's called.

The Pavlovian Electric Can Opener

I've been trying to eat healthier, as well as simplify my life a bit.  I decided I would make tuna or chicken salad for lunches, but I never do anything small.  My kids love both of these options for snacks and often devour the rest after school, so I tend to do either four cans of tuna, or two larger cans of chicken.

In case you are behind the times, we have two cats, a pony--I mean an oversized house dog, and a turtle.  Luckily the turtle is in a fish tank unable to get out.

Back to making lunch.  I pull out my cans and head over to the electric can opener.  As I'm opening the first can, our black cat, Friday, comes and rubs up against my leg, anxious to enjoy some tuna or chicken juices.  Upon opening the second can, my huge white dog, Nanna arrives in the kitchen from where ever she was sleeping and starts drooling all over the floor.  Our third cat is usually outside or sleeping soundly and misses out on the initial treat.

I dump the juices into the first bowl for Friday, but I make Nanna sit and wait.  I don't want her to think she has hierarchy over the cats and it's good to practice her obedience training so she has to "sit" and "stay" while I dump double the amount of juice into a bowl for Nanna.  By the time I give Nanna her bowl, Friday has already been slurping gently for a minute, enjoying his treat.  I set down Nanna's bowl and she waits until I tell her it's ok, then she laps up her treat within about five seconds, then proceeds to lick the bowl incessantly, as if doing so is going to produce more yumminess for her to drink.  When that doesn't work, she licks the floor around the bowl to clean up any drips from being in such a hurry.  Nanna's treat is long gone and she looks longingly at Friday and his bowl of juice that is hardly empty.  I send her away so that she knows she cannot drink his.  A couple minutes later, Friday walks away with his dish still half full of juice, so I put it next to the cat food dish for Gracey to enjoy when she decides to meander in for a bite to eat.  Please note, the cat food dish is in the pantry at the very back in hopes that Nanna will leave it alone, and for the most part she does.

Last week I decided to make Taco Soup.  This recipe calls for several cans of beans and crushed tomatoes and so the opening of cans begins.  As I'm opening the first can, Friday comes and rubs against my leg, excited for his treat.  Sorry kitty, I don't think you'll like bean juice.  Besides that, we'd have too much fun laughing at a cat with the farts.  Can number two, Nanna arrives and begins drooling.  Can number three, Nanna decides to sit and wait for her bowl to be served.  But the bowl doesn't come.  Can number four, Nanna is drooling so much there's a puddle on the floor.  Friday is getting bored so he finally walks away.  Poor Nanna is left salivating while continue to open several more cans in the process of preparing our crock pot meal.  We don't want Nanna to fart.  When she's had something unusual or unhealthy, her farts peel the paint!

I'm pretty sure this whole situation creates mental confusion for the animals.  Friday must wonder if it's April fools day or some rude Halloween trick and why these days occur so regularly, as well as why the heck his name is Friday and whose idea was that anyway?  Well, it was the in laws idea.  Crazy, I know.  The cats came with the house.  Nanna must be puzzling out how to shut off her automatic drool machine and why does it turn on before she gets her treat, anyway?  All good questions.

In the meantime, the electric can opener gets used regularly and the animals come running, in hopes to feast on something tastier than dry food.  I am always grateful for their entertainment, as that is what having pets is all about.

Be careful what you pray for!

The past few weeks I've been praying for motivation to dejunk and organize the basement.  It's a daunting task that is easily procrastinated.  We simply have too much stuff and it makes it hard to keep bedrooms clean and be organized, so I know that I need to go through it all.  But life keeps me plenty busy without tasks like this waiting in the wings.

Several months ago I bought a used fridge off ksl.com because I hate having a side by side refrigerator. Matt and I agreed it would be on a trial test to see if we both liked this one, if not we'd put the side by side back.  In the meantime, it's in the garage.  The "new" fridge has the freezer on the bottom and the fridge on top and has an ice maker in the freezer.

Last Wednesday morning I got up at 6am to get Zack out the door for drum line practice and I heard a funny noise coming from the kitchen.  When I walked into the kitchen to see what it was, I found the floor sopping wet and could hear the sound of water running in the freezer, like when it fills up the little ice tray.  The confusing part is that I had the bar up, which signifies the ice tray is off and won't make ice.  For some reason the water turned on during the night and didn't shut off.  It ran all night.  I opened the freezer door and water gushed out everywhere, just in case it wasn't everywhere already.

I woke up Matt and had him shut off the water line to the freezer and in the process of grabbing a ton of towels, woke up Zack to have him get ready to leave.  Thank goodness he is self sufficient, even though he is not a morning person, he got himself ready to go while the rest of the family got up to help deal with the damage.  I sopped up water in the kitchen while Matt and the kids hauled laundry baskets and toy bins out to the back patio from Joshua's room.  The basement bathroom, the hallway, and part of Josh's room were soaked as well.

Never a dull moment at our house.  Once I figured out who our insurance was through and got a claim made, restoration people were out here like white on rice.  They tore out walls, ceilings, and floors, pulled the carpets back and brought in at least a dozen industrial fans as well as two huge dehumidifiers.  The house was suddenly very loud.  After three days of fans running, the fans disappeared and the adjuster came to assess the damage.

The basement has probably the ugliest carpet I've ever seen.  The owner three owners ago had a flood apparently shortly after finishing the basement so they pulled the carpet out, dried it on the driveway, and put it back in.  Well...the carpet shrunk and they never had it stretched back into place.  So, several years later, all the areas where the carpet is supposed to be joined together are shredded and frayed.  The adjuster sees this in the hallway where the water damage was and says it needs to be replaced.  And since it is "continuous" meaning same carpet throughout the basement, it all must be replaced.

HURRAY!  Insert happy dance here.  BUT...since the bedroom door can close, it is not considered "continuous" so they might leave it, even though it was sopping wet.  I strongly mentioned that we have serious allergies and one with asthma and it would not be a good idea to leave a carpet with mold spores.  He searched to see if he could find a spot where the carpet is fraying or coming apart.  Of course it's not, it's in excellent condition.  Just my luck.  I do not yet know the final decision but even if the insurance company won't replace the carpet, we'll tear it out anyway.

In the meantime, I'M GETTING NEW CARPET!  And somebody else is paying for it.  Yes, we paid for the insurance, but we're talking about thousands of dollars that we don't have to do these kind of upgrades on our own dime.  Anyway, this means (grand pause) that everything in the basement has to be removed in order for the carpet to go in.  It looks like I have my work cut out for me, and I think new carpet is a great motivation to get the basement organized.  And since everything has to be moved out, it also has to be moved back.  Well, not everything.  We'll be getting rid of as much as I can.  So once we get everything back into place, it should be nice and neat and organized like a home should be!

If you've ever seen my basement, we have a wall of bookcases creating a "room" for one of the kids.  We figure if we do some of the work ourselves and contract out what we can't do, we might even be able to put up a couple walls so that Elijah can have a real bedroom.  Novel concept, huh?  I haven't heard back from the adjuster yet to find out the break down of money, but I'm a farely frugal person and figure I can make that money stretch to accomplish more than they would have done.  We shall see how it all pans out, but I know I certainly have my work cut out for me.

Moral of the story, be careful what you pray for.  The Lord just might find a way to accomplish what you ask for and it might not be how you expected.  While I dread the months of reconstruction and chaos in my home, I recognize this as a huge blessing and I am excited for the finished product!  In the meantime, I'll keep you posted.

Leap Day Blizzard 2012

This winter has been more of a non-winter. We've had several storms that have come through as rain or simply passed us by. The couple of times we've had snow it melted within a few short hours. So when this series of storms was forecast, I'm not sure we believed the weather man. The winds began to blow like crazy from the south, and a huge mass of clouds rolled underneath the existing storm from the north.

A week earlier I had called and schedule our tax appointment for this day. We drive all the way to Grantsville to do our taxes. Yes, that's an hour drive each way. Our tax lady is amazing and she gets us good returns every year. It is well worth my sanity to pay her to do our taxes. As we left the house it began to snow, just little flurries. But the farther north we went, the snow storm got worse and worse. I'm sure lake effect didn't help anything. Magna was pretty yucky and of course the plows weren't out yet. At one point, I had to take the "suicide lane" in the middle of the road to keep from hitting the guy in front of me. Reaching the point of the mountain by the great Salt Lake proved to be harry as well, the I-80 was practically a parking lot. We called our tax lady to warn her we might be a little late. She was willing to reschedule and have us turn around and go home, but we were very determined to get our taxes done.

After scary roads and crazy traffic, we arrived on time! We finished our taxes in less than an hour, record time, I think, and headed to Tooele to have dinner at our favorite Tooele restaurant, then pick up our oranges from a friend whose kids were doing a fundraiser. With the blizzard still raging, we ascended into Tooele. We reached a point in the elevation change that changed the roads from driveable to, maybe we shouldn't be here. With a continued prayer in my heart we slowly made it to the restaurant where we ate a scrumptious meal at Hunan Village.

Matt and I both left the house in our Vibrams, so when we get out of the van to go eat and then left the restaurant to get back into the van, our feet got soaked. When we arrived at the home where we needed to pick up the oranges, I called my friend and asked her if she could send someone out with the oranges so I didn't have to get my feet wet again. After all, that's what teenagers are for, right? Tall teenage boy comes outside with no shoes and no coat, tromping through several inches of snow to deliver a huge case of oranges! Okay, he did have flip flops on, but a lot of good those did him!

I texted Sara to let her know we were in a blizzard and to pray for us and go ahead and put the kids to bed. I figured since we took the time to eat the plows should have had time to get through the major roads and Matt's suggestion was to take freeways all the way home. Of course it was several miles before we hit the freeway. One of my headlights was out and the snow was turning to ice on the car. Eventually the build up of ice on the wipers was enough that I couldn't see well, so we stopped at the truck stop to clear the car. After smacking the ice off the wipers, we discovered half an inch of ice built up on the headlights. Have you ever scraped your headlights before? It's kinda funny! Once we reached the freeway, the roads were much safer to drive on and we were able to make progress in our journey; although it was still slower than usual. I-80 to beltway 215 to I-15, which is the long way home. Better safe than sorry! When we reached our exit, the roads were yucky again, but nowhere near as bad as the Tooele roads.

We got home at about 9:30 pm. Prayers had been said and little boys were in bed, but when they heard us come in they came running up the stairs to give us big hugs. Elijah, 9, said, "Mom, we made plans in case you both died. Sara helped us." I couldn't help but laugh. It was a distinct possibility we could get stuck somewhere, but I had not felt that my life was on the line. Anyway, the kids gave us huge hugs. Zack's hug was much tighter than usual which is a reminder that he loves me! All of my kids love me!

It is now March 1st and we finally have snow on the ground. So crazy! Next week we'll reach a high of 55 and it'll feel like spring. I'm thinking mother nature is a little pschizophrenic. Oh well. My boys finally get to use the cool new sledding hill at the park before spring settles in.

Duvet covers

My husband and I enjoy shopping together. Let me clarify that. I enjoy shopping, and my husband has learned to think of shopping as a social opportunity; time with Christy! Last week I had $10 Kohl's cash. Those of you that shop at Kohl's know that Kohl's cash expires. It's a gimmick, you see, to get you back into the store to spend more money...AND it works. You bet I'm going to spend my Kohl's cash; afterall, I earned it, right? By spending money at Kohl's in the first place. I will tell you that I love a good deal and shop very carefully.

The difficult part about this trip is that there was nothing in particular that I was shopping for. I often use my Kohl's cash on shoes or clearance clothing for the kids to grow into. This means it took a little more time than usual to spend my whopping $10. I did find a wallet that I really like, but Matt and I decided to look around to see what else we could find. In our passing conversation, Matt mentioned that he's tired of our bedspread. It snags easily so there are snags all over it. I've been feeling the same way, but hadn't even thought about replacing it. After Matt's suggestion, we headed to the bedding section. I made sure to tell him that bedding here is VERY expensive. But it would certainly be fun to look around and see what they have.

After talking about a couple different bed spreads, we came across one that we both seemed to like. It was in the color scheme we already have set up for our bedroom so it would be easy to replace what we have with this one. About that time, Matt takes off his vibram, which has velcro on it and begins dragging it on the beautiful bedspread. My brain registers what he is doing and I quietly yell (if that's possible), "No, don't....." but it was too late. Matt was trying to see if the velcro would snag the bed spread and it DIDN'T! I was relieved and he was excited, "This one passes the test," he said as he put his shoe back on. Then we looked at the price. The set was on sale for $143 or something like that. OUCH! That's a lot of money. A lady nearby commented to us that she has had this bed spread for a couple years and it hasn't snagged at all and maybe we should look at getting a duvet cover instead of the set. Afterall, we already have matching pillows at home. Matt says, "What's a duvet cover?" In case you don't know, you put your old blanket into the cover, just like a pillow sham. So Matt's definition of a duvet is a great big sham! LOL!

Then the problem was, what size is our blanket at home? Is it queen size like the bed? Or did I buy a king size set last time? I was doubting that, but we came to the conclusion to buy both sizes and return the other. Brilliant! Regular price for the duvet cover was $180 for the queen and $20 more than that for the king. But of course they were on sale, on clearance in fact for 60% off, making the queen size duvet $72. At the register I used my Kohl's cash AND my 20% off coupon that came in my email. Woohoo! My total for both duvets was less than $100, which means when I return the king size, my duvet cost me less than $50!!!

Needless to say, I'm thrilled to pieces. I never would have thought to shop for a new bed spread, let alone a duvet cover and we found one that is really high quality for a decent price. Yahoo! Now to get that other duvet cover back to the store.

By the way, it is really easy to put your duvet cover on your old blanket with TWO people! Luckily I had Matt around and I didn't have to do it the hard way.

Anniversary Adventures in the Snow

Today (Dec. 10^th) marks Matt and I's 17th Anniversary! We managed to get a great price on our resort for a couple days, so we talked my mom into coming down to take care of the kids for us. As my dad discovered, it's more like being a taxi driver for the social butterfly. Anyway, Matt and I have been very excited all week. Matt even took some time to find out what there is to do at Bear Lake in the middle of winter. He texted me from work a couple days before we were to go with a loaded question: "We've been wanting for years to try snowmobiling. I found a rental place and they even rent equipment. Should we do it?"

Warnings of danger, thoughts of being stranded in a snow bank on a random mountain crossed my mind. We're not prepared for stuff like this and really don't know what all we should bring with us. Would someone be able to find us? Surely the rental place would send a rescue team when we don't return their snowmobile. How long does a rescue team look before they give up? My sister in law, Julie, had told me just a day before that if we ever had the chance to go snowmobiling we should do it. Her and Jay went once and had a great time. They're geeks like us, so surely we can survive, too. I text him back, "How much will it cost us?" His reply, "Snowmobile for two rental is $159." UGH. Matt and I like to try new things together and opportunities like this don't come often. I text him back, "Ok," despite my brain screaming at me, "What are you thinking?"

I can't be a scaredy cat forever. Although I have to admit this is the first opportunity snowmobiling has presented itself, so I decided to be excited about it. After all, Matt and I are good drivers so we'll be fine. Driving a snow machine can't be that hard....right?

Matt also finds a nearby hot spring and we decide that would be a great place to go after spending a day on the snowmobile. And, in case that's not enough, Matt also discovers that there was to be a total lunar eclipse this morning that we'd be able to see if we arise at our usual time. Considering I've never seen an eclipse, I was super excited about this one. Besides, it's FREE! It won't cost anything but a little gas money to find a good viewing spot. This will be nice after spending a boat load of money at the rental shop.

Oh, I can't forget my part. Julie had also told me to make sure we stop and get the famous raspberry shakes while we're in Bear Lake. While they were there, they tried a different flavor shake every day. I'm all about ice cream, so I agreed this would be a lot of fun!

Matt and I decided to go to lunch on our way out of town. It's been forever since we've eaten a Texas Roadhouse Grill, so that's where we headed. Upon arrival, we discovered they do not open until 4pm. What's up with that? So...we look around and decide to go to TGIFriday's for lunch. Our meal was delicious. We mentioned to our server that we're celebrating our Anniversary and she offered us free ice cream. Now remember, I'm all about ice cream. I said with a smile, "No thanks!" When she walked away, Matt felt my forehead to see if I was feeling okay. I explained to him that raspberry shakes will be much tastier upon arriving in Bear Lake! Luckily he understood and agreed with me; otherwise, I might have spent the weekend being psychologically tested!

When we got to Bear Lake, we discovered that it's somewhat of a ghost town in the winter. Nearly everything closes since it's tourist season is summer time. There are a few places open, one of which is a big pizza shop that also sells...raspberry shakes, among other flavors. We ordered one raspberry shake and one mango peach shake. Mango peach is my favorite flavor smoothie served at our local coffee shop. As it turns out, it's REALLY good in the form of ice cream mixed with fresh fruit chunks. Matt and I decided to share both flavors and were quite full. We even had half a shake left that we stuck in the freezer for later!

The next morning we slept in! Considering we usually get up at 5am to cook breakfast for the kids and get them off to school, sleeping past 8am with no one to interrupt our slumber is a big deal. The dog didn’t bark, the alarm didn’t go off, we slept peacefully. Ahhh. There’s nothing quite like feeling well rested. After having a bagel, we decided to get ready to go snowmobiling! It took us an entire hour to get ourselves ready to go. This felt like forever, but we wanted to make sure we had everything we might need. I told Matt, “If we get stranded, I will regret not bringing my Kindle with me for something to do while we wait to be rescued.” He laughed at me and decided to leave his Kindle at home. I would be wearing his coat with tons of pockets and he would be wearing his motorcycle coat. I don’t have a good outdoor coat, so I was so glad he had one for me to use. I filled all those pockets with amazing things: peanuts, almonds, pork jerky, toe warmers (the whole case), my Kindle, chapstick, and a couple Kleenex. I also had a Camelbak full of water for us to carry, which would provide plenty of water for the few hours we’d be out.

I think the rental place was called Fun Time Rentals and Kirk was great with answering all our questions so we felt informed and ready to go. Matt and I are very chatty people and it ended up taking an hour to get us processed and loaded to go. I told Kirk, “If we are not back by 5pm when you close, send a rescue team to come find us.” I was very serious about this. Despite the fact that we’d rented a machine specifically for staying on the groomed trails, reviewed all the rules as well as techniques for getting unstuck, I wanted him to know we were only planning to be gone a few hours. We let him know where we were headed, according to his recommendation, so that he’d know where to start looking.

With snow pants rented, balaclavas purchased, boots for Matt rented, our own gloves and helmets, we were finally loaded and ready to go. We had endured lessons on how to run the snowmobile and the rules of using it. Matt and I are not risk takers so there should be no problems.

Twenty minutes later we arrive on the other side of the mountain just over the summit where there is tons of snow! Matt said I could drive first. Woohoo! So we unloaded and away we went. I drove us through the meadow and to the hills and couldn’t find the groomed trail, so we turned around and went back to the parking lot to ask the people who had arrived just as we pulled out if they knew where the trail started. They’d never driven these trails before, so they had no idea, either. Huh.

Matt’s turn to drive. As I was sitting behind him, my eye began to itch. With goggles, a helmet, and my gloves tucked in, there was no way to scratch it. Then my nose began to run. I must be warm enough for my snot to be liquid rather than solid. Who knows how long that would last. I had to switch from my sunglasses to my goggles because the wind was whipping around Matt and blowing in my face. Funny, but I didn’t have this problem when I was driving. Ah, yes. That’s because there is a windshield. But I didn’t let any of this bother me because this is what we call FUN!

We follow some of the tracks back up the hills and figure maybe we’ll find a groomed trail. We reached the top of a hill and didn’t want to head up to the next peak since there were no other tracks to follow so we decided to turn around….in deep fresh powder. Please note we’re on one snowmobile that is NOT meant for fresh powder. In fact, one of the rules was to stay off the fresh powder. I’m all for following the rules, but if there’s no groomed trail, what the heck are you supposed to do? In trying to turn around, the skis on the snowmobile stayed straight even though we were turning the handles. So we leaned for all we were worth…and fell off. It took us about ten minutes to do as we had been taught to get the snowmobile unstuck and going. But we still couldn’t get it going the direction we needed to go and fell off again trying. We discovered that we could turn it a bit and apply a little pressure to the gas and it would pull itself out of being stuck.

Side note here: We’re high on the mountain top, the temperature is about 10 degrees (maybe) and every step we take off the snowmobile we sink at least two feet into fresh snow. There is much less oxygen up there and so after taking three steps, we are exhausted due to the fact that our muscles are not getting enough oxygen to go anywhere. Second side note: Up to this point, we’ve only been out in the snow for 30 minutes or less. SO…Matt is laying on his back exhausted, and I’m trying to get the snowmobile going the right direction. I once again applied the gas just a tiny bit to get it to pull forward when apparently we hit a slight downhill and instead of stopping when I let go of my one second application of gas, the snowmobile proceeded to sled down hill very slowly, gradually, gently…..without me.

I start running. Now remember, with every step I take, I sink two feet or so into the snow, so I’m running in slow motion with limbs flapping wildly in hopes of gaining momentum. Trying to gain momentum resulted in my upper body ready to move forward faster, while my legs are stuck going up and down frantically. So about every three steps I fall down, which isn’t very far, considering my legs are stuck two feet deep into the snow. Needless to say, the snowmobile was sledding down the hill faster than I could go to stop it. “Heavenly Father, HELP!” is my plea heavenward. I think the good Lord has an amazing sense of humor. Moments later, the snowmobile stops against a tree. I think the Lord figured it would be better for us to be stuck a mile and a half from the parking lot rather than several miles into the mountains. I collapsed, completely out of breath, my heart racing, practically pounding out of my chest. About five minutes later I continued down the hill to assess the damage, Matt close behind in descent.

Just going down the hill required another period of rest before we could decide on a plan. Then we brain stormed as to what action we should take to get the snowmobile unstuck…again. Our two previous times now seem easy and simple compared to this. The damage was minimal, thank goodness, considering we had opted to NOT pay the extra $25 for insurance. The deductible was $900, anyway, what could we possibly get ourselves into requiring more fixing than that? I am truly afraid to ask. The machine had hit the tree on the front bumper bar, just missing the ski, which means, we have to pull the snowmobile uphill about two feet in order to clear the tree and turn it around. The two of us could barely lift the rear of the snowmobile and move it a few inches to the side.

After several small movements, and several rests, we realized we were getting nowhere as we could not manage to pull it backwards up the hill. This realization took us about an hour and a half of agony. So I asked Matt, “At what point do we decide to give up and call for help? We don’t want to be so worn out that we can’t walk back to the car.” We decided we had reached that point and began to walk and take breaks. Matt checked his phone a couple times to see if he had cell reception; of course not.

We reached the top of the first hill and the thought crossed my mind, “Maybe it would be easier to roll down the hill than to walk it.” I conveyed this thought to Matt and he laughed and said, “You’re serious!” We put on our helmets and laid down to start rolling. After rolling about three times, I was so dizzy and had to stop. Rolling made Matt feel nauseous so he had stopped already, too. So much for that idea. About half an hour into our return trip back to the parking lot, we decided to sit down and take a break. Matt pulled out his cell phone and said, “I have a bar!” He pulled the phone up to him to make the call and said, “It’s gone.” So he put the phone back down, dialed and put it on speaker phone. After explaining the situation, the guy said they’d come get the snowmobile unstuck but they’d have to charge us “shop rates.” Our thoughts were, “I don’t care how much shop rates are, I’m not paying for a snowmobile, come and get it!” Yeah, shop rates are $90 an hour and he didn’t exactly say at what point he would start charging shop rates. heavy sigh

After enjoying some nuts, and pork jerky, we pull out the camelback to discover everything in the tube was frozen. It took a bit to bite the ice into bits and manage to suck some water through. Finally, we got some water. Luckily Matt and I had dressed warm enough for the occasion so that we were not icicles like the water in the camelback. After a nice rest, we continued our journey. It took us an hour and a half to go about a mile and a half and our rescue park arrived at the parking lot the same time we arrived. Matt and I were exhausted.

Luckily Kirk brought his friend, Brandon with him. Matt hopped on the back of one of their machines and the three of them headed back up the mountain to locate the stuck machine. My hip wasn’t feeling so great, so I volunteered to stay at the van. I pulled out my Kindle and read my scriptures for a few minutes and prayed that the Lord would help them get that heavy snowmobile out of there without too much problem. A few minutes later I could see the three headlights coming down the mountain. Hurray! So pathetic that I could see where we’d been stuck from the van. Talk about an expensive first time on the snowmobile; twenty minutes of fun and several hours of frustration.

Matt and I both agreed if we had to be stranded somewhere, we would prefer to be stranded with each other. We also decided we’d like to try again….later; maybe next year. And, if all else fails, we’ll rent a snowmobile to haul kids up the huge hill for sledding! We’re not as likely to get stuck that way.

Once we got back to the rental store, Kirk only charged us an hour for the rescue mission, and that was only because Matt insisted he charge us at least an hour. Even though the rescue part only took half an hour, the poor guy spent an hour loading and driving to get to us. He also had to pay Brandon for helping him with the rescue. With enthusiasm, we told Kirk we plan to see him again next year in hopes to have a more successful day in the snow, thanked him for his great customer service and headed back to the resort.

What a relief for all of that to be over. We decided to go take a soak in the hot tub and then have dinner once we’d had a chance to relax our sore muscles. The hot tub was already full of people when we got there. They asked us if we’d been snowmobiling today, Matt responded with the affirmative and explained that we’d spent the day stuck. One of the guys said, “We figured you might have been stuck somewhere ‘cause we didn’t see ya on our way out so we looked around to see if you needed help but couldn’t find ya.” Holy Cow. Talk about coincidence. The people in the hot tub were the same people we’d talked to at the beginning of our snow journey to see if they knew where the trail was. Crazy. So they told us some of their own stories of being stuck, getting out and having fun, and encouraged us to try again.

After t-bone steaks for dinner, (I found them on clearance, WOOT!) We headed back to the pizza place to buy shakes for dessert. The server suggested peanut butter oreo so we decided to try it out! YUM! And of course we had to get another raspberry shake because those are the best. Sharing the two flavors is fun! We spent probably an hour visiting with the owner, who showed us his ovens that are large enough to cook a three foot pizza weighing in at 15 lbs. WOW! Truly huge. Matt and I want to bring the kids to that pizza joint just to try out their “Old Ephraim” pizza. If you want to see pictures, you can find them on FB under “Old Ephraim Pizza” I think. Anyway, the owners are extremely nice people and it was a lot of fun learning about their three businesses. They’ve got a steak house next door, a gift shop with all homemade candies and preserves, and the pizza parlor. This is their idea of retirement.

As always, time flies and we had to return home to our beautiful children, recently broken washing machine, and crazy household. Back to reality. With amazing memories to hang on to and our love stronger than ever, Matt and I are ready to take on yet another year of marriage.

My parents Anniversary is this week and now they’re up in Bear Lake celebrating while I watch my handicapped sister for a few days to give them a break. I’m sure their adventures will be less exciting than mine, but I’m glad they get to experience the beauty of that area for their Anniversary.

Precious Moments

Today Elijah asked me to take him Black Friday shopping. He didn't really understand that I'd already endured six hours of shopping in the middle of the night. Despite telling him I'd already been shopping, he wanted to go. It didn't help that he had money burning a hole in his pocket. Besides that, I wanted to take Zack with me back to Kohl's to pick out a new dress shirt in whatever color he chooses.

After showers and getting turkey soup in the crock pot, we headed to Kohl's to do some Black Friday shopping. While shopping, we stopped to look at several things. On our way to another part of the store, Elijah commented, "Mom, do you have to stop every ten seconds to look at something and talk about it?" My response was, "Yes, you asked to go Black Friday shopping with me, this is how it works!"

Luckily there was no line once we were done. I'd spent at least 45 minutes in line from about 3-4am. On our way out of the store, Zack commented on the cute stuffed animals at the register. I said in a cutsie little voice, "Should we get you a story book and a matching stuffed animal?" Teasing my 14 year old didn't work, "Well, yeah, this dolphin is SO soft." Then Elijah chimes in, "I want the lion, it's cute!" So much for being a tease. They're being serious.

As we leave the store, I explained to the kids that all the money made from the sales of those story books and matching stuffed animals goes to charity. "What's charity?" Elijah asks. I tend to forget that he doesn't know everything yet. So I explained to him that charity means helping people in need, so the money from selling those probably goes directly to helping children who are in need of food, clothes, and toys. He seemed pleased with that answer and understood.

Minutes later we arrived at Walmart for him to shop in hopes to spend his money. Just as we approached the entrance, a guy was setting up his big bowl in preparation to ring his bell and take donations. Eli asked me what he was doing and I told him this man is collecting money for charity, to help people who need things for Christmas. Elijah took $2 out of his pocket and asked me if he could donate this money. I told him yes and he put the bills into the big bowl. The man seemed a bit surprised to see a child donating money. I about cried as I realized that my nine year old boy was donating his hard earned allowance to help someone he doesn't know. I was very touched and a bit teary eyed. That $2 represented about 10% of what he had in his pocket, also note he'd already paid 10% in tithing donations as well, so the money in his pocket represented nearly two months allowance. That boy never ceases to amaze me.

I was surprised to find there was anything left on the shelves after the chaos I experienced at 10pm in Walmart last night. Elijah found a great deal on a skateboard and a cool basketball and still had enough to pay for both! Zack found a cool t-shirt and a CD that he bought with his money. I know it might be annoying to a cashier to have several transactions for one family, but it's so good for my kids to learn to be responsible with their money, save it, spend it carefully, figure in how much tax will be, and truly appreciate their purchases. Most cashiers don't seem to mind!

After all is said and done, my mind still turns to the moment Elijah pulled out his own money to donate to the Salvation Army. I hope many other people will be as kind in sharing their blessings as my son was today. With Thanksgiving out of the way, it is officially the Christmas season. Charity is the pure love of Christ. Most of us have more than we need. Even if it is a sacrifice to help others, every little bit counts.

McDonald's...or not.

I am not a McDonald's fan. Their food is gross, in my ever so humble opinion. I have all but boycotted McDonald's for the last several years. We try not to eat fast food very often, especially since I can make it at home with a much better quality and taste.

Don't get me wrong, I do like my fast food. I've been spoiled by Chick Fil A being close by. Getting real chicken in my nuggets is very nice. Soft, juicy, tender meat. Okay, enough of that, I'm now salivating. Oh, wait. Then there's my newest obsession: BombDigitty's. They sell beefalo burgers and custard and their fries are to die for. Seriously people, this food is truly delicious. I will confess the occasional In-N-Out splurge since they're three blocks from my house. So compared to these, McDonald's serves crappy food. I also disagree with their getting involved in politics.

HOWEVER...there is one thing at McDonald's that I do like....a LOT. It is the McRib sandwich. Matt imagines that in order to have enough processed, boneless ribs for this occasional McDonald's deal, there are employees somewhere stashing as many rib tips as possible and freezing them until there is enough to feed us all McRib sandwiches for a whopping month of the year. I'm not even sure they have it that often.

Anyway, the McRib is currently available for a short period of time. One day earlier this month, my seven year old called me from school saying he was feeling sick. I was in the middle of errands at Walmart (which has a McDonald's) when I had to leave to go get him. So on our way to the car, I told Josh that I was running errands and asked him if he could endure a short shopping trip if it included lunch at McDonald's first, or would he rather go home and go to bed. His response was something to the effect of, "Well, I do need to rest, but I think it would be appropriate to have lunch first." I thought so. Poor boy, I did not even give him a choice of what he could eat at McDonald's. I simply bought him a McRib sandwich. He raved about how good it was. The funniest part was when he said, "I think this is the first time I've ever been to McDonald's." Well, I probably took him when he was little to play in the play place, but he apparently doesn't remember that. And yes, it has actually been that many years since we've frequented McDonald's.

Several days later, I was out and about with Elijah. Joshua also happened to be with me that trip. It was lunch time and we were at Walmart. Hmmm, how 'bout a McRib? Once again, I took the boys into McDonald's at Walmart and ordered us each a McRib. The boys commented on how gross the fries are, but the McRib's are great! Elijah also commented, "I think this is the first time I've ever been to McDonald's." I kinda feel bad that they didn't even get to experience the regular restaurant, just the Walmart miniature. Ah, no way. I don't feel bad at all. On the way home Elijah said, "Even if I knew what a McDonald's hamburger tastes like, I'd still think In-N-Out burgers are better!" I laughed so hard. I thought that was pretty funny.

Last night Matt and I made a quick trip to Walmart for a couple things, including newspapers for my coupon collection. We were brainstorming ideas for what to make for dinner when an idea seized me and Matt didn't seem to mind. You guessed it. McRib's all around, please! We took McDonald's food home to the children for dinner, probably the first time ever. Matt texted the teenagers to set the table and the children were all in shock that we were having McDonald's for dinner. Everyone enjoyed their ribs, the kids asked me why I haven't tried making these myself, and as usual, Zack was not filled by just one. There's nothing like growing teenage boys with hollow legs.

So there you have it folks. While I despise McDonald's, this month I am helping keep them in business. My craving for McRibs has been satiated and until next time, I will again swear off McDonald's and go for the other, higher quality fast food options. Have you had your McRib today?

Childhood Memories

In two weeks my baby girl turns 16. I'm not sure when she grew up, but suddenly she's a young woman ready to date and drive. YIKES! So far having teenagers has been a lot of fun, hopefully that will continue.

Occasionally memories come to mind of when she was a little girl. When Sara was a toddler, we drove up to Idaho in January to celebrate my father's birthday. In the kitchen we sang "Happy Birthday" to my dad and decided to go upstairs to have dad open presents. We all went upstairs and had a good time while surprises were given. Then we looked around to discover that Sara was not with us. We realized, in fact, that she hadn't come upstairs at all.

So where could she be? Oh no. Ummm, yes. Mom and I took off running down the stairs with everyone else right behind us. We arrived in the kitchen to discover that Sara had been eating the cake...with her hands. We laughed, and took a couple pictures.

Adventures after Disneyland

If you’re driving all the way to CA, you can’t just go to Disneyland for three days and come home. Okay, you might be able to, but I can’t. There’s an ocean over there, not to mention awesome friends that have moved to CA that need to be visited once in awhile. So, after spending three days at Disneyland (we do have our priorities straight), we spent a day doing “nothing” which means we get to relax. We certainly do stuff but we’re not necessarily on a time schedule. For example, I napped for several hours, trying to recover from walking for three days straight so Matt and my younger boys went down to the pool for a couple hours. That was all they wanted to do that day.

Matt and I had decided we wanted to take the kids to dinner on the pier. Matt looked up the beach towns and found one that’s very public friendly and not the party crowds. Huntington Beach has a Ruby’s Diner out on the edge of the pier over the ocean! SO cool. I wanted to see the sunset over the ocean, so we combined the two. The kids came back from the pool and I had them change into their regular clothes and we all hopped into the van to head to the beach!

We got there and decided to let the kids play in the sand while we watched the sun set. Of course this turned into, “Can I get my feet wet in the ocean.” And then next thing I know, all three of my boys are soaked up to the top of their legs. What was I thinking? “Okay kids, change out of your bathing suits so we can go to the beach and swim in our jeans!” To make matters worse, I hadn’t brought any sand toys or towels. Obviously I’m not well practiced at planning an outing to the beach. In my defense Matt told the kids, “There are six brains among us. She does not have to be the only one to use her brain to realize we need bathing suits and towels.”

The sunset was absolutely pathetic. heavy sigh I was hoping that between the fog and the smog the sunset would be absolutely gorgeous. The fog was very thick out on the ocean, so as the sun went down, it got completely eaten by the fog with no color to light up the rest of the sky. Seriously? Well yes, after all, since I was not prepared to be on the beach, apparently mother nature hadn’t planned to entertain me. We finally got the kids out of the water and walked down the pier to the Diner with three of us dripping wet. I’m surprised they even let us in, but I guess they’ve seen this before. If not, then I’m the only one that has ever brought her family to the beach unprepared.

Anyway, the food was typical diner food, the service was great until we got our food. Then suddenly the place was packed and we didn’t see our server again for ages and had to hunt him down to get refills on drinks, fries, and the check. Ummm, no refills on the check please!

We had planned to spend Friday evening with friends but needed to check out of the resort by noon. We had a few hours to kill (or so we thought) and since the kids had such a good time at the beach we decided to go back. This time we put the kids in their bathing suits and brought towels. Hurray! This time I drove to the beach. We were at the stoplight waiting for a protected left green light when some pedestrians were crossing in front of us. I started hollering at the kids, “Look at that guy, he’s got a shark in a bucket! Look, right there! Do you see him? And that guy has two sharks in his bucket and he can hardly cross the street!” It was one of the oddest sights I’ve ever seen apparently they were fishermen (they had fishing poles, that was the dead give away) and they had already gutted the sharks. They had a look of embarrassed excitement on their faces as they could hardly get those sharks across the street. By the way, these sharks were the ones that have a saw for a nose that’s about four feet long. I seriously wish I would have gotten out of my car and taken a picture of those guys.

Okay, back to our visit to the beach. Elijah’s all excited to get in the ocean and asks, “Is it all chlorinated like the pool?” That’s a big deal at home because Zack and Sara have serious issues with the chlorine affecting their eyes. I thought it was a very funny comment. Matt and I noticed a farmer’s market going on in the parking lot and sent the kids to play in the sand for a few minutes. We bought amazing plums that were larger than your average apple and so juicy! I bought a dragon fruit to try for the first time, and we also bought a photo on canvas of a beautiful sunset on Huntington Beach. That was the sunset I wanted to see. But since I had been to the beach and seen the sunset, I felt like it was a good alternative to the pathetic sunset I saw. Matt and I chipped in our fun money to pay the lady the $45 she was charging and we were very excited to have bought a piece of artwork!

Back on the beach the boys were getting antsy to get into the water. For one hour the boys played in the ocean and battled the waves. Sara sat under and umbrella and read her novel. Matt played in the sand and I wandered between everyone making sure everyone was okay. It was about 65 degrees on the beach, which was wonderful unless you’d been in the ocean. Elijah commented that he wished it was in the middle of the summer and also said, “At the pool you get used to the temperature of the water, but here, you don’t get used to it,” as he stood on the beach sopping wet and shivering.

The time arrived in which we needed to dry off and head towards Bakersfield to a town called Lehiccup, no, Techoo, no, Tehechapi. UGH, I’m really not sure if that’s right. It’s up in the mountains outside of Bakersfield. Anyway, we were headed there to visit my High School friend, Kristin! I haven’t kept in touch with anyone from High School. The interesting thing is that we didn’t go to the same school, but we were in the same ward. So we spent as much time together at church and YW activities and occasionally got together for more fun when possible.

In planning our drive to Tehechapi, we did not take into account that there would be traffic. The GPS said it would take us 3 hours to get there, so that is what we had planned. We got stuck in rush hour traffic for not only L.A., but every other city between L.A., and Tehechapi, adding an hour to our trip. UGH. We’d just get through a major slowdown and get going the speed limit and Matt would say something about being excited that it’s clear sailing from here on out. I told him, “Shhh!” and then around the next corner we’d be at a stand still again. About the third time this happened, Matt said, “Nobody’s ever heard of a traffic jam in the Mojave Desert.” And then around the corner we were at a stand still again. Yes folks, that is because people LIVE in the Mojave Desert. That’s pretty crazy if you ask me.

We stayed the night with Kristin and Todd’s family and had such a good time. Her six kids range from 9 years old down to 2 years old, with a set of twins in there. My teenagers were a bit bored, but my younger boys had such a good time! After joking and laughing for hours, we finally got some sleep. We had delicious pumpkin muffins for breakfast, as well as eggs and sausage. YUM! Then after getting everyone dressed for the day, we packed up what little we’d brought in and left to visit more friends.

Next stop, the Granados family. Now some of you readers happen to know the Granados family! They haven’t changed a bit, except that Jory is 6’2” and the other three kids have grown like crazy as well. Rumor has it that’s what happens when you feed your kids healthy food. Timi has lost a bunch of weight to relieve complications from some serious health problems. She looks great! After visiting for about an hour, we decided to leave the kids at the house and we went on a double date to lunch at their favorite Mexican restaurant. Timi and I both had fajitas and their salsa was delicious! I could eat that stuff all day long. The guys had Mexican food, too. LOL! Oh, right. Matt got his usual favorite, Carne Asada Burrito smothered in Chili Verde. I don’t remember what Nash ate.

As part of our date, we went Walmart hopping. The day before when checking out of the resort, the battery died. A guy that worked at the resort had the nerve to tell me, “I guess you’ll have to call AAA road side assistance.” The thought that went through my head was, “You’re not in Utah anymore, Christy.” I begged the retired couple behind us to help with a jump start. Luckily I carry jumper cables with me. He didn’t even know where his battery was in the engine. Phfftt. To own a sports car. I may never know what that’s like. The van barely started that morning when leaving Kristin’s so we decided to buy a new battery. heavy sigh Well, the first Walmart we went to didn’t have many batteries on the shelf. We headed to another Walmart. This one did have the battery we needed! The cool thing about buying Walmart batteries and the habits our kids have of leaving a light on in the van is that the battery has a 3 year warranty. Without the receipt, the sticker on the battery shows that we bought it two years ago. Woohoo! All I had to pay for the new battery was the core charge fee of $10. I shouldn’t have had to pay that, but they couldn’t figure out how to delete the charge. I’m not complaining!

After finally getting the battery back home and into the van, we decided to take both family’s out for ice cream at DaddyO’s! This is one of those places where you fill your own cup, then dump how ever much topping on top you could possibly want. Then…you pay by weight. This was a particularly fun activity since Timi and I used to go out for ice cream when one of us was having a particularly bad day. Wow, I just used “particularly” twice in one sentence. Anyway, due to dairy issues, Timi and I both resorted to sorbet, but it was yummy and a good time was had by all.

It was time to hit the road and come home. The day before, Matt and I discussed the difficulty of driving all the way home after spending so much of the day visiting with friends. We decided it would be helpful to stop in Las Vegas for the night instead of driving straight through. Luckily the nice man on the other end of the phone found us a room after someone cancelled so that we’d have a place to stay. Hurray! Another resort! We love those places. This one has three pools and about a dozen buildings as part of the resort and they were booked solid. Crazy. The weather was unseasonably nice so we let the kids play in the pool before hitting the road again the next morning. We milked it for all it was worth and checked out right at noon.

Of course by then the kids were hungry. Feeling tapped out financially, we weighed our options and decided to eat at a Del Taco just up the road. I was so excited! We got six tacos, six bean burritos, and 4 little cheesecake tasters for $12. Wow! That’s the cheapest meal we’ve eaten out in ages. Each person ate a taco and a bean and cheese burrito. Then I started to have second thoughts about this decision of a cheap lunch stock full of beans. We would be in the car for probably seven hours; in close quarters with fully digested beans. To make matters worse, we hit UEA traffic driving through Utah! Then there was an accident in Spanish Fork and we crept along the highway for quite awhile until we passed it. Yes, those beans did come back to haunt us. Enough said. My travel tip to you, eat more tacos, not burritos if Del Taco is your meal of choice during a road trip.

After walking for three days straight and sleeping in beds that were not my own, doing laundry in tiny loads at the resort and trying to be frugal while having a good time, I was so very grateful to be home and sleep in my own bed again! That is until reality hit at 5am when the alarm went off. Time to cook for the kids and get Sara out the door to early morning seminary. So much fun.