Day 5, Aebelskivers and Mom's boxes

Today started out with a great breakfast at a delicious mom and pop restaurant called the “Old European.” If you are ever in Pullman, make sure you check out this cute little place: Friendly service and terrific food. The website is http://www.oldeuropean-restaurant.com/ . We then delivered THE BOXES. Anyone who knows my family well, knows these boxes are sort of a fixture. My mom took them everywhere with her – all 40 of them. Since then, we have storing them until we could get them to my DS-J’s house. The rest of the day was spent at Kamiak Buttes; a beautiful park outside Pullman. We had a delicious BBQ with my Aunt S, my DS-J and her daughter, "Niece N". After the yummy food, we headed off for another Wal-Mart along our path.

Day 3 & 4, Saturday & Sunday

Today we took the kids down to BYU to look around. It is always fun to go back and see how the campus has changed. We made sure to make all the stops, the bookstore, Cougar Eat, and bowling alley. We ran out of time or we would have made it to the creamery too. We topped off the night with DH and me joining SIL-S and DB-R at a Brazilian restaurant in celebration of his birthday.
Sunday was spent traveling 11 hours to Pullman, Washington. I think we listened to every John Bytheway CD that has been made. Finally, we were at our destination. We stayed the night in a little RV park.

Day 2, A picture is worth 1000 words!

I guess day two was actually still day one, at least it felt like it. We spent the day with my brother, DB-R’s family. We had a lot of fun watching the kids play on the waterslide DB-R had. The pictures can say much more than I can.

"Niece A", such a sweet girl, really got into the sliding.

Of course, everyone had to show off…
"Nephew J" and R were no different.

"Niece W" is ready to go

On the count of 3, T!

"Niece R" is even graceful down the slide!

B and "Niece J" are much more careful in their execution of the "slide"

I certainly couldn't leave this blog without sharing this picture of my DB-R. EWWWW! now that is NOT water! We made the kids bathe later!




Last but not least... R and the worm. No, he didn't really eat it.

The Circle of Life

It happens to the best of us. We grow up saying there is no chance in a million we are ever going to be like our parents. We are going to do everything different and better. Of course, we all mean it.

Today I have made a discovery... I am just like my mom.

My mom was what one could call a "spit-fire" personality. She had big dreams, grand ideas and strong opinions. My mom would wear the family out by taking our pictures until we thought we were all going to die. She loved genealogy and would be working on it ALL the time. We would go on grand road trips as a family and she would talk about how someday she would like to have a motor home to make the trip even better. When my mom passed away just over two years ago, it was as if I forgot about all the things that annoyed me -- and embraced each one of those.

We began our 2008 road trip yesterday. Last year we hit several states while seeing Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone. This year, we are driving up to the Northwest, through Utah, then back home by way of the Oregon Coast. Evidently I wanted my children to experience all the fun memories a family can create by locking themselves in a small space for 10 days.

We packed up my mom's family history files (about 35 - 40) boxes to take to my sister in Washington. I have recently become obsessed with genealogy myself and these volumes of history fascinate me.

So, as I sit here at our first vacation stop, taking an annoyingly large amount of pictures of my family, I think about the family history boxes piled up in our rented RV and think... I am just like my mom.

Day 1, A little sleep, PLEASE

Originally we had planned to leave on Friday, but anxious to get a jump start on the many miles of driving, we headed out Thursday evening at 6:00 pm. I figured we would travel to Flagstaff then pull over in the nearest Wal-Mart. (Wal-Marts allow RV’s to stay overnight) When we got to Flagstaff, DH wasn’t tired and so we kept going. While he drove, I worked on getting the kids to bed. The plan was that B would sleep with Hubby and me, giving each of the boys a place of their own to sleep. About 2 hours after I had finally wrestled the kids to bed, DH pulled over at a Wal-Mart in Page. It was crowded. There were a lot of RV’s already there, so we found what we thought was the best spot. We carefully got ready for bed, trying hard not to wake our children or disturb the neighbors.
No sooner had we settled in for quiet night, when B decided she wanted to play. When we tried to get her to settle down, her playfulness turned into all out screaming. That went on for a couple hours when we decided to continue driving. If we were going to be awake anyway, we might as well be on the move. I worked on getting B and the rest of the kids settled back down and DH drove. At 5AM he couldn’t continue so he pulled over for some shut-eye as the sun was rising. Just as Hubby lay down, T woke up and in the sweetest voice possible, said; “oh, it’s time to wake up?” After that, all the kids woke up. Somehow we made it to our destination safely and DH was able to get a decent amount of rest.

Road Trip 2008

So this year for our summer vacation we decided to tour the Pacific Northwest. We planned to venture up to Washington through Utah. We would visit my brother and his family there. After that, we would stop in Pullman, Washington to visit my sister and deliver a ridiculous amount of family history files, left by my mom. After that we planned to head to the Oregon Coast via Mount Rainier and then head down through California. We rented a 35 foot RV for the trip and loaded up… here is what happened.

The Division of Labor

So I decided this summer I was going to give each of my boys their own laundry day. I would show them the proper settings to use, how to put the soap in the washing machine, and how to sort colors. Of course for the younger boys, I would start the machines for them. This was a great plan. In fact, if you were to come over to my house, you would see, still posted on the refrigerator, this amazing plan.

We started out with a bang, as all good plans do. I felt proud that I was helping my boys learn this important skill. We kept this up for about a week and a half.

I noticed, during the second week, that the washing machine was leaking water. Literally POURING from the machine. I was so frustrated. It seemed every time I decided to have the kids help with laundry, the machine would break. (this is our 5th washing machine in 15 years of marriage) Hmmm, is there a trend here? Kids do laundry, washing machine breaks.

I called the repair guy and began to investigate. The drum looked like it was out of place but other than that, I couldn't find anything wrong, so I reset the machine and started another load. Same thing happened. Water poured everywhere.

I looked again. This time I found what was causing the problem. The agitation of the drum must have shifted stuff around for me to see it.

I proceeded to pull from my washing machine one of B's favorite potty board books, a Canadian flag, a dirty diaper (so gross), a couple rocks and various other "non laundry" items.

Yup. That was it. I wasn't surprised to find that my washer worked fine once all these items were removed. I still had the repair guy come out to look at the machine to make sure there was no permanent damage. Thankfully there wasn't.

You know, our warranty states that damage from "normal wear and tear" is covered, but not misuse. I am under the impression that the writers of this warranty didn't understand that for a family like mine, THIS IS normal wear and tear.

Needless to say, I am back to doing all the laundry. Do you think the boys planned this?

In The Year 2016

Pokemon, for a young boy, is like air. They have to have it. The cards, the cartoons, the shirts... they know each Pokemon, its individual powers, who it can defeat and on and on. Pokemon cartoons and video games excite their imagination. The Pokemon card game makes collecting fun and allows the boys to compete by having their individual Pokemon battle each other.

A while ago, I overheard R and T whispering excitedly about something. They were saying names I recognized from Pokemon and talking about which one they would have. I didn't think too much of it, because my boys seem to always be talking about Pokemon. I casually asked them about what they were discussing, expecting the usual answer.

R and T told me that they were talking about which Pokemon's they would be able to get, how powerful they were, basically strategizing on who should obtain what. Imagine my surprise when I realized they were not talking about CARDS.

They proceeded to explain that the President said that Pokemon would be real when they are 14 and 17. Somehow, I had missed this little piece of news, so I asked them who their source was. Just as I had expected, it was J. He had told them he had written a letter to the President of the United States asking him to let scientists begin researching the possibility of making them come to life. Evidently the President had responded personally to J and told him the research had already begun and live Pokemon would arrive in the year 2016.

What an imagination!

I wish I was kidding!

I have definitely underestimated the amount of laundry one family can accumulate. I can wash and fold all day long and by the end of the day, the laundry has overrun the laundry room again. Quite often, I wash, dry and toss the clean cloths on the counter until I have time to fold them. This was a particularly bad laundry week. You know the type, "everything is finally done, then the family comes down with the stomach flu" laundry week. Or, perhaps it was fueled by too much water at bedtime... either way, I had a TON of laundry. Aside from the piles on the floor, the clean laundry was overly stacked. Just take a look for yourself!

Do you ever feel like the laundry has a life of its own?

Cooling Off in Arizona

There are three words an Arizonan must learn: Sun, Sunny and Sunburn. It is hot here. And when I say hot, I don't mean "get in the shade and drink a lemonade so you cool down" hot... I mean HOT. In a place where it is not unusual to see 115 degrees Fahrenheit, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is 110 IN THE SHADE.

So, we desert rats, find ways of cooling down. Swimming, staying inside, riding in our cars with the A/C blasting and ice packs behind our backs or under our hind end. There are many ways to cool off. On this particular day, we chose the front yard sprinklers. This was B's first time to run through and she was scared. She let her brothers hold her at first and then later got enough courage to run through holding their hand. Still her bravery wained a couple times and she had to be rescued by her brothers.

Of course, everyone had to do a little showing off as well. Enjoy the photos.

Love Language

As a mom, I am always trying to figure out what my children are saying. I have to learn that "roock" means "milk", "stampler" means "stapler", "carricoo" means "please pick me up this very second!" Children are always speaking their own language. It is up to me, as their mother, to understand it.

I have often noticed how my DH shows his love, which is abundant. I have rarely focused on the ways my children show their love. But, when I stop to think about the ways they tell me they love me, I am always touched.

Each child has their own way of showing me. For S, it may be cleaning the house after I go to bed or being my "go-to" guy. For J, its remembering to get my favorite candy bar at the store or giving me a hug when I need it. R is always by my side if I am ill, getting me drinks, keeping me company. T collects flowers for me (and leaves, grass, weeds -- pretty much anything that grows :)) He also likes to pick stuff up for me so I don't have to "bend my back". And B, well I know she isn't even two yet, but I am certain her way of showing love is how she doesn't break eye contact when I rock her. Or how she reaches for me with open arms and says "Mommeeeeeeeeee"

I need to do a better job at focusing on my children's different love language, and maybe speak it right back to them. After all, don't we all show love the way we would like to receive it?

What is your love language?

Time to Blog

Many years ago, when the Internet was invented, there were many who resisted change. Many who liked the old way of doing things. Some even refused to get email addresses in hopes of resisting the trend. I was NOT one of those people. I embraced the Internet and was one of the first ones on (think Prodigy days). Now that Blogs are all the rage -- or at least have been for a while -- I find myself resiting the trend. Why can't we stick to just old fashioned emails? Well, after much pushing and persistence on the part of my dear sister, I have revived an old blog I started long ago. It is my hope to actually keep it going. After all, its like keeping a journal right??

Welcome to my Blog. I will be posting my motherhood stories here as time passes. If you remember a story I have told you and don't see it here, feel free to remind me. :)