Painting story

January of 2009 my life was disrupted by painters. It was such a stressful event that I wasn't able to share it at first. So here is our story, or at least bits of it.

We finally decided to get the whole interior of the house painted. It does look amazing, by the way, and completely changes the feeling of the house. When I see pictures of our house with all white walls it makes me want to barf.

As most of you know having someone in your house working all day is very disruptive to your life. I also made them lunch everyday so that they wouldn't leave and could work as much as possible, because I wanted then OUT OF MY HOUSE. I do not like trying to think of something different to make for lunch everyday. These were very nice men and one nice woman prep worker/cleaner, we will call them Jose, Carlos, and Maria (I really don't remember their names, so I don't know if I'm protecting their identities or not). They worked for my brother-in-law, who is the owner of The Painting Business. My bro-in-law does really amazing work himself, his workers do good enough work. Anyway, I was under an enormous amount of stress having them here everyday. I was also doing most of the prep work, another ploy at getting them out of the house sooner rather than later. The predicted 2 week job ended up taking 4.:(

Out of it we received beautifully colored walls and this one shocking story. One day I had been prepping the basement and then had to leave to go pick up kids from school and take a child for shots, so I was out of the house for a little longer than usual. When I was back home I went downstairs to start working again. As I rounded the corner I discovered in the alcove under the stairs Carlos and Maria totally going at it. He was laying on top of her and... yeah. I AM NOT KIDDING!!! (They did still have clothes on.) I was shocked, totally frozen in shock. Well, they immediately stopped and started apologizing and then asked what I needed. I said I was going to finish the prep work and they assured me they would take care of it. I quickly about faced and walked up the stairs. I was FREAKING OUT!! Kenneth wasn't home yet and I had to get it out of my head by telling someone. I walked across the park to my friend Jenn's house and told her and then waited for the workers to leave my house. I'm a coward. By the way, Maria never came back.

I didn't know what to do. Should I tell my bro-in-law immediately? At this point I was not willing to knowingly cause any lengthening in the process of painting my house. So I chose not to tell until after they were finished. Is that wrong? I did tell my one sister who had just had her house painted by them as well. She told me that she knew that Maria and Carlos liked each other, but Maria was married, but separated. Shocking!

After they were finished I told my bro-in-law. He told me that I should have told him immediately and that he would have made sure the work was finished. I still feel that it was best not to rock the boat at that point. Ending to the story: After the divorce Maria and Carlos started dating legitimately. Maria found out she was pregnant and they soon after were married. Just to think, I was able to witness one of the dry runs for the making of said baby. Lucky me.

And so it goes.

I think many of you know, but there may be some who still do not. We are selling our house. We are starting slow and on our own for right now. It's just up on KSL and no For Sale sign out front. We are currently just seeing what it's like out there in the jungle. If nothing much happens we'll take a step farther and put it up with Media One, which gets us on MLS and gives us a sign in our yard.

It feels somewhat surreal. We have worked so hard this last month since deciding to go for it. I have never been so consistently tired and crazy as I ripped my house apart and slowly put it back together. I think it looks great and now the key is keeping it that way. That's possible with 5 kids and 3 pets, right? I love my house and really want the right family to find it. So, if you know that family let them know that their house is ready.

Our plan right now is to build in the Pleasant Grove area. I remember saying that I would never build again or if I did we would finish everything before we moved in. Well, that's not the plan now. We will move in with an unfinished basement and an unfinished yard. We are hoping this will be our last move and so I'm not feeling a tremendous amount of pressure to get it all done up front.

And so it goes...we'll see what happens.

Pizzer 712 Dinner Club

Kenneth and I love Pizzeria 712. They make excellent food. Yes, their pizzas are delicious, but they make other things that are outstanding as well. Kenneth and I have splurged on their Dinner Club once before and it was amazing. It is a little pricey...usually. This month is yours, and our, lucky month. P712 is doing a special dinner at my sister, Amy's, farm on July 26th and the cost is only $5 a person if you pay in advance. Sweet! It's an awareness dinner for my sister and bro-in-law's farm and their CSA.

I encourage everyone to come and support Amy and Dale and eat some really yummy food. At $5 a person the whole family can come and you can make a night of it, especially because it is on a Monday night. I hope to see you there. Here's the number to call for reservations:  801.623.6712

Bend Left

Last night while chatting I had the idea to do a surprise celebration for Dylan's birthday a day early, with all of his cousins around.

This morning I went out and got a cake for Dylan. I convinced family members to stay around and gathered people up. By 10 we were all packed up and ready to go so we told the kids we were going to say goodbye to everyone. I went down to the house first with all the people and the cake and got it ready for Dylan to come in. When he walked in and we all yelled surprise he was in shock. He went bright red and wanted to hide. Poor kid.

I think he warmed up to the idea when he saw the toys on the cake, the ice cream and the candles. I mistakenly bought those magic relighting candles. I had no idea. Very funny. It was nice that we were able to have a lot of family around to wish him a happy birthday. Sadly, it doesn't mean that he doesn't want cake and ice cream again tomorrow.

After the food it was time to say goodbye and cry. Another 10 1/2 hours and we are home. We've only been gone for 5 days, but it feels so good to be home.

Dylan walks in and we yell.
He is in shock, we can tell.
We ate up the cake.
One I didn't make.
He smiles. We know all is well.

Bend Right

I'm going to speak as if it were yesterday, as yesterday didn't actually end until today at 2am. Thus, know that when I say, "today," I mean Sunday.

Today we went to church at 10, my favorite time for church. I also love going to another ward on fast Sunday. You learn a lot about the ward in a short amount of time.

After church we went home for some quick family pictures. I use the term “quick” loosely. Then we had a delicious hamburger feast.

Next we were heading to a place called Tumalo Falls. You can drive right up to the falls. The whole clan decided to go except for some moms with young kids. It was a challenge to drive caravan style to the falls. There were 8 cars in the line. So, we lost people and drove around in circles, many times. It was amazing that we all ended up at the falls at the same time. It was a really beautiful place. We were able to follow a short trail up to the top of the falls. At one point someone, who shall remain nameless, saw some younger cousins walking along a trail under where this person was standing looking down. So, this said someone, grabbed someone who was a proficient spitter and told that person to spit on the poor kids below. The spitter missed the first two people, but beautifully hit poor Mark. It was awesome. Good times, good times.

Later was fireworks shot off the top of Pilot Butte. We found a viewing spot on a hill and watched. It was cool to watch. I love fireworks. Unfortunately, Orion fell and wanted to go back to the car to get cleaned up. Fortunately we could still see from the car.

We have had really bad sleep hours here because we are always up late talking. We were so tired, so we decided to just go say goodbye to all the clan since everyone was leaving Monday morning and head to bed. We made it through one house fairly quickly. Hugs and promises to see each other more often all around. Then we went to say goodbye to Kenneth's twin uncles who are only 11 years older than he is. They asked us to sit and we did. We didn't leave there until 1:30am and didn't finally get to bed until 2. So tired, so very tired, but so worth it.

We had such a fun time with everyone. Big thanks to Grammy Evie for making it possible for everyone to be there. Big thanks to Mom Rawlings for arranging all the details for all of her kids. Big thanks to Scott who was the reunion guy this time around. I feel so blessed to be a part of the Rawlings clan. They are an amazing family with a lot of wonderful people whom I love to be around.

Tumalo Falls was where we went.

Driving in circles all patience was spent.

Someone spit on Mark's head.

Something we should all dread.

Building relationships was what this time meant.

Bend Backward

This was a pretty relaxed day, nothing too exciting for our little family. I woke up not feeling very well. So while Kenneth and the four oldest went on a hike I took Dylan with me and we went to pick up a prescription. We returned at the exact same time as the hikers. We had lunch and I took a nap.

Then we went to play in the pool. It was a little chilly still, but they sun was out... most of the time. Also, there's always a hot tub when it was too cold.

Back to the house where we had dinner and chatted. Mom Rawlings always prepares wonderful meals.

After eating we headed over to another of the clan's cabins to watch a video of Grammy in a tu-tu. It was funny. Sophia, Theron, Orion and Dylan stayed there and watched Alice in Wonderland while Ian went to babysit so the adults could go see Eclipse. I'm not going to comment on the movie other than to say that this guy, Dan, has really ruined Twilight for me now. After reading his posts I can no longer take the books or movies seriously, but his posts make me laugh a lot.

Today we swam in the pool.
The air outside was still cool.
I slept in my bed.
Eddie ripped off a head.
And Jasper's still such a tool.

Bend Forward

Today was a "Let's do all the fun/crazy traditional reunion games" day. We headed to a park this morning for a picnic and games. It was cold and rainy. That doesn't stop Rawlings. We are all about the challenge. What I love about this family is that most of them are not afraid to get crazy and compete and have some fun. The sun did come out by the time it was game time.

The first game was a three-legged race. I now have some super cool rope bruises from that race. We did not win, but we did not lose, so all is well. My children though, did win. Theron dragged Dylan along and Dylan did not fall down and so they won.

Next was that super, SUPER, awkward game where you pass an orange from person to person under chins. Have you seen this game? It is so excessively embarrassing and seemingly inappropriate when applied to married people, siblings and for some, near strangers. This clip is from one of my favorite movies, Charade. This is basically what we were doing. Some were able to avoid too much inappropriate touching and others were not so lucky. It was hilarious and crazy. I was so embarrassed. I'm sure my face was bright red and I kept screaming that this was not okay. We did it anyway.



Next was men's tug-of-war and women's shoe kicking. Kenneth's team won twice on the tug-of-war and I did not kick my shoe far.

Next was whistling after eating crackers. I can't whistle well without eating crackers let alone with them in my mouth. Funny and messy.

I won the jellybean guessing contest. I may have screamed like a lunatic when I won. I might need to work on my good winner skills again. I did share them, that counts for something right?

Tonight we went to dinner with the whole family. We were the only party in the restaurant and it was a BIG group. We were celebrating Kenneth's Grammy's 90th b-day. This woman is amazing. She has lived an amazing life. She is one of the strongest women I've ever known. She is still healthy and going strong.

I am happy to be a part of this family. It's been great getting reacquainted with them and having fun with them.

The Rawlings, not one is the same.
We went to the park to play games.
An orange under the chin.
You pass it to win.
Don't drop it or names will be named.

Bend

photo courtesy of gonorthwest.com 

It's not a command, it's just a suggestion. I'm blogging from Bend, OR tonight. We are here for the reunion of the Doc and Evelyn Rawlings Family. Fun times, fun times.

The best part of the day was hugging Orion after not seeing him for 3 weeks. He had a wonderful time with Nana and crew, but I'm so glad he's back with us.

I'm tired and since you've heard the stories of our driving days refer to Day 16 of the previous traveling post to see what today was like if you are unfamiliar with our driving style. This day was a much more leisurely pace though with a drive of only 10 1/2 hours and only one stop, sweet.

Since I wore out my use of the simple haiku last time around, this time I will dazzle you with my prowess in limericks. Yes, you read that correctly. This will be my first limerick outside of English class back in the last century. Here goes.

My family, we drove very far.
We drove very far in the car.
Drove to Oregon's Bend.
Oh, when will this end?
Just kidding, hardy har har.

And the winner is...

#3

 Congratulations, Aenea Westbrooks.


Since I had told Kenneth the people who had commented I felt that he was no longer random enough. So standing in line at TJ Maxx today I turned to Theron and said, "Pick a number between 1 & 4. It can be 1, 2, 3, or 4." He picked 3. Then he was wondering if he won something. Yes, he won an all expense paid trip to TJ Maxx. Lucky kid.

Aenea, I will drive the prize package to you in a few weeks. Hopefully you have enough space for it.:)

My first giveaway.

I am giving away...

Stampin' Up Stuff!!

woot-woot! 

Here's what this amazing prize package contains:
Eyelets
Fancy Fibers
Classic Stampin' Pad in True Thyme
Stamp Set: To You & Yours
Stamp Set: Happy for you
On Board Something Seasonal

So seriously, I won this stuff at a raffle at the Pony Express 5k, which Ian, Amber Baker and I ran in on Saturday the 5th. We rocked it. Anyway, I ended up winning a bag of, what I'm assuming is card making stuff. Clearly I do no participate in this kind of activity, the card making or scrapbooking type of activity. So instead of sticking it in a box in my storage, never to see the light of day again until I decide to DI it, I decided to give it away to a very deserving reader. That reader could be you. 

All you need to do to win is live within an hour of Utah County. That's how far I'm willing to drive. If you live outside of Utah and would like a chance to win, then you either have to pay for shipping or I can hold onto the stuff until you come to Utah next. 

Next, you must leave a comment telling me about your exciting plans for this summer. The contest will run until Wednesday at midnight. Then a winner will be randomly chosen as I count the number of comments and then turn to Kenneth and say, "Pick a number between 1 and --. Then we will have our winner. I will let you know who that is on Thursday. Yay, all very exciting. Good Luck! 
 

Fly Away

This was Orion's year to leave us for his first foray into time away from parents for an extended period of time. Off to Seattle, drive to Canada, spend a week, drive back to Seattle and then down to Medford, OR, spend a few weeks there and then up to Bend, OR., where we will meet him. Luckily, as you all know, a lot of driving is cake to this kid.

He was super excited; I was a little wary. I don't like sending my child away. I know he will love it and I know he really wanted to go. He was so sweet, as we were packing he came up to me and put his arms around me and said, "I'm going to miss you." I think he was doing it just to be nice to me, but it felt great. He was able to fly last year, so at least that was not new to him. He was very cool about it all. There was another unaccompanied minor flying with him. That always makes me feel a little better. They did sit together, but he said they didn't speak until the plane was preparing for landing. So funny. He was busy with his DS and she was busy with her iPod... modern kids.

We spoke the morning after he arrived and he seemed very happy to be there. This year is different because he will have cousins from North Carolina there with him. He felt so lucky to be able to spend more time with them.

Thanks to Nana and Opah for taking him on. We will really miss him here, especially his best friend/worst enemy, Dylan.

How much pure joy can 48 inches hold?

It's a lot. This year was THE year. Dylan is now tall enough to ride all the rides at the water park. He is crazy and if I would have let him he would have done all the scary rides by himself. You know, the several story drop ones? I told him that he needs at least another year before I let him do those.

His first big slide was Shotgun Falls, a tube ride with a few drops where you can get some air. He loved it and his face was priceless when we were finished. We also did Boomerang, which is the scariest slide in the park. I was super nervous to go with him and I'm a screamer. He didn't make a sound. That scared me because I thought he must be too terrified to even speak. Wrong, he loved it! We went straight to the next one, Vortex. It's fun, but not too scary. He really was so incredibly happy to be tall enough to ride and it makes it so much nicer for all of us now that one of us isn't stuck in the kiddie pool. It was a fun day for the whole family.

A Year Supply of Chocolate!!

Amano Chocolate is having a contest to win a year's supply of chocolate worth $830. You may remember I mentioned Amano in this post. All you have to do to win it is guess the origin of their newest cocoa bean.

 *Photos by Amano Artisan Chocolate

Not an easy thing when you realize that they currently have beans from Venezuela, Bali, Madagascar and Ecuador just to name a few of the exotic locals where their tasty beans grow. You have 24 choices of countries to choose from for your guess. I would suggest that you find 24 friends, each guess a country and then split the chocolate when one of you wins. Your share would be 2 bars in the year of chocolate. Hey, it's better than nothing. Amano is wonderful chocolate. You should treat yourself to a bar sometime. You can find them on the Amano website or at Pirate-O's in Draper.

A home to raise my little chicks, I mean kids, I mean children.

I have a beautiful home, not amazing, but I really do love it. I wouldn't mind some extra storage, but I think I have some work arounds that I will be putting into play in the next year or so, such as lockers for the kids stuff and closet organization plans.

There was a time when I wanted to move because it was so hard to live this far from civilization, but over the ten years we've been here a lot of civilization has moved to us, that is if you consider 5 or so banks in a two block radius civilization. There are still reasons I have to go into "town" every week, but it usually doesn't bother me too much, usually.

There was a time when I wanted to move because of my actual house. That was before the basement was finished and we were living with 7 people in 3 bedrooms and a dirt yard. When we finished the basement and added landscaping to the backyard, it became much more livable.

Now we are here at this time. Now, before you all get in an uproar I'm not saying I'm moving. As you can see from the above I've wanted to move a lot, usually yearly, but I don't. There have been many reasons for wanting to move. In the last few years though it has settled down to basically one reason. Is this where I want to raise my kids? This area is an amazing place to raise little kids. They have lots of friends and there are lots of parks. Also, I would be so sad to leave the charter elementary school. We are now moving into a phase of not so little kids anymore though. So I'm thinking:  Is this the jr. high/high school I want my kids to attend? I start looking at the demographics of the teenage population and get a wee bit concerned.

It's not so much about the house itself for me anymore. Other than the fact that we are getting to a point where I want to be settled down basically until we retire. I want to be in a home where I can raise my kids for good. Where they can graduate high school, go on a mission/school and return to the same house.

Even though we have lived here for 10 years my kids have not really had kids they have grown up with due to the fact that the area is so transitory. Luckily Ian and Sophia have both had 1 friend each that has been here the whole time, but the other 3 have not. So it's not like they would be leaving a lot of people behind.

Kenneth wants our next house to have more land. He wants to try his hand at little goats and I want to try chickens and we would like more garden space. Land costs money. Did you know? It does, especially in this high density desert. We want a nice house to go along with that land, not a mansion, just a nice, newer (as in less than 20 years old) house. That also costs money.

We are in a really nice place right now as far as our mortgage goes. We are actually paying huge chunks of principle right now, we get to see our mortgage go down every month. It's a very satisfying feeling. We could pay this house off in 5-7 years. 5 years if we paid extra and 7 years if we just paid what we are currently paying. That is very exciting.

However, by that time Ian would be leaving on his mission or just getting back, Sophia would be a junior or away at school, Theron would be a sophomore or a senior in high school, Orion an 8th grader or a sophomore and Dylan a 6th grader or an 8th grader. So we run into the problem of taking the kids away from what they've known their whole life at that point.

So then I would just want to stay here. There's nothing wrong with that. We just wouldn't have more land or a bigger house. No chickens, goats or bigger garden and really tight family get togethers as kids start marrying and reproducing. There's nothing wrong with that. I know people who grew up in tiny houses with lots of kids and their parents still live there. I really have no problem with that. I just feel that right now is the time to decide if we are going to move.

Ian will be in 9th, but he was home schooled last year and has attending 6 schools thus far, so he doesn't really have loyalty to any. Sophia will be in 7th so this would be a fairly good time to change. Theron will be in 5th, Orion in 3rd and Dylan in 1st so they would all be good as well.

Then there's the fact that I helped several people move last year and it does not look fun, so part of me just wants to stay here and never leave. I don't want to get my house ready to sell, I don't want to pack anything and I don't want to move and unpack. See? This is seriously so confusing. I have no idea what to do. It makes sense to move, it makes sense to stay. Looking at it logically from all angles:  kids, paying off a house, teenage population, and schools what do you think?

Leaving your mark on the world.

You know if you have kids that they love to mark their territory. I've cleaned more crayon off walls and marker off of faces than I like to recall. With my youngest being 6 I like to think that those days are behind me. I know that's not true as I still find little pictures from my 8 year old every once in a while. And Dylan did start young as you can see.

A few nights ago we found some beautiful signatures from Dylan in the backyard. That's right, it couldn't be done with something like sidewalk chalk, that would be too easy. Where did the marker we found in the backyard come from? No idea. He found it and proceeded to tattoo the picnic table, the plastic chairs, the railing, the a/c and most large and beautiful, the patio.

I really can't get myself very excited about such things anymore. Irritated and frustrated, yes, but not really angry. More like a mild indigestion and a surrender to the inevitable. I own nothing that is perfect and that's just the way it is for a large family with animals. Cat scratches on the leather couch, dog chew marks on the wood cabinets, marker and pen on everything, a heat ring and scratches on my beautiful table, every plate chipped(not kidding), dings in walls, stains on floors, and now Dylan on the patio, just to name a few.

If we had perfect stuff then I would have to assume that we were doing something wrong. The "stuff" is not what is important. The lesson of scrubbing a patio is what is important. The stains and marks let you know that a family of boys lives here, and one perfectly tidy girl, and that we value them, since they are still alive after all of that destruction. Bless 'em.

 

Beautiful post from my niece.

I have a darling niece who is also a very talented writer. I'm so proud to say I'm related to her. I'm also very pleased by the good job my sister obviously did in raising her. Here's the post that Haley wrote today. 

Pinewood Derby 2010

Theron and Orion both competed this year in the pinewood derby. I have such mixed feelings about this race. The boys are so excited and they love the extra time they get to spend with Dad getting their cars ready. I hate that I'm bugging Kenneth about it a month before the race and that the night of the weigh-in they are still putting the finishing touches on. Drives me crazy!!! Kenneth does do an excellent job though. Look how pretty and sleek these cars are. The kids do get to pick out the colors and approximate shape of the cars, they are also allowed to sand the cars.

Let's skip to the good news:  Theron received Best Sportsmanship for the WEBELOS den and Orion took 1st place in the pinewood derby.

Now for the bad news:  I focused on the fact that Theron actually did something to win his award and Orion didn't really do anything, since Kenneth makes the cars, and the fact that Orion had the worst sportsmanship ever. Orion would yell and point after a race, "I beat you!" Then during a race when other kids were saying things like, "Go Orion, go me, go Orion, go me, " Orion just said, "Go me, go me, go me." I'm sure no one other than his mother noticed, right? Please, let that be right. I was not happy.

 (Theron's car is second from the right.)

(Orion's car is second from the left)

I'm sorry that I didn't get super excited about Orion winning, because then he felt like he couldn't be really excited about winning. Which is sad, because every kid should hold on to their wins. Bad mommy.

I wonder where he gets his poor winning skills? I'm sure it's not from me who says things like, "Oh, I beat you, that's a bummer," while making a fake sad face when we are guessing how much the gas fill-up is going to cost. Come on, I only do that with my kids and never in front of other people. Kenneth might have some other examples of when I wasn't the best winner. So that's weird that Orion's not a better winner. I'm thinking maybe I should be modeling good winning skills as well as good losing skills. Crap. I do love a good gloat.

Spring brings...

The last week has been a great example of spring in Utah. 70's to 50's in a few short days and then back again. Rain drizzling, pouring, pounding, spitting, misting, all forms. Wind breezing, whispering, blowing, roaring, caressing, and nothing. Sun hiding behind clouds, glaring down, shining gently, warming, burning. Green grass, leaves, plants ready to bloom. Flowers on trees, in the ground, in baskets and pots. I do love rain, and I do love how it allows the desert to bloom. I'm really yearning for a longer stretch of sun and warmth though, but please not too hot.:)

Some things I love in my yard:  rhubarb, lilacs, peonies, day lilies, my flower baskets.

My rhubarb is awesome and it's beautiful and big. I love that it is ready to harvest before June.

We enjoyed our first rhubarb dessert of the season on Monday.

My lilacs are blooming for the first time ever. My neighbor and I planted 3 lilac "sticks" 3-4 years ago between our houses. 2 died and the one that lived has not flowered until this year. I love lilacs, they are one of my favorite smells of spring. So maybe in 10 years it will be big enough for me to cut some for inside.

I really need to learn how to properly grow peonies. I'm sure they hate my soil. Mine are pathetic, but I love them just the same. Last year I had 2 blooms and this year it looks like I might have 5, sometimes they bud, but don't bloom.

This is after 5 years with these 3 sad bushes.

Wow, day lilies are amazing. They are the perfect flower for the desert. They get bigger every year and are super stable.

They explode into green bushes and then erupt with yellow flowers in the summer. Can you see those tiny buds?

My baskets and pots. They are my Mother's Day gift every year because they aren't cheap, but they are so worth it. They are gorgeous and keep my front porch lovely all summer.

You may have noticed the other green going on around my plants. Bindweed, my nemesis. I'm trying a new thing this year where I let it grow a while so it gets established a bit and then spray or paint the leaves with Roundup. I heard that will work and is one of the ways to really get to the roots. I'll let you know how it works. I'm really itching to pull it right now. I'm waiting for a sunny, not to windy day to go to town on them.

What are your favorite things in your yard that spring brings?

A husband who cooks? Check.

I don't remember having it on "my list," but having a man that can cook is very nice. Kenneth cooks. He is a chef. He doesn't do it often, but I love it when he does. I usually just step back and tell him to make me whatever he wants. It's always amazing. He makes things like artisan breads, risotto, french omelets, and chocolate souffles. You thought I was kidding about him being a chef, didn't you?

This year for Mother's Day he decided to mix up some old and new things. The old being the traditional French omelet for breakfast seasoned with fresh chives and tarragon.

One new thing is the artisan bread. For lunch we had some slices of his artisan wheat bread toasted, with a little olive oil drizzled on and some Creminelli Casalingo salami.

For dinner he made a pancetta bread. Pancetta is like bacon, so you know I love it. Seriously, the bread was so good. Then we had gnocchi with an Italian sausage sauce. Come on, bacon and sausage in one dinner? Are you kidding me? Heaven.

For dessert we had a mango ginger white stilton cheese on Anna's orange flavored thin cookies. Tasty. You might be wondering where's the chocolate? Jennifer can't have a holiday about herself with no chocolate. You would be correct. Friday we stopped by Pirate O's in Draper and picked up some Amano chocolate and some Tim Tams. I am now in love with Tim Tams. I was already in love with Amano chocolate as we have experienced it at Pizzeria 712 and Communal restaurants. This was the first time that we bought it in bar form though, very nice.

Needless to say I am pretty spoiled when it comes to my meals on Mother's day and my birthday. Now if he would just do it more than 2 times a year.;)

Mother of the future

Who I thought I would be:

A mother of maybe 2, after all there's no way to give kids the attention they really need if you have more than that, right?

I was going to be well schooled, and well traveled.

I would have my Phd. and a husband who would willingly wear a suit.

I would drive a hot car and know how to drive a motorcycle.

We would live in an adorable cottage in Virginia, because I was going to teach at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.

What makes me laugh most about this fantasy is that I thought about only having 2 kids because of the attention they deserved. You can see pretty clearly that the story fairly screams, "Everything is about me!" I don't know when I would have had time to give those tiny little model babies any of my attention. I'm pretty sure I would be busy trying to get tenure and traveling the world.

What I am:

A mother of 5 amazingly real kids. I try to give them the attention they need. I hope they know that they are adored.  I am so happy I am a mother. I love it more the longer I do it. I am so blessed to be doing what I am doing.

I have never stopped learning, but as far as schooling I currently have an associates degree in General. I plan on getting my bachelors degree in General as well and if I could be a Doctor of General Studies you had better believe I would do it. For now I just keep learning. Wow, I've read a lot of parenting, diet, marriage, exercise, gospel, gardening, home care books and too many other topics to list. Yes, and a lot of novels and magazines. Also, the internet has brought me endless immediate knowledge. I love knowledge.

Travel? I've been to Canada. I did get my passport last year. It's not traveled anywhere yet, but it has big plans. It said I could come with. I usually travel with my expert traveling family in the car and I hope to be doing that for a long time to come.

Husband in a suit... not in many, many years. I met Kenneth right after his mission, so he still wore a suit every Sunday. You know how that is, ladies. Guys look hot in a suit. I'm sorry if it's not the most comfortable thing in the world, but that does not change the fact that they look hot. Come on, like women don't wear uncomfortable things to look nice? Kenneth says that someday he will wear a suit, but it will be an Armani. Fine by me. May that day come before I'm dead and he's just buying the suit to wear to my funeral.

Hot car. Well, in the middle of the summer, before the a/c kicks in, it is a pretty dang hot car. To look at though, it looks pretty much like every other minivan in the world. I am so grateful to have it though and love how it is comfortable to drive and so powerful and holds all of us.

Kenneth really wants a motorcycle. He would like to drive around the country on a motorcycle. I guess I would like a drive through the mountains every once in a while. But when he says country he means the USA. I'm really looking more for comfort now. I'll take the RV or the plane and the Marriott would be even better.

I live in the DESERT. I know there are people who actually love it, but for me I long for green things and not such extreme seasons. Yet, here I live, not in Virginia and not even someplace with full grown trees.

I am a teacher, not a professor and definitely no one calls me Dr., though I wish they would. I've done more teaching in the last 14 years than I ever thought possible. Wow, when does it stop? Never? I'm okay with that.

When I compare the two lives I feel sad for the first. What a wasted life Dr. Pelo-Awesome would have led. I'm sure she was still a worthwhile person, but a little too superior and into herself for my tastes. I'm so glad that she was laid to rest lovingly in 1994 and reborn as Jennifer Rawlings, mother of 5, wife to non-suit wearing Kenneth and official Phd. to none... yet.

Things that made our trip possible.

We've been home for a month now, but I'm just barely starting to feel normal. It was a challenge to come back to the cold. I thought by the time we got back the weather would be better, but alas, not so. A cashier in the store on Saturday asked if I grew up in Utah. When I said I had, he said that I must be used to this crazy weather. Never, I'm never used to it. 

I finally went back and put pictures with the vacation posts. 

I just want to give a quick shout out to some things, or person, that, or who, made it possible for us to leave for 2 weeks.

First, our car. She is ten years old this year. This is not an actual picture of her because I am to lazy to go out and take a picture and import it and upload it. That makes me tired just typing it. She is comfortable and reliable. She carried us well over 4,000 miles over that 2 week period. I so love her and wish her a long stable life. Here's to another 10 years.

Second, this Homemedics back massager. I am usually not the driver and driving 4 hours is usually my limit all in one stretch, unless I'm driving with someone who will talk to me (Colleen). I really wanted Kenneth to finish his book before we returned home so I wanted to drive as long as that took. It took about 6 hours and this baby kept me going, for sure. It really helped Kenneth throughout the drive as well. It was so worth the money. $10 on clearance.:-)

Third, my eee pc. Kenneth loaded a bunch of movies on this and we have a tape adapter for the stereo system and so we were super set. No more bulky dvd's. Also, I could type up my blog posts while we were driving so that when we pulled into the hotel I just had to connect and post.

Fourth, Chelsea Pratt. She took care of our animals for us, making it possible to travel without worrying about their safety and care. She even brought Mitzi over to her family's house to hang out sometimes. Her little sister, Zoe, fell in love with Mitzi. Thanks, Chelsea, so much. Isn't she so beautiful? She's single.;-)

Day 16: Trippin' out with the Rawlings

Home sweet home. We made awesome time today. We made it in 14 hours. That's almost a normal amount of driving for a day. It's amazing what we can do when it's not blowing snow.

We did some fun things today. We sang some songs, well, mostly me, and Kenneth and I did some brain teaser puzzles together. We are so good together.

I definitely had some mixed feelings about coming home. I will really miss the spring of the east. Spring here is crazy.

Here's a conversation with Dylan that pretty much sums up my feelings for some of the areas that we drove through today. We were in Nebraska.

Dylan: Who lives here?
Me: I don't know, obviously some very special people.
Dylan: No, I mean in this area. (gesturing to the surrounding barren land)
Me: I really don't know.
Dylan: Maybe people who don't know what they're doing.

I'm thinking he's probably right.

Well, it was a great trip. I'm so grateful that we were able to do this as a family and for so long. I'm so glad that everyone did so well. There were some great memories made and now I must sleep.

Haiku to this day:
Too many haikus.
I'm not very good at them.
I write them anyway.

Day 15: Trippin' out with the Rawlings

Driving. What can I say that I haven't said before? Read day 2 but in reverse and that's pretty much it. However, the weather was way better. I prefer traveling in cloudy weather, but today was bright and sunny which is better than super rainy and foggy. I did drive for 6 hours today so Kenneth could finish his book. It was so insanely boring for me because Kenneth was reading. Other times when I'm driving he is sleeping, so essentially not interactive. It is however the time I get to listen to the music that I can sing to. Today it was Imogen Heap, Ingrid Michaelson, The Beatles and High School Musical(s). He did do a good job at getting the kids and me food and changing my music for me.

One good thing about traveling west is we got one of the hours back that we lost on the way out. One bad thing is that for the last part of the day you are driving straight into the sun, which is horrible. There are no mountains for the sun to set behind quickly, it has to go all the way down.

The kids did great again. Kenneth and I did good and now we are back at the motel we stayed at on the way out. We were on the road for 16 hours again. One new thing is that thanks to Aenea, Kenneth had the idea to do chicken for one of our dinners. So we bought a couple of bags of Tyson tenders and cooked them last night, then put them in the fridge, kept them in the cooler today and then ate them for dinner. They were a nice change from our sandwiches and snack foods.

Haiku to this day:
We drove a long way.
It was another long day.
Can't wait to finish.

Day 14: Trippin' out with the Rawlings

I don't want anyone to think that yesterday was disappointing for us. It was a great adventure and really cool. It was tough, but we were able to see DC, which is something I love. The kids will have stories to tell later about their parents forcing them to walk all that way, but they can still tell people they visited DC.

Nice Jared came and picked up our kids today so they could play with their cousins instead of sit around until we got moving. That was so nice, because honestly, I'm moving pretty darn slow today. I AM SO SORE!

When we finally made it over to the Pelos I started some laundry. I found out that the kids had experienced their first driving of a motorized vehicle that morning. The Pelos have a small 4 wheeler. We have now been advised to get Sophia into some driving practice immediately. I guess she is a little scary. Everyone else did well. We will take Sophia to drive some go-carts when we get home.

We hung out for a little while, I got to see Dylan drive the 4 wheeler and then Jared and I had a bum war. I had forgotten how tough it is against someone who has good technique. He won one and I won one and I was too tired to go for a tie breaker. Too bad. We will have to save it for another time.  We then headed to see How to Train Your Dragon. It was so cute. We saw it in 3-D. It was really fun. I do recommend it for a great family film. It was cool in 3-D, but I don't think it's necessary to enjoy it. It's just a great story.

Then we hit 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. Do you know it, do you love it? I do. I love the burgers and they give you an insane amount of fries. I am serious when I tell you to never, NEVER, order the large fries. Never! They show you this cup which is supposedly the size of the fries, but in actuality they put that into a bag and then add at least 2 times that amount to the bag. It's crazy, but much appreciated. We easily split the "regular" fries between 7 people.

Back to the Pelos, where Mychael-Ann had stayed with Grace and was nice enough to fold my laundry for the second time this week. We did family pictures on the stairs. Then goodbye hugs all around. I hate this part. I really hate saying goodbye. It's not fair. Where is the teleportation system I have been waiting for all my life? Where is it?

We had such a wonderful time here in Virginia. Thank you to the Pelo family for taking care of us and being so generous with their time and resources and putting up with my crazy little boys.

Official vacation time ends here, but we still have two days of driving to go. Wish us luck.

Haiku to How to Train your Dragon:
Toothless was his name.
Being amazing his game.
Such a cool movie.

Haiku to this day:
Vacation, last day.
A trip we won't soon forget.
We love our fam'lies.