Albequerque

Two weeks ago I had a wonderful but hard visit on the phone with my best friend from Jr. High and decided that I needed to go for a visit.  On a very impromptu moment, I bought plane tickets to go to Albuquerque to visit.  I am so very very glad that I did.

My flight left on Dec. 7th at 6:45 am....this meant that I had to be up at 4 am to get ready and get to the airport.  It also meant that Kenny had to get up with me.  In reality, he got up and then woke me up.  I really don't do mornings well.  That might even be an understatement.  Either way, we made it to the airport and Kenny went to work and took a nap on one of the couches before he had to open the shop.

I couldn't help myself, I had to be a nerd and take a picture from the plane. This is the sun coming up Friday morning.  It was beautiful....until it blinded me :)

Let me add here that I have only flown one other time and that was 18 years ago. I have never flown on my own nor have I ever had to change planes.  I did both in one weekend.  I flew from Salt Lake to Las Vegas on a very crowded flight. Enjoyed a one hour "layover" if you can count it as a layover when it is only an hour long.  Once I landed in Albuquerque it was so wonderful to see Nikki.  She took me to lunch and it was so good. The best Mexican food I think I've ever had! I have a sneaky suspicion that she did that to soften the blow that I would have to be up at 4 am again the next morning.

Here is how the rest of the weekend went:

After our relaxing lunch we began the marathon that is called Nikki's life.  We picked up her oldest kids and dropped off my luggage, picked up their lunch for them to take to work with them. Dropped one off and then picked up one daughter from High School, picked up another daughter from Jr. High, dropped her son off at work, picked up youngest daughter at her Elementary School.  Ran home to pick up a few things for cheer practice and headed to practice that went from 5 pm to 7:30 pm.  We ran during that time to pick up her other daughter from basketball practice and then went back to finish watching cheer practice. After a couple quick stops we got home and Nikki made dinner for us.  How amazing is that?!  We ate at about 9:30 and finally settled down around 11.  Nikki still had to pick up one daughter from work at midnight.

Saturday started at 4 am...I pressed snooze, so I started at 4:30, we had to be at the gym by 5:30.  Domoneque did her 2 sisters hair for their cheer competition and once we were all ready (of course they were waiting on me, I was the slowest) we went back over to the gym for hair, make up, and another quick practice.  We left the gym at 7:30 to head downtown to the convention center so that we could get in as quick as possible when the doors opened at 8.

Here we are at the convention center waiting to get in:

Me, Domoneque, MyKayla, Nikki

I had to get a picture of the two amazing stars of the day:  Kaija and Natalya

This part is when both Kaija and Natalya were competing...Natalya is the one lifted right before being thrown into the air on the right.  I am still in awe at what both of these girls can do!

Natalya is on two teams and this is when she competed the second time. I watched her stretch and practice several times over 3 days but am still in awe at all she can do.  This is her "pulling a bow"....yes, that is her foot over her head while lifted up by those girls.  She would say, "I'm scared" while she was practicing and then she would go out and do this like it was nothing.  So brave!!!  Both her and Kaija are amazing and strong.  Not just physically but mentally (performing in front of all those people) and spiritually.

The strength and love that I saw in Nikki's family was inspiring.  They all work so hard to work together and her children show such selfless love toward each other.  There were so many stories shared and acts that I saw over the weekend that show how they all love each other.  I am so impressed with all of them!!

Once we were done with the competition, one team got first place the other team got third, we headed home and most of us got to take a nap.  When I woke up Nikki had dinner done and we all sat down to enjoy her wonderful cooking.  We had time to sit back and spend the evening talking and laughing and sharing stories.  It was so much fun and relaxing.  I was serenaded by Nikki and Domoneque, they sang a song about how elephants have wrinkles.  It was hilarious.  Soon Natalya joined in and every time she said a place that an elephant had wrinkles she wiggled her eyebrows.  It was so cute.  I shared many stories about my boys and family and now Nikki's family has some new fun sayings from our family (none of the bad ones, I promise). We stayed up until one in the morning laughing so hard.  Kenny said that they may not let me back.

Sunday we got up and got ready for another busy morning.  I had asked Domoneque to do my hair and she agreed.  I was so excited   I never get to have my hair done and spending a weekend with all girls and one who can do some amazing braids, I had to ask.  I had fun watching her plan with her mom what she would do with my hair. She did an amazing job, as you can see!

I loved my braided headband so much that I left it in to see if I could still wear it on Monday. It worked!!! I got to show off my hair to everyone I saw on Monday.  I'm sure if any of you saw me more than once you were very tired of hearing about not only my weekend but of my hair.  I'm kind of a nerd that way but I loved my hair!

Natalya had tumbling practice on Sunday afternoon, so we stopped by a store for me so I could get some things that I needed and then we went to Popeye's for lunch. I had never eaten there before.  Silly thing to get excited about but it was one more first to add to my list. 

While at tumbling practice I was finally able to get a picture of me and Nikki together.  Here we are, the whole reason for me to jump on a plane (4 times).  Some time together with a dear friend.

It was a wonderful weekend and one that I will never forget.

Thanks to all of the Quinones family to opening your home to me and showing me such love.

I can't wait to come back with my family so we can all have fun together.

Young Men's Camp

This year the young men's presidency planned a more fun type camp instead of a rigid watch your clock and pass of as many badges as possible. Sometimes if you plan it to tight you suck the fun out of what you're trying to teach the youth. I'm pretty sure we could have gotten most of the kids gear over to the church in one car, but we would have had to leave the kids at home. In order to pack everything they would need for all week last week (7-18 to 7-22) we had to use both cars.

Kenny's back seat with Kelton's gear. Of course no one was on the same page, so some people were told to be at the church at noon (us) others at 1 pm. We husled to get the cars loaded, me ready to drive and get to the church on time.

This is my trunk with both of the boys bikes in there. Kenny did some creative loading to fit 2 mountain bikes into our trunk.

My back seat with Taylor's gear. I love how he has his new fedora on top of his bag with his glasses. He also had a goodie bag that was never out of his sight. Kelton's was always in sight, but a little less conspicuous. Taylor had on the fedora, glasses and goodie bag protected under his arm.

Last, but not least, Kenny's trunk. He had all the bedding, foam sleeping mats and camp chairs in there. I know it doesn't sound like much, but he doesn't have much of a trunk. Most of the "usable" space is being taken up with one of Kenny's hobbies.

Kelton testing out his bike before they go. We took it to Taylor's Bike Shop on 5400 south and they did an amazing job. They did a complete overhaul on this bike (it is the one that Kenny got hit on). Their work is amazing and they went above what we asked for and their prices are very reasonable. Even with what Kenny already has so he can do his own tune-ups on his bikes, he couldn't buy the parts or the one other tool that he needed for less than what they charged us.

Taylor trying out his bike. They had both been in storage for a while and I think that it was good for them to both try out their bikes before leaving.

Taylor's bike was having some problems that Kenny needed to fix. We had plenty of time to use the parking lot while it was empty since we were there at noon! I just couldn't help taking a picture of Kenny on a little bike :)

Brother Bigelow is the person who has the membership up East Canyon where they went for their camp. He is also the proud owner of this boat. He took the boys out water skiing. I didn't hear how that went but I do know that some of them were also pulled on intertubes. They all had so much fun. Taylor went out on one of the tubes and had a blast.

These are the boys that are closer to my boys ages and who they mostly hang around with. They are all really good boys. One has a little bit of an attention issue, but I told my boys that maybe if all 4 of the other boys invite him to more things and try to befriend him and teach him a few things that he might be just fine and a lot of fun to be with.

This is the Suburban that our boys quickly disappeared into to leave. I had horrible mom guilt all day that I didn't do the whole hug and I Love You thing before we left.

I can't remember who this Brother is but he was a hoot. He ended up with all the older boys in his car together and he was teasing them that he didn't want them all in one car. As he was pulling away it could be heard by all around, this Brother announcing, "I already need a Valium!"

Of course there were some bumps in the road. Kelton broke his brother's sleeping bag and then gave it back to him and took the non broken sleeping bag. Yes, there was a discussion when he arrived home. I've been a little out of it, but I do know that they went swimming in the swimming pools and in the lake. They also did a downhill mountain bike ride that resulted in many bruises and a broken helmet. That was just what happened to Taylor.

I have to add Taylor's bike ride because it is classic Taylor. I guess he walked his bike for a little bit and thought that it had leveled out a bit so he got on his bike and started down, mind you never having gone mountain biking. He soon went over his handlebars, landed on his head and went skidding down the mountain for quit a ways (his sound effect: ugugugugugugugugugugug). Taylor totally broke the front of his helmet, gashed open his elbow and has "road rash" all down his right side. He has some narly bruises. Taylor jumped up once he stopped sliding and said, "that was so cool!"

Even though they both called once to come home, they made it until Friday and came home safe and only a little damaged. In all fairness, we would have gone and gotten them earlier but with my complications everyone was already run down and couldn't drive up to get them. Sorry boys, it was because of me and now you will have something really juicy to talk about in therapy.

Moon Lake in Spring

I received an email from the owners of the Moon Lake Resort and this picture was attached. You would link the snow wouldn't make me want to be up there, but instead it makes me miss it even more. I really want to go up there this Fall. It's cool all day, there's usually a thunder and lightning storm every afternoon, and it's when the berries are ripe so the bears start to come around. Really it's magical up there anytime it's open.

Moon lake I miss you!!!

Moon Lake Cont.

I need to add what happened to Taylor our first night there. We finally had put everything away, had dinner and some marshmallows and had just gotten into bed when I heard this;

Taylor: "MoOoOm.......MOM....Moooom are leaches nocturnal?"

I laid there thinking, huh? What's nocturnal, a leach, huh?

Taylor: "There is something stuck to meeeee!"

I was still trying to wake up and figure out what in the world he could be talking about, he hadn't been anywhere near any water yet, a leach?

Taylor finally made it over to the light switch and got a light turned on and announced, "OH, it's a fruit roll up!"

Oh my word, I don't think any of us have ever laughed so hard. I still can't figure out how he ended up with fruit roll up in his bed and I feel really bad that he was so scared and thought that a blood sucking creature was stuck to him. On the other hand, it was such a priceless moment. We are all still trying to figure out why he thought it could be a leach, but for further warning to any of you who want to stay in a cabin that has wood paneling:

Leaches are nocturnal and they live in wood paneling!

Moon Lake

We finally got to leave and take our first real vacation in 2 years. We chose to go to Moon Lake for the first three days of our vacation. We had so much fun up there. It was so nice to not have TV, cell phones, internet, or anything else to take away from our time together as a family.

It is a long drive to get there and the boys and dog did such a wonderful job enduring the trip. This was the first trip that we didn't have the boys buried under half of what we needed to take. I thought that we would have plenty of room in our Expedition for all of our supplies for three days. Kenny thought we needed a little more room and got a box for the top of the truck. He was right, we filled the back of the Expedition and the box on top. I always over pack and as you read you will notice that this time I over packed all the wrong things.

This is our cute little cabin. It has two bedrooms, a small kitchen and a bathroom. It was the perfect size for us. We arrived at our cabin just at dinner time and we were going to roast hot dogs over the fire for dinner, but as we unloaded we quickly realized that we were missing one important part of dinner. We had forgot the roasting sticks. Boiled hot dogs it was, it worked but we were all bummed and dinner was okay but not at all what we had thought we would eat.

That first night we were there Kelton and I took Charlie for a walk down to the lake. It was so peaceful and beautiful. I was surprised to see how low the lake is, usually in June you don't have much of a beach but there was plenty of beach to play and walk on.

I had planned many fun things for us while we were staying at Moon Lake. One of those things was to bake cookies. I quickly remembered that the stove and oven in the kitchen is miniature. I forgot to take a picture of how small that appliance is, but it only had three small burners and I took my smallest cookie sheet and it wouldn't fit in the oven. We decided to try an experiment and try cooking the cookies over charcoal, it worked! We had fresh chocolate chip cookies two of the days we were there and they were wonderful. It was fun to try something new and have it work. It was also fun to watch the people in the cabins on either side of us stare at us like we were crazy.

It was also fun to find something to use the charcoal for that we had hauled all the way up there. Our original intention for the charcoal was to have a dutch oven dinner, but we quickly realized that we had forgot another important part of that dinner. What was it you ask? Oh, nothing as easy to work around as forgetting roasting sticks. Oh no, we forgot the chicken. It was still safe at home in the freezer. Even though we were all bummed, the boys were happy to have a whatever you can find you can have for dinner night. We ended up mainly eating Chex mix for dinner while we played Uno and Trouble.

I'm glad to say that we had a ton of fun that night and laughed so hard as we played games and told stories and remembered other trips we had taken together. I enjoyed watching us all pull together and not let a little thing like forgetting the meat for dinner ruin our fun.

For two days we spent the majority of our time on the beach playing. We had so much fun making all kinds of sand castles. Above and below are two of the castles that the boys built on the first day. They had so much fun digging trenches to their castles so they would have a private lake and a moat. Eventually Kenny and I got in on the building and being the Egypt nerds that we are, we had fun building a pyramid and a sphinx. However, we did run into one small problem, we had dogzilla (aka Charlie) with us and he smashed our sphinx in record time. Napoleon couldn't have done better. Taylor quickly followed and took out the pyramid. We didn't end up with any pictures of our creation, but then we also didn't get any proof of me sitting in the mud building a sand pyramid.

I did however get a picture of me digging my toes into the sand and enjoying the soft cool sand. It may not look it in this picture, but the sand there is so soft. It was like a little piece of heaven to sit there and relax and watch the boys play in the water and build their sand castles.

Kenny and the boys all decided to wade into the water and play a little. I still don't know how they did it, the water was so cold. Kenny only lasted a second and his picture is of him trying to get out of the cold water as quickly as possible. The boys somehow were able to go in and out of the water several times and had a blast just walking around in it. Taylor was trying to hold up his shorts, but they ended up soaked.

I know the boys would be upset if I left out Chunk. That is what they named the pot-gut that hung out around our fire ring. We ended up feeding him a little here and there. We were so surprised when he walked right up to Kenny and sat at his feet for a minute, Chunk was not afraid of people at all. None of could believe how many chipmunks and pot-guts there were. It was fun to watch them run around and even climb up the sides of the cabins. Who needs TV when you this kind of entertainment?

Other than forgetting a few vital items that we needed for dinner's and a couple other things that we had to go to the Lodge to buy, I don't think we did to bad. Even though we took a nap everyday we were at Moon Lake, we were so tired when we got home. This picture of Charlie sums up how we all felt when we got home, we all just collapsed for a while.

Coming home has been bitter sweet. We love it at Moon Lake and it was so relaxing for all of us, but we are so ready to have a night in our own beds.