Road Trip

Isn't it just so nice to get away? I made a last minute decision to pack up the car for the weekend and get out of town. Layne was on board so we loaded up and headed out. We love Kohls Ranch. Nothin like a creekside cabin and some good outdoor family time. It was so cold and not a one of them cared.

Busy, busy....

I think the trick is finding the real meaning in all the stuff and places to be. Those places to be can create such great memories and the spirit can be felt. All the crazy is really worth it.

 I did get a group shot of them all around the tree before all this chaos ensued.This is really more of the reality off it all and I love it.
Em is reaching that I am not sure I believe age. I think this was our last year of magic for her. She kept asking Santa who he really was and quizzed me for some time after he left.

We went to Grandmas and made Ginger bread houses. Cousin time is the best. We pulled together a Christmas card thanks to my dear friend. Till next year....

Last minute

road trips are so fun. They are for me anyways. Who would have thought this Mother of nine would have all her cards fall into place and actually be able to pull it off? They did, and I did. Thanks to an amazing husband who stayed home for 5 days a single father of 6 kids.  It was seamless, as though he never had a regular job he gets up and heads off to 5 out of seven days a week. I am lucky and I know it! My cousin had let my brother know that my Grandma who lives in a tiny spot in Idaho called Mud Lake was not doing so well and maybe we should come say hi. He was worried about her. I rallied my Sister's in town and in 24 hours or so we were packed and on the road. It was a crazy huge amount of time in the car. The three girls I took with me were amazing travelers. It was so fun to visit with my Sisters and stay up chatting in our hotel room like teenagers.

Better yet was just sitting with my Mom who got their before us, my sisters, and my Grandma hour after hour and not wanting for things to chat about. What a blessing. My Grandma talked more in those hours than I think I have ever heard her before. My Grandma is an amazing woman who raised 4 children and lost her 5th at Birth to a heart condition. She ran a dairy farm with my Grandpa until he passed away 26 years ago. She has spent that time serving others. She is no stranger to hard back breaking work. What a great example.I can remember spending long summer days milking cows and doing farm work with her in this barn of theirs that has not been used for a long, long, time and sits on property that she sold long ago.

It is weird to see it sitting dormant housing a boat instead of cows. So many of the outbuildings gone with the years. A bull lifted my brother Damon over that fence with his horns once. My sisters and I would feed the calf's out of huge bottles and then stick our arms in the their mouths and let them suck on them. Creepy huh? Try it sometime.... We would ride horses with my cousins from my Grandparents house to theirs just down the road.  This is place full of sweet childhood memories and it was so fun to visit again.

My Uncle Harvey still has horses and boy was uncle Damon a hit when  he drove us over to see them. My Haley loves everything horses, poor city girl. This Mom is never moving again if she can help it. We do live by people with horses so she can see them and even feed them sometimes on her way to and from school. That will have to do for now.

 

I am so grateful for almost every moment of this trip. (wink, wink, Cajsa)

Dogfish

I love it when I run across stuff by accident. My little sister hangs out at my house two days a week. She loves her T.V time. One day last week she was watching AZ Midday. It was their Spring break segment. I was in and out of the room. What they said caught my attention and I stopped to listen. I LOVE good cheap entertainment with a moral behind it, a lesson to be learned.  So when I got my first chance I headed to the website where I could find all the goodies they mentioned.

The Dogfish story seemed the easiest and teaches a great lesson. Learning to love what you have instead of always wanting more. Go check it out. So I got my great friend Ashley and her family on board for an FHE at the park. Dinner and Dogfish. It was a hit.Getting the kids down afterwords not so much, but that is a entire other post which I will never bore you with. We ate then colored our fins and taped on our faces. Time to walk the Dogfish...

It's been 4 years

 or more since we have had one of these. That is sad. I always get my kids each year together, but I choose to stay away from the other side of the lens.Layne's friend always teases us about our family Christmas card and the parentless children who pictures we send around the world each holiday season. Maybe this year will be different, maybe... My Friend Ashley and her family were heading to town and we made plans to grab family photos of eachothers families. I am so glad we did!


This picture is also a treasure to me. These two will rarely pose together for me and that smile on Carter"s face makes me one happy Mom. He has come so far and changed so much and I could not be more proud of this young man of mine.

Balboa Pier

Wednesday was not what I had planned. Miss T got sick and was having a hard time breathing so it was off to the ER in Encinitas where we were visiting a good friend of mine. We were supposed to visit until low tide and head to Point Loma to play in the tide pools and tour the lighthouse.  We got to hang out at my friends house for way longer than planned and we have promised a trip back to the tide pools. It was super to visit longer with Brooki. Time with friends is never misspent. My kids actually took it real well. I was so proud of them.

I think Thursday we made up for it. Happy Day of love, right. What a better way to spend it than together as a family. Even if the baby was fighting double ear infections and Carter was getting really sick and Kasidi, Lizzi, and Tank were coughing up a lung or two. The show must go on. They actually were troopers. They were so excited for all the new fun adventures that they hardly complained at all. Antibiotics, ibuprofen, and some good oil treatments help too. We really had no concrete plans for the morning so Layne suggested Balboa Pier and we went for it. We took the ferry across to the peninsula. The kids loved it. Have you ever tried to maneuver a twelve passenger van around Balboa? It was rather comedic. We did not fit in at all, we rarely do anyways, so no biggie.Oh the looks we got from all around us on this trip. It makes me smile, I am never offended.

 We walked the pier and ate shakes, fries, and onion rings at Ruby's




This guy decided he liked us and spent some time hangin with our crew.






A super nice lady who had just caught a fish let my kids touch the fish and politely answered all their questions. I just love kind strangers who give curious kids the time of day.





Ruby's was a hit, and in keeping with my goal to get in more photos I asked the host to take a pic of us as we left. He should really stick to hostessing. Photography is not his thing. Kasidi was quick to ask why her and Miss T got the ax in the picture. No skills, honey, no skills...



Max quickly went with the Valentines day groove and started flirting with the girls on the beach. Hey Baby have you seen my shells? No really he has no lame pick up lines or any at all for that matter. The kids is five. He did however say to me as we were leaving.  " Mom, Mom, I think those girls love me!" Yes Max, I bet it was the shells. It could also be his great personality. He is really lovable.

And when your Mom is a photo addict there will always be more pictures.

Low key

In keeping with our low key plans. We swam at the hotel on Tuesday and then headed to the beach to "collect shells" in the late afternoon. Should have put them in their suits. When will this AZ Mom learn my kids don't care how cold that water is they are going in?


















Some kids rode back to the villa commando. We tried to pay them to run in naked, no takers.... Party poopers kill all their Dad's fun.

Everyone needs one

every now and again, I know I do. So we packed up and headed on a vacation. I booked with our time share and got a great place in New Port Beach. I wanted it to be as low key as possible. All about the memories and time together. A few of my kids have had marked behavior issues since my tumor removal and long recovery. I really felt like we needed to stop spend time together and regroup.  A lot of people ask how we manage all 11 of us cooped in a car for hours on end. This trip they had Christmas money they had saved to spend. For every fight or issue they had to pay Mom and Dad a quarter of that money. It worked out rather well. We adapt a version of this for each trip. If you end up in the negative you owe me chores when we get home. If you are a good citizen you get to spend your moola on whatever you want. I do not cave for kids who lost all or most of their money. If you are lucky enough to be offense free you get a bonus. It actually makes for a very pleasant drive. Try it on your next trip, it works!

We decided on one day at California Adventure. It was so nice after a long day there to know I did not have to pack in another long day at at a theme park in. We may do it this way from now on. Way cheaper, way less stress, and kids just as happy as any other time we have gone. They were really just interested in the new Cars Land anyways. It did not disappoint.

One of my goals this trip was to be in more pics with my family. I would say I did really good.




I am pretty sure Miss T was thinking as she sat there that we just brought her along as a make shift luggage rack. It was that and the fact that she is just too cute to leave behind. I mean really, who else was going to carry all our blankets, snacks and jackets?




These are the smiles that make it worth it!










Proof that you can have just as much fun off a ride as on one. Cooper can make fun wherever he is. He has a talent for that. Some people call him class clown, others a little comedian and some just plain  think his tendency for constant goofiness is annoying. I pick all three, depends on my mood.



What a great day!

I have answers

Finally I have my pathology back. My tumor is a Large cell tumor with Sarcoma Markers. It is benign, but came from my bone and has cancer Markers. Sarcomas are recurring tumors that come from the bone. A form of bone cancer I am told. I have yet to investigate, the news it is too fresh. So this tumor while not an immediate threat to my life has thankfully opened our eyes to a condition I will always have to watch. I am in no mood to randomly grow tumors the rest of my life. I am not being flippant. That is frightening, especially after what I have just been through! Dr G said it's great news with a cloud hanging over it. I will see the oncologist next week and go from there. I am told he may prescribe a treatment as a precaution. At any rate he will more than likely be my friend for a long time to come due to those markers. I hope he's as great as Dr G. I am told I will have to be watched very closely. I am okay with that! I feel relieved and more than blessed. How grateful I am for every prayer said on my behalf. I have felt their power and I am so grateful for a Loving Heavenly Father who hears and answers each one. Life is full of miracles. A huge tumor that grew so fast and no cancer but the markers are there so I know to be watched. I do not believe that is a coincidence!

On a lighter note, life is never boring around here and if just getting better is not enough my little Bubba was running through the retention basin by our home today trying to catch a lizard he said and did not see the hole in the drain cover (calling the city first thing tomorrow) and his right leg went right in. It of coarse swelled and he was stuck. His friends Grandma sat with him till me and  the paramedics could get there. I am slow, think distracted toddler..... I went to their house first from Wild Things crazy directions and when no one answered the door I got panicked and asked again. This time I knew where to look and when I finally got there I found my sweet neighbor lady pouring ice water on his leg to keep it from burning and to hopefully keep the swelling down. A metal drain cover, 115 or more outside. My poor boy! The paramedics came had him out in 10 minutes and I drove him to the ER (bad idea, ouch) On the way there he went from being worried to asking for a quad if he was brave. A quad, a boy can dream big right? He got a new wii game. Another sweet friend met me their to carry Bubba. I could not. His knee was super swollen and cut up. Sorry no pics.... I had nightmares of casts and two semi invalids hobbling around our house. Luckily for us both, he has a bad knee sprain and will be just fine. I on the other hand was just starting to feel human again and boy am I hurting. Nothing a goods night sleep won't fix (fingers crossed). I think I have turned a corner and the old me will be in full swing soon. I am not pushing myself though. I am no lover of pain.

Flying Solo

Not an easy task when a family outing is planned. Mr M just couldn't swing the time off and my kids hate missing out on the annual Easter picnic with our friends. So I found a baby sitter for number nine that arrived a month ago (more on that later) loaded the beast and I drove out of town a single Mother of 8 for the day. It actually is not that hard when there is so much to entertain them.
Easter egg hunting








Swinging from the trees



Playing creekside




It was a fun happy day. Love the time spent with my kids and I love that they love it so much. It was worth flying solo.