Burrrrr... It's cold outside!

I decided to visit Jared because the kids had a day off. For some reason when you get in a car to travel a long distance, the tummy starts to growl. I made the kids wait till we at least made it to the next "town". We stopped to get some food and when I rolled the window down, it started to clink and scratch and grind. In my most observant thought, I thought it was weird.

Once food was received, I went to roll it up. It made it about 5 inches and stopped. Oh, NO! SO with my ingenious, I tried it again. Same results. (big surprise) I went ahead on down the road and just figured that I'd keep trying it over and over. (reminds me of the scene in the Bee Movie where he keeps trying to fly through the window.) Didn't work.

Anyhow...I told the kids to put their coats on. By this point the thought of driving 2 more hours was not going well with my fingers, which were now frozen, curled around the steering wheel. My eyes kept peering up at the thermometer on my rearview mirror, hoping against hope that the 26 degrees it was reading would rise a few more. Like 55! Sadly, it kept declining. Thoughts of duct tape and plastic started to run through my head and cursed myself for not having any of those on hand. (Must be a guy thing.) I knew there was a Lodge up ahead and decided to stop and ask a "big strong man" to pull it up for me.

AND...I sure did. He tried to figure out how to get inside the door but didn't want to break it. BREAK IT!!! I'M FREEZING! Without breaking into it he must have done something because with the help of his arm muscles, it went right up. His advice to me after that, "Don't roll it down." Got It! No Rolling!

Now....we finally make it "there" and Jared decides to go driving into a field of snow. (Gopher hunting is better from the comfort of a warm vehicle. Right?) I don't know if it's related but my power steering goes out and he's stuck in the field. (It's good that there was a tractor to use. It was unstuck before I even knew he was stuck.)

My over-nighter may have turned into a two-nighter. (Depending on how long it takes the mechanic to fix it.)

Kids aren't complaining!

Where HAVE you been?

I know it's been a LONG time since I've had the time to blog and I'm not going to bore you with stupid excuses, but thanks for stickin' with me. We'll just get right back into things....

To sum up the last two months...
-Had my birthday. AWESOME!!! I was given the gift of "ME". I was able to go do whatever I wanted for a day, kid-less. I took off to spend the day with Sarah and little Luke. (If given the opportunity to have the kid smile at you....SO WORTH IT!)

We went to the "mall" and had sushi for lunch YUMMY. (But don't let me kid you, I always get the "vegitarian" roll. I still can't bring myself to eat anything raw, or anything that lives in water for that matter.

We then did some indoor 'window' shopping (It was cold outside) and found a new obsession. Charms I've got some decidin' to do. I'm gonna have a very cool bracelet by the time I've picked out the ones that I want. I then decided that I wanted my very own "Build-a-bear"and adopted/bought a turtle named Emery. (Emery, short for emerald, and emerald is green, turtles are green...get it?) Thanks to Sarah for the idea. We meandered through some more stores. (Aldo shoes MISS MISS MISS that store. And wished I had an endless pit of money. I miss the shoe shopping thing.) Finally the day started to come to an end and Sarah had to go home.

I hesitated calling to check on the kids because a small cry/whimper I'd hear in the background would send me flying home. I hadn't heard anything and figured that was a good thing. I opted to go home anyways because I really had no place to go. I came home to find all five kids very content and "relaxed" thanks to Aunt Launa's yoga/mediation skillz. They had a great time making cookies and reading books. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK MiLauna for such a great present!!!!!

-Next....I dealt/dealing with germs/sickness galore. I've tried to get rid of whatever is hindering my little home, but am only now starting to see the upper hand. Cross your fingers, spring comes sooner than later so I can wash my hands of this snot/cough/fever bug F O R E V E R!!!

-I started having a playgroup at my house which forced me to 're-arrange' my basement for somewhere that these little munchkins could release their "toddler stress". It turned out ok. As one of the mom's (which hosts a playdate at her house also) said, "it's not as enjoyable to host than it is to go." True that, true that! I felt like, Ok, I really WAS chasing kids around my house trying to corral them in the "playroom" and out of the "restricted" areas. WHILE mommy's sat and chitchatted. It's all good now because it will only happy once a month for 1 1/2 hrs. Managable. I can do that.

-Mykael had her birthday yesterday. I think she had a good day, she didn't say otherwise. She had her favorites for all the meals. Egg sanwhiches, pot stickers, and haystacks. PLUS she didn't have to lift not ONE cleaning finger ALL DAY LONG. Lucky girl! (I hate doing the dishes probably more than she does.!) ;o)

-OH!....We had a small accident with Dylan. He had ventured into my bathroom, un-awares, and climbed up onto the toilet. He likes to play in the water. I hear a big thud and of course the cry that follows. Oh the horror! I checked for blood, bruises, cuts, whatever I could find. NOTHING....just crying. But then....in his mouth....a tooth that is no longer. WHERE DID itgo? Oh, it's still there. Just shrunk. OU-CH! It had jammed right back to where it came from. It wasn't bleeding so I wasn't freakin'. (Some how those two just coincide.) I called my dental "peeps" and was told that it was something that happened to a nephew of hers and it grew back just find. NOW...if you ask another "source" they'd say go to the dentist. HELLO...I did, sort of. Fastforward to today and it has started to move back to its original size and space. Phew. Just a little snaggle lookin'.

I'm gonna go with this for now....I'll see you in two more months. ;o)

An eventful trip, indeed.

On the trip home, Jaden made the comment that it was quite an eventful/lots to see, trip home. Looking back, it sure was. And I only got one picture. (I know I'm a bad blogger. Where is my commitment?) First off, we saw ice fishers on the lake and I listened to Jaden as he expressed how he wished he could walk out and do it to, while I was thinking, I WILL NEVER walk on a 'thin' layer of ice. Even if it is 10ft thick! A thin layer of ice at a skating rink is sufficent. I know there is solid ground just beneath it. I'd allow my toes to get a wet.


Next we saw this! HOW FUN!!!



....Anyone out there that knows what this is called, PLEASE let me know so that I can look it up and then wish that I had the upper body, arm, and leg strength to do such a thing.

After that we stopped at this super cool lodge, at the top of a pass, that had snowmobiles zooming all over. I almost felt out of place with my car, there were so many! Oh, how I wished that I was there snowmobiling.

Following that, Jaden noticed a HUGE bull elk (I know, Tom...I should've pulled over and turned around to get a shot!!! Regrets.) that was stuck between two small trees, up the side of a mountain fairly close to the road side (perhaps that's why it didn't continue walking. It would just get closer to the road and the "unnatural" things in its life). All it had to do was continue walking through the trees to get unstuck. I turned to look but only for a split second. (We were driving down a hill on snow covered roads and a semi in front of us. My priorities were elsewhere) but I did see enough of the animal to see its head. It was later confirmed by my mom and Kael that they too saw it also. And it was HUGE.

And the last thing we saw which was more of an unfortunate event but definitely demonstrated the dangers of driving on icy/snowcovered roads... (I LOVE my 4-wd vehicle even more!) A car that had rolled. We had to sit there in front of the wreck while the officer allowed the oncoming traffic to get through the one lane that was opened.

And in closing....drive safe this winter season! ;o)

Christmas break was spent playing with the new "goods" that Santa delivered and then right before we had to be back to school we went to visit daddy in "Dino-land".

While he was at work during the day, I took the kids to a dinosaur museum. I think they had a pretty good time! There weren't many people there so I was able to relax a little and just let the kids explore what they could.

They had a lot of interacting activities for the kids.

This is my favorite picture. Looks like Mr. Rex forgot to ask for his 1 1/2 teeth for christmas.

Can't imagine what it would've been like to get ripped apart with those things. Glad I was born when I was and not with the cavemen.

Dylan playing with the not-so-scary dinos.

Ok.... So, I'm a sucker for imprinted fossils and here, they had this HUGE wall of nothing but. During the short "10 minute video" at the beginning, it was explained that where water used to be, ANYTHING that fell into the water and rested on the bottom, the floating sediment would just "rain" down on whatever/leaf layering it in mud and eventually (with enough mud/weight, kept it preserved in that shape for like, EVER! So when the expedition took place, they came upon this "layer" and found all sorts of glorious things. EXCITING!

How much more perfect can you get, from a million years ago?

Mammoth

Raptor

Glow rocks ( For as dark as it was, I had to hold the camera as still as possible while the shutter allowed enough light in to take the picture. And for those who know me, I tend to shake a little. SO,I think it turned out as well as possible....for me. )

He was determined to get down himself.

Butterflies. There's just something about them being aligned so perfectly that I don't mind them being dead. Otherwise,I think they belong on a nice flower...in my garden...alive.

They had some cool American Indian artifacts, but my batteries were dying and the quality of pictures were declining/blurring. (But I do believe that Mykael may have gotten some. I'll have to steal those later.)

So...I keep coming onto my blog, thinking that I've posted since the "cold", but apparently I haven't. I believe Gwen had a moment like this not long ago. So here is the post to temporaily satisfy me until I get bloggin' for real! I do have pictures so don't move onto the next blog to stalk.... STALK ME! STALK ME! ;o)

It's COLD outside...

I wasn't the only one braving the cold this morning. I love this picture.

It's really been THAT long?

Because it's almost our anniv soon... I saw this tag on a friends blog, and wanted to share some tidbits about him/us. Not tag anyone. It's more of a momento for my sweet hubby.

*What are some of his nicknames: Papi, daddy,

* Where did you meet? On the internet

*How long did you date before you were married? 5 months

*How long have you been married for?6 years

*Who said I love you first?I think he did.

*When and where was your first kiss? Ummm in my bedroom. grrrrr

* Who kissed who first?I don't remember! I think we met in the middle.

*Who proposed? Jared.

*What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? Watch sunday football. (Never thought I'd EVER do that!!!)

*Do you have kids? Yes... many.

*What does he do that surprises you? Makes sure he comes home from ANY store with something for me. coke, chocolate, shirt...etc.

*What's your favorite feature about him? His hands.

*What's your favorite quality about him? Loyalty

* Does he have a nickname for you?Dree

*What's his favorite color?Blue, green or red

*What's his favorite food? Roast and mashed potatoes and gravy (or that's just what he always wants me to cook)

*What is his favorite sport? College Football

*What's a hidden talent that he has? Drawing

* How old is he? 34

*What do you admire most about him? The sacrifice he gives to provide for his family.

*What's his favorite past time? Reading.

*Who eats more? I do...

*Who is taller?He is but only by an inch.

*Who sings better? I'll have to say me cause he won't sing for me (although i've heard him in the shower a time or two and I was impressed.)

*Who is smarter? Depends on the topic/subject/situation...

*Who does the laundry?Me.

* Who pays the bills? I do, when he tells me to.

*Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does

* Who mows the lawn?I do...I love being in the yard.

*Who cooks dinner? I do

*Who drives? We both do. He has his car, I have my "family wagon."

* Who is more stubborn? Me.

*Who controls the T.V. remote? Who ever is furthest away from Dylan.

*Whose temper is worse?If you make him angry enough...he does. But I find the littlest things (which is most of the time) to be angry.

*Who does the dishes? The kids!!! Whoo whoo

*Whose parents do you see more often?Mine...He works with my dad.

*Tidbits about us;*One of my fondest "dating memories" was laying in the park on a blanket looking up through the leaves. Such a simple activity, but means so much!

*When I held his hand for the first time, it "fit"!!! It was the coolest thing.

* We "order" sunsets for each other.

* We both have a love for the outdoors and find it SO important to instill that into our children.

* Some day we want to go to Fiji for our "honeymoon".

* We both look our best in camoflauge. ;o) (ok...not really, but we love it!)

Thinking back to when I met Jared seems like such a different life because of how much we have changed. Not only in my constant expansion of produced children ;o) (btw...I'm done for now for those of you who may question) but the experiences that have brought us to where we are now. I will honestly say that it wasn't the most easiest, but definitely A LOT of growth and learning accompanied. It will be six years this monday and look forward to what the next six will bring! I love you papi!

I could use some suggestions of what we could do. The same old dinner date, just sounds so boring! He's working out of town so it might be tricky and may need to involve all the kids. (Unless you want to babysit!) ;o)