Life is a Drag.....

The title of that post would be referring to our weekend getaway to Boise. Specifically Eagle, Idaho and the Firebird Raceway. It was quite the adventure. We went camping with our pop-up trailer and stayed at an RV resort. We picked the resort because it has Wi-Fi and I need to stay current with my homework and class attendance requirements.
So bear with me here as I describe our little trip and include a bunch of pictures.

DAY 1 - Thursday.
I got home from work about 4 am, hurried and cleaned the bathroom, took out all the garbages, showered and we left around 5 am. David had loaded the trailer and car the night before. It was about a 5 hour drive to Boise - I think - I was asleep for most of the ride. We pulled into the campground around 11:30 or so and set up the trailer and made lunch, etc... The trailer has eletricity and David bought a small space heater which was a life-saver!!!
We headed out to the raceway right away so we could find our neighbors - Brett Winberg and Travis Gaylord. Anyone who has driven past our house has probably seen their trailer outside. If we ever can't find David at home, he is usually next door in the garage helping them work on their cars. he is over there so much that they painted his name on the trailer.
We watched a few races and walked around to look at the race cars. Some of them get really creative with the paint/sticker jobs. They are also incredibly loud! even with earplugs, the cars drown out your thoughts.
The kids had fun except for Ryan who did not like the noise.
We returned to the campground to BBQ some dinner (which was DELISH! Thanks Dave)and get ready for bed. The kids were pretty tired and fell asleep pretty quickly so I was able to get some homework done before I crashed as well.

DAY 2 - Friday
The space heater kept us warm enough! YAY! David made breakfast while we took turns showering and getting ready for the day. We were gong to take the kids on a fun activity in the morning but ended up driving all around Boise in search of another cooler. It seems like every store we went to had clearanced them out. David found some flexible lunch bag style coolers for an amazing deal and bought the last 3 ($3 a piece!). We filled them with ice and drinks and started on our way back to the track. I ad one of the coolers on my lap and suddnel felt very, VERY, cold and wet. The silly coolers leak!!!!!!! We found a Wal~Mart and found a "real" cooler there to store all our drinks in.
We spent the rest of the day at the track. The wind was almost unbearably cold. We stopped for pizza on the way home because it was late and we were all tired and windblown.
I put the kids to bed and started my homework while David went and hunted down a Redbox and rented a couple of movies. I didn't even make it through the first movie before I fell asleep. I think I could easily get used to sleeping at night again.....

DAY 3 - Saturday
We took our time getting up today because isn't that what vacations are for? We went out to the track for a while and then came back to the campsite for lunch. David BBQ'ed some chicken and it was divine! I got some laundry done and a lot of homework. The kids played games with each other and ran around the camp for a while. There was a small playground so they spent most of their time outside.
The racing event is called The Halloween Classic. One of the fun parts for the kids is a trick or treating event on Saturday evening. The race track enforces a no motor policy for about an hour while the kids dress up and go trick or treating from car to car or trailer to trailer. The kids ended up with WAY too much candy, but they had a great time. After the trick or treating we stayed and watched the air show. The air show has nothing to do with airplanes... The cars get up on the back two wheels and they see whose car stays up the longest and whose car goes up the highest. That was pretty cool to see. Ryan did not like the noise and was getting pretty tired so he and I went back to the car and stayed there for a few minutes while the rest of the fam watched the ending of the air show.
We let the kids watch the movie Dave rented for them and we all slept pretty soundly that night.

DAY 4 - Sunday
Pretty much just packed up and went home. We took our time and enjoyed the day together.  Gratitue List will come later......I gotta get some sleep before work.....
Here are a few pics. All the trip pics are in an album on my facebook account.

gotta love the dollar store for cheap costumes!

Ryan lost a tooth on the ride home!

Burnt toast

Ahh......the joys of parenthood. The sights, the sounds, the smells????
I was in my bedroom this afternoon listening to my Ry-guy read. He is improving so much and will hopefully be at grade level by the end of the year. Ally-bug comes running in my room, calm as can be, and says, "Hey mom, there is smoke in the kitchen, I think something is on fire."

This can't be good.

I run to the kitchen and the whole room is filled with smoke. Jonny-fish had decided to make toast and put the toaster setting to the highest setting, and then walked away.

I hurried to unplug the toaster and dropped what now resembled charcoal out the back door. We had to leave the door open and put all the fans in the kitchen to blow the smoke out.

But the smell lingers on.....




My Gratitude List


1. the PTA - yes, I am serious about this one. I love the PTA. I have met so many amazing people through the PTA.

2. good painkillers.

3. flannel pajamas

4. online schooling- I get to work at my own pace - sort of- and on my own time.

5. mascara. I have white eyelashes without it! The joys of being a redhead.

oops!

Almost forgot my list for today:

My Gratitude List:

1. My BFF Cyndi - need I say more......

2. Rain. I actually really like the rain. It makes the air smell better, kinda like giving the earth a bath.

3. Blue jeans. Everyone looks good in a pair of blue jeans. Thank you Levi Strauss!

4. Long Weekends. We are making our own this weekend. I will let you know how it goes..... if we survive!

5. Contact lenses. I wore my glasses yesterday, the are 2 perscriptions old, have a slightly broken piece and slide off my nose every time I look down. Makes me grateful for contacts because I also get to pretend to have periferal vision with my contacts in.

because I don't have enough to do....

I have heard again and again that people think I am a little nutty and do soooo much. I don't really think I do, but what I do I know? When I start making my laundry list of things I am doing it does start to sound a little intense, but it isn't like I have to do it all at once.

I have 5 kiddos and a cute hubby.
I am going to graduate school.
I work a graveyard shift.
I volunteer at the school.
I have a church calling.
I am on the elementary school's PTA - I write the quarterly newsletter, and am in charge of this year's reading week/event.
I am on the PTSA executive board at the middle school, historian and I also write the monthly newsletter for them too.
I am the Chairperson for the School Community Council at the elementary school.

yadda, yadda, yadda. That does sound like a lot. I now get to add another part time job to that list!
Yes, I am serious.
From now on, every Wednesday, I will go to the Elementary to be a recess aide. I am totally going to brag, but I was the first one they called. It is only an hour and half, once a week, and it will give me chance to spy on my own children.
Too much fun!
So when does a lot turn into too much? Thoughts anyone?

Derby's, Dentists, and Dishevelement

So I promised my SIL a few pictures of this week's Pinewood Derby. David and Jon created a fun car and designed the stickers for it. He did not place in the top three this year but he had a great time racing. He won the "fastest looking car" award though!

Ryan had a bit of a rough week. He had a filling fall out a while ago. We do not have dental insurance so it is really frustrating when things like happen. The tooth was hurting him and even keeping him up at night. We ended up taking him to the Dentist and we had him pull out the tooth. Ryan was amazing at the dentist's office. He sat still! He even smiled when it was all done!

My mom has had a small setback in her recovery from knee surgery. She is allergic to the pain meds the doctor gave her. She has not been able to stop the itching and scratching. She also developed a low fever. Top that all off with her knee starting to really hurt as the muscles try to heal. She got a new painkiller from the doctor but it makes her really nauseated. I am pretty worried about her. I wish her house had allready sold and she was here with us. I could take better care of her that way. Her house is back up for sale and we are constantly praying that it will sell soon. It would make life easier for all of us.

The twin pops had a really incredible experience at school this week. They have participated in a prgram called RAD KIDS. It is a personal safety and empowerment program. It is sorta like an anti-bullying program as well. They learned so much and learned how to protect themselves if they feel like they are in danger. The "graduation" included a demonstration for the parents. The simulation was put on by a police officer who was all dressed up in full protective padding. the kids were able to practice their RAD KIDS moves using their full force to get away from this potential kidnapper. The officer really made them work to get away from him. It was so cool to see our kids escape from this would-be-kidnapper.

I have not had much sleep this week, feels like even less than normal. I have had a lot of homework and had to work an extra shift on top of the surgery, dentist visit, and derby. I am so looking forward to getting away for a few days in October. Just keep praying that my supervisor gives the time off.

So this week has been more than a little crazy, but I guess that crazy is normal for our house.

My Gratitude List for today:

1. Chocolate covered strawberries - someone gave my mom a giant edible fruit arrangement as a recovery gift. She couldn't eat all the fruit and we were lucky enough to get more than half the basket. There were several chocolate covered strawberries in the mix and I enjoyed a few of them.

2. My church calling - I currently am the ward newsletter editor. This is probably the only calling you can do at home in your p.j.'s, on your own time frame. I am grateful that this calling does not require me to be anywhere or awake at any specific time. I don't think my life could handle anything else at this point.

3. No kids in diapers - I just glad my kids are a little older now. Silly thing to be grateful for, but I am grateful nontheless.

4. Facebook - with my hectic schedule I can rarely find time to talk to everyone I want too. Facebook allows me to know what is going on with everyone and keeps me a little bit connected and keeps me from feeling too isolated.

5. Good GREAT neighbours! I live in a truly wonderful neighbourhood. We are a corner house. Both the neighbour beside us and behind us want to install a new fence. This is soooo not in our budget right now. So they are letting David work off our portion by removing the old fence and posts. We are truly blessed that they would let us do that.

September

If I believed in past lives, I was probably the Grinch from Dr. Suess's books, before the whole Christmas thing. I have been very cranky lately with no real reason why. I have a deecnt life, awesome family, great friends......
So I am trying to not be so grouchy. Life is a *little* stressful and when I am grouchy, things seem worse. Who thinks clearly or rationally when they are grumpy? So here is my lame attempt at being optimistic today.
I love fall. It is finally here. I love the cooler air. I love that pollen is not so abundant now. I LOVE the colors, they are the colors I look good in....greens, oranges, yellow, browns. I love that the sun is not nearly so dang hot! That is a very important thing for us redheads. I love having the kids back in school. I love sleeping more during the day. This is very important for those of us who work all night.

I remember hearing about gratitude journals before so in another lame attempt at staying positive, I am adding a new section to this blog.

My Gratitutde List

Everytime I post I am going to add five things I am grateful for.

So here is today's list:

1. My mother's sucessful surgery. Modern science is amazing. They have given her a whole new knee.
2. My job. - My job is a pretty crappy job. I spend four hours every night cleaning up everyone else's %#$! stuff at the movie theatre. But it is an easy, mindless job that gives me the flexibility to do what I still have to do get to do during the day.
3. My hubby. No one works harder than he does. He deserves so much more than he gets.
4. Good shoes. I don't need, or even want, anyting fancy, just a good support shoe will do for me.
5. Scrapbook paper. This is a small taste of heaven for me. So many colors, so many sizes, so many patterns, so many projects. I LOVE paper.

So that is it for my attempt at being optimistic today. Think I will go make a snarly face at someone now.