From Desolation to Wrestle-Your-Father Day

We got home from our trip in 6 pieces, which is the proper amount for a family of 6, but not without stopping  to eat our packed lunch at the most amazing rest stop ever. Check it out. Turns out to be the gateway to the "40 Mile Desert," a notoriously horrific place for early settlers to travel.

I didn't crop the photo, because it's not of people, it's of desolation. Not pictured is heat, bugs, and dirtiness.

We all used the stinky port-a-potties, and dealt with the fact there are no sinks anywhere at this place.  When we were getting near time to leave, suddenly Josh yelled out, "Noah, I found water!" It was hilarious, like he was a thirsty desert-traveler. I told Josh, "Don't forget to prime the pump!"

We got home late on Monday night, and lucky us, Gary's brother Christian and family were in town. I didn't feel like cooking, fresh off a getting home late from a vacation and all, so instead we went to Heber and stayed up really late there. Ha! It was fun, though, how can we leave early when we're having a great time talking and laughing with people we rarely see? We can't. The pictures of kids on the trampoline with cousins are blurry, but they were having a blast!

Michael, Josh, Noah, Christian, and Jill

Noah, Andrew, Josh, Christian, Jill, Michael

Christian, Lissy, Gary - enjoying dessert and also brotherly bonding via comedian on TV.

No pictures of me, but if there were, I was handing out with Sara and Candacy, solving the world's problems and laughing about it.

Then a few days later was the surgery, then the conference - already talked about those elsewhere. What we have here is Noah being an awesome big brother. Lissy loves to play dolls, but my boys normally don't. I didn't teach them these gender roles, it just happened, so I think that says something. Anyway, sometimes one of them will do a great job of playing babies with her, and she is in heaven. The best is when all the boys said they would play dolls with Lissy, and how did they play? They gave the diolls showers with Super Soakers.

Our van is officially a sports vehicle, what with its spoiler and hubcaps. Andrew added in the missing pinstripe with a sharpie while I was talking with a friend. She had been awesome enough to watch them all day while I was at a conference, and they had a blast. Andrew apparently decided to add art time when I returned, and this scene goes all around the car, plus extra styling on the handles and back.

Poor Josh's eye was getting puffier and redder over the weekend, we even had him stay home from church because we thought he had pink eye. Borrowed antibiotic drops weren't helping, so we let him play with kids on Monday and I took him to the doctor right after dinner. A fun kid-date, all things considered. Turns out it was allergies. This kid has them something awful! So, we went to Walmart to get his prescription filled, and he picked out Father's Day cards - slightly irritating talking ones he was sure the dads in his life would love. I have to say it - he is adorable.

You can't really tell how awful his eye was in this picture, but I do like his pose  he decided was right.

Our neighbors let us know about Pastor Pete's Fun Kids' Sports camp, put on by a local church. My kid will play sports any day, and we thought it would  be a great way for us to interact with the community. Josh chose baseball camp and Noah chose soccer camp, and they really learned some stuff. Noah will show you his scissors, fundamentals . . . It's cute with the way he talks. So, all week long, from 6-9 p.m., wow. It concluded the last night with family night, where we got to watch some scrimmages and do a fun awards ceremony.

As part of the camp, they were collecting peanut butter and jelly for the food bank. The sports were competing against each other to see who could bring in the most. The day after he found out about the contest, Josh brought Gary a peanut butter and jelly sandwich he had made and said, "Here, Dad, this is to give for my sports camp." Such a sweetie. When Josh found out his donation wouldn't work, he begged me to get some real stuff. It was a hard week for us, with me going to the conference and post-op and all, so I didn't make it to the store until the last night. My donations got rushed into the count . . . and soccer won by a single jar of jelly! If it hadn't been for my kids' begging, Noah's team wouldn't have won. The kids were pumped because Noah got to bring home a little soccer ball for winning. Oh, and Noah's soccer coach was very impressed with him. I wish I would have seen it, I'm so glad he has something he can enjoy!

I had such a fun time talking with some of the people after the ceremony, I was very glad we came. I love the feeling of different churches coming together. Also, now my children are singing, "Give your heart to Jesus" to the tune of Hokey Pokey, so it's a win all around.

Noah's soccer group

Awards for participating, he's pretty pumped.

Josh's baseball group

Josh loved the whole thing!

Andrew and Lissy had a fantastic time dancing afterwards. Yes, it was a bit cute.

Noah got this ball for winning the pb and j contest - until he traded for the mini-soccer ball.

The week wrapped up with Father's Day. Our fathers live far away, so we stayed here to try our best to spoil Gary with cinnamon buns and hugs. I was trying to give him a break and not have him do anything, but being as he's an amazing dad, while I was cooking dinner he let the kids wrestle with him on the couch. It started out with just Andrew, but then they all joined in with various techniques. Andrew did the Kickboxing Kangaroo, then Noah performed the Tornado Ninja, then who knows . . . what a guy.

It all started pretty tame, with a mini-wrestle while Gary rested . . .

Then, on to this - does this say Happy Father's Day?

This one was especially awkward . . .

I like Gary's face here - he was actually not in pain at the time, but this also says "Happy Father's Day" to me.

And then the big one got in on it . . . phew. Maybe cooking was easier?

Expensive Pools and Late-Night Laughing - Road Trip Part 2

After waving goodbye to Tahoe, we traveled the windy road down to Roseville to visit Gary's brother Drew and his wife Stacey. The kids were pumped to see their cousins, and the visit did not disappoint. We first met them at Baskin Robbins because Scott was having a little end-of-season basketball party there, and even though the place was totally packed and us giving no introductions, Trevor and Andrew found each other and started having a fun fake punching fight. Birds of a feather!

Not only was it fun to visit Drew and Stacey, it was like returning home a little. Gary and I lived with them for a few months when Josh was a baby and Gary was an intern at Roseville City. I was going to say I wish I blogged then, but no, I don't. I wouldn't have had time. Josh screamed constantly unless I held him and I typed emails with one finger back then. ANYWAY, it's a great place and I remembered why we thought we should move there.

The  boys immediately dove into playing Beyblades - turns out Scott is also a fan, so once again, those birds of a feather. They could have played those things for the entire time we were there, which allowed adults to go for runs, but then it was pool time.

I was upstairs getting dressed when I kept hearing Andrew shout, "Cannonball!" outside, each time followed by a splash. The "expensive" pool was out! That's what Scott called it when he was younger and it stuck. Though not actually expensive, it was awesome!

Trevor looking on as Andrew does one of his "cannonballs."

Trevor's turn at the top, all the boys are in action.

Stacey and I were sitting at the kitchen table when we suddenly saw boys just piling into the pool.  It was hilarious - she got video, but I have these pictures of their race.

They did the race over and over, and would jump out to do it again as soon as they got in.

The side view shows it all - in and out of the pool, then do it again.

After the pool, the kids took a little break and played Wii. I thought this was pretty funny.

Some friends of Drew and Stacey were awesome enough to let us come swim in their back yard pool. It was cold, but really hot outside, so it felt  good. Stacey has noticed that we bring the heat to Roseville - the summer we stayed there was a scorcher, and the weekend we visited was record-breaking. Maybe it's best we didn't move there. :) Kids always love a pool, especially when Stacey started the "catch the ball while jumping into the pool" game.

I think Andrew's reaction is in regard to the initial cold, but you've gotta love Noah in goggles.

Scott and Noah

Baby girl!

Um, yeah, the only pic I could get, and she's eating a Saltine.

Josh worked intensely at the game, as he does with all games.

Trevor and Andrew

Andrew looks amazing in snorkel gear.

I swam him around and around.

Look how awesome pool-owner Carrie is!

Noah really went for it every time, I just love it.

I thought this picture was of Scott, so I had one for each boy. Um, that's Josh. See what happens when I'm trying to be photographer AND fun pool-mommy?

I don't love the pic, but everyone really wanted to capture the vision of me pulling the water-rickshaw.

Charlotte and Scott had a piano recital, and I stayed behind while Lissy napped. This is what happened to Trevor and Andrew after 24 hours of almost straight action.

On Sunday afternoon Josh and Charlotte played Battleship together for a long time. I was so happy to see there was an activity where they could bond, because Charlotte had been a little over-run by boys up to that point. 

Since this is what they spent most of their time doing, I had to get a shot of it in the end.

Lissy loved jumping on Scott, which he was amazingly patient about.

Sunday night ended off with some Dad-tag. That was the first ending, followed by more Beyblades, of course.

The kids got to sleep all together in the living room, and when we said we were leaving on Monday morning, there was sadness and outrage by many a child. My personal favorite part of the trip was that on Saturday and Sunday nights the adults ate homemade ice cream in the dining room and laughed ourselves silly while discussing the 80's and other such big items. Drew and Stacey probably had dark rings under their eyes after we left, but it was FUN to be there. Wish I could send them some sleep in the mail as a thank you. Hooray for our Roseville family!

Matching Nose Jobs

I have had sinus surgery 3 times before. Yes, this was my fourth time going under the knife to fix problems with breathing. The nurse who wheeled me to the car the other day said she hopes this is my last time. Thanks, I'm right there with you. This time the doctor really only needed to reduce my lower turbinates, which is less than Gary got done and less than I've had before, so it should be no big deal, right? Ugh. To be truthful, it's not nearly as painful as some of the other times. However, my dreams of restful times in my room while I fill in the holes for the last year of blogging will not be fulfilled. Because I feel crappy. Weird, right? Turns out not being able to breathe, just choke, has its downside.

I had a little rush of energy and desire to help Gary, so I started putting things away, which led me outside, which made  me get discovered by neighbors, in my full flared-goopy-nostril beauty. They were really sweet, and asking me who was helping me and how we were getting along. As I tried to explain, I realized I am kind of losing track of days and couldn't totally answer everything.

Gary is amazing. He has done an amazing job with the kids, with managing it all, and with helping me. He is perfect at showing empathy and love with the things I'm going through. Incredible man.

So . . . I think I wrote that on Saturday? I had the surgery on a Thursday, and the weekend was pretty yuck. (I originally published June 18, but now I am putting the date as the Saturday I began the post so that the blog works chronologically.)  I don't recall the packing ever making me so completely miserable. It felt like someone was constantly pressing on my sneeze reflex, and wouldn't stop - for over four days. I couldn't sleep, I had a constant headache  . . . on Sunday I started to count the minutes until the packing came out, and when the doctor came in to do it I felt like he was the anesthesiologist coming to give my epidural - he saved me! When I told him what a hard time I was having, he was not at all surprised. Turns out though there wasn't a lot he did, it's actually one of the bloodiest nose surgeries you can have, so the fact there was sooo much more blood than Gary was supposed to happen. Ok, awesome. And what a difference it made getting that stuff out, hooray!

I spent the week at a teaching conference all day, every day. A few people expressed that they couldn't believe I would do that right after having surgery. I wished I didn't have to, but it was actually awesome. Instead of dealing with little kids and my house, I sat in a room with adults drinking bottled water while discussing fascinating things. It was fascinating to me - it was a math training, and it was exactly what I've been wanting to learn more about for years. I was really into it, and pumped to think they are teaching all of the teachers so my kids can have a great education . . . and then I realized by the end that mostly everyone else hate, hated it. Boo. Dreams shattered. I want my kids in the class of one of those presenters, however, worrying about kind of stuff I need to take off my list, because it just doesn't help anything.

Now, tomorrow is my last (hopefully) ENT appointment, then Gary and I will both be breathing so well our lives will be magically wonderful. And no, neither one of us got any plastic surgery. If you notice anything different, it's not part of what we payed for.