Utah

Mandi and I packed up our three boys and three girls, loaded them into the suburban and drove the eight hours (9 1/2 for me) to Cedar City for a week. It was a great week. The six kids were angels on the drive up.

During the week we drove another hour north up to Beaver for a cousin picnic. And also to get the brood of ten children out of the house so that a Realtor and prospective buyers could take a look at it in peace.
My gorgeous niece Andersyn, and her new child Caleb. I think she should come live with me and take care of this boy always! What do you think Andee? I'll pay you in motherly love! Maybe not, that's stretched kind of thin, how about in chocolate? Hmmm.

The boys. Talin, Crew & Collin.

The twins.

They are always together.

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One of the highlights was visiting the property to feed the animals. JoDee and Shane are proud parents (I hope I get the numbers right) to 9 rabbits, 10 (?) chickens, 3 donkeys, 2 goats, 4 pigs, and one yellow lab puppy. Did I miss any??

Andee introducing the kids to the animals.

Nothing scares this boy. He loved the animals.

My boys hanging out with Burrito, who might become a father to two this fall. Let's see, that would make five donkeys.

Cool.

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When the brood of children were not outside playing in the water, riding bikes, or scootering around the yard, they were to be found playing legos. One afternoon they played for four hours straight. It was really neat. It's a love hate relationship with legos, for me.

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When they weren't playing, which was not often, we put them to work. Shucking corn was one chore. Cleaning up the backyard was another. Cleaning up their "Cousin's Club" they created was another, and a nightmare for Jo and I who had to empty their bucket which was used as the toilet and which they all took a turn peeing in. So gross.
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Us adults spent our time on the back porch monitoring the kids and playing cards. Intense games of cards. During these times we would sit Caleb at the table while he was hooked up to his g-tube eating. And this is where we found his amazing talent of cup stacking. Madalyn was his assistant and in charge of setting up the cups, and Caleb was king of taking them down, in the suavest way possible. He was so obsessed he even napped while clutching his stack of cups.
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It was so sad to come home. We loved all the time spent outdoors and letting the kids run wild for a week.

I think Mandi and I knew that the stars were stacked against us, there was no way the kids could duplicate the calm, wonderful behavior for the ride home that they had for the ride there.

They are lucky they all survived. Reagan slept and London pretended to sleep. The kids fought. Screamed. Cried. Complained. Walked into a truck stop bathroom barefoot (Talin!!!).

The most classic of all is when we stopped for lunch at Jacob's Lake and sat down at the table. Our waitress approached and brought coloring sheets for the kids and a mug full of crayons. She then said,

"Be sure you put the crayons back into the mug when you're done coloring, I really don't like to pick them up from off the floor. It's annoying."

And Mandi still tipped her.

This is one of my favorite views. After hours driving on the reservation you catch a glimpse of the mountains and you know you're close to Flagstaff and pine trees and a beautiful drive.

Can't wait for our next Utah trip!

Thank you Adair's for putting up with us.

The extent of my insanity dawned on me this evening.

There I was, 6:00 at night, alone with my three children, at the mall, on a Friday, buying them hamburgers, and sitting at a table between oversexed teenagers and an interesting lesbian couple.

Then I looked down.
There were my feet, wearing Tom's flip flops.

Huge flip flops, that my feet only cover half of.
How could I have walked out the door like that? And then I thought, how could I be at the mall, alone with my kids on a Friday night with no purpose in being there?

Certifiable.

International Wildlife Museum

While Cyndee & Mandi were visiting we took a trip to the International Wildlife Museum, where...

...my children were eaten alive!!

One at a time.

While I took pictures.

There were a lot of close encounters while we were there.

Collin was attempting to ride the boar...why?? This picture was taken after I had said at least three times, "Collin, don't straddle the boar, you're only suppose to touch it, not ride it!"

Collin, Savannah and London with their best dead looks. It might have been more convincing if they had been laying down, with ketchup and protruding bones.

Tom had Monday off and was able to come on the museum adventure with us. Lucky.

Wow, all three of them are looking at the camera, smiling and not being silly.

Miracle!

Entering the cave of wonders. It's not really called that, I totally made that up. But it would be a good name for it.

Aren't they cute?

Seriously can't wait for them to go back to school. I love them, but it's been a long summer!

Tucson

We are here and settled in Tucson.

It's been a weirder adjustment than I thought.

Tucson is brown and shrubbery and prickly and bright.

Only an hour and a half away from Mesa, but it makes the valley seem lush and green.

That's not right.

For the first time I appreciated the Tucson beauty last night. The sky was overcast, the sun was setting, the mountains appeared to tower over our city, it was breathtaking. And then this morning the heat and sun hit again.

It's been lonely too. I'm adjusting to not being around family all the time, to not having nieces and nephews storm the house and stay for sleepovers. I'm adjusting to not seeing adults other than my husband for days. But I'm also excited to become involved in a new ward with new opportunities. It will come. I'm hoping that when the weather becomes tamer that the social aspect of life will pick up a bit.

To cheer me up Mandi, her girlies and my mother came for a visit last weekend.

It was just what I needed.

Adults.

Women.

People.

It was nice to have them around again.

We celebrated the 4th by decorating cookies on Sunday.
What a patriotic bunch.

We also spent the weekend chasing these two around. Reagan and Caleb are either best friends getting into the best of trouble, or they are the worst of enemies with Reagan screaming at his approach and Caleb making sure to get the most out of her screams by kicking or hitting her. It's horrible. We're working on it.

Happy (belated) Independence Day!

The BIG Three O

Today I am mourning.

Mourning my twenties.

Because tomorrow they are gone forever.

The thought of it makes my insides twist with fear.

This transition scares me.


But honestly I'm trying really hard to be accepting of the frightful thirty. Learning to embrace the tiny lines around my eyes, the sun spots and the ruddy complexion I possess.


Aging is beautiful? I'm telling myself. I think the beauty in it comes not from the aging but from the accepting and rejoicing in the process.

I'll try. I'll try.

Surprise Party

(Tom with our nephew Jessie)

I was completely stressed and snappy and irritable in preparation for Tom's surprise graduation party. We had gotten home Tuesday night and the party was Friday night.
You can't even imagine the difficulty in arranging a surprise party for a man that is in the house night and day. Who asks me every half hour what I'm doing. Stands over me as I check my email. It seemed impossible that the surprise would not be leaked before the big night.

At one point during the day on Friday I suspected that he had figured it out. I had convinced myself that he knew for sure and just wasn't telling me. In my stress I confided in Mandi.

Me-"Every time he looks at me he has this huge smile on his face, I just know that he knows what's going on, but he's not saying anything and just toying with my emotions."

Mandi-"Tom always smiles when he looks at you."

True.
But I had my doubts.
Needless to say the surprise came off beautifully. Everyone was there when we walked in the door and a bazillion kids attacked him and screamed "Doctor Tom" at him.
It was awesome.
Amy provided the cake. Not only did it look incredible it tasted pretty good too.

A few of the party goers.

A few more.

Only a few of the children that we pushed out into the backyard. They were all a little too high with party excitement to contain themselves indoors.

Overall it was a lot of fun. I definitely couldn't have pulled it off without the help of Cyndee, Mandi and Amy. Thank you!!

And Tom quickly forgave me my craziness in the secret preparation. He was so not in the loop and super surprised, pulled off beautifully.

The Last Days (of our vacation)

Sunday after the graduation whirlwind we started our long trek home.

We drove to Denver the first day and stayed with Wally & Julie and my visiting Grandparents from the valley.

We are constantly dropping into their home on our visits to Iowa.

It consists of getting there in the evening and then leaving at the crack of dawn to continue driving.

So we decided, this being our last Iowa trip that we would stay a day and do something fun.

All of us loaded up on Monday and went to the Natural History Museum in Denver.

My Grandparents stayed behind, but Wally and Julie came with us.

Meteorites.
Hanging out with Grandpa Chambers.

My boys and a moose.

Collin and Caleb with caribou.

Talin with bigger ears.

The thought did run through my head that if I could only super glue those big ears on him he might listen better.

Talin and Collin being attacked by bears.

Collin and Tom with the dinosaurs.

Me and my boys.

We loved the museum and we love Wally and Julie for their constant hospitality in putting up with us each time we come through.

They were even patient with Caleb who had recently discovered his ability to kick and was constantly kicking the dogs as they walked by.

Awesome.

Anyone out there that thinks they can raise him to be sweet natured?

Please call me.

This picture wraps up the end of the trip.

The exhausting drive home on Tuesday.

It was long, it was fun and after being gone for ten days we were ready to get home.

Graduation Day

Saturday May 29th at 10:00 a.m. Tom graduated from medical school and officially became Dr. Tom.

Oh yeah.

The ceremony was very long so our good friend Lisa offered to take the boys during it. I was so anxious that I made the wrong decision and that they should have been there, but after sitting for 2 1/2 hours I was glad I let her take them. Even I was getting restless.

After the graduation we found Tom in the foyer with all the other graduates. It was so packed so we didn't stay for long.

We took a few pictures and then left for a graduation picnic thrown by our old ward in Des Moines. It was awesome to see everyone and catch up from the past year. We appreciated all the people that showed up to congratulate the new graduates and to see all the returning families.

I could not be more proud of Tom and all the he's accomplished. I'm glad we chose this road and I'm thrilled it's done, at least the school part.

Nauvoo Part II

In the evening the boys spent time at the pool. Karen and I would sit and watch all the fun. I couldn't go in because of my recent foot surgery, but it was entertaining to watch them all play.

Caleb loved being thrown up in the air. It only took me about twenty tries before I got an actual picture of it.

We spent our last day in Nauvoo exploring the renovated homes and taking an oxen ride. Talin still asks me occasionally if he can get a pet ox. Um, No!

On Wednesday we packed up and drove into Des Moines, Iowa. It was exciting to see our home again and our friends. The Greenwoods were nice enough to let us stay in their home for the next four days. It was awesome to see them and others we missed.

On Friday we attended the DMU Podiatry Banquet. It was fun to get dressed up and wear a boot on one leg and a heel on the other. Now that takes talent.

It didn't really hit me that this phase of our life was over until the night of the banquet. The reality that Tom had done all this work the past eight years blew me away. Starting out at NAU we never dreamed of going this far or making so many sacrifices. But it has all been worth it. I was so proud and amazed at all the time and effort he put into getting here. It made me realize how much we've grown together in the past ten years.

Me, Karen & Kraig.