I took so many wonderful pictures of this weekend that I had to make a slide show to show you all of them and my story in pictures. I hope that you'll all take the time to check them out and let me know what you think. I apologize in advance if all of this is TMI but I had to explain all the photos and this is the easiest way for me to remember it in my mind. :) I'm a wingnut, I know.
So as you know, I set out last Thursday for Pine Valley, Utah. Michael's Grandma owns a cabin there and lets us use it so we head up there to escape the heat and get reacquainted with mother nature and all her glory. I truly feel at peace in the great outdoors. This is NOT to be confused with camping which I strongly dislike. :)
So Thursday morning while Mike was at school, I packed up the kids, my friend Dawn's two older boys, the clothes, toys, food and the dog in the Denali, grabbed Mike and hit the road. We had a car full. In December when Michael bought me the car I had a bit of a moment (as you all read about). It is large and for the most part I feel is excessive when I have just Mike and Nya with me. However, when we are together as a family, this is the car to have! The Denali is made for the road. Everyone has plenty of space and it certainly is luxurious. Enough of me sounding like an advertisement but I always get impressed with the car when I get to use it for it's intended purpose. We stopped briefly in St. George for shoe laces, food and to visit Michael's Mom. Then off to the cabin where we all took a nice, deep breath, had a wonderful meal and settled in. Nya had a hard time falling asleep so I put her in the bed with Mike and Tessa and she crashed. AMEN! So day one went off without a hitch and everyone was happy and getting along. I sure did feel like a success. I even teamed the kids up to handle dishes and cleaning the kitchen. I had to teach them how but it will pay off I am sure.
Friday we got up and had my kind of breakfast, cereal. Dawn and her husband John like to make big breakfasts when we are up there but I am not really a fan nor can I consume that many calories in a day and get away with it. We planned on going to Veyo (which is 20 minutes from Pine Valley) on Friday to swim and crawdad fish to wear the kids out. I packed up my herd and headed off. The kids swam, fished and ate the worlds best onion rings. Dante and Issac ran into a friend of theirs that had recently moved from Las Vegas so we hung out a little longer so that they could hang out (to be read as: check out the cute girls who showed up just as we were packing up). Boy am I a cool Mom. I get it. I was their age once and it was cool for everyone to just get to do their own thing at this fun little country pool. I was smart that day, when we got up, I put a corned beef in the crock pot so we were ready to have dinner by the time we got home. As we had dinner, storm clouds came in so I quickly got the next set of boys to do the dishes and we headed off for an after dinner hike for an hour before Dawn and John showed up and the thunderstorms rolled in.
Oh yes, Nathan and Dante were paired up for dishes this night and I was explaining to Nate that I was teaching him how to properly clean the kitchen so when he is older and married that he would know what to do when he informed me that he was going to "make his wife do it." I about slapped the white off of him when he said that. Where is the kid learning this crap? None of my boys will be doing that. I told him that he might be old and grown but if he tried to pull that, I would promptly come to his house and beat him even if it was with my cane. I mean what was he thinking? I know he meant it. This isn't 1952, that kind of crap won't fly. Later in the weekend John (who is and older man) made some comment along those lines and I promptly told him not to say stuff like that around my sons because that is no where near acceptable. I read somewhere about Mother's and Father's becoming equal parents that one of the biggest mistakes we are making in that department is complimenting father's too much for doing THEIR JOB. That by saying, "thanks honey for changing that diaper" or making a big deal of the husband watching the kids is sending the wrong message to our kids. It is THEIR JOB and they don't deserve extra praise for doing it. Maybe appreciation but praise, no.
So Saturday did not get off well. Dawn's babies wake up very early compared to my family which ordinarily wouldn't be a big deal but this morning she and her husband went on a bike ride and left the babies with her two younger boys and they were half asleep which meant the babies (ages 20 months and almost 8 months) were screaming like banshees. I am NO morning person and it was 6am Vegas time and Nya also woke up which meant I had to get up. I was not pleased so I put Nate, Nya, Tessa and myself in the car, grabbed the camera and hit the road to wake up in peace. I don't think Dawn meant bad by it but I can't be left with 9 kids alone and certainly NOT asleep. We got that worked out but I had to cool off some. There are great pictures that we got on that morning as we woke up. I have to share the tale of the road that you see that turned out not to be for cars. I headed down a road that eventually turned into grass with tracks for a car but then the tracks turned into ATV tracks and here I am in my Denali XL right in front of a ditch in mud right after a rainstorm. THANK THE LORD for AWD and my country stepfather who taught me how to handle these situations. I passed Tessa over to Nate and put the car in reverse before I could sink and hoped to not hit any rocks. I did remember seeing any particularly huge ones on the way in and I couldn't see anything out the back of the car with the steep hill so we just put the gas in motion and hoped for the best. Nothing wakes you up like a good shot of adrenalin! I made it out okay and we got a good laugh out of it. I wish I would have had a picture but there was no time for that kind of a thing. I just had to put on my big girl panties and get us the heck out of there before I had to call Michael and report that my car was being towed out of somewhere because that would be the end.
We got back to the cabin, fully awake and ready to eat, Dawn and John had to run and errand and thankfully they took the babies which left me with the other six kids so we headed off to check out some new places I haven't been. I find that in nature, I am a naturally curious creature. I like to see what there is to see. I am not the stay close to home type. I am also not the wander off and get lost or play in the dark type. We discovered a new trail for next time we go up but it was fun. Nya loves to ride in the backpack and the boys really behave well when they are slightly worn out. ;) When we returned from our hike, we headed into St. George the town 40 or so miles from Pine Valley to go to the Sand Hallow Indoor Aquatic Center with all the kids and my Mother In Law met us with my niece to play. I forgot to bring my camera inside the pool so there aren't any pics but there were slides and toys and tons of fun! I got a pic of the crew after that though. We returned to Pine Valley just in time for all of our new favorite show, "The George Lopez Show." Great for families and I love that there is a family show that we can all watch that isn't just full of white people.
Michael got off early on Saturday came up to meet us to hang out and fish. Michael was very close to his Grandfather who built the cabin and the last two times he had been there was after his funeral and on his first honeymoon 13 years ago, so it really meant a lot to me that he came. I could almost see the memories flooding back to him. He spent a lot of his childhood up there and it is a very special place for him. The kids were all happy to see Daddy but I was most happy. Three days without him and even as independent as I am, I missed him terribly. There is something to be said for making memories with your partner. My best friend. There is no one that I would rather do things with than him if given the choice. I guess I just felt complete with him there and our babies, away from the noise of the world being able to just reconnect in a way that he chaos of the world prohibits.
Sunday we got up early to some delicious breakfast (french toast) and got 13 human beings ready and out the door for church. We made it! I am certain the Lord was smiling at the effort we all made. :) We were rewarded by children that ALL behaved during church and none had to be taken out. I'm sure that with 9 of them, that has rarely happened.
The fishing that the kids had been looking forward to came after church. We hoped in the car right after and just took a drive where Michael gave me control of the radio (which I always take but he never wants to give) and we just took a moment for our little family to talk and appreciate each other. We returned to the cabin and Michael took on the almost insurmountable task of preparing 6 fishing poles for the trip. Patience is not one of his virtues but the heavens were shining down on him and he really took his time teaching Dante especially how to do it all. I wiggled into my Uggs and passed the reigns onto him to teach the children something new and build his legacy within them. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed watching him being Daddy, leader, teacher, and a man or rather a grown up boy. If my son(s) turn out like him, I will be a proud mama.
Nathan caught the first fish and Issac caught the second but his first fish ever. Mike carried the fish around and dealt with its death in his own way. We were going to release Nate's but it swallowed the hook so we just didn't have a choice. Mike froze it after carrying it around for hours so that someone might get a chance to eat it.
I would say that not only did I survive the weekend, I thrived. In more ways that one. I come back at peace with myself and the world. I am closer to my children and friends that are like family. My boys are better for having them as examples. I got to share with my husband in a place that means so much to him and now we've given it new meaning. My dog got to actually run, jump and play and be a dog not like here in the city. We have a new favorite family show. I learned that I can handle seven kids at once but three kids under the age of two is outside my abilities, especially first thing in the morning. And lastly, I got all the laundry done today from the trip! WooHoo!!!
I think the high point of the trip for me was on Sunday when Johnny was doing the dishes and Dante said to him, "you better do them right, you know how Natasha is." They have heard me :) The end.
