Sunscreen Required

Despite being sicker than a dog for the past three weeks [I'm now on a stronger antibiotic, steroids and a neb regimen in the hopes of better health], the wee ones and I had the awesome privilege of boating /swimming on the river all day with Fab Neighbor. It was so much fun!  And bonus - little to no sunburn on any of us, thanks to the constant stalking of Momzilla (me) armed with spray sunscreen.

What Happens in Vegas...

At the end of September, I took an awesome road trip with the most fantastic friend ever.  We moved said friends mom from St. Paul, MN to Las Vegas, NV. 

And let me tell you!  Driving from Minnesota to Nevada in a 22-foot moving truck (aka the most massive of semi-trucks -- I can't believe the rental company didn't require us to have special training in "truckology" and some type of crazy drivers license specifications... that was towing a 9-foot trailer with her mom's sedan on top) was INSANE!

 Exhibit A:

On Day One, we drove through Southern MN and Western South Dakota, which had recently received record amounts of rain that, unfortunately resulted in excessive amounts of water left STANDING in the fields and more than one detour because the highways were also flooded.

We drove through the night and finally ended up in Rapid City, SD on night one because we took a small side trip to visit the World's Only CORN PALACE in Mitchell, SD. 

While walking back to the parking lot that held our lovely moving van (ahem, SEMI TRUCK), we both saw smoke and I made the intelligent and obvious comment, "Hey! It looks like there's a fire over there or something."  as we neared the parking lot (in the middle of a residential neighborhood), there was, indeed, a garage that went from tiny wafts of smoke from the roof to an entire blazing fireball in less than three minutes. I kid you not!  A massive three-alarm fire in less than 3-4 minutes.  It was totally freaky!

As we drove out of the parking lot, next to The Fireball, it quickly became apparent that the entire neighborhood was feeling the effects of the fire because several blocks (over a mile) away, we witnessed the following smoke-filled neighborhood...

We had hoped to make it to Wall Drug, but didn't make it near them while they were still open.  We ended up having to settle with waking up bright and early the next morning to take in the beauty of Mount Rushmore before heading out for another long day of driving -- with the hopes of making it all the way to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Unfortunately, on Day Two we only made it as far as ... I can't remember the name of the Wyoming city. (Shucks!) The drive through WY was gorgeous to begin with, but it very quickly got flat and REALLY boring.  I cannot express to you how hideously boring it got.  My highlight of WY was...  [drum roll, please]

THE ANTELOPE!



Oh!  And I was first allowed to drive the massive moving van in WY...

Day Three dawned and we were on a mission!  We wanted to be done with the Road Trip portion of this fantastic trip.  We needed to make it all the way through Utah and into Nevada to reach our destination of Las Vegas where more fun awaited us -- in the form of unpacking a 22-foot moving van.  WHO-HOO!!!  Utah was beautiful and a welcome reprieve from the flat, vastness-of-nothingness of Western WY.

Oh!  And my very favoritest part of Utah was the psychotic highway signs...  Really, People?  Check out these signs!!!

We finally made it to Arizona, which led us to Nevada, which brought us to Las Vegas.  PRAISE JESUS!  No more long, but highly enjoyable, hours in the moving SEMI.

We were able to unpack the moving van between 8:30 and 10:30pm on the eve of Day Three.  After unpacking all day on the morning/day of Day Four, we finally went out for some well-deserved fun on the Vegas Strip the eve of Day Four with Friend's brother and nephew.  YAHOO!

To sum it all up... Friend and I had the most fantastic, fabulous, grandiose, blissful time ever!  Go us!!!

Surprise with a Twist

Last night, I threw a surprise party for my fantastic friend and neighbor, Carol. However, the party had a twist... it was at Carol's house. I am so terrible that I threw a surprise party for a friend AT HER OWN HOME. (Me defending myself -- My home is always so messy! And her's is always spotless...)

I was so excited the entire week before the party. I had a hard time keeping the secret to myself. I wanted to jump up and down and tell Carol all about the plans, but I managed to control myself and she ended up being surprised.

We had tons of fun. Perhaps a tad bit too much fun. Enough fun that the end result may have been a teensy bit of a hang over the next morning. C'est la vie! It was all well worth it!

Questions

This blog... where is my blog going? Where am I going with this ranting and raving? Does it have a purpose? Is it part of a "calling"? Truly, what is up with all of the questions and pressure, people?

I am an almost-middle-aged (only 32 -- that's still young, right?!), slightly overweight, mostly-happily-married, part-time government employee residing in a cube farm, part-time stay-at-home mother of four children. In my lifetime, I am probably NOT going to discover the cure for any disease, write a bestseller, earn (or even win) a bazillion dollars, or save the rain forest. All is not lost, however .... as long as there is peanut butter in one hand, and a Diet Pepsi (preferably with rum) in the other hand, then all is well in my world.

This blog started as my virtual therapy during my struggles with raising four, very young children -- the three youngest were born within just over two years. Then the blog kind of morphed into a site about my occasional political rantings, as well as my children, our life, and my hatred of all things ketchup. Now I guess I just babble about whatever comes to mind, or whatever my family is currently doing.

Most likely no one cares besides me or my dad, but if you're here, then you are welcome to follow along and laugh at our inevitable mishaps.

And that is as close as I am going to come to answering all of those in-depth, overly thoughtful questions. But thank you for asking.

Shiny, Sharp Objects

This year we carved pumpkins in the house because it was so chilly outside. The weather has been so rainy and awful this autumn! While carving the pumpkins, Kelli & Company stopped by Carol's house and we promptly invited them over to carve away with us. Yahoo! We made a glorious mess and great fun was had by all.

For the record, Auntie Molly insisted upon carving pumpkins in rubber gloves because she doesn't like the gooey insides. I had to laugh at her here. Seriously?! Who carves pumpkins in RUBBER GLOVES?! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

D was all about the sharp, shiny objects. He was scary with the kid-safe pumpkin knife -- very gung-ho! He just wanted to keep cutting chunks out of the top of the pumpkin where Auntie Molly had already off the top of the pumpkin so we could clean it.

G kept staring inside her pumpkin as if she wasn't sure it was safe to stick her hand in it. I kept giggling at her and she kept frowning at me and asking, "Waz so funny?!"

Delish!!!

Last weekend Husband was attending a Halloween Party. I couldn't join him because we didn't have a babysitter, so I made the best of the situation! I invited my fabulous neighbor, Carol, as well as Michelle and Annie, over for a fun filled (translation: wine filled) night.

We had a fantastic time laughing, cooking, baking. We had rosemary potatoes (yes, the purple things are potatoes!), homegrown butternut squash, chicken, and apple crisp. I was so full; you could have rolled me out of the house! Everything was so delicous and the company was out of this world. My sides still hurt from laughing so much. Good times!