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I don't know what got into me but somewhere between my last post and before we boarded the plane to head for home I picked up some kind of 48 hour bug. I started to feel sick shortly after breakfast and while I complained that we were once again seated in the very last row of the airplane it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We were as close to the bathroom as we could be and I could discreetly hustle in there as needed, which ended up to be about 5 times during the flight from Las Vegas to MPS.
I felt nauseous, had body aches and chills, and other symptoms I don't care to discuss right now. We didn't get home until about 11 pm on Tuesday evening and I slowly climbed into bed for what I thought would be some serious sleep. I awoke many times during the night trying to fight the urge to puke. I won that war but Wednesday found me better but still very tired and weak. I did muster the energy to climb onto our Club Cadet and mow for a few hours. I figured if I just had to sit I would be alright. Towards the end of the day my energy slowly returned and I cranked out about 4 loads of laundry, with more waiting to be done.
I did the math and I figured with 6 people in my family with each of us wearing at least 1 outfit per day for 8 days that equals 48 outfits. Wow! I didn't realize we owned that many pieces of clothing.
We are sitting here now looking at our expenditures for the trip and I think we did pretty well. I would list them but that seems kind of weird but if anyone is interested I'm happy to share. (Why anyone would be interested, I don't know but, hey, who knows??)
Back to my realty...running kids, pulling weeds, cooking, mowing, giving orders, cleaning...you know the drill. Glad to be home!!

Headed Home

Its just shy of 6 am and I'm sitting in the breakfast area of our hotel. I've been awake since 4:30 and I thought I would climb out bed and get some "me time". I'm a person who LOVES to be alone. As you can imagine, I haven't had much of that on this trip so this is good; just me, my coffee, my laptop, my oldest daughter's devotional book, and my Bible. I need to refuel.
We have everything packed pretty much and plan to leave for the airport around 8:45 am.
Yesterday we were on the road for about 5 hours, landing at the hotel around 2. My youngest 2 and I headed for the pool. We had a couple of pizzas delivered to the room and took off for Freemont St. Its another attraction we HAD to see when we were in Las Vegas. I don't think the folks who told me what attractions to check out had their kids with them. This particular thing was in a seedy part of town. Basically, its a covered section of town of about 5 blocks. The establishments are casinos, street vendors, etc. Of course, they had the huge movie screen of ladies in bikinis, taking off their tops, and dancing. (Certain body parts were blocked off thankfully.) My poor kids were so out of their element! They wanted to leave even before the light show began. Oh, and don't forget the drunk lady the police arrested in front of the Harley shop. She was causing quite a stir.
I had wanted to go here on Wednesday night but my husband couldn't find the place so I had a mild temper tantrum. Being the wonderful guy he is, he did a little more research and we were able to find it last night. We got there around 7:30 and the light show started at 8:30. It went on for about 3 minutes and then was over. I was so embarrassed. Not what I had imagined it would be and certainly not worth the hissy fit I displayed. Thankfully, I have a gracious husband who didn't say, "I told you so."
It will be good to get home. We should arrive in Des Moines around 8 pm which will put us at our place around 10. We had been saving up for a big trip like this for a few years. My oldest will be a senior next year and I figured this would likely be our last family adventure. I wanted it to be very special and I think it really was.
Time for breakfast. More later!!

Vacation, Days 5 and 6

Day 5 was long. We did a lot of driving, some unnecessarily, but that’s another story. We did learn that you cannot always trust Mapquest when they put us about 21 miles short of our desired location.
We went back to the Grand Canyon Visitors Center to see the IMAX movie. We figured we could do this because we theoretically only had about 1 ½ hours to travel to Sedona. The IMAX experience was incredible. It gave a lot of history and some amazing shots we would not have been able to see otherwise. We drove another 10 miles to the Canyon itself to retrieve the pedometer I had left in one of the gift shops the day before as I was trying on a t-shirt. I was promised when I called there later that day that they would put my name on it and have it waiting for me at the counter. It wasn’t. They told me to go to this other place and it would be there. It wasn’t. I started moaning about how we had driven ALL that way just to get my pedometer. It didn’t help. They couldn’t find it. I was hot but I left without losing my religion there on the spot and fussed and fumed about it for about another hour and then just let it go.
We drove on to Sedona. BEAUTIFUL!! This is a place you MUST see. The canyon and red rock is amazing. We got in to the hotel around 3:30 pm, completely pooped out from traveling and being hot and cooped up in a mini van or a hotel room for the better part of a week. We pretty much relaxed for the rest of Day 5 knowing Day 6 would be busy.

Day 6 (Sunday)
This was probably the best and busiest day we’ve had on our trip. Bob and I awoke early and were out for a walk by 5:45 am. We both admit/realize that while we have been vacationing we have increased our food and caloric intake and decreased the amount of exercise we usually do, We walked a bit in a nice residential area and saw a small deer which quickly ran from us. We continued and met a couple with whom we visited for a minute. They were of mid-Eastern decent but are living in Ohio. It was interesting to learn they have a son who lives in the neighboring community that we do. We continued on our walk until we came to a hiking trail. We took that for a very short way when my husband said he saw a rabbit or something like that “only bigger”. We continued on for a moment to see what type of wildlife it was. It was quickly apparent that we were tailing a coyote. I was OFF! I ran like the wind, in fear of my life. I came back to the street and met a woman who was off on a hike. She went straight up the path where we had seen the coyote, completely unafraid. My husband, too, came sauntering down the trail. He had followed the animal to see if he could get a closer look. I came as close as I cared to.
That morning we went on a Pink Jeep Tour. Our family piled into a big pink jeep with a wonderful driver, Mike, and he took us on the trip of our lives. We took the Broken Arrow tour which put us amidst the red rocky canyons and mountains surrounding Sedona for 2 hours. It was like 4-wheeling but on a MUCH grander scale. It was like nothing I’ve ever done before and our whole family agrees this was best thing we have done on our trip. I had heard about this experience on Little People Big World which is a TV show on TLC.
After our tour we met up with my brother, D$?#, (he said to write his name like that) who drove up from his home in Tucson. We went out for lunch and he drove us to Mt. Humphreys, which is the highest point in Arizona at about 12,633 feet. We road on a ski lift which took us to about the 11,500 mark. Do you remember, a few posts ago when I wrote how I feel about the heat? That’s the same way I feel about heights. I was mortified for the most part. This was a ski lift, mind you; feet dangling and all. I wasn’t going to go on it but my husband had already bought me a ticket. I figured if my 6 year old could do it, I could too. I’m glad I did it but I don’t think I would do that again. It was a VERY scary thing for me. Uncle D rode with children #2 and 3 and he was sure to point out to them the 3 bras and 1 pair of thong underpants hanging from the surrounding pine trees. They thought it was SO funny.
We got our feet firmly planted on the ground and went to dinner and headed back to Sedona. We stopped at the Safeway in Sedona to grab a few groceries. I had been looking forward to a good, black cup of coffee and we discovered Starbucks in the Safeway. While we were waiting for our coffee to brew, D jumped into a motorized cart and started driving around the store with the electrical plugin cord dragging behind him. What a hoot!!
Poor Uncle D. He was so patient. As a bachelor with no children, I’m pretty sure he was about ready to pull his hair out. Have I ever told you that I have 4 very LOUD children? Imagine all 7 of us in D’s SUV traveling. I’m sure it seemed like an eternity until he was free from us. We stayed at the same hotel and I made sure the kids didn’t know his room number so he could have some peace. The kids LOVE Uncle D. They look forward to any time they can be with him.
Tomorrow, back to Las Vegas.

My new favorite song

Sit back and relax and enjoy this BEAUTIFUL song sung by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. We heard it a few nights ago as we stood in front of the Bellagio Hotel on the Vegas Strip. They choreographed the dancing fountains to this absolutely gorgeous song. To all you head bangers, sorry, but this is REAL music. Enjoy!! It takes 4 minutes.

Leaving Las Vegas

We left Las Vegas this morning and drove a good part of the day, taking Route 66 (like the movie "Cars"). I am settled in our hotel room in Williams AZ while Bob and kids 2,3, and 4 are in the pool area.
Leaving Vegas was not hard for me. It is definitely not a city for me. Everyone I've talked to has said, "You have to go to Las Vegas. There is so much to do there." I always figured I have so much to do at home and I certainly didn't want to travel hours by plane to have more to do. My idea of a vacation has always been to plop my big butt down on some white sand somewhere and have native people bring me whatever I desire. (AHHHHHH!).
We LOVED the dancing fountains outside the Bellagio but that was probably the best thing we saw. To me, the strip was not great. I felt bad for my teenage boys and my husband as they were bombarded with imagery that was not meant for public viewing. There were huge movie screens all over the Strip with barely dressed women in awkward positions girating (sp) up and down poles etc. Strange men stand on the corner handing out pictures of naked women, with promises to have them in your hotel room in 20 minutes. Trucks drove up and down the strip with near naked pictures of woman plastered all over the sides, like a moving billboard.
No, I do not plan to return to Vegas. I did gamble though. That REALLY surprised me because I was sure I wouldn't. Gambling is the kind of thing I could really like doing so I just don't do it at all. Its safer that way for me. That's why I don't drink any more either. Too much potential trouble.
Anyway, back to gambling. It was the last machine as we walked out of the casino. Bob stuck in a dollar and we started messing around with the machine. I'm not even sure what we were playing but a security guy came up and told us we had to get our kids out of there so we parked them by the exit and went back in to get our $1 worth. I told the kids they could now say that have been kicked out of a casino. We played about 5 minutes and had spent $1 and walked out. With my luck I would have won a million $$ and become a gambling addict. Losing was good for me.
Tomorrow, on to the Grand Canyon via train. I'll keep you posted.

VEGAS BABY!!

Here I am in Sin City. Who would have thunk?? We flew in yesterday and are enjoying the start of our week long vacation. We went down to the strip today and walked around. By 9:30 this morning it was 100 degrees with the expected high to be 108. I am SO not made for the heat. Not even kind of. Not at all. People say its not as bad because its not as humid. Its 108. Enough said.
We came back to the hotel around noon and ate lunch, took a nap, or for those so inclined, hung out at the pool. Tonight we will venture back to the strip, all 6 of us and see stuff we were told we cannot miss.
Tomorrow its off to Williams AZ and Friday on to the Grand Canyon.
More later.

Life goes on???

We buried my dad last week. He died suddenly on June 1st at his home on a beautiful day. It seems unreal at this point and I don't think I have fully grasped what has happened to me. What a tragic loss, yet this week has gone by pretty smoothly. I don't know if its the realty of dealing with four children, a husband, a part-time job, keeping up with this very grassy, weedy, acreage of mine or if its just that I didn't see him much anyway so my soul hasn't realized the emptiness. I shudder at what tomorrow, Father's Day, may bring as I try to celebrate with my husband and children yet try to pay him homage in some way. Nonetheless, I find some consolation in seeing him just the week before his death and choosing to dwell on his goodness and generosity. I was blessed to have been his daughter. Happy Father's Day, Dad!!

Below is the tribute I wrote for him and that was read at his funeral.


First of all, on behalf of my family, we deeply appreciate you being here today. It is your presence and your prayers that have carried us through these last few days. We thank you.

I have struggled to decide whether or not to put something down for my dad. I have 44 years of thoughts, memories, and feelings to convey in such a short time but I feel it is the least I can do to honor him now.

For those of you who knew him, you can agree that he was a unique character. He was very tough on the outside but was kind-hearted and gentle in so many ways.

I remember as a little girl how big and strong he was to me. I would often ask him to flex his muscle and I would try unsuccessfully to wrap my little hands around his big arm. I remember lying across his lap so he could scratch my back or climbing up into his chair and getting a “whisker rub” across my soft little cheek. To him, that was like a hug.

You always knew where you stood with dad. If he didn’t agree with something, he made sure you knew that. If he thought something cost too much, he would tell you so. In spite of that, or maybe because of that, everyone loved him. He had such a faithful band of friends that he would enjoy coffee with every morning. It was these friends that he valued and loved so very much.

He worked long, hard hours running his farm and his company. I remember his rough hands and his sunburned arms, signs that he was working hard so we wouldn’t be in need of anything.

He was a stickler for saving money. We laugh now when we share stories of how he tried to stretch things into lasting longer. Material things meant nothing to him. We had what we needed and he saw no sense in much more.

Dad loved his wife. He needed her. He was faithful to her until her dying breath. He was never the same after that. He seemed just to be waiting to be with her again.

Somehow, I thought this day would never come. The day I would receive the phone call that he was gone. I wish I had been more patient with him. I wish I had visited and called more often. I wish I had told him I loved him more often. I wished I had hugged him more. I realize now the things that drove me crazy were so insignificant.

In these times of grief, we must choose to look for the blessings. I am blessed to have had a father so devoted to his wife. I am blessed to have had a life of good, hard work mirrored for me. I am blessed to have had a dad that loved me. I am blessed now to have sweet memories of his smile and the twinkle in this eye when he would laugh. I am blessed by the stories he would tell of when he was growing up.

Dad, I stand before this group of friends and family and I honor you. I pray you knew you were a faithful husband, a precious father, and a good man. I have peace knowing that you took your last breath outside your own home, on a beautiful spring morning, looking onto the flowerbed mom tended to for so many years.

I miss you. See you soon,Janice