Do you remember that song from the Muppets? Raise your hand if you do. We used to sing it in choir, along with The Rainbow Connection...

We're leaving in the morning to head to my dad's house in PA. We have a LOT of family there, so I'll be busy busy the whole time. I'll try to jump in when I can.

It looks like we'll have 10 hours of solid driving, and we're stopping off in Columbus to see Davin's step-brother along the way. So, you DEFINITELY won't be seeing me tomorrow!

Today we helped Davin's family decorate for Halloween. That may seem early to some, but we decorated before we left, so we were glad to get another chance to do a place up!

We've been staying in the camper all along the way. It's nice, because we don't have to invade anyone's house, and because it's consistent for us each night. It's working out well!

Miss you all, I'll visit your blogs when I get home, if not sooner!

Labels: camping, travel

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  Hey, everyone! We're here in the Greater Dayton area, visiting with Davin's family now.

Today, we went down to the Wegerzyn Gardens, which is so cool that it completely kicks the butt of the Denver Botanic Gardens. Plus, it's free!

Oops, I missed the dinner call. I'd better run. Oh, and we're doing laundry...why is there never enough money and always too much laundry?

Labels: camping, cleaning, travel

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  This will be my last post from Iowa, tomorrow we're leaving for Ohio. If you see us passing through, say howdy!

Today we drove on a HUGE bridge across the Mississipi into Nauvoo, Illinois. It's a really neat place, with some pretty important history for the LDS church. We saw the temple, and some of the residences, but we didn't have time to really poke around. We'll have to come back when we have a whole day to check it all out.

The camper is still doing well. It's been raining for a full 24 hours almost now, and we're dry inside! I am loving this whole pop up situation!

How are you all doing? Hopefully I'll be able to check in tomorrow or the next day!

Labels: camping, church, travel

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  We're still alive, and we're here in the Midwest. We're in Iowa, to be precise, so if you see a minivan pulling a camper, and the woman driving seems kind of tense, stuff us and say hi!

We've been having a good time driving, we stopped in a neat cemetery in Julesberg on our way to I-80. It was very nice.

We stayed in Lincoln, Nebraska the first night, and played in the campground pool. We were there at the same time the guy was doing the maintenance, so he showed the kids all the chemicals. They loved it!

I'll try to update while we're out. I can't post pictures, because I don't have any way to get them off the camera, so you'll see them when we're back. I should probably take some, huh?

Labels: camping, travel

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  But, I'll be away for a while. We've been busy getting ready for our big cross-country camping trip, and we're leaving tomorrow. If I can get on during that time, I'll update.

Hope you all have fun, and pray for good weather and family sanity, if you would :-*

Labels: camping, can't blog

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  And it doesn't hurt any less, does it? I don't think it ever will.

D. Challener Roe has spearheaded another blog tribute to the victims, you can read them here at 2996.

Last year I blogged for Sharon Carver and Anna Williams Allison. Today I pray for their families, for the families of all of the lost, and for all of us who have not been the same since 9/11/01.

Labels: 9/11

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  We're going up camping tonight! This is the last camping trip we'll do before we leave on our big trip later this month. We'll be back tomorrow.

Oh my goodness I'm getting bored with camping! But, this is with our ward, so I know we'll have a great time once we're up there...

Labels: camping

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  I saw this over at RennyBA's Terella, and it looked like a fun idea. You can find the original post that started it all, over at David Airey's blog.

Here's the plan, as summed up by RennyBA:

Step 1: Post a short article with you photograph(s).
Step 2: Include links to other people that have displayed a photo, or include their photos in your post, adding a reference. Include a link back to Airey's post.
Step 3: Tag as many others as you like in your post to spread the meme.
Step 4: E-mail Airey and he will list you on the original post. (This step is not required but unless you do this step, the whole point of the network is gone.)

So, here I go!

You guys have actually seen about a billion pictures of me already, I'm not shy! So, I thought I would find one that's different from all the others. In this one, I'm not flashing a big smile, or making a funny face. Well, it's sort of a funny face, I was trying to be serious but I couldn't really keep it together...



Gosh, I look like my dad there!

As you know, I'm a homeschooling mother of 4, and my family is coming up on our first year of belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I've been married to my husband, Davin for 15 years now. We met in high school in 1985, when he was dating my locker partner. I didn't start dating him until 4 years later though, lest you think I stole him!

I have a host of health issues (PCOS, hypothyroid, fibromyalgia, chronic migraines) that I don't talk about very much on my blog. I don't talk about them much in person, either, as I find "denial" to be an excellent way to deal with this stuff, especially the chronic pain. So, most of the time I just try to ignore it when things are going wrong, unless I just can't, then I dip into my magic bag of pharmaceuticals and check out for a while. So, if I seem a little "woowoo" when you're talking to me, I may just be on drugs. ;-)

I started and now co-lead a homeschool support group here in Denver. This is the closest thing I have to a "job" right now. It's a lot of fun, and it's great to watch all of the kids in the group growing and learning! And *I* am learning so much, too! I am such a different person now than I was 5 years ago when this started, more patient, more resourceful, and more willing to butt out of people's business (I'm kind of nosey, did you know that?) Any amount of work I have put in to helping get and keep the group running has come back at least tenfold in opportunities for my kids and my family, and I'm so glad I've been involved with the homeschool community in this way.

I love to knit, crochet, and do all sorts of crafts. I think it's some sort of weird compulsion with me, it helps me to stay sane in all of this chaos! Sometimes, among the dishes, laundry, cooking and home education, it seems like the crafty stuff is the only time I get to actually FINISH something!

I actually need to go, we're leaving for a field trip in a few minutes and I need to make sure we're all dressed and decent. If you play along, let me know, and I'll spread you some linky love!

RennyBA's Terella
David Airey's blog

Labels: crafting, fibromyalgia, homeschooling, life, migraine

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  Today is a blah day. I'm having a ton of fibro symptoms, and I'm just getting really bored with this whole pain thing. I don't remember signing up for this, maybe I should have read the fine print more closely or something.

Today at our homeschool group's park day, a huge crowd of kids got together and dug an ENORMOUS hole in the sand. Anya then created a tunnel in the side of the pit that she could fit her head and shoulders into. I thought it was pretty cool, so I snagged a picture of it.



One of the things I love about homeschooling is stuff like this. The kids digging together were between the ages of 2 and 11, and the older kids were having as much fun as the littles. None of that "too tragically hip to have fun" stuff that I remember from being that age.

I've started doing some cross stitching again, because I don't have enough crafts around to keep me busy, I guess. I don't know who took this photo, but it's proof that I'm hard at work at least some of the time! (Editing to add: Davin says he took the photo. Thanks, Davin! I love you!)



Ignore the mess on the desk behind me, that was a one time thing and my house doesn't normally look like that. (Riiiiiight.)

How is your week coming along?

Labels: crafting, fibromyalgia, homeschooling, life

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  Where is my life going? I feel like I'm never home any more. Of course, that could be because I'm NOT. We've about camped ourselves to death getting ready for our big trip later this month. In case I haven't told you all, and I probably didn't because I don't know when I could have, we're going on a cross country camping/visiting family trip from here to Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania at the end of the month. Please pray for our safety and sanity as we go!

I think we've got ourselves pretty well ready, and we're comfortable with our pop up and everything, too. Whew!

I thought this comic strip was hilarious, and just goes along with my Jen diatribe from last year!

Just so you know we're still learning, even if we're not blogging... We were studying word roots today, and we found that the word "pencil" comes from the same word root as the word "penis." Think about THAT the next time you're writing your name in the snow...

Labels: camping, homeschooling

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