Pop

Now before I share with you the harrowing tail of the picture in this post.  Let me just say that no animals or humans were harmed in the making of this blog and I rock as a mom. 
We were cruising down the road at an acceptable travel trailer speed.  Enjoying the 5th hour of our three hour drive when we heard an enormous pop.  Imagine if you will a toy pop gun magnified by 1000.  So we pulled over and there it was.  Our inaugural flat tire.  I got a little weepy as I realized our time as newbies on the road was quickly coming to an end.  Without more than three words my husband and I went to work, he definantly doing the lions share.  While laboring over putting the broken tire back on AJ called to ask about laundry.  Imagine me laboring earnestly with what may or may not be a wrench trying to tighten an exploded tire on the side of the highway while giving laundry directions to AJ. I am mom hear me roar and before the kids could ask how much longer we were on the road again.  Imagine my outrage when at the next gas station we had to pay 75 cents for air!!! AIR people.  The stuff we need to live.  Reminded me of a really great Dr. Seuss movie.  In the end I accepted the fact that even on the road our meager savings would be challenged and must be defended with life and limb. 
So we left at noon today for a three hour tour......I mean a short three hour drive and at 7:30 I am enjoying a beautiful sunset while we again cruise along at a safe speed and thinking back to just yesterday when I was worried about washing to rig.

Women

So today we sat in a circle of women.  It ebbed and flowed as the day went on. With some getting up to tend to work and others to their children and homes.  But we sat and shared, encouraged, cried, and loved.  What an amazing experience.  To find a group of women who are real, no formal social pretense.  Who are living a full life, stripped of the excess trappings we all wonder why we have.  They are living and sharing their passions, all of which are vastly different.  They work, and hurt, and love and heal as no group I have met before.  While I haven't thought on it fully one idea that was shared for a reason why is that we know our time is limited.  Every one of us lives in tiny houses on wheels.  While some travel together for many month, some drift off to visit family or other places.  We dont have years to spy over a back fence, or interrogate our children, or run the gammet of polite gestures.  We simply and calmly knock on the doors of each other souls and wait for an invitation to enter.  Then we sit and feast with each other as if half starved for this type of communion.   There is time to sit and be.  Time to wrap our selves in the complete acceptance that the "real" world is starving for.  Today I sat and talked with A Vegan, an artist, a jack of all trades, and a healthy living activist.....And that in no way describes how amazing these women are.  I was honored to be allowed in their circle.  To feast on the knowledge, and most desperately drink from their fountain of pure love.  I hope that I can live each day forward with intention, intensity, and illumination.

Wiley Wonky Woods in Washington

Dog days of summer

Lions and tigers and snakes oh my!!so i had another great night.  Hanging with new friends.  Although i feel the term fast friends would be more appropriate.  But dang it it i spent the whole time talking again.  I need to learn the part of the conversation where i stop talking and prod others with questions.  

We are having such a fabulous time. Swimming in a warm pool, playing fetch with the dogs, and trying to avoid snakes while picking blackberries.

All of the boys except Asher have found suitable employment.  Alek runs a honeypot service(if you dont know what that is ask him),Austin has a dog walking service while doing a small bit of berry picking on the side, and Adam babysits.  They are all so happy to have found employment.  As well as friends.  Now all we have to do is get Asher a job and we are golden.

 This adventure is 1000 times better than I could have hoped and we have done very little sight seeing. Just pulling the family back together and circling the wagons.

One of our new friends drove us to church on Sunday because Tony has the car.  When we got back him the car she asked how church was to which my childre spent the next five minites talking about the food they got.  Giant brownies, cookies, candy.  When they were done and there was a brief lull in the conversation I said "and we talked about Jesus too"  i dont think we will get any awards for our missionary efforts, but it was a great day. 

  

Laundry

I am here to assure you that I dont live a life of leisure, free of responsibilities.  That is how I always imagined it.  In our tiny 26ft trailer there lived a magic genie, who would cook and clean while I frolic with my children. Well my genie is on strike.  I still must make dinner most nights and do laundry for three hours every 3-4 days.  I do have a small space so I do not allow clutter to build up but the counters still need to be wiped down, and dishes need to be done.  All in All, I still spend alot of time cleaning and cooking and laundering.  However there is a difference, now I am not reshuffling unnecessary things we hardly use.  Now everyone takes part in the clean up because there is no running away to hide in your room you must live with it up close and personal.  I no longer have 100 cups.  Dont get me wrong, I have not suddenly transformed into my idol Donna Reed. However, I have finally found a house that is manageable for me.  I find myself wistfully thinking of the days when I washed the laundry of eight children and it was never complete.  In less then a week I will be washing for four, and as proud of my children that I am, it still tugs at the heartstrings.  Who knew laundry being done could bring me to tears? 

Yea or Nay

In a three to Four hour car ride today on our way to the next campground I have been playing a game with myself do I like or not.  Yea or Nay

Waiting in line to dump before we move to the next campground!!!  YEAH time to socialize with friends when we can't do anything but wait.

Driving in a cramped car with five kids....Yeah I wrote the first page of a fairly exciting book with Alek.

Not being in a rush when we find raspberries and plum in a hidden field at the gas station Yuppie!! My shirt and hands are stained, my legs are cut up, but how fun it was to see my kids discover what real plums and berries taste like in the proverbial wild!  Big taste difference.  If we ever get a house we are growing fruit!

I am amazed because just this morning I was sitting in my RV having wave after wave of panic attack, ready to drive back to Kalispell and try and pretend to be normal again.

But as we get ready to pull into the new RV park I realize for now, for today, I am home. 

Friends

My children are playing with friends for hours every day.  It is all I can do to bring them together for food, chores, and school.  Everyone has found friendship here as we settle into life on wheels.
Sometimes in the quiet moments I am left speechless.  When we decided we were going on the road we anticipated a certain amount of isolation.  Us against the world!  I have always felt this way a little bit,  but here in the wet dreary coastal muck of washington we found kindred spirits.  A group of people who dont leave their families and futures to chance.  Who grab the reins of life and go their own way.  Fast friends.  I spent the day with virtual strangers and friends.  Just four women holding on to life the best they can, but having fun and living intentionally.   I am a little bit in awe at how they travel together.  A little bit in awe at how they have accomplished what so many see as impossible, and a little bit in awe that they have created community in isolation.  It was in a way my first trip and I loved every second of it. 

Life on the Road

My husband and I had a glorious date.  Just the two of us in the Spokane Temple.  It was amazing and has been far too long.   Then we drive.  What do you get when you put seven people and a dog in a pickup truck?  Hours of unending entertainment.  We had a Harry Potter Joke session.  The dog keeps climbing her way back to mommy, and of course reading.  It is what we do.  Well of course a few lucky souls got to nap.  Today we drive and tomorrow we get to the campground, where we will get to meet other families on the road and have full hookups for two glorious weeks. I absolutely love bringing my family back together.  To those of you whom we promised to visit be patient we will grt there.  Life on the road doesnt go as planned any better than it does for those of you in a regular house.  And to those of you who want us to visit.......let me know where you are!  Hold your loved ones tighter, Linger longer, and remember to take it all in today....don't wait!!

Silverwood

So I learned a super important lesson today. 

Not all RV parks are created equal.   And by all means dont be fooled by the price.  Just because it is expensive doesnt mean you wont be parked next to a trailer full of weed. 
But RV education aside I had a great day at Silverwood.  It began by being $50 cheaper than I budgeted thanks to my reading elementary students.  And it got better from there.  I met some very interesting people and partook of some great wisdom on being a grandparent ( As a side note please dont feel rushed children of mine.)  I rode a ride or two.  Drank too much soda and got Asher to get rid of one of his tattered shirts.  We laughed, we cried, I spent $12 on sunglasses. Quite possibly the most expensive pair I own.  I loved the day with my handsome boys.  And I hope my husband loved his day of peace and quiet.  Tomorrow is a day of travel and adventure. 

Camp out with Both Butte Wards

Well on Sunday at church we learned that there was a camp out this weekend and someone invited us and here we are.  The boys caught some fish.  What Adam is holding is the culmination of everyone fishing.  Alek caught 3 and Adam 1.  Great dinner was had by all and then in true Mormon fashion it started to rain.  For Montana it was a pretty good rain.  Nothing however would deter Adam from sleeping outside.  Not even rain.  Overall we made some great and very interesting new friends.  Had some excellent laughs and a great time.  I can't wait to meet new people across the country.  These we will get to see again as AJ will be attending one of the wards while in college.  Tomorrow we head back to Kalispell.  Pick up Aaron and head West.......we wont be hitting California this trip as I hear tell it is full of Whiskey, women, and Gold.  But I will be visiting California and my big brother sometime......

College

This is the boy I sent to college yesterday.  This picture was taken in 2007.  When I thought my family would you know "be together" forever.  He is such a strong sure man now.  I am not sure exactly how he managed that, but he did.  Football became his passion.  His love.  I had no idea what to expect from him when this picture was taken.   What an amazing young man.