The Road to Tucumcari

We are on our way!
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It was 11:30 when we left the the house yesterday, but it was 12:40 by the time we finished final errands and actually headed out on the highway.

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Here are Sarah, Jacob, and Dylan after we struggled to load 17 days worth of luggage into our new, smaller car.

We crossed the border into New Mexico at 2:30 that afternoon. It's a very wide state! We drove for hours and never reached the other side!

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A huge storm system dominated the sky for most of the drive. Usually we were totally dry while rain gushed in the distance, but sometimes it poured so heavily on us we couldn't even see.

To make more room in the car, we had strapped our huge suitcase on top, so we were worried that we'd end up with soaked clothes.
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Amazingly, our clothes and the suitcase both stayed completely dry (and even smashed-bug free!). However, we decided we need to wrap it in a huge garbage bag to avoid future difficulties!

The storms continued off and on all day, even after dark. Even so, we were treated to a beautiful, huge rainbow in the late afternoon.

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Taking pictures from a moving vehicle can be tricky! I confess to taking a few myself while driving, but most were done by the kids, even if I had to wake them first...

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There was a LOT of roadwork along the way. It really slowed us down. So frustrating!

We arrived in Gallup, NM at 2:40 and spent more than an hour there.

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We stopped to gas up the car, and then I asked a clerk if there was a nice park nearby to eat our picnic lunch. He looked perplexed and answered, "I don't know, it's mostly sticks and weeds out here."
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So, looking for shade and a place to sit and eat our tuna sandwiches, we went to a Sonic and ordered fries and slushees to have on the side.

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So much for cutting back on our food expenditures! Below is Sarah, helping set out the sandwiches at Sonic.

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After we ate, we set out to get back on I-40, but ended up spending 15 minutes cruising part of historical Route 66 because it was many miles to the next on-ramp!
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We stopped again in Albuquerque for gas and left there at 6pm. After that, the drive to the small New Mexican town of Tucumcari seemed endless. It grew dark, and all I wanted to do was sleep!

We finally arrived at 8:30, or so we thought. A glance at the motel clock reminded us that it was really 9:30! (That's Dylan upstairs next to our room this morning.)
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I'd forgotten the time difference. Arizona is the only mainland state that doesn't observe Daylight Savings, so it's the same as New Mexico in the winter and California in the summer.

We were very disappointed in our lodgings. The room appeared clean, but it had that musty old motel smell and it was too small for 4 of us.

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Sarah and Dylan slept on the floor with the blanket and quilt from the bed while Jacob and I slept on bare sheets. A true road trip adventure!
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I couldn't believe I paid $54 for this room. I've never paid that much on priceline before.
A free continental breakfast came with the room. Nothing fancy and certainly not nutritious, but I figured we'd take advantage of the free food, given the price I'd paid for a sub-par motel room!
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Today we got up at 7:30 (which still felt like 6:30 to us) and went to breakfast. Then the kids and I agreed we didn't want to stay here any longer than necessary, so we quickly packed ourselves back up.

The kids loaded all our stuff back into the car--they're getting pretty good at arranging it all so it fits well--and we got back on the road at 9:30 this morning, an hour earlier than I'd planned.
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And we were back on our way!

'Twas the Night Before Branson

What a week! All year I've been planning our whole vacation around our week in Branson, Missouri: July 19 to 26.

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Then 4 days ago, while reorganizing my office, I came across the reservation confirmation and discovered that our week in Branson is actually July 12 to 19!

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It's like being shot out of a cannon.

All my plans needed changing and rearranging. Calls had to be made, appointments cancelled. We were now leaving 4 days earlier than originally planned.

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On Tuesday I caught a nasty stomach bug that knocked me off my feet, then slowed me down the next day, but we pushed on.

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We leave tomorrow morning. I have a 9:00 chiropractor appointment, but we hope to be on the road by 11am.

As usual, my bed is Vacation Central. Stacks and stacks of everyone's clothes and necessities are piled on. Eventually they are organized into bags and cases, which will be stowed in the car after a final check in the morning.

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I can't believe our trip is here, so suddenly. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time.

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We're making the trip in 3 days. We won't even get all the way across New Mexico tomorrow, even though we're in eastern Arizona. Our first stop will be in Tucumcari, NM.
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I actually bought a tiny laptop to take along, so I can blog our vacation as we go rather than trying to recapture it all after we get home.

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I hope to post something every day or two, depending upon availability of wireless signals, of course.

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So please feel free to join us on our road trip! Off to bed, now; you'll want to be well rested!

Welcome to Oz

Every time I walk through my dark-paneled bedroom toward my newly painted office of mint-green walls and sky-blue ceiling, I feel like Dorothy walking out of her black-and-white house and into the amazing technicolor land of Oz!

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It is finally done! Here are the pictures I promised of my refurbished home office.

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First, here's a shot taken in 2008, before the shelves were taken down and the drywall replaced just after Christmas.

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Pretty nasty, huh? Now you can see why I was so anxious to paint!

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Here are the shelves after their paint job. The colors didn't contrast quite as nicely as I'd hoped, but soft blues and greens are the shades I find most restful.

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Blues and greens are also the colors that inspire me when I'm working on my novel, living in the world of Tolkien's Elves.

Here are the shelves as they look now, filled with all the items that used to be strewn here and there while we waited to put the office back together.

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I'd love to be able to afford those see-through boxes the professional organizers use, but this still looks beautiful to me. Everything in its place...

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Much thanks goes to our friend Dave, who patched up our wall for us and made it so entertaining to watch. I never quite realized before what artistry there is in home construction!

This is the door to my walk-in closet. Fortunately, since my children rarely have occasion to go there, it generally stays pretty well organized and therefore did not require much attention.

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The door on the left leads into our greenhouse, where every plant I ever tried to grow sadly died, so it is unused now.

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Here is a quick peek inside the closet.

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We debated on whether to paint the door jams, but in the end I decided we needed the white to emphasize the green.

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Besides, if you look inside the door, on the right you can see our family's measurements marked on the board in permanent marker, starting from the year we moved into this house. That's 16 years of memories that cannot be painted over!

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As you enter my office, the shelves and greenhouse are on the left.

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On the right as you enter is my work area, where I spend a lot of time writing and blogging!

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If you're wondering about the exercise ball, that's what I sit on instead of a chair. I find it keeps my back and hips relaxed and flexible, as well as improving my balance. I sit on a ball at my desk at school, too.

At first the students were fascinated, always wanting to roll it around or sit on it, but they've grown used to my ball/chair. I've been using it for 3 years now. Several other teachers have since gotten rid of their chairs and replaced them with exercise balls.

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This shot also shows the shelf above my desk. It's my vanity area, displaying diplomas, awards, and honors certificates.

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When I'm writing, sometimes I'll struggle and want to give up, feeling unequal to the task. That's when it helps to look up and remember that I've accomplished some hard things in my life, and I'm equal to any task if I keep working at it.

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Past the desk is my Japanese fan collection, which I had no intention of removing from the wall! Instead, I painted a line of blue down the wall between the work area and the fans.

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I have a cute idea on how to decorate that line and the rest of the walls, but I probably won't get to it until autumn.

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My office used to be the back end of a small garage. Long ago some owner converted half the garage to this office and closet, and the front half to my boys' bedroom.

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The floor of the office is just painted concrete. We added the area rug when we moved in.

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It's wonderful to have this room finished and completely reorganized.

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And, as seen in this view of my bedroom from the office, I have my bedroom back! I no longer have to shove stacks out of my way before I can go to bed. Life is good!

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We ran out of paint before we could finish painting the step. That will be added to my fall project.

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So, one project down; just a few thousand more to go!

In the Rockets' Red Glare

We had a busy 4th of July, filled with family, friends, food, and fun. This video of the fireworks finale was filmed from my chair in Jeff and Dana's driveway, which is located next to the high school football field where the fireworks program is held each year. And each year ash and charred debris falls from the sky to rain upon our heads. It adds an extra element of excitement to the event, since we never know who will get conked by the next falling chunk! We also have to watch the roof for burning embers...

The day began quietly with a 7am pancake breakfast at the church pavilion. We weren't exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as this photo attests. It is summer, after all!

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This is an annual event in our ward, and we always look forward to it despite the earliness of the hour.

Our bishop's wife was so taken with Dylan's bed-head that she asked if she could take a picture of it.

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Jacob's didn't look much better. I've been hinting to both boys for a few weeks now that it might be time for a haircut.

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The automatic sprinklers were on, and eventually both boys stuck their heads in the spray for a quick soak, then borrowed their sister's brush to slick down their hair.

When the pancakes began to arrive, the boys were quick to get in line.

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They were very helpful about bringing plates of food to our friend Gwen and me while we sat chatting with members of our ward family.

Between pancake deliveries, the kids enjoyed ham, watermelon, and chocolate milk.

After the breakfast, Jacob went off to join the 4th of July parade in Show Low.
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He had volunteered to hand out candy to the children (and to the adults who are big kids) along the parade route.

This was the Cellular One float Jacob was helping out with.

It was a long parade, from 9 to 11am. Jacob didn't get home until after noon.

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Dylan came home with his pockets loaded with handfuls of small candies!

Jeff and Dana have a barbecue each year. It's our annual tradition to attend.

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Everyone is invited, so we never know who'll show up, but it's always fun with plenty of interesting conversations.

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Here's Dylan with Dana's brother Nathan, digging into the homemade ice cream!

Here are the host and hostess, Jeff and Dana, with Callie.

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After the fireworks, while waiting for the roads to clear before heading home. I was sitting at a table munching the crumbs in the bottom of a Lay's Potato Chips bag when Callie climbed up beside me. She began munching on crumbs, too, mimicking my movements by dusting her fingers off on her pants the way I was. We all laughed, but no one laughed louder than Callie!

This is my nephew Justin with his wife Alisha and their son Aiden.

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It was a great night, a good time to remember why we celebrate Independence Day. It's a wonderful blessing to live in a free nation, to have the liberty to worship as we wish, and to live our lives as we choose.

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These blessing are especially sweet when we can enjoy them with those we love.

The Rest of the Story

On June 12, in a post about our 1995 trip to Iowa, I mentioned Mark's search for his mom and siblings. His mom left him and his dad when he was 4 months old, and he only saw her a few times as a child. He didn't grow up with his half-siblings, John, Donald, and Rebecca.

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While we were in Iowa, Mark's paternal grandmother (who raised him) located a phone number for Mark's mother, Mary. Mark called and spoke to her, but she didn't want to meet him at that time. However, she did give him information about his 20-year-old sister Becky, who agreed to meet him. We spent an afternoon at the park getting to know her and her 3-year-old son Patrick.

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Unfortunately, we never saw or heard from Becky again. I know she and her husband Pat had a baby girl a few years later. I send her family a Christmas card every year, to let them know they are still family in our hearts, but we never get a response. Still, the door is open.

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In the fall of 1995, though, we got an unexpected letter from Mark's mom. She had recently remarried and her new husband, Ed, was encouraging her to reach out to her long-estranged firstborn son. I quickly wrote her a welcoming letter, and the next thing we knew, we were exchanging phone calls, letters, and cards on a monthly basis.

In June 1997, Ed and Mary came out to Arizona to spend a week with our family. We were so excited to get to know them. Ed was such a great guy. He quickly became Grandpa Johnson in our kids' hearts.

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However, their visit didn't go quite as planned. They arrived on Monday, June 30, just as Mark and I were getting in the car to head to the hospital.

We didn't know it yet, but Dylan was going to be born the next day, and the still-undiagnosed HELLP Syndrome was causing excruciating pain in my right side.

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Mary and Ed offered to care for the kids while Mark joined me, and that's how our week went. I barely welcomed them to our home before I was off to the hospital, and I didn't return till Friday. Then they left on Saturday.

Ed and Mary had a hotel room, but they came to our house everyday to take care of our children while Mark went to work and the hospital.

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I mostly got to know them when they brought Sarah and Jacob over to see Dylan and me. At least Mark and the kids got to spend quality time with them.

We were so happy to have them here, and though we never met again, we continued to have a good long-distance relationship for several years.

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Then Ed became quite ill and had to have a leg amputated. Mary had trouble handling it, and she left Ed. Eventually she married again and we never heard from her after that.

I sent Mary a Christmas card every year until 2007. Apparently she moved without a forwarding address. I hope we'll hear from her again someday.

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Early in 1996, we were stunned to receive a phone call from Mark's brother John, who is 18 months younger than Mark. He said their mother Mary had given him our number and urged him to contact us.

John immediately became part of the family. We hit it off like old friends, and 1-2 hour phone calls with John in Iowa became a regular event.

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In February 1998 John and his wife Kim (now divorced) came from Council Bluffs to spend a few days in Arizona with us (above photo, John age 28 and Mark age 29). They went skiing at nearby Sunrise Resort, where Mark had a spectacular fall down Suicide Hill.
As a long-haul trucker, John was able to stop in and spend a few days with us on many occasions over the years. The picture above was taken during a visit in November 2004; he returned and spent Christmas 2004 with us (at left).

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We continue to stay in touch to this day, and we consider that to be a great blessing. John is a fun, rowdy guy and a good uncle to my kids.

John married his sweetheart Rachael in May 2008 and they live in Missouri near Springfield. In fact, we hope to see them while we're in Missouri, just 2 weeeks from now! They are in business breeding puppies, and I believe John is very happy to be off the road.

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I should get their website information and post it here on my blog for potential puppy customers! John, please send me that info!

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We've had the pleasure of getting to know Rachael during a few of John's visits before their marriage, when Rachael traveled here with him. She is a sweet gal and a welcome addition to our family.

The only one of Mark's siblings we have yet to meet is his brother Don. I hope someday we can have contact with him and complete our family.

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For now, though, we are glad to know those we know. We love them all!

It's a Boy!

That was the news back on July 1, 1997, when our third and final child was born.

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Today we celebrate Dylan's 12th birthday.

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He's looking forward to attending the Young Men program in Mutual for his first time tomorrow night. He's excited that he'll be ordained a deacon on Sunday by his big brother Jacob, who holds the office of priest in church. He's thrilled that he's now old enough to participate in the weekend and week-long camp-outs, hikes, and rafting trips the older Scouts enjoy.

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It is good to be 12!
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Tonight Dylan and Jacob made themselves one last birthday cake to enjoy and share before the birthday rush is over.

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Here is their finished product. Pretty artsy! Simple, yet elegant.
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Mark was satisfied with having a son and daughter, but I felt our family wasn't yet complete.

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Five years passed and I celebrated my 42nd birthday, but it seemed that the Lord wasn't going to send us another child.

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Then just before Thanksgiving--surprise!

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This is me 5 weeks before my due date, and exactly one week before Dylan was born. You'd think I was carrying triplets!

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I had horrible swelling in the 3rd trimester. I couldn't even force my feet into flip-flops.

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On Monday, June 30, I was admitted to the hospital with severe preeclampsia and HELLP Sydrome, a rare disorder that shut down my liver.

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I received 30 units of blood platelets before they could deliver the baby to save my life. I was unconscious during the c-section, but I'm told they nearly lost me several times.

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I awoke in the ICU a day later to find that my beautiful Dylan Thomas had been born at 1:04 pm the previous day.
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Since he was born 4 weeks early, Dylan was on oxygen for 48 hours while his lungs finished maturing. Other than that, he was a healthy baby.

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In fact, he was so pretty and sweet that the nurses didn't want me to take him home! However, after we both spent 3 days in the hospital, we did take him home on the 4th of July.

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This is Dylan when he was 17 days old.

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I found out later that the nurses used my case as an example of how women can die in childbirth, when they asked pregnant patients to sign a living will!
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Our sleeping boy is 8 weeks old here.

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Dylan has had his share of tribulations. At just 4 weeks of age he developed atopic dermatitis (the worst form of excema). It was so severe it made diaper rash look like a gentle kiss. There were patches of skin so raw it was down to muscle tissue. We had to feed him a special formula that cost $20 per can.

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Since Mark and I both carry the gene, all 3 of our children have atopic dermatitis. Luckily, Jacob's is minimal and Sarah can control hers, but poor Dylan has a severe case. There is no cure; you can only hope to outgrow it.
This is Dylan and his mom on the day he was blessed in church. He was 4 months old.

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Despite the continual discomfort (which improved somewhat at 6 months), Dylan was a happy baby who adored his older siblings.

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Sarah and Jacob, of course, would knock themselves out for hours to entertain him. They were very competitive about whose turn it was to hold him or feed him.

Here he is at 5 months old.

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The atopic dermatitis, which is still a painful daily reality, was not the end of his struggles. When Dylan was 18 months old he got RSV. A small cough on Friday afternoon became an ambulance ride to the hospital on Saturday morning. Even his fingers were turning gray from the pneumonia. Dr. Paxman said Dylan was the sickest kid in a hospital full of sick kids.

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Thank goodness for priesthood blessings. Dylan recovered, but the following winter he had pneumonia 3 more times. Once they sent him home with an oxygen tank and 20 feet of tubing so he could run around the house.

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Fortunately, we discovered tincture of echinacea for children, and now he rarely even gets a cold!

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Poor little guy. When Dylan was about 2, Sarah and Jacob were fighting over him in the hall. In the process, they dropped their baby brother, who hit his head on the edge of a cabinet. He needed 3 stitches in his ear!

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This is Dylan at 8 months, being held by Great Grandma Carter.

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Even with all these trials, Dylan was a strong, active child who beat out his brother and sister in meeting developmental milestones. Both Sarah and Jacob walked at 14 months, and Dylan walked at 11 months. Or ran, I should say! Dylan was always busy, busy, busy.

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Here he is at 11 months, just before he decided it would be easier and faster to get around on his feet. He's still on the run!

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To Dylan, nothing is worse than being bored. He fills his time with biking, hiking, fishing, baseball, soccer, video games, Pokemon, and hanging out with friends.

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This was taken 4 days before Dylan's first birthday.

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Being Dylan's mom has its challenges. When he started kindergarten we discovered our previously happy boy had developed anger issues, due to the continual pain and itch and lost sleep caused by his severe rashes. We had 4 or 5 very bumpy years while he learned coping skills to deal with the ongoing discomfort.

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Conversely, Dylan has been a huge blessing in my life. He has a quick mind, an enormous caring heart, a great sense of humor, and a deeply spiritual nature. Even at age 12 he can be counted on for bear hugs, soft cheek kisses, and an occasional back massage.

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Here we have Dylan with his fire truck when he was 13 months old.

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Dylan was still 8 when I told him his dad and I were going to divorce. Rather than getting upset, he paused, then he looked into my eyes and promised, "Mom, when I'm 18 I'm going to marry you and take care of you for the rest of your life."

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That's the Dylan I'll love forever.

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Happy birthday, my precious baby boy!