Almost there!!

Hip, Hip Hurrah!! The end is near. I can almost touch it. Vern's job is just about completed. I can't believe that he has been doing this since April. I can't believe that I have done it since then too!! And what a journey it has been!

I hope that we won't ever have to do this again. Time apart in a marriage can be a good thing or it can reek havoc. I will say that it has brought Vern and I a lot closer together as a couple. Our relationship has definitely become stronger. And I am grateful for this trial that Heavenly Father has put us through. That doesn't mean I'm asking for another one though!! ;)

I wanted to say Thank You to everyone for all of your support and love. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you. I love you all! Thanks again.

Heaven Help Me!

On Friday I had the experience of trying to deal with truck problems all by myself. And let me tell you, it's not something anyone should have to do by themselves. The kids didn't have school so Colleen invited my kids over to their houses to play while Heber and Josh were at pre-school. Vern came home Wednesday night for a meeting on Thursday morning. And was flying out Friday afternoon.
Vern left for the airport and I went to go get Heber and the other two boys that I pick up from pre-school and I noticed that the battery light was on. GREAT!! I knew it was the alternator. So I call Vern(who is in Denver by now, at the airport). He was so frustrated that he was just in Denver and couldn't come back down here to fix it for me.

I was idlingly in front of the house they have pre-school in and in the back of my mind, I kept hearing don't turn the truck off. And did I listen? Of course not. I turned it off and when the boys were loaded and ready to go the truck was not. It wouldn't even turn over. So I had Heber's teacher come out and help me jump the truck. It started up a little while later and we were off. I was praying so hard the whole way back. And as we were on Powers Blvd., the gauges on the dashboard died. That's when you know that you don't have very much longer to get anywhere because it will die any minute.

Luckily, Heavenly Father watched out for me and we were able to get the first boy dropped off and as slowly as I could, we headed back over to the Conlin's. While I was driving, I was racking my brain trying to figure out who could help me fix the truck. I pulled into their driveway and got Josh out and went to go get the other kids so that we could go. And as I'm rounding everyone up, the truck dies. FABULOUS!! At least I was in their driveway and not on the road somewhere. Colleen went and got Adam and he helped me jump the truck. (Once again.) While I was there, I called Vern and asked him for our neighbors number and called him. I told him what happened and he told me that he could come and fix it for me. That was a relief. A huge burden off of my shoulders. And of course my emotions start going and I can't help crying.

The truck get started once again and we are off. Not even a mile away and the gauges die again. Oh please, let us get home. And as I turn on to our street it dies ot the top of the hill. Without the battery, nothing works. The steering wheel siezes up and it wont even turn. I was close enough to the sidewalk that I could pull over and just have everyone bailout and walk home. The kids thought this was a crazy idea, to have to walk home. Oh brother. Goofy kids.

We get down to the house and I go over to the neighbors and ask her if she will come up to the top of the street and help me jump the truck AGAIN so that it's down at the house and not on the street. We get it jumped and down at the house. Our other neighbor came over a little while later and he got it fixed in less than an hour.
WOOHOO!! My truck works once again! This is the third alternator in three years and we are going to find out what needs to be done about that. Because this is ridiculous.

I'm very grateful for the wonderful people that Heavenly Father has placed in my life and helped me out. What a blessing it is to have such great people in my life. Thank You all again.

A Day like TODAY!!

Let me just tell you that I'm ready for a vacation again. On a remote island that only allows moms. And maybe occasionally the husband can come too. Where I can be pampered and taken care of and not have to worry about anything.

I would like a one way ticket to that island today.

The day started off normally. Kids get up, eat breakfast, get ready for school and then head for the bus stop.

A little while later we get a knock on the door and cute little Lydia McConkie is standing on the doorstep wondering if "Hebo" can play. They really get along and have fun together.

The day goes on and Heber is off to pre-school. What to do? What to do? Aaahhh, I know, take a nap. Unforunately my brain wouldn't stop going, so a nap was out of the question. Dumb brain!!

And before I knew it, Heber was back home and the girls were back home from school. Spencer has flag football every Wednesday after school from 3:30 to 4:30.

Well, the time came that I needed to go get him from the school, so I rounded up Heber and then went to go look for the girls outside. Hhhmmm.... Where are the girls? So I asked the kids next door where they usually play if they had seen Rachel and Anna. NOPE. Great. So I ask around some more and come to find out they decided to go on a WALK around the block. Did they ask permission to do this? Of course not! Silly me for thinking something like that.

So I go zooming around the block, like a mad woman, trying to find them and they are nowhere to be seen.

I needed to go get Spencer from the school because I didn't need him calling me freaking out and wondering where I was and if I had forgotten him, so I asked my neighbor to watch for them.

I run over to the school and grab Spencer and head home. And as I pull up the kids are yelling that they found them. Aahhh...relief. Needless to say, they are grounded.

When I got done talking to them, I went out to go get Spencer for dinner. And as I come down the driveway he is running across the road looking like he is going to cry. And as he runs past me he says, "I don't want to talk about it."

The Mom from the house that he came from says, "Jen, I need to talk to you." Great, now what?! Come to find out, Sencer decided it would be fun to climb on top of their van and pull the release rope for the garage door. The door came slamming down on the girls fingers that he was playing with(luckily her fingers aren't broken) and they couldn't the door working again. All I could do and say was, "I'm so sorry." They said it was fine and they just wanted me to know what had happened and that the door was fixable. And I kept thinking," Okay, what's next?"

Luckily nothing else has happened. He too, is grounded and will be until Vern comes home.



And so my day has ended. What will happen tomorrow? Do I want to know? Not really. Just bring it on!!

Definitely an Experience

Once upon a time there lived a girl who knew that she really wanted to get married and wanted to have a family of her own. So she set off to find to perfect husband. Many came and bid her, "Come, let us go frolic through the asphalt and cement of Las Vegas." And so the girl ventured out, trying new things and meeting new people. Until one day, a handsome young man came and bid her, "Come, the grass is much greener where I come from and much more pleasant than asphalt and cement." And so the girl followed and fell in love with this young man. They got married and started a family. 11 years and 4 children later they are still happily married.
Since the middle of April I have had the opportunity to be a single parent during the week to 4 really great kids. WOW!! This is definitely a new experience for me. Sometimes it's has been hard to try and deal with the kids who don't see it your way or don't care to see it your way. :) And sometimes it has been a blast getting to know the kids even more from this experience.
But overall, the week ends and brings those blessed weekends around and Vern gets to come home and be with us. The kids get excited for the weekend, knowing that Dad is coming home and they get to have fun with him. Me, I'm just excited for him to be there. Knowing that I won't have to do it alone for a couple of days. Knowing that my "tank" is going to be filled once again.
It is true what they say about, "It is not good for man to be alone." Well, I think the same applies to women. Or maybe that's just me.
I have been given a loving husband and I'm grateful for him and all that he does for me. I am grateful that he has a job and he is able to provide for our sweet little family. Even when it takes him away from us. I know that this time will end and we will look back and say, "WOW!! That was definitely an experience."

Our Very First CO Adventure, Part 1

The story has been told verbally numerous times, but as time goes on, the memory gets dimmer. This is a story of adventure that needs to be saved for posterity. It is a little long, so if you are looking for a short story or are just uninterested, I recommend that you move on to another post.

Our move to Colorado was scheduled for two days. Fortunately, my employer paid for a moving company to get us there. Our stuff went from Reno to the Springs in a big orange Allied truck. The movers were great and had our stuff packed and loaded in less than two days. I was as ansty as can be not to be a part of the action. I don’t sit still well anyway, but while I was watching the moving guys do all the work… Well, let’s just say I ran a lot of errands. I know, I know, they get paid to do it but… I ran a lot of errands. I also helped a little even though I wasn’t supposed to. A moving company is definitely the way to go if it can be arranged. They finished loading on Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, I hooked up the 5th wheel to my truck and hooked the cargo trailer to the Expedition and we headed for Utah, me in my truck with Spencer and Jen in the Expedition with Rachel, Anna and Heber. The first leg of the trip went off without a hitch. We spent the night with Jen’s brother and his family in Lehi, UT. Thursday morning we headed off for the second and supposedly final leg of our journey.

The day dawned clear and bright. We cruised across Utah. I worked my poor truck to death, but we were making good time. We did limp into Colorado with my truck on empty. I had last filled up in Lehi, so we got off at the first Grand Junction exit and fueled up. We also ate lunch from the A&W in the gas station. Then we hit the road again. As we were leaving Grand Junction and headed into the narrows along the Colorado River, it started to snow. I slowed to about 55 to 60 mph. The snow soon disappeared and we were back to full speed having lost negligible time. The drive became quite beautiful after that with the partly cloudy skies over the Rocky Mountains. I got a call from a co-worker in Colorado that I had met in Nevada (he started with the company in Vegas) somewhere around Glenwood Springs. I told him how well the trip was going. If I had only known…

I also called the realtor to let them know that we would be a little late. She didn’t have any problem waiting for us to arrive at about 9 pm. If I had only known…

The sun decided to set at the same time the sky clouded over. And both things occurred as we got to Vail, CO. The lights were on in Vail, but it was still light enough for us to see the town creating a picturesque mountain resort scene. But the beauty of Vail was accompanied by start of falling snow and a temperature of about 10 degrees F.

Now, I need to stop and explain something for those of you who are not familiar with I-70 through the Rockies. Up until Vail, I-70 had been very twisty and windy in spots, but not steep. Vail is where it starts. After exiting Vail, we headed straight up as the temperature headed straight down. I had slowed down on the wet streets as I watched the temperature drop. So when I was going about 35 mph up a grade and tried to power up a little and felt the back end of my truck fish tail a little, I started to worry. But that worry was nothing compared to the worry as I headed down the other side and couldn’t keep my speed down with the trailer pushing me down the icy roads. At this point it was pitch black, cars were flying by me on my right, the road was either going straight up or winding steeply down (mostly up). I would catch myself on the verge of hyperventilation and force myself to calm down. Before long, I would catch myself again on the verge of hyperventilation and have to repeat the cycle. After cycling uphill and downhill, calm and stressed, for awhile overhead signs announced the upcoming Eisenhower Tunnel. I was relieved to think that I could over a mile and a half underground and dry. I was dismayed to discover that traffic had tracked the moisture into the first half of the tunnel and the temperature was still zero degrees F in the tunnel; so much for my rest. One thing to keep in mind is that I had never been on this stretch of I-70 before and has no idea how far we had left to go to reach Denver and get out of the mountains.

Upon leaving the tunnel and heading down the east slope of the Rockies, I finally decided to pull over in the next town (the first time it crossed my mind was at Frisco before even entering the tunnel) when Jen got tired of driving behind me. We had been going slowly up hill and the diesel exhaust had been hanging in the still snowy air behind me. She passed me up for some fresh air. We had no cell phones. I had my work Nextel but Jen had nothing. I was kicking myself for not having purchased the radios that I had wanted for so long. There was nothing for me to do but follow and hope she decided to pull over.

Finally, she got off in a town called Georgetown to get gas and to relax. She had been stressed about the road conditions also. I decided to fuel up as well (I didn’t turn the truck off though. Your temperature gauge in your vehicle will read negative temperatures.) We decided to call it a night. We were in ski resort country so even the cheaper motel should be fairly nice, right? Right?...

Stay tuned for Part 2, the interesting conclusion to our tale.

Spring in the Rockies

The front range of Colorado dies in the winter. For those of you who live in wetter or more temperate climates who think that your lawn dies in the winter, I invite you to come to Colorado Springs in the winter. Our lawn dies completely, no green at all, just crunchy yellow grass. The world becomes brown. The only color is the dark green of evergreens with the occasional exception of the few trees like the blue spruce in our yard.

The small amount of moisture that does fall in wintertime falls in the form of powdered snow so fine and cold that it freeze-dries plants before it can thaw and eke out the small amount of moisture available in this styrofoam like snow. You begin to forget why you moved here in the first place. Then spring comes, the grass resurrects, the trees get their leaves, and you remember why you like this area of Colorado so much. Spring here is truly beautiful.

Memorial Day 2009, May 25, dawned bright and sunny with the promise of a change in the gloomy weather that had prevailed so far this Holiday weekend. Weekend plans for a hike to the Crags had been postponed to Monday due to rain the previous two days and the bright sunny morning was encouraging. However, there were some high thin clouds that threatened of afternoon thunderstorms.

With Dad spending so much time away with work, he was determined to do something fun and out of the house as a family; you know, quality family time. He has been to the Crags, but in October after Colorado had begun to brown. The rest of the family had never been there so it seemed like a good place to go.

Starting off at the trail head.

Spring has yet to fully arrive at this elevation. The deciduous plants are just beginning to bud and the grass just starting to green. But it has been raining and the evergreens are thriving. This part of the trail was somewhat reminiscent of Dad's time in the Northwest; the trail is wet, the air is wet, the plants are dripping, and the moss is a vivid green. The Northwest just has MUCH more moss and more undergrowth.

Also reminiscent of his time in the Northwest, Dad had to carry one of his companions up the trail. Actually, this was good practice for Dad's Philmont trip this summer. Between the backpack of lunch and raincoats and Heber on the shoulders, he is carrying nearly the weight he will be carrying in his pack at Philmont. Heber probably spent a little more than half the hike in this position.

A beaverdam backfilled with sand and created a wide spot in the creek near a meadow. This spot became the topic of a discussion on camping. Plans are underway.

There are fields of giant granite boulders perfect for youngin's to climb and explore.

The source of the granite boulders. These cliffs rise above the valleys and at the top are the granite spires that make the crags.

The trail winds for over a mile through these small mountain valleys along the creek; absolutely beautiful with the vegetation and water in the bottom surrounded be granite cliffs and spires.

More pictures of the trail. I hope you don't mind, this is for posterity. Again, notice how Heber rolls.

This little valley forks around the rocks you see ahead. The main trail continues to the right and follows the edge of the hill. The bottom is kind of swampy, especially right now.

This table rock became our lunch table. We supped on PB&J, Doritos, and grape juice.

The youngin's participated in a little after lunch climb.

There were some creek crossings consisting of balancing on small branches as they rolled and floated in the water. Dad helped the youngin's cross.

After a little more than a mile of following the creek through little valleys, the trial entered the trees and the upward climb began. There was also more snow in the shade of the forest.

Dad told the youngin's how he had taken pictures sitting in the cradle of this seat branch when he was here before. Anna and Spencer had to have a go.

Rachel was too big a forest chicken to try the cradle seat branch, but she had to be included by swinging on lower branches.

Nearing the ridge and the worst of the climb.

From the ridge, you could look northeast at Crystal Reservoir (on the right) and other's whose names I can't recall.

Anna found this walking stick discarded by a past hiker. It is two feet taller than her, but she laid claim and drug it to the top. Mom finally made her leave it behind in an attempt to protect everyone else.

Nearing the top.

Looking back to the south. Pike's Peak is just a couple miles behind and a couple thousand feet higher than that peak. Real smile or not; you decide.

There were some cool formations and erosions in the rocks.

This was taken at the top. This is looking back toward Breckenridge. The little bird on the rock behind Spencer flew around our heads. He stayed close waiting for us to leave. We left him some pretzel crumbs. We were scarcely off the rock before he was snacking on pretzel crumbs. You wouldn't know it by this picture, but Spencer did have a good time as I recall.

The plains between Divide and Woodland Park are in the background. Woodland park is even visible in the right side of the picture.

Anna in particular was intrigued by the puddles in the rocks.

The viewer is looking to the west. The family is looking east.

Headed back down, we began to feel the occasional raindrop.

The trail became a creek in places and a puddle in others. The youngin's found some high ground.

The youngin's were promised that they could visit this cave on the way back. It turned out to be a good refuge from the rain and sleet that were falling fully be this point. Notice the ponchos on the girls.

A picture from the top of granite boulders.

Some miscellaneous pictures from the trek back.

This log bridge crosses the creek on another trail, but the youngin's had to investigate.

The trailhead parking was completely full to overflowing when we returned. I guess that explains all the groups of people we passed as we headed down.

The drive home was peaceful enough until we got back to town. US 24 was backed up from I-25 to Redrocks. We decided to take 31st to Filmore. Filmore was backed up from I-25 to the top of the hill. It took us probably a dozen cycles of the signal to get to I-25. Then the rain struck. The concrete surface of the freeway could not shed the water fast enough. We arrived at home safe and tired. Today was a good day.

P.S. It raining again.

Spring Break 2009 Trip Day 6 Home Sweet Home

The day began early in order to catch an 8:00 am (7:00 am MDT) session at the Winter Quarters Temple. The temple is very nice. It has stained glass windows throughout. And to make the windows even more cool, there are circular windows inside the stained glass windows with sketches of different pioneer scenes.

I returned to the hotel, made a quick change and we hit the road at about 10:15 am (9:15 am MDT) in search of a gas station that also sold diesel. What up Nebraska?! After driving down the freeway until my nerves were on edge, we finally found an exit with fueling stations. On top of being impossible to locate the road to the different stations, none of them had diesel. I had to go to a truck stop and use the truckers messy, leaky pumps.

We decided that Omaha is on another planet. The other places we visited were each different, but they were all in America. Not Omaha. The only time it felt normal was when we were at the temple. This perception was certainly perpetuated by the petroleum procurement problems. All of Nebraska was strange, but Omaha was not on this planet.

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, the batteries in the camera died; no pictures today.

Nebraska is FLAT!

We stopped in Kearney, Nebraska to grab some lunch and check out our first Cabella's store. I hope that the other stores are more impressive than the one in Kearney. Two-thirds of the store was clothes and two thirds of those were either camouflage or hunter orange. I did get a hiking pole from the clearance rack for Philmont and the kids got Life is Good caps. I wanted to see more camping gear. I did hear a lot of twang; a hunting store in Nebraska.

At one point we passed a feed lot and Jen was asking some questions. I cracked a dumb joke about the cows and we started to giggle. It quickly escalated into hilarious, uproarious laughter. I was trying to drive with tears coming out of my eyes and filling up my glasses. This lasted for 5 miles. Then we chuckled for another couple of miles. Later on we were in cruising I-76 close to Denver and Jen brought it up again, started chuckling, and got me started again. Next thing I knew, we were laughing again. I guess we just needed a good laugh after hours of driving.

We finally arrived home at 8:00 pm MDT (8:00 pm local time). The trip was absolutely wonderful. We want to do it again. The kids travelled very well. My only complaint on that front is that, because Heber is recently potty-trained, we have to stop whenever he says he needs to go. (On a side note, this also means that we passed many semi's three or four times) The kids were excited with many of the sites and behaved themselves very well for the most part. But it is sooo good to be home.

Spring Break 2009 Trip Day 5 Winter Quarters

Today dawned gray and chilly. But then again, so has every day of our trip. Today was a little colder than the rest except maybe Monday morning in Colorado Springs. From emails on my blackberry to comments left on voicemails, we got the feeling that Colorado has been getting buried. The checks of the weather this morning on the internet confirmed that snow was in the forecast today for Colorado Springs. But we were traversing Iowa and the forecast looked good, sunny skies.
So we bid a reluctant farewell to Nauvoo at 8:00 am MDT (9:00 am local time). The kids actually said good bye to the temple as we passed. After a short trip east and north, we left Illinois and crossed into Iowa. The bridge was narrow and had some strange, abrupt angles.



This was the second and last time crossing the Mississippi this trip.



After crossing the Mississippi River, we were in Iowa where we would spend most of the trip today.




The kids soon found ways to entertain themselves. Here the girls are making their McDonalds toys into Superdogs with Kleenex.

Iowa is painfully flat. The horizon in some areas is a razor thin, perfectly flat line. And one thing they could really use is an infusion of trees if for no other reason than they could really use the wind break. Once we hit I-80 and headed east, we were bucking the wind. I don't know how you did it, Perigo family.

When we were planning this trip, we had a difficult time making hotel reservations for Nebraska. We were planning on spending LAST night here, but we kept getting the run around on getting a hotel room. When we got to Nauvoo, we discovered that the Woodruff Hotel and booked us for 3 nights, so we decided to stay for 3 nights. And it turned out to be a very good thing. We still didn't get all we wanted to do done. And as we were planning this trip, we couldn't get any information on Winter Quarters on the internet.

So we headed out this morning for the unknown with no hotel reservation. We had no idea where we were going to stay or what we were going to do when we got here. We just hoped to attend the Winter Quarters Temple, see the cemetary and hopefully find some other stuff to do.

As we got near the border (the Missouri River), we started seeing signs for the Mormon Trail and were a little encouraged.

We crossed the Missouri River into Nebraska and knew we were close, but close to what?

Although Google Maps and directions on my Blackberry have served us extremely well this trip (my battery is constantly dead because the GPS is constantly tracking our location and showing me on the map real-time), it was nice that things were well signed when we started getting close. This was especially helpful when we got to a turn and weren't sure because the street sign was missing. These big green signs steered us to our destination.

As we crested the hill, the temple came into view. Then came into view a building right across a side street from the temple that had a Mormon Pioneer Trail Center sign. We pulled in to ask about lodging. (We already knew the schedule and number of the temple because we had looked them up on the Blackberry on the road.) The missionary at the front desk was genuinely excited to talk to us and gave us a discount flier that they had worked out with one of the hotels. I called the hotel right there and made a reservation. It is just a Comfort Inn, but the rate it half what we could have gotten on our own.

Then the missionary called and made reservations at the temple for Jen for the session that was starting in a half hour and one for me first thing in the morning. Jen changed in the bathroom there and walked across the street to the temple. The kids and I watched a video and took a tour of the center. Then we walked across the street to the cemetery where the camera batteries died. I planned to get more pictures of the cemetery and some of the temple. It is definitely one of the smaller temples. Jen said that it is very much like the Reno temple inside. It is cold here. Then we hurried back to get inside the building and hung out until Jen's session was done.

The view of the visitor's center from the temple gate.

This is a statue of parents burying their child in the cemetery behind (in front of) the temple.

Then we checked into our hotel, ordered some bad pizza that took forever, and put the kids to bed. Another successful day on our journey.