Double Feature - Pioneer Day & Flashback Friday

I have decided to write a double feature blog. Since it is Friday it is Flashback Friday, that was inspired by my Pioneer Day fun last night.

Pioneer Day

Before anyone else decides to ask me, no we did not go to the parade. Steve worked the night before and I slept in. The parade is not a tradition for us so it doesn't usually even cross our mind. If it does, we very quickly decide we would rather sleep in. As I was contemplating actually getting out of bed, Amanda called me and asked me if I could watch Zack. They had a friend who needed some help and didn't feel that they could take him with them. I hesitated slightly, only because I knew that Steve would be sleeping and I didn't want to wake him up. But of course I said yes. How can I resist an opportunity to play with any of my nieces or nephews?

So Zack came over and spent the day with me. Zack LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine and he got a new video while we were on vaction. He knows nearly all the names of Thomas and his friends but there are some new friends on this video. Zack will frequently play the "Who's that?" game. He asks "who's that?" and then answers his own question. He was playing the game and asked about the yellow flat bed truck on the front of the video case but he couldn't remember her name and Amanda couldn't either. So, we had to watch it. In case anyone wants to know, her name is Isabella...

Unfortunately, Steve's boss called him and woke him up during Thomas and then he heard us. My only consolation is that we weren't the ones who woke him up in the first place. We are just the ones who distracted him enough that he couldn't go back to sleep. So Steve got up and spent a little bit of time on his computer in the office waking up a bit.

After Thomas, Zack wanted to watch Bee Movie, but when we opened it up he said "oh no! All gone!" So he chose Cars. I hadn't ever seen all of Cars so I was okay with it. Besides, it's a Pixar movie. How can you go wrong? I had seen the beginning so I decided to get some of our massive pile of dirty dishes done while Zack watched and played and then joined him. Steve eventually joined us and we ended up nearly rolling on the floor watching Zack. He was quoting the movie and singing and dancing during the songs. It was a lot of fun!

About 2:00 Amanda sent me a message and said she forgot to tell me about his nap and asked if I had put him down. Zack was in such a good mood that I totally spaced nap time, it did not even cross my mind. I was even going to take him shopping with me. Whoops! I put him down right then and then Steve took a small nap on the couch while I went to the store.

Amanda and Aaron came to pick him up about 5:00 and he was still laying down. Amanda and I went to wake him up and he was already awake, he just hadn't come out of the room. He got very excited to see mommy and when she asked him if he had fun he said "No, go home!" I had to laugh, we did too! He really was a good boy and we had lots of fun playing. They left to finish getting ready for the barbeque Britta was having for the family at her house. Steve got ready for work and after he left I finished getting ready to go as well.

Britta covers everything pretty well, so if you want details about the barbeque, go to http://nunleyfam.blogspot.com/2008/07/pioneer-day-barbeque.html.

Flashback Friday

While I was at Britta's for the barbeque last night I was able to see her nearly finished back yard. She has a hill in the back (on purpose) for her kids to play on. This is the inspiration for my Flashback Friday.

My parent's have a small hill in the front yard that we grew up playing on. The reason I say on purpose above is simply this: to this day, my mom hates that hill. It was there when they bought the house and she has tried several times to get rid of it. I don't know if we always talked her out of it or if other things just took priority, but it is still there.

Personally, I am glad. We had SO much fun playing on the hill growing up and the grandkids have fun now. I told Britta last night that she was missing something on her hill, the pot holes. She apparently decided that, regardless of how much we used them, she didn't want them in her hill. I do understand why because we destroyed the grass in that area by using them for our witches brew, which I have previously posted about.

In addition to witches brew the hill provided safety while playing tag, a castle for the frequently overturned king of the hill, a stage and many more. We rolled down the hill, we ran through sprinklers on the hill and sprained ankles on the hill. The fun was endless and still is. And lucky for us, if we had too many people and our hill was too small, we ran next door to the park. We always had plenty of space there.

In my adulthood, I am always reminded that I had an amazing childhood. Sometimes it is hearing how difficult someone else's childhood was and sometimes it is just spending time with my family and following the eternal memory lane. I am grateful for the family I have and I love you all!

Family vacation - part 2

Picking up where I left off...

Thursday morning when we got up I was a little worried about how I was going to feel that day. My back was hurting and my stomach didn't feel great either. But I decided to do everything I could to get it to calm down (in addition to a blessing the previous night) and by the time we left I felt good. We got on the road to San Francisco. But before leaving I had to take a picture of this little food shack that made me laugh.

On the road to San Francisco, we saw a sign for another drive-through tree. We decided to stop and this one looked a lot more like we were all envisioning. We had a blast here because there was another log that was hollow and I could stand up inside it. I got a great picture of me and all the kids and Aaron decided to climb on top of it. I even got brave and climbed up. I'm afraid of heights so this was a big thing for me.

We visited the gift shop for a bit and got back on the road. It was a 4 hour drive to San Francisco from Garberville and we wanted to be able to eat lunch on Fisherman's Wharf. When we got to the bridge we noticed that it got a bit colder than we were getting used to. It had been so hot the last few days that we were all sweating by the time we got loaded each morning. The temperature said it was 64 and it was foggy. Many of us didn't bring jackets and were now regretting it. We found a place to park, walked to the Wharf and found a place for lunch. We picked a place that looked like it would have decent options for everyone which ended up being a place called Tarantino's. We just picked and we lucked out. This place was great! We had a great view of the fishing boats on the Wharf and the food was great.

When we left the restaurant we discovered it had gotten significantly colder than when we went in. We headed to Ghirardelli Square and luckily found some nice, inexpensive hoodies on our way. Nearly everyone bought one in a variety of colors and styles. We were now much more comfortable. One thing that I remembered about Ghirardelli Square from when I went years ago was the fun fountain. Amanda and Ranna went a few months ago and said it was under construction. I was hoping that the construction was done so we could all see it.

After Ghirardelli Square, we headed to Pier 39 to see the sea lions and to get some ice cream. There is of course a lot more to do at Pier 39 than these things, but we didn't really have the time. Unfortunately, it is the off season for the sea lions and there was only a handful there. I was so bummed because that was one of my favorite things last time I was there. So, we grabbed some ice cream and headed back to the vehicles. We decided we didn't want to drive down Lombard St. but we at least wanted to see it. So we drove by it and then headed out of town. It took us 2 hours to get to the Bay Bridge, traffic was a mess! When we finally got to the bridge, we discovered it was because they were doing construction and it went down to one lane. Hello, who thought this would be a good idea? While in traffic we got separated, and long story short version, we all decided to just meet at the Oakland Temple. These grounds are so pretty and I love the walkway on top of the temple with all of the foliage. We took a group picture in front of the Christus in the visitor's center and headed to the hotel. It was something we all needed to end the day.

Friday we headed into Sacramento. Seth needed to take some things and pick up some things from the mission office and so we all drove to Old Sacramento and we decided that Seth and my parents would go take care of that while the rest of us wandered around. We pretty much headed straight to the train museum. Zack was a big driving force behind this one because he LOVES Thomas and all his friends. He can name them all. Just as we were finishing up there we found out that the mission office wasn't even open and wouldn't be until about 2:00. Seth was so bummed because he wanted to see the museum and missed it for nothing.

By this time I was really dragging. I was not feeling well at all and had absolutely no energy. When we met up with my parents, my dad mentioned that my mom was concerned that she had strep. I started thinking...yup, those are the symptoms I was experiencing. We found a gorgeous place for lunch and we ate in the courtyard. Again, some place we just found and lucked out. The kids had room to move and play without disturbing other patrons and from what I'm told, the food was amazing. I didn't have enough of an appetite so I ordered the cheapest salad I could because I could see wasting money on something I wasn't going to enjoy just because I didn't feel well. I would love to go back and try it another time, not to mention there was so much of Old Sacramento we still did not see.

After Old Sacramento, we headed to the Sacramento Temple. This is a newer and smaller temple, but the grounds were amazing! It is close to a waste plant and it was cool to see where the temple grounds started and the difference in the vegetation. Ranna and I decided that it was dark and spooky versus bright and happy. They also have a park area with bathrooms, drinking fountains, sand pits and benches as part of the grounds.

At this point, we separated. People in my parent's van (me included) headed to the mission office and the other vehicles headed to Lake Tahoe. Not too much exciting to report at this point, but by the time we made it to Tahoe I was feeling better. They beauty of pain reliever! We didn't stay long, because it was getting late and the young kids had already been playing for about an hour and were basically done. They did have a lot of fun though.

We headed to our final hotel in Carson City and luckily it was only a half hour away. Some people went swimming and dinner kept getting later and later. By the time people were ready to go my energy was gone, so I just went to bed. Saturday we got up and got on the road a little later than the other days, but we didn't have any stops planned. We just headed home and by this time Britta and I were very anxious to make it home to see our sweethearts. At one of the rest stops we found a Native American couple who had set up a bunch of jewelry for sale. We all had fun looking and several of us bought something. Other than that, our long road home was pretty uneventful. I felt somewhat icky but mostly okay for most of the trip and boy was I glad to make it home and sleep in my own bed.

Flashback Friday - Family Vacation, part 1

I am finally getting around to posting about my vacation. I have been waiting, hoping to get some of the pictures other members of my family took. I decided I had better not wait anymore, because it is already a "flashback". I mean, it's been a week!

Let me preface this entire blog with this...vacation is much better when illness is not a part of it! My stomach, back and ribs acted up the night before we left, so I really didn't get much sleep. We wanted to leave my parent's house by 8:00 a.m. (we run on Putnam time, so this means earliest 8:30). I was in pain, so I called my chiropractor, hoping to get in early so that I didn't throw things off for anyone else. Luckily, due to Putnam time, I didn't. Steve and I dropped all my stuff off at my parent's and got it loaded and headed to the chiropractor while everyone else finished up. We got to the office around 8:15 or so and was done just after everyone left the house at 8:30. Everyone met Steve and I there, since it was in the general direction we needed to go anyway and wasn't too out of the way. I said good-bye to Steve, gingerly climbed into Britta's Jeep and off we went!

I rode most of the day with Britta, with a few hours with my parents when I decided I really needed a nap. I couldn't get a nap riding with Britta because I was on kid duty - changing movies, getting books or toys, getting snacks, etc. After some rest I really started to feel better and kid duty was ok. I did find the Nevada/California state line quite interesting. The scenery became a lot more interesting very suddenly!

Monday night we stayed in a town called Grass Valley in California. It is off of I-80 about a half hour and the drive into town was absolutely breath-taking! We chose Grass Valley because it was in the general area that we needed to go anyway and Britta and John lived there for a summer for John's internship. My parent's found this fabulous place to stay which completely spoiled us. We all loved it, especially the memory foam beds and the pool. They were just what we needed after the long day of driving we just had.

Our cute hotel the first night

Tuesday was a busy, busy day. We started by having a trip down memory lane for Britta. She wanted to show everyone where she and John lived for that summer. It was maybe 5 minutes from the hotel. Then we headed toward Yuba City and did a little bit of backtracking through Marysville to Beale Air Force Base for me. That is where Steve was born and since he wasn't able to come I wanted to go there for him. We took some pictures and Zack and Abby especially liked looking at the plane. On our way back through Marysville, we stopped at Wal-Mart, for Britta's sake. Her DVD players stopped working. It was only the 2nd day of a huge road trip with a 3 year old and a1 year old. She didn't want to go the rest of the trip without it...

After our shopping we decided it was time for lunch. We found a great park close by and stopped. It had a great pond and a bunch of ducks and geese that Abby truly enjoyed feeding. I'll tell you what though, those geese sure were pushy. You could even say they were the bullies of the bunch. When they found out that the ducks were getting food that they weren't, they charged right in and pushed the ducks out. It was very interesting to watch.

After lunch Seth pretty much ran the show. This was the day spent in his mission area and there were a lot of people he wanted to visit and some places he wanted to show us. Most of us stayed in vehicles when he went in but in Orland we were able to stop at a park so the kids could play. We ended up eating dinner pretty late and by that time the kids were ready to be done. After getting to the motel in Corning some of us went swimming, some of us went to bed and my parents and Seth went to visit more people. My stomach acted up Tuesday afternoon but swimming helped a lot.

Wednesday was the day for the Redwoods. Unfortunately for us, to get there from Corning, we had to drive up and over the mountain. This meant a lot of twisty roads, and quite a bit of car sickness, which lead to a lot of passenger swapping. I was already feeling slightly off so I got quite sick where I normally would not have. By the time we actually got to the Redwoods I could barely move, but got out of the car anyway. I wasn't about to miss the redwoods in the Avenue of the Giants.

The first place we stopped was the Immortal Tree. This massive tree has survived lightening, floods, pests and the axe. They even have year markers for each event. We spent a good amount of time at the gift shop there and I found the perfect gift for Steve, aside from the fun shot glass to add to his collection. We got back on the road and found a place for dinner in a gorgeous grove with a picnic table. It was here that I realized we did not have nearly enough time for the Redwoods. There are so many trails and other sites off the main roads that days could be spent in just the Avenue of the Redwoods. I laid down in the van for a bit before getting up to eat. I needed a chance to rest without being in a moving vehicle.

My parents chose to visit this specific section of the Redwoods because we all wanted to see a drive-through tree. We couldn't see one on the map, but the internet stated we would find one. We decided to turn around and go ask someone at the visitor's center where we could find one. They said it was off the main road but there were signs on the main road. We just didn't drive far enough. We found it and it was so much fun! I could not believe the size of these trees. The drive-through tree was large enough that Aaron could even drive his big truck through (Seth was actually driving, Aaron directed). They also had some play houses and a children's walk-through stump. Everyone had a blast, especially the kids!

The cute tree houses

Silly, silly Seth Sack - in the cute tree house

Aaron with Zack on his shoulders in the walk-through tree
Perspective - Aaron is about 6'8"

Anna in the walk-through stump

Getting out of the car was actually the best thing for me, and by the time we got to our motel I was feeling pretty good. We stayed at a tiny motel in Garberville, a small town just south of the Avenue of the Giants. We got to the motel Wednesday night much earlier in the evening than we did any other night. We went swimming before dinner and really had a good time. We planned to go to a smoothie place we saw as we came in, but when we got there we discovered they were only serving the fire fighters that were fighting the mostly contained fires on the mountain. So, we kept walking until we found an open place that looked family friendly. Overall dinner was a lot of fun. It stopped being fun when half of us got our food and finished it and still no pizza for the others. Luckily, the kids were still in good moods. Some of us headed back with the kids and some stayed to take care of getting the pizza to go (which was now free) and taking care of paying. Aaron brought the pizza back, but unfortunately not before Abby went to sleep. Don't worry, she didn't go to bed hungry. She had chocolate cake at the restaurant! Britta saved her a piece for the next day.

This is about all I am going to post for now. I will finish blogging about the trip later. Check back for more pictures...

Hiatus

It has been a while since I posted. We've been busy. Believe it or not, we really didn't do much of anything on the 4th. My stomach acted up and I was up all night in pain the night before, so I slept until 1:00 p.m. when Steve woke me up saying he couldn't in good conscience let me sleep anymore. The rest of the day I really felt lethargic and didn't feel up to doing much of anything at all. We did go get ice cream and watch the valley fireworks from up on the hill with Josie and Jaslin(we were going to go to West Jordan Park, but parking didn't exist, so we drove instead).

This week and weekend I have been getting ready to go on vacation. While I was at work I was busy trying to make sure I had all my loose ends tied up so that I didn't have to worry about anything not being done. When I was home I was cleaning up the house so I didn't leave a disaster. Yesterday I went with my mom to Sam's Club for snack food and then Ranna and I went to Good Earth so I could get some specialty food to take with me.

Today I have been quite busy getting things packed and organized. We are planning on leaving my parent's house at 8:00 a.m. which means getting up early enough to get everything in the car, go get some ice and get to my parent's house in time to get everything loaded up. I will be riding with Britta, Abby and Landon for most of the trip. Then my parent's will have them, Anna(a niece), Ranna, Seth and Joel. Then Amanda, Aaron and Zack will be in their truck. Unfortunately there are several people that are unable to come. Britta's husband, John, Steve, my brother Dirk and his wife Sarina all have to work and Eric, Dani and their girls were going to come but they are moving in a week and a half and now are not able to.

We will be coming home late Saturday, so there will likely be no communication from me online for a week, as I have no lap top. I will prepare to share our adventures when we return...

Flashback Friday - Life Story question

Steve and I have been planning to continue our story because we had fun doing it. We've been told that some people actually enjoyed reading it too. Here is our dilemma. We don't really see each other much during the week. In fact, this week it really has been very little. We usually have all day Saturday and Sunday, and this weekend we don't even have that. So, I am going to do something else for this week and then we will try to work on something during the week so that by Friday it will be ready to post.

I decided to cheat a little this week and pull a question out of my Life Story jar that would work for my Flashback Friday. The question is "Tell about any conditions surrounding your birth that you are aware of. Tell any interesting stories about your beginnings (how your name was chosen, any close calls)." Boy what a gem this is!

When I was 11 my mom wrote me a letter as part of a mutual project. It shares some about when I was born, but not all the really good stuff. But, I would like to share a little of it because it is in her words.

"I would like to tell you a little bit about the day you was born. It was a bright, sunny, early spring morning - March 26, 1977. We already had 2 little boys and were hoping to get a little girl. We were, of course, very please when we found out you was indeed a little girl. We were a little bit scared at first because you wasn't breathing right away, but it sure didn't take long to get you breathing. Once you started breathing, you started crying. What a set of lungs! You have been very quiet since then! Just kidding." (She really isn't kidding. I am a self-admitted loud-mouth!)

"You was one of the prettiest babies ever born at the Valley West Hospital in what was then called Granger, Utah. Things have really changed so it is now Pioneer Valley Hospital in West Valley City, Utah. The nurses made a fuss over you because you had so much long dark hair. At one time Dr. Astle, who delivered you, said, "One day she'll knock some young man for a loop." He thought you looked like you would really be pretty some day."

The next paragraph I am leaving out because it is very personal, but she mentions having health issues before and after I was born. When she was 4 months along, she started having contractions due to an asymptomatic urinary tract infection. This was obviously way to early to give birth so the hospital did what they could to stop the contractions. The way that was done at that time was through an alcohol drip. Yes, my mom got drunk due to this alcohol drip, this explains everything! She was a difficult patient and kept trying to get out of bed (very unlike her, she is a nurse and knows better), but in the end it worked and I was born only 3 weeks early.

Just after I was born they were not sure what my name would be. They knew my first name would be Mary because they wanted me to have that family name (it goes back to my great-great grandmother). Their inspiration for my middle name, what I would actually go by, came from an interesting source. When I was born, they still had shared hospital rooms and she was sharing with someone who also just gave birth to a little girl and also had a little boy. When her son came in to visit he was disappointed. He said "I wanted you to have a boy so we could name him Charlie Brown." They decided that would be a cute name for a girl, except as Charlene. So, I am named after Charlie Brown and I did not learn this until my friends gave me the nickname of Charlie (against my wishes) which ended up as Chuck (which I was okay with...go figure). Ironic.

What they didn't know at the time I was born was that part of the placenta had scarred next to the uterus due to the premature contractions. Since that part stayed behind her body didn't get the clear signal that she was not pregnant anymore and her milk did not come in. Therefore, I was not breast fed like my 7 siblings. I personally find this curious as I am the one in the family with the most health issues. It simply re-affirms to me the importance of breast milk. Anyway, about 5 weeks after I was born she started having issues due to the part of the placenta wall left behind. She ended up in the hospital with severe bleeding and the doctors gave her until a specified time to pull out of it or she would have an emergency hysterectomy. It looked like it was going to happen, but she was blessed and a half an hour before the determined time she pulled out of it and did not need to have the surgery.

She had 5 more children after that, all with very little or no complications. So, I say that I started out as a problem child and unfortunately I don't think much has changed. But I can say that I am truly grateful my mom was able to have more children for all the siblings I have. I would have been the youngest child and the only girl and if that had been the case I would have been a spoiled brat - no questions!

I have an amazing family and I am so blessed to be a part of it. I consider some of my siblings among my best friends and I can not imagine my life without them.

A busy week...

I can hardly believe it is already Thursday. We have had a lot of events this week so far, some fun, some not so much.

Monday started with a phone call to Britta. Abby went in for surgery to fix a hole in her heart. Being the worry wart that I am, I had to make sure she knew I was thinking about them and to express my love and concern. Also, I wanted to find out if they had received the e-card I sent for Abby to wish her luck. They did and Abby had already watched it over and over again. Britta told me she would let me know how things went and I mentioned that I would like to come up to visit later if Abby was up to it. It was a simple procedure, done in the catheter lab instead of the operating room, and everthing went well.

After work I had a chiropractor appointment. It was a consultation from my most recent re-exam(I am now on a maintenance schedule) and it was in and out. So, I headed up to Primary's after the appointment. Abby was very antsy and ready for something different. She was exhausted and struggled with her emotions for a little bit but overall did amazingly well. I read her a few stories and chatted with Britta some. We also took a picture of her silly glowing thumb.

Eventually I felt I needed to go help my parents and she didn't want me to go. But she had dinner on the way, pepperoni pizza(her favorite) and a cupcake with sprinkles, so she was ok.

My parents have been remodeling their bathroom downstairs and were also getting the house cleaned up in preparation for my brother Seth to come home from his mission on Tuesday. For those of you familiar with my parent's yard you will be glad to know that it is now tub free! Shortly after I arrived at their place, they realized that their a/c was no longer working. The compressor quit. I was trying to help clean, but it wasn't very easy to do while being miserably hot. Overall, Monday was good and busy day.

Tuesday morning Seth came home, bright and early. I did not go to the airport. I planned to be at work all day. That morning, my body had a different idea. I did not feel well and stayed in bed. I thought I just needed more sleep and that I would make it in later. Then I woke up later. My throat was screaming at me! I called in sick because I thought I may have caught something that Ranna had been sick with for days already. I felt very yucky and almost stayed in bed. Then Steve said he wanted to go see Seth before he had to go to work. I figured I could lay around at my parent's house just as easily as I could at home. So, we got out the door and visited for a bit. Then Steve went to work and he left me there. It was quite the busy house! I still felt rather yucky all day but it was definitely better than staying at home.

This is of course the Reader's Digest condensed version, but you get the idea. The past two days I have been very busy at work and have come home exhausted. Maybe I will actually have the energy to post a Flashback Friday tomorrow....

He's at it again...

If you didn't already know, Steve is addicted to his flight simulator. He is like a kid in a candy store and being able to fly will cure almost any foul mood. Notice I say almost. Anyway, he loved to teach anyone and everyone he can how to fly.

Case in point, Steve's brother and family came to visit today. Steve and Ryan linked the two computers and were flying 747s in formation and Steve was so excited he asked Melissa and I to come in at see it. While we were there he held Mike for a bit. Mike, being only 8 months old, naturally grabbed the nifty toys in front of him. It made quite the cute picture that I just had to share.


Steve really is so good with kids. It is one of my favorite things to see because he is just him, no walls, no fronts. It's cute!