Gobble, Gobble!

 Well we had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We drove to my friends house which was definitely in the country. On the dirt road out there we saw wild turkeys and deer. Deer we see all the time, but wild turkeys, that was different! The kids were in heaven there, the house was on 34 acres they had cows and over 150 chickens. I loved going inside someone else's house, does that make me nosey? Most of the houses here are all open beamed and gable roofs with pine wood planks on the ceiling. I'm sure theres a name for that, but I can't remember but it's gorgeous!  On this farm, which it truly is, my friend has a house on one end and her son and his family (with six kids) live on the other  side. When the cousins came there was at least 11 children running around. The kids had so much fun. While the women finished up the last touches the men folk went outside to shoot guns. Very all American. My friends son is a police officer in town so I felt like he had the situation handled of course Ian had a blast too.
    It was so cool to eat someone elses Thanksgiving menu, not only was everything cooked perfectly but we had pumpkin soup which was delicious. Also for desert we had pecan pie, which I never bother with, but oh man! I love it! WE had a wonderful time and I was so grateful for a new experience out of our comfort zone. The kids had so much fun with all the children, they were playing freeze tag, in the dark on 30 degree weather. It was a Thanksgiving to remember.
    The next day I cooked up our own Thanksgiving spread. I have to say compared to the day before, it was nothing special. My turkey dried out, the stuffing didn't turn out like Grandma Judi's, and the yams didn't look pretty because I tried to put them on the bottom of my little oven and the marshmallows just smeared. It tastes alright and we had leftovers. Besides , cooking in that little oven, it's a miracle I got it all done at once.
    The following day , I got the boys and Ian to go Christmas shopping with me. We really wanted to support local businesses and Durango is a perfect place to do that. They have a ton of small shops. This meant that some people are getting some "interesting" items, but hopefully they'll appreciate their souvenir from our year on the road. After shopping, we got to do something I have been wanting to do since we got here. We took an old Western photo. In my opinion all my favorite families have one of these and I love seeing them when the kids have grown and gotten older it makes them that much cuter. Houston right off the bat decided he wanted to be an Indian. I suggested to Wrex that wear a coon hat and he totally dug it as long as he got a gun. I wanted to be a saloon girl because when I was younger it was unacceptable to have a little girl as a saloon girl, instead I always looked like I hopped off a covered wagon. Very maidenly. Ian was already growing this "awesome" beard so he looks like a real mountain man. It made me so happy to have these and the girl gave me a couple prints for free, it was the best day ever!
  So I know this sounds like my life is a dream, but you know I try to keep it real. While I am very blessed to have so many adventures  I am human and am getting worn out. Waylon has some pretty horrible sleeping habits. He wakes up at midnight and 4 am. Ive given him a bottle a few times to keep him quiet so everyone can sleep and now of course he demands 2 bottles in the night, which isn't right. So I'm not really sleeping and then I'm a homemaker, teacher and all that other stuff I'm suppose to do. Which I love but I am very worn out. So we decided last night that the kids and I are going to Grandma Barbs house next Friday and the plan is for Ian to meet us out there for Christmas. The only glitch in this planning is that Ian will probably get laid off in the next few weeks. If he gets laid off before Christmas, he may be reassigned to a company in a new state and have to pack up and move while were gone ( where does that leave my car? I haven't figured this out yet) Also the new company may not want to give him the time off for Christmas, that would be horrible. Hopefully he will stay with this company until after the holidays so he will meet up with us. Prayers would be appreciated.  So that's where we are. I'm finishing getting our local Christmas gifts out and getting ready for Grandmas. I'll keep you up to date. Love to you all and Happy Holidays!

My spread made in the trailer

If he's pooped , you can imagine how I feel!

 

This Thanksgiving were getting a little out of our comfort zone

This is my kitchen this morning as I make mashed potatoes and Sweet potatoes, be grateful for your counter space!

  
    Happy Early Thanksgiving! So here is what I've decided to plan for our menu for our trailer living extravaganza! I really tried to tone it down, but there are somethings you just cannot live without, when it comes to Thanksgiving. So here's what I got cooking:

Hot artichoke dip- one appetizer is proof that I've toned it down!

Kings Hawaiian rolls - store bought!
Cranberry jelly I love it straight out of the can!
Turkey Gravy- I bought a packet because gravy is still something that I really haven't mastered, or I just like the packet better~I'm not sure
Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes
My friend Tanya's Sweet potato recipe, complete with pecans and marshmallows
My mother in law gave me her stuffing recipe which is my favorite part of Thanksgiving
I'm going to try to recreate these really yummy green beans which involve bacon and pecans that my really cool sister in law made last year.
I ordered an oven roasted 10 lb turkey from the grocery store- My aunt gave me that idea, because if you haven't seen the inside of an fifth wheels oven, let me say, they are tiny and there is only one shelf in there!
Also, I ordered an apple pie from a bakery in town that I have heard fabulous reviews of, oh and of course I got some vanilla ice cream for that too!

When I told Ian our menu he asked "who was coming over?" Just Us!
    But then....we were invited to share Thanksgiving with a friend of mine who lives on a farm a few miles out of town. Now I have all the stuff, I'm ready to go but the kids got really excited to go to this gals house and they heard there would be a lot of kids and 40 acres to run around in....So a part of me thought, NO, it's a family day!  But then I thought, my poor kids, have family days everyday. I know my mother in law is back home spending this holiday in a way that she's not use to, I thought of my brother in laws (in Georgia and Hawaii) and my brothers (in North Carolina and California), none of us are going to be together, I thought of my mom opening her house up to anyone on Thanksgiving and how I'm usually the one thinking "why does she do that? It's a family day!" Then I realized that maybe this year I'll get out of my comfort zone, do something different, put myself in someone else's shoes, not the person running the show, the person in the corner maybe feeling a little awkward. If the kids have a blast , which it sounds like they will, then that's what really matters. We have the rest of the weekend to have family time and I am still making all this yummy food because I want more than a plate of leftovers, I WANT a FRIDGE full!
    So family, all of you. We miss you, we are thinking of you and although we are far apart you will be with us in Spirit. Love you. Happy Thanksgiving.

We made some no bake cookies that we got from pinterest, Houston and I had a ball and Waylon swiped some chocolate while we weren't looking...sneaky kid..Theyre suppose to look like pilgrim hats and acorns

Salt Lake City

 So these past three weeks have been a bit rough for me. Ian is working on a job high up in the mountains in a little town called Ouray. They call it "little Switzerland" they are putting him up in a hotel, so they can get in more work, with less drive time. So that leaves me here in Bayfield, with the kiddos from Monday to Saturday night, holding down the fort. I never intended to be out here on my own. First it was the week of Halloween, then it was Wrex's birthday now this is the third week and it's waring on me. I just figured if I was out here, we could all; be together as a family. So that's been frustrating. Of course Ian doesn't have a say when and where the work is. We've been told that we will probably be moving on pretty soon, so that tells me this can't last for too long, but three weeks is longer than I thought.
    This being our current situation, Ian had class in Salt Lake this weekend, so the boys and I tagged along to spend sometime together and get rid of our cabin fever! It was suppose to snow this past weekend and man did it dump on Salt Lake! It started Friday evening on our drive out there. I have never seen so much snow. Of course, I've hardly seen snow at all , but man, everything was covered,as far as we could see. It was beautiful and exciting. We got to the hotel at about 8 and unloaded our stuff. Ian teased us calling us Californians" as we tramped through the snow (not on the clear paths) in ugg boots. We brought all sorts of snow with us into the hotel room. The kids were picking up snow and eating it . So we have lots to learn, what else is new? The next day we went to In N Out. Wrex savored every bite, we got milkshakes, just to indulge ourselves, yes it was still snowing. We went to Costco and got Waylon some toys . I took the kids ion front of the hotel and showed them how to make snow angels. I was going to take a picture for you but, after I tackled Wrex isn the snow, we had a huge sbow fight and ruined our angels. I actually hid in the hotel room, after that but the kids had a blast making snowballs waitiing for me to come out. It was a lot of fun! As expected, I ate my through Salt Lake, we had Cafe Rio, Little Cesars, In N out twice. Yes we indulged on all the things they don't have in our little town.  We had so much fun eating that I thought it would be lovely to take the boys to a Sunday breakfast at my favorite little spot. So we dropped Ian off at class at 7am and drove to Salt Lake, which was about 45 mins away from where we were staying. It was clear when we started out but it had started snowing in Salt Lake. When we got to the little spot I wanted to go, it was being plowed, which I thought was a good sign. WRONG! Its about 2 miles up a mountain and when we got to "Ruths" there was about 2 feet of snow in the parking lot. I didn't want to get stuck so I turned around, the kids were disappointed but oh my gosh, if I didn't start sliding down that mountain. I felt very foolish for leaving my continental breakfast behind! So slowly we made it down the mountain and into Salt Lake. I found another restaurant on trip Advisor and made my way every so slowly that way. The snow kept falling and the plowers we're a little more slow at 7:30 Sunday morning. Where I come from, that's a perfect time to go get breakfast in Salt Lake, not so much. Anyway, the next restaurant was closed till 9am. So we went to Starbucks and grabbed a bagel at Einsteins and called it good. I got back to the hotel and thanked my lucky stars this California girl made it back without a fender bender.
     All in all, the snow was beautiful and when we got back to Bayfield there was not nearly as much of it on the ground. Which is good because as pretty as it is, getting the kids out and about in it will be challenging. So now we're back to normal, Ian is up in the mountains and the boys and I are passing the time, getting ready for Thanksgiving. My next big event, we'll talk more about that next week. Much Love~Kristina

  This is the parking lot of Ian's class, doesn't it look like a Christmas Card? I thought so.

Why is Houston wearing a sweathsirt? He didn't listen to the "grab your jacket warning" he also didn't bring any long sleeve shirts or gloves. Convinving these kids to dress properly in the snow was difficult.

Putting one foot in front of the other

  Hello Friends. So I have been sucked into jogging. Which should shock you if you know me. Yes me, the girl who got a B in PE because I would not put forth effort. I've always hated everything about running. Usually my lungs feel like they're going to fall out and I quit 45 seconds in. I'm the kinda girl whose not going to run unless someone is chasing me. So how did I get here. Well, I was invited to participate in this 8 week challenge to be more healthy. You receive points for things like eating 2 servings of fruit a day and 3 servings of vegetables a day. Well I'm friendly enough and could use something else to eat besides bread, so I accepted the challenge. Oh yes the winner gets around $200 bucks so there's some motivation for you. You can win by either having the most points or by having the highest weight loss percentage, according to your weight. Well I didn't take it very seriously at first. I just went ahead and modified some of the foods I ate. I ate a lot of carrots that first week. I cracked out my pilates home videos. I entered my calories and work out into my app called "my fitness pal." I burned 100 calories...go me! The thing is on this fitness pal thing, you can see how much other people are working out and I started feeling like a total slouch. These ladies were kicking it into high gear. You may not know this about me, unless you're one of my brothers, but I am actually pretty competitive. Of course I don't compete unless I think I can win. Is that too revealing? I think I'm sneakily competitive. Does that make sense? No I didn't think so.    So during the first week of my "light" workouts I had that back drama. Maybe it was because I told my body to start working out, I don't know. So I put this other app on my phone called "couch to 5k" and I started walking with the boys. The app tells you when to walk and when to jog so you slowly build up to jogging. Well within the first week I had knee trouble. I almost quit but these other girls kept burning up the calories and I'm no quitter. I also started to enjoy my 30 minutes away from the kiddos. At this point I started jogging when Ian was home. I go around the trailers, one big loop, over and over. Very safe and predictable. So I spoke to a friend who has had major trauma to her body by a quad accident and she ran. If she can do it, why not me? So she advised me to get a knee brace and keep going. There were days that I looked ridiculous. I had my knee brace on, sometimes layers of shirts(it was cold and I don't own running apparel) as I jogged at a pace that people could walk past me. I started doubting my couch to 5k app. When it told me to stop jogging, I didn't listen and would soon regret it. I thought my lungs were going to fall out but I knew this couldn't actually happen. I've always been worried that I would look really stupid if I tried to run, again I am quite slow, I don't think technically its "running" at all. But no one is here to see me that I know. So now I've worked it out where I "jog" when Waylon takes his morning naps. I circle the park and the boys open the door if Waylon wakes up . But oddly enough Waylon sleeps well if everyone is quiet in here, which we never are, unless I'm running and the older boys are watching tv in my room. Many days I don't feel like getting out there, believe me it's much colder here than back home, But dang it if I'm not getting results. My legs are trim and I do like rocking out to Pandora as I circle the park. I have mini adventures, like when I got brave one day and decided to run behind the barn. I saw a skunk (they move really weird its like they bobble) so I hightailed it back to my main loop. One day last week it was pretty dark still and out of the corner of my eye I swear I saw a kangaroo, of course it was just a deer but the way it pranced, I don't know, it cracked me up. One time I really needed some motivation so I went out to where the park keeps their cows (the cows weren't there, again I don't know why) and there was a huge flock of geese, so I ran after them just in an attempt to pick up the pace and be a stinker at the same time. Somehow, someone sent me this app that gives money to a charity every time you "run" and now I feel like the least I can do is to give to these charities, I mean everyone wins right? My little brother thought my facebook was hacked he said " so you like really run everyday?"  Yeah I know, sometimes I can't believe it either. I lost 10 pounds and who knows I may win the prize for weight loss although that was never my intention. Some side benefits is that, I get a little bit of time to clear my head everyday. I get a little bit of Kristina time which I really need when I can never really get some space from my family (whom I LOVE ;) So today my app told me that I could run 25 minutes in a row. I didn't believe it at first but I know it's usually right so somehow very slowly I jogged for 25 minutes in a row. HUGE SUCCESS for this girl. When I thought to myself this morning, How did I get to this point? It was clear that I just took one step at a time. I put one foot in front of the other and trusted that everything was going to work out. I think this is very fitting for me, I'm sure it is for all linewives. We never know where the next job will be, when will we move, should we go back home, when is my husband coming back from storm work? Just put one foot in front of the other, have a little  faith and take it one day at a time.~ a little bit of encouragements from friends and family also goes a long way

P.S I disposed of a mouse in a trap today. I am woman hear me roar!

Here I am looking particularly awesome one cold morning