Spring Break

      Hello everybody. We had a very lovely Spring break here in Alamo, last week. We ventured to the closest town, Caliente, which is 50 miles away. I was hoping to be amazed by the luxuries of the big city, but ended up realizing our grocery store/ rest stop is actually much nicer here. Still, I found out they have a public pool and a train museum. Always good things to have nearby when you have little boys.
     I turned a whopping 29 last week. I woke up and did what I imagine everyone does on their birthday. Put on an outfit that makes them feel good, do your makeup in a way that makes you feel like you really shine. Then I laughed when I inspected myself in the mirror and saw this 29 year old hipster, with her skull shirt and liquid eyeliner "with wings" staring back at me. I think I can still rock it, it's just funny how I thought I would grow out of that stuff, but it still is my comfort zone. Silly, I know. So I planned on going to Vegas that day to fill up on supplies and keep myself busy so I didn't miss my family too much. My friend Tarah and I headed to Vegas which is a scary drive. It's an hour and a half on a two lane road, which is mostly used by semi trucks and trailers. So if you want to make it there in an hour and a half you have to pass in the other lane (towards oncoming traffic.) I've never felt comfortable with that. I think I made everybody else feel uncomfortable too. Not fun. Anyhow, we made it to Vegas and had lunch at In N Out (surprised?) Then we went to Costco and Target. While I didn't find everything my hearts desired that day, we were loaded definitely down on the way back. After taking a wrong turn and driving an extra 20  miles out of the way, (the pleasures of being in a new town) I was in such a hurry to get back to Alamo. So much that, I got a phone call from Ian on the way home "was that you flying by me , just now? This ain't California babe, slow down!" Whoops! If you've ever driven a long car ride with a screaming baby, you feel my pain. We made it safely back, but after that adventure I was wiped out .

Our awesome set up! My lounge chair is the one with the towel on it, so you don't stick to it. It's classic

    I spent the next two days lounging in the sun in my new classy trailer park lounge chair. The other gals purchased wonderful things like slip n slides and baby pools. Which I am grateful for, because all I thought of was laying out in the sun for the next few days. We had such great weather the kids had an absolute blast on the slip and slide. At nap time you could find me, laying out, soaking up the sun. This relaxation fueled me up for our next big event. Easter.
      Let me say how lucky these kids of mine are. We had three Easter egg hunts. We found a local hunt at the elementary school which was tons of fun. This is where Waylon really figured out that plastic eggs=jelly beans. Although, after that, there was really no motivation for him to find the next egg until the one he was working on was empty. On Easter morning we had an egg hunt inside the trailer, just to warm them up. We then made Resurrection rolls and read the Easter story while filling the crescent rolls with buttery, cinnamon and sugar marshmallows. If you've never made them they are so yummy and very simple. (here's the recipe I used http://eatatallies.com/2011/04/resurrection-rolls/ ) Later that day, Cayla, Tarrah and myself collaborated for an Easter dinner for all the guys. It's so nice to be in a community.  I think of all these guys away from their families and I think of my brothers scattered all over the country and I  just hope that someone out there makes their day a little brighter with a plate of food. It seems like the least I can do here. Especially with such little fridge space.They have been great at eating my leftovers. I think its a win win situation. Anyways, Easter was a huge success. We had a ton of food and everyone had fun munching and chatting. Afterwards all the guys (I believe Cayla had to supervise) hid over 100 eggs in our trailer park. I'm not sure who had more fun, the guys hiding them and giving out clues, the dogs chasing the kids or the kids on their sugar high. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that fun was had by all.
    We are now back at school and trying to figure out a daily routine. The stomach flu is still hopping from trailer to trailer, we're convinced we've built up enough immunities to outlast the apocalypse. I sure hope so, I'll keep you posted.xoxo~ Kristina


Houston making our resuurectin rolls.

Easter brought to you by the lovely ladies of Alamo

Our first week in the middle of nowhere

     Good morning ! I've been making mental notes and coming up with some Alamo stories for y'all. At first I thought "What am I going to tell them? We're in the middle of nowhere!" Once again life proves it's not about the destination but the journey along the way."
      Our first day in Alamo was wonderful. I woke up early and had the whole morning to myself . Thanks to my new trailer, the boys slept snugly in their room and I was able to have some peace. It may have been peace and quiet between 4 and 7 AM but I'll take it either way. My friend Cayla showed us around.  We finally have an address! I opened a PO Box, it's very unsettling not having an address.  We also  looked at the "other trailer park" options because ours was having some power issues. Meaning our power kept turning off. Not a great start. First we went to this "secret park" which was someones yard, at the end of a spooky street.I say spooky because it is on the edge of town and no clear definition of where town stops and desert starts.  Then we investigated "the other park," which was basically a parking lot, without laundry facilities, we decided to stay put. Along the way, we managed to pop all of our tires, on the bicycles and the jogging strollers. Turned out that "other park" was full of little "goat heads." I wasn't familiar with these pokies before, but after pulling out a few hundred of them and patching all six tires, now I know what they are! After our serious threat to leave the RV park,  the owners fixed our electrical problems. I would say this in itself was enough excitement for a day, but  that evening,  Waylon started throwing up. I've never had a one-year-old throw up before,  it's awful. They don't seem to know when it's coming, (or they do and can't tell you)  so you really just aim them at things. The stomach bug spread to everybody except for me for which I am eternally grateful. This gave me the opportunity to really get familiar with the towns laundry mat. I've spent $40 on laundry this week. With half the town's laundry machines out of order, it was a miracle that I have clean linens. Poor Ian came home sick on Wednesday with those dreaded words "your son got me sick." These poor guys, whatever they had,  it sounded terrible. Horrible noises coming from both bathrooms. Somehow I survived! Shuffling crackers to one room  and gatorade to the other.   Everyday I love my trailer more and more . It is so much more livable,  there is so much more space and  I am so grateful that my husband bought  this for me. In fact I feel quite spoiled!

    My friend Cayla, took the opportunity to quarantine her family and left the city! Actually, they left because her husband finished his apprenticeship. She is now officially married to a journeyman which gives all of us a glimmer of hope. It's so wonderful to see someone finish this apprenticeship. It is proof that the hard work and sacrifices will pay off. We are so happy for them. So they left town for a bit to get his Journeyman's ticket. I was so relieved when they came back. For a moment I thought we had lost them! If it wasn't a blizzard in Salt Lake, who knows if they would've come back! So  by Saturday, I had a little break in the action and Cayla and I were able to run a 5K in honor of the victims of Sandy Hooke. It was so fun to have a running buddy. She is definitely more compatible and more fun ,as a running partner than either my brother (sorry Nate) or Ian. ( He already knows this.) We had a few days here in the 60s but most of the week has been in the 70s. Which didn't seem like a big deal until I started seeing reports of Salt Lake and Colorado . Sorry friends out there, stay warm!

      I also got to pick up my first basket of fresh fruits and veggies on Saturday morning from bountiful baskets. Cayla forewarned me that the grocery store had slim choices for fresh produce. I'm so grateful that she was able to figure this stuff out ahead of my arrival, I feel so lucky. There was a little drama with the produce truck not arriving on time and I had to make three separate trips to the elementary school which isn't a big deal because I'm right down the street. and I don't have a lot to do. We  got all sort of goodies like pineapple, bananas, tangerines, grapefruit, Chinese cabbage and a box of sugar cookies to  decorate for Easter! In Alamo you really do need to plan ahead. I found this out when the grocery store ran out of bread. So signing up for bountiful baskets to receive fresh fruit and veggies a week ahead of time seems like a necessity.

        On Sunday we got a new family into the park. The boys are so excited to have some kids around here. The timing is perfect because we're on spring break and we need some entertainment! Ian was lucky enough to get off early yesterday ( he's working seven days a week, 12 hour days) and was home around five. Then we got to witness this really neat tradition that the guys in our park on Sundays call family dinner. ( I'm pretty sure Cayla actually started it.) I was caught off guard and you know how I like to plan, but sure enough at 5 o'clock, food started coming out of the trailers and everyone asked if we were ready for dinner!  I was not as I was up to my elbows in Chinese cabbage. So I whipped together a Chinese chicken salad and went out to feast on smoked pork loin, pasta salad and watermelon. I am so impressed that they get together every Sunday. It was so fun seeing all the guys hang out and enjoy each others company. Afterwards the guys all started playing poker and Houston  moved in on them. Luck was on Houston side and the boy cleaned house with those guys. We finished the evening off by enjoying a new recipe from the Pioneer Woman. If you haven't made her Apple dumplings they are a must! They have a secret ingredient (its Mountain Dew) Sounds weird, I know, but it was incredible yummy and easy to make. So we ended up having a pretty good,  entertaining week in the middle of nowhere.  Now we're ready for our second week. Let's hope everyone is healthy!

I am woman, hear me roar. I had to patch my own tires, because Ian is working every day, used 3 tubes of slime, but I got the job done!

 

Apple Dumplings! Imagine this warm gooeyness with vanilla ice cream. I should've taken a picture when it was plated, but we were hungry and it smelled soooo good!