Road trip to AZ-- last two days

Road trip to AZ-- first two days

Thanksgiving and more...

Rewind to November....tour of the Tui home

Dec. 16th to January 1st, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL WHO READ THIS.

Much has happened since my last blog. We arrived Tuesday the 16th of Dec. at our property in Surprise, AZ. around 2 p.m. Before we got there we stopped at an Ostrich Farm called Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm where I got some great pictures of Emma and Eli feeding some ostrich, deer, donkeys and lorekeets. We call Emma "Bird Girl" now because so many of the birds sat on her arms, hands, shoulders and head. She was covered and she liked it! I preferred the donkeys and went back to them and made sure each one of them got some food. It was pretty great that we could feed them.
Thanks to Denise who hosed off our dusty site before we arrived, so we could just back right in and set up camp. Emma helped me put up a "Merry Christmas" lighted banner then we played checkers, ate dinner and then went to bed.

These are the highlights of the past two weeks:

17th Wednesday: Cleaned out our shed that had layers of dust and bird feathers on every shelf and piece of furniture. Emma and Eli helped every step of the way. They filled up our bird bath with our blue nuggets and set our two blue birds on top. We drove to Albertson's to get more food. We (Eli, Emma and myself) walked all around the golf course. After dinner we went to the laundry room and while waiting for the clothes to wash and dry we played table tennis and had lots of fun!
18th Thursday: After learning that the rest of the Tui family's plane had been delayed because of weather, we delayed taking the children over to the Hanchett home. An expected arrival time of 1:30 p.m. turned into a 5 p.m. arrival instead! So I played some checkers then packed up Emma and Eli and their suitcase and back packs and headed on over to the Hanchett home. The children were of course very glad to see their family. We stayed until 10 p.m. and then traveled back to our site in Happy Trails.
19th Friday: Today my body just would not let me get up until 10 a.m.! We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant before we drove over to Donna and Mike's home. Komi and Mike were at a shooting range and Donna and Devina were grocery shopping. Just before 7 p.m. they went to a ward party with some of Donna and Mike's friends. After the men watched a dvd that did not end until after 1 a.m. we did not get home until close to 2 a.m.!
20th Saturday: Got up at 10 a.m. again as I was still so tired. At 2 p.m. we drove over to Mike and Donna's home. Dori called 3 times today letting us know about all the snow that is falling in Beaverton! Wow, the year we leave we miss record snowfall... I was a little sad, really. We were back in the motor home by 10:40 p.m. tonight.
21st Sunday: We met the Hanchett and the Tui family for Church at Donna and Mike's Mountain Ridge Ward. Donna is a counselor in Primary and was unable to sit with Devina and me in Relief Society. Devina had put some pork in the crock pot before she left, so we enjoyed Kalua Pork with rice after the meetings. With 19 people eating, the rice ran out before Donna, myself and Devina had some. The Pearson family: Jesse, Denise, Tristan, Britton and Camden joined us for dinner. I was not amused that the men played poker after dinner leaving us to mind and tend 11 children. We came home near 10 p.m.
22nd Monday: I did 2 loads of laundry, then drove to Costco where we bought some food for Christmas day. Today Brian Pasero went over to our house in Beaverton and took some pictures of the snowfall. I could not believe how much snow there is.
23rd December found us driving our motor home with the Suzuki attached over to the Hanchett home where we parked inside their gate, this time. On the way we bought gas for $1.57 per gallon. Almost 2 months to the day we had bought gas in McCloud CA at $3.49 per gallon. Thank goodness it is not that now. This afternoon I made my apple crisp that was enjoyed by most of the family. Donna and Devina went off again to do last minute Christmas shopping. They began wrapping a few and I was thinking about joining them when I realized that my "box" of presents were not with us. I had left them at our property in our shed! Went to bed at midnight.
24th December Wednesday: Back to our property where I found my lost "box". All is now well. Ezra and Jake rode with us where we met Donna and Denise at the Anthem Park where all the children played for a time. Then we went over to the Anthem Outlets stores where they lined up for a picture with Santa Claus. After eating a pasta salad that Devina had made, she continued to cook making a double batch of cookies and started her recipe of Orange rolls for Christmas breakfast tomorrow. My cell phone suddenly stopped working... Donna suggested I turn it off, pull out the battery and after I put it back in again it worked!!!!! Who would have thought? Emma came out into the motor home and helped me by writing names on the tags and sticking them onto the presents I was wrapping. It went so much faster. Thanks so much, Emma! Dianna let us know today that the weather was so bad that it took them from their home in Beaverton, OR 3 hours to get just passed Woodburn! They are on their way to Disneyland. I got into bed by 1:15 a.m.
THURSDAY CHRISTMAS DAY DECEMBER 25th 2008:
Donna let out Cody, their dog, and his barking plus the outside piped Christmas music woke us up around 8 a.m. We went inside and watched as the Hanchett family opened a few of their gifts, then walked into the living room where the Tui family were opening up their gifts. A lot of walking between rooms this morning and taking pictures! Every one seemed happy with what Santa brought and the gifts that their parents had given them. We ate Devina's orange rolls with the link sausages I had cooked up. Denise came with their family around 2 p.m. or so. After dinner the men watched sports (surprise, surprise) while we looked after the children. I came in at 10 p.m. and called Dori around 11:30 p.m. Good thing I did not wake her up! A fun, full day.
Dec. 26th Friday: I went with the mom's and children and the two dads down to a park closeby to let the children run off some of their energy and it worked! It was a little cold but sitting in the sun it was not too bad. A little windy, though. Later on all the children went with Devina, Komi and Mike on a hike. I made a large potatoe casserole for dinner. Watched a movie with Devina and Donna, while the men watched one in the family room. We are always in the bedroom, go figure. Just before I was going to go to bed I put a load of dark clothes into the dryer and came out with all the lights off. Donna thought I had already gone out and was locking up for the night!!!
Dec. 27th Saturday AND EMMA'S 10th BIRTHDAY!
Wayne and I went grocery shopping today. We sang Happy Birthday to her and she opened her presents before driving over to Denise and Jesse's home for a great taco dinner with Jesse and Mike's homemade salsa. Children played inside and outside. Wayne and I left at 9:30p.m.
Dec. 28th Sunday AND LUKE'S BLESSING!
Last night was the coldest in AZ so far, a freeze warning had been issued over the t.v. last night. Many of the cacti around their home was covered. O'Malley slept all night under the bed covers, and when he does this we know it was super cold. It turned out to be a beautiful day. Mike gave his son, Luke a special beautiful blessing. I think the best I have heard thus far. Dianna called from Disneyland where they are enjoying the fun of it. We ladies watched Diary of a Princess.
Dec. 29th Monday: It was a very warm day today. Not much else happened besides going again to a grocery store for some New Year's Eve food.
Dec. 30th Tuesday: I went with Donna to Luke's 2 month checkup and immunizations. I almost cryed with Luke while he was injected twice in his left leg and 3 times in his right. Devina and Donna got a pedicure. I got into bed by 12:30 a.m.
Dec. 31st Wednesday NEW YEAR'S EVE!
I made for the event: A banana creme dessert, Brian's bean dip, Little Smokies, and a shrimp salad. The Pearson Family arrived near 3 p.m. or so. A poker game was played in which Denise participated. Even Devina played some. Donna and I stayed most of the night in her bedroom watching New Year's stuff on the T.V. inbetween keeping watch over the children. With 10 children running to and fro it was an interesting and noisy night. 10 can certainly make noise! The New Year was welcomed by all running outside to yell and blow their blowers. May all who read this have a very Happy New Year!
JANUARY 1st 2009 Thursday: It was hard getting up this morning. Devina and Donna went to the movie Twilight. This afternoon I spent a long time updating my blog. I hope that I will learn sometime how to add pictures. It has just been too busy around here to get Donna to teach me. After all, Luke is just two months old. She is still really busy with him which is to be expected. And to have all of us visiting and eating and sleeping in their home gives her no time to herself. This is one of my New Year's goals: To be able to include some pictures in my blog! Wish me luck. I am going to publish this now even though the day is not yet over! Mike just left for the airport to pick up his dad, Chuck, who also lives in Oregon. So there will be one more here!!!

UPDATE from Nov. 25th to Dec. 15th

• Dec. 15th 2008 We are in Benson, AZ in a R.V. Park, just one day away from Surprise, AZ (our final destination for now). We had a good day traveling with sunny cool weather.We left the KOA campground in Van Horn, Texas this morning. While I showered and did my hair Grandpa took Emma (9) and Eli (6) to the cafe there and Eli's 2 pancakes were as big as the plate! He ate one and the 2 pieces of bacon and brought the one pancake back to the motor home to eat later. Emma had a good breakfast as well. Eli fell asleep on the couch with a full tummy at 10 a.m. We stopped and wandered through a Trading Post after having lunch in the motor home.
• Dec. 14th Left the Abilene TX KOA with clear skies. Learned from Dianna that it was snowing in Beaverton, OR. I took pictures of Emma and Eli with windmills in the background, south of Sweetwater, TX. Also took pictures of "Texas Snow" - fields of cotton. 73 degrees outside at 2 p.m. Had to turn on the generator and run the air conditioner as inside it registered 80 degrees. Spent the night in a KOA campground in Van Horn, TX. We ate dinner in their excellent cafe. Upon return I had a soapy mess to clean up in a bathroom cupboard where a large refill bottle of neutrogena liquid soap had leaked out somehow. Emma and Eli watched Santa Claus 1 - Escape Claus.
• Dec. 13th After Komi uttered a wonderful prayer, we left the Tui home with a few tears shed from Emma (9) and Eli (6) who are travelling with us in our motor home to our property in Surprise, AZ. I was busy all day getting snacks, filling water bottles, etc. Eli fell asleep around 3 p.m. waking up a bit before we arrived at the KOA campground in Abilene TX around 4:30 p.m. We ate tacos then the children watched 3 Christmas based movies. All in bed by 10 p.m.
• Dec. 12th Our last full day with the Tui's in their Flower Mound home. Devina and I did some grocery shopping at her Super Target for our 4 day trip beginning tomorrow. We ate BBQ beef and chicken for dinner. It was yummy. Eli had a hard night. I am afraid he will be homesick on the trip. He did not want to go to bed. I will miss our late night watching the Late Late Show with Greg Ferguson.
• Dec. 11th Stayed up late with Devina watching her favorite Late night talk show with Craig Ferguson.
• Dec. 10th Enjoyed lunch with the "Lunch Bunch", a group of women from the Flower Mound First Ward. Devina actually began this group. I especially liked a spaghetti casserole, that one of the sisters had made.
• Dec. 9th This morning I slept in. Then after I was up and dressed I listened in on Devina's Pre School for a few moments. Later on Devina and I re-upholstered a chair for Emma's desk. It turned out cute. Devina made 3 different cookie batches for her Lunch Bunch Cookie Exchange tomorrow. An extra table was put up in the kitchen and Devina decorated in the Christmas theme. Then we watched together the Late, Late show.
• Dec. 8th Finished our Christmas Cards today and even mailed them at the Post Office! Made a big potato casserole for dinner. Eva wanted me to hear her night prayers. She said such a cute prayer. We witnessed a huge thunder storm after the children were asleep. It was amazing. Now I will know (somewhat) what Devina is talking about. One show of lightening was enough for me. The whole back of their house sky lit up.
• Dec. 7th We all attended the Flower Mound 1st Ward at 1:30 p.m. At 7 p.m. Devina drove us around the neighborhood where we particularly liked a home where the lights flashed on and off to music on a radio station. It was spectacular!
• Dec. 6th Went with Devina to her annual Super Saturday where I helped her by making 5 soap bottles, 1 large square glass with lights inside and a pretty bow on the outside of it. I also painted 4 stars, 4 mini pots for her mini nativity sets. She sanded and painted wooden block for the words Noel and Joy. At 1:30 we rode with the children on the "North Pole Express" (Grapevine Vintage Railroad). A great experience we probably will never again have the opportunity to sit in the old style slated benches where the backs could face forward or backward. After we ate at McDonald's. That evening we watched Narnia - Prince Caspian. Watched Baby Mama after the children were in bed.
• Dec. 5th Began our Christmas Cards! At 7 p.m. I went with Devina to an annual Christmas ornament exchange that a lady has been doing for 17 years. Her home was Christmas decorated in every room. Devina brought her stuffed mushrooms. What a lot of fun we had with about 40 other women. This lady gave away 8 door prizes as well. Devina will look forward to this event each year now. I learned a nifty idea from this woman. She takes down her pictures and wraps them in Christmas wrapping paper and a bow and you have instant Christmas decor on your walls!! Live and learn!
• Dec. 4th Devina's pre school day.
• Dec. 3rd (wrote nothing down)
• Dec. 2nd Only 13 days left until "travel day". I listened in on Devina's pre school. Bought Wayne some Docker's pants. At 6 p.m. we went to Highland Village for the Tree lightening ceremony. We went on a carriage ride and saw "Santa" arrive in a Fire Truck right in front of us!
• Dec. 1st The time is passing too quickly. Shopped today at Walmart and Costco. Made a Banana Cream Dessert that I learned to make at our Super Saturday in the Quatama Ward.
• Nov. 30th Woke up with a sore throat. Not bad enough to miss church for, though. Emma gave a good talk that she had prepared all by herself. Ate BBQ ribs that Komi made.
• Nov. 29th Devina sorted and then we packed presents into the motor home. At 7 p.m. we all packed into the Tui van and went to the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center. Saw Christmas train exhibits running on tracks thru villages in the atrium. Took a ride up and down in the elevator that overlooked the atrium just for fun! Devina took some pictures of the children and we were in one of them. There were festive lights inside and outside the resort.
• Nov. 28th "Black Friday" and Devina was out shopping by 5 a.m. Not me!! I did some shopping later that evening, though.
• Nov. 27th THANKSGIVING DAY with Turkey, cranberry sauce, Pulled Pork, sweet potato casserole, homemade rolls, corn and Komi's roasted potatoes. We watched Get Smart and Nim's Island in the evening.
• Nov. 26th Prepared for Thanksgiving day buying last minute things.
• Nov. 25th Eva is still coughing so she stayed home with me while Devina exercised at the W.M.C.A. Went grocery shopping and Walmart was almost all out of whipping cream! Children had early release from school today.

UPDATE since arriving in Texas

We arrived at the Tui's home on Thursday November 13th around 2 p.m. We got big hugs from Eva and Devina. While Devina showed us around their very nice home, in an attractive neighborhood, Eva held my hand the entire time. Emma and Eli were next and you could hear them screaming way down the street as they rode their bikes home from school. They were told we were not coming until Saturday so they were most surprised. I rode with them to pick up Ezra from middle school. He got into the van besides him Mom and did not notice me sitting behind her. Emma giggled a few times and even asked "Can I tell him?" He still never looked back. We were nearly home when he asked if we were here as he took off his back pack and was reaching to connect his seat belt. When he saw me he screamed and smiled. It was really funny! I guess you had to be there.

Our motor home fits perfectly in the length of their driveway not even going over the sidewalk. (But we take up more than half of the width.) We are going to stay here until they get a notice from their home owner's association asking us to move it as happened to the Hanchett's.

That very night we were sitting watching Ezra perform with the Theater Department in his middle school in which he narrated a scene from Aesop's Fables - the Tortoise and the Hare, with much movement and emotion. The Tortoise was a an Environmentalist, and the Hare was an Aerobics instructor. It was really funny.(He did an excellent job).

Since we have been here in Flower Mound, TX we have done the following: (Not necessarily in order!):

• Purchased a month's pass for Wayne to do his deep water exercises at the Flower Mound Community Center which has been opened since June 2008.


• Been shopping at Walmart, Super Target, Michaels, Costco, & Krogers.


• Froze (wind chill making it 30 degrees) two Saturdays watching Eli play his last two soccer games of the season. He did well with a smile on his face the entire time!


• Attended two Sunday Church meetings in the Flower Mound 2nd ward with the Tui's.


• Ate crepes with the Doxey's (friends of the Tuis from church) with lots of filling choices. Ymmmmm!


• Went with Devina to her Lunch Bunch Group (ladies activity) and ate wonderful side dishes with 19 other women from the ward. Devina started this activity 3 months ago. They will be here in December.


• Bought new swim goggles as Wayne's wore out.


• Watched a little of Devina's cute preschool group on the 18th and the 20th.


• Ate a Thanksgiving Feast at Donald Elementary with Emma. She had to eat fast as she is on the student council and had an assignment to help the next grade and their grandparents right after.


• All of us went to Donald Elementary the very next day and ate lunch brought in from McDonald's with Eli. He did not want to eat the Thanksgiving food. At this school you are able to bring in other food and share with your student at any time!


• Played Mexican Train Dominoes, Go Fish, Bob the Builder matching game, and Life with the kids.


• Went to where Komi works as operation's manager. He gave us a thorough tour through the warehouse. It is twice as large as it was in 2006.


• Napped with Eva who is coughing at the moment. She had a fever yesterday.


• Ate at Red Hot and Blue BBQ restaurant. So yummy.

THIS BRINGS YOU UP TO DATE AS OF TUESDAY NOVEMBER 25th 2008. Love to you all!!!! Mom

I changed it!

Hope you like it. Will write more soon. We are experiencing ever changing temperatures ranging from 30 degrees in the early morning to 76 degrees in the day. Still trying to get a picture posted. Love, Mom

A change will be made

I just realized that I chose a background just like Dianna's so I will change mine as soon as I can figure out how to. It takes me so long. Sorry Dianna! Love you all Mom

Spending the night in Abilene TX

Wednesday Nov. 12th 2008

Love sent to you all! I just thought about this today - never in my wildest dreams did I think that with having 7 wonderful children, spouses, and many grandchildren and even some great grandchildren that it would come to this - TRAVELING THOUSANDS OF MILES to see some of you!!! But if that is how we have to see you all, then so be it. But I don't know how much longer we shall be able to do this. Your Dad /Grandpa hurt his back yesterday connecting the water & electrics up and is still sore today. He drove with an ice pack on it for a while.

Tonight we are spending the night in Abilene, Texas. This KOA is a really nice one. In the morning we will begin the end of this journey arriving in Flower Mound, TX sometime in the early afternoon depending on when we get away from here. We are getting excited to see the Tui family again! Especially since Emma is looking forward to having O'Malley staying in her bedroom once again. She and her Mommy re-arranged the bedroom so his stuff will fit. He is so much bigger this visit. I hope that he won't annoy her when he sleeps on her bed. (I hope that he will remember that he did the last visit and leave me alone! ha ha)

Yesterday we travelled 382 miles from the Benson KOA in Arizona to the Van Horn KOA, in Texas. Two flies bothered us all the way. I was able to swat one but the other one just kept on going. (O'Malley took care of it today) At one point today we had a bug hitchhiker on our windshield for nearly half an hour. How that bug managed to hang on I will never know. We passed several Dairy Farms today and the smell was almost unbearable!!! Gas prices on this trip was a joke. Anywhere from $2.55 a gallon in Van Horn TX to the cheapest we paid in Eloy, AZ where we paid $2.23. Today just before stopping we saw gas advertised at a TA Travel Center for $1.99 a gallon, but of course we had just filled up two hours before paying $2.29. But when you need gas you buy it, right? Better to have it than get stuck somewhere without.

I tried something new today- I took O'Malley out of his large travel carrier to see if he would like being somewhere else in the motor home while we were traveling. But he did not like it one bit. He got back in his carrier and stayed there even with the door rolled up. Interesting. He did not like the motion I believe. It is hard for me to stay on my feet when I go for a drink or snack for us.

We have had nothing but sunny days all through this whole trip from Beaverton in Oregon to where we are tonight. For your information, by the time we reach Flower Mound in Texas tomorrow, we will have traveled 2,100 miles (give or take a couple). And half of that amount was done in Texas!

I plan to keep you posted as we do things with the Tui Family. Love to all of you, Mom/Mary

NOTE: (I have told a couple of friends to check out my blog to keep up to date with our travels.)

On our way to Texas

Monday NOVEMBER 10th 2008 Hi everyone! We are currently spending the night in Benson, Arizona. Leaving our precious 25th grandchild, his Mommy and family this morning was hard. To bring you up to the present, Wayne and I arrived at Donna and Mike Hanchett's home in Peoria, AZ on Friday 10/31/08 only 2 hours after her return from the hospital with baby Luke. I tell you, he is much cuter than any pictures show! Isn't that always the case? Waking up the next morning in the AZ sun made me cut and sew some darkening curtains for the two windows in the motor home's bedroom. And low and behold it worked as Sunday I was not awakened by the sun! Sunday the Pearson's came over and we enjoyed each other's company and a great bbq. All the children (6) played the whole time non-stop inside and out. Monday I went with Donna for Luke's first check-up, then on Tuesday 11/4 we went back to the same clinic where Luke was circumcised. History was made this day as at nine o'clock we saw that Barack Obama was our President Elect. On Wednesday Denise came over and spent much of the day with us. Sarah was attached to her hip loving every thing that Denise did with her. It was so cute. Friday night we saw Jake play football and Saturday morning we saw Zach play soccer. Donna got some alone time with the baby while we were all out of the house. Sunday 11/9/08 after eating French Toast, I spent much of the day playing Mexican Train Dominoes with Sarah, Zach and Jake. We also played"Go Fish" a few times. We are so glad that we changed our travel plans to be with our newest grandchild. Love to you all, Mom and Dad

"OUR TRAVELS" UPDATED

10/30/08
Left the Hermansen home :( at nine o'clock. In Payson, UT we paid $2.49 a gallon for gas, the cheapest yet. I could not carry on my blog last week because we had decided to change our travel plans and drive to Peoria AZ to see Donna and their new baby and wanted to surprise them. UTAH is such a beautiful part of the United States in the fall. All the trees were bright golden, red, or orange. At 4:45 p.m. we arrived at Thousand Trails Las Vegas. Oh, the smog was horrible! Have not seen smog for a long time. I think we are spoiled living in the Northwest.
10/31
Halloween day and Bryce Pasero's birthday! We arrived at the Hanchett's home at 5:24 p.m., after getting the motor home out of an awkward stuck position not far from their home. Luke Michael is so precious! Donna had just gotten home 2 hours before our arrival! I am so glad that we are here. He is perfect in every way!
11/01/08
So sunny!!! It did not cool down until 2 or 3 a.m. I sewed some darkening curtains for the motor home bedroom windows just because of the light and heat here. And they worked!
11/02
SUNDAY:
Mike's cousin and wife and children stopped by for a little while with lunch for the family. Then at 4:30 p.m. or so Denise & Jesse Pearson and their three boys came for dinner. We had bbq'd chicken breasts and wings, homemade fries, salad and corn, then a delicious chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. We heard the children playing the whole time, except when they were outside. My, when they get together these 6 children are loud! It was a fun, full day. We were all exhausted. Jake, Zach and Sarah fell asleep really fast tonight.
11/03
After a night up with baby Luke, Donna drove Luke and myself to the clinic for Luke's well check-up exam and although he has a little touch of jaundice, he passed.