blue skies and buckets of love sprinkled with holy water

We gave the boys the power to decide where we would go on our family vacation.

This would be Randy's first vacation in a year.  He and I were too overwhelmed by the excitement of sleeping in, that we were not in right mind to make the important decision of the destination.

The choices we gave the kids were:

1~ Mount Rushmore 

[we have threatened to go there every year for the last 8 years!]

2~ Monterey, CA

3~ Reno/Tahoe for Hot August nights

The unanimous vote was Reno/Tahoe.

Two years ago, we happened upon the Grand Sierra Resort and Hot August nights while traveling to San Francisco.

We all fell in love with the accommodations and events of the resort.

The boys say this is their favorite place to be!!!!

I would have to concur it to be one of my fav family destinations also.

Since we were driving through Winnemucca, NV I decided it would be a good time to make a little extra cash for the trip.

Good old fashioned hard work I tell ya!!!

 The Grand Sierra has a beautiful RV park equipped with full hook-ups for our trailer.  I enjoy their clean, large bathrooms to shower and get ready for the day in.  We parked the trailer and the boys couldn't wait to get to the 'beach'.  The beach is the swimming pool surrounded by sand, cabanas, tiki hut, bbq grill and volleyball nets.

Jax got in on a game of volleyball with three other kids.

I was so proud of how he opened himself up to a new experience with unknown people.

I got teary eyed watching as my young man looked and behaved so mature in the game.

My boys were wrestling in the pool, ya know, as brothers do........

Jax was on River's back and Riv was moving like a sea horse to get Jax off of his back.

Randy and I looked at each other in heart stopping shock!!!!

I jumped in the pool as fast as I could to inform my boys that they looked gay in this particular position!!!!

It was sad because they are at an age that that kind of horseplay as brothers will need to come to an end.

They may be brothers, but they definitely don't look like brothers.

So NO MORE SEA HORSE BACK RIDES for them!

We decided that throwing a football in the water to each other was a little more socially appropriate.

We spent that entire day at the 'beach' and more hours in days ahead.

When you have buckets o'beer, carne asada tacos, sunshine, and family smiles, there is no reason to stop a good thing short.

We all gained a few extra pound on our trip.

We ate like pigs and I drank like a fish.

I almost can't even look at this bbq platter picture.

There was soooo much food that we only ate a quarter of it!!!  

And I was sick for two days after all that damn meat!

UGH!

Pepto chased with Bud Light was my friend.

River's 14th birthday fell on a day that we were on vacation.

[yes, we are doing some kind of hair experiment.  it's been a torturous long haul!  my boys have NEVER had their hair longer than a #1 buzz.  Riv's massive carpet head is almost uncontrollable.  i've never seen someone with so much hair!  he's even got a few chest hairs and a trail going from his chest down his belly!  we may need to save for electrolysis before college!] 

F O U R T E EN!!!!!!!

I'm so proud of my boy :)

I got a good one there!

His bday request was to ride the free fall swing.

I was willing to go with him even though I get very sick on anything with height and movement.

But it's my kids' 14th birthday dammit and I will buck up and do whatever I need to do for him!!!

[And mind you.....I was still in bbq platter recovery!  I was concerned about a lil stomach let go from every end!]

Luckily, Jax stepped up and said he would go with Riv and I breathed a sigh of puking relief!

They were pulled 190 feet to the top of the tower.

A count down from 3, and River pulled the rip cord.

My heart jumped as I heard River laughing his signature belly laugh and

 Jax yelling, "look at me mom!!!  I'm flying!!!!!"

Randy and I were proud and excited and elated with the joy in our boys' face.

Of course, how do you pass up a chance to go-cart your way to #1????

Riv was very competitive and was in second place behind a kid who took his position very seriously.  It was a game of cat and mouse until the last turn!!!

Riv saw his opening and took it on the inside lane!

He finished first place with Jax in the final position.  Jax enjoyed taking the ride nice and slow and let people speed around him.

Makes me wonder if this is insight into their real driving personalities?

If so, they both have me concerned!

The resort also has a movie theater that has this awesome seating.

For $3 per person, we watched Madagascar 3.

I really enjoyed the love seat idea, but next time I will take a sheet to sit on.....I think this could have been one of those XXX theaters in a past life.  There seemed to be above average amounts of  'sticky' and  I'm pretty sure I could smell remnants of PeeWee Herman.

ew!!!

Then the boys entered an unlimited laser tag game for two hours while Rand and I got in some gambling.

The next day we drove the entire loop of Tahoe.

It was 103 degrees when we left Reno, and by the time we got to the top of the world around the loop, it was 53 degrees!  We drove with the windows open and the smell of misty pine trees filling the truck cabin.

It took about 1.5 hours to make the drive around the lake, but it was SOOOOO worth it!!!!

We were in amazement from the multi-terrain beauty.

We pulled off to one of the many beaches along the way.

Jax has always, since he was just a lil buck,  loved to dig to China in the sand.

River is so damn strong!!!  He would find a rock at the bottom of the lake [usually about 70 feet out] and pull it up and swim it to the shore.

He had people on the beach watching with surprise.

 It was time to make our way back home since it's quite a long drive from Reno.

We stopped in Wendover for two nights because I had a free room from my players card.

We did more swimming, gambling and spent a day on the salt flats at Bonneville.

They were having the famous races and we saw some kickass cars and motorcycles that made speeds over 400mph!!!!!

The morning of our final departure for home, we walked to the parking lot only to see that our trailer had been wrapped in that yellow caution tape.  We are still confused as to what kind of crime happened in the wee hours of the night, but everything looked to be fine. 

Damn aliens!

This was one of our first family vacations that didn't include drama.  

I take this as a good sign for future trips.  

But if this was an isolated moment of wonderfulness......

I am truly grateful and and will appreciate it for what it was.

And IT was blue skies full of buckets of love and sprinkled drops of holy water that all just happened to coordinate well with my tootsies 

:)

The omen

This lil birdie [we will name him Peetie in honor of dumb and dumber] flew right into the solid glass of our big window.

He fell to the sidewalk dazed and confused.   After about 15 minutes we gave Peetie a nudge out of delirium, and he hopped to a couple rocks then flew away.

Some people think that a bird flying into a pane of glass is a sign that someone you know will die.

I personally think Peetie was trying to tell me that I was bamboozled by recently paying a window washer  to do all of my outside winders............ 

especially since he shit himself all over the windows as he dummy crashed into it!
He's just lucky he was able to fly away.....I was headed in for my duck tape.
"Pretty bird.....pretty bird"

The summer dandelion

It actually happened!!!

Momma had a baby and it's head popped off!

men who love bearded women

I just couldn't get enough of my favorite gingy and made the drive to party with her two weekends in a row.

Amie is about a foot taller than me which allows my face to be the perfect height to rest  my chin on her bazooomba ta-ta's.

We started the eve with mexi-dinner and the famous big-assholio margarita. 

[we shared the jumbo because I couldn't remember anything the last time I drank my own jumbo of these little tequila demons!]

Then worked our way to the quaint main street in Grand Junction.

[The gal in the glasses is Sonya.  She's the sweetie that picked up Riv and shuttled him back to Amie's for the week before I came to take him home.]

We landed for a couple drinks at a place called 'Naggie McGee's'.

We were anxiously waiting, for what I thought would be a great cover band.

[Boy was I wrong on that band assumption!  

Apparently, my band-radar is needs to be re-calibrated]

It took our waiter a bit to get over to us for our order.

As he finally approached, he said,

"Sorry for the wait.....I didn't forget about you two!"

Amie responded back with,

"Well how could you forget about us????  

We are the best lookin' girls in this crowd!"

Waiter asswipe looks around and says,

"eh...yah pretty much"

PRETTY MUCH?

DID HE JUST SAY PRETTY MUCH?!?!?

IS HE BLIND WITH A HEAD INJURY?

Cuz when I looked around, I only saw bearded ladies with walkers or 21 year olds with their head shaved and a post through their nose holes!!

Frickn-A!!!!  Damn rights we were the best lookin thangs in there!  

Even if that's not sayin much!

Amie made sure to let him know that we were GREATLY offended and he was an effer.

He felt bad and apologized.

I think he was embarrassed to let us know that he's into women with facial hair and Quasimodo backs. That is why our 'beauty' ranking was so low in his opinion.....

You see, Amie and I had both just waxed our staches and wore a very supportive bra for good posture :)

heyoooooooooo!!!!!

Come undone

Well, the expensive hair corn row extravaganza lasted exactly 7 days.

After a week of vacationing in the swimming pool with goggles getting pulled on and off every day, the braids started to flip out in small pieces.  The fake hair that they added to thicken the braids got very itchy on Jax's head and he was DONE with them as of Thursday evening.

Because we had $60 worth of fake hair sitting in front of us, we decided to get our money's worth and have fun.

Please be advised that the picture of me is flat out scaryFUG, 

and the bottom picture of Jax is totally sick and wrong.

But when have we ever been  politically correct and right in the head????

I'm sure you've come to expect the AB-norm around here!

Who dat kid?

At 4:30 today Jax sat in the salon chair looking like this.

1 1/2 hours later and............

A BAM!!!!!!

Jax LOVES the new look.

I personally think it makes him look 17, and a bit gangsta-ish.....which are two things that are not necessarily positive.

But I still can't quit looking at him in amazement of how transforming 12 little ol' braids could be!

As he went to bed tonight with the stocking on his head [to protect his hair], he was uncomfortable and complained of his head hurting.  I don't know.....maybe this is just a phase and he will want to go back to those nice curls that make him look so dang cute, or maybe he will get used to the tension on his scalp and keep up the rows.

I think a lot will depend on what kind of response he gets from other people.

But for tonight....

I look at him sleeping with a head that is unrecognizable to me.

I say, "Who dat kid?"

XXL brain freeze

My hell!!!!

Have you ever seen a kid so damn excited over slurpee???

And yes......he finished every last drop!

And no.....he didn't sleep for three days due to the sugar induced high.

Good times!

What's the cost?

Both of my boys had been spouting off  about all the things they want to have bought for them buy.

I finally came to my senses and told them:

"Make a list of the top three things that you want.  Write the cost of each one next to it.  I will pay for half, and you will be responsible for the other half.  At the bottom of the paper, write how you will devise a plan to earn your share of the money."

This was River's list:

Crossfit Traing Classes : $60/month

New Phone:  $100

Freedom:  PRICELESS

**Curfews and freedoms have been the biggest topic lately between River and me.  It's a tug-of-war. I only know to make the rules by using my gut instinct.  But then my gut instinct tells me that my gut instinct is constantly nauseous and confused.  Letting Riv prove trust and learn his own way, has a fine line next to it.  The other side of that line is that road that leads to never getting them back under your reign again.

 I will take these teen years of him feeling smothered and pissed at his parents; rather than hate us as an adult for not protecting his adolescence.

Jiffy Pop

Jax's hair is to the stage it looks like a foil bag of Jiffy Pop!!!

Of course it would be sooooo wrong if we didn't get a good shot of the classic FRO-PICK.

We are on the countdown to corn-rows.

He has an appointment scheduled for this Thursday evening.

I'm so excited to see the final results!!!

He's excited about the whole process!

The hair stylist informed him that he would need to wear a doo rag to bed so his hair doesn't break off in the braid and cause little stray hairs all over his head.

hahahaha!

I just laugh thinking about all of this!

He's gonna be so cute!

I will post pictures with the braids and doo rag as soon as I get them!

911-what is your emergency?

God I hope that what they say about "everything comes in 3's" isn't true.

Within this last month, I have called 911 emergency from my cell phone twice.

The first call was made when my gals and I were driving home from a concert.

We were laughing and having fun telling stories, when and we came upon a man who had wrecked his motorcycle.  He was not wearing a helmet and was laying sprawled and life-less on the freeway on ramp.

He was thrown back from the cycle about 15 feet with such an impact that it knocked his shoes right off of him.

We were first on the scene and the first to contact emergency.  Fortunately, a doctor pulled up right after us and was able to start medical attention until the ambulance arrived.  We have all been haunted by the tragedy especially not knowing the man's outcome.

My second 911 call was when a white Buick turned left in front of me and drove down the wrong lane, then swerved drastically to the correct lane, then decided to just drive down the center turn lane until she came upon the next main intersection.  My honks and flashing lights did nothing to help the driver realize she was driving the wrong way in a round-a-bout.  I followed her as she weaved back and forth nearly missing parked cars and street signs.  I stayed on the phone with dispatch updating our location as we headed west.  She finally pulled into a neighborhood and parked on the side of the road.  I stopped ahead of her with just enough feet between us that I could keep the 411 with 911.

She then guns it and almost hits the back of my car.  I'm thinking "where in the freak is the freakin cops!!!"  Me and this maniac have been playing follow the drunk idiot for what felt like a half an hour (was probably more like 10 mins).  At the next stop I can see three squad cars awaiting our arrival.  The  drunk Buick lady almost turned right into one of the police vehicles!!!  Dispatch asked if I would be willing to stay in the area and give a verbal and written statement to the police.  I agreed, and shakily wrote my accounts of horrifically watching many potential collisions.

The driver, a lady who looked to be in her late 40's, was so impaired she couldn't even walk when they tried to give her the sobriety test.  They finally just had her blow into the breathalyzer, and whatever the number read, it was high enough for them to handcuff her and take her to jail.

After much appreciation was given to me  from the authorities, I was able to leave.

As I was driving home, my heart was beating in double time and I was beside myself realizing what had just transpired.  

It was sad, horrible and disgusting! 

I am so thankful it was late enough in the night that there were no pedestrians, children, or other cars driving on the road.  This could have been a senseless deadly outcome.

Do you ever wonder......

Am I put here in this moment for a reason, or is it random?

I had the choice to take a different road home, yet I chose that road at that time.  If I would have been just seconds earlier, she might have actually crashed into me.  If I had been seconds later, I might not have been able to witness her driving and not have been available to help the police to avoid destruction.

life is good weird

OOOOh la la

 I am very behind on my posting due to many trips to Grand Junction for party time, house guests, and the fact the my stomach is getting so fat I can barely extend my arms around it to type a sentence.  Luckily for me though, I've figured out that the keyboard sits nicely on top of the jellobelly as my T-Rex arms are within reach of the the alphabet.

Since I have a large quantity to post,  there won't be much quality in these stories.

But here ya go with a shartload of pics!!!

Me and my posse purchased our $40 tickets to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals for a "girls night" of rock and roll. The venue was at  the beautiful Red Butte Garden amphitheater.

Grace Potter is the epitome of model beautiful, 

multi-musically talented 

and legs 10 miles long.

I was so absorbed watching the freedom of her body movements and the way her silky hair swung around like fringe, that I didn't even care  to see what the other band members looked like.

I think it says a lot that a chick has me more mesmerized than a dude with a guitar!

She's seriously that AWESOME!

[check her out on this video of Ooh La La]

Lisa and Carrie took one for the team.

They showed up to stand in line for hours before the concert started so that we could have good lawn seats.

The sacrifice was appreciated!

Paula and Lyns

Lyns and Marilyn

Lisa came packin!!!!

She brought all the ingredients to make a raw pizza from scratch as we sat on our blankets and drank wine.

Damn it was goooooood!

We all chipped in a lil somethin' somethin' and created a lovely array of munchies.

I do not purposely go out looking for only beautifully-cool girls to be my friends, 

but as you can see.......

I'm surrounded by them :)

If I was from Paris I would say "Oooooooh La La La La La La La"