2012 Cross-Country Road Trip Part I--Hiking in Albuquerque

Our first destination on our cross-country trip was Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sure, it took us 4 days to get there and we stayed in many a Wal-Mart parking lot along the way, but it was worth the drive...we had tons of fun spending time with Jeremy's parents, or Granddaddy and Grandmommy to the J-kids. One of our first outings was hiking at the base of the Sandia Mountains, right where the tram leaves to carry passengers to the peak.


First we had to go purchase gloves and hats for several children. After living in the northeast for 4 winters now, I still don't understand how one family can own 30 gloves and not have more than 2 complete pairs among them. Maybe the gloves are hanging out with all the missing socks. I don't know.

Anyway, while glove shopping I couldn't resist this adorable hat for Joanna! Or the matching gloves that she was constantly asking someone to help her put back on.





The boys all had to search for the perfect walking stick.



Joanna and her Granddaddy



Jon



Jon with his walking stick, which is really some sort of dried cactus






Joshua



Here's Joey trudging up a hill. He has a special talent for looking like he isn't having any fun at all--until it's time to go home, and then he doesn't want to leave. Ever.



The younger children got bored quickly, and had to be placated with snacks. We do much more snacking on the road than we do at home, which I think is one of the primary reasons our kids put up with all the traveling that we do. I'm quite confident that they ate more sugar in the last 5 weeks than they will in the next 5 months here at home.



Gather 'round the snacks, boys!



Nothing like kickin' back in a hole in the ground to enjoy a graham cracker. That's my Josiah!



Jeremiah enjoyed watching his brothers from the snuggli.



Joshua



Jeremy and Jeremiah



Jonathan sliding down a very rough boulder. Yet another reason why I'm glad I never pay full price for boys' jeans.



Overlooking part of Albuquerque



The bigger boys were determined to make it all the way to the first tram tower, so they ran ahead. They didn't make it quite that far, but they did manage to be right underneath the path of the tram as it returned back down the mountain.



They are barely visible in the lower left of this photo, just behind a bush.



Jordan



Joey, Josiah, and Jon heading back down



Joshua found this footprint in the snow and was sure it was some fierce wild cat or bear. I thought it was just a large dog print, but he was having none of that! It doesn't look like it from the angle of this picture, but the print was about the same size as his hand.



My sweet Josiah, giving me his I'm-too-cool-to-smile look



Heading back to the parking lot

We didn't make it very far up the mountain, but we had fun and got some good exercise, too. Jeremy and I keep saying that on one of our visits to Albuquerque we're going to hike all the way to the top. Maybe when the kids are a little older (and I'm, uh, back in shape) we'll actually try it!

My Organized Kitchen...In Pictures!

This is my kitchen. It needs some decorating in a big way...all in due time! But for now it's organized! :)

Back in September I shared that I was reorganizing my kitchen. I also promised that I would share the results of that endeavor when I was done. Oops! So I guess this is one of those better-late-than-never posts, hehe.

When we moved into our house, I did a quick stashing of stuff in cabinets as I was unpacking, fully intending to organize shortly thereafter. Well, we found out I was pregnant with Jeremiah just a few short weeks later, and with morning sickness, etc. not only did organizing not happen--it got even MORE disarrayed.

So when I started this project, my primary goals were:

• Get anything that I don't use in the kitchen out of the kitchen,
• Put anything that is used very rarely in the hardest-to-get-to spots, saving the easy-to-reach spots for everyday stuff,
• Find a way to fit some kitchen appliances that I was storing in the basement back in the kitchen so I would actually use them,
• and finally put everything as close to where I use it as possible

So on to the before and after pictures...

My kitchen is quite large, but I have a very small pantry for a family of 9. I solved this problem primarily by converting a larger closet in our basement into a pantry for canned goods, etc. But I still had all sorts of half-used packages of random stuff in my pantry, plus the basic staples like sugar, flour, and the like.



Here it is today. Now, it doesn't look all that different, but I moved most of my staples and made room for my rice cooker and big stock pot that wouldn't fit in any of my other cabinets. The white bin on the bottom right holds our rather substantial tea collection. (Yes, I have a bunch of kids who are big tea drinkers. Must be that little bit of English blood in our family line.)



This cabinet is over a desk area, next to the fridge, and faces the island. It had become a catch-all for all sorts of random stuff, and was the home for all those tea boxes.


Here it is today. I moved my pantry staples and baking supplies into appropriately-sized Rubbermaid containers, and labeled them. I LOVE this set up, as I can find everything quickly and easily, nothing gets hidden behind anything else, and it's accessible to the island, where I do most of my prep work for baking.

(Side note: I drooled over those Tupperware Modular Mates for YEARS but could never bring myself to pay $20-$30 each for containers, especially considering how many I would need. The Rubbermaid ones above are the same idea, and were purchased at Wal-Mart for about $3 to $6 each depending on the size. LOVE them!)



This is the cabinet next to the previous one...it also collected random stuff, and held all my cookbooks.



Today, this cabinet holds my larger bins of stuff like wheat berries, flour, cornmeal, powdered milk, etc. The middle shelf currently holds ziplock bags, although I want to put more of the Rubbermaid bins there eventually.



This is my spice cabinet. It is above and to the left of my stove.



The front section swings out on hinges and has storage on the back side and then shelves in the cabinet behind it as well. I love my spice cabinet!! It didn't need much work--just moving some of the stuff that was making it a bit overcrowded.



This cabinet is above and to the right of my stove. It held overflow spices, as well as other random things that come in bottles and jars.



Today it houses the cookbook collection, and a few things I don't need often that don't fit in the next cabinet since they are too tall.



Moving one more cabinet to the right is my corner cabinet. I don't have a before picture of this one, but that bottom shelf held all my china--which I use maybe 2-3 times a YEAR right now. I have a harder-to-reach cabinet above my fridge that was full of silver serving pieces that I use even more rarely (read: never) so I put all of those in the attic and moved my china to the cabinet above the fridge. Then I moved all those extra spices and bottles into the bottom shelf of the corner cabinet, right above the counter where I typically prepare stuff that's being cooked on the stove.



Here it is closer-up. It's not a perfect solution since it's deep and I sometimes have to dig for things, but it works.

I have other cabinets for dishes, etc., but since I didn't need to reorganize those I don't have pictures. Overall, I love my new set-up and find that it is not only tons easier to prep meals now, but it's also easier to have my boys help me in the kitchen or even cook stuff themselves, since everything has a definite place and is easy to find!

$1 Ribbon Spool to Adorable Korker Bow

I love the dollar bins at Target. I'm always picking up little things for the kids, either for holiday goodies or for school activities. Sometimes I have a specific use in mind; other times I'm just "collecting" until the fancy strikes to actually use these things!

For the past few holidays and seasons, they have had these little spools of ribbon. I've picked them up each time, mostly because they're so darn cute, but I've never actually USED them for anything...until yesterday, when I made a sweet little korker bow for my girly-girl. I took pictures of the process, so y'all could follow along and maybe even make some for the princesses in your life.



Cute Target Valentine's Day ribbon--6 different prints, 18" each.



Wrap ribbons on 1/4" diameter wooden dowels and secure with oven-safe clips.



Bake at 275 degrees for 20-25 minutes.



Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes until you can handle them comfortably, then remove clips and slide ribbons off dowels.



Cut ribbons--I cut mine every 5th curl, which ends up being about 3" long. You will want to seal the ends to prevent fraying. While I heat-seal the ribbons for the other bows I make, I find that it is easier to use Fray-Check on korkers.



Thread a needle (I used 2 strands of embroidery floss) and thread the ribbons through the center onto the needle, keeping them all on the needle as you go.






Pinch the ribbons together at the center, then pull the needle through. I sewed through the whole stack a few times, then secured with a couple small knots at the back (or bottom) of the stack.



Glue onto a lined clip.


And get ready for uber-cuteness!



Miss Joanna modeling HER bow. She immediately lays claim to all bows and other girly things as I make them, lol!




Enjoy!

Here We Go Again!

Hey folks, guess what!?! I'm baaa-aaaak! Did'ya miss me? *grin*

Not only am I back from my 5-month blogging hiatus (has it really been THAT long??), but we're also back from our 5-week nearly sea-to-shining-sea road trip. It's only nearly sea-to-shining-sea because I can't convince Jeremy to drive all the way to California. So Arizona was as far west as we made it from New York. Our farthest north stop was Lansing, Michigan; and our farthest south was Corpus Christi, Texas.

This was our first major road trip spent living out of our travel trailer. The verdict is in: living out of a travel trailer is SO MUCH BETTER than stopping at hotels every night and lugging all our stuff in and out, eating way too much fast food, and getting the kids out of any semblance of routine. The best part, though? Pulling your very own porta-potty! Seriously.

I never dreamed I would ever have an opinion on such things, but I have a favorite truck stop now. And they have good coffee. Almost as good as Starbucks. And MUCH cheaper, which makes it even better than Starbucks, since I love a bargain, lol!

We had quite the adventure! There were highlights, and there were complete disasters! These included, in no particular order:

• trains, race cars, and bumper boats
• a hot air balloon
• becoming quite familiar with truck stops and Wal-mart parking lots
• roasting marshmallows over a fire pit
• the nastiest tummy bug of all time--which all 9 of us managed to contract at the same time
• meeting our sweet new niece/cousin
• Joey stealing the spotlight at a sweet 16 party
• our house flooding while we were 2000 miles away
• feeding a zonkey and a zorse
  
• hiking and sledding
• accidentally frying most of the electrical components in our trailer
  
• and lots of (fake) groundhogs!

A few pictures, also in no particular order:

I've almost dug my way out of the chaos created when we unloaded an entire 36' trailer and 12-passenger van into my kitchen and dining room. The washer and dryer have been working overtime! Then I'll find the time to sit down and tell y'all about all our adventures. :)