I NEED A VACATION. . Wanna Come?

Friday, after spending almost two hours at the DMV getting a new drivers license that was expired by 4 months even though I just got it two years ago, [I know, long run on]. I came home, furiously packed the kids up for 3 weeks, and left the house in a crazy frantic mess of boxes and move in blow-up. It seriously looks like a tornado hit my house on the inside, but no where else. Sad.

I called my husband and I told him how miserable I was. . how hard my life is and how bad I hate it. How horrible it is to have to drive 4 kids by myself to SLC and what a down trodden life I lead. I seriously did. Please tell me you, at some point in your life, have done the same thing. . . cuz, he wasn't very impressed with my attitude.

I drove to Vegas. Stayed overnight. Drove on to SLC the next day and got there by dinner on Sat. I chilled out on Sunday. Woke up Monday morning and hopped a plane with all 4 kids to Spokane to stay with my in-laws. By the time I hit SLC, I had recovered from my melt-down for the most part. I had made it. I knew I would. But that didn't take the fear from spending 12 hours in a car with a 4 month old baby. It just didn't. No confidence in the WORLD can take that fear away.

By the time I hit the SLC airport I was back to my old self. Confident. Self assured. The security guy checked my tickets and said, "Four kids, all by yourself. . .huh?" I said "Yep. It will be fine." Little did he know I had already conquered 12 hours in the car with the little angels.
It was no biggie. Seriously. It went ridiculously smoothly. I will go into more detail on that later.

Yesterday and today, I have spent time 'keeping my husband updated' with what I am doing. You know, I don't want him to worry. . . Here was my first text. . .

“Miss you, wish you were here!”


Then for some reason, I started to feel a little snarky. . and texted this.
“Neener Neener”

I am sure he replied with something extra witty, so, I sent this. . .

“So, so, suck your toe”

You’re impressed with my level of maturity. I know.
I was starting to feel so much better about my life. I mean, who could feel bad about their life when they are doing this. . .

I texted: “Geez, this is so awesome. I wish you could take a week off.”

I really wanted him to be here with me.

Then I texted: “Someone likes boat rides.”

She really did. . out like a light.

This morning I woke up so happy to be here. You know, everyone needs a vacation now and again from their regular everyday life. EVERYONE. I don’t care if you can’t get to the most beautiful lake and river in Washington. Just take a trip. Get out. See something else beside the catastrophe that is your house (read 'life').

So, this morning, I wanted him to know, I was still ok. . and getting better. So I sent this. .

“I am so, so, sorry.”

Then I wrote. . .

“Holy CRAP. This is the LIFE!”

(Yes, I am in my pajamas and had not showered yet in this picture. . that is right. . I am on VACATION!)

I am doing much better now. Personal crisis meltdown averted. Thanks for asking. If you would like to join me on my personal vacay, please check facebook next weeks for days and times that I will be hostessing visits to my personal vacay. I would LOVE to see you, and wouldn't you LOVE to come sit at the lake with me?

Mkay, see you there.

ZING ZANG ZOOM!

We went to the circus last night because I won tickets from here! My kids were MORE than thrilled to be going and Peter and I tried our best to keep our eyes open after an exhausting move and for me, two days of cleaning at the old house. Our "new" house is in complete shambles, but I wanted some "family" time before we go in search of cooler weather.

A few years back, we attended a "home town circus" in Spokane, and I thought it was so well done and well thought out. It wasn't as "big" as the regular circus, but I thought it was amazing. Last night seemed like a scaled down version as well. Although they didn't market it as a "home town circus" because they were in the GIGANTIC city of Phoenix, I think they probably have made it smaller than in years past. The economy has trickled down to even the circus folks.

To be honest, there were a lot of great parts to the show. Tight rope, flying circles, tight rope, trapeze artists, rope artists (think cirque), as well as horses, dogs, elephants and tigers. However, I have to admit I like the "home town circus" a whole lot better! There was a weird feel to this show. Their theme was "Don't try this at home" and since I have younger children, it may have been a little much for me. Along with that, there was a nemesis named "gravity" and it wasn't very well planned out in my opinion and as the night went on, I got tired of seeing "gravity" running around.

The kids thought it was amazing and I love sharing a part of my childhood that I loved with them. The tricks and animals were always so incredible. Now, as an adult, the circus hasn't changed much. But I still love to see it when it comes to town. . just so I can see the smile on their faces!

Life as it is.

Most of you know, we just went through a move. . . (no links to past stories today, your just gonna have to believe me) It was chaotic. I think anything is chaotic when you are trying to take care of 4 kids. One being a 4 month old, and one being 2. Oh, and one being Autistic and well, Abby is perfect.

It went pretty well. Except that I wasn't fully packed . . eventhough I thought I did really well. Which resulted in at least 8 car loads being brought over one by one. It is only a few blocks away. .. but that was a major pain. I highly don't recommend doing that. Pack every last little trinket. Just do it. You will be happy you did. I had to do that on the way here, because movers were moving us here. But when you do a close move, it is too tempting.

I am getting ready to start an extended vacay on Friday. Driving myself (and 4 kids) to Utah. I KNOW you are all sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for my trip stories. The last ones were so amazing. I am hoping for no stories. I had enough last time to last me a LIFETIME. So, hope that for me, okay?

All in all, I think I am doing pretty well, and well, after the last year (it being a year since we have moved here) I have decided that I can pretty much deal with ANYTHING. Yes, I said ANYTHING. Bring it on. I can totally hack it. Seriously.

That being said, when so called "law suit settlement" stopped coming our way (again, do your own homework people, I don't have times for links today) we started down the path of trying to rectify that. . . How you might ask? Well, the only way that we can. Yup, by getting the stores back.

You might say, "Wait! Didn't your husband get a new job?" and I would say, "Why yes, he did!" and then you would say, "But isn't he getting a masters?" And I would say, "Um, yeah, he is" and THEN you would say, "Well, then how are you going to take the stores back?" And then I would say. . Your lookin' at her. Yup. Me. Me and my 4 month old baby. . . runnin' a couple of pizza joints. Wanna pizza?

I will tell you all about the CIRCUS TOMORROW (picture that was a link).

CIRCUS WINNER!

MICHELLE!

You won the tickets to the circus! I went to Random.org this morning and plugged in our numbers and VOILA!!! #1 came up! WOW! I would have never thought it would be #1 CONGRATULATIONS! I will probably see you there!

Thanks to everyone for playing!

I WON and YOU CAN WIN TOO!

You know I am right in the middle of a move. . . and probably shouldn't be doing this, but I was so excited that I won some TICKETS TO THE CIRCUS that I asked if I could do a giveaway too!!! I love the circus and jumped at the chance to win free tickets! The circus is next week here in PHX! AND I CAN'T WAIT!

Guess what? I finally won a GIVEAWAY and YOU CAN TOO!

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!

Leave me a comment and on SUNDAY I will randomly pick a WINNER! And it could be you!

If you have friends or family that live in the area, please send them a link to the blog and have them leave a comment! GOOD LUCK! If you link me to your blog to let your friends and family know, you can add another comment telling me you did so! Want another option? Send a link to your friends via Facebook!

GOOD LUCK!

IF YOU DON'T WIN THE GIVEAWAY, YOU CAN STILL GET TICKETS THROUGH TICKETMASTER.COM. IF YOU ENTER THIS SPECIAL CODE, YOU CAN GET 4 TICKETS FOR $44! ENTER THE CODE "MOM" IN THE MC PROMOTION CODE BOX. CODE NOT GOOD FOR RING SIDE OR VIP SEATING.

We have some great cirucs memories! Check out Abby's Circus Dream Video on my sidebar, and you will see why we can't WAIT to go back!!!

Peek A BOO! I see you!

So I have left blog land. Kind of. Actually, I am still keeping a close eye on all of you. After all, when you are packing your life away, you still need to take a break now and again. . . and my FAVORITE nursing past time is reading blogs. Sorry if I am a little shy on the comments these days. I am visiting your blog and having fun too!

I am also keeping busy with all of the screamin' deals out there! Kmart is doubling coupons this week, and I have already done my diaper run. They had an AWESOME diaper deal scenario, and if you haven't added THIS BLOG to your reader yet, you are MISSING OUT!

I also hit CVS this week for a few of their deals. Although their diaper deal didn't work for me, it might work for you! I DID take advantage of the Candy deal though. There were some M&M coupons in the mail lately, and I got 6 packages of candy for $1.66 each. (not that I need any more candy-- HEY! BTW! I have lost a few pregnancy lbs. . .FINALLY! But still have a long way to go)

The other thing I have been doing is getting back to my passion for cooking. I LOVE cooking. Have I told you that? Oh, and one other thing. . . I have found a site that fuels my LOVE FOR COOKING like no other. . . I had visited a few times before, but now SHE is on my reader baby! I was looking at the site the other day and ooooooohing and aaaaaaaahhhing over all of the stuff on there... Peter decidedly declared the website "foodie p@rn" . . and rightfully so. So far, I have made THIS and I am GONNA make THIS, THIS and THIS! If I could have Pastor Ryan over for just a short minute . . . OH BABY!!! Moving on. . . . (Just read the blog, ok?--- Consider it my foodie gift to you)

I have another cutie pie friend who just started a blog! HI CASSI! I love love love it when people from one of the MILLION places I have lived start blogging. I love it as a way to peek into their lives and see how they are doing. I just STINKIN' LOVE IT! Anyway, she put a great recipe for bagels on there. I know, BAGELS? Yes, and they are fast and easy and fun! Open up a bagel shop with your kids. . .just for today. They are gonna love it and so are you.

Here is me. . .checking back out. LOVE YA!

Where in the world is Lindsey Long Legs?

I know. . . I thought I would be back by now too. But to be honest, it is gonna be a while. Because:

A. We have to move. Shocker. I know. But since this guy stopped paying us, we need to "downsize" or more like "lose the expensive yard". We're outta here, in 2 1/2 weeks.

B. Have I found a place to go? Yes, thankfully. It is hard to do that around here. The rental market is H.O.T. and there wasn't much to choose from in our kids school boundary. (Try two houses) Luckily, we got the bigger one. . It truly was a blessing.

C. Have I packed a box yet? No.

D. Kaylin is still waking up in the night, and is THE ONLY BABY KNOWN TO MAN THAT HATES SLEEPING IN HER CAR SEAT! Which means running children around to various activities is a very noisy and sometimes unpleasant experience.

E. Wade has determined that 5:30 a.m. is an awesome time to wake up. Today, 5:00 a.m. was even AWESOMER! The sad part is, I had just fed K at 4:30. So, basically, I was up at 4:30 a.m. This makes for a very long day and a very grouchy mommy. Can blog-land please unite in fervent prayer that Wade will sleep until 6? Thank you.

F. I haven't filed my taxes yet. I don't think I did last year either. They were done, I just didn't mail them in. I had just moved about the time they were done. Woops.

G. Of the TWO rental houses that we have back in WA. . . BOTH gave 30 days notice at the beginning of this month. . You know. . . because I wasn't busy enough. . . . I needed to field tons of phone calls from people interested in renting and making and sending contracts and BLAH BLAH BLAH.

H. 7 days after moving. . I am going on ANOTHER road trip. By myself. I bet you CAN'T WAIT to hear the stories. . . . Don't worry. I will be sure to fill up with GAS. Hopefully, there will be a mexican fiesta somewhere along the way home.

See ya in a few. . . .MONTHS!