Trip From Hell. Honestly.

We made a super last minute decision to jump in the car and drive to Wyoming for Christmas.  My grandparents have been having several health issues, and we had a window of opportunity to see them, so we jumped on it.

Let's back up a little.  On December 9th, Booker started having diarrhea.  It lasted until the 15th, when he then started vomiting.  But just for one day.  On the 17th, he was completely back to normal and we decided to leave town the 19th.  Bodey woke up with an upset tummy.  Stupid us.  We honestly thought it was because he was sad that Elvis went back to the North Pole.  One hour into our drive started "Wet Farts 2012."  He sharted/pooped his pants 3 times before we could even get back on the road.  In pull-ups.  On we go.  Until we were 4 hours out of town and he started vomiting.  In the car.  We pulled over and cleaned it all up.  Dusty wanted to turn around.  I couldn't see turning around and driving 4 hours back - in the direction of the storm we had just avoided - when the damage was already done.  If we were going to get sick, we were going to get sick.  The germs were spread.  So, against his will, Dusty kept driving.  We stopped at a gas station every hour for Bodey to have more, and more, and more diarrhea.  Then he puked again.  And 9 hours later we were in Rapid City, SD.  The next day (Thursday) he felt fine.

Thursday evening, around 6, Dusty tells me to run and grab the puke bowl.  I was too late.  He was already in the bathroom... vomiting and diarrhea.  Friday early morning, about 3am, I am awakened by the sound of my stomach.  And I have my dose of the same.  I couldn't function all day Friday.  Saturday I felt fine, but wanted to give it a full day before I went to visit my grandparents.  Saturday night.... Booker wakes me up vomiting with diarrhea.  I couldn't even believe that he had been healthy for 8 days and then he started it AGAIN!  So I cried.  That's what overwhelmed, stressed out mommies do.

But I decided not to touch Booker with a 10-ft stick because, dammit, I was going to see my grandparents!  So Dusty had Booker duty.  And Sunday I finally got to go over and visit my grandparents.  I love and miss them so much.  I spent a little over 3 hours just sitting and talking with them.  My grandma just isn't the same, but it was still such a blessing to get to see her.  While I was there she told lots of made up stories and even tried to cut her own hair!  But she's still my sweet little grandma with the same ol' laugh I'll always remember.  Even though the trip SUCKED, it was totally worth it to see them.

Monday, Christmas Eve, everyone seemed to feel ok, so we decided to go swimming in Thermop.  It was nice just to get out of the house and do something together.  But, even Christmas Eve sucked.  It is also my dad's birthday, and he ended up having to put his 13-year old dog down.  :(

Then, Christmas morning, we were supposed to open presents from Santa and then hit the road.  However, my mom was up vomiting all night and round two had taken it's toll on Dusty.  But we had to get going anyways, because I had to be back on the 27th for work.  Oh, and it snowed, which is usually one of my favorite things in the world.... except we had to drive over the mountain.  Long story short, Dusty had to puke and poop MULTIPLE times while I white knuckled the steering wheel for 9 hours.  But we made it to Chamberlain, which made our day 2 drive an easy 8 hour day.  

Dusty just started feeling up to par, but I highly doubt there is any way Bodey and I have completely escaped round 2.  Oh well, at least we are home now.  

On a good note, my parents were excellent hosts.  My mom was there to baby me when I was sick, and they cooked us awesome home-cooked meals every night.  My dad even cooked an outstanding prime rib for us on his birthday!

This is where Harley rode the entire trip.  She's the best traveler dog ever.

Bodey and his puke bowl.  :(

The beautiful Big Horn mountains.

I thought these roads on the way there were iffy, but they were worse on the way home.

We stopped at Deer Haven Lodge on the way over the mountain for lunch.  It was so cozy.

Deer Haven

Deer Haven

Beautiful Ten Sleep canyon.

Making Santa cookies, which we later threw away due to germ infestation.

Tuckered out.

My sick Booker snuggling with KoKo... my parents new puppy we all fell in love with.

KoKo just let Bodey drag her around.

My wonderful grandparents.

My grandparents house.  So many great memories here.

Swimming in Thermop on Christmas Eve in 20 degree weather.

Wind River canyon.

Wind River canyon.

Santa found us in Wyoming!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Our washer bit the dust.  So we decided to upgrade and we got a new washer and dryer.  I've been making laundry detergent for about a year now, in powder form.  It's just one part borax to one part washing soda.  It works pretty well.  However, we now have a front load washing machine and it needs to use HE detergent.  I had no clue if my homemade stuff was ok to use or not, but after a lot of research, I found it is just fine.  But I also found that more people liked liquid detergent over powder for a front load washer.  So I decided on the Duggar's recipe and made it yesterday.  

Recipe:

1 bar Fels Naptha

1 cup Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax

First you grate the Fels Naptha.  I used my food processor and it worked like a charm!  And I love the nice clean, fresh smell.

Then you heat it on med-low heat with 4 cups of water until it is dissolved and melted.

Then you add it to a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water.  After you stir it all up, you fill the bucket the rest the way with hot tap water.

Let it sit over night and it will gel up.

Stir it the next day.  Then fill an old detergent container half with detergent and half with water.  Shake it up and use 1/4 cup with each load.  This recipe yields 680 loads!!!!!  That's like $2/yr in detergent.  

Christmas Stress

The holidays are stressful.  Time, money, family, weather, health.... the list of culprits goes on and on.  But I'm not the one that's stressed.  It's Booker.  This Elf on the Shelf business stresses my little pleaser OUT.  I had been using Elvis to bribe them, threaten them, and even scare them that Santa wouldn't come.  And Booker just kept getting more and more of a put out attitude.  He was telling me he wished we didn't have an elf.  And then it hit me.  I'm obviously taking this elf thing a little too far.  I don't want him to lose his Christmas spirit because he's so stressed out about what the dumb elf is going to think or fly back and tell Santa.  That's pretty sad.  Booker is not a bad kid.  He's a boy... a rowdy, rough, loud, crazy boy.  But he's not the type of kid that deserves coal in his stocking.  And that's what it had come to in his little mind.  He knows he's on the naughty list, why even try anymore?  And that breaks my heart.  So, Elvis wrote the boys a little note that seems to have helped.  He explained that Santa understands that nobody is perfect, that boys will be boys, and that as of right now they are on the nice list.  I think Booker is starting to enjoy that devilish little elf again.  :)

Party

Booker wakes up at 6am, almost every day.  Bodey wakes up shortly after.  I usually don't get out of bed until about an hour after them.  Bodey has been mad at Booker because Booker always gets to find Elvis the Elf first.  So Booker promised he would wake Bodey up the other morning so Bodey could find Elvis.  I heard them get up, search the house, find Elvis and watch cartoons and rough house.  This had been going on for about an hour or hour and a half when Booker came in to ask if he could play the iPad.  I looked at the clock and it was 5:40am!  That means they had been up since about 4:15!  They told me they had also been downstairs playing the Wii!  I couldn't believe they had been partying in what I consider the middle of the night!  I made them both go back to bed.  This elf is going to be the death of me.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

I've had kind of a rough week with the boys.  Dusty has been out of town for work since Sunday night, and then went hunting all day today.  I love my kids, but we've had a bit too much of each other this week.  But, tonight putting them to bed tonight put it all back into perspective.  I love them so much, and they crack me up.

While putting Bodey to bed:  "Mom, my armpit feels fuzzy."  So I check it out.  "Is there anything on it?  Am I starting to grow hair under there?  Some people have hair there, ya know?"  I couldn't help but busting out in laughter, and Bodey joined me.

Then, while I was tucking in Booker, Bodey came in reminding me that we forgot prayers.  I told them we would just all three do them together tonight in Booker's room, and asked Bodey to go first.  After his prayer I told Booker it was his turn, and his response made me crack up again.  In a cute little gentleman voice he said, "Wait, we have to start aaaaaall over.  Laaaaaadies first!"  And the three of us died laughing.

Booker's Reading and Bodey's Praying

Just want to jot these down so I can remember them.

Booker is reading a book about sprint cars.  It is basically going through the evolution of race cars to get us where we are today.  Several sentences start out by saying, "In the early 1960s...."  or "In the 1970s this type of car was very popular," etc.  When Booker gets to the year he reads it like this, "In the early one thousand, nine hundred and sixties..."  I just can't correct him!  It's too cute... and really, he's right!

Bodey's prayer tonight just made me grin from ear to ear.  "God, I just love my family so much.  And my friends.  And my dogs.  And my lizard.  And I just love you, God.  I love you and my family the same.  (Then, knowing you are supposed to love God above all, he adds)  But I just love you an inch more than my family."

Boys

Tonight I sat the boys down to have them each say 3 nice things about each other, to each other.  Bodey's first thing was "I love you."  Booker couldn't think of a single nice thing, only bad things.  But he kept them to himself.  After starring at him for what seemed like FOREVER, he finally said, "You're cute and I like how you pee."

And they both died laughing.  Boys.  I guess there will just be some things in life that I never understand.