conGRADulations

OK, to preface this, I have a TON TON TON of pics to share. So, if you don't really wanna see my fun and exciting camping trip, just scroll to the bottom. But I'm sure that you all wanna see my pics. Right? Right? hehehe.

So just to bug Hilary, these photos are NOT in order. At all. Just put them on here randomly. OK, so I'd really like for it to be in order, but it's just not gonna happen. I don't have all night, you know - hehehe.

We left for Ruidoso on Thursday night at around 7 0r 8pm, and met up with Paul and Hilary on the way out of town. We stopped in Alamogordo for gas, then pushed along. We finally made it to our "dispersed camping" spot at around 11pm. It was pretty late. And dark. Yeah, dispersed camping means that you just pick a spot in the forest and camp there. No running water. No bathrooms or outhouses. Just a spot in the woods. It's amazing that we found somewhere in the dark. hehehe. It was actually a pretty good location.

We pitched our tents, got the kids into bed, unloaded a little bit, then went to sleep. It was past midnight when we finally fell asleep.

The next morning, we cooked fried egg sandwiches for everyone, and had banana muffins for breakfast. After getting it all cleaned up, Captain America headed into town because the truck was having issues. He feared that it was the rear end that we'd just had fixed. Sigh.

Hilary and I headed into town to pick up a few last minute things at Walmart. We took Jimmy with us, but left Joe at camp because he'd already gone to the creek, waded, fallen in, and was filthy. He was supposed to sit in a chair in the sunshine and dry. Paul was gonna be in charge of the 7 other kids.

We drove in to Walmart, and got quite a bit of supplies. All the kids needed rubber boots. Because of the creek and mud and junk. It was pretty wet up there. Soggy too. Did I mention that there was snow on the ground in places. We FROZE! It was almost 100 in El Paso, and about 50 in the mountains. Quite a difference.

Of course, there were no warm weather clothes at Walmart. Only summer junk. So that wasn't helpful. We did buy a toilet seat. We were gonna have Paul attach it to a broken camp chair with duct tape and 550 cord. Yeah, it was gonna be awesome.

So after getting our stuff, we headed to Sonic for a Diet Dr Pepper, and headed back to camp. It was a 45 minute drive each direction, so we'd been gone for about 3 hours. On the way back, it started to rain. We hoped that it hadn't rained at camp. Poor Paul.

We pull into camp, and it's TRASHED with water. Apparently, it rained the whole time we were gone, and hailed for a good 45 minutes. EVERYTHING was wet. Tents, sleeping bags, children, supplies, all of it. Paul was not a happy camper. Poor little Joe was FREEZING. First thing, I changed him into new clothes. Which was hard, since the tents all got rained out. Luckily, I'd put all their clothes into Walmart bags, so most of them were dry.

And because Jimmy had missed all the rain out fun, he decided to fall in the creek. So I had to change him too. And we put rubber boots on everyone.

Paul and the kids got to work on the toilet seat, and I strung up all the rope I could find between trees, and make clothes lines. We had TONS AND TONS of clothes to hang up. And sleeping bags. And pillows. It looked like we'd been camping for weeks, not just a day. LOL.

Eventually, the sun came out, dried things out a tiny bit, then it rained and hailed again. Sigh. It was on and off raining the rest of the day. We did manage to stay mostly dry, though. And got the tents mopped up.

Captain America came back around dinner time. $600 for a new read end, but the truck was fixed. Sigh. He's gonna go talk to the guys who fixed it the first time, and see what they can do to give us some $$$ back.

We cooked Chili for dinner. And Chocolate Cherry cake. Mmmm, smelled good. I was good, though, and stayed on my diet the entire time.

Next day, we all went into town, and went to Lincoln, New Mexico. It was a Billy the Kid site, or something like that. We left after lunch, and stopped by Walmart first. To get a few things. And we bought some wood. And by the time we got to Lincoln NM, the touristy places were closing in an hour. So we walked real fast, and saw a few of the shops and museum places, then headed back home.

We had foil dinners for dinner, which turned out pretty yummy :) The kids had s'mores for dessert. Tasty! After the kids went to bed, Hilary and I stood around in the fire pit (because it was warmer near the coals) and took silly pictures of ourselves. Because that's what people do who are fun and don't drink, apparently. ROFL! Can you imagine us WITH alcohol? hehehe.

Next day was Sunday. The girls went into town, and the boys went on a hike. Captain America told an Indian story of the Piasa Bird around the campfire that evening, and played guitar songs for the kids. The grown ups stayed up late and chatted, and then Monday, we broke camp and headed back to El Paso.

We left at around 4pm, and got to Alamorgordo at 5pm. We went to dinner as a group at Applebees. Yeah, our waitress was awful. She messed up on the drinks order, and it took us over an hour to get our food. And she didn't get Captain Americas order right, and messed up on Hilarys girls food. In fact, after and hour and a half, one of her girls STILL didn't have her food. We eventually called the manager over.

He ended up cutting our bill in half, which was supposed to be separate orders, but she messed that up too, and put it all together. So, instead of $120 for 12 people, it was $60 for 12 people. I guess it worked out. We stopped at the gas station for gas, then headed home again.

We got back late, unloaded, showered, and headed to bed. All in all, it was a VERY fun trip. I'm SO glad that Hilary and her family came with us. Girl, I'll camp with you guys again ANYTIME! hehehe.

OK, on to the pictures. Again, no particular order.

This was in Ruidoso, on our way to Lincoln. We stopped and let the kids pose with them

In Lincoln, there was this circular 3 story building used as a fort of sorts.

And in one of the shops, this lady was showing the kids how to spin wool.

Hilary and I

One of the museums, of a store. It was about 75% authentic stuff, from the store, back in the 1800's.

Jim, Nathan, Tom, and Eme

Eh?

On the way back home, we stopped at this Pistachio farm to get our pics taken with the Worlds Largest Pistachio. Funny, huh?

Nouhan Family

Me and Jannie and Hilary, at the museums, astonished by something - hehehe

Megan (11), Tom (10), Nathan (13), and Emeline (8)

The group, on the Lincoln Courthouse museum steps. Make a funny face, everyone!

OK, now look bored!

And the lady took a pic of ALL of us

And what good is a camera without a funny pic of me?

Eme and I and Jimmy one evening at camp

Captain America and Jimmy at Applebees (see, I told you they weren't in order)

Me sporting my new hat BEFORE we left on our camping trip on Thursday

Eme and Jannie and Megan in town

Stopping at Sonic with our RT 44 Diet Dr Peppers. Yeah, we were trying to give Sexy faces. It's amazing that we both found men to marry and had children, if this is our sexy face - hehehe.

Joe and Hilary and Paul at Applebees. It was them, and Captain America and Jimmy and I at one booth, then ALL of the other kids at another booth.

Hilary taking a pic while driving, almost dropping her Diet Dr Pepper (DDP), which would have been VERY bad...

Kids at the kid booth at Applebees

Hilary gropeing the wooden Indian... hehehe.

The boys on their hike. Drove to the top of the mountain then walked around a little bit. Paul is still on crutches, so he stayed in the truck with a sleeping Jimmy :)

We ended up with Sonic every day of our campout. So here's me with my "love" one of the days...

And Hilary and I at the drive up.... again!

So here's some pics for that night we stood in the fire pit to keep warm and took goofy pics. This is an angry face :)

Surprised?

So we both do thins thing were we curl our lips under, expose our teeth, and pretend we have no lips. I know, we're both freaks. Who knew there were 2 of us in the world?

Me with my pizza dough. Making Dutch Oven pizzas.

Captain America and Tom making fire

So Paul and the kids made us an AWESOME toilet seat, but you could TOTALLY see peoples white butts when the used it, even though it was in the bushes. SO, Hilary and I strung up this tarp for some privacy. Me, modeling the new bathroom. hehehe.

My dutch oven pizza. I cooked the whole time, and it was SO much fun. I just love cooking at camp. Really, I do. Especially when someone else cleans up - hehehe.

Nathan and Captain America with the Cherry Chocolate cake

The boys wee totally on a "can we light our farts on fire" kick the WHOLE weekend. hehehe.

I leaned over to Hilary like this, and said, "If I do this, do I look skinnier?" She had to get a pic....

Captain America working on the fire

Check out the massive clothesline in the background...

Me cooking sausage, onions, hamburger, and bacon for the chili. Don't I look tired? This is the same day as the rain, hail, and laundry hanging :)

Hilary and Jimmy (child never looks at the camera, it seems)

It sure was a pretty spot, even if it was wet.

Jannie, Emeline, and Joe

Me, faking being oblivious to the face that little boys are behind me.

ROFL!

Check out how wet the ground it....

So after getting ditched with 7 children in a rain and hail storm, Paul decided to take the older boys and drive into town. Here are the little boys and the girls playing games under the canopy in the rain. It only hailed on us for a minute, but rained on and off.

While Hilary and I and JImmy were in town, Nathan, Tom, and Jake were playing with the Aeroboe (or however you say it - some kind of frisbee thingy), and got it stuck in the tree. Hilary had Eme go try and shake it to see if she could get it to fall down. Poor, gullible Eme...

This is an actually somewhat normal pic of Hilary and I - ha!

Jimmy and I

All the laundry and wet things

Here's our finished product toilet, complete with pit toilet underneath and wet wipes.

Hilary taking it for a test drive - hehehe

Nathan digging the hole.

The kids. We had 8 kids on this campout. Nathan (13), Jake (12), Megan (11), Tom (10), Jannie (9), Eme (8), Joe (6), Jim (4)

The kids are showing us all the finished toilet. Beautiful, isn't it

Me, still hanging stuff up

Paul in the chair that's destined to be the "potty seat"

Jacob in the toilet seat

Jannie in the toilet seat. New, by the way.

Nathan in the toilet sat

Paul was quite the trooper to come camping, primitive, none the less, on crutches!

Here's Paul and Hilary's tent after the giant rain storm

Check out the size of the hail. Hail!

Not a happy camper! Hilary right after we got back and found camp SOAKING WET

Eeewww, it's all wet!

Trying to clean up

At Sonic, once again :)

This was funny. On the way into Camp, Jannie noticed this sign, and was like "We have to fight bears?????". So we just had to get a pic for her - hehehe.

Coming into Ruidoso

Me playing with Hilary's camera on a trip into town

Hilary and I both agreed that we would NEVER EVER live in a house on stilts on the side of a mountain...

Looking normal, for once

Snow on the side of the road when we first got there. Yeah, not so cool....

Tom at camp

Me in the smoke at the campfire. My bandanna was very helpful - hehehe

This child was filthy the entire weekend. hehehe.

The girls and the indian

Me gropeing the indian

Eme in town

Captain America playing campfire songs one night

Joe hiding from the camera

Jannie and Hilary

Joe and I and Hilary in my glasses - hehehe

Another funny face pic

The group from the 2nd story of the Courthouse museum in Lincoln NM

Look bored...

Big smile!

I thought this one was cute of Megan and Joe

Nathan behind bars in the Courthouse

Me and 8 kids at Walmart. Yeah, it was too much for the dads, so they sent the kids and the moms to the vehicles. Yeah, the moms put the kids in the vehicles, and stood outside and chatted. Smart moms :)

When we drove to LIncoln, Paul and Hilary took Nathan and Tom and Joe, and Captain America and I took Joe, Jim, Eme, Megan, and Jannie.

Jimmy and I at camp

Nathan, in the Kitchen, with a Stick

Jannie and Paul

Yes, I know I'm strange :)

so the day after the huge rain incident, Joe falls in the creek and gets all nasty. And to teach him to stay away from the creek, we make him sit in his underware in the sun to dry. He got this blanket to keep warm. And covered. But he didn't got off an play in the creek anymore, that's for sure.

Another Sonic run

Joe and Nathan when the boys went to the top of the mountain

Me at happy hour

So, there were a BUTTLOAD of pictures. Hope you enjoyed my camping trip. I sure know I did :)

When we got home, I took a shower and washed my hair 3 times, trying to get the smoke smell out. Tuesday morning, I got up at 7am, got the kids ready for school, off to the bus, and vegged. Jake too. He finished up school last Thursday. So we just had a lazy morning.

I took a shower at about 10:30, and got all clean and girly. I printed out my shopping list, looked at the bills, and read for a bit. At 11:30am, Hilary and I went grocery shopping.

We went to the commissary, then brought my food back here, and put her freezer/regridgerator itmes in my outside fridge, then headed to Sam's Club. I got crackers and milk, and she got a few things.

Next, it was on to Walmart. I got a few things, she got a few things, then we headed home. We did stop at Sonic, and used our Free coupons again. See, last time when they gave us regular Doctor Pepper instead of diet, the dude gave us free coupons. This is the 2nd time we've used them - hehehe. He keeps letting us keep them. Thanks, Sonic Dude! We love ya!

She dropped me off at home, and I did more laundry. 7 load total, today. I put away all the groceries, and cleaned up a bit.

Jacob had an appointment at 4pm for a physical. We were home by 5pm. He's all good and healthy. 5'5" and 173 lbs at 12 years old. The doctor said he'd probably his a major growth spurt at 13 or 14. Like the kid isn't already tall enough as it is. hehehe. He's grown 2 inches in the past 4 months.

I started on dinner, and read for a bit longer. I took a bath at 6:30pm, soaking for a while. At 7:30pm, Captain America came home.

After the kids were in bed, Captain America and I headed out to the mall to get his vitamins. We headed over to Academy sports after that, so he could get some baseball gear. His Battery has a team, and he needed a red baseball belt, and red socks. I found a super cute pair of flip flops, and got a pair for Hilary and I. Navy blue. We love flip flops - hehehe.

We stopped by Captain Americas battery on the way home so he could email something home, then went home. He worked on his slides, and I uploaded pic after pic to this post. It's 1:03 right now, and I'm sleepy. Off to take out my contacts and go to sleep.

I had a request from Judy for something that would work with preschool graduation. I figured that conGRADulations would work! Hopefully it will :) And all of us with kids in school can use it for "last day of school' pics, or something like that, right. Which reminds me, I need to take a pic of my kids some time this week....

Click on the link below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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