Boondocking Brood Style

The Brood
I shall refer to myself as: Eagle Eyes
Bearly One(don't ask) & where appropriate - Big Mean Mommy

Thing One - The firstborn son aka Chaos
Thing Two - Second Son aka Mayhem

Daddy Bear = THE DAD


Boondocking = Free Camping

Today, travellers, we will be headed to one of the most lovely desert districts I have ever personally experienced, and I have been to a lot of lovely places.

Trona Pinnacles
We happened upon this wonder of desert nature quite by accident, and now I long to go there to bask in the serene nature of its beauty. First, a photo: A horned lizard so stinking cute! I almost hit him with my dirtbike. My eagleeyes saw him, and I stopped for a photo op. Naturally!!!

Next a desert Zebra Lizard - very cool, doing push ups to fan his skinny lil body.


Last but not least, the Pinnacles from afar. We rode our dirtbikes about 20 miles from our campsite to see this wonder of our world, and it was worth every sweaty, sticky, bumpy minute of it.

Here are the two cuties on Easter morning. THey are so excited to see if the Easter Bunny left them something wonderful. It did, of course! There was more sour candy than one kid could deal with.

Marlene, Susan, Kati Easter 2009

We had a wonderfully aromatic, delicious, and abundant meal at the hands of our lovely hostess, Susie. Our two families have been friends for over 45 years. We sort of grew up together in neighboring cities, went camping, and did all sorts of fun things together. Susie put some great shots of us up on her Facebook page.

Metropolis

Dave and I went to see a large Barbershop Chorus the other night. Dave has a cousin who sang in it and he invited us. It was a fun evening. The second half, we got to listen to these handsome devils yuck it up in song. It was magnificent. They are so very funny, and sing so tightly. I just had to share. They said, ok, now, I don't know, this time, take the photo and make sure your eyes are open.

A Capella Quartet WOW!

Thoughts and Blessings

Hello Friends. I went to a site called www.daytrippingmom.com and found lots of awesome things to do for Spring break. We went to the La Brea Tar Pits, and today we went to the Muth Interpretive center in Newport Back Bay. It was incredibly fun, and had we not been seriously hungry, we would have stayed longer. It is a gem of a place.

Family news. Dave is still not quite working. Kati is still not quite working. However, things are going well.

I just found out that I got the Externship I have been gunning for at Talbert Medical, my very own clinic in Anaheim. I start sometime next week. There is also something at a police station, too. That sounds fun. (I really mean that)

Soon after all of this, I can apply for a job somewhere. It turns out that there are a lot of Mormon people in high places in Medicine.

My kids are going through a defiant phase. Today, I was with friends, and all 4 of them were just really negative, trash talking each other, one upping each other. I remember reading that when boys turn around 10 they have a large testosterone surge. One is almost 10, the others are 8 and 9. Is that true? I need to do some research.

Perhaps I am grumpy at home to them and they then are grumpy to each other. I hate the fighting and they fight all the time. Every moment of interaction is one boy trying to out-do the other. Every moment is one boy trying to scare or "get" the other. It is exhausting. I was an only child. I fought with my mom. Maybe I need to figure out how to be more of an ally to my individual boys.

I am inspired to write!

Hello family and friends. I watched with sadness as Houston was deluged last night, hoping our good friends, The Calders, would not have to be evacuated. I still don't know what happened to them, but at least because they blog, I had some idea that they are OK. Then I checked out the new addition to our extended family, Evyta & Erick's new baby, Evrick Jaden, and I was hooked on Blogspot. So this is how I will keep everyone up to date from now on.