Another Mud Rig

As a "sort of" anniversary present to ourselves (like the bike trip wasn't enough!!) as well as having a bit of extra cash to be able to buy what we've been talking about for a few years now, we spent our one day back in town between the bike trip and our camping weekend purchasing a 2-up ATV. Yes, it's yellow and black just like my Jeep... and my Ste.elers! And, of course, my helmet is yellow and black, too, but I feel like a space invader or something with that big ol' guard across the lower half of my face.

We took it out that very first night and totally initiated it! We met up with a friend of ours and her kids on their dirt bikes and rode up in the hills behind our house. I may complain about the inconvenience of living in the country again but I sure do love it for the very reason of being so close to our favorite playground - the forested hills and mountains... not to mention the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets God gifts us with here.

Idaho's Hot Curves

Hot Curves = Long and windy roads in the one week of sweltering temps this summer! Gil and I sent the kids camping with my parents and took a little get-away bike trip to celebrate our anniversary. We packed up the bikes - okay, packed up my bike! - and rode through a good portion of central Idaho to experience a piece of the country I've never seen before. Most of the posted speed limits never went above 55 mph, for which, I have to say, I was very grateful! I think we only had about 10 miles of straight or even somewhat curvy road as we followed twisty rivers for most of our 3 days... it was testing my still-amateur riding skills but it was so totally awesome! And besides... my amateur skills took me over the Bea.rtooth Highway and then to Stu.rgis the very first summer I had my bike!!

The best way to ride... The sign like this on a portion of our trip was for 77 miles and completely surrounded by forest but I didn't turn back to get a picture so this one will have to do:

Here's Gil at one of the overlooks we stopped at:

And at another road-side pull-out, we saw this little thing... an Inuksuk! We first saw Inuksuks (of Inuit origin) on our honeymoon in Canada so it was very fitting we see one on our wedding anniversary! Granted, it was a bit out of its cultural locale but we were excited to see it.

This is another portion of the trip... an old highway where the speed limit is only about 35, but it's so twisty and the switchbacks are so sharp, I was maybe only going 20-25. This is a "retired" highway as a new highway was built that went straight up the mountain (you can see it in the top left of the picture). We had stopped at one of the higher spots on this road and looked over... we both thought of the movie Cars because of the new bypass. We might've taken the longer route but it was by far more interesting.

The hotel we stayed in our 2nd night... we followed rivers for the majority of our 3-day ride, there were about 3 main ones, and this hotel was right on the edge of 1 of them.

We had an absolute blast getting away and spending some time on the bikes. We treasure every moment on 2 wheels now. We knew we were losing a majority of riding season when we moved to a different climate last summer but we lost even more when we brought the kids home this winter. Not that we regret either the move or the kids (!!) but we sure enjoy our bike time all the more now. And we seem to be getting in the habit of making a bike trip during our anniversary time... what better way to celebrate!

August Reunion #2

The third week in August, we had a reunion for my Mom's paternal family. Everyone gathered "en masse" at a campground for the weekend. My grandpa, or "Pop", and all his siblings and their families, plus some extended relatives dating back to my great-great-grandfather's lineage we never really knew about until the past year or two.

I have to say this reunion was much more difficult for me to be at than the one on my Dad's side earlier in the month. This is the family - our branch of it, anyway - that I grew up with having in my everyday life. As I've aged, well, it's always amazing to me how people can forget about the love we've had for others in the past and move on with their own lives and... let's just say, I hate family politics. It also wasn't a very kid-friendly gathering spot, which never would've bugged me prior to this year. But I now have three pre-schoolers who can't be expected to sit still at the top of a rocky hill in the summer heat. Our poor little kids were bored out of their minds so we spent most of our time playing in our campsite or in the lake. I really wish I could've visited at more length with some of the more distant family I never get to see but, overall, we still had a pretty good weekend.

Here's the big group photo of everyone... from an angle that doesn't portray how big the group is but it also doesn't show individual faces, either... there are a lot of children I would never post pictures of (including my own) without permission from their parents. Each branch of the family had their own color t-shirt so families were grouped according to that.

Here's a candid of me (almost caught off-guard) with one of my beloved great-uncles:

And my family's branch color was purple... not a color you will ever catch me wearing. It looked great on my kids and those in our family blessed with the darker Native skin... but for those of us with the predominant Irish coloring... yeah, not so good.

Another loved great-uncle:

My brother and I always seem to end up playing cribbage when we're camping and even though I lost this game (simply because it was my crib and Bro got to count first), it was the best hand I've ever gotten! Only a Jack could've made it better! We were actually all excited over this for quite a bit. Simple things amuse simple people...

One of the family friends brought his boat up and since our little kidlets have never been on a boat, Daddy just had to make sure they got a chance, however brief. Faces blurred, obviously, to protect their identities.

August Reunion #1

August seems to be the month when extended families want to get together and reunite in their shared bloodlines and histories. I got to do this for 2 branches of my family this year – my mom’s paternal side and my dad’s maternal side.

The first one, my dad's side, was just a small gathering as it wasn't the year for an "official" reunion. We've been gathering over the weekend nearest my great-grandma's birthday for a number of years now. This year, she would've been 120 years old. She passed on to heaven when she was the beautiful young age of 94.

Anyway, it was just a small gathering up at my parents' and though you always have the relatives you really wish would just eat and run, there are also always those you wish you could sit and visit forever with. We had a short time there as we chose not to camp over and had quite the drive home before putting the kids to bed. All in all, it was a great day.

This was about a third to half of us:

My dad getting dog-piled by his nephews and grandkids... and lovin' every minute of it!

Daddy and Uncle teaching the boys horseshoes:

My brother teaching some of the family stick-game, a traditional gambling game.

30 Things: Me & PCOS

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

1. The illness I live with is: PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) and Infertility

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2002… it was early February after a brain MRI scare in late January.

3. But I had symptoms since: the early 1990’s but probably dating back to 1987, though these symptoms are realized in retrospect.

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: This is too personal to share; only a handful of people will ever know.

5. Most people assume: I’m just fat because I like to eat.

6. The hardest part about mornings are: Getting out of bed. In addition to the PCOS, I also deal with insomnia and sciatica, chronic low back pain and oftentimes migraines. So it’s physically really difficult just to get out of bed.

7. My favorite medical TV show is: It used to be ER. Last season, I really liked Mercy. And who can forget M*A*S*H?

8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: it begins and ends with an “R”.

9. The hardest part about nights are: Insomnia and disruptive sleep.

10. Each day I take 6-10 pills and/or vitamins. (Though I stopped all meds cold turkey when the kids came; I’ll be restarting them all by the end of this month after I visit my doctor Friday.)

11. Regarding alternative treatments I: am not open to acupuncture or drinking teas that make the taste buds run screaming from my tongue but would consider other options.

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Invisible; I don’t like drawing attention to myself.

13. Regarding working and career: Working is really hard when my emotional state is sooo tied up in my disease and all the side effects from it. Exhausting doesn't begin to cover it.

14. People would be surprised to know: Having kids doesn’t change the way infertility continues to make me feel.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: I don’t know if I’ve accepted it fully or not but the hardest thing, by far, is the infertility.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: Lose weight. Then it came back. But I’ve done it once so I can do it again, right?!

17. The commercials about my illness: What commercials? There are none.

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Camping.

19. It was really hard to have to give up: a low-maintenance life.

20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: Charting. I wouldn’t describe it so much as a hobby but I definitely wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t have the disease.

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: I don’t know that I’ve ever felt “normal” so I don’t know what I’d do different.

22. My illness has taught me: My Faith is stronger than it appears and stronger than I feel.

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: “Here – If you really want kids, you can have mine!”

24. But I love it when people: Just hug me and not try to offer advice.

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: God will never give me more than He knows I can handle. Cliché as it is, it’s true. Also, I continually remind myself things can always be worse and there are so many people in this world who don’t have it near as good as I do.

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: Don’t wait to take steps until you’re ready – be active against it NOW! It only gets worse with time.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: being able to find someone who loves me through all my insecurities and physical ailments and knowing he loves me regardless of all of it!

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: brought me a cup of coffee and just sat with me and talked about non-related things.

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: having one makes you sensitive to just how many people out there suffer and all the different ways we can suffer. I’ve always been pretty compassionate but I’m not nearly as judgmental as I used to be.

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: valued.

Invisible Illness

I know I’ve promised to be better about writing but the past two months have proven to be emotionally difficult and draining while at the same time very busy with different events. I will be posting these updates individually every couple of days or so beginning next week… that will hopefully get me back into the rhythm of blogging so I can start writing about heavier subjects and simply just updating on a more regular basis.

But before I get to updating about our activities over the past two months (funerals, family reunions, bike rides, Celtic fests and county fairs), I would like to kick off September’s postings by bringing to light a subject close to my heart: invisible illnesses.

This week – September 13–19, 2010 – is recognized as National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. There are many illnesses people deal with on a daily and chronic basis that you would never know by looking at them. Invisible illnesses are those diseases or syndromes with no outwardly physical manifestation and people often suffer in silence without anyone knowing or recognizing they’re in pain. People with cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, IBS or Chron’s, mental illness and, yes, even infertility. This week is also to recognize the caretakers for those who suffer these diseases as they are often impacted just as harshly.

Today, I’d like to recognize my Mom and others I know who suffer from fibromyalgia. Fibro is a syndrome characterized by chronic widespread pain, multiple specifically tender points, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbances, fatigue and often psychological distress. Some days can be extremely manageable while other days you’re unable to move. Just having dealt with some of the pain I have to, I cannot fathom the amount of pain some fibro sufferers have to endure. Mom, you never fail to amaze me and the way you deal with your fibro is just one of the many reasons.

Tomorrow, I’ll post a meme about my own Invisible Illness.

Earning Their Smiles

Another wonderful article on adoption and, more specifically, adoption from foster care. I "know" both the interviewer and the interviewee from my online support group. I have to say, even though I don't log on to my support group much anymore, I am thankful beyond words I have a place to go to where people understand what I'm going through. Yes, parenting is difficult, parenting children you adopted presents an additional challenge to that, but parenting children adopted from foster care? Talk about a lot of difficulties that few people can truly understand. In the words of my friend, C...

I have no clue what it's like to parent other kids, nor do I wish to know. My son’s smiles are literally earned with blood, sweat and tears. Those smiles are the most precious thing I can imagine. It took three years for one child to fall asleep with me in the room, but he fell asleep on my lap and OH MY GOODNESS, tears of joy were streaming down my face. I love watching them blossom and unfold; they are the most amazing kids I’ve ever met. I’m just . . . well, blown away that God has entrusted their lives to us and we get to see them grow up!

I highly encourage you to click here and read the full interview. Awesome!