Bella's One Month Old!

Look who is one month old today! Bella Angel.....we miss having the D family here with us in TX, but I can think of no sweeter reason to miss a wedding than adding Bella to the family.

Converging on TX

Krista's day began at 0400 with a trip to her local airport.

The kids slept and slept this a.m. We dug through this stack of boxes...EVERY thing we ordered for the wedding fit! Score - that's rare!

Our first stop of the day was HEB to order a couple of cakes for the graduation/rehearsal dinner.  We met up with Jamin and Jared in the parking lot. 

We hit Ross', the Commissary and BX.....I had wondered how to cook for this crew in the trailer. It's nice to have that question settled. LOL  

Michael always likes to see the venue for weddings before the "games on" and we love the Waterlily Gardens.....This is going to be a beautiful spot for a wedding in just 3 days. 

We came back to the house and watched the Spurs game....we are not OKC fans.  Our day ended at 11:46 p.m. when we picked Krista up at the airport.  We're going to have a graduation and a wedding real soon y'all!

We made it!

Fifteen hours - 791 miles - and we're made it. Memories of sleeping in the van motivated us to keep going....

We are BLESSED to be staying at the rental of the Mom of some friends. Fully equipped - BEDS.

We made it.

TX or Bust - Take 2

Lots of fun things happened today in our family. 

Krista scored Auntie time when Bella joined she and Bre for her first sister time. 

Jared paid made his final payment to ASU. 

Josiah arrived - Jared and Larissa met him. 

And us? We drove for 16 hours - approximately 800 miles....TX or bust - Take TWO! 

Tehachipi, CA 

 We have enjoyed our time in OR - dogs are welcomed on hikes and in state parks....sort of funny to see this in CA - Mojave - really? Where the grass is green and lush, the dogs are welcome...but here? 

Kids with a Joshua Tree

Michael found a geocache out here while walking Yuuki. I told Nolan and challenged him to find it - he did. Now we need to find it on the site so we can log it. LOL 

We have been talking about parking the trailer at Truck stops on travel days. We gave it a try without the trailer.....We stopped at  a Love's in Kingman, AZ.  We certainly do make quicker time without the trailer....but the nights are much more comfortable with the trailer. LOL  We DID make lots of funny family memories sleeping in the van. 

Mother's Day 2016

We had a much more relaxed Mother's Day than we expected.  The weather was nice and so we headed "up the road" to a Chinese restaurant. We quickly learned that "up the road" was literal - as in UP Market Hill.

I found this funny. 

We stopped at Walgreens hoping to find groceries - instead we found comfort food. 

The kids were happy to spend time in the pool. Well - three of them were and the 4th was a bit reluctant...

Hello, sweet Bella! So happy your Mommy's arms are full this year. 

#WYFF - Always on a Friday

We break down in some of the most beautiful spots! Wouldn't you agree? We left Valley of the Rogue at 0600 as we wanted to be sure to hit Beale in time to pick up meds and shop. We were making amazing time. By 0900 we were at the top of the pass going over Shasta Reservoir. Michael and I both heard a noise - sort of like a card in the spokes of a bike. He checked the engine and saw nothing.

During  the walk around, however, Nolan noted one of the trailer tires was bulging. This was a good time to change it. We were thankful for the odd noise which prevented a tire blow out.

Michael  started up the van again and we got the familiar engine code. Remember, the spark plug that blew a month ago? O.K. this spark plug problem is a known issue for Ford V10 - Triton engines. When I said a month ago that a spark plug blew many of you questioned that I knew what I was talking about. Here's a quick Google Search.  I'm not loving our Ford so much these days!

USAA sent a tow truck out for us again. This time we had to be towed 22 miles - into Redding, CA. He towed both the van and the Caboose. Whew.  We all expected another spark plug had blown - it would be another $200 and we joked this meant only 8 more  could possibly blow.

IT WAS THE SAME SPARK PLUG... the heads had to be pulled. The spark plug holes will have to be bored out and new sleeves installed. All 10 will be fixed and this should not be an issue for us again. They'll have to reinstall it with a new head gasket. All told, it will be another $3500+, add that to Wednesday's tie rod assembly repair of $500, and this is a costliest week of full-timing to date.

They originally told us it would be Tuesday closing before they could get the van back to us. I didn't hide my dismay - I wasn't rude. I simply said, "We're supposed to be in TX on Tuesday." As they kept talking and I did the math of the trip.....I mentioned, "We're going to miss graduation. We'll be there for the wedding."  The receptionist asked us questions, while TWO mechanics both tore into the van to see if they could get the heads to the machine shop today.  I explained  our son was graduating in TX on the 14th and  I didn't see how we could drive from CA to TX in 3 days. I told them Michael was officiating at the wedding.

She called the machine shop and they told her they couldn't get to it until Wed. She explained she wanted it done ASAP. More back and forth and then she said, "Tell him, the guys have it out and are bringing it over. Freeze the other work you have for us and get this done first!" They said they'll have it back in the shop by Monday at noon, and then the guys will need to install it into our van.  They're pushing to be done by closing on Monday.

This is big - Krista is flying in on Wed - the 12th. We won't be there. We have hair appointments Tuesday, the 11th. We won't be there. We needed to go shopping. AND we are in the midst of plans for shopping and cooking with Team A for the rehearsal dinner....We are praying we can get out of here on the 10th and make it  by the evening of the  13th. Graduation/Rehearsal is the 14th.  We are considering leaving Monday night and stopping to sleep as needed..... We are considering dropping the trailer in Beale and just driving and staying in hotels.  The problem is this is our last trip before we are stationary again for an undetermined amount of time....through our extended stay at Beale we planned to visit friends in TX after the wedding and then go to the Grand Canyon....if we drop the trailer, we will come directly back after the wedding - can't afford 2 hotel rooms for 30 days. ::snort::  Giving up the trip that kept us positive through 5 months at Beale Fam Camp - and the upcoming settling down in CA....well....it's just something we'd rather not to do the kids.

We thought we would use the time wisely, rent a car this weekend, and find a hair salon and mall - get those errands done here in Redding - would you believe we can't find ONE car to rent?

We ARE in a Premier RV Resort - and I find it funny we always break down next to the expensive RV parks, rather than the $20 a night spots. LOL  There is a great pool here; but it was thundering this afternoon.  The owner of the repair shop towed the trailer and us to the park.

I also need to call the spots we have reservations along the way and cancel or move them.....but who knows when we'll be where....thinking truck stops, rest areas and parking lots will be our best bet for this trip.....oh! We also have that bulging tire we'd love to get fixed while were grounded....we do have two bikes...but Les Schwab is a long ways away.

That's pretty much the BOO - now here are some Yays!

• We safely got off the road - on a narrow pass! 
• We had planned to arrive in TX 4 days before the graduation/rehearsal - we may make it on time even with the delay. 
• The repair shop is amazing and have gone beyond the norm to care for us
• Premier RV Resort bent over backwards to move people around and find us a spot until Wed. 
• Brenner picked up our meds and will take them to Fam Camp
• Janey will look out for our meds, cancelled our reservation at Beale, and will hold our meds and mail for us until we drive through
• Our tow truck driver was an interesting man with stories from owning two race car tracks and three race cars....he was preparing to tow a class A and a semi hit the Class A - hurt his back....if you have to be towed for 20+ miles it helps to have interesting conversation
• There was a yummy Mexican diner within walking distance of the repair shop
• Netflix in the waiting room of the repair shop
• I cooked chicken last night so it was easy to throw together one of everyone's favorite meals at the end of the day - Chicken Divan. 

We appreciate your prayers for a quick return of our van, for a way to get out of the park and get our errands done, and for wisdom in how to proceed on this trip.....for now I want to sleep.


#WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) is sponsored by Fulltime Families. View more of our Friday exploits by clicking the #WYFF tab above. 

Texas or Bust

Need I say more? What a sweetie. Three weeks old and charming us all with her smiles. It's a good day when you get to see BreZaak and Bella....we filled up on snuggles and sweet words and then said goodbye.

Today we began our trip down to Texas.....Graduation in 9 days, wedding in 10 days!  Woot!!!!!

Arielle took a couple of finals and came home. She seems to be having withdrawals....always wondering what paper needs to be done, what final she should be studying for or which job she needs to be rushing to - but she's DONE with her first year of college. Way to go Arielle! Worked three jobs, earned a 4. (or close after finals), and found time to date Cory. ::wink::  She'll travel down to TX with us and fly back on the 17th - this will give her nearly two weeks to truly relax.....She's earned it!

We are spending the night at Valley of the Rogue state park. It's a lovely spot to overnight.  We enjoy state parks so much better than RV Parks - sigh. I remembered to get meat out to thaw so we could cook when we arrived! SCORE. Dinner outside was nice.....

Poor Yuuki had to be put inside. She started straining and howling....seems she didn't like our dinner guest....

Arielle felt this may be too much nature. LOL 

The kids took a nice walk along the river after dinner. In prep of an early start tomorrow,  they've headed to the showers. Michael and I sat and talked, while watching nature and the lovely Rogue River. I got the chicken cooked so I can easily assemble Chicken Divan when we stop tomorrow night at Beale AFB Fam Camp.....our old stomping grounds.  

We're heading to Texas!