Hold the Roadtrips please...

My family has started to have a tradition of getting together (as many of us as possible) on Thanksgiving and leaving Christmas for other gatherings. Last year many of my family members made a huge effort to drive all of the way down here to Sierra Vista to spend Thanksgiving with us. This year my mom is hosting thanksgiving. I had been thinking for a very long time that that was where we would be spending thanksgiving this year. However, I am not so sure now. We took Jake to the airport this morning and after spending some time with him and saying our good-byes we stopped at a drive through right outside the airport for some munchies. Just 10 minutes after getting onto the highway Kailey is screaming because she is hungry too. So I pull off onto the access road for some privacy while feeding her. During which time Lyla decides she needs to potty. Since we are near the outskirts of Tucson there is only a ghetto Circle K. I needed gas and air, but after getting all of the kids out of the car and taking them inside we discover they don't have any public bathrooms and there are no gas stations nearby. I didn't want to drive back into Tucson, but Lyla decided she didn't really have to go potty and she was just kidding. Then 30 minutes later she can't wait and we are in the middle of nowhere. I pull off onto a Ranch Road exit and she has to pee in the dirt. By the time we get to Benson (the exit on the interstate that is about 30 miles from Sierra Vista and the half-way point to Tucson) it had been over an hour since leaving the airport. I took the van out of cruise control to stop at the exit and it started making scary noises and refused to accelerate. I was able to pull over and had to get out and check it out (not that I could have done anything). When I started it up again whatever happened stopped and we went on our way. By the time we got home we had taken over 2 hours on a drive that is usually just over an hour! I am not feeling confident about going on a mong car ride anywhere right now. Especially in our van that would probably not make it. Suggestions anyone?

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year. It really started last weekend when we went to our Stake wide Fall Family Fun Fest. It was a huge event. My biggest complaint is that it did not go long enough. We didn't get to do everything. The girls sang in the talent show, they got their faces painted, got snow cones, cotton candy, played various games, played on the jumping castles, and (last but not least) I won Second place in the chili cookoff!!!! And just so you know how extremely huge this cookoff was, there was at least 50 crockpots of chili and I was 2nd place! Just to brag a bit. Anyways, on Friday the 30th Jake and I went to a grown-ups halloween party that was really fun. We ate food and played Bunco, which is now one of my favorite big group games to play. And on Saturday we went to the trunk or treat at the church then went trick or treating a little bit and went to a halloween party to top it all off. So can anyone guess what we were?
Maybe Jaxon was buckwheat......

Or maybe Kailey was a baby Dora...

Maybe Mckayla was Tina Turner with Lyla as Lady Gaga....

We bobbed for apples at the party, but after Jaxon touched the water a couple of times with his nose he discovered the real trick to getting the apples out of the water. At least he did try to get one with his mouth.

Lyla got hers without ever getting wet at all.

Mckayla managed not to get wet either. I don't think they get the point of boobing for apples.

Here's your next Halloween costume hint. Kailey is playing the perfect part in....

Any guesses?

Got it yet?

The Pacheco Family Mariachi band!!! Ey yie yie!!!

7 years and going strong!!!

Last monday Jake and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. We kept it small this year because of all of the projects we have going and the kids to take care of. But it was a special anniversary because for the first time we are in the city we were married in on our anniversary. We decided to take a walk through memory lane and we went out to breakfast at the little restaurant that we had our wedding breakfast at. Later in the day we left our kids with some awesome friends and took off to Tucson. Jake had written a bunch of things to do on papers and put them into a hat for me to draw out of. Lucky for him, I picked out the Pima Air and Space museum. Jake has always wanted to go there and he is a sucker for things like that. He wants to take a picture of every airplane and read every thing about it. It reminds me a lot of my dad in that way. But since we did an event that Jake wanted we ate at my favorite restaurant, The Melting Pot, and then headed home. It was simple but wonderful. It was so nice to get to go spend some time as just the two of us. We rarely get to go out together alone. I love our kids, but this date was long overdue.


I just wanted to say that I have the best husband ever. He is so supportive and he works so hard. He is a very awesome dad. We find ways that we compliment each other every day. It is not something that I can explain. I think everyone feels this way about their marriages (or at least I hope they do), but Jake and I have something special. At first we felt so opposite from each other and now it just feels like our differences work so well together. Sorry for the sappiness, but it was our anniversary, so I am entitled to it.

Today, one week after our anniversary, we said good-bye to Jake for the next unknown while. Though he has had several trips to Iraq this is his first to Afghanistan. Hopefully it will be short but I will believe that when I see it. The kids and I took him to the airport this morning and he is already half-way around the world. We miss him already. I love you honey!!!

Kailey's first word

I think this video speaks for itself. I just had to share my cute baby with y'all.

Stereotypes

Jake and I have decided that we have very stereotypical children in many different ways. Starting with our twin girls, they are ALL girl. They were born loving pretty pink and purple things and loving to play princesses, barbies, baby dolls, etc. They both are very sensitive and loving to their younger siblings. They are also stereotypical big sisters. They are the bosses of the house and love to be little mommies to Kailey and (much to his dismay) Jaxon. They are typical twins that people can't tell apart, opposite in some ways, but identical in many many others. They are best friends and rarely fight with each other. They often finish each other's sentences and complete each other's thoughts. They have just discovered the power they have in looking alike. Once a day after doing laundry they came out both wearing exactly what the other had worn the day before. They were beside themselves with a sneaky glee because they were excited to trick everyone into messing them up. I don't know if they've figured out that they don't need to switch clothes to trick people into mixing them up.
Jaxon is ALL boy. Before we ever thought he was old enough to care about boy-themed toys he would crawl into his big sister's room and steal the pink barbie car and push it as he crawled around making car sounds. He LOVES cars. He is obsessive about cars. He tries constantly to find new ways to inflict bodily injury on himself. He also is a stereotypical 2 year old. I don't ever remember my girls being this bad. He is able to make giant disasters in mere seconds and throw a fit about the tiniest things around him. Yesterday we were getting ready for church and I got him all cute in his shirt and tie. It was closing in on time to go so I went in to get my makeup on. He comes in only 2 minutes later with raspberry jam from head to toe. So we had to completely change his outfit and wash him off. Jake was getting the church bag ready and getting Kailey ready as I went to finish my half-done makeup job. When we headed out to the door we turned the corner of the kitchen to see Jaxon laying on the floor in the middle of a puddle of sprinkles he had poured out licking them off of the floor. Thus, we had to clean him off again and be very late for church. Some days he just drives me crazy, but he is still as cute as they come. He is also the stereotypical little brother. Jake and I laugh at how well he knows to push every single one of his older sisters buttons. They are always fighting and he is always finding new ways to drive them nuts. He is also a very protective older brother to Kailey. It is so cute how he adores her and she him. I am not sure why he is so mean to Mckayla and Lyla and so loving to Kailey. Just instinct I guess. And Kailey is just cute. She is so happy and we just love her. She has discovered her voice and we've never heard the end of it. I just love them all and I wanted to share that for no reason.

Kailey's Laugh

Kailey is a really happy baby. She is always smiling and laughing, and as soon as she discovered her voice box we never heard the end of it. She is always making cute happy little baby sounds. No one can make her laugh as much as Jaxon. They seem to have a special bond because she lights up whenever he is around. Here is a short video of Jaxon playing with her. He was doing his little thing to make her laugh and she was just cracking up, but of course, when I grabbed the camera to catch it, they stopped.

Book Reviews

I know it seems weird that I have gotten to read so much this summer, but I am a huge audiobook listener. I like to listen to audiobooks when we travel because it makes time fly and helps to keep me from getting motion sickness. I also like to listen when I am working around the house. It makes me more motivated to go and work because I can't wait to hear what happens next. I have been trying to read a lot of what most consider to be "classic literature" because I want to keep my mind working while I am not in school. Here is a rundown of some of my most recent reads:

"The Woman in White" - Very Awesome. Not on every classic literature list, but on some. This is one that my book club picked out to read over the summer break because it is very very long. It is considered to be the first mystery. It is told like an investigation. There is a combination of many different narrorator's accounts of a series of events that all combine together to reveal one thing. I'd highly recommend that one to anyone. The language is a bit hard to get into at first, but if you stick with it you'll love it.

"The Odyssey" - The coolest thing about this book is the author. It is beyond me that a story or book could survive for so long. It is debated as to when Homer lived, but it is believed that it was at least 600 B.C. I think it is crazy that we have other quotes, poems, stories and philosophies from ancient Greece. There are many different translations of this story though, but I think the overall story would be the same. I read the translation by W.H.D Rouse which in itself is over 100 years old. It is written in the form of the long poems that tell a story like "Beowolf". I had to read that one for school one time and I can't help but see all of the similarities. It is action-packed and filled with lots of blood and gore and love. But not written as graphically as people write today. It is written very matter-of-factly with lots of indifference to human life. But I think it is a classic because you come out knowing not only about every Greek God & Goddess but their own story and their personality which I thought was interesting. It was a lesson on mythology (which, by the way, I am not sure why that is considered a valuable subject, though interesting) and astrology. It was a good ancient story and I liked it. But I probably won't read it a second time. I think everyone should read it once though.

"The Great Gatsby" - I have to say that though I liked this book; I am not sure why it is considered a classic. I think that most classics are educational in some way. Though this is a pretty good story and is well written, I couldn't see the educational value. Maybe it is just me. Also, I didn't think that Gatsby should qualify as a "Great", in fact I thought he was kindof an idiot. So that one puzzled me. Still, it was a good story, but pretty slow and when it ended I went, "that's it?" Not highly recommended by me. Any thoughts on that one?

"The Jungle" - I really wanted to read this one because it is considered to be one of the most influential books in American history. I knew that this book was a hit to the meat industry in 1905. This book single-handledly made our country start the FDA. That is pretty amazing. What I didn't know is that That is not what the book is about. Sure, he talks about the meat industry in pretty gory detail, but he really was making a huge case for socialism. I am a pretty staunch believer in limited government and free markets, but half-way through this book you are asking where the communist party meets. It is pretty powerful. I read a quote, though I can't find who it's by, but they said "Sinclair wrote this book to hit America in the heart, but he ended up hitting her in the stomach." I read that he does acknowledge that he missed his original intentions and the ending of the book falls really short of the rest of the story. The last few chapters of the book are an all-out propaganda case for socialism. That's where he lost me. I thought it was interesting to have it all spelled out like that, but the story was more convincing than the lecture at the end. What I loved about this book is that it is such a vivid picture of how people lived in Chicago in 1905. It is so capivating as it shows all the gruesome details of that life. But, by showing that way of life he really does expose the issues with capitalism run rampant without any sortof checks or balances. The terrible things happening in the food industry were just one of the fall-outs of a completely corrupted government from top to bottom. It was really sad, depressing, and almost hard to read. But I think this is a book that everyone should read. It is extremely powerful and very well written. It is the polar opposite of "1984" which I read last summer. Both are powerfully convincing in their cases, but I can't help but think there has to be a middle ground somewhere.

I have just started "The Lost Symbol" and so far it does not disappoint. I am a big Dan Brown fan, so I was super excited for this one to come out. I am not excited about either book that my book clubs are reading this month. They seem a bit too light and fluffy compared to what I have been reading. But I will read them just the same. That is the whole point of being part of a book club is reading things that you would never have picked out yourself. It has broadened my horizons. Anyways, that post was a novel (get it?), but it is raining outside so some of my projects are on hold right now anyways.