Loving Ogden!

So far, so good. We are really enjoying it here!

Between school days and life, my time to write has been limited. Just when I think we are finally getting settled and into a routine ...we are out of here on Thursday. First stop is Traverse City, Michigan. Josh's brother, Donovan, is getting married.

Then, Monday, the kids and I are off to Mexico! Yea! I miss the beach. I miss my dog!!

Caden's auditory therapy has been really good. He has completed the recommended 15 sessions, and we have seen a tremendous improvement in his testing scores. We have been sent home with our "homework" exercises, which we have just incorporated into our daily school curriculum. He goes back in November for re-testing to see how he is coming along.

I have also ordered him new curriculum, designed for all children, but is based on methodology used to teach dyslexics to read. Easton also loves it. So, I am planning to order it for him as well.

From the looks of it, I may need to find Easton more exciting curriculum ;)

School has kept us pretty busy during the week, but weekends have been lots of fun. We've been biking. It seemed to be a great idea. Toward the end of our ride, a 100 yard detour through the grass left everyone with punctured tires from the burrs. Luckily (and uncannily), we happened to be directly in front of bike shop, so it wasn't too hard to get them repaired!

We have been enjoying shopping at the Farmer's Markets on the weekends. Last Saturday was Ogden's Harvest Moon Festival. The kids and I strolled downtown to sample the local restaurants, see the local sidewalk sales, and kids' activities.

At the Harvest Moon Festival

Trying the Rock Wall

Both boys going at it

Farmer's Market every Saturday

Organic, Local Raspberries have Easton's approval

Caden's a fan of anything blue.

Both boys are growing like weeds. Caden grew out of his shoes. Again. We bought him new shoes that are very Sheldon Cooper-like. To be honest, they had a pair of Wonder Woman ones that I was very tempted to buy for myself.

Caden's First Pair of Chucks

They also have no winter clothes. As in, not even one stitch. So, we've done some fall shopping to stock up on a few things to keep them from freezing. The days are still in the 80s, but the nights are getting crisp and cool. Unfortunately, I think we are leaving just as the colors are starting to change --- which is my favorite time of year.





I have found a local dairy where we pick up our raw, whole milk. Sooo yummy! They work on the Honor's System: Take as many gallons of milk or cream as you need & leave a check or cash in the box. Open 24/7. I love that!

Johnny's Dairy

I have found some great sources for grass fed beef and organic chicken. I am amazed at the organic/sulfate-free meats you can now buy in your local grocery. Much easier than before!

Confession: I have also been couponing. No, I am not a crazy-coupon-lady. No, I have yet to get any items for free --- but I have come darn close a couple of times.

To be honest, I expected it to be a waste of time. I don't have room in the trailer to stock-pile inventory, the holy grail of couponing. We like certain brands of certain things, and that's a "golden no-no" of the couponing world. We eat healthy, and I always thought that coupons were for junk food. 

It started as a: I'll give it a whirl. Turns out, even though I break "couponer" every rule, I still save. A LOT. I saved $77 from our last grocery bill. Turns out that by couponing -- which takes me about 30-40 minutes per week, I have more than paid for the difference we are spending to buy organic foods, meats, eggs, and raw milk. I have saved at least 1/3 of every grocery bill.

Turns out, they have coupons for more than just food. We've also eaten at different restaurants for less than $10 each time for the 3 of us. (Josh has been on the road a lot this month.)

I also used coupons and scored the kid's winter coats, each $75, for $37. I ended up with a pair of Vera Wang jeans for 75% off.

All of these savings could buy Momma a lot of shoes!

VIDEO COMMERCIAL: Caden's School Assignment

Caden's school assignment was to create a video commercial for a public announcement or product. Below is the result. "Classic Caden" in so many ways...

Wow! We have been Busy!

We have been so busy, and there seems to be no end in sight!

The Museum

The kiddos have been learning about human bodies in their health class: the senses, what makes us different, what makes us all the same, how and why we protect our bodies, etc. One of the recommended activities was to visit a museum to see human skeletons. So, we trotted off to the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake City, which is only about a 45 minute drive from Ogden.

While the real stars of the show were the awesome dinosaurs (all discovered here in Utah),

they also saw the exhibit featuring the evolution of human skulls.

The museum has great exhibits, and we definitely didn't have the time or attention spans to go through all of them in one day. So, we bought a family membership, and we plan to go back often.

Traverse City, Michigan

Josh's cousin, Eric, was married in Traverse City, Michigan over Labor Day weekend, and Josh was a groomsman. So, we flew back to the Mitten for a great weekend of beach, sand dunes, and wedding cake.

Caden and his Aunt Megan

Easton and his Aunt Elizabeth

This is Easton's second cousin, Kennedy. She is in love with Easton
and he this she's 'a 'lil wound up'. I am sure that some day he will love
female attention, but for now he's a little daunted.

Josh and his sister, Megan

This is how you beach it on Lake Michigan on
Labor Day -- in a bikini and sweatshirt!
Mexico, Momma's comin' home soon sweetheart!

We took a scenic drive through Sleeping Bear Dunes.
We'll re-visit and hike when there aren't 10 gazillion people.

Visiting the little town of Grand Haven, just north of the
Sleeping Bear Dunes Park.

We love Northern Michigan and won't have to wait long to see it again. Josh's brother, Donovan, is also getting married in Traverse City at the end of the month. So, we'll be back soon, and I'll be ready for more cherries!

The Ogden Valley Weekly Market

Last night, we visited the Ogden Valley Market, which they have every Thursday evening in the summer months, through September. The market has local, fresh farmer's produce, live music, and booths from area artisans.

To get to the market, you have to drive over a mountain pass that is National Forest land and down into the next valley. It was a gorgeous drive and another area we hadn't explored yet. So, it was great that we went.

We picked up some freshly picked, organic corn on the cob as well as some organic raspberries and raspberry freezer jam.

On our way home, we stopped at a strange rock-something that we had passed on our way in, but couldn't figure out what it was.

Do you know what this is?

Turns out is was a kiln (and basically a huge chimney) that was used to make lime in the late 1800s for construction in the valley. There is a hold on top that the lime was shoveled into, it was heated in the kiln and removed out of the doorway at the bottom. The forest service uncovered its ruins when they were clearing a trailhead and volunteers restored it.

Schulz Family Life

In other non-adventure news, we have finally figured out why Caden has been struggling in school with his reading and math and why I, after a few weeks of homeschooling am ready to leap from a rooftop. Caden
has been diagnosed with an Auditory Processing Disorder and Auditory Dyslexia.

Basically, he doesn't process at the speed children his age do - especially when he hears it rather than seeing or feeling it. Children his age have an average response time of 70 miliseconds. Caden responds in 255. Which, would explain why he dances so horribly. He thinks he is on beat, but he's actually way behind.

He also has dyslexia issues. Turns out dyslexia isn't just writing your letters and numbers backwards, which he doesn't do at all. Although, he used to confuse B and D sounds horribly, but he has had LOTS of tutoring which has pretty much resolved that issue now. For him, it basically means that he cannot recognize letter patterns which is how we all learned to read through phonics. He basically cannot sound out words. Instead, all of the words that he can read are ones that he has memorized.

Between his slow processing time and his dyslexia, the kid has had a rough row to hoe.

So, it's back to the drawing board. I have ordered new curriculum for him, based on a methodology to teach dyslexics to read. Hopefully his online school will be on-board with the change and he can remain enrolled. I have submitted the proposal to the customization board and am awaiting their response. If not, we're still marching forward and hopefully his school will refund our mostly unused tuition for this school year.

He has also been taking Auditory Therapy Classes where he is making improvements in re-training his brain to react faster to auditory stimuli.

The Trailer

On our way out to Utah two of the brand friggin' new cabinets door fronts cracked. So, we took those in to be repaired under warranty.

We have this strange septic smell that we can't seem to kick out of the bathroom, but we are making various adjustments that seem to be making it better.

As summer comes to a close, we realize that we may have made a logistical error in selecting the floorplan of our trailer, despite the hours/days/weeks of our research. We love the kitchen; we love the "toy hauler garage" which allows us to have a Washer/Dryer, place to store bikes, grills, fishing/hunting gear, etc. while on the road; we LOVE our side patio that folds out. What we don't love is our living space because with all of the rest, it turns out that there really isn't any. There is 1 couch along a side wall and a TV that if you turn at an awkward angle, you can watch. It hasn't been an issue because we have been outside. But, come cold weather, it's going to be awfully weird lined up on one sofa. So, not sure how we are going to resolve that one. To be continued...

Our mattress was terrible and really doing a number on our backs, mine in particular. Turns out, a regular mattress with springs can't fit through the doorways of the trailer. So, they basically give you a piece of foam that offers little in support. It also makes shopping for a mattress difficult because you are basically limited to mattresses that come in a box: either a Sleep Number Air Mattress or a Tempurpedic Foam Mattress. So, we went shopping for a new mattress and ended up ordering a Sleep Number Air Mattress, which we both found to be very comfortable.

Its box arrived yesterday! So, last night, when we arrived back from the market at 9 pm, Josh and I couldn't wait to assemble the thing. We hauled our old mattress out -- That was a task! Then, got to work assembling our new one.

Page 1 of the instructions: "You must have an electric drill and small saw to begin." An electric drill we luckily had. A saw; not so much. But with after some digging, Josh found a drill bit that allowed him to make a hole big enough in our bed's platform to allow the cords and hoses to pass, so a late-night WalMart run was averted.

Ok, back to assembly. We got the bottom half of the mattress set up. We got the 2 air chambers in. We connected all of the cords and hoses. All that was left was to fill up the chambers, zip on the top, and (finally) go to bed. So, we pulled out the remote and set the air chambers to 20 to allow them to partially fill. Turns out the 9 volt battery was out of juice. So, Josh went to a nearby gas station for another battery and Wendy's Frosties for everyone. After our Frosty break, we were back at getting the mattress ready. This battery was also dead. Figure the odds. So, Josh went back for a 3rd battery. He returned and we had the same issue -- remote won't work and battery light is flashing. Turns out, it was the remote.

At this point, it was midnight and nothing else we could do. Josh slept on the sofa, and I slept with the kids in their bed.

Things I learned:

1. The kid's mattress is thin, flimsy piece that is horribly uncomfortable (Way worse than ours was). So glad I am not them.
2. We need to find a remote today.

A few observations...

We are finally getting out of the house today and doing some exploring. Looking forward to it!

In the meantime, here are a few observations I have made:

* People here like to reproduce. 

Based purely on anecdotal data, our family of two is waaaay under the state average.

Taken on the move. So, it's a bit fuzzy.

That's A LOT of flip flops!

* I can't get over how amazing the sunsets are!

* Turns out, our dryer does have a lint trap, after all.

Why did they have to make it soooo obviously-in-plain-sight-hidden?

That's right, I am Ron White's "Handy Girl"
who knit herself a sweater!

It had so many lovely layers, it almost
made me feel artistic.

Jeepified

Got the Jeep back today. She looks pretty darn sweet.
Utah is famous for its off-roading. Itching to get her dirty!!

She still needs a name...

Welcome to Ogden!

That would be my *^(@#$# finger in the
upper left corner of this pic :(

We're Here! And we got our WiFi connected yesterday. (Thus my ability to post this update.) So, the blog is officially ON.

Let me give you a quick run-down on what we've been doing since we arrived Thursday...

The boys and I arrived by plane on Thursday morning. Josh arrived late on Thursday evening with our other vehicles on his trailer. Our travel trailer was hauled in on Thursday as well by a professional towing company because...we sold the white truck! Two days before we were supposed to leave for Utah, someone came along and bought the thing --- which put a serious kink in my plans of how we were getting the trailer to Utah. (Please Note: I am NOT complaining.) So, I had to schedule a rush haul of our trailer with a professional towing company. [Never a dull moment in the Schulz house/trailer/cardboard box.]

Luckily, we are in a great spot on the last street in the park, overlooking the beautiful Wasatch Mountain Range, and more specifically, Ben Lomond Mountain. At 9700'-ish at it's peak, there are trails all over the thing, which I can see from our driveway. So, it is definitely on the "To Be Explored Further List".

Apparently, according to could-be-reliable info, that mountain is the inspiration for the Paramount Pictures Mountain Logo, as the founder of Paramount Pictures,William W. Hodkinson, was from Ogden, Utah.

So, I took the internet for a quick fact finding mission. At first, this info didn't seem to make much sense to me, because I don't think that it has much resemblance to this:

But then a few more Google searches revealed that the first Paramount Pictures logo actually looked like this:

And really, who the heck knows what that mountaintop is supposed to be?!? 

But internet sources say that it was supposed to be the top of Ben Lomond. I'd wager that whatever Mr. Hodkinson paid for that logo, he overpaid.

Our park has a mix of RVs, Travel Trailers, and Mobile Homes. Seems to me that there aren't many vacationers. Most people stay year-round or are snowbirds who escape to warmer weather in the winter months.

First impressions:

• This part of Utah doesn't appear to get much rain. It's pretty crunchy 'round here.
• The sunsets are breathtaking. 
• Liking everything except the 100 degree days. Apparently, it's been a really hot summer here and is way above average. Normal is in the 80s/low 90s.

Friday and Saturday are a total blur, but they consisted of organizing, cleaning, and getting our lives into 40' x 8.5 feet. That's 330 square feet, folks. That is pretty dang small. But, it works. At least until it gets cold. Then, we loose the side patio that is serving as our office/classroom/dining table. Then, I cry.

On second thought, I'll be in Mexico then anyway --- so who cares?

Our Side Patio

The patio has flamingo lights, which add
just the right amount of kitsch and make me smile.

We've gotten a small storage unit to hold all of our Hunting/Fishing/Golf/Ski/Tennis/Softball/Is there any sport Josh doesn't play?/General Crap that would never all fit into this trailer. So that leaves us with just enough stuff to neatly store into every nook and cranny. I mean it. We are at max capacity. There is no room for anything else. Not a coffee cup; not another T-shirt; nothing.

On Sunday, I took a break from organizing-to-the-hilt and took the kids for the pool for a swim.

Did I mention that it has been 100 degrees since we've gotten here?!?

There I was --- at the pool --- when I experienced my first (but certain not to be my last) "CAMPGROUND EXPERIENCE #1". A mother was openly reprimanded by her husband for yelling obscenities in the pool, despite the loads of children in her midst. Keeping it classy... 

The kiddos resumed school on Monday after a few days off for our move. They are enrolled in a correspondence school which gives us the flexibility to travel in my off-season and extend our summer hiatus. So, my days are currently consumed with my work online as I re-design the website for Mayan Riviera Properties, phonics, and place values. I have learned that I am totally not cut out to be a Homeschool Mom. The kids and I will be lucky to survive each other until October.

On Monday, the Internet Gods, sent down their manna from iHeaven and blessed us with a visit from the Comcast Cable Man who hooked us up to really fast WiFi. (Cablemas hasn't got a thing on Comcast.) Given our current and all-consuming obsession with the Big Bang Theory, I have named our wifi network "Bazinga" in honor of Dr. Sheldon Cooper --- my all-time, hands-down, sitcom BFF.

As I was contemplating my network name options, I seriously considered "Soft Kitty", but decided it sounded just a little too creepy.

Monday evening, Josh returned from work. He was in the driveway getting his truck set up just the way he wants it for out on the road, which currently includes a waterbed, refrigerator, body pillow, video game console, theater, and grocery store. I am only exaggerating a little. Seriously, just a little. It was then that we had CAMPGROUND EXPERIENCE #2: A tween stopped and asked Josh for his picture with her, saying she thought he looked like Luke Bryan.

1. Who is Luke Bryan? I had to look him up. 
2. Turns out, Josh looks nothing like him.
3. Why you would want your photo with someone whom you think resembles a celebrity?
4. Josh eats this sort of thing up. So, you made his day. Good job, Tweenie.

Yesterday, Josh and Easton hit the road for a quick trip. They'll be back tomorrow.

I also pick up my Jeep tomorrow. It's getting 'Jeepified' so that we can do some off-roading. Looking forward to getting it back!!

Will keep you posted...

And...We're Off!

I thought I would start a blog to document our travels (and hopefully --- keeping my fingers crossed --- not our tribulations), and keeping up with our crazy lives.

In May we purchased a travel trailer that we can live/travel in during our off-season.

For those who followed our last National Lampoon's Vacation/Rolling Disaster, I am sure you will either find this decision reckless or hilarious -- or maybe both. I haven't decided yet.

Nearly us on our last RV adventure

Additionally, I don't "camp" well. This trailer has a fireplace, so the hubster has convinced me that it is definitely not camping. And it remains to be determined if we are campground peeps. My husband tends to be a recluse, and I tend to be a bit cynical. So, To Be Determined...And Announced...

My mother has standing Power of Attorney to immediately sell our Travel Trailer if I am found wandering around a campground in a tube top. At that point, I've gone native and need an intervention.

Josh has gotten his CDL license and found work in Utah. So, we hit the road on Monday.

The white truck in the photo has been sold. Josh has a shiny, new Dodge that he can pull the trailer with, as well as for his work.

I needed to trade in my Yukon. Since we were headed to Utah (aka Jeeplandia), we decided that this was the time to own a Jeep if there ever was one. You know: When in Rome,...

So, here she is:

Bought her yesterday, and I haven't named her yet. Still thinking!


The kiddos started school this week. They are both enrolled in a correspondence school so that we can travel. The majority of next week's work will have to get done while we are on the road. That should be a lovely time.

By Monday, bazillions of things to do. So, off for now...