Thanksgiving at the Dunes!!

We did a thing.

We bought a trailer.
It is named Casey's Dune Palace!

We needed to break it in, stat!

With that said, our first outing was the dunes on Thanksgiving!

Which meant lots and lots of prep work beforehand.

Not only for the Thanksgiving feast, but with it being a new (to us) trailer,
I spent hours beyond hours getting that thing ready to use!

Big fat deep cleaning, and a little re decorating, of course:)
 Buying new sheets, blankets, stocking the kitchen, games,

batteries, first aid kits, cleaning supplies, basically

everything we needed to keep in the trailer so it's an easy turn over of

clothes and not much else work when we want to use it.

It was like buying a mini house! 

After I tackled the trailer, I tackled the food.

The day before we left I picked up most of the big items like a smoked
 turkey and some sides from Big Nates BBQ. 
Best decision ever.

It costs about the same amount it would have to make it on our own.

It was dang good food!

I'll be doing this from here on out!

And I ordered pies.

The only thing I made before hand was the rolls.

Lots and lots of rolls. 
And 2 chocolate chip pecan pies.
 They are easy and my absolute favorite pie

that nobody seems to make. 

And thank the heavens for Costco delivery.
The mashed potatoes and jello pretzel salad was easy
 to make once we got there. I like food to be as fresh as possible.

About this time the day before we left I was felling all gutted
and frazzled just like this turkey looked!

The morning of our departure I got to take Lane bright and early to the orthopedic doctor.
Luckily it was another run of the mill fracture and it just needed a cast for 6 weeks.

Nothing like a brand new cast to go straight to the SAND dunes!

The doctor warned him to cover it good because sand and casts are not friends.

Did I mention it was also Rusty's birthday?!
He opened his gifts in between loading the trailer and getting ready to head on out. 

Perfect timing to get an RC car he could drive in the dunes!

And here is our circus ready to go on its maiden voyage!
A tad obnoxious with the double pulling, but we have no other options!

This is Casey's dream. Pulling long, heavy loads.

He has a secret dream of being a semi truck driver.

It all sounds terrifying to me.

Glad to ride passenger!

We made it in good timing!
Now the tricky part. Getting to a camp spot without getting stuck.

We were doing good, until we weren't.
Officially stuck.
They worked and worked to get us out, but to no avail.

It didn't help that it was super windy.
Like the windiest I've ever seen it there.
After a couple of hours we called it quits and would wait until my dad could help us
once he got there the next morning. 

We were the only ones there this night.
Which turned out to be a blast!

Everyone was in a good mood.

We made philly cheesesteaks on our new black stone grill.

And I brought surprise birthday cookies from Crumbl to complete Rusty's birthday.

We stayed up and watched a movie.

I didn't realize how much we needed some time together, just our little family without any
distractions. We never seem to have moments like this. Life is so busy and the boys are

cruising to young adulthood right before my eyes. I'm clawing for any time I can get

with them. So it was a wonderful, almost sacred first night in our new, stuck trailer!

We all slept in!
Happy Thanksgiving to us!

Throughout the trip we had an array of people coming and going. 
My dad showed up in an RV.
Got us unstuck, hooray!!

Then Craig and Camille and Jefferson, Katie and Bentley!

It was still really windy, but that didn't stop people from riding. 
I stayed back to prep for our big feast!

This trip the girls really got acquainted with their quads!
They rode around the campsite non stop. 

Time to eat!
We ended up bringing the tables inside so our food wouldn't blow away.

It ended up fitting perfectly in the back!
I was amazed at how well our dune palace was
accommodating everyone like a glove!

I put all of the food on the island to grab buffet style. 

The Thanksgiving gang!

We had everything we would have had at home. 

The wind FINALLY stopped, so we took our dessert out by the camp fire. 

The next morning we had a new group show up!

Jefferson and Katie left the night before.

This day we had my mom, the Figerouas, my 2 cousins Jonathan and Greg, and our neighbor

Marc and his daughter Chloe!

No wind, either:)

I took a picture at lunch time.

Love being able to host everyone!

and of course grandpa treated us to the ice cream truck!

This was a big night.
Craig was going to propose to Camille!

The plan was at sunset they were going to go
 off on their own and take pictures together.

She is a photographer so this was normal for them to do and she didn't suspect anything.
Plus it helped for her to get dressed up and not look like a dune rat for her engagement!

While they were gone, we hurried and decorated camp for when they got back. I had bought decorations, flowers and sparkling cider and had been hiding them in our trailer!

Her parents and brothers also arrived to surprise her!
It worked out perfectly.

When they pulled up in the RZR after he popped the question, you could her her say, 
is that my mom?!

It was perfect!

My mom made this big sign we were all holding when they came rolling up. 

I stole some pictures off of her instagram. 
So happy to have a new sister join the family!

A took a picture of the drags that were hopping while it was going on.

Casey made smash burgers for everyone and we chatted and
got to know Camille's family better around the campfire.
 They stayed the night in Yuma and came back for breakfast and a quick ride in
RZR's before they needed head home.

She has such a nice family!

We had to go shopping at the vendors!
This Motley Crue to get there had me cracking up.
Every kid and grandma! on a quad or dirt bike. I was
taking pictures from behind in the RZR of our parade. 

Marcie was giving RZR rides back at camp.

Enjoying all the yummy things. 

Broken arm boy on a dirt bike, lovely:)

And just like that it was time to pack it all up and head home!

 

Happy Birthday to RUSTY!

Rusty had his big 12 year old birthday!
Which also came with a party.

Not going to lie, this is where my eyeballs started to burn a little. 
Back to back birthdays, plus 3 major holidays back to back to back.

2 of them being at the dunes.
If I drank caffeine, this is where the Rock Stars and Red Bulls would have come in. 

He wanted to have his party at Altitude jump park. 
Easy enough.

I didn't even do a party package.
 I just paid when everyone got there.
Luckily boys don't care about the frou-frou fluffy stuff.

His friends and cousins.

Graham, Dallin, McGuire, Weston, Rusty, Trey, Collin and Cruz. 

It started off without a hitch.
Literally the second I sat down after getting all of the boys situated, I got a text from Lane. 
I had just dropped him off with friends before meeting Casey and Rusty at Altitude. 
He thought he had just broken his wrist after falling off his scooter. 

Deep breaths. 

Not only are we in the middle of his brothers birthday party,
 we were leaving for the dunes the next week!
Not much wiggle room to deal with a broken arm,
and bummer that meant no quad riding for him. 

I told him dad was on his way to get him and would
take him to urgent care for an x-ray.  

So now I'm all alone with 8 boys:)
They could have jumped for hours!

Dripping with sweat and a worked up appetite, we headed over to Raising Canes for
the next leg of the birthday party.

They got to order their own combo meals and boy howdy did they think that was awesome!
Not one chicken strip or fry went to waste. 
I was shocked!!

As we were leaving, a couple of men beckoned me over and had to ask what the situation was.
They could not figure out why a lady was alone with 8 boys, lol!

They chuckled and said I was a trooper, but complimented how well behaved they were.

I had to agree.
They made it easy with good manners and lots of thank you's.
Super impressed by them. 

I had gotten word by now that Lane indeed had fractured his wrist.

We headed to our house where they played football in the street. 

Sang happy birthday and had brownies and ice cream, per Rustys request. 

The Whitmers were so nice to have the girls this whole time.
Plus, they are basically family to us and came over to sing to him and help eat the goods!

Another night he picked BJ's for his special birthday dinner.
Mostly for the giant pazookies!

 

And it wasn't even his actual birthday yet!!

Happy Birthday to LANE!

It was Lanes birthday, and he turned 15.

I think he is my easiest child when it comes to birthdays.

He wants zero attention on him.
No singing, pictures or praise.

Just a present and he is a happy camper!

I told him he could have a party.
He mulled it over and thought maybe Race Way Speed Way with some friends would be fun.

But then they planned a church campout on that weekend and he said he would

rather just go to that and save his party for when he turned 16.
Most of his friends would be on that anyways.
I sent cinnamon rolls and birthday candles as a surprise with his leaders.

That is one of his favorite treats. 

He did request that I bring him Canes for lunch at school. 
I could manage that!

In fact, it was pretty fun going on campus and seeing the hustle and bustle of

the students.

A little PTSD was triggered, but I reminded myself I paid my dues a loooong time ago!

Here he was trying to scurry away making
sure to not be caught dead walking with his mother!

He had gifts waiting for him at home.

That smile...
He thought for SURE he wouldn't get what he asked for.
Air pod PROS! I don't even have those.
Spoiled boy!

He picked Cheesecake Factory for his special dinner.

 

He is a sweet boy.

I loved looking through his text feed and seeing lots of birthday wishes sent to him.
I know he doesn't like attention,
 but I know those good friends made him feel special.
Love that oldest boy of ours!

Work Trip

With Casey's line of work, you don't get perks of leaving town for business.

Unless it's to pour concrete up at an empty lot for a cabin somewhere. 

He has an old missionary companion friend in Utah that makes trailers.
 Casey orders his work trailers through him.

Most of the time we luck out and get the trailers delivered to AZ by someone who is coming
down anyway for one reason or the other. 

This time the farthest it could be delivered was to Las Vegas.
Casey asked if we wanted to make it a quick get-a-away to go pick it up.
  I said absolutely! 

Totally can be called a work trip, right?

We dropped the kids off at the bus for school and headed on out of town.

It's an easy 5 hour drive.

With no potty breaks for kids we were on the strip in no time at all.

We were starving, so we found a place I have wanted to try, Hash House A Go Go.

It was in the Harris hotel.

Boy does the smell of casino cigarette smoke hit ya hard!

Welcome to Vegas:)

We checked into Treasure Island and knew we needed a nap before our big night life started.
We are pathetic old people!
I can't think of the last time I fell asleep at 3pm was. It was lovely. 

Vegas was quite the happening place that weekend.
Sema car show, some big boxing fight and just our luck, the PBR!

We were on our way to the rodeo!

After it was over we decided to walk our way down the strip back to our hotel.
We popped in to the Cosmopolitan hotel for a midnight (literally) snack.
I wanted to try some pizza that was also on my list. 

It's called Secret Pizza. And for good reason.
We couldn't find it!
Probably because they purposely don't put the name of it on the wall.
It's down a secret hallway on the 3rd floor.
Hence, Secret Pizza

After some help, we located it and got in the ginormous line.
Big time late night munchies going on in Vegas!

It really did hit the spot, good pizza for sure!

 For dessert we tried some treat and ice cream and Milk that was also in the hotel.
We tossed the ice cream after 1 bite, tasted like frozen barf.
But the buttermilk pie, that was some good stuff!

We slept in and were lazy all morning.
Put our bags in the truck and headed for my most
 absolute FAVORITE thing to do while in Vegas.
Eat at the Wynn buffet!!!!!!

We died and went to food coma heaven. 
This place is just unreal. 

We walked down the strip and got some baked goods from Carlos bakery to take home to the kids.
They love watching his show on tv.

We did the High Roller at the Linq.
It's pretty cool being up so high and checking out the city from above!

Then time to pick up the trailer.
My dad has an office in Vegas.
One of his employers son in law had a big yard we were
able to keep the trailer in until we could get it. 
They were such nice people. 

Pink box donuts was also on my list.
Had to grab a couple dozen to share once we got home!

 

And we could NOT leave town without hitting up Nielsens Frozen custard!
It is pretty embarrassing how much food we bought and consumed in a short 24 hour
window of time!
But when it is our favorite ice cream, and you can't get it at home, you sacrifice:)

Gotta rub it in to some family members by sending a picture, ha!