We have arrived.

Yes, we're in Iowa.

Yes, we LOVE it.

Yes, it's different.
But different is good.

Lindsey was kind enough to voluntarily make the drive from Chattanooga to Davenport to save the sanity of the Hodgens. We managed to sneak some local activities in amongst the unpacking, organizing and painting.

Iowa is...

proud of their pork. Bacon scented candles are just wrong. But the bacon band aids were tempting.

Yes, those are cinnamon rolls the size of your head.

The Midwest is the best.
John Deer is next to our chapel. Adam's in heaven and must sit upon every tractor he crosses.

I've lost count of how much corn we've consumed.

Let's just say that we're not tired of peaches and cream corn.

(the secret is to boil it in half milk/half water with a pinch of sugar and no more than 3 minutes! - straight from the locals, I swear!)

I hate the smell of card board. In typical Hodgen moving tradition, it down poured while loading up , thus leaving the heavy scent of wet cardboard on all items in a box, in essence - everything! My only creative outlet was the freedom to pick paint colors for the kids rooms....which was a first for me. Not quite as easy as anticipated. After 3 sample colors, Lindsey and I set up a lab and got to mix'n, painted a piece of cardboard, marched to Lowe's determined that this was it and they matched our home brew perfectly. I believe we went with the blue farthest to the right.

Painting took a wee bit longer than we had budgeted, but in the end there was pride in our crisp corners. Not that Adam, in his two year old flurry of activity, will ever care or appreciate. But I'm happy....and when Mama's happy....

The green, if you were wondering, is Benjamin Moore Dill Pickle. Love it!

Sadly, Lindsey left us and we're still unpacking, organizing, and cleaning. But we have taken a momentary pause from the chaos to enjoy activities ranging from the local farmer's market to a road race called the Bix7. Steve scored some pity VIP tix (a coworker was driving them to a meeting, barely missed killing Steve and felt a kinda bad) so while 15,000 people were doing this
We were staying dry in a tent stuffing our faces with orange ricotta crepes and ham (remember, pride in pork).

Ugh, I don't want to post this pic, but it was all I had. Please note that I had walked blocks in the pouring rain and discovered that my hair can resemble a french poodle.

Shannon's ticked because she requested copious amounts of eggs (while refusing to do a taste test to determine if she might actually like them), discovered they were yucky, requested a muffin, and was refused until she ate her eggs.

We managed to drag our lazy bums 5 feet outside the tent into the rain to see the Olympians cross the finish line and regret that 7th crepe I had eaten. Adam sat upon Steve shoulders, mainly to keep him from running away, and became a favorite of the camera man, thus making his first TV appearance in Iowa. We're just hoping the camera didn't catch our frustrated faces as our 2 year old had meltdown after meltdown. He's not a fan of rain.

But he is a fan of balloons, which I hate because they are everywhere. Especially at road races and since we were VIP, and VIPs are always right, I took some from the tent to quiet my toddler. You can see how wet they, and the kids, became.

Ok, that's all I have to give now. I took on a project, painting Shannon's room, that I'm in WAY over my head. High probability I'm going to hate it, but I gotta give it a try. We miss you!

Channeling my inner 12 year old

2 post in a row about me...what is this world coming to? (fear not, many many post of kids shortly to come)

First an foremost, all camp directs get a one way ticket to Heaven. Amen! A moment of silence for them. Amber, you are a saint.

Saint Amber and Me

Second, I never thought I'd spend my 9th anniversary at Girls camp or with Steve in Iowa for that matter. But none the less, the stars aligned and I found myself as the camp nurse to 90 Young Women recently.

One word. Hot.

No, two words, Flamin' HOT.

*A special note for all who attend girls camp in the future...the nurse has 1st class accommodations all the way. Air conditioned room, in shower suite, steps from the pantry, no duties but to nurture, etc. So least you've started feeling too sorry for me, you can stop now and save your energy.

I had been warned that my inner 12 year old girl would emerge. Maybe it's the whole "when in Rome..." syndrome or possibly mob mentality, but somewhere along the way I found my hair in pigtail braids, no make-up, a dew rag like bandanna on my head, prepubescent breakouts, a desire to jump in a lake, eating 5 midnight milky way mini's just before dinner (OK, maybe that wasn't a stretch from the Melissa we now know), making crafty necklaces out of bottle caps, etc. I regressed so far as to forget I had two young children at home and shimmied up a 20 ft ropes course, down a zip line, learned how to belay, and repelled down a 40 ft tower on more than one occasion.

Yes, this harness does make my butt look big, but very few escape it's wrath.

But it's all fun and games, until somebody gets hurt. Sure we started off with the mellow dehydration, heat exhaustion, and ticks. But as camp progressed, so did the injuries. Multiple instances of bee's being trapped beneath flip flops, head injuries from climbing mossy waterfalls (really, you didn't see that one coming?)

This is my "seriously guys" look and Amber's "monitor and adjust" look

but my favorite....glow stick juice to the eye. Unfortunately most of these injuries occurred during free time or after sunset, which meant I was actively treating until 1 am and my walkie talkie was always on.

The weirdest instance of all...me having a fabulous time! Aside from the constant sweat and lack of sleep, I came away rejuvenated from having a chance to use my nursing skills and tons of girl talk.

Check out my mad pancake flippin' skills.

This griddle will one day grace my kitchen.

Please note the fly strip hanging over my shoulder to the right...note all the millions of black flies.

You got used to them, sort of.

I do have one suggestion for next year...it's a month called OCTOBER!

Melissa's 30 birthday revisited

Remember 3 months ago when I blogged...More from Mexico soon...notice that it never happened?

My life has been a series of better late than never most recently, so humor me because I couldn't let one of the most fabulous weeks of my life pass without recognition.

Mexico City...here's' to you.

Anthropology Museum
I am my father's child.

I want to read every inscription, watch every video, and sit and absorb the history.

But I'm cheap and time never permits, so Dana and I split a head set and while one tuned in, the other read any English plaque available.
Noelle, who was pregnant and had been here 113 times, took a nap outside and worked on her tan.

Behold, the bowl that human organs were tossed into after sacrifices and mashed for chiefs to drink. The Aztecs REALLY should have read the Book of Mormon. Dana and I noted lots of...what's the word...hostility, throughout the museum. Pretty soon, it started affecting us.Just happened to be March 17th and even though I was far from my Irish husband, I still had to give a shout out to his, and my children's, heritage by wearing my I (green 4 leaf clover) Ireland t shirt. and accessorize with my golden flip flops that complimented my first pedicure ever. Note the color I chose shortly before departing for Mexico...Senorita Rosacita.After so much history we had to introduce Dana to the MOST DELICIOUS CHIX QUESADILLA'S EVER! First we had to push through the crowd of police men, then fight for the best table, I mean seats, on the street corner. 1st class all the way.
Teotihuacan
Took me 10 minutes to learn how to say it, but in English it means the pyramids of the Sun and Moon.
Because it was my birthday trip, the weather provided us a very authentic day, complete with a blazing sun and cloudless day. I soon labeled the day "Under the Aztec Sun"So we all laced up our Nike's, layered on SPF 70, slid on the shades and got to climbing. We made the pregnant one carry the backpack of water. We started climbing (it was mega steep) until a little security guard directed us to the stairs.Somewhere along the way the fear of this....conjured up some major nausea in Stacy and she bailed out.

The view from the Sun pyramid was amazing even half way up.Dana and I finally hit the summit of the Sun, just in time to take this pic of the moon in the background and meet a group of teens from Iowa. I liked them until they told me it was 25 degrees in Iowa and snowing. Teenagers are such downers. But they couldn't kill my spirit too long because I WAS IN MEXICO CLIMBING ANCIENT PYRAMIDS! Wahooo.
(don't judge me Melanie, the air was thin up there and I hadn't changed a poopy diaper in days. A little celebration was in the cards) on the way down we met back up with Stacy and Noelle ...

and things got a little tribal. Yes, I was the instigator or all things cheezy, but if you're going to walk like an Egyptian, it might as well be on a pyramid. Right?

What can I say, I was inspired by the environment. Very organic.
I climbed the pyramid of the moon alone. Had a few moments to myself to marvel at my surroundings, but not too long as I soon felt dizzy from the effects of dehydration, altitude, and heat. I loved it...so authentic!That afternoon would bring a insane ride through the city with Victor in an attempt to reach the pewter store after I experience the flip side of buyers remorse...need more pewter remorse, which included getting lost in some areas that my native Mexico City driver described as scary and driving backwards, through traffic, on a 3 lane highway. Later that night included another stop at the quesadillas stand and a movie at the VIP theater (think leather recliners and waiters bringing you Ben and Jerry's while your attempt to not fall asleep after a day of climbing pyramids and surviving Mexico taxi rides).

Taxco - My Birthday

My final day in Mexico began with a 2 hour drive to a city reminiscent of an Italian coastal city. It's spelled Taxco but sounds like Costco (just by it's name, I knew it would be fabulous). After passing many flower stands in the middle of no where (oh how I wish US customs would allow plants across the border...my arms would have been filled with roses that cost $3 a dozen) and a roaming donkey or two, we descended back into the insanity/traffic that can only be found in a Mexican city.Now I've never been claustrophobic before, but this city almost pushed me over the edge. Walls of silver and walls of people. I needed one of those monkey backpacks for Noelle to hold the leash so we didn't separated. Roaming fees made cellphones obsolete. After hours of searching and heckling, I had hit my wall, reached my max, found my limit and sat down for some birthday flan at this beautiful roof top restaurant in the piatsa.
This is my "I'm 30. I'm tired. I miss my babies. I miss English. I miss public bathrooms with toilets that have lids and you don't have to pay 3 pesos for 2 squares of toilet paper. I miss brushing my teeth with faucet water" face.

The flight home will not be mentioned as it takes away from the utopia of the trip. Let's just say the word "Delta" conjures up vicious/malicious memories that I chose to never revisit and will not journal about so that memories of that trip home will be lost from history/die with me.

Thank you Noelle, Dana, and Stacy for a week I'll never forget.
Can't wait to see what trouble we get into next time.

Just what I needed

No, I'm not dead. Just mentally. The last few weeks have been bananas and I'll slowly update you post by post. But for now, a short list will have to do for ya.

Visited my new state of Iowa - check
Found a house - check
Went to the beach - check
Packed and cleaned every inch of Birmingham - check
Said goodbye to my husband for 6 plus weeks - check
Took a nap in Chattanooga - check
There, you now know that the past few weeks were in fact...bananas.

But in the midst of all the bananas, I had a few moments of rejuvenation, one being a going away girls get together which proved to be just what I need to keep me going and remind me that you never really say goodbye to true friends.

Heaven is a crepe made by Chelsea...my PIC...partner in culinary.

1st take a moment to appreciate the sheer talent.Second...attack!3rd Savor.Yes, they were that good.

And after you've filled your belly's with french goodness, take a few hours to laugh 'til you cry with the finest ladies Alabama has to offer. Sweet Home Alabama!

Rosemary's Babies

Catching up on vitamin D down at Rosemary Beach on 30A.

Today I really was going to get into the ocean until I caught this fellow just off shore.

Kill joy.

That is a 10 pound jellyfish, I swear. It took me three trips hauling it out of the ocean.

I wish Adam was willing to keep these on because I would have bought them instantly.

More from the gulf later.

An entertaining form of curing diaper rash

It's just more fun this way...

Multi tasking is the name of the game.

Time outdoors - check

Running off excess energy - check

Air on bum - check

Making mom laugh AND be grateful for a privacy fence- check

It's a win win situation.

Adventures in Gastrointestinal Contamination

Aka Food Poisoning

No, this is not a post about Mexico. Mexico was very kind to me in the culinary department.

Last night I woke up to darkness and the sounds of Shannon vomiting on the freshly steamed clean carpet. Always gotta run to mom and pass the toilet on the way.

1st thought - Ewww

2nd thought - I guess we aren't going to church in a few hours.

3rd thought - Wahoo. Do you know how much I can accomplish with Adam in nursery? Thank you notes, angry letters to Delta, moping, oh and scripture study.

I forgot that Heavenly Father can read thoughts.

During my 3rd clean up a mere 2 hours later, my knees went weak, head dizzy, stomach churning. Dropped the clean sheets, ran to Steve, gave him a 3 second synopsis of current events and ran to the bathroom for one of many trips to cleanse my body of food poisoning from one of my favorite restaurants who had given me a free birthday entree.

No, no Mexican gas station quesadilla stand with a senorita flattening dough with her bare hands,nor the tamale street cart, nor this guy smearing sun warmed mayo and cheese on corn plucked from that dirty bucket, nor the fruit vendor lady slicing figs with her pocket knifenor Mexico's finer eating establishements, like Thai Gardens with valet parking and a tasters menu to die for

Look at how grown up I look. I was attempting to look like the 30 year old I would soon be but really this pic was taken in between laughing so hard my side hurt and realizing that we were the loudest people in the fancy shmancy restaurant. I was just too excited about the food to care.

...nothing in Mexico gave me food poisoning, just your standard American FDA regulated restaurant.

My life makes NO sense.

ok maybe this was a little about Mexico