Homeschool Recess and Good ole' Southern Life

Good Ole Southern Country Trailer Livin'

All the days I spent thinking that a big house and a fancy car meant happiness I must say were completely wasted.

I have had more fun in the past 10 days living in a trailer than I have had in a long time! We have had so much fun spending time together as a family, playing, sitting around the campfire, talking and enjoying the outdoors. We've been spoiled because we don't want daddy to have to go back to work.

The best things in life, don't cost any money and can't be measured or quantified. The best things in life are not actually things!

Can I just say: Don't ever let your husband fix anything!

I added the 'Happy Working Song' to my playlist for comedic effect as I tell you about our Broken Toilet!

As I am sitting here typing my Dear Hubby who thinks he's a fix it man, just broke our toilet! I'm not kidding, it is bona fide, true and true busted. Well, I guess I could cry or get upset but somehow I'm sitting here laughing. What can you do, those not very handy, handyman husbands [roll eyes].

So now it seems that I when I wake up every 3 hours at night to go potty I have no idea where I'm going to go, but in 30 degree weather it ain't gonna be outside!!!

I told Dave I might just sit on him to go potty to get him back for breaking my toilet. I swear if I didn't have a good sense of humor I think I might actually be having a fit.

You know what, it's not worth getting upset over, all I can do is laugh. Getting upset isn't going to fix the toilet, in fact it would just make the situation worse, so I'm just going to laugh about it and call a fix it man in the morning [Grin]

Relationships matter more than getting upset over a broken toilet. After all he was trying to fix it for me, because it wasn't filling with water like it was supposed to, but it was still usable. Now it's not even usable, I find that completely and totally hilarious. Trying to fix a still usable toilet and now it's not usable, that's a REAL fixit man. I can't help but laugh, it's so hilarious.

If you aren't appreciating your WORKING toilet right now, You should be.

Life sure has a funny way of throwing us curve balls,........ well in my case.......A LOT. Well, I wasn't actually posting today to tell you about my broken toilet, the fact that it happened while posting got me side tracked. I ran and took this photo of how he 'ATTEMPTED' to put it back together, UGH! Well, I guess it's just another bump in the road of our adventure. What can you do..

Yep, that's my not very handy, handyman hubby's toolbox. No really, I'm kidding normally he's pretty handy but he's a little bull headed in thinking that he can fix things that he really knows nothing about. Luckily I don't let him near the cars, LOL. That would be a disaster I'd have to have an even better sense of humor for.

I WAS going to post about the latest family fun we've been having in the campground. I swear there is a never ending list of fun things to do living in a campground!! It just gets better and better, well aside from the broken toilet, that's not a 'Better thing'.

I made a movie of bedtime in the trailer, Homeschool P.E. and Recess, more campfires and the kids FAVORITE......The Showers!!!

As I speak Dave is headed out to the showers to wash all the potty water off himself, Ewwwww, he stinks. That is so nasty! Oh the adventures of living in a trailer.

Okay, sorry, anyway, Here's the latest video.

Update: We are headed to a hotel, Thank Goodness. The whole dumb trailer smells like a sewer so we decided to forgo the roughin it and head for the hotel. I'm sorry but my adventure stops with pottying outside in 30 degree weather, I'm not THAT adventerous.

We're off to the hotel....wish us luck that a real fix it man can actually fix the toilet.....

Daily life of a Trailer Dweller

A Day in the Life of a Trailer Dweller

I've actually managed to continue creating recipes despite the fact that I have a tiny little fridge and virtually no counter space. I thought I'd share a photo of my Fresh Vegetable Marinara over Grilled Polenta.

I'm pretty proud of myself for continuing to cook fancy meals despite my very limited space. I made this out of whatever I could find in the fridge and cupboards, it was actually very, very good. The kids gobbled it up!!!

I've got a couple of slide shows to share with you but I thought I'd write a little about our daily 'goings on' for you.

A typical day in the trailer

Well, on Sunday it actually snowed a little here in Tennessee so we had to unhook the water from the trailer. It was a cold walk to the bathhouse for a shower and a cold walk back. I only had a few dresses and one spring skirt in the trailer for Sundays, all of which were short sleeved and short length [to the knee] So I went to church in spring shoes and a short skirt, FREEZING!!!

Much Respect for those who lived without our modern conveniences

I woke up this morning and did a workout, I actually did a great weight lifting workout: Triceps and Back today. I am doing Cathe's STS program, it is excellent. Anyway, the kids sat in the bedroom playing games, then I went out in the cold to the showers. I couldn't dry my hair because Dave had a job interview today, so I treked back to the trailer with sopping hair in the cold weather.

I immediately put the kids to work on their grammar, spelling and math while I cleaned the kitchen. Much to my dismay we had NO HOT WATER to wash the dishes with. I had a FULL countertop of dirty dishes from Sunday dinner and of coarse making cookies.

This was my first experience actually having to heat water on the stove, then pour it into the sink to wash dishes. It was time consuming. I heated water in my tea kettle, poured it into the sink, then I refilled the tea kettle and put it back on the stove to heat while I washed dishes, then when the water became luke warm I poured more hot water into the sink.

This experience gave me a lot of respect for those who lived before us without our modern conveniences. WOW, that was a lot of work just to wash some dishes.

One good thing is that there is no meat and no dairy in this house so even if the water isn't too hot we are not at risk for food poisoning issues that can be caused by not properly washing surfaces after cutting raw meat, YUCK!!!

You can't really get sick from salad that has sat out, or steamed vegetables or beans or rice so luckily that isn't an issue.

School Days in the Trailer

School has been great, in fact Camdyn has been learning his times tables with Kenzi. We sat and sang times tables songs today, then did times table flash cards so the kids will have them perfectly memorized, YAY!

Kenzi got upset because Camdyn was actually beating her to it on the flash cards, he knows a lot of his times tables and is only in 1st grade!!

We read scriptures today for awhile and the kids were very involved in it and enjoyed it a lot.

Kenzi has been doing some pre-algebra lately and she scored in the 98th percentile in Math!! I had them take a standardized test earlier this year and they did awesome in math. In fact it was a test that was supposed to determine whether they learned enough for the end of the school year but since Kenzi scored in the 98th percentile already I think she's doing pretty good!

Kenzi has been working hard on her English so hopefully she'll have equally awesome scores in English at the end of the year. I have a test scheduled for them in April or May.

Camdyn scored in the 98th percentile in math too!!

Camdyn is reading chapter books, Kenzi has been reading the Third Grade detective books and loving them.

Kenzi was enjoying her Brain Quest workbook today and did 5 pages in it.

Trailer Troubles

We have run out of gas, luckily the campground fills the tanks right on site for you, whew!!

The water line froze last night so no potty water, we were running to the bathhouse to go potty. It warmed up and thawed out, YAY! I bet you've never appreciated your toilet before.....well I must say, now I appreciate flushing toilets!!!

We have tripped breakers trying to vacuum.

Not having hot water and having to boil water on the stove to do dishes.

All in all its been an adventure, I'd have to say each of these things we found amusing. What can you do, it's where your at so you might as well enjoy the little quirks along the way.

I should NOT have done this!!!

I thought it would be fun to do a Heber Memories slide show.....stupid, stupid, stupid. After I made us all bawl our eyes out and miss our land and our horses I realized that the memories of our land and animals is still very fresh and the pain of leaving them behind a little to raw.

I thought some of you might enjoy this little movie about our Heber Valley memories.

Okay so I know what you are thinking........just move back to utah! Well life just isn't that simple. It sounds all nice but when you consider that our home in Heber is listed for $600,000 you realize that financially we cannot afford move back to where we love.

Well you say, there are cheaper areas, yes there are but consider this. Think of the one place in the world you wouldn't want to live, if I told you to live there you'd say no. Well living in a neighborhood is the one place we don't want to live, so the better option is to live in a state where there is a lot of beautiful open land where housing is cheap. We'd move back to Heber if we could buy our old house back but that's just not feasible at the time, so here we are.

I don't know where we'll end up living to be honest but I can say that the one thing that we will be doing is prayerfully making the decision, you can't argue with that.

So on to the next video..........

More campground fun!

Trailer living...White Trash or High Class?

Our First Campfire/Veggie Dog Roast

We have really enjoyed our trailer dwelling experience so far. The owner of the campground gave the kids marshmallows to roast, actually he gave them a whole smores roasting kit. Mommy doesn't approve of marshmallows but what are you going to do :-D

They roasted veggie dogs for dinner and LOVED it. I really consider veggie dogs to be junk food, So I roasted some sprouted tofu and ate a salad.



The kids and doggies enjoying the sun and their veggie dogs. Kenzi begs for campfires every single night, she loves them!!!

I am a HUGE fan of campfires but not so much in 30 degree weather, it cools off after dark. We've had some nice warm days near 60 and some colder days.

Kenzi eating her smore

Kenzi just got her hair cut at the salon with me on Tuesday. She has always hated taking a bath and getting her hair brushed so I finally decided to have her hair cut short.

It is a really cute style and she is able to brush it herself.

She now BEGS to take a shower. Kenzi and Cam LOVE the showers here, the bathrooms are private just like a hotel so they each go into their own bathroom and take a shower while Dave and I wait outside. It has been really nice to finally have her be willing to take a shower or bath without a HUGE fight.

Katie and Toby enjoying the campfire

The dogs enjoyed the nice warm fire too. Toby was exploring while Katie laid by the fire and rested. That tends to be a trend with them, Katie is always resting and Toby is always wandering around getting into trouble.

Katie and Kenzi!

At this very moment as I am posting this Kenzi is BEGGING Daddy to let Katie sleep in her bed with her tonight.

Kenzi was preparing blankets and a pillow for Katie to sleep with. It is so cute, Katie always watches everything Kenzi does, she follows her everywhere.

This is SOOOO Much better than watching t.v.

This was one of the greatest evenings we have had as a family. The kids ran around collecting wood for the fire all evening. They roasted marshmallows, ate smores, roasted veggie dogs, and Dave and I sat by the campfire and visited.

There is something about being outside enjoying the family that is almost magical. We used to watch the news before going to bed and the commercials for the shows on t.v. these days are appalling. The only show we have ever watched is American Idol, but I must say there isn't a single worthwhile show on television these days. The shows are either completely mindless, silly junk or vulgar, profane and obscene.

It is amazing how little by little we accept more vulgarity, obscenity and profanity into our lives as Hollywood sneaks it into television shows little by little. I have found that as we have avoided watching television shows for so many years, when I catch a glimpse of television while visiting someone's home I am shocked and upset by what is being shown on telelvision, including the Disney channel.

Maybe more of us need to turn to the simple things in life and give modern technology a backseat to the things that matter most in life.

Warning, Tandi is stepping up on the soapbox again...

This picture is hilarious! Both of my children are about as dramatic as they can possibly come.

The situation of living in a trailer due to financial hardship is not exactly something I would choose for myself. However, I must say the experience has been amazing none the less.

Leaving Virginia is almost like a distant memory. It was a very positive thing for our family, the high intensity of the people there can get to you very quickly. Neighbors never say hi or wave to one another, they just look the other way. Cashiers at the grocery store do not say a word to you, some cashiers at clothing stores will completely ignore you unless you ask to be checked out.

Virginians are more worried about guests taking off their shoes and using coasters, they care more about their carpet and their table than their guest. A traffic jam in D.C. looks like a Mercedes dealership. One neighbor told Dave he had lived in Virginia for 20 years and he said no one cares one iota for anyone but themselves. They worship their jobs and their money and they'd run right over you and never look back if you got in their way.

Despite the fact that I did not enjoy the arrogance, I learned a lot about what really matters in life. It really drove home the message of what happens when we forget what really matters in life and start focusing on finding happiness in money and worldly possessions.

The kids enjoyed gathering wood for the fire, in fact that's what they did the entire evening. It's really amazing to watch kids find joy in such simple things like gathering wood for a fire. It just goes to show that your happiness all depends on your mindset.

In this economy I think a lot of people are getting a BIG wake up call. When you lose everything it makes you evaluate what you put too much emphasis on. If when you lose your home you feel devastated maybe to put too much emphasis on the house and not enough on your faith, family and what really matters in life.

I found joy in the simple pleasures in life. Sitting around the campfire was very peaceful and enjoyable.

I'm grateful for the lessons I've learned from this experience. I may not have a dime to my name, or a fancy home but this experience is priceless.

I know the Lord loves me and is watching over me, I know he will bless us and we will always have what we need. I have my family and that's enough. Trailer living in my book, is high class!

New Chapter in the Family Adventure

Leaving Virginia......

Tennessee or Bust!

Our 200Ft. Caravan

So here we are, our HUGE caravan! The truck and trailer were pushing 60 ft. long, then you have the Penske truck towing the car behind it putting us at near 200 ft long! We were quite the scene on the road!!

Dave was driving our truck and trailer, the trailer was overloaded with all our junk, Aaron was kind enough to fly out and drive the Penske truck to Tennessee and then fly back home.


We could not drive over 55 miles per hour with the car in tow and the overloaded trailer so it took us 12 hours or more. We drove until 2:30am the first night UGH!!!


We said a prayer before we left and we were very blessed on this trip. The trailer was so overloaded the tires were looking low, we had to dump the fresh water tank to lessen the weight, but the trailer drove perfect anyway.


The car was held onto the trailer with only two straps around the front tires, one of the straps came completely off and the car was being held on by only one strap, luckily we checked it at one of our stops and fixed it or the car would have rolled right off on the freeway.

The next day we left by 10am and arrived in Knoxville Tennessee by 9pm. We checked into the hotel and the guys left to unload that HUGE Penske truck, just the two of them.


Kenzi woke me up at 2:37 in the morning, mom, daddy's not home and I'm scared!


I tried to call him from the hotel but I couldn't get the call to go through, it was nearing 3am and I was getting nervous, they were out in an industrial area, alone unloading a truck of valuables. Just as I was fumbling to call collect, they both walked into the hotel room, tired but safe....WHEW!

Home Sweet Home!

Find Joy in the Journey!

Here is our humble abode. I've learned a lot of things over the past few weeks, a lot of the things that we'think' are important really don't matter at all!

Big houses, Fancy cars, Expensive clothes........It's all an illusion, a distraction from what really matters in life.

Happiness cannot be bought, it cannot be found in any worldy possession. It is found in the simple things in life.

We may have dreams for ourselves and we may have plans for our life, but the Lord has His plans for us and sometimes it turns out that the Lord has different plans for us than we had for ourselves and no matter how hard we try to follow through on our dreams and plans in life we find that at every turn there is another stumbling block. We finally have to get on our knees and pray and humble ourselves to do the Lords will, not ours. It is hard sometimes because we often want things so badly, but the Lord knows what is best for us and we have to let him lead our lives.

I have learned more in the last few months as I watched our hopes and dreams fall apart. It wasn't what we had planned, it wasn't what we had hoped would happen, and yet, it happened. One thing I learned is that rather than wallow in self-pity and despair, find joy in the journey!

I'm sure we all remember the talk on finding joy in the journey, well I am living proof that we all need to find a way to think positive and no matter what is thrown our way we can make it into something positive and enjoy the journey. I can honestly say that at this very moment as I sit in this trailer, I am finding much joy in this journey, it's not what I had planned for myself, but I'm happy.

We can't control our lives, our lives are in the Lords hands and if we trust him and follow his direction we can find joy in life. I may not have a lot of money right now, I may not have a home, but I have a wonderful family, a husband that loves me, and two of the sweetest children in the world and there is nothing in this world that could bring me more joy than that!

A Walk to the Park

There is nothing more satisfying than being outside in the fresh air! Here Dave and the kids are walking to the playground. Kenzi LOVES riding her bike down the rocky roads of the campground.

Camdyn is enthralled with running. He just chugs along behind Kenzi. Toby and Katie are enjoying the great outdoors too.

Virginia seems like a distant memory, a place we were never really supposed to be. It never felt right, from the moment we signed that lease we felt uneasy but we didn't know why. Nothing felt right but as I watch the kids run through the grass and play near the river I realize, THIS IS WHO WE ARE.

We love to be outside, we love the mountains, we love being connected with nature and the natural world around us. We feel like we are finally home, where we belong......out in the country.

My main requirement in life!!!

Yes, a potty and a warm shower. Don't ever take a nice warm shower for granted. I've lived in a trailer for 6 months before during another one of Dave's BIG job changes and I didn't have more than a 5 minute warm shower for over 6 months.

This is the private baths they have at the campground. Yes, I'm THAT excited about it. After my morning workout I pack my bag with all my shower and make up goodies and head to the showers.

You might think that sounds terrible, I LOVE IT!!! Taking a beautiful walk in the crisp mountain morning air to take a shower. I listen to the birds chirping in the morning, I feel the warmth of the sun on my cheeks and I feel so much peace.

My shower is MY time to take care of me. I take a quiet shower and put on my make up and take another beautiful walk back to the trailer and I'm happy.

The Playground!

Dave and the kids are kind of in the shadows.


The kids love to ride their bikes down to the park with mommy and daddy walking behind them.

You can see the beautiful mountains in the background. We sit with the dogs while the kids play and all is right with the world.







There have been times in my life when my house or my car meant a lot to me and I couldn't imagine life without a big house or a fancy car. But......my heart has changed and the Lord has taught me many things since then.

Sometimes we put too much emphasis on temporal things in life and we forget what really matters. Don't get me wrong, I love the modern conveniences we enjoy, I like nice cars and I aspire to have a nice home again someday, but those things are not the most important to me anymore.

I'm happy where I am, I'm happy with what I have and I'm thankful that the Lord has watched over and protected us in all our Journeys.

• We have visited 19 states in 9 months
• We lived near our nations capital for 7 months
• We visited the monuments, museums, Arlington Cemetary and Mt. Vernon
• We saw the Liberty Bell
• We saw where the Declaration of Independence was signed
• Daddy attended a top 20 law school and got 1 A and 2 B+'s

We were very blessed to have the opportunities and experiences that we've had over the last 9 months and we wouldn't trade them for anything.

We wanted Dave to be able to attend law school and get his degree, and maybe someday he will but for now we are happy and content that the Lord has led us to where we should be. I'm sitting here in the trailer as the dogs snore behind me and Dave and the kids are at the campground laundromat and I just feel happy and very blessed.

We had a lot of family drama over us moving to Tennessee but we have to do what we feel is right for our family and we are enjoying every minute of it.

Watch the video of our experiences living in the Campground. It's been AMAZING!!

Not on a soapbox

Stepping off my soapbox and posting some more family pics!


Okay so I'm off my soapbox now and back to posting about the family lunacy around here. I LOVE this picture, daddy, cam and katie sleeping on the couch. Kenzi constantly has Katie on the bed, couch or anywhere wrapped in blankets so now Katie thinks she always needs to be snuggled up with us, it's a little hard though with an 80 pound dog that thinks she's a lap dog!!

Kenzi loves Katie!!! Katie follows Kenzi everywhere, she even lets Kenzi lay on her while she does her homework. It is the cutest thing ever!!! I don't know if you can see but the card Kenzi is holding up says:

"Dog Tired, Taking A Nap"


This is a VERY typical picture in our house, yes there is dog hair in my bed too because Kenzi loves to do homework on the bed with Katie...UGH!

We love our furry family members, and yes they are spoiled.





A Day in the life of a Homeschooler!


Okay so you thought school had to be in a classroom......NOPE!!!
School is on mommy and daddy's bed in pajamas!!! Bet you never got to do that :-P

You can see Cam studying his little brains out, while Kenzi is posing for the camera.....Katie laid there the whole time they did homework, all wrapped up and cozy getting dog hair in MY bed!


Well we can't leave out Cam and Toby, Tobs as we affectionately call him is a big huge pill, he LOVES to bark if he is on the main floor and nobody is down there with him. He also likes to relieve himself by marking his peoples clothes and blankets so he has to be tied to someone at all times or tied to the chair downstairs so he can't wander off. He is a tough cookie but your heart just melts when he jumps in your lap and snuggles!


Okay, so I said family lunacy. We are a family of lunes I swear. So we move to the D.C. area for daddy to go to law school, run out of money, Daddy gets an A and 2 B+'s almost unheard of in Law School and we have to leave, hence the boxes in the hallway. We are now heading out in a trailer to who knows where, anywhere daddy can get a job!!!

We are leaving for Knoxville, TN and hoping for the best. I know we're crazy but we've grown fond of our adventures.


Daddy's last visit to GWU Law School!

****We are now taking donations if anyone has $400,000 hey'd like to donate we can actually pay the $200,000 in tuition and live so daddy can go to school!

I'll post more pics of daddy's last day at the law school next time......