I am in a new town! It has been a long time since we have parked somewhere that we have not been to before. I am in the northeastern part of Iowa in a beautiful small town, Decorah. It is only the four of us here. We are hiring an Iowa temp to help us with some administration work for the next several weeks of classes. Cathy is teaming up with our friend Dannie and Ryan to teach all across the mid and west parts of Iowa. Richard will teach several cities along the eastern Iowa border. It is an amazing seminar schedule. I hope Cathy and Richard can talk for that many hours! It is a very good thing they love what they teach!

While I have been away we have had several changes! Richard went to Colorado to be a STUDENT for a week! He had a great time and learned a lot of valuable information. Cathy and Dannie came up to teach while he was away. It was a nice change to have new people in the RV. Mixing it up a bit for the kids and I. But I was ready for Richard to be home. It was a tough week because I put Levi through a major life change. The morning after Richard left, I decided it was time to give up the pacifier, cold turkey! I researched best techniques and felt strength in reading over and over again that after a couple of days they will move on. Well, THAT IS NOT TRUE!  Going to sleep was the hardest because that was the only time I always allowed the pacifier. The first night he had the worst tantrum EVER! He kicked and screamed and attacked me. I almost gave in. In fact I was standing up to go get them (no, I wasn’t brave enough to throw them away) when he flung himself to his pillow and passed out! Oh thank goodness, he had almost won that battle. This win gave me courage to fight the many mini-battles that laid ahead of me all week. It has now been 8 days and he still asks me for it at least 3 times a day. Google researched LIED!! But, he has done it. I will win this war. I’m proud of him (and myself) for sticking to it. My story to him is that the baby dinosaurs needed the pacifiers. Actually, I tried telling him that younger BABIES needed them but he told me it was the baby dinosaurs. Okay, whatever makes him more agreeable? I was hoping this would also make him less in love with dinosaurs, you know since they stole his pacifiers and all. But, no, that is not what happened. He is still completely obsessed with all things dinosaur.

Because of the love of dinosaurs in my house, I found a traveling Dinosaur Exhibit in Davenport, IA and took the kids one day. It was really great! The sounds matched the motion of these huge creatures perfectly. I was secretly hoping it would scare Levi a little so that his obsession would begin to fade. That plan did not work in my favor. He really enjoyed it and so did Piper. I was concerned for her because she doesn’t like anything “scary”. Not even the villain in a Dora cartoon! She had no problem with the huge dinosaurs roaring at her. What is with kids and loving these things so much!

Dinosaurs!

I met a friend on the playground! I sit at MANY playgrounds all over Iowa and have never met a new friend at one until this week. We had lovely conversations while our kids played at the RV park playground all weekend. It was sad to see them leave but life on the road is full of passing happy moments.

Richard picked many pounds of peaches while in Colorado so I am going to be making a couple peach desserts this week. I may only get 1 dessert in because Levi will eat about 4 or 5 peaches for one snack! He LOVES them!

We went to the Iowa State Fair last week. What a huge event! We had a great time seeing all the many things there was to see. At the end of the day, I got to hear a few songs from Boyz II Men! Memories!!

First prize Pumpkin! 933 lbs

Tons of livestock to see!

Here in Decorah, we were invited to check out the local clay art studio. The lady we are working with here in this town volunteers at the studio and showed us a great time! The kids loved doing this kind of art. I will be searching these studios out more in the future. I know we have one in Austin. I’m happy to know my kids are finally old enough to go to places like this. They each painted an already made piece. Piper painted a unicorn and Levi painted a dinosaur, of course! Then they were given a pound of clay to mold as they wish. With Daddy’s help, they made so many great things! An ice cream bouquet, little bowls, a sandwich and a soccer ball! What fun!

Now we have to wait for the kiln to complete the project!

I am so happy to say that right now Richard is teaching a new course here in Iowa. It is a Fire Safety course! SolPowerPeople will be teaching to firemen everywhere about what actions to take when they encounter solar modules while facing a fire. This is so dear to my heart as my Grandpa and many of my uncles have been a part of volunteer firehouses for as long as I can remember. I’m happy this course is out there and I am proud that it was written by my loved ones!

I have not posted anything about food in a very long time, so here are some of my new favorite dishes!

Tomato & Tamarind soup – This soup is so yummy! We top it with avocado and nutritional yeast. My kids call nutritional yeast “popcorn cheese”. Because they think it is cheese, they request it on everything! I highly recommend getting some of this yummy topping.

Broccoli and Cheeze soup – I have been on a soup craze because the kids and I have been fighting some kind of sinus yuck. So, more soup! I love this one!

Cashew Veggie sauce – Put this over any grain. The cashew is my favorite nut. Having it in a sauce? Who knew it could be so good!

Fideo – We omit the chicken and it still taste delicious. Kids would eat this for days! Topped with “popcorn cheese” of course!

Sauteed Pineapple with Honey – Great dessert. Omit the rum for the kids!

And my favorite made up dessert:

Sarah is in town with us and she has been doing a lot of cooking. I am LOVING the break. I love to cook, but I love even more to learn and watch someone else cook. She has taught me an amazing Pad Thai! Also, yesterday she made us Migas and I could have eaten that for every meal. I will need to write down everything she did so I don’t forget and then I will share with all of you. Sarah is a meat eater but told us last night that we could host someone going into a vegetarian diet and make it so easy for them. She says she has not missed meat at all!

Picture Time!!

We were teaching in Dubuque and met some great new friends and really enjoyed the town. Here is a picture of a Barge coming into a Lock and Dam. Richard was a Tankerman for several years and worked on these barges. I loved hearing his narrative about the process of getting through the Dam.

Eagle Point Park

The kids LOVE Sarah!

Expo work day with Solar Planet. We have good friends in Dubuque, IA!

Solar Planet and SolPowerPeople

Piper can write the entire Alphabet now!

Piper husking corn.

She was so serious about this job!

Levi may be getting bigger but I still want to pinch those cheeks!

Last week held many first times for us. After many years of driving though Sioux City on my way to South Dakota, I finally went to the top of the hill right off the highway to discover what that damn obelisk was! If you are heading north through Sioux City this tower looks down upon you from the east. It is beautiful and I have always wanted to see it up close. Finally, I have. It is a memorial site for Sgt. Floyd. He traveled with Lewis and Clark until appendicitis ended his life in the now Sioux City area.  The picture below is now my new all time favorite. I know it is hard to see, but this is Piper “reading” to Levi at the memorial site. Levi looked so interested with his head tilted to the side, really soaking up the information his sister was reciting for him. Man, I love those kids!

Piper and Levi

The obelisk was just as wonderful up close as it had been all those years from the highway.

The next big new first for me was the YMCA. We joined the gym after finding out that most of the locations in the nation have an “Away Program”. That means we paid for our membership in Bastrop, TX but can visit any location a select number of times during each month or year depending on the gym’s rules. So, 3 times last week, I got on actual work out equipment and worked out!! I know! CRAZY! I won’t say I liked it. But, I do feel better about at least trying to be healthier. What I really like is the 2 hours a day daycare the Y has. All three days, Richard and I dropped the kids off at the “playroom” and the kids loved it! Even better, Richard and I worked out together and then went into steam rooms, saunas and hot tubes together, alone…like completely by ourselves, free of children! How wonderful! I love that the kids are enjoying the time there. It makes me able to relax and be without them. It is also good for my first daycare experience to be in the same building as I am. I will not admit to you how many times I walked over to the big window to spy on them! Guess what? They NEVER missed me!

The YMCA also had an indoor kid pool that we took the kids to everyday after our workout. Levi is doing so well in the water. He puts his head all the way under and looks up at us, from under the water and smiles! He is such a fish. Piper, still not so much. We will keep working on it. Levi is a very good example of water bravery. She will catch on eventually.

Today, Sarah is coming in to join us from Texas! I am very excited to see her. She will be staying with us in the RV for several weeks! I get to cook for someone other then Richard again!! I have some yummy recipes to post but for now, I must get ready for my house guest. Stay tuned, the recipe I’m going to share is a tomato soup that Piper has requested several times!

We are leaving tomorrow morning for Estelline, SD! I am happy to be seeing my family over the 4th of July. I must admit, if I don’t do something fun for the 4th, I get depressed. More depressed than an uneventful Christmas or New Years. Any holiday but the 4th can be boring. I have a lifetime of family good time memories wrapped up into this month. My moms birthday is July 4th. As a child I thought everyone put on the BEST birthday party all for my mom! I was amazed at how cool she was. I’m still amazed at how cool she is. I don’t need to whole nation to celebrate her birthday to know that I have the best mom EVER! Even though I will not be spending moms birthday with her, I will still be with my South Dakota family and I am so thankful for that.

After the holiday, we are doing another round of teaching all across Iowa. We are now booked solid with classes until the first week of September. That feels like such success as a company. I am so proud of what we are creating!

Richards birthday was this Saturday. We had a great day. Working from home with many kid play breaks. I made my first Vegan Dessert. A chocolate torte and it was delightful!

Lots of packing and prepping to do! I hope everyone enjoys this week. It is my favorite time of year! Happy 4th to you all!!!!

My how time flies! My latest reason for not writing is again another internet problem. This time, a story to go along with it. There was a thunderstorm here in Newton, IA last Wednesday night. At around 11pm, I thought our RV was struck by lightening. We were almost asleep and Richard and I both jumped awake. I can’t believe the kids slept through this! We both felt like we had been hit in the chest. Our electricity was still on, so we knew we hadn’t actually been hit. I looked outside to see if anyone’s RV was on fire or something. The next day, Ryan said he was awake and on the internet at the time of the strike. He walked outside to see if there was a fire or damage anywhere near. There wasn’t any but when he went back into his RV, the internet didn’t work. The park owner has been working hard to get everything up and running again. Also, this past weekend, the KOA Kampground we are staying at was sold out because of a race at the Iowa Speedway that is right across the highway from us. So I was trying to help Wayne, the park owner, letting him know when the wifi was working and when it wasn’t. But with everyone in the park running off the wifi we couldn’t tell if it was bad signal or just being used by everyone. In the end, the park cleared out and all is well in cyber world again. We could hear the race all weekend. It was very cool. And on Saturday night we watched the firework display from our front window! The fireworks were at 11:30 at night so the kids missed it. I wanted to wake them so badly but of course, my golden rule: NEVER wake a sleeping child!! We figured that after the fireworks, the race was over. NO, they finished just after 12:30am! That was…not very cool. So needless to say, things have been very entertaining here lately!

Richard worked on Father’s Day so we went to Adventureland TOGETHER on Monday! Oh my, it was so much fun to have Daddy there! The water section was open so we were able to enjoy that this time instead of just the rides.

Adventureland!

We are working very hard on Piper’s fear of water. She loves to be in water. She just hates to be splashed by water. I can’t blame her, I’m the same way! There is a pool here at the KOA and we are trying to get her into the water everyday even if for only a short time. It is working too. Last night I had her putting part of her face in the water and blowing bubbles! Levi frankly freaks me out around water. He has no fear. In fact, he was on the edge of the pool and Richard was less than 10 feet away when Levi decided to just jump in! Richard got to him, pulled him up and he was all smiles while coughing up water. It is wonderful that he was fine and was not scared by the incident but that means he will do it again because he enjoyed it!

Ryan and Cathy left us to head back to Austin Sunday night. The Stovalls are now lone rangers out here! I’m so happy they get to go home to their families. I will miss them. The kids will miss them. But this too we shall survive! I am researching drop in day cares around the Iowa area. I think the Council Bluffs day care experience was really great for them and me!

We will be traveling all over Iowa again a good part of July. I don’t know the schedule yet but when we have something concrete, I have bookmarked several summer camp ideas for Piper in the Des Moines area. She has now informed me that she needs to be in a ballet class and maybe gymnastics and yoga too. But for sure, ballet. She doesn’t really walk around the RV anymore, she dances everywhere!

We are still doing the vegetarian thing too. I am doing fine with it and loving the food and recipe research this is allowing me to do. The only hard part of eating healthy is that we are fast food candidates. We are busy, on the road and trying to eat cheap. It is hard to order anything healthy at a fast food joint. The convenience of drive thru food really is a killer to the average American. Such a drag but oh so true!

Hope everyone is loving the summer! The summer temperatures in Iowa are awesome compared to Texas!

Forgive me for my lack of writing. I’m reminded of a comment a friend of mine would say when you came into her house. “Excuse the mess, I live here.” I can not write as much as I would like because I’m too busy living the life I want to write about!

First, my Piper story. We were in Burlington, IA parked in a casino parking lot for the day. The casino had an indoor/outdoor water park attached to it. I took the kids in to the toddler section. They were so excited to jump into the knee deep water, I could hardly get their shoes off. In the center of the shallow water, there was a huge playground area. I was planning on getting hardly wet in this little pool but I did take my sundress off and escort them into the water. We were holding hands and walking up to the very first tiny water fountain. As we were all reaching out to touch our first bit of water for the day, a HUGE bucket of water from up above had reached its tipping point. It poured all over us! We were in the front and center target for this bucket. We were completely drenched and almost knocked over. Levi was loving it. Piper was so mad and startled, it ruined the rest of her day. She sat on the sidewall watching the bucket fill and dump with fear. The poor thing! My children change personalities in the water. Levi puts his whole face directly onto the shooting fountains. While Piper freaks out about every drop that falls past her forehead. This happened almost 2 weeks ago and she still randomly declares her dislike for water buckets.

Fairfield, Ia – I love Fairfield but sometimes being in such a healthy location has its drawbacks. We are traveling all across Iowa doing these seminars. I have found that ordering sandwiches from HyVee is the easiest way to cater lunch. Well, in Fairfield we knew we would run into some vegetarians so along with my sandwiches, I cleaned out my fridge of all our fruit and served whole fruit and a huge mixed berries bowl. We always serve single bags of chips and cookies too. Everyone seemed happy with the food laid out before them except for one guy in particular. This is Ryan’s story, I was not there. This guy points to the tray of almost gone sandwiches, to the roast beef sandwich in particular and says “What is that?” Ryan says “Looks like beef.” The guy says “Why would you bring THAT here?” Ryan replies “To feed all the other people that ate the other ones, I guess!” Gotta love that! If someone were to put me on the spot like that, I would have stuttered an “I don’t know…” or something. I love the energy of this kind of town. I wish that with all the healthy, love life euphoria that happens in places like these, we didn’t also have to endure the judgments of others. I find this often while traveling. Why not allow everyone to be on a their own journey? Why judge who is next to you? I just don’t get it… Doesn’t stop me from wanting to go back to Fairfield! Love that place!

To make things even more interesting of late, we watched a movie called Forks over Knives. It is a very depressing, scary and informative movie about our American diet and is trying to show the benefits of a “plant based diet.” That means vegan but they don’t want to scare anyone with such words. Richard and Ryan are convinced they want to be at least vegetarian now, leaning heavily towards vegan. That changes my cooking plans! I have found some very yummy dishes this past week. If you wanted to make any of these as a side to your slab of meat, I think that would work just fine!

Recipe for Southwestern Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Cilantro

Sweet Potato with Tomatoey Beans

Ethiopian Cabbage Dish

Also, I have found a love for bean tacos.

The guys have quit eating cheese too. I’m not that brave yet so I still put a little Monterrey Jack cheese on my taco. You can serve this warm, room temperature or cold.

I must get back to work now. Here are some pictures of the kids, just because!

Sweet Levi

First time bowling

Posing by the Mississippi River

SolPowerPeople workers!

I have to say, I’m so proud of my kids. We have moved to new places everyday for weeks now. With the dolly being ditched in New Mexico, I now drive the van with the kids and Richard drives the RV by himself. All of the trips between towns are under 2 hours. But still, day after day in the car seat every morning, they are being really great about the whole thing. Tonight we are in a small town in between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. We get to stay here for 4 nights! SolPowerPeople will be presenting at the Iowa i-Renew Expo this weekend.

I am not at my best because most of Iowa is not AT&T friendly. I don’t have good internet or cell phone service most of the time. It has been very hard to stay on top of all the bookkeeping and personal affairs without constant technology! I have a funny water/Piper story for next time. I just wanted to check in and let everyone know, I’m still here or there…or everywhere!

Yes Mom! I was waiting to see if anyone was reading my blog before I posted again! Just kidding, but thank you for the comment on my last post.

Our company has been asked to do a major task and it has consumed every moment of everyday this week. We will be going to 12 different cities all over Iowa in just over 2 weeks time. Teaching 3 different Solar PV short courses in every town! We will start on May 22nd. We had already planned a trip to South Dakota over Memorial Day Weekend so thank goodness we will get a break from this madness. Then it’s off and running to all these locations starting May 30 and ending one day before they start 2 back to back 40 hour courses at the I-GREEN center again. WHEW! It is going to be crazy fun and exhausting for these guys. I’m happy my only job is researching each city. We need to find 1. Places to stay, 2. Two different places to teach because our courses are geared towards two different audiences and 3. Find food to serve at each location. Yeah, that is what I have been doing!

My poor kids have been getting so little attention and outdoor time. I feel terrible about it and we are not getting along very well because they are bored and I am busy or exhausted. This has not been the best week for us.

I did find time to make one dessert with the kids. Homemade Snickers. Yes they do taste as good as that sounds. Here’s my picture:

Homemade Snickers

Richard was teaching for 10 hours on Mothers Day but the Learning Center had a BBQ at lunch hour so we went up and spent lunch together. I am planning on sending this gooey delicious treat with him to work as a thank you gift for hosting a meal for us.

One night this week, we went walking around a lake in downtown Des Moines. It was a lovely and much needed break from the computer screen. Piper and Levi were acting like super hero’s and all along this bridge we crossed over, Piper would stop and yell very loudly “I’m Piper the Super Hero. I’m here to save the planet!” Where do they come up with these things? Too cute! here’s a picture of the two of them posing as “The Hero’s”.

My Hero's

I decided to get a season pass to Adventureland.  The kids get in for free at their young age and with the pass I get admission and free parking. This park is only a few miles away and after Memorial weekend, the water park portion will be open too! I think this will be my home away from home in June. And if Iowa keeps going so well with work, I may be sick of Adventureland by the end of July!

Adventureland!

We went to check it out this past weekend. I put my brave boots on and went by myself with both kids. I am realizing that although some things are very hard, I can survive any activity with these two. However, it would be a much more enjoyable experience if Richard could take a day off work and go with me. I figure I’ll get him there eventually. He really wants to go, just so busy with work right now.

I am grateful for the successful work schedule. It is not always the case with new businesses to be as lucky as we are. I do believe our success is the direct result of how much we believe in what we are doing and our product. When you do what you love and love what you are sharing to the world, it just feels good. But it does help that we have met some really supportive people here in Iowa. We are teaming up with The I-GREEN center in Newton, IA. Not only do they have the same renewable goals as we do, they are just such NICE people!

So Cathy and Ryan are on a health kick for the month. I’m very happy for them because they say they are feeling good and enjoying working out and eating better. BUT I have lost my dinner guest. Don’t get me wrong, I love to cook for just my family but I really like to make desserts. And most recipes should not only be eaten by a family of four. Especially two toddlers and Richard and I because unfortunately, we WILL eat that dessert! We have such a sweet tooth. We watch movies at night and give the kids popcorn in the back bedroom with their movie and we eat sweets up in the front of the RV and hide it when they come near us. Well, at least I’m trying to save them from our bad habits! The other night I made this really yummy, very easy “chicken slop“. I made it once before in Santa Fe but I don’t think I posted the recipe here. I top this crock pot chicken slop over rice and it is the best comfort food ever. Unfortunately, without my dinner guest, Richard and I ate this meal several times this week. It is a good thing we liked it so much.

I have been researching some RV remodeling ideas (carpet removal and dining area up do) lately. While surfing around for some ideas, I found the Janssen family who traveled for several years in the same RV as we have and they added a veggie oil tank to run off of. That was interesting. What was even more interesting was a family they met while in a campground that was a couple traveling with their 11 kids! After reading the Ticknor story, I will no longer EVER feel like my RV is too small for us 4. It did still keep me inspired to remodel this place if I feel the need to. Sometimes I feel held back by the idea of the resale value once I’ve changed it to meet our needs better. After reading a few full time traveling blogs, I realize how important it can be to make a place your own no matter what that does to the future value. On that note…off to research some more!

We have been so wrapped up in living this great life, I can’t seem to keep up with this blog! Here is a group of photos to show what we are up to.

Face Painting while in Fairfield, IA

This was such a cute picture of the kids. I can’t believe I forgot to post it while blogging about Fairfield. This is the first time for face painting and they did a great job! I wasn’t worried about Piper sitting still but I did pick a tiny picture for Levi just in case he hated it. Of course, he sat so still and loved having it on his face.

Levi giving Piper a ride!

Here is yet another visit to the nearby Bass Pro Shop. I think this may be the cutest picture of these two yet. Thank you Ryan for catching this moment for me!

This is where my car is usually parked!

Ryan and Cathy park our Prius at the Airstream. If they don’t drive to the nearby town of Newton for work, they meet Richard in the RV park clubhouse. On this particular morning, Ryan decided it was too windy and yucky to walk the few hundred yards to the clubhouse. This is what they came home to! Thank you Ryan for being lazy! This tree would have fallen directly onto the top of my car.

Family at John Wayne's birthplace

John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset, IA

We took a mini road trip about 1 hour away for pleasure this past week. We went to Madison County. To the town of Winterset. This is where John Wayne was born and also where the movie Bridges of Madison County was filmed. This day was amazing in every way. The weather was overcast and perfectly cool with no rain. The City Park is where the stone bridge pictured below is located.

Levi at the famous Bridges of Madison County Movie "Stone Bridge"

Piper posing at famous Stone Bridge

Piper and Levi in The Maze

At this park they had a real maze that we all ran around in! This is actually a bucket list item for me. I was so excited to finally be wandering lost in this maze with my family and friends. It will be one of my happy memories for a really long time.

The Tower

After the maze, we went for a long walk through the park to find a tower that overlooked the countryside. Breathtaking! Good times!

Piper is drawing!

I’m not sure when my little toddler girl turned into my child but one day there was scribbles for pictures and now there is this! Time really does fly when you are having fun.

I had not actually seen the Bridges of Madison County movie and so we rented it this week. It is like the anthem movie for all stay at home mothers. Not the whole affair part! Just the parts where Meryl Streep’s character describes what it takes to be a mom and a wife. The line that struck me the most was “Mothers just stop, we stand still so that our children can keep moving forward.” Or something like that…. This feels very true to me. I love my life, my kids and my husband but I am not a single piece of what I was before. Obviously, I am still the core person that I have always been, but my past career and lifestyle are so far removed from the person that I am now. Life is a moving forward ride, I wouldn’t want to still be that person and not have all that I have now. I just need to remember that when the life of being “mom” is over, that I don’t stop living. That I stay on the ride and find out what the next adventure is for me in this life.

How I love my life, my family and all my daily blessings that greet me along the way.