Who said it was SAFE to work for Verizon? Perfect for Halloween.

Safe? I think NOT! I think he should be getting hazard pay! This is PERFECT for Halloween!

Ok, for the record I HATE SPIDERS! They freak me out, SO SO bad! Jim was working the other night when he hears (YES I SAID HEARS) a noise behind him. It's dark so he shines his flashlight and it's this spider. So what does he do? He decides that he is going to video it and get pictures. I think that was so if it ate him we would find his phone and have evidence. So he put his phone on the ground then tried to shoo the spider. Both of the videos on here are really short but you HAVE to see this!

Leave it to Jim to try and make it mad, see the fangs?

Look at the size of this thing, it's a REAL door thingy (help me out Karrie), and those are big. I wonder if he could hear it breathing? This is creeping me out. I had nightmares after he showed me.

I guess it is a Tarantula. Now I know they live here, and I know we actually LIVE in a migration path, but I have NEVER seen one. If I do I will probably pass out and it will probably eat me. They are furry for goodness sake! I asked Jim why he didn't kill it and he said "Are you kidding, the fangs would have came through me shoe, besides my foot isn't big enough." So he shooed it out of the man's house. The man acted like it was a normal occurrence. FREAK! If that was "normal" I would hire and exterminator.

An Ode to Sami...

I would have liked a few more pictures but our internet is acting funky, so here's to you Sami!

Sami oh Sami, how sweet thou art... your smiling face brightens each and every day. Your laughter fills my heart in the moments we are apart, and your bright loving eyes whisk me away each time you return. A Sami hug is an addicting drug that I do not need rehabilitated from, this is a drug I will stay addicted to for life. Sami oh Sami oh Sami oh PLEASE...

Sami is definitely getting the middle child treatment lately, I really do feel bad. So with a little reminding, I am doing an ode to Sami. Sami is super sweet most of the time. She hugs every teacher every day and they miss her if she is gone. She loves thinking she's responsible, like "babysitting" the Reiswig boys. Really she looses them quiet often. She always tries really hard and is a complete math whiz! When we moved here Sami was just getting ready to start kindergarten and we were really nervous because she was a mommy's girl and didn't talk to ANYONE. She was really shy and would hide behind my leg with a smile but never never talk. Now she gets in trouble for talking in class, and when the teacher moved her between two boys... it still didn't help. Sami isn't into boys, she knows they like her and they ask her "out" daily but she isn't ready to be tied down quiet yet. At the latest parent teacher conference I was informed that she is just like the other Hurley's and is very athletic. This was a shocker because she really doesn't like to sweat. She hates getting up in the morning and misses the bus at least 3 times a week. She loves Top Ramen morning noon and night. She loves Pepsi and almost everything her daddy has. She has a big heart, one time I took Sami and Trever to the Dr. they both had strep throat and had to get a penicillin shot. Trever was scared so I asked Sami to go first, I told her it was going to hurt but try not to cry too much because Trever was scared. She got her shot and just smiled (if you've ever had one you know that it's one of the worst). She sat in the corner and tears rolled down her cheeks but she just smiled and didn't make a peep. Then Trever got his shot, of course he screamed and screamed. We then stood up to go and Sami fainted. She had been holding her breath, but the Dr. was scared to death that she had a reaction to the shot. Nope it's just Sami. She either wants to be a Dr. or work at McDonalds when she grows up. Of course as any mother, I want her to work at McDonalds. After that fainting episode there is the other notorious one when Jimi was in ICU and she, again smiled and held her breath. She went out right there on the floor. After a "code blue" call, and a 911 call with the ambulance having to take her from the upstairs ICU to the lower level ER. They released her after about an hour and she was embarrassed and felt bad that she had taken me from Jimi's side, but I enjoyed the short time we got to spend together eating graham crackers and drinking apple juice. So I think she will do much better at McDonalds. Sami enjoys watching "Total Drama Island" and "Survivor". She likes to watch (or play at) the boys football games, but cheer leading just isn't for her. She can't go to bed or leave for anywhere without kissing her daddy and me. She has NEVER had a real hair cut, only a trim in the bangs and once in awhile I pretend to trim the bottom. She loves her cats, even though she hates the litter box, and the fact that the rest of the family HATES them. She loves to be center of attention but will take the back seat when it's needed. She loves the song "Dance Little Jean" because her daddy started calling her Jean and it stuck. There is just so much about this girl that is great, I just love her!!

"the girl" called!

Ok, I know I may be a helicopter mom (always hovering), but in my defense... she is ONLY 11 and I don't like my kids out of my sight much less out of phone range. So she called me today. No service in her cabin, she's having a great time, she's staying warm, no girl drama in her cabin, she loves her counselor, and she misses us too. Oh, and at campfire last night she started puking! No fever just the quick stomach bug that is floating around, she is fine today.

Ok, I am in the middle of my Sami post but it HAS to have pictures and our Internet is really acting up out here and goes in and out, not enough to upload pictures. I will keep trying and get it posted hopefully by the end of the day.

Waiting for "the girl" to call

She never called or sent me a text. I kept checking, then Alex told me they don't get service at Camp Keep. I don't know if he was just saying that to make me feel better or if he really does know something. I'm not panicking yet, I did watch the news to make sure there were no bus accidents yesterday or missing kids at the ocean. Jim used to get freaked out because all we listen to in the car is XM satellite radio, and if there was ever an emergency we would have NO idea. We don't watch T.V. or listen to any local radio. I totally know how he feels now!!! I am so out of the loop, but on the good side, I don't have to listen to Obama and his crap! I'm sure Jimi is having a great time. The house is so much quieter without her here, I would say I didn't expect it but I really did. She is the instigator of most of the fights, she picks on Trever just because she's bored and he's the only one she can wrestle with fairly. We all do miss her though, even Alex said last night that it was weird without her, and even mentioned missing her. (I was shocked too, maybe he does like her)

JIMI LEE, YOU BETTER BE HAVING FUN, BECAUSE YOU ARE MAKING ME CRAZY!!!

Camp Keep

This morning I had to take Jimi and drop her off at the school at 6am to leave for camp Keep. I just wanna say, Camp Keep is STUPID!! I don't like her gone, I don't like her not being able to call me, or worse, me able to call and talk to her. I HATE IT! She cried, I cried, I think Trever even got a tear in his eye when he realized she was gone. (She did kiss all of her brothers and sister while they were still asleep before she left.) She is gone until Friday and I know we are going to miss her and of course, worry like crazy. (sshhh... don't tell but I smuggled her cell phone into her pillow and told her to turn it on at night and text me to let me know she is ok, I know I have issues, but you probably would too.)

So yesterday we wanted to spend some good time with her so Jim went out and got the horses and brought them to our house. We rode for awhile and had a lot of fun. She had a really good time but had fell asleep by the time we got home after taking the horses back. We messed with her and woke her up, but she is um... CRANKY when she is woke up so we let her go back to sleep.

Jimi's Southfork Soccer Tournament

Obviously Jimi is in the #14 jersey that says Hurley on the back. (DUH)

Jim and I decided that we have NO idea how Jimi gets great grades, I swear that girl is NEVER in school. She is in Bakersfield for Peer Mediation training, or Volleyball games, next week is a full 5 days and nights of Camp Keep, and now it's the soccer tournament. I got some great pictures of her game, a digital camera isn't always the best at action shots but these are pretty good.

This is the "boy" Ryan. Jimi's one and only! He goes to the other school but because she was there, he was there to watch her, and he did. What was so cute is that for his birthday on Wednesday she gave him this lime green monkey, she has an orange one just like it that she carries around. I think you can see it tucked in his shirt, the one and only green monkey. AAAWWHH it must be love!

Jimi aka "the girl" wanted to add a few more pictures of Ryan aka mini Ricecake, son of Mama Ricecake and Chippy Ricecake. Mama Ricecake, feel free to steal the picture, as you can see I stole the other one from yours, for "the girl".

Weekly Football update

Not a whole lot to say. We were in Cal City they had pretty good teams but a HORRIBLE field with NO clock or score board. I charged and brought my camera and I go to take it out of the case and I had left it on the whole ride down, so it was dead. I think the boys do better when I'm not filming. Trever had the only 2 touchdowns for his team, I think they won by 1. The first was about a 50 yard in the first minute of the game. The second was so funny... we were standing near the sidelines and he cuts over and he is running towards us but is looking down and behind him a little so I tell him look in front of you. He does and pulls away from the kid to make another 50 yard TD. So Jim asks him what he was doing and he says...

TREV: "last week a kid stepped one foot out of the line and they called him down. I didn't want to do that so I was watching the line."

Very funny, we told him he was much faster if he watched in front of him, just don't get too close to the line.



Senior Broncos slip past Cal City
If Alex's team doesn't start winning by a lot more then I may just die on the sidelines of a heart attack. It was a VERY intense game and the newspaper article is good but still doesn't do it justice. (Not to mention it said Alex only had 6 tackles and I am positive he had more, and they don't go into the fact that they were REALLY great hits, or all the assists.) He did good. The refs were SO bad! Cori mentioned we were just having a reffing clinic on the sidelines and we decided that's what our volunteer work is every Saturday we help the refs with their calls and let them know when their not doing very well. Ya know, it's just all for the kids so we do what we can. They won, in the dark with the other team within a few yards of scoring, and the refs making 3 minutes last almost 30, and we couldn't argue because we had NO clock! Finally they decided they looked stupid because they couldn't score on the 5 yard line after like 30 minutes and penalties and whatever they could pull on us. Terry even mentioned a new call for that game, it's a "Red Zone Infraction" which meant... if our team came withing 10 yards of scoring, the refs automatically called us for a 15 yard BOGUS penalty, almost EVERY time. Jim got nervous after the game, playing ball in L.A. where they had riots and shootings after a game that intense, he got everyone to the car and we went with Alex's team to Pizza. The kids had fun, Jimi got to eat with Ryan (her boyfriend) Trever was playing con-man and this kid on Alex's team spent like $15 to win Trever a stuffed animal. I will be glad when football is over, but it looks like these guys are going to go pretty far into playoffs, and Jimi still has cheer competition so it won't be over until Nov. 22nd! YUCK!



Sami is getting shafted in the whole blog thing, she never gets posts. I'll have to do an all Sami post here soon. She just goes and plays with Caleb (Ryan's brother). We tell her he's way too young for her, she gets mad because she says she's babysitting. Really she's just playing and getting really dirty.

I cried!

I don't cry very often, but today I had to take Sami and Trever to school, then get Jimi a lunch and some money for her out of town volleyball game. After that I was heading into town to see Jim for breakfast, when I look at my driving hand and my diamond on my wedding ring was GONE! Not just a diamond, the big one, the whole setting. I immediately pull over and start freaking out, looking in my jacket pockets and pants and van, everywhere. I knew I had it yesterday so I had to start retracing steps, I drive ALL the way up to the school and have Jimi look IN her lunch, I look through the parking lot where I had parked, NO luck. I go to James Station and retrace my steps through the parking lot and through the store, again NO luck. Jim tells me to relax so I go ahead into town but I can't get my mind off of it. I prayed and prayed. I finally just went home because I couldn't eat anyways and Jim knew I really wanted to come home to look for it. It's not the monetary value of the thing, it's the emotional part, and that's usually not me. I'm not sentimental but this REALLY got to me, I have had that ring longer than I've had probably anything. I had the perfect ring in my head forever and somehow Jim found it, and when he saw it he just KNEW, and he was right. I searched all the spots I thought it could be, then finally I started from the beginning, I took the sheets off the bed and VOILA! It was in my bed. I am so happy! It wouldn't be the same with a new diamond in it, I needed that one! So this is what my ring will be looking like for awhile until I can get it somewhere to get it fixed, which is another huge ordeal because they usually have to take your ring and send it "out" and the fear of never seeing it again gives me anxiety, and not wearing it just feels weird. And what if they say they put the same diamond back in it and really don't? I think I would notice... or at least I hope I would.

He's showed up!

A short background first... Alex started the season off doing really amazing, making great hits, sacs and just putting forth effort. Then it gradually went down hill. So, last week after practice Jim and I were NOT happy so the car ride home went something like this... "Do you think we spend 12 hours of our Saturdays watching your games for our health? Well we don't, so this is your very last chance, you can either go chase skirt, or show up to the game!" He showed up!

Kern Valley Sun Article

Kern Valley Seniors 48 Boron Bobcats 25

The Senior Youth Football team improved to 4-2 on the season with their best offensive showing of the year in a 48-25 rout over Boron.The Broncos tallied a gaudy 547 yds rushing on 28 carries for seven TDs. I am pleased with our progress.”Paving the way both inside and out with freeway-sized holes were linemen Logan Kraus-Smith, Johnny Chase, Peyton Wyly, Stephen Whisler, Zach Reiswig, Alex Hurley, Christian Mejia, Jordan Lacher and Cody Little.Lacher scored on a 25 yard reverse in the fourth quarter to put the Broncos up 48-18 before a meaningless last TD by Boron.Defensively, Hurley led with 12 tackles.Lacher and Whisler finished with eight. Mixon and Mejia both had seven with a fumble recovery each.Kraus-Smith had six, Chase had four and a fumble, Reilly recorded four, Little three, Bryce Riley two and a fumble, Moore two, and Jeremy Lawson two.Aaron Wright had one tackle. Also contributing were Tyler Mullens and Jonathan Harbaugh.

I shortened the article but I like the part where Hurley led the team with 12 tackles. Those were only HIS unassisted ones, it doesn't count the numerous he was in on or finished off. He also jumped on a fumbled ball but got bounced on and the ball popped out, maybe next time. He also got a 15 yard personal foul, but the refs are stupid. It was for roughing the passer. Alex is flying back to make a sac and he takes flight, he was in mid air when the QB threw the ball. It was a great hit but again, the refs aren't very bright (don't worry I let them know).

So this is what makes me crazy. (Ok, ONE of the things) Alex is very happy just being average. He doesn't like to put forth effort, try, or give 100%. He just wants to "get by", but when he is TOLD to step it up (i.e. show up to the game) HE DOES WITH NO PROBLEM! He is VERY smart but doesn't want to put in the work at school, so he waits until his grades aren't OK and then brings them up. He will be doing 15 things, literally, and I will try to talk to him, I will tell him exactly what I would like him to do and instruct him on chores, homework, life... I sometimes even go on for a long time because I just KNOW he's not listening. Then, like every mom, I say "Alex you are not listening to me, repeat to me what I just said" and without missing a beat or looking up from the 15 things he's doing, he rambles off word for word, of everything I said. Sometimes to add drama, he does the actions I made, the eye rolls all in the right spots, and to really make me mad he sometimes repeats every word of what I told to the kid before him too. Then he just looks at me and smiles. I quit asking!

This is what happens when Trever plays with his daddy...

The funny thing is that I assumed Trever did this to himself, so imagine my surprise when I got onto him for writing on his face (with a SHARPIE) and he says "daddy did it to me". I have to be honest, I really wasn't surprised AT ALL! Sometimes I'm afraid to leave, ok that's not true, I'm afraid to come home.
Notice the prison tears coming out from under his glasses.
Then he had to have a serious hunting picture. He looks serious doesn't he. Please don't comment about Trever playing with guns, it's a B.B. gun (the other kids were playing with all the real ones, hahah).

Jimi's sleepover

She is such a dork, this is her and her friend Shelby. They stayed up way too late talking about boys, and lots and lots of giggling.

Football and Cheer pictures!

I was figuring out how much money I spent each year on school, and sports pictures and decided it is just WAY too much, so this year I was El Cheapo and did one with all of them and then each of their team photos, and here they are. I love the one with them together, I even bought nachos for Sami to hold but she was embarrassed and wouldn't do it.
Jimi's team, the Junior Mustangs. She is a base in the middle pod on the left.
Trevers rookie team, he is #30 not smiling in the back second kid from the left. (with the mohawk)
Alex's team, the Senior Broncos. He is #89 and he is middle row, second in from the right. I think he's trying to look mean.

These are pictures of Jimi I took at the game last week. She always turns away when I take a picture and I got mad and MADE her look at me for pictures, and it looks cute, even with the flying baby hair. It was cold and windy all day.


This week is home again. Against Boron (I think). It's supposed to be really cold again, I moved away from the cold to beautiful sunny California. I've been BAMBOOZELED! It is cold here and windy! YUCK!

A full time job may be easier....

So my day yesterday didn't get a WHOLE lot better but at least a little bit better. It ended with the Tuckers Home Teaching us and the kids really showing out, like "look what I can do, look what I can do" and Sami scaring the tar out of Elle with a fake doggie costume. (It was quiet funny). We love visiting with the Tuckers but I'll be surprised if they come back, I think our kids scared them off. I swear we DO give them attention. The best part was that Krissy brought these WONDERFUL chocolate yummy gooey brownies! Thank you Krissy I needed them!

So today Jimi had a volleyball game/match (someone please tell me what it is called) in Lone Pine, so she yelled at me all night that I hadn't packed her a lunch yet, we have NO food for a sack lunch in the house right now. I explained, ok yelled back, that I would have it to her before she left for Lone Pine. We get up and I again do her hair, super cute! She, again, hated it and took it out! I'm done with that girls hair! I'm going to call up Taegan and have her cut it for me. (if your confused see Tabi's blog!) And again, Sami missed the bus, but luckily Jim took her on his way to work. So I shower and go to the store to get Jimi a lunch, take it to her, drive to Wofford Heights for a Dr. appt, drive around the lake to have lunch with a friend, but she was sick so we didn't, but I got to see Jim for a minute so that was nice. I drove all the way home, check messages and there is one from this nice man saying he had Jim's hunting dog Maggie. First I had to go back to Jimi's school to drop off her phone because it's stupid for her to have one if it's at home when she is in Lone Pine! Now about the dog let me tell you, I can't stand this dog. First she was way too expensive, she is hyper, she sheds, and she gets out. Not out of just the yard but out of a kennel that she is chained INSIDE of!~ To top this darn dog off, I think she is pregnant! And not with FULL BREAD English Pointers!! ( I do have to say she was holding a point at 13 weeks with NO training and it is amazing how good of a hunter she is, and that she is smart enough to be an escape artist, but don't tell Jim or Trever I said so) So I go get her, Jim met me there too. And now it's almost time for the kids to get home so we can fight over homework and get to practice on time. No clean house, nothing out for dinner, but a dog that's home (I should have deleted the voicemail and pretended NOT to know where she was.)

This is what Jimi's hair started out as... then this.... the last is Sami's and it's what I tried to do with Jimi's hair today. (It does look cuter on Sami though)

Now something funny that Trever said last night that reminded me why I love my kids. (Don't think I'm mean I know you all wonder sometimes!) Jim and I were talking about how fun it would be to go see a Vegas show,

I say: We would just have to make sure it's not a topless one, for some reason they're all topless there.

Trever: Yeah, because if it rained you would all get wet.

Jim and I looked at each other for a minute very confused... until we realized how innocent the kid is and thought the building was topless. Then we laughed hysterically!

Then Jimi was talking to him and asking if he would rather play football or do archery, her story goes on forever but she finally asks,

Jimi: Ok Trever, would you rather practice football for one hour or do archery for an entire week?

Trever: Jimi I would practice football, archery is stupid cause you put an apple on your head and if you get shot in the eye you would die.

The funny thing is he was completely serious and can't figure out who in the world would do archery!

Invisable mom...

My morning wasn't going very well. Kids wouldn't get up for school, then Jimi yelled at me because the "messy" bun that I took 15 minutes to make wasn't straight and didn't look like it did yesterday and took it out, only to have me do a different one that I still don't think she was happy with. Which made them miss the bus, so I drive them off to school in my pajama's. I stop to talk to Jim for a minute to find he is having a bad day too, then a phone call on my voicemail that doesn't sound good that gives me really mixed feelings between rage and heartbreak, and can't bring myself to return yet. So I open my cousin Lisa's blog to find this post. I couldn't quit crying (which I don't ever do anymore, cause who has time?) and decided it is really all worth it. So here it is, hope it brings joy to someone else today too!


It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room, while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously, not.No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'I was certain that these were the hands that once held books, and the eyes that studied history, and the mind that graduated sum a cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is gone!One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And, I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime, because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.When I really think about it, I don't want my daughter to tell the friend she's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours ,and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want her to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right.And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.Great Job, MOM! Hope this encourages you when the going gets tough, as it sometimes does. We never know what our finished products will turn out to be, because of our perseverance.

Alex is girl crazy, Jimi is boy crazy...it makes me just CRAZY!

So I had a few pictures to post. When we were in Mammoth Terry saw a suburban with "I love Alex" and "#89". All kinds of stuff written on the windows, we tracked it down and it was his girlfriend Destiny, so we got a picture so I could blog it.

Everything Jimi owns is doodled on, I feel like Ryan is part of the family. She talks about him all the time, the funny thing is... they don't talk to each other when they are together. (That's how I like it) I don't have time or enough memory on my card to take a picture of everything she has doodled on but here are a few, and next time you see her ask her to see her ankle or hand, I am sure his name will be written on her somewhere.


This is the one and only Ryan! It is also her wallpaper of her cell phone so she can look at him any time she wants!

I lied

When I was tagged last week I said my favorite snacks were...
1. Combo's (I still love them)
2. Cornuts
3. Popcorn (and pretzels)
4. Chocolate (I just finished a whole bag of Dove silk)
5. Cinnamon Bears

I don't know which one to replace and it's bothering me, but my all time FAVORITE snack, or food or anything is...

HOME GROWN FRESH TOMATOES!! Ok, other veggies too, peppers and zucchini and cucumbers, but there is nothing like eating a tomato straight from the garden. Thanks to Keith I get to do that and have decided that next year I will try to grow my very own. It will probably be a secret though because Jimi feels the same way about them as I do and I can't keep her away from them.