As we wrapped up our time Ohio, the temperatures got lower and lower. Thank goodness for indoor pools and hot tubs to warm up in! :) Before we hit the road again, we met some doTERRA friends of ours at the greatest barn restaurant. The pizza was divine! I got a picture of the barn, and pretty much didn't pick up my phone again. Oops pics would've been nice! We left early the next morning, in order to make our 5 hour drive day as easy as possible...... We got stuck in a bit of a traffic jam, and Dale needed a potty break. He asked if I could slide in for a minute. Ummm, ok??????? This thing is HUGE but I can hold the break like nobody's business......... I was supposed to just idle, but soon after he left, the traffic jam let up and all the cars moved way ahead of us. OF COURSE THEY DID! I hit the gas and off we drove. I hear Dale in the bathroom yell, "WHAT IN THE WORLD?" Things were going great, all 5 seconds I went forward, then a car darted in front of me, so I braked...... Ummm, turns out these brakes are waaaaaaaay touchier than the old ones, and the slown down was a *bit* abrupt. The kids screamed. What? I stopped us in time didn't I? Traffic went back to a standstill and my family rejoiced when daddy took the drivers seat again. ;)🤣 ;) As we made our route to Alabama and booked RV parks along the way, Dale mentioned we were going to be close to some friends of ours in Kentucky. We got WAY back, like 20 years, before Dale and I were married. They were our first grown up, married friends! ;) We hung out, BBQ'd burgers and then went to church and lunch with them the next day. Even though SO much time has passed since we then, we literally picked up where we left off, as if no time had passed at all. ..... Love how God brings His children together to support each other in this journey called LIFE! :) We changed out of our church clothes and headed down to Alabama. Paxton was hanging around up front and asked for my camera. He said he had a good shot from above and he did. Photog in the making? I am much happier in the passenger seat with my reading buddy, then I was driving even for a minute!!! :) We arrived at our new RV park right at dusk.....we could already tell we were going to LOVE this one! We got all set up, and after a quick supper, we tucked everyone in for a good night's sleep. Check out these views! Slideshow: Monday morning dawned like THIS................... It was so beautiful we did school OUTSIDE! We don't mind quiet home days, so we laid low a few days to regroup before a busy class schedule. We made Sophie a new bandana, hung out by the fire, went fishing, the kids played up on some HUGE rocks on the hillside. The photo you see in the slideshow below of Ty and Destiny holding hands is what we call a "Get Along Walk". Let's just say Dale had had enough of the bickering. ;) Rosie's Mexican restaurant has taken the NUMBER ONE SPOT for the best Mexican in all of our travels. We ate there twice and would've gone 2 more times, had time allowed. The chips, the salsa, the sizzling mexican butter..... DROOL WORTHY! Slideshow: The next night, we made chili cheese dogs over the fire and watched the sun go down. Avery begged us to tell not so spooky stories by the fire! I don't like scary or gory, so we found this website of suspenseful but funny stories. This one, was by FAR, the favorite of the evening! "Years ago, a man inherited a house from his great uncle who died in the war. The house sat on a hill outside of town in the next state and rumors were told that it was haunted. The man traveled to the town to inspect the house and found that it was a wonderful old mansion in great condition, but very, very old. So, he decided to move in and enjoy his inheritance. A couple weeks after he moved in, late at night, the phone rang. When he answered it, a voice said, "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 2 weeks!" and then it hung up before he could say anything. This really shook the man. The next day, he searched the Internet under 'snakes' for 'vinder viper' but found nothing. A week past with no concerns and again, late one night, the phone rang. "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 1 week!" and hung up. This made the man quite nervous, not knowing what a vinder viper was. He asked around the town, and no one had ever heard of any such viper. Four days later, late at night, the phone rang. "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 2 days!" The man is getting much more concerned now. The next night, the phone rang. "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there tomorrow!" Needless to say, the man is just plain scared now. The next evening, the phone rang. "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 1 hour!" The man tries to leave, but his car battery is dead. Nearly an hour later, the phone rang. "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 2 minutes!" The man runs around locking all the windows and doors and calls 911. The police are on their way. Soon, there was a knock at the door. The man opened the door a crack and asked, "Is that the police?" 'No, I am the vinder viper. I come every month to vash and vipe your vindows,' said the little German man." 🤣 Day 2 dawned like this. Sigh. These views make me happy! "You can walk in a dream while you are awake: Just walk in the misty morning....."💕 We had 3 different classes at the most darling happy coffee shop you ever did see..... Angel's Island Coffee We have 2 new builders here, Caroline and Angel, and several other local members of Team Dorothy. It was SUCH a fun week of classes and getting to see everyone. If you are in the Huntsville area, go check out Angel's coffee shop, she makes her own chai and it's AMAAZING! And, she holds essential oil classes there once a month or so. Slideshow: We got to hang out with them one afternoon and ate some AMAZING Fijian lamb. Darren and Angel both originate from there..... We had such a lovely time! We had a free day after a morning class, and it was so sunny and lovely out, the kids BEGGED to go swimming in the lake...... Um, children? It's October. Can we rent kayaks instead?! Good plan! We rented two, 2 person, kayaks and Destiny insisted on a petal (paddle?) boat. You know, the kind with petals like a bike. Dale and I ended up with, the majority of the time, due to its extreme bulkiness and difficult manueverability. Haha, gotta love it! We had a great time! Row row row your kayak..... Slideshow: Before we left, Angel recommended a local donut shop that started in an airstream trailer, but once they got featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, they had to get a store front. We ate hot off the press donuts TWICE in one day...once for breakfast and then once for snack. TERRIBLE I know, but if you had tasted them, you would've done the same I bet. ;) Round one we tried honey cinnamon sugar, and funnel cakes. Round two, cinnamon bun, andes mint and apple cider. They were all lovely and the hottest tiny little donuts, that ABSOLUTELY melted in your mouth. Our Alabama adventure, continues in Birmingham! We have class here on Monday and hope to explore the area for a bit before moving on to Missouri next month...... Hugs, T
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Time for our FALL RUN! It's so exciting to be back on the road again, our first trip as a whole family in the new RV....
Next stop was Effingham, Illinois for a few days.....we found a cozy little RV park tucked in the trees.
I have been on the hunt for some treasures to finish decorating our apartment with and Illinois delivered! We went to the CUTEST store and viola..... :)
The kids found something fun too! An old camcorder to play with.....
Dale found a little hole in the wall Asian diner for lunch with the boys while I was at class. They loved it so much they took us all back for dinner!
YUM! The soup they served was a melon soup in chicken broth, so interesting.
The next day we headed to Ohio, where we will be for the next few weeks! Lots of classes and fun on the books.
RVTV decided to do a news interview on our travel day.....
We took Family Friday to explore the 577 Foundation. It used to be an old farmstead, now it is the NEATEST place to explore.
The bee exhibit was amazing! There was even a tube to watch the bees come and grow from outside as they built their hive. Worker Bees from Tonya Ferguson on Vimeo.
The 577 Foundation also has an old cabin, a horse barn turned lending library, fairy gardens, community gardens, kids play area, musical instruments in the woods and even a trail leading down to the river walk. SO FUN!
Avery was so excited for us to play house in this amazing cabin. The oldest free standing wood home, built in 1803!!!!
After that we headed to the gardens.....
There was the NEATEST forest with a fort, stage, musical instruments.....
Our trips to Ohio aren't complete without a stop in Findlay at the Dietsch Brothers Chocolate and Ice Cream shop.
They have been around since the 1920's! https://dietschs.com/about-us/our-story/
We had classes over in Apple Creek, so we headed there next. Hello, Amish country!
The kids LOVED our RV Park! Cool playground, and I bet in the summer, a super amazing swimming lake!
The kids are learning all the states and capitals in school, we are trying to make it fun by playing it Jeopardy and Go Fish style! :)
The next few days, we taught an oil class for a lot of amazing couples, drove around and enjoyed all the darling farms, and quaint cottages. All the buggies in a row! Lots of yummy farm fresh food and evening walks.
Sugarcreek is such a CUTE place! They call it Little Sweden and have the cutest downtown. It houses the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock!
We are here for another week yet before we move on to do classes in Alabama. We are all loving our new home on wheels and are settling in nicely. We look around and just grin and give God all the glory for providing us with the home of our dreams!
Hugs, T I realized the other day, when someone asked to see pics of our home sweet hub, aka our shed house, that I had never blogged the finished, or almost finished, product. I got to thinking of the timeline and then it hit me, we finished it up, got ready to settle in for our first fall and Christmas there, and then got the call about my dad not doing well. We loaded up to go live in Florida until further notice, came back for his funeral the week before Christmas, and then well, healing and life. Better late than never.... Come on in! Now that you've seen the main room, come check out the laundry room and main floor bath. This is the back door that leads right out to the RV stall for easy loading and unloading! At the top of the stairs, we find the family room, aka the tv room. And the game loft! Rainbow bathroom and bedrooms: We also are still working on an outdoor entertainment space: Hope you enjoyed your visit! :)
Hugs, T While we were home, we decided (read that TONYA decided) it was time for some updated family photos. The gal we usually use isn't doing much photography lately, so we tried someone we met at a family wedding. I dug around in the laundry room closet to see how close I could get to matching us all without shopping. My goal is always a few textures or patterns with several colors being pulled from one of them, but times 6 people, it can be HARD! This time, the theme pulled from my red and yellow floral top...... Our photographers name is Brian, and he is a full time photographer that is amazing at what he does. His 3Twenty Photography name is a nod to his favorite Bible verse, so cool! I can't recommend him enough. He came out our direction to shoot in our neighborhood, and immediately had the kids laughing and at ease. Dale and I also needed some updated head shots as well. I think these ones of us not even looking at the camera are some of my favorites!!! We also needed some family ones in front of our new to us RV! Welcome to the latest edition of My 4 Chefs! I have had a lot of good questions about this part of our blog and I want to answer them here before we go on to the yummy food I have to share with you. Do the kids have to do the grocery shopping too? YES, they take their list to the store with us and while we are all shopping, gather their part. I want them to learn to price compare, read labels and navigate a grocery store well. How much help do you give the younger kids? Or do they choose something they can fix on their own? They can choose whatever they want! Even a "big" meal like meatloaf, mashed potatoes, sides and dessert. (which Ty did last round) However, we are close by in case they need us, more or less help, depending on age. I have to say, we have already seen a huge improvement since starting this a few months ago, in what they can accomplish without us. How do they choose what to make? Do you give them options or can they find their own recipes? They are given free range, as long as its a well balanced meal and includes a veggie! :) They like to look through our cookbooks or go to the 4 little Fergusons blog, where ALLLL our family favorites got blogged for 5 years! Does everyone cook on certain nights, or who cooks when? Depending on weather, and depending on whose meal uses the fresh ingredients that go bad the fastest, is how we decide what we are making from our list of menu options. What age did you start this? We started this about 4 months ago. We have 4 kids, 15, 11, 10 & 8. We have had them in the kitchen with us, unloading dishwasher, helping make bread or dessert, setting the table for dinner, tossing salad, since they were toddlers. How much do you all budget for this? Same as we did when momma was the main chef. For 4 to 5 meals, plus breakfast, fresh fruits and veggies and snack foods has been running us about $150-200 depending on the area we are in. We can make these meals last for a week to week and a half, with leftovers. There is nothing better than new cookbooks! I get SO excited to find things to cook from them! Thanks to Grandma Eileen for donating TWO new 5 ingredients ones to our stash! :) Avery was up first....Pepperoni Pizza Pasta with garlic bread and salad. You can find the recipe here. Avery loves to cook and bake, so she also picked a dessert! Whipped Chocolate and Cherry Pie I found a non red dyed, no HFCS, pie filling. We still didn't love the cherry layer, the whipped chocolate tastes EXACTLY like hot cocoa, so we thought next time we'd make it into some kind of layered whipped hot cocoa layered dessert, or bowls of mousse with tiny marshmallows and chocolate shavings to garnish. I picked something new and unusual, and it was yummy! (some people didn't like the olives and feta, but they will get over it) ;) It is amazing hot like casserole or cold like pasta salad: Greek Chicken & Spaghetti I thought Kalamata olives were more greek than black, so I switched it. Totally a yum move. Tylan picked Cheeseburger Pockets with carrot sticks. (he wanted french fries, and momma said nope.) ;) Gotta choose a well balanced meal. Only changes we will make is a better quality american or cheddar cheese, as the velvetta that was purchased, made us a little gaggy because of it's fakey flavor. You can find the recipe here. Sweet Destiny made her dinner for the kids while Dale and I were at class, so I don't have pics of her prepping it, but here is the recipe from the 4 little Ferguson's blog! The only thing I told her was next time she needs to plan to steam some mixed veggies or something to go with it. Paxton has surprised me the last few times with his choices, and they have been a hit with everyone! We all ranted and raved about the glaze on this Honey Sriracha chicken. We love to cook with our oils, so we served it up with some turmeric rice.....such yummy smokey flavor. Just cook basamati rice in chicken broth with a hearty shake of turmeric powder, garlic powder and 4 drops doTERRA turmeric oil. So healthy for you!!! Next time, I want him to plan to steam some broccoli or plan to stir some veggies into the rice for a pilaf. That is it for this edition of My 4 Chefs! Which recipe do you want to try first? Any other questions you want me to answer in another edition?
Hugs, T
doTERRA's Dream Convention touched my heart deeply.
So much so, that I cried the better part of 3 days. In fact, I was so blown away, that I haven't even been able to process it all enough to share it with you guys. I am never speechless! Haha, this should tell you how amazing it was! ;) Check out this 2 min intro:
Dale and I took off for Salt Lake on our first week in the new RV, it sure was quiet without the kids along. I kept looking back to see if they were ok! Oopsie.
Other than a massive bug attack on the windshield, it was a quiet 2 day trip over to Utah.
We stopped for some gourmet burgers, hand cut fries and fresh blackberry custard milkshakes at our favorite stop along the way.....
Goodtimes :)
Back on the road again for the evening and a whole nother day...this is no quick trip!
We settled in and checked in on our team as they arrived. 97 from Team Dorothy this year! SO fun! That also meant we didn't get to see all of them....growing pains.
The first night we had a steak dinner with some of our uplines at Ruth's Chris Steak house, it was fabulous as always! The next am, we registered and got our cute doTERRA backpacks for the week, met the team for lunch and hung out at a come and go welcome reception...... Have you all ever heard of Dot's pretzels? Everyone was talking about them, so we grabbed a bag. HOLY AMAZING! Tasted like the baked ones people make at Christmas to munch on.
The next night was the formal Gala, and a time to celebrate new Diamond leaders. We didn't walk blue, YET, that is planned for next year, but we got to cheer my momma and team leader, Amy, down the purple carpet as DIAMONDS! SO special to see them have walked into the next level of leadership and hit those difficult ranks.
Day 1 started bright and early with a long line into the arena. We found a little extra LOVE while we waited in line! See the water heart?
AND see those fun red shoes?
Have you ever tried Rothy's? I wore them all day and didn't have any blisters on my pinky toe and heel, which I normally do with ballet flats. These ones mold to your feet and are SO awesome!
Rothy’s are made from recycled water bottles once destined for the landfill. Knit by machine and crafted by hand, our shoes are seamlessly constructed using a 3D knitting process that significantly reduces waste. Because we believe doing good should look good, too. They are machine washable too, just pull out the insole and hang to dry. Use this link for $20 off: https://www.talkable.com/x/Rn0qtX
We found our seats in the Diamond section and enjoyed our Diamond perks! Snack boxes, gifts and up close seating.
And now the learning begins..... Science, farmers, humanitarian efforts, ministry updates as we fund rescues of sex trafficked kids with O.U.R., education and support with Days for Girls and many many others. New products! Ground breaking research, it was AWESOME!
Here are some of doTERRA's many farmers from all over the globe. We pay fair wages, on time, no middle men to gouge prices. We drop wells, build schools, staff and fund emergency care clinics and more. That is why over 90% of our farmers will only work exclusively with us, moving towards 100%! They are so blessed by doTERRA. <3
The product showcase is this HUGE series of connected ballrooms you can walk through and learn all about every aspect of doTERRA and try on and smell all kinds of different products. They even had pergolas full of green mandarian, and real roses and they shared about the oils form.
Smelled SO good! Great place to go on lunch break.....
I LOVE the day we get to cheer for all the new Silver, Golds and Platinums! Such a huge accomplishment. Loved seeing our Dorothy family cross that big stage! :)
Hanging out during an evenings...... One night was a big street party, another just one to connect as a team, and one evening, all the teams close by came to hang at our RV.
The next day was another packed schedule as was day 3. Highlights included hearing from 1996 Rawanda Genocide Survivor Immaculee Ilibigiza, and how doTERRA has gone over to help build schools with dorms for impoverished children in her community.
We also heard from Tim Hightower and his wife! Lots of pro-athletes use doTERRA to stay fit and performing at their best!
All month doTERRA had been talking to us about this secret guest speaker, per contract, they were unable to mention this name until the moment they stepped on stage.
WELL, let's just say we had a lot of guesses and some of us were right, but when this quote came on the big screen, the CROWD. WENT. WILD. I have never heard such a defeaning roar!
HUGH JACKMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He sang several songs and then did a full interview on stage. It was so phenomenal!! He has a real passion for helping others and does so through his laughing man coffee. He and his wife also use doTERRA and requested partial payment in oils! :)
As if we hadn't cried enough during the story of faith and forgiveness Immaculee shared, or the gold leader with Lou Gherigs they wheeled across the stage and honored.......they brought out a performer who wrote and sang a song to be the theme song of doTERRA's healing hand foundation, our doTERRA ministry.
Remember, doTERRA is a 2 billion dollar, DEBT FREE, company with a HUGE servants heart. They give abundantly to the hurting all over the globe and it is a BEAUTIFUL THING to be a part of! If you only watch ONE video, let it be this one. We saw it in person on stage, and when that kids choir poured up onto stage in white with candles, we all got chills! This video makes me cry all over again, it's the music video version of what we saw live:
I left this years convention, more excited and empowered to dream and dream BIG with doTERRA, and all the things we can accomplish when we work together......the best is yet to come!
"There are people God out there waiting to be impacted by the dreams God put in your heart."
I am so excited to see all He has in store for us with doTERRA! Maybe He is calling us to help YOU, with natural health and healthy finances too. Head on over to the other tabs on this website to read more, we love to help people and are always praying for new builders to work with. Well, just like that, it's time to head home. We are exhausted but invigorated.
Can't wait for next year!
Hugs, T |
Tonya Ferguson
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