Poetry

I don't think I understand poetry. For some reason my brain just doesn't see the hidden messages. This is one of the poems from class, I am curious what other people see in the poem.

Musée des Beaux Arts
by W. H. Auden

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

This is what I get from it and it is probably totally off. Death is not a big deal it happens all the time and life will go on. Let me know what you think.

My Boys

This might be a weird post, but I have been enlarging a bunch of Gavin's pictures because I didn't do before. I want to hang old pictures on the wall because I already know what they look like now. So last month I had both of their baby pictures and I just changed to put the following Halloween pictures up. When I go to the store people always say how much alike they look. In my head I think they look nothing alike. So I was going to see what everyone else thought. Do they look alike? Can you tell the difference between Gavin and Brody or is that just a mom thing?

A.

B.

A.

B.

The Halloween picture A. Gavin is 14 months, picture B. Brody is 9 months. In the second set of pictures this is first smiles. A. is Brody and B. is Gavin. Brody's picture is probably a little late for a first smile. I wasn't constantly taking pictures like I was with Gavin. Gavin's picture was his very first real smile lucky shot.

Summertime?

Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when it's a 110 outside?

Do you swim in the pool, to keep yourself cool, or stay inside so you don't die?

Is that what you do? So do I!

The boys love to play in the water. Brody loves to get wet, but has not grown to love the pool. He would rather fill the pool with the hose than swim in the pool.

Brody wanted to hold the ball for Gavin until the water knocked it out of his hands and then would do it again.
This is our friends McKenzie and Malia staying cool in our pool.
This was a sad day. The heat is getting to my plants. As you can see these tomatoes are huge, one problem they are twice as big as the cage and have all fallen over. All my plants are looking sad from the hot weather.

How would it be to be so loved. The boys love Grandpa. Seriously we went swimming at Mike and Amy's and Brody wouldn't leave Grandpa alone. We would all try and take him and he would just cry for Grandpa. My boys only want grandpa when he is around.
Well we don't go on bike rides because it is way to hot. Brody loves to wear the helmet though and he looks cute doing so.
This is a big indoor activity that my boys love. Gavin is so good and letting his brother attack him. We love to watch them play together.

Interesting Learning from Class

Two things that I found interesting from my U.S. Constitution class.

First: The song: We Didn't Start the Fire
I never knew this song was about history. Things like this might actually get me to like History; probably not.
Check out this website it sings the song and has pictures. He did a good job putting the video together.
http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html

Second: I had to work on a table of the Amendments.
I was working on Amendment 18 with Chris help because History is a foreign language to me. He explained that the 18th Amendment was when liquor was abolished. Crazy I never knew that liquor wasn't allowed in the United States. Then he further explained that was how Nascar came around. To have cars faster than Police to steal liquor. Chris thought I was crazy for not knowing. I seriously do not know how I ever passed a History class in High School. Probably why I dropped out of History my first semester of college 10 years ago.

Amendment 18 - Liquor Abolished. Ratified 1/16/1919. Repealed by Amendment 21, 12/5/1933. History
1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Just thought I would share with everyone because I have to pay a lot of money to learn this stuff and now you all can learn it for free.

Poor Kids and Gardening

Update of Gavin
Day 3 and 4 were the worst he is finally doing better, but now is addicted to two movies. The Little Einstein’s and The Velveteen Rabbit have been his favorite.

Poor little Brody got his hand smashed in the door 3 times in two days, by 3 different people. Luckily, I wasn’t one of those people. The worst was the first time and if you can see in the picture is all purple. The second and third time was not bad, just probably hurt because he had already had that hand smashed.

This is just a cute picture of Brody that I liked. We were talking about who Brody looks like. Most days when I look at him I see my brothers Braydan and Travis. Then there are days that I look at him and he looks like his cousin Keagan on the Parker side. This picture I think he looks like Keagan did as a toddler. Gavin I still think it all his dad, personality included. Even if Chris says his personality is me; its him, I am not that anory.

As most of you know, this is my first year planting a garden and I love it. I go out twice a day to check out my garden. In the morning, I “make babies” as Chris calls it. I go out and pollinate all the flowers with a paintbrush because the bees just don’t do a good enough job. In the evening, I see what babies have been made and water.

I have 30 green tomatoes 2 red tomatoes and many tomatoes flowers.

My cucumbers are my favorite. I planted in the rocks and they have been doing wonderful! A definite must for next year. So far, my first two plants I have picked 12 cucumbers and at least 10 more babies are coming along. The plants I planted later are coming along also.

I counted 10 baby watermelons when I was out making babies this morning.

I am worried about that area. I think I planted too many plants right there. In that one spot, I have the watermelon, cantaloupe, spaghetti squash, zucchini (about 8 coming), more cucumbers, and pumpkins. I was hoping that they would grow on the rocks, but when I try to train them, they just go back on the dirt. I think I planted the pumpkins too soon. We will have pumpkins way before Halloween.

Gavin's trip to the Hospital and Past Events

From the words of Gavin as we are getting in the car to leave the hospital, “This is not a little fun today.” First going to the Hospital I was scared with how things were starting. As we first walk into the pre-op room, he starts crying. The nurse tried to get his temperature in his ear he screamed, kicked and through a fit. They gave up and decided to try to get his pulse with a thing that went on his finger. He didn’t want to wear it and after a half hour finally got a reading. Went back to finding out his temperature and it took a long time to get. What happened to the old school temp reading under the arm and holding their wrist to get a pulse? Then they tried to explain that they were going to leave mom for a min and have fun blowing up a balloon and taking a nap. He cried didn’t want to go so once they were ready they took him screaming down the hall a little after 7. I waited in there waiting room the doctor came in at 7:50 said everything went good and the nurse would get me after he was wake. About 10 min later they came and got me said he was a feisty little guy. Once we woke up he started screaming ripping off his gown which they ended up taking it off. He also has scraps on his nose from trying to rip off the mask before the surgery. The nurses said he wanted his mom. So I get in there and hold him and he went to sleep. That day he was pretty much asleep all day. Good thing because the hospital didn’t have any cartoons. So, when he was up we watched Deadliest Catch (crab catching) it was on all day. The cafeteria closed at 1:30, which I thought, was weird. So I called Emily who lived close to the hospital and asked if she could bring me dinner. Emily got me some Chinese and Gavin decided he was hungry and was throwing fits because he wanted to eat Chinese food. The only time he was up was in the later evening from 5 until 9. It was probably the best stay I ever had at the hospital (must have been because I was not in pain). I shared the bed with Gavin and we only woke up once at 3 because he was crying and the nurse gave him more medicine. We got up at 6, Gavin eat Jell-o and out of there by 7. He still wanted real food and has probably has eaten 8 cups of Jell-o. Today he gets to eat more. He has eaten bread with no crust; more jell-o and he wanted real food so we gave him chicken soup. I was eating lunch with him and he wanted carrots. I told him he has carrots in his soup, but he wanted them raw with dip. It has been very hard to explain that it will hurt him if he eats hard food. Dad and I gave him two Beanie Babies and I asked what animal he wanted and of course he wanted the same ones Lexie has Pounder the Elephant and Heartbeat the dog. We gave Brody Chompy the Alligator because he was so good for Grandma and Grandpa. Today he is pretty much back to normal. I was wishing for him to sleep most of the day. He has been up running around playing, and bugging his brother. He really seems back to normal besides the occasional crying when his mouth hurts, as he calls it. Will see how he feels tomorrow, but it has been nothing like I expected, well except the first part. When I got mine out I remember lots of throwing up blood and lying on the couch in pain. The technology must have really improved over the many years. I think Gavin will have a quick recovery. Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and prayers.
Chris got to enjoy time with Brody and let me know of all the cute things he does.

Old happenings that I wanted to post.

This picture is of last year. We have really upgraded. Gavin decided he likes the bigger pool and the bigger towel.

This Years Towel.

This years pool.

I actually bought two pools. Brody likes this smaller one.

Brody going down the slide to the bigger pool. Gavin and Lexie love to go down the slide into the pool. I don't think Brody liked it so much.

This is a new favorite of Brody's. I really don't like it because every time I try and vacuum he is trying to grab the vacuum and help. It will be nice when he can go faster than a snail and learn to turn the thing. Maybe when he weighs more than the vacuum he can actually help.Dad thinks it is funny. I am starting to think I need to do while he sleeps along with everything else I have to do during that time.

I took this post from Jennie's blog and changed the names. Last weekend, we went up to the Plastow’s parents cabin with Jennie, Trever, McKenzie, Malia, and Emma for the night. We kind of decided at the last minute to go, so I didn't have things organized. Since Trever took the car that day, and we wanted to get there asap... Jennie and I loaded up her car with our 5 kids and camping gear, food, clothes etc for both families. I wish I had a picture. We had things under feet, behind heads, under arms and on laps! It was definitely an adventure!!! The boys came straight up after work. We had originally planned on staying in tents in pine on Jennie parents land. As we were driving up, it was pouring!!! So we decided to just go to their cabin instead. We could have saved a lot of car space if we had known that we didn't need our tents and everything!
We had a good time with games, a nature walk and shopping. It was a short trip but very fun!

Malia giving Brody Loves.

Gavin, McKenzie, and Malia

Emma and Brody playing in dirt.

The troop doing a nature walk.

This is a play date Jennie and I did at her parents house. I love their house, one day I would like a home like they have, big area to play, full of fun things for the kids to do.

This is the kids watching the goats at the neighbors.

The Go Cart we took for a ride around the block.

Lots of fun toys. Brody playing on the air plane tetor totor. Gavin liked the trampoline and electric car.

Tried to take some cute pictures of the boys.

Update

Here is a quick update on the Parker family. Gavin is going in for surgery this coming Tuesday June 2nd at 8:00 am and staying the night. He is having his tonsils and adenoids removed. The reason is that he has sleep apnea. We had a little stress this past week. First Gavin got his first ear infection in Washington we put him on amoxicillin to fix that. He had to be over the ear infection or he could not have surgery. That gave us 14 days to get him better. He was only supposed to need the amoxicillin for 10 days so I thought we were good. On day 8 he broke out in a rash all over his body. Not sure if you can see it in the picture, but it is sad.
I figured it was from the amoxicillin and we took him to the doctor. The doctor agreed he still had the ear infection so we took him off the amoxicillin and they gave him a shot for the ear infection. Gavin was not happy about the shot and never wanted to go to the doctor again. Two days later, he had to have a physical to make sure he was ready for surgery. Gavin didn’t want to go to the doctor again because he didn’t want a shot. I assured him he was not getting a shot today. Little did I know they had to take blood. He screamed and pulled away making it hard for the nurse to get the blood. Next, he had to get a shot for a skin test. The nurse and I had to hold him down so she was able to give him the shot. As far as I know, he is healthy and ready for surgery, but not wanting to see a doctor again as he puts it. The closer I get the more nervous I get. I am sure he will be fine, but I worry about the after math of dealing with a sick whiney child. They said some kids feel better after a couple of days and some take two weeks. I am planning on him being a pain for at least two weeks. We are not supposed to leave the house for a week and not have him be physically active for two weeks. It will be really fun at my house if you want to come and play.

I have so many pictures and more posts to do but don’t have the time. I am in this horrible U.S. Constitution class, which I hate and complain about every day. On a happy note Brody is so adorable and my lovable, huggable baby. It’s kind of funny he says so many words but will not say mom or dad. If you ask him to say it he will look at the person you say but will not actually say the word; however, he will say Grandpa. I will post more when I find time. We have been camping with the Plastow’s, swimming, and planning a swimming party for Monday at Mike and Amy’s. Trying to get everything fun in before the surgery, so if I ever find the time I will post more.

Rest of Vacation

Jessica did a wonderful post for the remainder of our vacation and posted everything that I didn't. I told her she could not do this, but I totally am. Here is her address read to see the remainder of the vacation. http://braydanandjessica.blogspot.com/

Washington Vacation

Ok so I just have a ton of pictures that we have taken. We are still on Vacation and will be here until Tuesday. We are having so much fun and Jessica is the best entertainer with tons to do in Washington. I don't think we will even get half the ideas she had done.

Plane Ride the kids were good but it is a 3 hour flight. That is so long, the longest we have been on is an hour.

Braydan, Jessica, their kids Eliza and Kaleb.
Cute Baby Eliza

Aquarium Trip

Kids love to play in the water and touch the starfish and plant fish.

Last aquarium picture. Lots to see and touch and run around. It is cold so it will look like my children never get changed because they are always in there jackets.

Gavin loves Eliza! He like to make her laugh and bring her blankets.

Brody also loves Eliza and gives her lots of kisses and attacks her when she is on the floor.

This is the children museum the kids had a blast here. Lots of imagination and things to touch and play with. This is the water works room.

Gavin playing in the imagination bus.

The fire truck a favorite.

Cute Brody loved to climb and slide on the fire truck. I think this was his favorite along with a ball thing they had.

Playing in their hot tub.

Brody begging to get in.

Kids swinging.

We are off to the lake that is walking distance from their house.

This is what you find when Braydan runs ahead in the wagan and claims both kids take off and he chases Kaleb who is going after a dog. I think he let Gavin run into the lake. Cold, raining on the way home and no clothes to change into. Strip the pants and use the jacket to keep warm.

The good mom who doesn't let the other child run into the lake.

This is the museum walking distance from their house. Gavin loved this place. It was actually closed the day we went but the nice guy was there and gave us a tour. They stay open just off of donations. They had lots of switches and buttons to make things work.

Water pump

Tons of tractors to play on.

Kaleb in his John Deere sweetshirt that he trows fits if you take it off.

Grandma and Brody

Still more to come we have lots planned inbetween naps. We are going to do Gymnastics today after lunch. This place is just like the places I used to go to. Arizona needs to take some lesson on a good gymnastics place I haven't found one I like that is close.

Getting Ready to Leave

We are getting ready to leave for Washington State to see my brother Braydan and his cute family. I was going to post a picture of their family but they don't have any family pictures on their blog. So I guess you will all have to wait until we get back or check out their blog on my list.

These pictures are Brody helping me pack. Gavin is always a pain but especially today so I made him take a nap or he would have been in my suitcase also.

This is Brody trowing a fit because he wants the shoes I packed for him on his feet. I had a hard time packing his blanket he keep finding it and taking it out.

Brody finding more stuff to play with.

This is proof that my plants are alive before I left. Let us all hope that Chris remembers to water them daily.

Thanks to our wonderful friends the Plastow's we almost doubled our garden with tomatoes. You can see the first set I planted in cages. The rest they gave me is after the yellow hose. It is hard to see but there are tons. What great friends we have.
This is cute Brody Blowing Bubbles, remember to turn off the music at the top because the best part is hearing him blow.

Teaching Them Young

Easter

So I had over 150 pictures and tons of video it was so hard to pick what I wanted to posted. What can I say my boys are just super cute.

Grandma holding Eggs while Gavin is running and looking for more.

Grandpa helping Brody find eggs, not sure what he is pointing at but it is not an egg.

Gavin had to have help get lots of eggs because I put them up so high.

Brody finding a egg.

Brody always has his mouth open for some reason.

Gavin's final basket of eggs.

The after math of eggs, to see how many you can stuff in your mouth.

Chipmunk cheeks with candy coming out.

Gavin making a mess.

Funny story we went to a party later that night and everyone keep asking what happened to his hands. When people asked Gavin would tell them coloring eggs. But one person he didn't want to tell, I said he was being shy and left it at that. Then this person said, no really how did his hands get that color. I thought it was weird they couldn't figure it out and wondered if everyone else who asked was really in shock of why is hands were that color. I was thinking isn't every kids hands this color the day before Easter.

Gavin's eggs finished.

Brody's finished eggs. Yes all of them are broken. It is ok though last month I had some eggs in the fridge that were three months past due and just hard boiled them so Brody could color and I would feel less bad about throwing them away. So I put a little blue dot so we would know which ones not to eat.

This was a video before we even got the egg die out.

I am going to try and post more video's because they are super cute. But if it takes a long time that's it no video's.

Misc Post of the Parkers

We bought Gavin a bunch bed to eventually share with Brody when he gets bigger. His room is so small even the bunk bed takes over the room. Gavin loves it and played and read books in his bed for hours. I hope the fun of his bed never wears out. Yes, Brody can climb all the way to the top of the ladder. He is a climber, on everything!
I thought this was cute so close to Easter he climbs in all the time and usually falls over trying to get out.Brody is not big into bath time, but loves to get out and run around the house naked in his towel.

This is a before picture of the side of our house. You might be asking why do you post a picture of your side of the house. This is going to be the new area for our garden. We are planning on starting little and if we can actually grow food then expanding.

Chris made me a gate to keep the munchkins out of the garden. It is almost up to my shoulder so I don't think they can climb over we still need to buy a lock for the gate. Great Job Honey!

We have planted Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, peas, and peppers. Tough brother love! No worries Brody can hold his own and give his own tough love.

For example, just climb on someone and squish them.

This is Brody's newest he loves to spin until he can't get up anymore. You also get to watch my everyday chaos.

Easter Pictures

We had Grandma and Grandpa take some Easter pictures for us. I thought the family picture turned out good. The boys were a challenge, Brody cried because well he was not happy and he didn't like the fake grass. Gavin just can't smile normal. These are the best of them. I say they boy's pictures are not worth blowing up to put in the frames. We are going to have to try again.

Gavin doing puzzles.
Gavin and I made a bird house at Home Dept. It is cool the first Saturday of the month the kids have a free project they get to do. So he got a kids home dept apron and every time they finish a project they get a pin for their apron. Gavin hammered the nails and the table. It hangs in the window and has a clear back so you can watch the birds. Will see if one ever comes in.

Gavin's Surgery and Growing Season

Went to the doctor yesterday and we decided that Gavin is going to have surgery. He is having his tonsils removed. He has sleep apnea caused by enlarged tonsils. In addition, whenever he gets any kind of little cold he coughs non-stop and usually throws up in the process. We set the date to be on June 2, 2009 it was going to be next month but we are flying to Washington and they said it didn’t give him enough time to heal. So they decided it would be best to wait until June. The doctor said he will be on liquids the first week and shouldn’t do much of anything until after the second week of healing. I am not sure how I will deal with him for the first two weeks. I guess he will be watching lots of Movies! I had better start collecting some new ones.

I have been excited about gardening thanks to the Plastow’s. So far, I have peas and cucumbers growing. I just planted some peppers and got seeds to plan cantaloupe, watermelon, and tomatoes. Chris is going to build me a fence to keep kids out.

Cucumber and Peas

I am very excited about our fruit trees. Last year we only got 3 lemons. This year the lemons will probably quadruple and we also have grapefruit (in the picture) and oranges. So far we will probably only have around 6 oranges, but the grapefruit we will probably have around 15. Of course if the kids don’t pull them off the tree before they grow. Gavin has already gotten in trouble for picking a fruit (ball) of the tree.

Grapefruit Growing

This plant is over 70 years old down from Craig’s side of the family. They say it is hard to get to flower. I am excited to announce that I have my first set of flowers. My parents are upset because they have the other half of the plant and their half hasn’t flowered yet since being in Arizona. When you see the flowers, they look fake and they feel like velvet. This is one of my favorite plants!

70+ year old plant with my first set of flowers

Pictures

These are a bunch of pictures I have that I thought I would share. The first set is when we went to the zoo a couple weeks ago. Michelle took that cool picture of Gavin walking.

Our bunch of kids and Zora and Gavin picking flowers. They held hands and went to go over and pick flowers I wanted to get a pictures but was slow and they didn't do it again. So cute!

Kids playing with sunglasses.

Brody was playing with a bucket the other day. He was so funny would put it on and walk around the house. He ran into the wall once.

More swimming pictures because I know everyone in Utah and Washington get so jealous of these pictures. Gavin loves to swim!! I will probably put him in swim lessons this summer. Brody doesn't love as much, last time he just sat with dad on the pool deck. I sure hope he starts to like it. I need to be better at putting sunscreen on the boys; Brody has red arms and legs just from playing outside in the back yard.

Playing games pictures. The first is a game called mom and dad do a puzzle for me. This is the worst game! I don't even like puzzles and Gavin doesn't put any together; however, he will take the pieces apart and say they don't fit. They Do!! Dad is good at playing the puzzle game with Gavin. Whack a Mole one of the kids favorite games simple they can play by themselves.

5 Year Anniversary

We had our 5-year anniversary on March 6, 2009. The traditional gift to give on a 5-year anniversary is wood. Wood represents the strength of your marriage. Wood is strong and long lasting. So for our gift of wood on our anniversary we went to Home Depot after a yummy dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We bought some wood to build an extra shelf in our laundry room. Chris did a great job putting it together for us. I told him I couldn’t wait for our ten-year anniversary when the modern gift is diamond jewelry. Diamond jewelry links your yesterdays with tomorrow. Diamonds are often viewed as symbols of love and commitment. I have to give him 5 years to prepare for a big purchase.

This website is fun it gives gift ideas and celebration suggestions for your 1st to 100th wedding anniversary. http://marriage.about.com/cs/anniversaries/a/wedannivideas.htm

The top shelf is what Chris built.

While at Home Depot we also bought handles. Chris did a great job putting them in.

I took the kids to Emily's and we went swimming. Gavin said he never wanted to go home. Brody looks cute in his swimming suit.

Gavin is a good little swimmer in his life jacket.

A mom duck and her 14 babies got stuck in the pool. He put a chair in hoping they would get out. I haven't heard if they made it out yet.

We walked over to the lake and feed the ducks at the lake. Gavin would throw in half pieces of bread for them to eat. There was baby swans at the lake.

Brody decided to feed himself the bread and just said Duck over and over again. Brody has got really good at a few words. He says Duck, stuck, rock, and book. He used to say Uh-Oh (First word) when he dropped things, but now has moved on to new words. He still doesn't say Mom or Dad. I must not teach my kids those words because Gavin's first word was Dog and then Rock.

Cute Brody and Gavin!
Brody loves Grandpa! The other day Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch him. Brody comes a walking with arms up, walks right past Grandma so Grandpa could hold him. Now the boys fight to have Grandpa hold them. I told mom it was because I always make her do the mean things like getting their hair cut and such. I do think it is cute that they love their Grandpa so much. He is pretty lucky.

Christopher’s Promotion

We are excited to announce that Chris was promoted at work yesterday. He was promoted to manager, we are not sure what team he is over, he will find out Monday. It doesn’t include a pay increase, but now we will not be getting a decrease. We were worried about keeping his numbers up for Executive Enrollment Counselor, but know do not need to worry. He is excited for the change and we are super excited for him. The Lord has blessed us in many ways and we are so proud of Chris for all he does.

Just some Pictures

A couple of pictures from when we went to Utah. Grandad and the boys.

I made some cute clips. Ok just glued the clips. I bought the kits and then glued them together. Brody got to be my little model. This is the website that I got them from http://www.capellico.com. I got most of the different colors.

Gavin decided he wanted to plant flowers so at the store he picked out some and came home to plant the flowers in his pot. You can see how good my cilantro is growing on the other side. I wanted to have cilantro and tomatoes growing so I could always make fresh salsa. Well the tomatoes never get bigger than a small green ball because the kids pull them off before they have a change to grow. However, they leave my ciantro alone and it grows like crazy.

I just thought I would update everyone on the happening from Arizona. The weather is wonderful!! Nothing much really, the class I am in for school is killing me and giving me second thoughts about teaching math. We are doing geometry and I am not good at geometry just algrebra. I have one week left then hopefully a easy class, I need it!

Car Update & Thank Goodness for Family

Well I am sure all of you are dying to hear what happened with the car and our trip. Well this is the short version. We took off to Utah and Chris and his dad worked on the fuel problem all weekend. They worked and took it to the dealer and Preston and were not able to fix. We had a wonderful time visiting family and were sad to leave. We decided that we would trade in the car once back in Arizona and lose about $5,000 We took off Monday afternoon got a hotel to stay in Vegas for the night. We made it to St. George and stopped for dinner at Jack in the Box at 8:00. Well when we came out the car was dead. We are pretty sure it is the transmission. Upset and stuck we called our parents. Chris’ parents took off in two cars to come and save us. My mom called her sister Beth to see if she could come and get us at Jack in the Box. My uncle Dan came to pick us up and take us to his house to stay the night. Chris’ parents drove to St. George to let us borrow their Durango to get home. We called the bank and told them we were not going to make any more car payments and they needed to pick it up in St. George. So now, every day the bank calls to ask the same questions I already told them. Overall, we will probably lose about 8 to 10 thousand in the junk of a car. What did we learn from the experience? Well never buy a Chrysler and never by a used car if you do get the warranty and always be thankful that we have family.

Off to Utah

Off to Utah tomorrow. I am not excited for the snow. We have packed every warm piece of clothes we have and I have a feeling we will still be freezing. We are staying the night in Misquite, NV to break up the trip a little. I hope the kids will be good in the car and we don't run out of gas on the way. We are going prepared, we bought two 5 gallon cans that we can take with us in the car. Wish us Luck!

Valentines

We had a wonderful Valentines. The day started with Amy and me running our 5K, 3.4 miles. I was not planning to go as fast as we did. I was thinking, walk some jogging. Amy was thinking mostly jog, she pushed me hard and Amy finished at 39:44 and me at 39:45. After the run, the kids played at the fundraiser. They did a train (bucket ride on the back of a golf cart), bouncers, and petting zoo (felt badly for the pets) and walked around. I bid on a few items at the silent auction and didn’t win anything. Then I came home to Chris and the boys getting me an edible flower arrangement, yummy. I did homework and we got surprised with a heart attack from Mike, Amy, and the kids. The kids put cute sayings and candy on the hearts. Chris made me dinner, steak baked potatoes, and salad. Did more homework and watched the movie fireproof. Gavin went and had a sleepover with Grandpa and Grandma. Brody stayed and played with mom and dad.

Car Problems

Most of you do not know, but we bought a lemon of a car and I decided not to get the extra insurance when we purchased. We have taken to Queen Creek Auto who did many repairs and fixed some things; however, one problem we have they have not been able to fix. They took the gas tank off 5 times replaced things that needed to be replaced and was not able to find the problem. They suggested taking it to a dealer; I hate dealers. Well after a few months of dealing with the problem, we finally took it to them. They charged us $80 to plug it to a machine and tell us it wasn’t the wiring. Good news I guess then the continued to tell us that they would need to take the gas tank off and test the parts they charge $300 to take the gas tank off. Queen Creek Auto didn’t charge us anything to take off the tank and they did so 5 times. We told the deal that it had already been removed and parts replaced and that it wasn’t the problem. Therefore, after taking it to the deal we decided not to have the deal try and fix. Next option to trade it in went a few places and after having the car 2 months them not knowing it had, a problem would only give us half of what we paid for the car. No way am I not losing that much money for only having it 2 months. Next options drive to Utah, have Grandad the wonderful mechanic try, and fix our car for us. Chris called his dad and he is able to fix the car next weekend. Therefore, the plan is Thursday night take off for our 14 hour trip to Logan, Utah to try and fix then car drive home Tuesday. We might also see how much trade in we can get in Utah because in Arizona they rip you off. My mom is also visiting Utah that same week she left today and is coming home the next week Tuesday same day as us and because kids under 2 can fly free we are sending Brody home with Grandma so he doesn’t have to make the long trip twice. So this is the plan fun isn’t it.

Two Sisters One Heart

I haven't started to read yet, but I did sign up to do a 5K Fund Raiser for Emma and Taylor Bailey conjoined sisters. This will be my first time doing something like this. It is on February 14th and starts at 8:00. If anyone else wants to do it with Amy and I that would be cool. We are planning on jog/walking.

This is the website if you want to check it out.

http://www.twosisters-oneheart.blogspot.com/