Big Red

Tweety, our lovely white van.

 We bought this beautiful white van around the time our third child was a baby.  She is now almost 9 years old and for the past year our lovely white van has been sending us a loud message in the form of incessant squeaks and expensive repairs.  She wanted to go.

First of all the squeak.  She squeaked so much hence the name Tweety!  We replaced the belt four times, had them lubricated, replaced the tensioner pulley and the idler pulley.   All this and she still insisted on squeaking.  Everyone around knew it was us coming when they heard the squeak.  It was very humbling.

So then there were the repairs.  We had our alternator go, then the battery needed to be changed, then the battery cables.  The list started growing.  In the midst off all this we were one day stranded with a dead battery at the kids' school after volleyball practice.  I was so embarrassed, but a lady came to give us a jump.  A bunch of the girls' teammates were standing around the car watching us hook up the cables.  I braced myself, because I knew that the second the car started they would all be subjected to the deafening squeak.  It all played out as I predicted.  The girls and I jumped in the car and drove away quickly agreeing that that was one of the most embarrassing moments of our lives.

After everything was fixed and I had finally found a lubricant that would keep the squeaky sound down for about five miles before needing to be reapplied, I was satisfied that I could still live with this car.  I was not interested in the financial burden that would come with purchasing a new vehicle.  Well, one day as I was driving down the road I looked down and saw that the speedometer was not working.  "Ok, ok," I thought.  "I get it.  I will get a new car."

Goodbye Tweety, we love you.

 So we decided to buy something larger than a minivan because the kids are getting bigger and it was becoming increasingly squishy on long trips.  We also felt bad that we could never take other people with us.  We looked at Suburbans, but I wasn't keen on the kids having to climb over things to get to their seats.  Plus I love the under the seat storage of vans.  I grew up with a 12 passenger van and Dad had a 15 passenger.  We talked about which kind to get and we decided that we might just as well get the bigger size so we could haul the youth and scouts to all their activities.  Not to mention, on long trips the kids can all have their own bench!!

Hello Big Red

 This van was meant to be ours.  When I found her I knew she was mine.  She even has a DVD player mounted on the ceiling, which the kids think is THE BEST feature.  I like having some space to spread out. When Richard's brother came we had his family of six, our family of seven and Grandma Vance all in the van together with one seat belt to spare.  It was hilarious!!!

Saturday is Mr. M's first time going to the temple.  He is so excited to have all his friends ride in our new van.  He has already picked out the movies to show on the two hour drive.

Four benches.  We love this van!!!

Fall Fun

These are our good friends who joined us for a day of fun up at the college.  The leaves were absolutely beautiful and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

The kids organized their own football game, chose teams and made up cheers.  These are the BYU All Blacks.  (Our friends are big time fans of the New Zealand All Blacks.) 

And the quarterback is off in the first play of todays game with the BYU Cougars vs. BYU All Blacks.

Above the track where we found a beautiful view on our hike.

Another breathtaking view on our little hike.  Look closely and you can see the younger boys racing to cross the bridge.

Our Amazing 12-Year-Old Scout

All dressed up in his uniform for the parade.

Some of the boys from our troop and a leader who is an Iraq war vet at the Veterans Day Parade

Halloween

Please note Super Girl in her flying pose.  That girl is full of personality.

 We trick-or-treated this year with two of our neighbor friends.  It was a lot of fun.  Dad even got in on the action at the last minute which is a good thing since Mom was such a party pooper and didn't dress up this year.  Mom can be lame like that sometimes.

Aren't they just adorable.  I especially like the nun, oh I mean the Saudi prince.  Hehehe. 

Turning Twelve

Birthday cake that he decorated and lit himself.

 Mr. M turned 12 this year.  His Grandma Vance and Uncle Gary and family came to our house for the occasion.  It was so much fun to have family here to support him in receiving the priesthood.  He is such a great young man.

Mr. M and Baby I.

Gary's family with us down at the river.  

Ondalynn and me down at the river park.  She is sold.  Now that she lives closer she and I are going to party here for a week in the summer.

Little L, Sweet S and Cutie J.  I love these girls.

Some football lessons from Uncle Gary.

The big game.

This is the day of Mr. M's ordination.  He even bore his testimony in sacrament meeting.  What a great young man.  I love him so much.

One of many games of Uno played over the weekend.

Halloween Party

The kids and the spooky spread. Eat at your own risk.

 This year Leanne and I did a little party for our cousins who were in town and a couple of other friends. It was a fun time for the kids.  Leanne is such a great party hostess.

Da Guys.

Grandma Vance and our cute little cousin I.

Cousins.  Aren't they adorable.

Cutie J.  She was a little witch.

Our hostess Leanne and her mother Janet.

I don't know what to say about this one.  

Lady K, nice hair.

Business Trip to Denver

Here I am at the Denver Temple.  

 Dad had a business trip to Denver, Colorado in October and he asked me to come along.  It was a lot of fun to go with him, although, I have to admit, I missed the kids a lot!!  While Dad was at his conference I  was able to go to the temple, visit Joel and Heather Gardner (cousins,) read, workout and shop.  I kept wishing the kids were there to experience it all with me.  Dad and I were treated to dinner by Joel and Heather, went to a movie, swam in the snow and just enjoyed being together.  It was a great trip.

Cheesecake Factory with my soul sista Heather and two of her four cute kids.  I loved getting a tour of their amazing neighborhood and their incredible house.  Heather and I were non-stop talking the entire time.  

The second day we were there it dumped snow on us.  Too bad we are too cheap to have the valet do the scraping for us.  

A night out with our cousins.  We had so much fun hanging out with Joel and Heather.  We had to keep reminding ourselves to stop talking and eat.  

Our fancy hotel.

This was in the Denver Airport.  There were a bunch of paper cranes all over the walls  (10,000 to be exact.)  The story is that there is a lady who was writing a book and ended up making her manuscript into paper cranes.  The electronic copy of her book was subsequently lost and so now the only copy of her book is on 10,000 paper cranes in the Denver Airport.  Weird but true.