Vroom Vroom!

That's right, after a long and crazy week, we finally purchased a new truck last Friday. It was a little more than we wanted to pay, but we just couldn't pass up the good deal on such a new and hardly driven vehicle. So without further ado, here's our new truck:

2008 Nissan Frontier with just under 27,000 miles on it.


This isn't the best angle and it's a little dark, but it gives you an idea of how long it is.


We are so excited about the bed cover - it will be so nice with the snow and also if we ever need to transport things in the bed, this cover is going to be so nice!


It was previously owned by one person and they kept it so very nice - inside and out! Here's the front seat...


... and the back seat - something we've desperately wanted for a couple years now! The best part is that all 5 of us can fit into the new truck - this will be so nice instead of having to take 2 vehicles any time we need to transport anything big and all of us need to go.


Jeremiah's the lucky one since he's the one that primarily drives it, but I'm so happy that he loves it and it's nice to be able to get him something that he's so happy with. Hailey's happy about it too. If you remember her fascination with red cars, then you can only imagine how happy she is that we actually OWN a red car now. In fact, it was priceless to see her face light up when Jeremiah drove it home on Friday to show us. You would have thought it was Christmas all over again!

Yes, to say the least, we are all THRILLED with our new truck.

Valentine's Day 2011 - interesting to say the least!

I wish I could say our Valentine's Day was full of fun and excitement and all sorts of neat things. Unfortunately, it was anything but that. For those of you that haven't heard, Jeremiah was in a car accident last Friday. He's fine and the speeds were very slow, so no worries about him or the other driver. So while the insurance company sorted everything out, we patiently waited all weekend for news on the final outcome. Unfortunately, because our truck was so old and the angle at which the collision occurred, it would have cost more to fix the truck than just total it.

So we were basically left to say goodbye to the truck that has served us well the last 5 1/2 years and begin gearing up for buying a new one. Of course because we were now down to one car, I began the tedious task of getting Jeremiah to work (which is in Spanish Fork and a good 30-35 minute drive one way on a good day with no traffic) and getting each of the kids to school and their various activities.

So rather than a relaxing Monday morning, we woke up the kids early, got them fed, dressed, and in the car by 7:20am so we could get Jeremiah to work on time. After that we headed home, fed Tate, and got Zach off to school. I then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon working, talking with the insurance company on the phone (numerous times), and taking care of Tate and Hailey. We then got a call from Jeremiah saying he was ready to come home, so as soon as Zach walked in the door from school at 2:45, we all jumped in the car and headed back to Spanish Fork to get him. We then flew back to Lehi to get Hailey to cheerleading at 4pm. We dropped her off and then headed over to the towing company to clean all our stuff out of the truck, drop off the keys, and give them permission for the insurance company to take it. Then we went back to the Legacy Center to pick up Hailey (it was now 5pm) and we headed home. Once we got home, we fixed dinner, ate dinner, got homework done, and did a little mini-Valentine's Day celebration (it was less than 15 minutes long) as Family Home Evening before reading scriptures, saying family prayer, and getting the kids in bed on time. After that we were so exhausted from the day, that Jeremiah and I were in bed and asleep around 9:30pm.

So that was our Valentine's Day. Nothing like we were hoping, not even close. But as I reflected later than night on the day's activities, I decided that we were blessed just to have made sure we had everyone where they needed to be and home and we all were healthy and together. I've come to realize that sometimes blessings come in the form of not having any more bad news! So we're content that the day, although extremely hectic, was a success and more importantly - OVER!

To let you know where we are right now with things, I wish I could say we found another vehicle right away and everything is now back to normal. But we're still looking and we're hoping that we find one that suits our needs and budget in the next day or so. In the meatime, the rest of this week has been a bit crazy. Luckily, with some help from my wonderful mother and father who have been on hand as needed, we were able to send Jeremiah our other car Tuesday and Wednesday, and my mom watched all the kids while I dropped off and picked up Jeremiah yesterday, and they both even went to Zach's game last night to support him while I was at my Relief Society Activity. She even watched the kids for a few hours on Wednesday afternoon so Jeremiah and I could go look for a bit. I really don't know what we would have done without them and all their help!

Luckily our only activity that required us to have the car today was cancelled, so we were able to send the car with Jeremiah again. He's hoping to get off a little early today so that he can drop by a few dealerships on the way home and check out some trucks we saw online. So we're hoping that by tomorrow we'll have a spiffy new vehicle for him to drive around. I sure hope so because next week is going to be crazy as well and I'm not looking forward to trying to get everyone to where they need to be with just one vehicle. I'm hoping it won't be much longer until things are back to normal around here (at least the chaotic normal we're used to)!

Wish us luck! I have a feeling we're going to need it!

Zach - Basketball 2011

It's January and February and for us, that means another season of Zach playing ...

BASKETBALL!

We were so impressed at what he remembers from the last couple of years. As usual, he is a top scorer on their team. The very first game, he scored 7 baskets. Every game since then, it's been at least 5-7 baskets. He is having so much fun and we are having a blast watching him.

Dribbling down the court to score.


Guarding his assigned guy.


More guarding (he's really good at this!).


Last week Awa, Jedd, and little Libby came down to watch his game. It was so fun to have them there and although it was loud, little Libs was great! Hailey had more fun watching and holding Libby than she did watching the game.


Since we know the still shots don't do our little basketball man justice, here is some video of him playing:

Shooting and Scoring (of course).



And guarding.



I think we have a basketball star on our hands! We're already more than half way through the season and we have all had so much fun watching, we'll be sad when it's over.

Way to go ZACH - we are all so proud of you!

Rolling Over!

After much anticipation and patience, we finally have a little baby that can roll over! He rolled from his front side to his back side on Monday, January 24th. It was really special since all four of us were there watching him and saw it the very first time. I had some video, but it was really blurry because I was so excited and the lighting really wasn't good at all since it was evening. So after a few days, I finally got him to roll over when I was ready with the camera. So for all of you out there dying to see it, here it is:



Most babies roll over earlier than 8 months, but due to Tate's acid reflux, we haven't been able to put him on his belly very often, so he hasn't had much practice or opportunity to do it until recently.

It was so cute to see him roll over. He really doesn't like to be on his belly, so I think he just all of a sudden decided to get off of it himself! He has also rolled over from his back to his belly once on Friday, January 28th - but I think it was more of an accident and he wasn't happy to be on his belly, so that might not happen very often for now. But at least we know he can do it.

Yes, we are quite proud of our big boy!

King Luther

Hailey came home from preschool last week all smiles and happy, as she usually does. Later that day, Nana and Papa came to see Zach's basketball game later that night and were talking with the kids. Nana asked Hailey what she had learned about in preschool that day. Hailey looked at her and said "King Luther." My mom looked at me wondering if I had any idea what that meant and I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. I tried to think if there was a fairy tale or nursery rhyme or something with a King Luther in it, but I just couldn't think of anything. Suddenly, my mom laughed and said, do you mean Martin Luther King? She smiled and said yes! It was so cute that she remembered, but didn't quite get it right when telling us.

On Saturday while they were playing, she asked me if I knew who Marvin Luther King was (misspelling intentional to show how she pronounced it). I told her I did, but could she tell me a little bit about him? She then proceeded to tell me that Marvin Luther King was a very good man. When he was little he was told not to come play at his friends house because he wasn't the right color. Hailey didn't quite understand what that meant - she thought his clothes or something he was wearing wasn't quite the right color. When I explained a bit more about the problem being the color of his skin, she seemed to not understand why anyone would not let someone come play just because their skin was a different color. I was so happy to hear this because we have tried to teach our children about the importance of accepting anyone regardless of how they look or where they come from. She then told me all about Rosa Parks (even though she couldn't remember her name) and how no one on the bus would let her sit in the front. She had to sit way in the back because she wasn't the right color either. Bless Hailey's little heart, she was very sad for her and so much wanted her to be able to sit in the front of the bus.

We (Hailey, Zachary, and I) had a very nice talk about this and it was nice to see that they understood how unfair it was to treat someone differently just because of the color of their skin. They both giggled when I told them we treat everyone the same no matter if their skin is white, black, or purple! I was really proud of my kids and their understanding of the basic principles of equality. Maybe they really are paying attention when we teach them things!

So from our family to yours, Happy King Luther Day!

Tate at 7 Months

What are the two best words to describe Tate at 7 months???

BIG AND FUN!

That's right, my little chub-a-lub is really getting big! He weighed almost 20 pounds at his 6 month dr appt over a month ago (before he started baby cereal or baby food), so my guess is that now he probably weighs somewhere around 24 or 25 pounds. HE IS A BIG BOY! But we love all the chub and wouldn't have him any other way.


But despite how big he is, he is just loads and loads of fun! Zach and Hailey love him to pieces and can't get enough of him. Of course, who could resist this cute smile?


He's currently in size 18 month clothes! Funny since they are finally big enough around, but are so long that we have to roll them up - WAY UP in some cases!


Tate loves sitting in his megasaucer where he can jump, spin around, and play with a bunch of toys that don't fall on the floor (we're loving that part of it too!).


He has the funniest expressions at times, especially when I pull the camera out. I always seem to catch the strangest looks on his face.


Here are some other fun things about Tate at 7 months:

- He loves to squeal loudly - either when he's happy or sad. Ask me how many times I've made it through Sacrament or Relief Society in the past month or so without having to take him out - that would be a big fat zero!

- He's so close to rolling over, but not quite there yet. He's sitting up pretty much on his own and only has a tip over every so often.

- He jabbers all the time - it's fun to hear him pronouncing different letters (gee or dadadadda or nananana seems to be the most prevalent lately).

- He is really good at knowing what I need him to do and NOT DOING IT! For example, when I need him to get up at 6:00 or 6:30 on Sunday so that he can get in a nap before church, he will sleep until 7:30 - making it impossible. But of course, he's up at 6:15 the last two mornings!

- He's trying a bunch of new things. One of the most recent:


Laffy Taffy! (Before anyone has a heart attack, we were very careful and didn't let him suck or pull any of it off and swallow it.) But needless to say ...


HE LOVES IT! Boy, is he in the right family or what?


In fact, taking it away from him was very difficult! Nothing like "taking candy from a baby" that everyone swears is so easy. Yes, he cried, he squealed, he thrashed, all to let us know he wanted that yummy candy back! He did eventually settle down, but Nana and Papa - your present was a hit - Tate loves laffy taffy!

Chopped!

Last night I decided to cut Zach's hair. It was getting bushy and shaggy and I couldn't stand it anymore. While I was pulling out the clippers, Hailey informed me that she wanted a haircut too. Usually we have a very talented lady in the ward cut her hair, but since she just had a baby a week or so ago, we decided this would be a good time to give it a shot on our own.

Hailey kept telling me she wanted it short, short, short and kept putting her hand up to the top of the back of her head. There was NO WAY I was going to cut it that short, but I did cut it quite short.


I didn't originally plan on cutting it this short, but a quick turn of her head while I was making a cut made it so we had to go shorter than I wanted and when we evened it out, we ended up as you see it here. Needless to say, we had a big talk about holding still and after that she did really great.


Even though it's shorter than I was planning, it does look really cute. Who knows, maybe we'll keep it this short for a while?