And speaking of a lot happening, tons has happened between #299 and #300 and now I have a bunch to blog about.
We've been talking on and off about upgrading our car to something that would seat more. In light of our recent car troubles we decided that maybe we should get the ball rolling, so I listed and ad on Craigslist and KSL after we got the car fixed. It had been on there for a week or two and we had received a few calls about it, but no one seemed really interested, until one lady called and asked a lot of questions about it. I was really specific with her about the condition of the car and its history and when she came and looked at it she about broke down in tears because we were the first people who had been completely honest with her all day. It turns out she had spent the entire day, and a range of about 150 miles looking for a car. Everyone she had dealt with all day had been dishonest with her about the condition of the car she had called about and she was about at wits' end. Needless to say we sold her the car and we were both really pleased with the deal. She wanted to take it home with her, but we told her we needed it for another week. So I spent the next week searching high and low for a new vehicle for our family and we found a super deal on a 2010 Ford Explorer, which we are now the proud owners of. Ironiclly, five of Jonathan's seven brothers drive a Ford SUV of some sort. The neighbors joke that when all of Jonathan's brothers come home to visit at the same time, the yard looks like a used car lot. They might have to start specifying that it looks like a used Ford car lot.
It wouldn't have been our first choice in color, but when you find a good deal you can't really be nit-picky about the color. The official color is "Sunset" but depending on how the light hits it, it's either a dark rust, brown, burgundy, or dark orange. The color is actually kind of growing on us now though. It's unique and easier to spot in a parking lot than the run of the mill colors. I have to admit I was a little sad to see our other car go. It's been a great car for us and was attached to lots of memories. It took us on our first date, drove us to our honeymoon, went on a few road trips, drove two kids home from the hospital after they were born, and the list goes on. But we're excited for our roomier ride now and the memories that will come with it :)
We have a book of horse breeds that Maggie likes to look at. When she gets to the page about Clydesdales she likes to put her clydesdale toy on top of the picture and get excited about how she "found a match." So I had to chuckle to myself when I found the couch pillows on the floor with their "matches":
She's definitely entertaining. (That's an old peanut butter jar filled with water and glitter and hot glued shut...free toys seems to be the most entertaining. Whenever I babysit I am always amazed that the "glitter jar" as we call it, is the first toy inspected by the new comers. One of the neighbor girls carried it around the whole time she was here. I probably should have just given it to her.)
Maggie has been wanting a build a snowman all winter, but we haven't had enough snow. She was so happy when we were finally able to build one. She gave it a big hug when we finished. Unfortunately, my snowman making skills were a little rusty and it looked like pure carnage just a few hours later.
Supposedly if you send a letter to one of the Disney characters at Disney World, they'll send you a color autographed photo back (I guess Disney Land does the same, but the photos are black and white). It was a fun way to have Maggie practice her writing. We just mailed it yesterday, but I'll keep your posted if we get a picture of Cinderella back. And if you're wondering, the address is
Walt Disney World Communications
P.O. Box 10040Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040
I've been trying to exercise more often and get in a little better shape. There are so many different workouts on Youtube and Pinterest that I usually just pick a different one each day so I don't get bored doing the same one each day. Lane is my little drill sergeant. He likes to sit on my belly while I'm trying to do crunches or climb up on my legs while I'm doing wall sits.
We were able to attend our neice Hailey's baptism. I love baptisms! The spirit is always so strong. After Maggie watched the baptism so said, "I wish I could do that." Now she keeps talking about how she can be baptized too when she turns eight.
After the baptism, we headed to Nebraska to take pictures of the bulls that are in a feedlot there. We left the kids with Jonathan's parents (thanks again!) This is my second time away from the kids and it was a lot easier than the first time, even though I still missed them like crazy.
My first experience driving through Nebraska was in high school with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law on our way to visit my sister in Minnesota. We visited Cabela's, which was fun, but then we got stuck in a tornado warning in Ogallala and waited it out inside a Pamida store, which had some pretty awesome deals. When we were able to get back on the interstate we drove through a crazy thunderstorm. I have never seen rain like that in my life! By the time we got to Lincoln we were so exhausted that we decided to pull off and get a room. Conveniently, the Jehovah's Witnesses were holding a convention in Lincoln and there wasn't a single vacancy at any hotel we checked in the entire city. So we ventured on toward Omaha. We found a motel with vacancy somewhere between the two cities and we were just thankful to have a room, at least until we actually got into the room. It was the dirtiest, grossest room I have ever stayed in in my life. The carpet had been shampooed, but never dried, so the whole room was full of mold and the smell of mildew...and that might have been one of the cleaner features of the room, thank me for not including more details. We were so exhausted that we stayed there, but my mom got most of our money back the next morning. The point of this whole story is that aside from Cabela's and Pamida, I wasn't a big fan of Nebraska. It's growing on me a little more each time I visit though. The people are really friendly and wave at you every where you go.
Jonathan's Great Great Great Grandfather passed away on the plains somewhere near North Platte, Nebraska. There were a few pioneer landmarks I was hoping to see since we were going to be so close. We did see the Mormon trail and made a slight detour up to Windlass Hill, where you can still see the ruts in the soil from the wagon wheels. Unfortunately we were supposed to have a vehicle pass to drive through the state park and we didn't have one, so we only stayed there for a few minutes. I think the view of the ruts was deeper into the park, but who knows, maybe the picture below is of wagon ruts on the hill? Windlass Hill drops down into Ash Hollow, which was a favorite resting place of the pioneers. The hill was so steep though that they had to lower the wagons down with ropes/winch type devices to keep them from getting away from them. I really wish we could have explored the area a little more, but we had places to go and people, or rather, bulls to see.
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