The Green Monster

Sometimes blessings come in different ways.  I know our awesome green van that we named "The Green Monster" was a huge blessing.  I knew that the whole time we had it so I would often look at it and remember that this car was a sign that God loved us and knew us.  I know it sounds silly, but I'm not embarrassed to say it because I know it's true.  I had the opportunity to teach a lesson about paying tithing and I had the distinct impression to take the young women out to our car and tell them about how this car was an example of a blessing of paying tithing.  I loved being able to tell them about it because I loved this car.

It passed 135000 miles this fall which really isn't that impressive, our pathfinder had like 180000 but the fact that it was a 1999 van made it awesome.  I loved that no one else had a car like it in the carpool lane.  I loved that it stood out and was unique.  It was also a really reliable car...until this summer.  It had had an oil leak the whole time we had it and we had to do a couple other repairs that were more than just normal maintenance but not too many.  We started feeling like it was time to replace the car when we got a flat tire this summer and we had to pull out the spare and the spare was flat.  Jerry was not happy about having to buy a new tire and a new spare that they had to special order.  And then the power steering was starting to go out and the transmission was starting to slip and was getting more frequent...and I started thinking about another winter in it...and I started to feel like it was ok to let it go.  I wanted to keep it for 20 years and leave it on the side of the road somewhere because it died, but the reality of that happening didn't sound like so much fun.  So we bought another car, in fact we found another Land Cruiser that was a good deal and everything worked out so well in buying that car.  My plan was just to donate the Green Monster to Kidney Kars or something, but Jerry asked a family in the ward if they wanted.  They didn't but their sister's car had just died and they couldn't get a knew one so we gave it to them.  We sent it off with a prayer that it would keep running and the problems that were starting up would hold off until they could buy another car.  Today, 4 months later, that family was visiting our ward for a baby blessing and Jerry and I looked out in the parking lot and saw it!  I was so excited.  It was like seeing a familiar friend!  Lol.  I was glad to see it still running.  I seriously think that car is running on Priesthood Power!

The Green Monster will always be one of my favorite cars!

Good Use for a Sucker

Sara was pretty excited that her tooth got stuck to her sucker and she pulled it right out.  I was excited too because pulling teeth grosses me out (and I've never even actually pulled one).  I can't do it!

Abby turns 4!

YAY for Abby!  She has been so excited for her birthday!  She got to go to preschool on her birthday so that was pretty exciting.

She loved that she got to wear this birthday hat and came out with this huge grin.

Her fun was just beginning.  In one of Matt's classes he was having a special preschool day.  They had a bunch of activities for preschool age kids so Abby and her friend Charlotte got to go have fun.

It was really cute to watch the three of them.

Then we got to have a party at home.  Abby was so excited opening her presents.  I love the faces she makes.

Kate, Sara and Abby all helped decorate her cake.  They thought that was pretty fun.

Abby got to pick out a fish as one of her birthday presents.  She picked this Beta and named him Fire.  She was pretty excited for it.

Ridge trail again

Jerry and I were able to fit in one more mountain bike ride in American Fork Canyon.  It was the second time we rode this trail and I loved it because I rode it so much better and had a ton of fun.  Plus the colors were changing and it was so beautiful.

He still has to wait for me, but I keep getting faster!

Sara's mad skills

My sister was down for a weekend and my nephew was here too.  He has a slack line which was so fun.  I've been wanting one so it was fun to play on.  I am totally not good, but we had a great time.  This pose of Sara's was pretty sweet.  Doug held her finger and right at the last second he let go and I took the picture and then she fell off.  We had fun!

Abby's first day of school

Abby was excited and nervous for her first day of preschool.  She had been going to some summer fun days with her friend at her preschool already so she knew her teacher which really helped.

You can tell from her smile that she was excited.  She did tell me that she would miss me.

She got to bring home this bucket and decorate it.  She had fun putting stickers and glitter glue all over it.

I walked her in and was able to walk right out.  She was very brave.

I was so excited to have 2 hours with all my kids in school.  That's kind of a big deal.  It's not a ton of time, but enough to go for a trail run.  I took Tulo with my to protect me from snakes of course.  I was hoping that this trail in the shade would still be too cold for snakes and we didn't see any so it was totally a success and we had fun!

Lagoon!

Of course we want to go to Lagoon every year but we think they stopped doing stake discount days and we were so busy this summer that we just told the kids we might not make it this year.  They really underestimated our ability to fit things in!  We went on Labor Day.  The unofficial last day of summer, right?  We had a great time.  It was crowded but it was nice that it wasn't so hot.

Abby loved the carousel again although we didn't ride it as many times as last year.

Jerry and I took turns going with the older kids on the big rides.  We had a ton of fun.  We were totally excited to ride Cannibal, the new ride from last year.  It. Was. Awesome!

We did some rides all together, like the ferris wheel.

Jerry took Abby on a ride in Kiddieland called Dinosaur Drop.  It lifts you up and then drops you down.  It totally freaked her out and at the end she said, "That hurt my breath!"

We had a great day together enjoying the end of summer.  We surprised our kids with the trip and it was great to do one more fun thing with them!

Kannaraville Falls

Kannaraville Falls has been on my bucket list for a while now.  I was so excited to get to go.  It was just as cool as I imagined. And now I can't wait to go back.  

The first mile was just on a dirt road and wasn't spectacular, but we were prepared for that. But once it got cool, it got really cool, really quickly!  It was cool how close together the walls were.  They aren't as tall as like the Narrows or some others, but they were really close in some places.  It was so fun.  The water was really cold, our feet were a little numb by the end.   

This was the first of two ladders.  It was a little sketchy I have to admit, but we all did it!

There was this awesome boulder that had crashed into the middle of the creek.  It made a really awesome water slide on the left side.

So of course, we had to do it!

Kate's reaction at the end was the best!

Sara was actually the first to go down.  She's always our fearless leader, or a sucker for peer pressure.  We watched someone else go first.  We didn't just push her down!!

We made it up to the second ladder but it was much sketchier.  And we'd talked to some other people who said it started to widen and flatten out after that so we didn't take Abby up in the back pack.  The kids were nervous enough on the other ladder so we didn't want to push it.  

We loved all the amazing things the water had formed in the rocks.

This was evidence of a flash flood.  It was amazing to see the destruction and just see these trees wiped out.  Would have been awesome to see from a distance!

Looking down from the first ladder.

It was such an awesome hike!  I loved it all.  The kids did really good.  It wasn't too hard for the kids.  Abby could have done more of it than we let her, but she just walks slower and the water was pretty cold so we carried her in the water parts.  I loved checking this off my bucket list, but I just put it right back on, because I loved it so much!

St. George for my birthday

I was so excited to get to go St. George on my birthday.  We love our St. George getaways.  I was so happy to bring our paddleboards this time and I loved my early morning paddle on Quail Creek.  It is one of my most favorite reservoirs to paddle on.  It's not crowded.  The water is warm and it's really pretty.  On my birthday on Saturday we went with the kids and had one of our favorite days.  We played King of the Paddle Board a ton and just messed around.  It was awesome!

Matt's back to school

A month after the girls went back to school, Matt finally started.  He was ready.  8th grade here he comes!

He passed me up this summer, we just finally documented it!

Summer fun with a hike

 We took advantage of our nice summer days and hiked up to Lake Mary up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It was fun to hike where we skiied all winter.  We were shocked at how low Lake Mary was.  It made us hope for a lot of snow this winter!

Perfecting that jump!

Brighton was having a big Season Pass Sale.  We bought ours online so we didn't have to wait in line but we still had fun at all the booths that were set up.  Kate and I even jumped with the Ski Utah Yeti.  I love the Yeti.

Can I have a cat please?

We went to the county fair one day like we always do.  They had a pet adoption booth and Sara fell in love with this cat.  I kind of did too.  His name was Smoke and he looked just like the cat I had growing up named Smokey.  I would probably have let Sara get him but Jerry said no way.  There was also a dog there that I totally fell in love with.  He was a black lab/australian shepherd mix.  But Tulo is enough dog for us I think!

Summer fun with friends

Abby has so much fun playing with Charlotte.  They had a great time this afternoon playing in the pool outside.  It's so fun to see them together and it's so good for both of them to learn all those important kid skills.  They're pretty cute together.

Mt. Timpanogos Temple trip

Before Matt went back to school we wanted to make another temple trip.  We decided to go down to Mt. Timpanogos hoping that it wouldn't be too crowded.  And also because I really wanted to go back to that temple.  I hadn't been there since we lived in Pleasant Grove.  Turns out it was crazy crowded.  Like one of the worst days.  But Matt and his friends were really good about it.  It took longer than we thought, but it was a great day.

Handsome boys.

Such a beautiful temple.  I forgot how gorgeous it is and how much I love it.  I'm so glad Jerry and I were sealed in this temple!