Parker Fine Print

I typically only blog about the fun, eventful things happening in our Parker world. But there's a lot more happening around here than gets posted, so I thought I'd list some of the fine print;

1. Car repairs and us are getting to be way too close of friends. Between both cars we've spent almost $3k in the past 3 months... talk about eating into our savings. The silver lining? We have our savings to fall back on so I don't have to tote 2 kids in and out of public transportation. :)


2. I'm going to get braces... someday. Long story short, we have a large-ish sum of cash on a health card that we didn't realize was there. But it can only go towards vision and dental until our deductible is met... haha. Well we have an even higher deductible this year... so we decided to put it towards braces for me. And I am SO EXCITED.  Yes, I am going to be brace face as mom. Hot. But who cares? I don't have to worry about dating drama any more. Not sure when this will happen... some of that car repair money was supposed to fund the rest of the braces.
*edit.... I started this post a while ago and due to #5, we will meet our deductible this year so braces may not come to pass. We'll see.


3. Star Wars. We love Star Wars around here lately, myself included. I've only seen bits and pieces of some of the movies, so Ben and I finally borrowed the first three from a friend and next we're going to watch the last (original) three. Episode III is by far my favorite so far... so sad.



4. Logan is a Sunshine Student this month at preschool. I was explaining to Logan that he was spotlighted in the newsletter for the month and he keeps saying he was "donated" (instead of "spotlighted" - ha).

Here's his spotlight (created from questions he answered):
Logan loves to watch Star Wars, ride bikes with his family, play with legos, go ice skating and fly kites. He likes to eat mac n' cheese, sauerkraut, pizza and cutie oranges. He loves to do crafting in preschool.

And it's true... the boy LOVES sauerkraut. Especially on his pizza. Trust me, that is something he discovered all on his own.


5. We had Linc's hearing test done for the third time in the past 6 months and once again, it referred because of fluid in his ears. Since being in the PEIP program, I've come to suspect that ear infections and/or fluid in his ears could be the culprit behind his low speech scores.

Thanks to a referral from Ben's cousin, we have an appointment with an ENT tomorrow. I'm guessing Lincoln will most likely get tubes put in. I'm not totally thrilled that it's come to this, but I'm more than anxious to see if it helps his speech.

This past week we focused on the words "open" and "no", trying to set up situations and interactions that would incorporate those words so he's not only learn how to say them but also understand their context.  What toddler needs help learning the word "no"? Odd right? Anyway, he's done great this week... his "open" is pretty close and his "no" comes out as "meh".  And if I prompt him and pause, he'll usually say both. Wohoo.

They just tested Lincoln for his 6-month mark in the program and the good news is that he has improved in all areas of development, although the least amount of improvement was in expressive communication (was at 1-2% and now at 9%).  But Shae did warn that if he doesn't continue improvement, he could slip down again just because in only a couple months the expectations and standards of testing change at age 2.

Now setting numbers aside, the biggest amount of improvement we've seen is he is more intent in his communication (ex: he'll come get my attention, and point to something he wants even if it's in a different room, instead of just wandering around whining and moaning.). Also, we can engage him in back-and-forth play so much easier and he will stay engaged for much longer. We've learned this is foundational for learning language so we're thrilled about this. Plus, he and Logan play SO much better together. It's not always peachy, but it's much better than before.

I'm hoping that the combination of ear tubes and the language explosion that typically occurs around age two will just allow his expressive language to take off. 


6. Nothing is official at all, but we're working on moving.  We just need more space. We're constantly tripping over each other and I'm tired of being ultra creative to find storage solutions that work in this quaint little house of ours. And after meeting with a realtor, I think we've lit a candle under us and feel the need to really get the house ready to sell. But like I said, this is all still in the works.


7. Ben has a goal of fishing the Provo river year round, at least once per month. He's kept up with it so far. Plus he's almost done with his Trihex bamboo rod. This is his blog, but he hasn't posted a pic of his latest rod yet... why Ben? 


8. After struggling through 3 different sewing machines, my duvet cover is finally finished! I have yet to take a picture, though, because the room is not in the pristine condition that it was in 3 weeks ago. :) 


9. I've been going to the gym lately and because I did something to my knee while running, I've turned to swimming instead for a while and LOVE it.  I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever love swimming, but it's true. I'm hooked.



Ok, so this turned out to be more of a Lincoln update, but oh well. This is pretty much the nitty gritty of what's been happening around here. High five to you if you made it through.

Chicken Little

You know how sometimes you think you know everything? And if not everything, then you at least feel like you know a lot, like you're in control?  You experience momentary homeostasis and it feels wonderful.  And then something happens and you realize (once again) you really are not the one in control of everything; Regardless of how much you like your plan and your ideas, they're just not happening.  Yeah, that's about where I'm at right now.

Ben just read Chicken Little to Logan last night and it felt a little familiar. You know the story... where one day an acorn fell on Chicken Little and she thought the sky was falling. So she ran to tell the king and convinced everyone along the way that the sky was falling, when really, obviously, it was not.  Familiar indeed, except in my case about 8 acorns have dropped and I think it all feels a lot heavier than it actually is.

I was at this point in my life about 6 years ago and it was a bitter point in my life. I remember wanting to send out Christmas cards and then realized I had nothing good to say about the year 2005. Obviously I'm sure good things happened in 2005 for us, but the cynical Kristi that was driving my brain at the time didn't think so.

So fast forward 6 years and here I am again, trying to figure out what I need to learn this time around. Because surely I didn't learn it the first time. I'm remembering much quicker this time around that what I think is best for me and my family  isn't always compatible with the plan of a perfect and perfectly loving Heavenly Father who sees and knows all.

This time around I am trying to have a lot more patience with each acorn that falls (even if they're all falling at once) and a lot more faith that while I might feel out of control, my life really is not.  Heavenly Father is navigating through a plan for Kristi Parker that I will learn to accept and embrace.

I read this quote from President Uchtdorf in the March Visiting Teaching message and it fit just about right:

"By patiently walking in the path of discipleship, we demonstrate to ourselves the measure of our faith and our willingness to accept God's will rather than ours."

"Patiently" being the key word there...

Yes, I know my life is not awful. I really actually have an amazingly blessed life right now.  It's just that my car has turned right and left, when I thought it should have turn left and right instead. That's all.

No, my intent for this post wasn't to complain or whine. I've opted for my blog to not be the place for that. I don't really know what my intent was.

And now this has turned into one of those posts where I don't really know what to say at the end. Like perhaps some crickets are chirping right now?

Perhaps the closer here is that I'm not a chicken. I have a lot more higher intelligence than a chicken and I know good and well that the sky really isn't falling. :)

And what's a post without a picture? Cookies and milk make everything better.

Snow Fun - Finally

Ben had Friday off work as a comp day and since today was President's Day, we had a nice long weekend with Ben. And it was wonderfully low-key!

We don't have any snow hanging around this winter at our house so the boys haven't been able to play in the snow at all this season.  But we got invited to the Nelson's cabin in Spanish Fork (where there IS snow) to go snowmobiling on their property today. It's always so fun at the cabin, and especially cozy in the winter time. 

It was so fun to give the boys some good snow time. And they LOVED the snowmobiles... especially Lincoln.  Plus we got to hang out Nelson and company, always an adventure. It was the perfect day off for Ben and a nice half-day getaway for our fam. 

family pic before heading out on the snowmobiles

 Ben and Lincoln down on the flat. Linc-o LOVED snowmobiling. He kept asking for "more rides" ALL. DAY. LONG. Not kidding. It was really cute, though, considering those were probably the only two words he spoke/signed all day.

Dedicated to Maegan and Abby. With all the love a dead elk can offer. 

We were constantly either riding, playing int he snow, sledding, stuffing our faces or talking. 

Here's Lo taking a break to warm his toes by the fire.

Meat on a stick.

 

This was the brilliant lunch provided by Kaye and Riley. It was delicious and easy. Ok it was easy for me because Ben made ours. :)

If you're curious, it's just ground beef slabbed onto a stick, wrapped with bacon and pinned into place by twigs. Then it was roasted over a fire outside. 

Amy and her meat

Part of the time we spent towing the boys on a sled behind a snowmobile.  It started out just as the two boys with Logan doing a fabulous job hanging on to brother and the rope.

Then Ben joined them

 Ben taping the boys just cruising along.

 

Grandma Kaye and Lo (I think that's his clamp "gun" he's holding... everything is a gun these days)

I'm pretty sure Lincoln won the "snow suit of the day" award.

It was so cute to see him in the snow today. He played dint he snow last year but didn't really know what was going on. He got it this year and had a blast, with exception of getting his hands in the snow... he hated that part. If he fell down he refused to help himself stand up again and would just wait for us to pick him up.  

This is right at about 4 pm... he was totally glazed over at this point. We went up to the cabin at noon and left at 5... the boys played their hearts out right through nap time. 

Completely Amy's idea. 

She told Logan that if he would put these on his ears and leave them for a picture, then he could play "fruit ball" (foosball). The bribe worked. 

Here's video of Lincoln saying/signing "more rides".  Please ignore my annoyance with Logan. :) It was funny hearing him say, "Those are the littlest hands I've ever seen!" (where does he get this?)

Ben hiked up this hill a few times to ride down with the boys. Good dad.

Happy Valentime's Day!

Yes, that says Valentime's day. That's what Logan says and it's one of those words that I think is too cute to correct just yet.

We're full of love here at the Parker Place today. We are holiday kind of people around here (ok, well I am a holiday lover and I drag my family through it too) and Valentime's Day ranks right up there close to the top of my "favorite holidays list."

Here's some bits and pieces of our holiday this year:

Last year we found these little white mail boxes at Target in the dollar bins (anyone else have a hard time walking away from Target without visiting the dollar section?).  Anyway, starting from February 1st, we left treats in the boxes every night for the boys to discover the next morning. They LOVED it last year so we continued the trend this year and decided to make it tradition. They loved waking up to see that their mailbox flag was up and waiting for them.

This year I left a little note for them each time too, telling them something I love about them.  Lincoln usually looked right past the note and went straight for the chocolate every time, but Logan loved hearing the little words of praise. 

Most days we just put in one simple little chocolate, but there were a couple nights they got a gift, like socks, or a notebook, etc. Today on the big V Day Logan got a small Star Wars Lego set (yes from Target) and Linc-o got new bubbles.  The only thing missing is a cute picture with both of them and their mailboxes. Maybe I'll get that after nap time.

This was Lo's first year to be in school and to get to make Valentines for all his classmates. He was brimming with anticipation to get home and scour all his Valentines he got from his friends. This was always my favorite part of Valentines Day growing up - seeing all the notes that my friends had left in my little decorated shoe box.

Remember that big project that I made reference to here? Well I was hard at work making Ben's early Valentine's Day present...

Ben was gone from Sunday through Saturday last week, so I thought it would give me a good chance to completely clear out our bedroom and finish decorating it and putting it together.  He loves reading and relaxing in the bedroom at night, and our bedroom hasn't exactly been a relaxation station or anything. In fact it's mostly been a toy room, a storage room, a craft room, a fly-tying room, etc. Pretty much a catch-all kind of a space.

It was a project and a half and I got it all done with exception of our new duvet cover. Woohoo!  I'll post a before and after of the bedroom once the duvet is complete - I'm a tiny bit of fabric short (don't you hate that?) so as soon as I can get to the fabric store and finish in a sewing frenzie it will be completely done.  I can't wait!

Logan loves being sneaky so he decided to decorate a cookie for Ben and leave it with a Valentine on his pillow for Ben to find when he gets home from work today.

And what would Valentine's be with out a little bit of mush?

I was watching this video today that my mom sent me and I couldn't help being overcome with emotion and deep appreciation for all that is right in front of me everyday; all that often gets overlooked. I guess it's easy to get overlooked sometimes if you're only knee-high. 

I love my boys so much and I love that I have such a great husband to share them with. I am so, so , so grateful for families. In my opinion, the family unit is pure evidence right there that Heavenly Father loves us. My family keeps me grounded. Ben is definitely my better half that keeps me sane and my boys remind me constantly of how forgiving, happy, selfless and loving I should be. 

I decided to edit the second verse of the song (My Heavenly Father Loves Me) and write my own little version:

He gave me my eyes, that I might see my sweet little beautiful boys,

He gave me my ears that I might hear their calm and their busy noise,

He gave me my life, my mind, my heart, I thank Him reverently, 

For my little family of which I'm a part, yes I know Heavenly Father loves me.

I love that we have a Heavenly Father who freely loves us everyday - there's evidence of His love all around us if we just open our eyes to recognize it. I wish so much that I could love my little family as perfectly as He does.

Happy Valentines Day and I hope you feel a little bit more loved today. 

Now it's time to get ready for my hot dinner date at Carrabbas- Woo!  
Mimi's Cafe has been our Valentine's Day tradition for the past 7 or 8 years, but in order to stay within budget this week, we're breaking tradition to use a gift card. Oh well!

CTR

Ahem... So it turns out that I'm falling behind on blogging all the posts that I was behind on in the first place. Vicious cycle!  BUT.. I am determined to finish my "Best of the Unmentioned" series, even if it is quite untimely. 

And there is a good explanation for my falling behind... but I can't really talk about that just yet because it is a surprise for a certain someone who frequents this untimely blog of mine. 

(No, we're not expecting, if that's what you were thinking when you read that last sentence. That's a story for another day.)

I just couldn't let this week pass me by without posting this...

On Sunday Logan  got his first ever CTR ring (since he's a CTR 4 now in Primary), and WOW has it changed our lives around here these past 5 days.  I swear this little CTR ring has super powers! Why didn't I know about this until now? I think I've been reminded by Mr. CTR, at least 12 times each day to choose the right. 

The kid wears it proud and is constantly doing little helpful things here and there because he wants to "choose the right." He has become an extreme helper around the house. It is quite nice. 

And not only that, but my ability to get him to make good choices has increased exponentially. Amazing! If he doesn't listen the first time I ask him to do something, all I have to say is, "Logan - remember? Choose the right..." and he obeys! Just like that!

Too bad it's already turning his finger green... good thing they're so cheap.  
I think I'll keep a secret stash of these on hand - I love his eager little attitude right now.  It's too sweet.

Anniversary in Zions

In August Ben and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. 9! That's just crazy to me. I wasn't expecting anything big since 9's not so much of a special number. But a couple weeks before our anniversary Ben made me open my present...

a detailed 3-day itinerary for a trip to Zions to hike The Narrows.  

I panicked because I knew that would mean putting somebody out (namely my sister, Andy) for 2 full days while we were off having a grand child-less time. After a bit of  persuasion and reassurance from Ben and Andy I decided to accept the gift and started getting prepped and excited! Ben had gone a few times before with Heritage kids who had earned the privilege and he had raved about his experiences so I was super excited to be going now too.

I have honestly procrastinated doing this post because of how many pictures we captured and because of the amazing time we had. So much pressure to get the post just right - It just felt like anything I showed or said in the post wouldn't capture my feelings.

But alas I'm going to try, so I have something to reflect back on and bring back so many fun memories of sweating, blisters, burning leg muscles, complete exhaustion, camera paranoia around water, expensive almonds, gift shop visors, Ben rescuing my sun glasses, beautiful, beautiful nature, total appreciation for God's creations and my handsome husband and tour guide, Ben.

**Note - there are many pics in this post... most of which will mean nothing to everyone else but us and probably all look the same. Hiking and more hiking. :)

Day1

Ben got off a little early from work and we dropped the boys off and all their gear for a 2-night overnighter at Andy and Gav's house.

Drove down to Hurricane around 8 pm and checked into our motel. Made some last-minute purchases at the grocery store and Walgreen's and of course made the essential stop at DQ for a much needed Peanut Buster Parfait.

Went back to motel to pack food and gear for the next day and decided between two pairs of quick-dry shorts that I had bought. :)

Day 2

Woke up early, ate continental breakfast and drove up to Springdale.

Parked at the outfitters to rent the special water hiking boots neoprene socks and hiking sticks (SO worth the $40).

Walked to the bus stop and rode the bus up to the gate of Zions.

Made a quick stop in the gift shop for a visor which I swore I would needed and never actually used. 

And since we were just hiking The Narrows bottom up and back (instead of top down... an all day excursion) we took the Zion Park shuttle all the way up to the Temple of Sinawava.

From there we booked it up the Riverside Walk.

Hanging gardens and half of an arch along the Riverside Walk. There was no good angle to fit it all in.

The end of Riverside Walk is where The Narrows hike begins. That's where the paved tail ends and the water hiking begins.

We sat at the beginning of The Narrows to snack and get on our shoes before hitting the water.

  After just a minute of sitting down these lovely little pests approached us. Cute right? Wrong. They were so annoying and started chewing through our bags to get at our food. 

Here you can see the head of The Narrows trail. It's a popular hike and actually quite crowded at first. But the crowds thin out as you get further up. The water is super cold, so some people who are wearing regular hiking shoes, etc turn back.

This is shortly after we started and there was a huge crowd that we were behind for a while.

This is a slot canyon so we were walking in water most of the time, essentially hiking up the Virgin River.

 ...hence the reason I was so paranoid about the cameras. :) Can you blame me after this experience?

The water was knee to thigh - high majority of the time. There was only one section where I was wading up to my chest in water, and we had to hold our packs over our heads.

We were super careful any time we passed the camera back and forth.  But the tricky part wasn't the deep water - it was while was while we were hiking. It was so gorgeous and I was constantly wanting to take pictures. It was annoying constantly getting in and out of my pack for the camera, so I'd hike with the camera around my neck, but then I had to be super cautious about footing in the water, etc, so I wouldn't slip and fall, plunging the camera in the water. Ooh it makes me cringe just thinking about it. The hiking sticks were a huge help, though.

an ode to our Canon Rebel making it in and out without any mishaps

 Luckily Ben wore the pack with all our food, shoes, water bladder etc in it. And I got to carry a small hip pack with water bottles. Thanks dear. :)

Loved the bubbly rock formations here and how high the canyon walls shot up.

It was kind of odd seeing a butterfly since we were surrounded by so much water.

I loved being surrounded by two extremely high walls with nothing but water and rocks in between. So very cool.

See the line of people behind me? Luckily it wasn't this crowded the whole time.

This is showing the cool curvy rocks to Ben's right.

Amazing roof with bright blue water (not captured well in the photo)

This is a section we had to climb up, but I took a pic of Ben before I walked up to his level

Lunch time - wohoo!  I was a bit hungry by this point.  We packed in PBJ fixins and cheez its, nuts, grapes and I can't even remember what else. I just remember it tasted good...except for the generic peanut butter.

Cool little inlet that Ben climbed up. No, he didn't pee. It just looks like it.

I was actually the one who had to constantly pee because I was drinking so much. I think I had to go at least 5 times while we were in the canyon. Which, might I add, is NOT an easy feat considering there aren't very many hiding places around.

more walking and sloshing around in water.

love the canyon walls here

Another AMAZING roof. I think this was one of my favorite parts of the hike.

We named this cool rock "Couch Rock"

Other rocks were named so why not this one? See the need for quick-day clothing?  We were constantly wet but it didn't take long to dry off if we were out of the water for any length of time.

This is where I lead a bunch of people astray :)

There was a group of people walking behind us. Ben crossed the river and I decided to cross just a little bit later, but apparently I waited too long. I got stuck on this rock because it got super deep just beyond it. So when I turned around to back track I realized everyone behind us had followed me and had to back track as well. Oops.

Life  lesson: Never assume the person in front of you knows where they're going. :)

This is the ONLY pic we got of both me and Ben. Thanks fellow hiker!

Once again... amazing rock walls

I think these were the tops of the canyon walls that are above Ben in the pic just above

We hiked up 3 miles to Orderville Canyon and went a little ways into it before deciding to turn around. We also hiked up Wall Street a little ways before hiking the 3 miles out.

Aw, cute little slimy tadpole. I love being married to a biologist.

This is Orderville Canyon and this is probably the narrowest point we hiked through.

Wall Street before we turned around to head back. If you've seen Wall Street in NYC then the name makes complete sense.

Right after this picture I almost lost my glasses! I bent over and they slipped off and once they hit the water they were instantly camouflaged because they're green, brown and clear. Awesome. 

Luckily (because Ben is practically a fish... well he's at least a fish whisperer) he has mad skills for seeing things in the water. :) He was able to make a mad dash down stream to catch up to them and rescue them. Thanks love!

Hiking on the way out the sun was finally shining directly on us at parts. But even then it was perfect temperature. I think the high that day at Zions was 104 degrees. But we NEVER felt that heat in the canyon. If anything it was almost chilly.

I think this is coming out of Wall Street

 There is a huge rock called "House Rock" that is somewhat of a road block. You can either hike up and around or swim through. We decided to hike around it on the way up and to swim through on the way down. 

Well Ben stuck to the plan - I chickened out because the water was freaking cold!

Later on there was another deep section that I chose to swim through because I was hot enough by then. Much better.

I think we spent 5 or 6 hours hiking The Narrows up and back. We took our sweet time on the way in stopping for pictures. A LOT. But then we booked it on the way out, hoping to get other hikes in before dark.

The crazy thing was that because the lighting had changed so much in the canyon I hardly recognized the hike on the way out.

After hiking out of The Narrows we  jogged (my feet felt light as feathers walking on dry land again) back down the Riverside Walk to the shuttle stop so we could go to Weeping Rock next before returning our rentals. Man it felt so good to sit at the shuttle stop and strip off our wet boots and socks. I swear I was carrying around puddles inside my neoprene socks. Warm, warm puddles of water. Ew.

Ben standing under Weeping Rock - gorgeous

Facing out from Weeping Rock, looking down the canyon

We took the shuttle back down to Springdale to return our rentals.

We were about to call it a day because afternoon rain hit the park on our way out and plus I was wasted! I actually fell asleep in the 30 minute shuttle ride back down to the park entrance. But once we had returned our gear the rain stopped and somehow I caught a second wind and thought I had enough left in me to hike Angels Landing before dark. So back into the park we went.

Here's Ben at the bus stop snacking, waiting to go back into the park. I think it was about 5 or 6 by this point. I think?

Our goal was to hike as much of the West Rim Trail (which leads to Scout Lookout and Angels Landing) as we could before sunset, so we were bookin' it.

The hike to Angels landing is a pretty steep hike that is exposed at parts.

This is a pic of a crazy tree root that grew out and around that rock and back down into the soil. Nature is amazing. And those junipers smelled heavenly the whole way up the hike.

We made it up the 2 miles to Scout Lookout and our hike ended there.  Scout Lookout is half a mile from the top - Angels Landing. BUT the trail from Scout Lookout to the top is very exposed with steep drop offs... 1500 ft drop offs. 

Ben wanted so badly to hike that last leg to Angels Landing, but then I went into hysteria, literally.  It was not a pretty sight, and luckily no one else was on the trail to witness it because of the afternoon rain that hit earlier. I was sobbing, freaking out, begging Ben not to go the rest of the way and physically pulling him away from the edge of the lookout.  I was a mess. 

But to defend myself let me paint the picture:

-we were racing against the dark

-my heart was racing because of my fear of heights

-who knew how slick the rock was from the earlier rain

-no one was around if anything happened to him

-there is a warning sign at Scout Lookout informing hikers of the 6 deaths that have occurred on that leg of the hike. Or maybe it was 4 deaths in the past 6 years? Either way - death people. Death! About one per year.

-Growing panic and fear of being a widow

-And I'm sure my exhaustion played a role in my panic attack too

Have tons of people safely done that leg of the hike? Yes. But there was no talking sense into me at that point.

And because Ben loves me he didn't go. I feel very guilty now that I held him back, but on the flip side I sure am glad I still have him around :)

But 4 miles round trip and almost 1500 vertical feet still made for a good hike, right babe? Right? (nudge, nudge)

These pics (obviously) aren't ours, but here's a view of the exposed trail between Scout Lookout and Angels Landing... no thanks.

If you want to see amazing photography from the whole hike, go to this guy's website. Amazing.

As far as he got...

Looking out from Scout Lookout

And me after my hysterical breakdown

Checkout those switchbacks - just a tad steep

On our way back down the West Rim Trail.  This is just below Scouts Lookout.

Another tree root that found its way over and around the rock and back into a tiny little crevice at the bottom.

Cool little pockets from erosion right next to the trail

This is maybe half way up to Scouts Lookout. You can see the trail going all the way down to the Grotto (the shuttle stop where the trail head is).

My favorite pic of the whole trip

We ended up running down the last .5 mile of the trail because we could see the shuttle coming down the road and we didn't want to have to sit and wait for the next one to come by. It was dark by the time we got to the shuttle. Perfect timing. 

This was by far the most tiring day I've experienced in a LONG time. And by far the best anniversary yet.

It was late when we got back down to Springdale. We found a mexican restaurant to eat dinner at and man did it hit the spot.  We were fammished by then, so chips and salsa never tasted so good. We drove back to Hurricane and passed out for the night.

Day 3

Ben took the truck into a local auto shop to get it checked out. I can't even remember what the trouble was, I think something with the tranny. But luckily we were able to drive it back to Provo so we weren't stuck in Hurricane for another day. 

Drove home and picked up the boys from Andy and Gav. In case you thought otherwise, I do have the best sister in the world. Thanks again Andy.

Wow, this turned out to be a novel. Give yourself a high-5 if you're actually still reading.

Happy Anniversary Ben - and try as we might, I don't think 10 will be able to beat this.