Good Bye Suburban!

Our Suburban was good to us. 

We needed a new car when the twins were born.  They pretty much took up the middle bench.

 Our Montero had seating for 7, but there was no way I was getting the double stroller in the back when the seats were folded down.  That stroller was my only way to get around and it had to come with me.

So we listed the Montero.  Of course some one wanted to test drive it while I was in the hospital after giving birth to Erin and Ashleigh. It sold when we got home.

So we were on the hunt for a new vehicle.

Brent took the girls to get their bilirubin tested when they were only a couple days old and saw a Suburban parked at a car repair shop with a for sale sign.  He called the number.  The owner was more than happy to meet him for a test drive.  So the twins got to go for a ride!  

The price was right and it was perfect.  It was well maintained, low miles, and had sat for over a year.  We agreed to buy it.  The man called right back and told Brent that he would sell it for as much as he owed the bank, which was a steal.  (I wonder if he felt sorry for us.  It was a good tactic to take the twins along.)  

It turns out it belonged to the Browns.  

As in "The Five Browns".

 They are a family of talented pianists.  Famous.  Check them out! http://www.the5browns.com/

It had plenty of room for the double stroller plus all the stuff that kids bring...and the grocery shopping!

 We loved the leather seats and the captain's chairs.  (Miss both of those now!)

  For as many places as it took us, the miles were great!!!  It went to Canada probably 8 times.  It went to Florida and back.  It went from Naples to Nashville.  It took us on all of our Florida adventures.

  We owned it for seven years.  It was 13 years old and started falling apart.  We replaced the water pump, the fuel pump twice (with in 2 years), an expensive compressor for the shocks, plus other things over the years.  The dashboard looked like a light show with all the warning lights on.  So when it had more repairs on it than the value of the car, we decided it was time to part ways.  So as we sometimes do, we repaired the air conditioning ($600 bill) and decided to sell it. It kind of makes me sad.  I get a little attached to our vehicles.  So we listed it online.  It sold in less than 24 hours. 

 So we took our cash and our pre-approval loan to a local dealer.  I hate car shopping.  It was so hard to find a Suburban or Yukon with low miles, not too old, captain's chairs and leather seats.  So sadly for us we went with low miles and not too old.  We had to give up the captain's chairs and the leather.  But we love the other features and love that we don't have to worry about breaking down!

This is what we got!

Of course this isn't ours exactly.  Our is in the garage, coated with snow, slush and mud.

Wes is 16!!!

Wes is a good boy.  I have to remind my self sometimes.  His biggest fault is teasing his sisters.  It drives me batty.  He know that and it some how brings him joy.  I'm told that big brothers tease.  It is their job.  But he is a good boy where it matters most. We can hope that he will grow out of the teasing.

He recently earned his Life in Scouting.  He also earned 5 more merit badges, getting him that much closer to an Eagle.

 He had his 16th birthday.  There are a lot of exciting things that happen when you are 16!

He is a priest now and blesses the sacrament.  It is kind of special to hear your son's voice blessing the sacrament.

 The girls always love to decorate.  It doesn't seem like a party unless there are balloons and streamers.

 Sixteen Candles (isn't that a song?)

 He was excited to get his license.  He took driver's ed, endured the driving range and survived the road portion.  He felt scared for his life during the first day on the road.  Another girl clearly had not practiced and scared the tar out of him.  It is a bad sign when she doesn't even know to put it into drive to go.  Luckily for him, she didn't show up the next day.  It has been pretty handy to have another driver.  He can take him self to hockey practice.

And he can date!!!  I thought we might be able to wait a while on that one.  But a cute girl had another idea!

 On the back. 

 He just wanted it washed quickly in the sink to find out.

 This was his idea to answer back:

 The girls were so excited for his date.

I made them come inside though.  Didn't want to scare her off before she got to the door.

 One of the girls thought we should make her cookies.  We did.  I told Wes he didn't have to give them to her.  He told the girls that they could give the cookies to Madelyne since they made them for her.

 She was a darling girl!  She is the oldest of six kids so she knows all about excited sisters!

Thanks to Facebook and Alex tagging Wes in the pictures, we are able to experience some of the date!  They had a great time.  I can tell by his genuine smile.

 They went to Salt Lake for dinner at The Pie.

 The went to City Creek.

 They went to the capitol. 

 Alex's dad was the chauffeur.  He said he was fun and did a good job disappearing.

Got to love the dance pictures!!!

It made me feel so good that a good girl like Madelyne would ask Wes.  This means that he hangs out with good people.  Sometime we don't know how our children behave outside of our presence.  I'm glad that he attracts fun, cute, good girls!

Girls' Creations

The girls love to create and craft.  We go through reams of paper.  But they are happy doing it.

Sometimes their creativity involves the camera.  One day I was loading the pictures from the camera to the computer.  There were 50 pictures of the calculator.  All different angles.  Even a video.  So creative.

 These are some animals that Ashleigh drew.  She followed a step by step book.  I think she did well.

 This is a picture that Ashleigh drew for Auntie Val.  She really loved riding on the horses.

 And another from Ashleigh:  the tooth fairy and Pegasus.

 Kara loves to make signs.  This one is in case we don't know it is Sunday.

 We used up the scrap wood from the shed to make wooden pumpkins.

Erin is concentrating.

 Kara and Ashleigh love to paint too.

 Janiel is careful in her work.

 Having a good time while Dad and Wes are at the priesthood session of conference.

 The girls always love to help bake.  They helped make some cinnamon rolls for conference morning.

 This one is by far my favorite.  Notice the nicely made bed:

 If you look closely, you can see some notes on the bed:

Mom this is for you

Note to parents!!!

Dad this is for you!!!

 Someone made your bed! A. Nomuonous 

I loved it!  A. Nomuonous can make my bed any day!

I'm so glad that they are creative.  I'm glad that they love creating.