Stephen's car...again!

Last Friday Stephen took his turn driving to work. His sister Sue had been driving for several days, as in all week. We picked up the car from the shop the Saturday before and Stephen had to work late a couple days of the week. So, Friday he says he'll drive and does. They get to work, everything is great. When it's time to go home, they get to the freeway. As Stephen is going up the ramp, the transmission makes a huge clunk! noise. He got off the freeway at the next exit, which is 600 N. in Salt Lake. He used Susan's phone to call me and tell me where they were and asked me to come get them...and tow them home.
I've towed a car before, it's not easy but doable. I almost called my Dad but remembered he would've been too tired cuz of his work schedule. I almost called Stephen's Dad, but decided I needed to get there soon so they weren't stranded for more than an hour.
Poor Beck's was sick, but watched the kids anyway. (Big THANK YOU to her.) I drove out to Salt Lake after filling up with gas, don't want to have that kind of problem as well ;). I got there in record speed which I owe all to Heavenly Father for making it a safe drive. I prayed the whole way there.
Once I found them, we got the tow rope out, hooked up the Olds to the Durango and off we went. I forgot how nerve racking it is at first, but was able to do this. (White knuckles and all.) I even put it in 4 wheel drive cuz "someone" didn't know what I was doing for a bit. Either way, we drove slow, on the freeway, to 12th St. We were even passed by a UHP and he didn't bother us at all.
Thankfully this all happened between 8 and 10 p.m. Not a lot of traffic, no problems. We got home, and I had pulled them a little too far ahead of our parking stalls so I had to push my husbands car back a bit so he could get into the stall. His car could probably limp around at a max speed of 20 m.p.h. but, most likely the transmission would fall off the vehicle, hahaha. I'm tellin' ya, the little lime green camaro sittin' on wall ave is lookin' better and better every time I pass it.
I was a hero that day, but not only to my husband and sis-in-law, but to our neighbor. Earlier that evening, I drove him to his truck, jumped it, followed him till it died, jumped it again, then again cuz it wouldn't suck up the charge. I told him to turn off his head lights and we are going to let it charge up for 5 minutes at least. I took off the cables, slammed down the hood of the truck and told him to go for it. He was going to be going downhill so that would get him closer to home. He made it home easy enough, but his little truck died just before the parking stalls- yeesh what is it with parking stalls? I pushed his truck into the parking stall and he was so very, very grateful!! He's a nice guy who knows zilch about vehicles so, not a big deal, just trying to help people out.
I did drop home economics to take auto-mechanics so I kinda can do some things. It's kinda cool being able to do things like jumping cars, changing brakes and oil. I'm pretty sure my Dad felt safer knowing that I knew how to do other things when he wasn't around.
Now, we just need to figure out what kind of car we're going to get that will help Stephen get to S.L. everyday and not putter out on him...bah, I hate buying a newer car. The lime green one is way too much for us. Bah!!!

Valentine's weekend hiking pics

Here is the herd of deer we saw. I believe there were 14, one could be questionable due to tree limbs but I'm pretty sure it's one because of the shadow on the ground.

This is the same herd, we just hiked down and out a bit, so it's a different angle as we left.

I never can get the pics and writing to match up, but you in the blog-a-sphere are smart people, you can figure it all out.

Our Valentine's weekend

*Warning: Be prepared to read for a bit*

Valentines Day is a Monday. That means the kids are in school and Stephen has to work. So the last couple days have been our Valentine's weekend. Saturday, the girls got to have a, or go to a, sleepover. They all had fun and enjoyed their time with their friends. I had an early morning meeting-it was at 9 which is early for a Saturday! So Stephen made breakfast for the boys and girls and played referee. When I got back he and his sister went hiking and I waited for Brake-Time Bobs to call about the car, I wrote about that earlier. We finally got the car back and Bob said the engine's real good, he was impressed with it and knows we plan on keeping that car for a long time. (That car will be the one that Becks gets to drive in about 3 years.) Later, much later, that night, Stephen took me to Outback steakhouse for dinner. Problem for me was, it was too late. Eating at 9 p.m. and my lovely stomach acid issues don't combine. I brought home my delicious sandwich and Stephen enjoyed his rack of lamb. We had fun either way, I got to talk with him while he ate-guess who did most of the talking. We came home and helped Becks get the kids to bed.
Let's move on to Sunday.
My wonderful friends were blessing their cute son yesterday. We were invited to a brunch and then to their sacrament meeting. They were just sealed on Saturday to the cute little guy, making their family a family of four. They are amazing people, so filled with the spirit and so excited for life that you can't help but want to be their friends and friends with their friends. Anyway, after we visited with them and others we went home. Stephen and his sister sue planned on hiking again. He begged me to come with them all-cuz the kids weren't going to pass this up again. He said "It would mean the world to me" if I went with them. How can a wife say no, I hate hiking, after that card has been pulled? I went with them and actually kinda enjoyed it. We hiked up to the "BL", then to some silver square thing (which I thought was our destination-Wrong!), and then a little bit further up. I did okay. I filled my hiking quota, anything else will have to involve money I think. On the way up, M.C. found the cactus, with his knee and finger tips. Thanks to aunt Susie, the prickly hairs didn't stay long in his fingers and thanks to his pants they didn't stick to his knee. The next thing M.C. said was- he didn't want to see anymore cactus. While continuing our hike, M.C. said- Cactus are mean! It was pretty funny, poor kid. We made it up the rest of the way without any further contact with Cactus or falling down in the dirt. The way down was great, Stephen found a herd of deer, we got pics of it and other things that I will post differently. I know why it's faster to come down a mountain hike, but I still think going up to be easier for some reason. I didn't complain too much about the hike this time, so most likely I'll go on another one.
We ate dinner with Stephen's parents and sister. We played Zombie dice and worked on a puzzle of New York City. We came home and eventually went to bed.
This morning, the girls got up and made themselves pretty for school since it was Valentines day and all that. Dimples wore a shirt and tie to school because they are having a dance with all the 1st graders. (I'm so excited to see this!) It's kinda just a regular day for me, nothing special til later when the hubby gets home.

So yes, I've been missing...

Yeah, yeah. I've been missing from the blog for a while.

In January, we went go-karting at Speed Street in Layton. We took Becks and two of her friends, Megs and Court. It was totally awesome! I loved it. Stephen and I tried so hard to beat each other, he cheats by the way-he bumps you out of the way. I had so much fun and I know that Becks and her friends did too. They were fabulous girls and we all got to race twice. Becks and Court went with Courts Dad the next Monday and they all had an awesome time. Good times, good times, love them. I hope Becks had a great time with her friends, it was sort of a birthday party and not all the friends showed up. Man, we should plan better. Anyway, here are some pics of the girls and fun we had. Enjoy!

Stephen's Car

Stephen's car died on Tuesday, February 8th after receiving a new muffler.
Just kidding, it really did die on him and his sister Sue while driving to work Tuesday morning, and Monday he got a new muffler on it, but that wasn't what killed the engine. The culprit was the air conditioner compressor. The same thing that happened to the Durango at the beginning of our Bear Lake trip last summer. Stupid, spit spit, dumb, air conditioner compressor.
I have been dropping him off at his parent's house to hitch a ride with his sister Sue. She's a great person and was willing to drive this entire week to work while Stephen's car has been at the auto shop. It's now Saturday and they still aren't finished with it. The shop closes in an hour and I haven't gotten a call yet to pick it up. UGH!!!! I think its time to look for a more reliable vehicle for my hubby, lets say a 2010 Chevy Camaro that is Lime Green with Thick Black Racing Stripes. Yeah, I saw it on Wall Ave. after he pointed it out. My thoughts were "You won't be able to get away with speeding, running red lights, or failure for stopping at stop signs ever again!"
We'll see, maybe he'll end up with some other granny type vehicle. Ya know, one that will fit all 6 of us instead of 4. Although, as long as it's reliable, I may not care after trying for 2 hours to get his car to run on Tuesday night. It was cold, I stayed in the Durango while Stephen fiddled with the vehicle. Yep, I think any kind of car that is reliable and gets better gas mileage than the current one would be better than what we have.