Another Neice!

We're finally getting some more girls in the family!

Happy Heart

We got our weekly email from my brother this morning and it made my heart happy. He's back in Tacloban in the same area! He loved Manila but I think he yearned to be back with the people he was teaching before. He said the branch attendance went from 50 to over 500 after the storm and there are fields of tents to house thousands of people. There are church volunteers everywhere and they're building a warehouse to store all the relief supplies coming in. You can just feel his smile in his letter. :)

Busy-ness....But not sure with what

I've felt busy lately, but not sure with what. Because we haven't done all that much. But here is an update as I've been behind. (Since my phone doesn't automatically upload pictures to the laptop anymore, and I'm just not proactive enough to find the cord to transfer them manually. Chase just figured out an easy way to transfer them though, so I included some recent pics for your viewing pleasure.)

Last week Gavin, Lauren and I were all sick. Poor Chase slept out in the living room so he could get up with Gavin and let me sleep. But we're all healthy again thank goodness! It's been awhile since we've all been sick like that.

Last Thursday we had our Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. I was a little nervous about it since this was the first "big" ward dinner I had to plan and execute. But thanks to Chase, great leaders and people willing to help out, it turned out awesome! We had every single one of the boys there with some or all of their families. We had enough food and the boys seemed to have a good time, so I'll call that a success! I wish I would have thought to take some pictures.

Saturday we headed to Hooper to help with a baby shower for my cousin. That was fun to see Grandma and my aunts again, it seems like it's been awhile since we've done the "showering" thing!

We had a get-together with Chase's family and found out his sister is expecting! We're so excited for them! Seriously, grandkids must come exponentially once they get started.

We were able to stop by and see our good friends and found out they are expecting twins! We're excited for them as well, and completely overwhelmed for them since their first two kids are 14 months apart and the youngest just turned one. Wow.

She's obsessed with anything she can stick to her face.

I've been keeping busy with Primary. We went out to visit some of the kids these past weeks and it's been fun to get to know them and their families better. Sometimes I feel so little and inexperienced in there, but the kids just make me laugh and smile.

I've been trying to get some projects finished up that have been sitting for awhile. Making Lauren a dress, finishing a quilt, making baby blankets and burp cloths, and new pillows for the couch. I found some mistint paint I love the other day... so I'm going to paint the laundry room. I'm pretty excited to see how it will turn out, if I ever get around to doing it.

I think that's pretty much it!

Another Graduation!

My mom finished school as a Medical Assistant! We were able to go to her graduation the end of January. She's worked hard to go back to school and it was great seeing her at the finish line.

Life is a Highway

Life is a highway with lots of adventures. Friday afternoon we were headed up to Idaho Falls to stay with Chase's parents for the weekend. A few miles before Inkom we heard a horrible grinding, clicking sound, Chase pulled over right away and our car died on the spot.

Chase being the manly-man that he is, got out and popped the hood, then yelled for me to come look...
and the engine was on fire! Thankfully it wasn't huge so a few good huffs and puffs and it was out. We stood there for a minute to process and concluded that we were stranded. Thankfully our phones had reception at that particular spot on the highway (it's sketchy through that area) so we called Chase's parents to come tow us.

We waited for about 2 hours grateful again that I had an extra blanket, fruit snacks and water, and that the kids were relatively happy. Cal and Cheryl showed up with a car dolly and winch to tow us into Idaho Falls to their mechanic.

Saturday morning our car was declared "toast." It threw a rod and blew a hole in the engine block. Toast.

This was huge surprise to us. Even though our car was actually really old it only had 130k miles on it, which for a Toyota is nothing. We really expected it to last us a good long while. So long story short, we needed to find a car that we could actually put kids and carseats in (trucks aren't so good for that) pronto.

We started looking around on KSL and local used car dealerships and were frustrated because there was nothing remotely close to what we needed for a price we were able to pay. We decided to take our time looking and just figure out how to manage with the truck for awhile. Then my sister texted saying her good friend was selling their van. Again, long story short, it ended up being exactly what we were looking for and under the price we needed. My parents were able to test drive it for us Saturday afternoon since we were still up in IF. Chase's dad drove us down to pick it up this afternoon and we drove it home!

So it stinks that now instead of getting started finishing our basement this year, we had to buy a car instead, but it all worked out how we needed it to. And it could have been a lot worse! Tender mercies.

So now, according to a friend, we have joined the "minivan mafia!"

So Long, Farewell!

It's with much chagrin that we announce the passing of our beloved Toyota Camry. She passed away yesterday unexpectedly after serving faithfully for 6 years (although she should have lived a good long life of at least 10 more years! boo)

So if anyone is selling or knows of a reliable van for sale that would be great.

New Nephew

We have another nephew! Tycen Cal was born yesterday. We're excited for all these new cousins... my sister should have her baby in the next few weeks too!