Busy, busy week

It started off with a phone call from my cousin Angie who was in town and wanted to play. She and I are very close and her daughter Kallie and Lauren are 10 days apart. We had so much fun being pregnant together and more fun shopping....every Friday, remember that Angie? I don't think those girls ever wore the same thing twice. Anyway, back to the post. We went and saw Monsters vs. Aliens and then headed to Veterans Pool. We had a fun time and too soon it was over and I had to head home to pack for Malad.

Wednesday morning we were up early trying to beat the heat (my a/c was acting like it was on its way out) for our drive to Malad. We got to Malad at lunch time and Grandpa asked the kids, so Subway, Burger King or the Malad Drive-In? They chose the drive-in. Then we headed to both parks since the kids couldn't agree and Grandpa said we'd go to both so everyone was happy. At the first park we only lasted about 1/2 an hour. McKenna got stung by a bee/wasp, not sure which, so we decided to leave. After we played, we headed up to the ranch to ride the 4-wheelers and golf cart and water the grove. It was such a hot day but up at the ranch, things were cooler and we hung out there for an hour or two. It was such a beautiful evening. We stayed until the sun almost set just relaxing, enjoying the scenery and the breeze, riding around and playing. It was just such a perfect night. After that Grandpa asked the kids, Subway, Burger King or the Drive-In? We all voted for Subway except for McKenna who wanted Burger King, and of course, Grandpa said she could have what she wanted. Later Tyler told me he thought Grandpa was a very nice man for taking us to both. We followed up dinner with traditional root bear floats and then headed to bed. The next morning we got up and left for Rexburg.






As soon as we pulled onto the freeway, the a/c broke. Did I mention Chris wasn't with us? He had to work so it was just me and the kids, in the car with no a/c for 2 1/2 hours and the temperature was 98 degrees...inside and out! I have to say, things could have been worse. But it was pretty miserable. Suffocatingly hot inside and if you rolled the windows down the noise from the freeway about burst your eardrums. We found a medium in one window down, where nobody was sitting and the kids listened to books on CD (Thank you Wendy's kids meals!). On the end of the cd there is a song for the "The Magic Treehouse, the Musical". The kids have it memorized and might take the show on the road. If I can get it uploaded here, I will. Fun times. Anyway, about Idaho Falls the car starts making some pretty bad noises and feels like it's running weird. I pray that I make it to Rexburg where my dad is and can rescue us. We do, but barely. My brother finds me a mechanic and we drop the car off (at 5pm) and hope he can fix it, fast. He was a very nice mechanic, but doesn't think he can fix it until the next day, at which point I break down crying from stress, heat and exhaustion. Next thing I know he offers me a couch to relax for a bit until I feel up to leaving and says he'll stay late and fix the car. I love him. Since this whole trip was to see my little brother Douglas graduate, I really didn't want to miss it. But I was way behind schedule, hot, stinky and sweaty, and now we only had one small car and a moving van between my parents, sister, me, four kids, my brother and his wife. Luckily, my wonderful, amazing, generous, kind, beautiful, sweet and super helpful niece Angie saves the day. She and her sister Dara were going to watch my kids while I was at the graduation so she came early and picked up the kids and a boatload of my stress and took them all of my hands. I was able to get ready and go to the graduation. Congratulations Doug!!! It was a nice graduation and I'm glad I was able to make it. The mechanic called at 8:30 and said the car was ready to go. We crashed at Doug and Ashley's for the night and were up early again trying to beat the heat. Since the same thing happend last year, we were hoping it would be under warranty so we just had him fix the car enough to get us back home. This meant we now had a 4 1/2 hour drive home with no a/c. So long story short, we made it back home, thanks again in part to the wonderful books and song from the Magic Treehouse on cd. We enjoyed having my parents, sister and brother and his wife here for a day and a half. My car will hopefully be back by tomorrow, fixed and covered under the warranty...hopefully.