Second time's a charm? Hope so!!

This is the second time around truck. I personally love the color. And it rides better than the other one - you know, the "Flaming Hot" white one we had. Looks like we can go to Powell after all. I think we might fight over who gets to drive it. I'm just wondering if they make a flame retardant we can spray it down with. Hmmmmmmm.

The Good - The Bad - and the REALLY UGLY!!!???!!!

THE GOOD
We were all going to camp out at the lot for the 24th of July weekend. Meili loved the outdoors - especially sleeping in a tent. She thought it was party time most of the night because Mommy and Daddy were sharing the tent with her. She got the hang of it though after the first night. She loved crawling around in the dirt and we were constantly pulling pine needles and rocks out of her mouth. A little dirt never hurt anyone, right? And Tyler LOVES LOVES LOVES to broken pieces (his own words) being at the lot.
We also had a great time at the Demolition Derby. We had sat in line most of a day in June to get tickets so we were a little nervous if the kids would like it and if it had been worth sweltering for a whole day. But it was really fun. I liked the Powder Puff part best. The women were more entertaining than the men.


Even Meili got into it. She liked staying up late and having the crowds cheering all around her. The fireworks display afterwards was awesome. There were fireworks we had never seen before.
Gary is still smiling (surprising) even after what had happened earlier in the day (read on)
We hit the rodeo on Saturday night. Tyler liked watching the cowboys.
A crazy part of the rodeo called the Hide Ride. A person has to jump on the hide being pulled behind the horse and hang on for dear life. Pretty entertaining.
THE BAD
Gary had bought a brand new truck (at least to us - it was 3 years old but very beautiful) on Wednesday. We drove it to the lot on Thursday. On the way up the road Cris heard a noise in the back, turned around and saw flames, and then yelled for us to get out. That was scary to get the kids out not knowing what was going to happen.
Gary and Dave threw dirt on the fire in the bed but after the bed liner caught on fire it got really bad and blew out the back window. Then the cab caught on fire. You can see how close we were to the trees. Tyler was praying as only a 4 year old can do that the trees wouldn't catch on fire and amazingly they didn't. We won't even think about what that would have been like. We had called 911 and after they had taken a few wrong turns, they arrived to hose it down. And it was just in time too. It was fully engulfed and we were waiting for the fuel tank to blow.
The REALLY UGLY!
This is what our beautiful truck now looks like. It is surreal to watch something like this go up in flames right before your eyes and you are basically helpless to do anything. The guys tried valiantly to save it but it was out of their control. Cris and Dave lost all of their clothes, car seats, pack and play,blankets and pillows and we lost quite a few things for the lot. And no, insurance doesn't pay for contents. We asked ourselves a lot of "what if"s over the next few days. What if it had been in the suburban (keep reading for that story), what if Cris hadn't heard the noise and looked back, what if the trees would have caught on fire, and many other things. I'm sure the faith of a 4 year old helped. And someone was definately watching over us. Thankfully.
The rest of the story is we came home on Sunday night in our Suburban which a friend had brought up to us. As we came down the offramp from the freeway, we noticed smoke coming out from the front wheel wells. We thought it was maybe the brakes or something but then we saw people waving at us and hanging out their windows and yelling "Your truck is on fire!" We pulled over really fast and we were out of there even faster. I don't even remember getting out of the burb (I guess it was the practice we had only 3 days earlier). Gary and Dave popped the hood and there was a fire down low in the engine. They doused it with Gatorade from the coolers. A lady pulled up behind us and told us there were huge flames under the burb as we were coming down the ramp. That was why everyone was screaming at us. Cris and I refused to ride home in the burb so I called a friend to come get us. Needless to say, we are looking for a new vehicle.

And all we had wanted to do was go to the lot to have a few relaxing days to get over all of the excitement of the past 2 weeks.

Happy 24th of July!

In honor of all of our ancestors who were pioneers to Utah - the Thornes, Watkins, Crandalls, Walkers, Lawsons, Evans, Sagers, Hales, and everyone else - thanks for the sacrifices you made in our behalf. We had the opportunity to go to Martin's Cove for a trek with our youth a few years ago. It was an amazing experience, one we will never forget. We trekked for Gary's great grandparents, John and Margaret Watkins. We learned to appreciate in just a small way some of what they experienced and suffered to come to Utah. I've read many of their accounts from their own journals. Their love of the gospel and their desire to follow the Prophet and the Lord were enormous and I admire them very much. Could I do the same as they? I don't know but I have learned a lot from their examples. So to all of them - THANK YOU!

Wow! What a crazy few days!!!!!

We have been nonstop partying around here. Court, wedding dinner, wedding, Dental boards for Dave, temple sealing and luau, and now? Let's just relax for awhile, k? I only have a few pictures of all the events because Cris is the pro but here are a few glimpses of the wonderful and great things we have enjoyed in just a few days time. I'll post more as Cris edits them.



Meili was having a fuss fuss day so she wasn't very happy to be handed off to the ladies in the youth center. And we could hear her coming down the hall - not a happy camper. But when they brought her into the room, she held out her hands to her daddy and quieted right down as soon as he held her. Dave lost it and so did everyone else in the room. No question who her daddy (or mommy for that matter) is. She looked like a little angel in her white dress. And Tyler was so cute all dressed in whitetoo. He wanted to stay by my side and the sealer was nice enough to tell him to be wherever he was comfortable. He stood by me as they performed the sealing so he could watch everything. It was definately a high point for me to be able to hold the baby for this AND have Tyler by my side. One of those "Grandma" moments.
Garon and Whitnie were married last Friday. It was a beautiful day (but really really hot) and we had a lot of fun afterwards. Tyler and Camden brought in the rings with their little 4 wheeler jeep with a sign on the back "Special Delivery". It was really cute. The whole reception was very casual so we could visit - a nice way to do things. The newlyweds are staying with us for a few days until they can move into their new house so it's fun to have them around.
Welcome to the family Whitnie! We sure hope you can put up with us and all of our craziness.

Sneak Peak

Carissa took Whitnie's bridals on Monday. These are just a few of my favorite pictures. As you can see, she is a BEAUTIFUL bride. Enjoy!

When Whitnie came over before we took the pictures, Tyler told her she was a princess like Cinderella. When we got ready to leave I told Tyler that we were leaving and his daddy was going to watch him. He kept saying he wanted to go with us. I said we were just going to take pictures and he said, "NO, you're going to a ball and I want to go to the ball too!"
My very favorite picture.
No backing out now Garon!
This is so Whitnie - she loves to hunt and be in the outdoors. I saw a picture like this and had Carissa try it out. I loved it. It's just fun.

Wahoo! The adoption is FINALLY final!

Cris and Dave went to court today to finalize their adoption. Meili was so cute. During the whole proceedings she kept saying Dada, Dada, Dada. The judge was not even looking at his papers because he was smiling at them. And when the judge told them that everything was final and legal, Meili started giggling really loud and smiling at everyone. Do you think she knew? It wouldn't surprise me. They had leis for the attorney and the judge which they were happy to wear.

Do you think they look happy or what? Everyone has asked them if they feel like she is really theirs now but they have felt like she has been theirs since before she was born and we know that she has been theirs for eternity - she just came to them in a different way. Congratulations. Let's party! How 'bout next Tuesday?!?

The start of the funnest week ever!

We thought the grandkiddies would love a fun toy like this - we were right. Meili loved getting rides. I didn't think Camden was quite old enough to figure it all out but he caught on really quick. He is so serious about the whole process though. Tyler can even back it up and maneuver it all around.

It has provided hours of fun for the kids and the adults watching.
This is the scene at our house on Sunday nights. I'm sure the neighbors cringe with all of our cars.

Happy 4th of July!

What better place to spend the 4th than at our most favorite place? We got this big idea to pull out the tree that the guys had cut down last summer. Gary was just sure that the suburban could not pull it out but we bet him that it could do it easily --- which it did. Since he lost the bet, he couldn't be grumpy or say a single negative thing all weekend. He thought it was torture. Maybe for him but definately not for us. Anyway, this log now lines our parking area.


Then we got this big idea to finish lining the pathway with another dead tree. But then Mikie P got creative and cut off one side to make it flat so we ended up with a nice step for the trailer, a bench by the firepit, and 2 benches or cooler holders by the water stumps. The only bad part was all the ants that had lived in this log.
We finally got a squirrel to come visit! We thought we had been abandoned by all of our little furry friends but this big guy showed up all of a sudden and thought he had won the lottery. We could hear him chattering all the way home and soon another squirrel showed up and ate out of the feeder for over an hour. We even threw pieces of crackers at them and they didn't run off. Hope they stick around.

Thanks kids for all the hard work and the fun we had this weekend! Can't wait for the 24th!

Busy Times

We had a lot of fun putting invitations together and we were pretty speedy. Everyone got in on the action, even all the guys. They turned out cute but you will be receiving one soon so you can see for yourself!
Afterward, we celebrated Gary's birthday. Here is Camden showing Grandpa the Pirate card he picked out for him. They are deciding who all the pirates are.