Whirlwind week of activities

This week was full of activities. Monday morning we got a call from Tyce and Faith Kearl saying that we could go to their cabin at Bear Lake that day, so we hurried and packed up everything and drove up to Tyce’s home in Mantua (pronounced Manoway), which is in the canyon between Brigham City and Logan, a very beautiful area. Tyce took me out on his old jeep from high school (it was actually his dad’s jeep when he was in high school too), up the road and into the canyon that is just a few minutes from their house – way cool. We also met his mom and sister, Nicole, who came with us up to the cabin. We were at the cabin through Wednesday morning.

The cabin is up in the hills above the western side of Bear Lake, just a few miles from Garden City. They have the main cabin and then a smaller one off to the side. We slept in the smaller one. There is a sand volleyball court, a slide for the kids off the back deck into another sandbox, a game room with lots of toys and games (ping pong, air hockey, etc.), and even an upstairs loft. The weather was great when we first arrived Monday afternoon, so we took the kids on a hike. There was a small amount of snow and mud on the trail, but it was fun and beautiful. We hiked 1.3 miles, not much for us adults, but just right for our kids’ little legs. That night we made French bread pizzas and played games.

Tuesday morning the weather was ok so we thought it would be fun to go down to the lake and swim. Tyce’s family has passes to the Ideal Beach Resort (formerly Sweetwater Resort), which is right on the lake, so we were able to park there. However, the weather started to get cloudy and overcast with rain clouds pretty fast, so by the time we got there, the temperature had dropped and the wind was picking up. It still wasn’t raining yet, so we got changed and played in the hot tub and swimming pool (at least Tyce, Nicole, and I played in the pool; Faith, Eli, and Camden all came in for only a few minutes and thought it was too cold). Tyce and I were planning on running into the cold lake, but the rain started to pick up as we were getting ready to leave, so we changed our mind. We picked up some delicious Bear Lake shakes on the way back and then spent the rest of the blustery, rainy, gloomy day in the cabin, eating a really yummy dutch oven meal that Tyce cooked up and watching movies and playing games. That was actually really fun because this was the last time we would be spending time together for who knows how long, so we were able to sit and talk and laugh together.

The little cabin we were sleeping in had no heat, so it started off a little cold when we went to sleep that night. As the night went on, I kept getting more and more cold and could see shadows across the window. I thought it was the leaves on the tree, so imagine my surprise when I opened the door the next morning and found an inch of SNOW on the ground!! I was totally shocked. With the bad weather continuing and staying cold, we decided to just clean up and pack up that morning and head home. We stopped in Logan for lunch at a Mexican restaurant, and then it was time to say “See you later.” Thanks Kearls for the wonderful fun this week. We miss you guys already and can’t wait until we can hang out again. Keep your blog updated and stay in touch!!

I was still in need of a car, so Wednesday afternoon after getting the kids down for naps (thanks Grandma Faun for watching them) we went and test drove a Honda that was ok, but had lots of little problems. We called about another one and we’re going to meet the person at a Walmart parking lot, but they never showed up and we couldn’t get a hold of them again – not at all what I had expected, but I guess we weren’t meant to see that car. That night we cleaned out Grandma Faun’s garage enough so that we could fit our van in with Grandma Faun’s. We found a dead mouse and lots of mouse poop – really gross!!!! We also cleaned out her full freezer in the garage that we can start using now.

Thursday morning we drove to Mel and Christians to play with Jaden and Kyler and to see grandma Debbie. She was in town this week because Mindy was filming as an extra in High School Musical 3. We took the kids to a park just down from Mel’s house and let the kids play. We all had so much fun together.

I was able to finally find a car today, and at least to me, it was a miracle for how it all worked out. The night before, I was starting to really stress about finding me a car. We have been looking for about a week now with no luck. Well, my mom had suggested to me to look on cars.com for cars near the Lehi area that I could go and look at the next day while we were at Mels. So I took a break while cleaning the garage to go and look and only found one that fit in our budget (we were trying to find one for less than $3000). So when we got to Mels on Thursday, I gave a call about that one and they said they still had it in Orem and I could come look at it that afternoon. It is a 1995 Toyota Corolla with 104,000 miles that they were selling for $2950. Steph and I went down after lunch (thanks Mel and mom for watching the kids) to test drive it and really liked it. We checked out the vin on carfax and saw it was all good, and Kelly blue book had it listed for around $4900 if in excellent condition, so we thought the price was really good. The place selling the car, www.monstermotorsinc.com, sells their cars as-is with no warranty, so we wanted to have it checked by a mechanic to make sure it was okay. My cousin Jeff Perry is a mechanic in California, and as I was getting some advice from him, he said he had a mechanic friend at the Les Schwab he used to work at here in Taylorsville who could look at the car for us for free. So I drove the car up to him in Salt Lake and had it looked at. They recommended that all 4 struts be replaced and a few other minor things, all costing about $850. When I got back to the house to get some paperwork, our security deposit check from our apartment had just arrived for $725. What a perfect day to arrive. We were able to get some help with financing the rest, so I drove back to Orem and bought the car. It was just amazing to me to see the tender mercies of the Lord working to help making everything fit so that we could find the car we needed in the limited time schedule and with the limited budget we had.

Thursday night we went to Grandma Bradshaw’s ward bbq at Sugarhouse park with my mom and my sister Annette and to say hi to grandma. The boys really liked the playground, and Kolby especially liked a black lab dog, Celeste, that was there. The owner even let Kolby toss the ball for the dog for about 5 minutes – I think he was in heaven, and it was so cute to watch. Too bad we don’t have a place for a dog – some day.

Friday morning I had a pre-employment drug screening, and then Steph went grocery shopping while I continued to unpack from our trip to Bear Lake and start getting things ready for the Fathers and Sons campout that night. After lunch we got the car loaded and me and my four boys (yes, all 4 boys – a family tradition) headed out for Wallsburg, UT for the camping trip. Wallsburg is about 10 miles southwest of Heber, and the camping ground was about 5 miles further on from Wallsburg. It was a nice place out in the desert. We got up there around 4pm and got the tent and sleeping bags set up and then hiked around a bit. Brother Shane showed the boys the river and the ampitheater and they had fun hiking around. We did hotdogs, chips, and s’mores for dinner and then they had a nice fireside program. The boys were a handful, constantly wanting things all at the same time, but we had a lot of fun together. Luckily, one of the guys up there, Norm Nelson, had a big, white, very calm dog that the boys loved to play with, so I was able to run back for things at the tent as needed. The boys all slept really well that night (Isaac in his car seat and the rest of us in sleeping bags, and we had enough blankets to stay warm. Breakfast was provided the next morning, and then after cleaning up camp, they had several different game stations for the boys. The first was trying to build a fire in 3 minutes with only 3 matches. Needless to say, with my boys ages, we were not successful. Then we got to shoot some bb/air pellet guns, and the boys absolutely loved that. Next was shooting marshmallow blow dart guns. And then it was building a tripod with a “weather rock” on it that could tell the weather – if it was moving back and forth, it was windy; if it was wet, it was raining; and if it was white, it was snowing. :) Then, the boys got to shoot off water-propelled rockets and then had a water balloon game. It was all really fun for everyone. And I think Steph enjoyed having the night and morning off, though she stayed busy with running errands with grandma Faun.

After getting the boys bathed and changed and napping, Steph cut my hair and then we picked up a wireless card for her desktop so she can have internet in the basement. Last night grandma Faun watched the boys again so we could go to the temple. We are so grateful to be here with grandma and have her help and service. Thanks grandma, we love you!! The trip to the temple was so refreshing and peaceful, and it was fun to go to the Jordan River temple, because that is the one I grew up next to (we lived only 3 blocks east of it), so it brought back a lot of fun memories.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there. I am so grateful to my father and the wonderful example he has always been to me of a righteous priesthood holder and faithful servant to God. I got up this morning and found a new electric deep skillet roaster that we can use to continue cooking our roast with potatoes and carrots. Steph also said I was exempt from changing any poopy diapers today – thanks so much Steph – I sure appreciate you. Church was nice today. We went to a gospel doctrine class with a few other couples that are closer to our age, and the topic was on how to teach our children about service and charity in the home so that they then can serve those around them.

The potatoes and carrots and roast are just about ready, so I better end this epistle now. :) I start orientation tomorrow for my internship at Intermountain Medical Center, so wish me and my family luck.