DOES LIFE EVER SLOW DOWN?!?!?

This last week has been a busy one! Since our camera is being repaired, we have a hodge-podge of photos from cameras we borrowed. Enjoy!

On Sunday the 11th, our car died. We came out of church to find that it wouldn’t start. We walked home and then while I was fixing dinner, Brian went back to see if he could work with it a little bit. Luckily Melvin Kuhni saw Brian and came out to help him. Melvin lives right across
the street from the church. So they towed our car to his place and then plugged it in. (Our car has a plug going from the engine block to help it heat since it is a diesel). We went back later that night after it had heated for three hours or so. We spent a good hour talking with Melvin and Vaughn played with Melvin’s grandson Kaden. We had a great time! And we were able to get the car started so we could drive it home.


On Tuesday evening Laura came over. I was busily organizing the basement to fit our food storage in the way I wanted. So Laura hung out with Vaughn. They played in the rocks outside, kicked our soccer ball around and watched part of a show called Jimmy Neutron. Then after Brian came home we had dinner together and watched American Idol. It is always so nice to be around Laura.

Wednesday morning Brian’s brother Jared met me at our house at about 6:30am and we headed up to Salt Lake with Vaughn to get our car fixed. I was so grateful that Jared came because it would have been just me and Vaughn stuck at the car. But Jared was wonderful! He helped me to run after Vaughn all morning. So 2 and 1/2 hours and almost $160.00 later, we were on our way home. I guess our glow plugs were shot and also a fuse or breaker or something. I’m just so grateful that we know of a good fix-it-shop. The other place we knew of that worked on Mercedes and it was also in Provo, wanted to charge at least $240.00 for the same work. They really try to soak you just because you own a Mercedes. I guess they don’t consider a young family on a limited income buying a very old Mercedes!

On the way home we stopped at McDonald’s and had lunch together as a thank you for Jared helping out. I couldn’t have done it without you Jared. Thanks for your help! And just to put this in, Jared is one of the most helpful guys you will ever meet. He is always volunteering to help us watch Vaughn and keep him entertained. He is a wonderful uncle to Vaughn and we are grateful for his kindness.

Wednesday evening our ward had a fund-raiser for the Scouts and the Young Women groups. They provided a dinner and then held a dessert auction afterwards. It was a lot of fun to watch people bid for their dessert. Most people brought a cake to auction. But some people got really
creative and made gorgeous wedding-style dessert presentations. Anyway, Melvin sent Kaden over to us and asked us what kind of cake we wanted. We were very flattered by his offer. We picked a Snickers cake. The bidding started, and when it ended we were holding a $65.00 cake in our hands! We were very grateful for Melvin’s generosity towards us and the youth in our ward.

On Thursday Brian had to work late, so Vaughn and I spent the day doing many things, including finishing organizing the basement. Vaughn is very helpful to me by playing well by himself. He just goes into a corner and digs dirt out from under the steps and gets it all over himself. But it’s great because that way I get a lot done! So here’s my announcement! As of Thursday the 15th of March, our family officially has a 1-year supply of food, and a 2-week (which is the recommended amount) supply of water!!!! And it is all organized in our basement!!!! I cannot tell you the sense of accomplishment I feel! And I also feel a great deal of safety for me and my family. Now that I have this accomplished, I will move on to finishing our 1st aid kit, and 72-hour kits for me and Brian. Vaughn’s 72-hr kit just needs to be updated since he is growing out of everything!


Friday evening we headed over to Amy’s house for dinner and volleyball. There were some kids over from Amy and Brenden's ward, so Brenden gave them a ride on his 4-wheeler. It was funny to see him and so many kids piled on that thing riding it around their yard.

We had a great time playing volleyball while Vaughn ran all over and distracted everyone. We called him our “Secret Weapon” because he managed to keep to our opponents side of the court even when we switched sides after the first game! What a cutie!






After volleyball we took some time to play with Vaughn on their swing-set. Vaughn really loved the attention, but especially going down the slide. I think he made Brian do it about one hundred times! Here Vaughn is being "A Proud Baby" as everyone called him that night.








Saturday morning we got geared up and headed up to Provo Canyon. I brought the roller blades Brian got me for my birthday, and while I roller-bladed up the bike path, Brian walked/jogged with Vaughn in the stroller. We had a wonderful time enjoying the scenery and getting some
much-needed exercise. We feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful area! We were also happy to run into my Uncle Wane and my Aunt Cari and their kids. They were on a bike ride enjoying the nice weather too! They mentioned when they were done with their ride that they were going to start on their garden. That of course got me excited to plant our garden, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it!

So after we got home, I called my next-door-neighbor and asked if I could borrow her tiller. She got it rigged up right away and I tilled up the garden spot! I got so excited that I wound up expanding the garden area to about twice the size I had last year. I expanded about 2 to 3 feet back towards the fence, and then another 6 to 7 feet towards our house. I am excited to try some new vegetables this year like Swiss Chard, beets (which are excellent when steamed) cucumbers and possibly peas. I am even considering building an irrigation system out of PVC pipe because my neighbors have done that and it works really well. I wouldn’t have to stand out there for an hour and monitor the watering as it’s done. I’ll have to see how they do it!

So that’s our week! And what a week it was!

Here's one for the road....

Love, Lisa