No More Happy Dance!

So, remember when I was so excited about my yard and how great it was going to be come fall?  I was going to sit by my fire in my afghan sweater, sipping some tea, while listening to Mat play the guitar.  That's not going to happen.  In fact, it is FAR from happening because our landscaper ran off with our money and we have not seen him and we are not able to get a hold of him for 3wks.

Worse yet, we have snow coming and no retaining walls to prevent a mudslide from happening.



And here it sits.



The landscaper did leave his machinery in our yard so we decided to chain it up, hoping to get something out of him.



Fearing that he might come and clip the chain in the middle of the night, we decided to move it into our garage (along with all our other backyard stuff).  Luckily, the inventor of the CAT company makes one standard key for all machinery. Who does that? Lame, but bonus for us.  We easily bought a key from the dealership and started it right up.  It's now in our garage until we can figure out how we're going to sell this thing after 30days of abandonment.  I'm sure the bank owns it, but wouldn't it be super if the landscaper had to pay us back with this machine and then he had to pay the bank back with his own money?



So, we're starting over.  People do terrible things.  I just don't want to be one of those people.

Because

Because it's one of my favorite pictures.

Flu Shot Drama

Flu shot mayhem. These two started crying before they even got their shot.  Tisk, tisk, I say!  I didn't cry when I was even a baby! I didn't cry when the cord was wrapped around my neck either (mostly because I couldn't breathe), and I didn't cry when I had my nasal spray 1 week ago.



Remind me to get these girls enrolled in boot camp for summer.

Micah's last soccer game!

Yeah for soccer.  And, yeah for free Saturdays.

Halloween 2015

Regular Show Episode 100 anyone? You don't know it? Well, I better see your fingers youtubing that bad boy so you can figure out this year's costumes!



Master Foo always has been a Jedi.  He uses his force to get treats.



And, just so you know, Micah has a candy store you can come to where you can pay up and trade up



She also has a wizard store she invented as well and look who her first customer was?!



I think his fortune was "I want that hackie sack!"

Chile October 2015

We just took a trip to Chile for our humanitarian calling in our church.  It was a beautiful city to walk around and experience their way of life.  Most of it felt pretty American, minus my lack of Spanish.  It was safe, clean, and you always find some fun surprises.

Hotel Bonaparte



Big fort in the middle of the city where you can climb to the top.  I just wouldn't recommend it in heels.



I'm sure Mat wrote my name somewhere, I just can't find it.



Baskets with wheels are a bonus.  Especially, when you probably should have grabbed a cart, but thought you were just grabbing a few items.



Fish market. Believe me when I say it smells like fish.



Fortune Tellers.  I'm very happy they all decided to coordinate.



Complatos are not for me, but I'm sure some picky kid will eat them.



Jackpot on the motorcycles, take your pick!



Earning a little extra cash cheerleading during stoplights.



Lunch to go, or on wheels--these kabobs are probably pretty tasty I'm sure.



Guitar maker shop.



And yes, we now own our 6th string instrument and now a stool to sit on.  All lovely.



We always meet new friends, meet the Gouldings.  They are from Hurricane and they speak English.



We met up with Andrea's cousin Jorge.  He was kind enough to pick us up from our hotel and take us to a real Chilean restaurant.  I had the spicy beef and Mat had some Pork guts.



We topped it off with some canned peaches in peach juice and barley.



Oscar went with us to 4 different hospitals searching for the needs of the people throughout the week.  We are hopefully going to be able to help a couple of them.



I am especially interested in the pediatric hospital.



The city and the people were delightful!

Moab Trip

Always beautiful. Always quiet. Always thrilling.



Carb loading at the hotel for our long trail drive in the car.



Before the trail ride we had to get this bike rack hitch off, so we hack sawed it.



Freaky freak with the family car.



Lots of cousins to keep us entertained.



Family time



3rd grade class pet joined us, everyone say hello to Greg. He was too tired to fly.

High School Reunion

It was fun to see many people I had not seen in a while and bump heads with them.  They are all still the same.  I felt like reunions make you want to turn away from them from just hearing the word reunion.  You just want to sigh.  When you get there though, hopefully, you're glad you came.  I for one think we need to revamp the reunion dealio.  I think we should get together to play flagfootball or dodgeball in the gym.  People don't have to worry about so much of what they look like, but more of who they are. And no, I do not want to plan it.

Good Morning