Big Red Bites the Dust

 

Scott's car officially died on us. We wished it would have lasted longer, but it just wasn't meant to be! It had just under 200,000 miles. When we bought it, the engine was fried on it, so we had the engine replaced. Less than 1,000 miles later, and the engine died...again. We completely replaced the engine...again. We had been keeping a super close eye on it. 

We noticed that sometimes the car would jump a little bit when it reversed, but otherwise, all seemed to be well. Scott was invited to a meeting in Price, so he drove his car there. Everything was still going okay until the drive home. Scott pulled off in Salina to get gas from the gas station, and his car lurched forward as he exited. He called me and asked what he should do, and we decided that he should take backroads and I would follow and meet him in Richfield. Scott carefully made it to Big O tire. Everything seemed well, they lifted the car on the rack, and they checked everything over. When they went to drive the car out of the bay, the transmission completely went out. It wouldn't go at all--they had to push it into a parking spot.

Scott and I are just so grateful that he made it to Richfield! We consider it a complete tender mercy that he was able to drive it to our car shop, and then the tranmission went out.

We then had the tough decision of deciding what to do. The car was only worth $5,000 (Kelley Blue Book), and a transmission and replacement would cost about $4,200. We had to decide if it was worth putting more money into a car with 200,000 and was (for unknown reasons) on it's 3rd engine. We decided to part ways with "Big Red", and we lived with 1 vehicle for a couple months until we could get a replacement! It was a bit of a hassle paying off the loan, getting the title in the mail, and then...almost a month later...being able to get it to a junk yard. Until then, Big Red sat out in front of our house!

Quinn's Gooseberry Performance!

The big performance in 3rd grade is their Gooseberry Performance! I got to go listen to Quinn and watch him square dance on the stage! 

After Gooseberry, their giant project was to create a life-size Annie Bangs in groups. This was Quinn's Annie!

September Summary!

We had an amazing rain storm in September, so we pulled up the blinds and watched the rain! These three cute kids were so amazed by the water! 

Harper and Dad had a dance competition, but when Harper pulled out her splits, dad bowed out!

We brought in this haul from our garden in one day! It was so amazing to see that I snapped a quick picture! Green beans, green peppers, cantaloupe, potatoes, tomatoes and rhubarb!

We got some yummy peaches off our peach tree! This one was HUGE! It also deserved a picture!

When you make graham crackers with frosting for a snack, and Charlie gets more frosting on his face than in his tummy!

Charlie loves to lay down and play with toys (laying down with a pile of Legos is his favorite thing)! He makes sounds and contently plays for hours laying on his side.

Harper looked so cute going to preschool!

Two cute boys shopping with mom! I turned on Toy Story 3 on the iPad, so I could shop a little easier. That, and fruit snacks made for a good trip to Walmart!

Caterpillars cut through leaves--cut, cut, cut! Harper learned about the letter C in preschool!

I have learned through my years of mothering that kids love playing with household items...more than toys. Sometimes, it drives me crazy, and sometimes, I allow it to happen. On this day, they created their own kitchen out of boxes, ramen, cans of soup and potatoes. They were 3 content kids! (Who made a big mess!) (Also, Charlie got him self dressed in Lucy clothes for fun!)

My friend Beth asked if I would be interested in some surplus canning jars that she had! (Of course!) I went to her shed and loaded up boxes of jars--way more than I thought! We brought them home and gave them all a good washing. I think we counted close to 300 jars! We filled them with food this summer--such a great blessing!

What a cute little Owen!

Jemma had her 5th grade Maturation class at school! She dressed up so cute, and I got to meet her at the school for the program. (I also held true to tradition and snuck in some candy to snack on while we learned about the female body...it somehow makes the experience so much better!)

Harper and her preschool friends all learned about caterpillars turning into butterflies!

Owen and Charlie painting at preschool! (They usually play and stand next to each other in all the pictures I get from their teacher!)

The week before Scott was put in as bishop, we attended Stake Conference in Moroni to watch Scott's mom speak! It was the last week of freedom (and helping me with kids) before Scott gets to sit on the stand for at least another 5 years! 

Charlie, keeping it classy.

When dad lets you go into the gas station for fancy drinks and snacks!

Owen disappeared one day, and I found him asleep on the top bunk of Harper's bed! He gets too nervous to climb the ladder back down. I'm sure he just decided to take a nap while he was stuck up there!

Sunday post-church snuggles are the best kind of snuggle.

All the kids in the middle school had to pick a crown and write what they were King or Queen of on it. They could decorate it however they wanted, and then they were challenged to wear their crowns all week long to celebrate the things that made them uniquely "them"!

Scott was put in the bishopric and the next weekend they had a big youth trip up north to do roller skating, lunch and a big temple trip with the youth! Macey had so much fun!

While Dad and Macey were away, and Cooper was off swimming with friends, we enjoyed a big beverage from Maverik!

Grandma Christensen sent Lucy her own box of Jif peanut butter. It came from Amazon with Lucy's name on it, and she claimed it hers! She LOVES peanut butter! And in case you're wondering, yes, she did eat all three jars, with a spoon, entirely on her own. She also threatened all her siblings with notes on the box...Scott helped!

Lucy's notes. They crack me up. I found this on her closed bedroom door, while she was at school. I think she was trying to scare us away--"Spiders in the room".