LAS VEGAS OR BUST!!

Heard that phrase before?? We'll we lived it.

We were headed to Las Vegas this weekend for my Nana's 80th birthday. We were really excited to go. So Friday morning, we packed everything in the van (this was our first real road trip with the van since we got it a little over a month ago) and headed north. We were just getting started with the trip--got about 65 miles, so just north of Casa Grande, when our transmission went out! We were cruisin' down the freeway when all the sudden, the van had no power. Luckily, we were right by an exit ramp, and we were able to pull off and get safely off the road. We tried to mess with it a little, but it was obvious that the van was done.

Now what???

We have never broken down like that before, so we were not really sure where to even start! Zak and I both just kind of stared at each other for a minute. (While the kids calmly kept watching their movie in the back, oblivious). Luckily we found that we do have roadside assistance through our insurance (never needed to know that before!), so we were able to call them to arrange for a tow truck. The boys were a little disappointed that it was a new fancy truck, and didn't look more like this guy!

Then, what else could we do but call our best friends?? We were actually not far from the Mitchells, since they live on the north end of Casa Grande. We were so glad that Katie could come rescue me and the boys, while Zak went with Jim, the scary, smoking tow truck driver back down to Tucson. They got the van into the shop, where we found out we get to buy a new, shiny transmission. Yea!! That is just what we want to spend money on!
Then Zak drove our car back up to Casa Grande to get us. It turned out to be a pretty good excuse to hang out the the bright lights of Casa Grande. Zak even got to go downtown with Jeff and see the strip. I'm so jealous. It is almost as exciting as Vegas, and we had a really hard time deciding what to do first with all the fun things there. (Sorry we love to make fun of your home town Jeff. You know we think it is Grande! And thanks again Katie for rescuing us! And for sharing your leftovers! You're the best. It would have been a really bad day without you guys!)
So, we never made it to Vegas. The transmission did bust. We're sad we missed out on all the fun and family there, but with the luck we were having, Vegas is probably the last place we want to be right now--we have enough money going out!

We hope you had a Happy 80th Birthday, Nana! Sorry we missed it! We love you! We'll have try to make it out there again soon!

Bueller...Bueller....

I feel like I haven't posted anything on here forever. I guess it has only been about two weeks, but these last two weeks have been so crazy that it feels like it has been longer.

Right after New Years, Zak and I (or maybe it was just me) decided that we wanted to paint our house. We have been a little intimidated by it since we moved in because if we paint the living room, that means we have to do the dining room, and the entry, and the hallways...it is just all connected with no good stopping points, so it was all or nothing. We finally got around to it and I honestly don't know why we didn't do it a long time ago. It looks so good! Maybe it was the professional painting crew we used (Thanks Mike and Carrie--they do good work, and they're cheap! A couple Nico's burritos and some pizza and we got hours of work out of them!). Once the paint was done, I did not want to put the ugly vertical blinds back up, so I got some new curtains. We got those up, got all the furniture back in place, and then put all our pictures and decorations up, including some new ones I got for Christmas that I had not put up yet. I feel like we had an extreme home makeover. Ethan even keeps calling it our "new" house. So we have been really busy with all the projects around here, and I still have not finished all the curtains, so I guess I still will be busy for a couple more days! I'll have to post some pictures once I get everything completely done!

On top of all that, I was kind of in charge of our ward's Visiting Teaching Conference last night. I knew I would have to take some part in it, but I found out just last week, that I would actually be in charge of getting all the food together, decorating, setting up and cleaning up, and making the handouts. I feel like since then I have spent every spare minute working on some aspect of the conference, including some late nights. I am so glad it is over! It turned out really cute, and we had a good turn-out which makes it so much better. Hopefully next year we'll be a little more on top of the whole thing so it is not so much work at the last minute.

Here are the other distractions that have been keeping me away from blogging:

My mom gave me an I-Pod for Christmas. I hadn't asked her for one, and I never even thought I would want one, but I LOVE it. I spent lots of time getting all my CDs onto it, and then downloading some more fun songs. It has been so fun to have when I run.


One of the coolest things I found--you can download all of the hymns and lots of other church music for FREE from the church website. I have a playlist for church music, and I can just play that every Sunday morning while we're getting ready for church.



I finally read Eclipse, the last book in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I know I am behind everyone on this one, since it seems like everyone read it months ago. I am just to cheap to buy them, so I had to wait for each of the books to be available at the library. Once I get into a book, it seems like I put off everything else until I finish it. And since Zak doesn't like to have the light on when he is trying to sleep, and I don't like to stop reading until I am so tired that I can't keep my eyes open, I spent hours on the couch late at night bundled up with a blanket until I finished. Luckily it only took me a few days so I could get back to a more healthy sleep routine!

Anyone heard of blurb? My friend Lindsay got me hooked on this one. You can take you blog and get it printed and bound in a book. It is the coolest thing! It's really EASY to do, and the prices are great. You'll have to check it out. I put all of my posts from 2007 in one and have been working on getting it just how I want it. I am so excited to get it printed and see how it looks. I think I'll end up doing one for every year. I am so bad at keeping a journal, and I always fall behind in my scrapbooking, but I have been pretty good about writing the latest happenings here, so I figure I better keep it in some form that can be passed down to my posterity!

And finally, my biggest distractions:

Why would I want to be on the computer when I have these cute little guys to play with all day? They somehow manage to keep us plenty busy!

Santa Came!

The big man found our house again this year. Ethan had been talking for weeks about how Santa was going to bring him a scooter. It was there waiting for him Christmas morning, but he was actually more excited about the Pop Tarts in his stocking than anything else! I'm glad he is so easy to please!

Colby was excited about his big stuffed Elmo. He has been a little obsessed with Elmo lately, so he got a few different Elmo toys and books. Luckily everyone was wise enough to not buy the really annoying, singing toys.

The boys in their matching Thomas pajamas.

Ethan, Colby and their cousin Wyatt watching a Christmas movie and waiting for Christmas breakfast.

We had a really good Christmas. It is always so fun to share some of our traditions with our kids, and see how excited they get about all the Christmas festivities. Hope you all had a happy holiday too!