Pre-Thanksgiving Adventure

With Bentley turning 16 and his driver's test all passed (YES!  HE PASSED!!!), we figured we were due to add a third car to the family.  I had always assumed we'd look for some beater and hope it would last for a few of the kids before one of them wrecked it, but Craig had bigger plans.  He figured it was time he got himself a truck, and then Bentley could drive the Honda.

I was fine with this plan until car prices shot up (along with everything else) and suddenly a truck was a lot further out of our price range than it had even been originally.  But we kept saving up (those two jobs I've been working have helped a lot there) and sat down to take a good hard look at our budget and try to figure out what we could make work.  And, of course, Craig spent HOURS combing through various websites looking at trucks and deciding what he wanted verses what we could actually afford.  (Pretty much any time he's been staring at his phone for the last year, it's a good bet he's looking at trucks.)

One popped up in his feed back in October that was a good price, but it was the weekend of the ward Halloween party and the truck was up in Pennsylvania.  Getting there and purchasing it would have taken the entire day, and we just couldn't abandon all our other activities to go buy it.  It sold before we could even contemplate getting to the dealership to see it.  And we were a little sad.  I told Craig that the next time a truck popped up that we wanted, we were going to GET IT.

He didn't think I actually meant it.

But I absolutely did.

So when he texted me a truck that he liked while I was at choir the Monday before Thanksgiving, I immediately texted back, "What's the plan?"  No response.

When I got home I asked again, "What are we going to do?"  Craig could only say, "I don't know..."  I kept pushing: "Do you actually want this truck?"  "Yeah?  But I have work tomorrow!"  The truck was five hours away, past Philadelphia.  So he had a point.  But still.  For someone who'd spent a year looking at trucks, he sure didn't seem very enthusiastic.  But I have learned.  In our marriage, Craig is the brakes, and I am the gas.  And that's a good thing-- you need both!  So I didn't stop there.  I pointed out that there was no youth activity the next night, so it was probably the best chance we'd have to go buy it.  It would certainly be gone by the time we got to Black Friday.  And it's so rare that we have a night with no plans.

After a lot of back and forth, we finally decided to go for it.  He texted his boss explaining the situation and his boss was really nice about it.  We barely slept a wink that night, and then got the kids up and mostly ready for the day and explained what was going on.  Bentley had to get Colton and Camille on the bus in the morning, because we were leaving before they did.  Knowing this was his ticket to having a car to drive, too, Bentley was very happy to help out.  Kendra was home sick anyway (just a cold, nothing too serious), so she'd be home to greet them in the afternoon.

We called the dealership when they opened at 9am to make sure the truck was still there and that it was priced right.  We arrived some time in the afternoon, already sore from so much driving, but spent an hour test driving it and looking it all over and then another hour or so filling out paperwork and trying to get money transferred by wire, since they wouldn't take an out-of-state check.  We also grabbed some food at Taco Bell while we were waiting.  Finally around 3:30 Craig suggested that I head home.  We were still waiting on the money, but even if I left immediately, I'd be home after the little kids had gone to bed.

I started driving in traffic with the sun in my eyes, the worst.  I was stressing about the wire transfer but there wasn't anything I could do.  Craig was calling banks and trying to get them to do their job.  I called sisters and parents to tell them the exciting news.  I called the kids and checked in on them and reminded Bentley to make dinner for everyone (he already was, good son that he is!).  Shortly after 5pm Craig called and said the money hadn't gone through and the bank was closed.  So the dealership finally just let him take the truck and leave anyway.  Phew!  What a relief!  So he was just a couple hours behind me on the road.  Which gave him ample time to test out his new truck.  And fall even more in love with it.

For people who care about this stuff, it's a 2017 Honda Ridgeline, Black edition.  For only a little bit out of our price range, it had a lot less miles than the other trucks Craig had been eyeing, so hopefully that was worth the extra money we spent...

It was very fun showing it to the kids the next morning!  Craig let them ride in the back while he drove them around the neighborhood.  And it was even more fun once Craig managed to fit it in the garage and hide it from his parents so we could surprise them with the news when they arrived later in the afternoon to help with pre-Thanksgiving pie making!

So we are now the proud owners of a truck.  We even got to make good use of it when we bought our Christmas tree on Saturday!  I'm sort of hoping now that the deed is done, we can go back to talking about things other than trucks?  But I sort of doubt it.  

Craig loves his truck so much.

Visitor!

Later, on the same day that we went kayaking, my Mom arrived!  She'd been in Ohio visiting my sister Rachael, and then drove down to spend a few days with us, too!  We were so excited to have her!

That first morning, I dragged her out of bed to join me for FiA.  I was leading, so I tried to keep it do-able for my Mom and I was so impressed with her willingness to go along!  I guess those new knees she got are doing the trick!  At the end of each workout, each person says their name, their age, and their FiA nickname.  If you're 50 or older, they yell "Respect!" when you say your age.  So my Mom got a FiA nickname (Ohana, which means "family" in Hawaiian and felt very appropriate for her!) and when she said her name, she got three Respects!  I was so proud of my awesome mom!

And we had a great turnout for such a cold morning!

We had such a great time together.  We ate out way too much-- Torchy's, Kanak, Beer Run (best vegetable sandwich ever!), Mellow Mushroom, the Dairy Market, Chaps, and Coldstone...  We hit all my favorites!  We got pedicures.  We got a couple of my prints framed (I always need another set of eyes to help me choose stuff like that).  And, on a very rainy Friday morning, just sat around on the couch chatting and watching tv together.  It was so great!

Mom had brought us a few presents, too, which was fun.  My sisters and I were each given t-shirts that said, "Side by side or miles apart, Sisters will always be connected by heart" so we all took pictures of ourselves wearing them as a thank you.  (My neighbors once were talking about everyone should have a therapist and I thought to myself, Why would I need a therapist when I have four sisters to help me hash out all my problems???)

And my kids each got a carved, wooden animal from Africa, which they loved:

Bentley got a water buffalo, Kendra was given a leopard, Ryder got a rhino, Colton got the lion, and Camille got the elephant!

The time flew by and before I knew it, it was the day Grandma had to go home!  Due to a tragedy at UVA, they'd canceled school that day, so a very small silver lining to such awful news was that the kids got to have one last morning with Grandma, rather than trying to say goodbye while I rushed them out the door.  We'd planned on having lunch with Adam right before her flight, so Craig got to join us, too, which made me happy.

It was wonderful getting so much extra time with my Mommy!!!

Autumn Kayaking

Last spring we had such weird weather that Adam and I never managed to go kayaking.  And I didn't really feel like I could ditch the kids while they were home during the summer for this hobby (Costco runs, yes; kayaking, no).  And before I knew it, a year had passed and I hadn't been on the water at all!  That seemed so sad for something I'd enjoyed so much.  So we finally just decided to make it happen.  Craig and the kids all had a day off, and even though the weather had suddenly turned very chilly, we met up with Adam at Ragged Mountain and got some paddling in!

And it was great.  Of course.

Getting all set up!  Adam had brought two small kayaks and then this monster that could hold three people!

Camille looks so little and cute getting swallowed by her life jacket!

Kendra is a natural!

And Bentley looks so happy!

I made Ryder ride with me first, but then he was determined to get to paddle on his own, and he did great (of course)!

It was surprisingly difficult to get three kayaks all close enough together for a selfie!

I always love it when I'm backlit and my hair is glowing.  Plus we got that lovely rainbow effect!

What a lovely way to spend a morning, chilliness and all!

Halloween and Beyond

Before Covid, we had a ward member, Br. Foeppel, who would always set up a box maze for the Halloween party.  Apparently he works at Lowe's and collects refrigerator boxes all year long for this.  It's pretty much everyone's favorite thing about the party.  Then it was stopped for a couple years as we either didn't have a party, or held it outdoors.  But this year the maze was back on!  Unfortunately, Br. Foeppel couldn't be there to set it up, so a bunch of other people (including us) pitched in to make it happen.  I quickly learned that I had no idea how to help, so I just set up chairs in the gym instead.  And picked up pizza when we got hungry.  But Craig and Ryder were actually helpful, so it was good we showed up!

The party itself went great, but apparently we hardly took any pictures of it.  But Colton and Camille had invited friends, so I was busy making sure they didn't feel too awkward.  And I was also doing the face painting (which thrilled me-- I LOVE painting faces, but usually they let the young women do it!  But none of them wanted to, so I snagged that duty for myself).  And shortly after the dinner, Craig tried out the fog machine he'd bought just for the occasion, and it promptly set off the smoke alarms.  So we had to evacuate and do the trunk-or-treat part of the party a little earlier than usual.  But everyone still had a great time!

Camille with Wren and Adrian

Craig and Wren do the doughnut eating challenge!

We carved our pumpkins Sunday afternoon:

Camille draws a mean dead body from Among Us...

FiA was properly spooky:

...because Raven in that mask in the background is TERRIFYING

Halloween was cold and rainy and gross.  I felt bad for the trick-or-treaters.  But they were undeterred!

Bentley as a giraffe, Kendra as a garden fairy, Ryder is being kidnapped by an alien, Colton is Baby Groot, and Camille is Rocket (also from Guardians of the Galaxy)

Bentley and I enjoyed handing out candy.  And once the little kids were in bed, we all watched What We Do in the Shadows, which is absolutely hilarious.  (Quote I'm going to use on my kids: "We're werewolves, not swearwolves!")

In the past, Craig has built a fire for me in the driveway and I sit by the fire passing out candy, but it was too rainy for that.  So a few days later Colton convinced him to build a fire so we could make s'mores.  He has such great ideas!

Not sure why Bentley can't just look normal for a picture...

This... is... slightly better?

Anyway, we've been having fun!

One More Short Hike

Hi-- I'm back!  Sorry I've been absent so long!  Google was being difficult with uploading pictures, and then I just got out of the habit, I guess?  Anyway, I'm about a month behind on this poor blog, so expect to see a bunch of posts in the weeks to come.  

So back in October, the kids had a couple days off school before Halloween (ironically, they did NOT have Halloween or November 1st off, which probably would have been the nicer thing to do for all the teachers, but no one asked my opinion on this....).  With a free Thursday and Friday on my hands, I decided we'd better go hiking!

We kept things simple by just going to Walnut Creek.  Unfortunately, right as we were getting started, I realized that Colton was wearing his BRAND NEW SHOES, which meant a couple of the muddier trails were off-limits.  Which in turn made for a very short hike.  The kids were thrilled.  And since we had so much extra time, I let them play on the playground for a bit, too!  As always, Adam took some lovely photos:

The joys of perspective!

Kendra managed to catch the tiniest frog ever

See???

I am in love with that pop of red!

Who doesn't love a trail in the woods?

More red!

It was lovely, even if it was short!

Kentucky: Unbridled Spirit

   Hi it's me again, your favorite of Alanna's kids, Kendra. A little while ago my dad, my brother and I had a unique opportunity to serve the people in Kentucky after the flooding there. This was a pretty cool experience and mom didn't want to forget it so she is having me write this. One disclaimer, I was a weird mix of sick, tired, and dehydrated during this whole event... It was not the most enjoyable experience due to this. So we drove down to Kentucky on August 22 and got there at around 11pm. The drive down was pretty chill, our car had Bentley, Dad, me, Brother Huff, and Brother Bowes (two guys in out ward). We arrived safely and set up our tent and went to bed for the night. 

The next morning I woke up to the sound of a train a 5am and stayed awake due to all the campers around us realizing they had forgotten to bring salt. (???) A pretty strange way to be awoken if you ask me. Me and the gang got up at around 6 and got ready for the day. Then we were given our group and went to our first assignment.     

Bentley and I

Keep in mind that this was at least 3 weeks after the flood, so everything was already cleaned up or smelled awful. We found a job to do involving taking out a guy's duct work so here are some photos of that... 

Me dragging away wet duct work

Brother Bowes after coming out from under the house 

He had a really sweet horse as well!!! 

More photos of us working for your viewing pleasure 

It was a mess under the house 

                   After we finished helping him out we moved on to the next project. Here are some of the photos I got along the way. They are not super high quality because I was taking them through a window while we drove but you get the idea.  

Here you can see a house that was over top of the creek bed.
I have no clue if that is where it was originally or if it was moved in the flood. 

Actually I am pretty sure this was because of a fire, but the flood didn't help. 

    At the next house they were clearing up some debris and removing the soaked insulation. I was sitting in the car because I did not feel super great and ended up falling asleep and did not get any photos. This house took the rest of the evening and the start of the next morning. 

    On the final day we finished up at that house and sang "I am a Child of God" with the owner. Then we went to a shop called God's Country Closet. From what I could tell they were a kind of thrift store/Goodwill. This meant that there was a ton of things that had been donated and ruined in the flood. It was very sad to see. All of these thing were in a back room and we had to get all of them out.  

Dad pulling a sled load of ruined donations. 

Under the word God you can see the water line. It was crazy to see just how high the water got 

A pile of things that had already been taken out. 

Here is the back room I mentioned earlier. 

A different perspective of the room. 

            

        We worked till about 1:30 and then stopped by a bathroom and drove out. It was a unique experience and I am glad to have gone. It did feel as though I had not help very much but my parents said that just being there for those people was enough. It is crazy to think that these kind of things happen around the world to people who are just going about their lives. I was glad I could help in some way. Also just as an explanation for the title, that is what it says on the welcome to Kentucky sign. I though it was fitting considering that these people had lost so much and were still going.