wild weekend

Early Friday morning, Dax left on a shed hunting trip so when I drove Preslie to school Friday, I saw on the marquee out front that there was no school on Monday and I decided that it was a good weekend to go away. Before going home to pack, the boys and I visited a few yard sales and picked up this cute witch costume ($2) for my niece, Mya. Mack was an adorable model...

While I packed, the boys played potato head.

Then, I got myself a brilliant idea to go to Rexburg to see my sister and her family plus my mom and dad who were there. The kids and I braved the 6-7 hours in the car and were so happy to get there!

Saturday, the kids took shifts in the bathtub. The babies were first...

Later we set up the trampoline (nice weather finally!) and the kids had a ball. Then we went to Bear World and pet 2 adorable bear cubs.



And that was the last time I saw my car keys on this trip. Everyone looked everywhere we could think of...outside, in my car, dresser drawers, in the garbage... to no avail! Sunday, after

a fun afternoon of jumping on the tramp and making yummy gingersnaps, we said a prayer to find the keys. Then Tisha's home teachers popped in to say hi and answered our prayer by telling us about a place in town that makes keys by using a number code from your car.

The next day, the nice home teacher came and took my door apart, got the lock out and I took it and had 2 keys made.

We had a wonderful trip and now it was time to go home. I drove as far as Tremonton and we stopped for a potty break. We started driving again and I immediately noticed my car was acting weird. I first noticed the weird noise when I pushed the clutch, and I had no turn signals but we had to keep going. We had just reached Davis County when I heard Preslie ask "what's that weird smell?" and then all I heard was Preslie screaming and gagging and I glanced back to see Mack covered in throw up. I knew if I didn't do something that Preslie would be next because she was dry heaving at the sight/smell of it.

I kept my eyes on the road and yelled, "PRESLIE! You are FINE! Look out the window- do NOT look at Mack. Get ahold of yourself- You are not sick. You can NOT throw up right now! If you do, you are in so much trouble!"

Then I tried to unroll the windows to get some fresh air in the car but they wouldn't work (remember the car was acting weird). I pulled off the freeway in Roy to clean Mack up and change his clothes and we pressed forward in the stinky car.

We hit Salt Lake City rush hour and it started to rain. The windows got so foggy and I soon found I had no defrost, either. I could barely see out the windshield, it stunk like puke, I had no turn signals, and Mack threw up once more before we reached my parents'. What a trip!

We got there and I had my brother look at my car. He said it was working just fine. So after I bathed Mack, we decided to try and go home. 3 more hours in the car! After all we'd been through, I was ready to take it on.

After we gassed up, I turned the key and my car started acting up again...the noise, no power windows, everything... NO! So I turned the car back off and tried the other key... It worked perfectly.

Preslie summed it up when she said: "If you want to have a really good day, use the good key; if you want to have a really really bad day, use the bad key."

I am so glad I was able to see my sister and her family. It makes my heart grow so big to see our kids play together and be such buddies. They stayed up late talking and laughing every night after we put them to bed. I loved talking and hanging out with my sister. She and her husband are so good and I love being in their home. I hope she can continue recovering from her kidney being removed and get all her energy back. She is such an inspiration to me and I look up to her so much.