First Day of School 2016

Last week Tanner, Landon, and Dean headed back to school.  We're all seriously mourning the end of summer but it's been nice to get back into more of a schedule around here.  Tanner and Landon both got great teachers this year and they were excited to see all their friends again.  We're looking forward to a great year, and Braddock even assured me that he won't miss them.  Ha!  That boy!  And he pushed Bridger the whole way home from the bus stop.  Sure glad I still have those two to keep me company all day.

Soaking up the Last Day of Summer

The day before school started we decided to head to the park for a picnic lunch.  We weren't the only ones with that idea, because the place was packed.  We walked past the pond to some unoccupied picnic tables and enjoyed our leftover pizza.  After eating and looking at the playground just covered in kids we decided to head to a different park we knew would be less busy.  On the walk back to the van Braddock fell and scraped his knees.  He proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs.  At one point he was even screaming, "I'm going to die!"  Hahaha!  We had other mom's coming over to make sure he was ok and offering band-aids.  We loaded up and stopped at home to patch him up a bit and we picked up some popsicles to take to the next park.  And just as we had hoped the place was empty so we had the run of the place.  It was the perfect end to an awesome summer.  

Braddock's Shark Birthday

Amid all the crazy car troubles and the hunt for a new car was Braddock's fourth birthday.  I had grand plans to make his birthday fun and then some things ended up falling by the wayside when life hit hard, but he didn't know the difference and was just the cutest little birthday boy ever.  His birthday was on a Sunday so he got to be sung to in Primary and got his little gift as well.  We had a birthday dinner of spaghetti per his request at Grandma and Grandpa's house after Church, and we brought his cake and ice cream over to share with everyone.  He was spoiled with gifts from everyone and came home and got to open more via skype with Grandma and Grandpa Hilton.  Tanner and Landon were cute and spent the afternoon making him gifts and even hid them with a treasure map to help him find them.  He's one fun boy to have around and is just bursting with personality.  He marches to his own drum and can drives us all crazy at times, but our lives just wouldn't be the same without Braddock around.  We sure love this loud, wild, mischievous boy!  Happy 4th Birthday Bud!

Out With the Old, In With the New

So long 1999 Honda Odyssey...

...hello 2011 Toyota Sienna!

It wasn't without drama, but we are the proud new owners of a 2011 Toyota Sienna.  After having to junk the old van in Philadelphia we were feeling some serious pressure to hurry and purchase a new car considering we no longer had a vehicle that would fit our family.  Plus Dean only had 3 more days of summer break until he would be back to school and it would be much harder to car shop.  Thanks to lots of babysitting from Mom and Dad, Dean, Bridger and I made several trips to LOTS of dealerships near and far to find a new van that would meet our needs.  After a failed trip to Cleveland, Dean stayed up half the night making a killer spread sheet that was bound to help us find our perfect match.  So we narrowed it down to our top pick and drove 1.5 hours to Somerset, PA to see what ended up being our new van.  We even bought it from a guy named Tanner.  It was meant to be.  The following day the drama started up again when our brand new van started squirting oil everywhere and we were stuck, in our Sunday clothes no less, outside of AutoZone for 5 hours until Dean and his Dad were able to jerry-rig something to at least get us up the hill to home.  But despite all that, we're loving our new car and just happy to be back in business.

What else do you do to stay entertained outside AutoZone?  Why chew on some grass stocks and pose in front of a cool gray wall of course!  This was after the walk to the Dollar Store and the picnic lunch on the lawn.

Philadelphia Temple Openhouse

Well our little trip to Philly turned out to be much more than we bargained for.  We had planned a quick two day trip to attend the new Philadelphia Temple Openhouse with the boys before summer was over.  It would be just a little over 5 hours away and we'd see the Temple, grab some authentic Philly Cheese-steaks and swim in the hotel pool...or so we thought.  We started the drive off with a little prayer that we would travel safely and feel the Spirit as we went to the Temple.  And truthfully, our prayer was answered completely.  We made it all the way there with no issues until the Temple was in sight.  Our transmission started acting funny within two blocks of the Temple parking lot.  We pulled in in time for our scheduled appointment, so we decided there was no sense in stressing about the van until we were done seeing the Temple.  It was an hour long tour and the Temple was so beautiful.  It was such a sweet experience sitting with the boys in the Celestial Room talking about all the times we've prayed for, and about them there, and how it is a representation of the Celestial Kingdom where we all want to be together someday.  They asked questions and soaked it all up and it was one of the best moments we've had as a family.  Bridger even held up pretty well for being in the car all morning and then held all through the tour.  We finished up and took pictures from the roof top garden next door and did our best to ignore the inevitable reality of our MAJOR car issues.

I had been driving before, so Dean wanted to take the wheel and feel what was going on.  He quickly realized the transmission was shot.  But then the second miracle of the day occurred.  We had looked at all sorts of hotels to stay in and had seriously considered driving a good part of the way home before stopping for the night, but the best deal we could find happened to be right by the Philly airport which was just a few miles from the Temple.  So with some hazard lights flashing and lots and lots of prayers we managed to make it to our hotel in the van.  We got our room and Dean looked up the nearest Auto Zone just to confirm his fears about the transmission.  I stayed with the boys and he rolled down to the car parts store and read the codes and determined we were out of luck.  The van was 17 years old and had 180,000 miles on it and the cost of a new transmission was double the value of the car.  So we located the closest junk yard and made arrangements for a rental for the next day and tried to salvage what was left of our "vacation."

Our plans for Philly cheese-steaks had long gone out the window, but across the parking lot from our hotel was a Ruby Tuesdays.  We had no other options for dinner since we couldn't drive anywhere so we walked on over only to see that kids eat free on Tuesdays.  Wanna guess what day it was??  Yep, Tuesday!  I tell you what, God doesn't take away our trials, but He sure does bless us to get through them.  We had a yummy dinner and everyone was so very nice to us there.  We always stand out when we go anywhere with all four boys and we definitely got our share of attention.  After dinner we hurried back to the hotel to take advantage of the pool.  Despite the craziness of it all we had so much fun in the pool and still loved the time we had away as a family.

  

The next morning we packed up and Dean rode the hotel shuttle to the airport to get the rental.  Like I said, tender mercies everywhere we looked!  What are the chances we'd pick the airport hotel that had such easy access to car rentals we never dreamed we'd need??  We pulled everything we owned out of the old van and transferred car-seats over and we followed Dean to the junk yard to say goodbye to our van.  We had to pull over half way there cause the van just wouldn't go.  After a little break Dean was able to start it up again.  One last miracle occurred as we pulled into the salvage yard parking lot and didn't ever have to pay for a tow.  We said a sad goodbye to the van that held so many memories over the past 6 years.  We brought 3 kids home from the hospital in that van.  It's made countless trips across the country and treated us so well.  It will be missed.  But as Dean likes to remind me, it's just a pile of metal and I shouldn't get so attached.  Hahaha!

So knowing what we do now, are we still glad we went??  Yes!  The time in the Temple as a family was priceless, and we were honored to witness miracle after miracle after miracle all week long.  God is good and we're grateful for lessons learned and the growth that trials bring.

Pinata

During the last week of summer the boys snuck off downstairs and put together a sweet, little homemade pinata for all of us.  Tanner's usually the ring leader, but the other boys jump right on board with his crazy ideas.  They put cute messages for Dean and I all over it and filled it with a baggie with carefully thought out treats for each one of us inside.  As part of FHE that night we went outside and gave it a whack.  Sure love our cute boys and their creative little minds.