Tractorin'

Frozen eggs, anyone?

We haven't figured out what setting to put our fridge/freezer at. Either the food in the fridge freezes, or the food in the freezer melts. Or both. We've lost plenty of good food. In this case, Sam was thawing eggs to cook. FYI--from our experience, you can thaw eggs to cook them, but don't try to hard boil them while they're frozen--they turn out really weird!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Jace and Jen and their kids, then stopped by Aunt Beth's. (Also saw Derek, Grandma Z, and Keith and his family.) It was great to see family. The food was great, except when Jace opened the steamer with shrimp in it. Then I almost gagged. I left the house while everyone else enjoyed it. I just don't get what there is to like about seafood.


I'm wishing I'd taken pictures of the other adults as well, but here are some of the kids.

Sam playing "Horsie" with Even, Kai, and Mary.

The kids kept begging us to take them to the "Spinny Park." I admit, this is one of my favorite places too. I was disappointed when they took the merry-go-round out of this park, but I love the new equipment!

SUPER KAI! Kai had a favorite trick, that scared me the first time I saw it. He did it over and over again. I got a couple of videos, but I love that he literaly "ate it" on this one (there's a piece of bark in his mouth). (~9 sec. long)

This video is from last summer (me and Lincoln), but it shows my favorite part of the park. And why it can be a little hazardous. Of course, it doesn't seem nearly as fast or forceful or risky on video as it does when your on it. (But I have found that it's a little more adventurous if Sam is on too. He can make it go a lot faster.) (53 sec.)

Jessica Z's Farewell

My cousin Jessica was recently called to serve as a missionary in Munich, Germany for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We gathered with the Z's for dinner and breakfast before she spoke in church before leaving. She gave a great talk about being a disciple of Christ. She went into the MTC Wednesday, and Sam ran into her (while he was working) on Friday. She said she was doing well and to tell everyone she loves them.

It was good to see some of my cousins that I hadn't seen in years: Jared (with beard) and his family, Laura (red shirt) and her family, and Heather (black shirt). Aunt Beth was there for part of it, and my brother Jason and his family came too.

It was fun having Gradma Z here too. She took a liking to Sam. Sam had never had a grandma that he could carry on a conversation with, and he enjoyed her as well.


Aunt Kay put together a fantastic meal, as always. Sleeping Beauty Heather.
Uncle Terry, Heather, Linc, Crystal.

Full tank with a $20!

I handed $40 to the cashier, grateful it wasn't the usual $60 it's been for a while. Then I got back a twenty and some coins--it hasn't been like that since I first started driving!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate one of our blessings. . .

Sam changing the alternator on "Bianca."

Why we love our ghetto cars:

Sam’s (’92 VW Passat)
The stereo turns off when you push the brake (but it HAS a radio/CD player, unlike mine), or it goes off and on with the blinker
The side paneling fell off the first time Sam was teaching me how to drive it (stick shift)
A tire went flat the first time I drove it alone
It gets way better gas mileage than my car (31mpg on a good day)
It gave me my first experience riding in a tow truck on one of our earlier dates (Lesson learned from that and many other experiences: It may or may not run it if it’s been raining.)
You can only unlock all the doors from the passenger side, but sometimes not the driver’s door
Sometimes the driver’s door won’t open from the outside
You always know when Sam has arrived—his car is as loud as a motorcycle (we decided the previous owner must have a put a “sport muffler” on it)


Amber’s (’88 Toyota Camry)

There's a trick to opening the trunk (and I just found out that Sam's is even trickier to open, especially when the battery is dead)
The key can come out of the ignition while the car is running
It will suddenly die (or just not start) if it is too cold (within the first few minutes of driving) or at other random times
It hesitates (and occasionally dies) when you step on the gas fast (occasionally leading to a near panic attack when making a left turn)
The trunk fills with water when it rains (I thought I’d found the culprit and sealed it, but apparently not—it was soaked when I checked on it after the last rain)
It has almost 275,000 miles on it and hasn’t broken down on me for over a year!
It has failed SmogCheck/Emissions three years in a row (until various problems were fixed)
You can only unlock all the doors from the passenger side (Same as Sam’s)
It has a sunroof (same as Sam's)
It smells like apricot; it’s worked great to make apricot fruit leather (dehydrating the apricot pulp on a sunny day). . . until the pulp spilled down the back seat. . .

We really are grateful to have working cars. And to have two--because so far, if one's not working, the other one is. Knock on wood...

Pine Cone Hunting

For Labor Day, Sam and I joined the "Layton Zs" for a Pine Nut Hunt. Jason and Jen's dad climbed some pine trees and threw the very sticky and sappy pine cones to the ground, where the rest of us gathered them. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had been the one climbing the tree instead of picking the pinecones up off the ground, but it was pretty fun. Jen's dad gave us a bucketful of the pinecones, and Sam's car smelled like pinecones for weeks. Sam ate the nuts raw.
(If anyone knows how to get this to not be underlined, please tell me.)

Sam giving Evan a ride on the quad--look at Evan's smile!

Sam, Mary and Kai with the Peck's dog.

Jen had pink hankerchiefs that all the girls wore. Jen, Mary, and Amber.

Sam giving Kai a shoulder ride.

I was a little jealous of Kai's shoulder ride, so Sam indulged me.

FHE

My favorite thing about our hopscotch activity was that Sam suggested it. He said he'd always wondered what it was all about. I didn't tell him that it was mostly just girls that would play. He bought the chalk and I drew it out. Oh, the childhood memories! There were a few rules I wasn't sure about, but it was pretty fun. Next time I'll have to make it a little bigger for Sam's feet. (I had an unfair advantage.)

If anyone knows how to move the pictures around better, please help!