SLC Lineman's Rodeo 2010

For our THIRD trip to Salt Lake in one month Lance participated in the annual Rocky Mountain Power Lineman's Rodeo. We brought Rachael and Leah with us because in years past we'd seen activities for kids there and thought they might like it. The girls thought this over-nighter was their 'summer vacation,' (poor things!) They asked Dana how many days it would be and she said, "Well, let's see, friday AND saturday!" Isn't it funny how kids think hotels are the greatest places on earth?? I was really glad we invited them because they were able to do lots of fun things. The highlight of the trip however was Lance taking FIRST PLACE in the rodeo for Rocky Mountain Power!! Way to represent, Lancer! He was third overall, out of 101 participants. Now he'll get to compete this fall in Kansas City for nationals. I'm proud of him, especially since he wasn't even trying to place! And the second highlight of the trip was when Aunt Weesh almost hit a cow moose standing right in our lane of traffic going through the Malad pass...no more texting for me:)

Happy Birthday, Dane!

For Dana's birthday we had an indoor BBQ thanks to the wonderful weather.. I was excited for the cake of course, only to be served a piece of lemon meringue pie. That's okay though; there's always next year. I can't remember how old she said she is, maybe 30 or 31? But she looks great, and still the skinniest of us all gosh darnet!

So long, Rover..

In late April/early May she started losing antifreeze, but without any drips or signs of leaking at all. We checked the oil dipstick and found that our antifreeze was mixing with the engine oil. Never a good sign. That could only mean one thing: blown head gasket. So we had to take the pickup down to Salt Lake for school, and while we were there I found some interesting information about our car. The engine block is made of aluminum, while the cylinders are steel. Aluminum heats faster than steel of course, so when the block got hot the cylinders would start slipping until they reached the same tempurature. The slipping caused the head gasket to crack. Lance was fully prepared to undertake the task of replacing the gasket, until we realized (from reading online reviews) the problem would never go away, and we would have to continue replacing head gaskets for the life of the car! Furthermore, I had been driving it while running antifreeze with the oil, so who knows how long until the blow up..? Lance poured in a quick fix head gasket sealer with new antifreeze, then drained the oil/antifreeze mix and refilled the oil. Meanwhile I researched cars online until I settled on an Acura MDX. The best price I could find on a used MDX was at a lot in American Fork, Utah. So a few days after we got back from school, Andrea, Andy, and I took off in the Rover headed to Salt Lake. We spent the night and in the morning drove to the lot in American Fork. The check engine light came on a block away from the lot because a cylinder started misfiring, but I'm just thankful we actually made it there! The 3 salesmen were from Idaho Falls and were excited to take the trade (yikes!) I loved the MDX I had found on their website, so Andrea kept Andy busy while I worked out all the paperwork. I'm so glad she was able to come with us because it would've been very difficult for me to take care of him and get everything done with the cars all by myself. The salesman I was working with (Brad) had adopted a baby of his own, so we were talking adoption and when I told him that Andrea was Andy's birthmother he about fell out of his chair! And a little while later I said goodbye to the Freelander and we were homeward bound. I thought I would miss the Land Rover, but the MDX drives very similar to it, so it wasn't much of an adjustment. And I'm liking all the extra features on the Acura to miss the rover too much! And so it is true, we are on our 13th car in 6.5 years. Pictures to come..

A few weeks ago we had a bbq at Dana's. Here's Leah, Anna-Kate, and Rachael on the swingset.

The girls always want an 'under-dog' which I cannot do, so Lance gets summoned to go from girl to girl doing under-dogs. I think he enjoys it.

Andy enjoyed his first time swinging!

Alyse, Leah, Anna-Kate, Rachael, and Andy

A bird built its nest on top of the wreath by our front door. I was all excited for the babies to hatch, pulling a chair outside and checking on the eggs every day. Turns out Magen was also checking on it. She was watching that mom bird come and go from the nest, and when she could no longer handle the temptation, Magen jumped clear up there, scaring the bird away and knocking all the eggs out onto the concrete steps below.

First time swimming!

During our May visit to Salt Lake for Lance's school we let Andy go in the hotel pool for the first time...and he couldn't get enough. Really, he couldn't. He loved swimming around in that turtle! He kicked his legs super fast and was able to get where he wanted to go, which was usually toward me so that he could splash at me. Anytime Lance took him out of his turtle float he would scream and try to swim back toward it. I've never been a big fan of public pools, but he was teething and this really helped him feel better:)

Andy loves sneaking puffs out of the diaper bag. When he sees me coming for him he starts kicking his legs and shoving as many puffs in his mouth as he can!

Kota & Andy...a year apart and almost the same size!

9 Month Check-Up, 5.7.10

Pure muscle...

Andy's 9 month doctor visit was great - no shots! And for the first time his height was higher on the chart than his weight! He clocked in at 30 inches tall (93rd percentile), and 24 lbs (90th percentile), with a head circumference of 46.5 cm, (83rd percentile.) He had also gotten two teeth in the week leading up to this visit! One on top and one on the bottom. The doctor said his other top and bottom teeth were just under the surface ready to break through... Turns out the top one did within a few days, but the other bottom one was swollen and didn't come up until a month later, which made for quite the sad little child:(