One of the many reasons we love Noah
Thursday, March 15, 2012 - Posted by Sunny - 1 comments

Noah does this all the time and at the most random moments sometimes. He will keep saying it until you say it back and then it becomes a game each repeating it. When he says it to the baby he has to give him kisses as well ( on my belly of course ). On rare occasions once is enough but normally he needs to tell you again and again. It melts my heart every time. We love this little guy!


Movin' out
Wednesday, March 07, 2012 - Posted by Sunny - 3 comments
With the advent of the minivan we knew that the 1997 Plymouth Neon that I've had for 13 years would need to find a new home.

As we took the keys off our keychains we both had a twinge of regret. It had been the BEST little car for us for all of those years. This was also the first car I ever bought with my own money. The first car that was ever in my name. The car that brought me across the country filled with my belongings.(in both the trunk and back seat)



It was the car Derek left flowers on while we were courting. The car I was driving in when I discovered that our country had been attacked by terrorists on September 11,2001.


The car I placed a flag sticker and "Captain America stars" on in a sign of solidarity and patriotism in the aftermath of those attacks.


The car that took me all over Utah county ( and that I filled up for $13) while I went on the scavenger hunt Derek planned for me the day he proposed. The car that continued to chug along for us after Derek's car decided to succumb to it's possession and go crazy. (That crazy car once literally locked Derek inside and wouldn't let him out until it stopped running) It had been with us for the entirety of our courtship and marriage.

Putting it outside on the street and watching it get covered in snow


Felt a lot like this.

( Do you see how the old lamp was red and the new lamp was white even!! Too much!!)

Sure it had it's quirks, it was in fact 15 years old. Like the radio volume control had a mind of it's own. You could turn it and turn it and it would decide when it would go up...or down depending on it's mood.


It's speedometer would also work or not work depending on it's mood. So the odometer was also off as it would not advance when the speedometer wasn't working. We figure that it probably had around 150,000 miles but we couldn't be completely sure. We'd decided that it wasn't worth it to charge up the air conditioning since the charge would only last a summer. Only one of the three keys we had would start the ignition. The others would lock the steering column and the key wouldn't come out. The funky crazy upholstery that was even funky crazy when I bought it.


It was even on the doors too.


But it looked like the sports car the insurance company claimed it was inside and out ( before the finish began peeling off )when you cleaned it up and it was stone cold reliable and cheap to fix if anything went wrong which was rare.



And it is a stick shift!! I love driving stick shifts. You felt like a race car driver when you drove one. Can you buy regular cars with a stick shift anymore?


When I sat in it for the last time to say goodbye...I literally started to cry. I blame pregnancy hormones. She's off on her own now. I hope she remembers who she is and what she stands for.




In case anyone notices a little more swagger in our family
Tuesday, March 06, 2012 - Posted by Sunny - 5 comments
This is why



Today we are the proud owners of a new ( to us ) Toyota Sienna. Otherwise known as the 'Swagger Wagon'


(For those of you who don't know.)

With baby boy #3 we knew that our tiny compact car was no longer going to fit all of us at the same time and figured it was time to take the plunge into a minivan.


Hyrum wanted the doors that open by themselves. That was his only requirement and when we went looking at cars that was the first thing he told any salesman. Then he was completely sold as soon as he saw that it had the doors and got inside. The whole time we test drove any car he just kept saying "I love this car! I think we should buy this car! Let's take this guy back and drive this car home! Let's buy this car! This car is sooo cool!" The whole way and with every car we drove. He was an easy sell. It wasn't long before Noah would join in with "I love it! I love it! Love car! Buy car!"


We were a little more discerning. I did have a hard fast requirement of a place to put my sunglasses because I always seem to break them. They always find a way under my feet in the car. We both of course wanted a good solid reliable car. And Derek wanted it to be white.


We are all extremely happy with the new car!


Although going from a compact car to a minivan was a bigger jump than I was prepared for.


I used to be able to slip inbetween the stairs and the old car to get to the freezer in the corner, even pregnant...that is no longer an option.


And slipping behind the car is a little harder too.


Less space between the cars as well. We used to have equal space from the middle. Not so much anymore.


I feel like I'm hauling out the bus when I drive it. But it is SOOOO nice to have the extra space. AND room to grow. ( eight seats to be exact ) It feels like such luxury. It has a back up camera, a place to hook up an ipod, six sets of six radio presets, it tells us what our current fuel economy is, what our average fuel economy is, how many approximate miles we have till empty, the temperature outside and we can sync up the phone to the car ( probably Derek's favorite feature).

It's a nicer car than we EVER thought we'd be able to get.


Well there hasn't been much snow outside this year
Saturday, March 03, 2012 - Posted by Sunny - 0 comments

So the boys decided to make some INDOORS.


One of Noah's birthday gifts came in a box full of packing peanuts. Not the new dissolveable and smooshable ones. The brittle "break into a thousand little statically charged pieces" ones. The boys started off climbing into the large box and had the time of their lives tossing them up in the air and onto the floor everywhere. We laughed with them and completely enjoyed watching them have so much fun. That's what you call newbie parents, right there.

(They were flapping the edges of the box to send packing peanuts flying all over the room)

Once they were out of the box, the boys continued to toss them around and run through them.


Then we attempted to clean them up. We shoveled up as many as we could in a dust pan and a sand shovel. We got most of the big pieces. I figured I could just vacuum the rest of them up. Easy, right? Well not so if you have a baggless vacuum because the pieces stick to the filter making suction disappear and when you go to empty the canister the little statically charged pieces find a new home all over you and the floor around the garbage can. So I spent the rest of the night on my hands and knees with tape and fingers picking up all the bigger of the little pieces.

That's not happening again. Glad we got some video of them having so much fun. So they can relive it by watching it.