Sami's World

I think we mentioned that two weeks ago our van died. I was without a car for a week. Then a friend of ours suggested that we use their car while they were out of town (the VW Vanagan). Then they took their car back and I was out of a car for a day. Another friend said we could use their car till we could find a new one. We made it a goal that we would not go to bed Saturday night till we had a car. It was also a requirement that we not go into debt either. So, after much prayer and research, we decided that we would buy from a dealer.

We had seen a full size van the week before and test drove it and liked it but could not pay for it, so we left. We thought, if they still had the van, we would call them and tell them how much we could pay and see if they could do it. So Saturday morning we called. We told him what we could do and if he could not do it for us that we had other dealers we were dealing with. He “punched in some numbers” and said no. He said there was nothing he could do. The sticker price was already a deal and he could go no lower. He also gave his sales pitch on how great the van was and what a deal we would be getting. We politly reminded him what our offer was and if he could do no more than we were done.

That kinda squished our enthusiasm. But we had to press forward. We had contacted one other dealer. It would have been quite the drive to get to him, but if they had what we wanted we thought it would be worth it. So we piled the kids in the car, grabbed what we thought we’d need and headed out. About 5 miles down the freeway we saw this Ford Truck dealer (off 880 and Brokaw). We pulled in there and they had about 3 used vans. Exactly what we were looking for. We test drove the one we were most interested in, told them how much we could pay, and they said ‘Deal’. About an hour later, we drove home. It was a great buying experience. We did not get those anxious feelings that we had been feeling while looking at other cars. We were pleased with the purchase and it just feels natural to have the van in the driveway.

Oddly enough, when we got home there was a message on our voice mail. It was from the original dealer exclaming with excitement that he had talked with the managers manager and they had a great deal for us that he was sure we would be pleased with. We kindly called back and informed him that we had already purchased and thanked him for his time.

Friday started out as any normal day.   I had decided to have the children do their Saturday chores on Friday so we could spend Saturday doing more family oriented things (like go car shopping).   In the late morning I recieved the first phone call.   I’m in charge of arranging cannery dates for our ward.   I had all the volunteers lined up and confirmed.   Three cancelled by noon and one more by 3pm.   Since we had to be there by 7 I had lots of fancy foot work to do.   I found two babysitters, a youth for our older kids and a mom for Afton.   Scott, Jaime and I headed off with the hopes that the last sister would still show up.   Not only did she show up but she brought her husband and adult daughter.   We ended up having enough helping hands and got the work done.   I now have the fun job of dropping off all the food storage to the various families.   I don’t mind though, that gives me the chance to say hi and socialize a little.

Saturday morning Scott was suppose to go fishing with Joey.   However, Joey was sick all week and cancelled.   So we went to clean the church instead.   But we got there and it had already been cleaned.   So we left and, since we were all dressed anyway, went car shopping.   The end result…..new cars are too expensive!   We fell in love with one van in particular, but way out of our financial league.   We spent the afternoon playing with the kids, cleaning, napping and enjoying time as a family.   While I was reading in the January issue of the Ensign I came across an article about a new feature on the providentliving.org website.   It is entitled “Peace in Your Hearts”.   The objective of this 5 lesson course is to help people get out of debt and manage their money better.   Since I am the new provident living leader in our ward, I thought I should check it out.   It was amazing.   I learned that being out of debt is more than just living within your means, it’s living below your means so that you have some for a rainy day.   Anyway, I went through the “course” in about an hour.   It could and should take much longer than that, but I wanted to get a feel for what it was.   It was amazing and Scott and I learned a lot.

Today, Sunday, we went to Stake conference.   It was broadcast from Northern California.   It was broadcast to 63 stakes and translated into 10 different languages.   Elder Uchdorf called us the united nations of the church.   It was a great conference with lots of great advice and counsel.   One that spoke loud and clear to me was about setting goals.   Constantly setting and achieving goals and reevaluating your goals and your progress.   It was a great talk.   We spent the afternoon napping, cleaning and planning our summer camping trip.   We are going in the middle of August to a place on the Sacramento River.   It’s suppose to be the best fishing spot in California.   I guess we’ll find out.   It should be fun, our camping trips always are, even when I was 8 months pregnant!!   :0)

Well, I finally did it.   I fed Afton baby rice cereal.   She had her first bite Thursday February 8 @ 9 am.   Her initial response is similar to all my children’s response the very first time…..

Afton got this great look of disgust and seem to say to me ‘mom, why are you feeding me cardboard?   I want what’s on your plate, that looks better’.   Of course everyone had to try and they too gave the same look, except for Niah of course, she loved it and wanted to eat all of it (we had the same thing when Niah had cereal for the first time, Milo loved it and wanted more).

Anyway, by today, day three, she is a champ.   I’ve never had any child take to baby cereal as Afton has.   She was a pro by the second feeding.   Today she ate about a half cup of cereal twice and wanted more when she was done.   She loves the stuff.   It hasn’t helped with her night sleeping yet, I hope that comes soon.   I’d love to have no nightly wake ups!!

It’s fun to watch them grow.   I love these little milestones they make.   :0)

So, breaking from tradition, and doing what no self-respecting male would do, me and a friend (Joey) planned a “guy only baby shower” for our elders quorum president.

It quickly became known as the “man shower” and it was tons of fun. First off, it was a surprise, and that added it’s own element of excitement, but since this was a “Man Shower”, we did things in a manly way.

Joey smoked 4 tri-tips (15 pounds worth), a side of beef ribs and a side of pork ribs. Joey is Cajun and master of the grill and the food was awesome. Best tri-tip ever. You could cut it with a fork. Sides where potato salad and Lima beans cooked with bacon. It was great. The best part? All that food and only 10 people to eat it. Have you ever eaten 1.5 pounds of tri-tip by yourself? Plus ribs? Wow!

Of course what’s a man shower without games? We played “who can change a baby diaper the fastest. I didn’t win. It took me 26 seconds to whip the old one off and strap the new one on. The winner came in at 17 seconds.

For the other game, someone melted 14 candy bars into 14 diapers. You had to look into the diaper, smell it and guess what candy bar it was. The winner of that game got 12 of 14 correct. Do you have any idea what a “100 Grand” looks like melted into a diaper?

Prises for both games where new BBQ tool sets.

Anyway, good times. Lots of laughs. I highly recommend the occasional man shower. If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to eat lots of great BBQ.

We planned a very fun Valentines party.   It started with dinner (tator tot casserole, a new family favorite).   After dinner we exchanged valentines.   Then we let the kids eat as much of their candy as they wanted.   Then we made puppets (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Thompson).   As we were doing that there was a knock on the door.   Upon opening the door there were cookies in a bag complete with frosting and sprinkles.   So the kids each decorated on cookie and ate that too.   Then we ended with a HUGE wrestling match on the floor (to help get the wiggles out and difuse some of the sugar).   We managed to get all the kids in bed and sleeping by 9 pm.   It was a fun party and we enjoyed laughing and playing and showing love, one to another.

We’ve had a very interesting week indeed.   Sunday afternoon our van died.   We aren’t sure why.   I was the one driving the car and so Scott can only make assumptions based on my interpretation of what the sound was that the car made.   The only thing we know is that our van is dead in our driveway and has been since Sunday night.

On that note, I have spent the week at home.   It’s been a very productive week.   Full of cleaning and organizing and school.   I had a friend come over on Monday with her two boys and we made Valentine cookies with the kids.   On Tuesday I was just home all day doing at home things.   Wednesday, I watch three boys in the morning (I’m home anyway, why not!!),   walked to the park in the late afternoon and then we had our valentine party in the evening.

Today (Thursday) was spent in Oakland.   Milo had his CT scan today.   It went well.   We did not get to see his neurosurgeon like we had orginally thought we were.   He was called out of the country on a family emergency.   So we just went home after the CT.   Milo did great this time.   He was scheduled to have anesthesia.   He freaked out like he always does when we go to the hospital.   He didn’t want to wear the hospital gown (who does) and he didn’t want to be in the waiting room.   However, after all the waiting we went into the CT room and he calmed down.   He laid on the bed without crying or moving and just let the doctors do what they needed to.   He was a real trooper this time.   We are considering letting him go anesthesia free next time.   It would make the whole procedure go so much better.   We have a panel review on March 8 and that is probably when we will know the results of the CT scan.   If we find out anything before that, we will let you all know.

We love you all.   Have a wonderful evening.