Nephi

I love this age!! Nephi is 18 months old now and he is so much fun!!

Bittersweet day

Last Saturday we took our most trusted vehicle...the van...to the junk yard. It was sad. This was our miracle car. Let me reminisce for a minute....

It was the beginning of the month of December in 2003. We had 3 kids. Faith was 4, Hyrum was 3 and Vilate was 1. We were expecting baby number 4 to come in the middle of January. We had a really fun car...not really economical, but hey it was really fun!!! We drove a black Honda Accord 2-door sleek car. It had been lowered, had leather seats, a moon roof, tinted windows...it was stylin'! We were expecting a check from a company that David had been doing business with and we were going to use a small chunck of that money to buy a very used station wagon that we had found that would be able to fit our new arrival....but the check never came. I was devastated...David was frustrated and we were about to bring home a baby with no place to put him. It was a little scary...but we continued on for the next few weeks, hoping and praying that our Heavenly Father had a plan.

And then it happened. The day after Christmas my friend, Katie called. She told me that her Aunt Kathy's hubby had surprised her with a new car for Christmas. Kathy was very excited about her new car...and well, who wouldn't be!!! Kathy and I had gotten to know eachother a bit through Katie and she knew that we were in need of a car. She called Katie and asked her if she thought we would be interested in a well used, very loved old van...FREE!!! Katie immediately called me and I said, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" or something like that! We arranged to go and pickup the van the next day.

We took the kids to my parents house and David and I drove in our fancy-schmancy car to go and get the van. We got there and they were ready for us. They signed over the title and off we went. David drove the van and I drove the Honda. We got to my parents and the kids were so excited. David took Faith and Hyrum with him in the van home and I took Vilate. On the way home David had to stop for gas and Faith and Hyrum played tag in the van. They love the "new car" that we had been given. I will admit that it took me a while to really love the van...but David was hooked right away!!

This van has been a trooper. We drove it to Yosemite, to the temple in Oakland and then just around for almost 5 years. In October it failed the California SMOG test. The repairs on it definitely were more costly then the worth of the vehicle so we chose to retire it. Basically the state of California will give you a chunk of change for you to stop driving your car. We took it to Pick-n-Pull last Saturday and this week it was smashed. I will miss that van. It was a constant reminder to me that my Heavenly Father knows who I am and that he wants us to succeed...it will always be that! I am grateful for the blessing of this wonderful van. It was dirty, the seats wiggled a lot, there was an on-again, off-again rattle, it had no air conditioning, it had no radio, the passenger side rearview mirror had fallen off, it leaked in the rain...but it was an awesome van and we will all miss it!

Choir Frenzy

We are all decorated for Christmas and I am loving it!!! The kids are in full Santa-mode and it is very fun. Gloria's big request for a Christmas present is a "beautiful box with a pink bow." How cute is that?! Vilate is dying for teaching stuff...she wants to be a teacher and has a list of things that she NEEDS to have so that she can practice teaching her stuffed animals. The other kids have their lists, of course, but Gloria and Vilate seem to have a particular thing that they just HAVE to get from Santa. It is so fun to see them enjoying all the Christmas festivites.

This week has been a concert goin' week. Tuesday Hyrum got to go with the school choir to perform at Country Club Plaza (the mall down the street from our house) and at a local church. I'm not sure if he liked performing as much as he enjoyed getting to miss the last 2 hours of school! It was fun for me. I got to drive and just sit (without any kid distractions) and enjoy the concerts.

Faith would have been there also, but she was on a fieldtrip. Vilate can't wait until she is in 3rd grade and can sing in the school choir. The kids have to be to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:15am to participate in the choir. They are really good at getting up and have yet to miss a practice this year. Their next concert is on Dec 18th. It is a great program and Mrs. Kaspick and Ms. Williams, their directors, do a fantastic job!!

Then on Tuesday night David's school choir had their final concert of the semester. It was a real treat for me to be able to go. The last concert he had we sent Faith and Hyrum...for the most part they did a good job of being quiet and paying attention. At the last minute I called my parents and they had the three little kids come to their house while I took the three big ones with me. It was so fun. The choir did a fantastic job. I think that David said that there are over 60 people in the choir this year. It was wonderful and the kids really enjoyed watching their dad up on stage. I am really grateful to my parents for being willing to watch my kids at the last minute. Helaman keeps asking when he gets to go back to Grandma Morgan's house. He and Gloria had a great time...I'm sure Nephi did as well, he just can't vocalize it yet!!

Tonight is David's recital. Faith, Hyrum, Vilate and I are going. I am really excited. Each semester a music major must do what is called Applied Study. Basically for David that means that he takes voice lessons and then has to practice his vocal music. At the end of each semester, he then has a recital to showcase the songs that he has been working on. Grandma Eve is coming to stay with Helaman, Gloria and Nephi so that I can go - a room full of people quietly listening to 8 people's performances is not really the place for these kids to be! I'm sure it will be fantastic...so I will plan on posting about how great it was tomorrow!