Lots of Catch Up

Young Women In Excellence is over... (it was a huge success thanks to my awesome counselors, our amazing girls and their families!) and that means free time for things like blogging again.

Nov. 14th was one of the best days I've had! We took a girls' day off, left the kids and took the train up to New York City. We went to the Manhattan Temple with Dana, who was going through for the first time! We are all more proud of her than we could possibly express, and it was an incredible experience. She is one of the strongest people I know. She has been through so much, but has only come out stronger. She is an amazing mother and friend!

We got to spend Thanksgiving with the Evans up in Boston, and it was wonderful! It was great to relax, enjoy the best company and delicious food. There's nothing like being with family for the holidays! While we were there, we got to visit the Salem waterfront and go little bowling (I can't remember the real name for it, but you use a much smaller ball, and the pins are also thinner, and straight, and I beat Dan at it! Which, if you know us, never happens!)







For the first time ever, Dan braved the Black Friday mobs and was at Best Buy by 5am. He walked out with our entire Christmas: a steal of a Canon Rebel T1i, and he's been playing with it ever since. That means LOTS of pictures for the blog. Dan hates shopping, so Oakley and I are extra grateful to him for letting us stay safe and warm in our beds that morning while he battled the lines.

Thanks to the Evans, Dan and I were able to go on a date for the first time in months, while they watched our very active little girl and very needy little dog.


What is that? Another car? Yes :(
Didn't we just get a car? Last summer.
Do we just love car shopping or something? No, we hate it!

We miss the Lancy. We were sad to see her go. Especially after only a year and a half! Sadly, she just wasn't built for a life in Alaskan snow. She could have survived, but with her low-profile tires and ground effects, she wouldn't have come out the same car. And as one online advice giver stated, in Anchorage it's not so much the snow that's the danger in a small car, but the larger vehicles who are going to inevitably hit you while driving in that snow. With soon to be two little ones, safety and practicality forced us to make a change.


We reluctantly set out to find an SUV and finally decided to join the rest of the True clan and get a Jeep (Shauna and Travis, you're next :). After weeks of searching, we found a serious deal. All we had to do was drive to Allentown to check it out. Normally, an hour in the car, no big deal. But, our sweet little girl happens to HATE the car. We made it to the dealership with our sanity mostly intact. Took a look at the car and liked what we saw, even after Dan crawled underneath. Following a satisfactory test drive and look under the hood, we went inside to make the deal. All of a sudden, the power goes out. We have incredible luck. Someone had stolen a car and smashed it through a telephone pole at the end of the block while running from the cops. Somehow, despite the pole sticking out of the car engine, he managed to climb out and run off. The crash caused a power surge, which then caused an explosion and fire at the other end of the block. This was no small repair, and added a couple extra hours to the car buying process while we waited for the power to come back on. By the end of the day, with no nap and a nasty cold coming on, Oakley gave up and just threw herself on the ground screaming, refusing to be consoled. As luck would have it, this was the same day that the first snow storm of the year decided to roll through. Our one hour drive home was right through the worst of it, and took 2 1/2 hours. It was perfect timing for that 4 wheel drive. We were safe and cozy in our new car, listening to Christmas music. It would have been a magical ride through the snow if it hadn't been for our (non-stop) screaming child.

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