Oi...cars!

What a week we've had! Our week actually started on the first of this month when David rolled the truck on his way to work. It had been a particularly icy morning. Needless to say, it did not make for a very happy birthday for him!

Well, this past Sunday, we had the Sunday morning we all dream about. We were all bathed, breakfasted, and peacefully ready for church fifteen minutes before we needed to get into the car. I even had time to blow-dry my hair and put on a little nicer outfit than usual. It was amazing! Perhaps it should have been a warning to us...

At the appointed time, we all piled into the car. David put the key in the ignition and turned. Nothing. Barely three little attempts and starting, and then total silence. We were dumbfounded. The radio, lights and heat still came on, but it just didn't have enough juice to turn over. So, he in his suit and me in my Sunday very-best, got out to push and maneuver the car into place. Oh - did I mention that we had a temporary warm-up last weekend enough to make things nice and muddy? Hmmm... yep. Well, we finally got the car into position enough to hook up the jumper cables and thankfully, one little zap and the car came right on.

After church, we got into the car, which was parked next to a family who have had notorious car troubles. As their started right up and ours took about five cranks, I had to laugh at the looks of gratitude on their faces that it wasn't their car for once. :)

Well, we managed to get it over to the parts store after church where we thankfully found it only to be a dead battery. We switched it out with a new battery and returned home where we resumed "perfect sabbath" status. It really was an excellent day.

Then came Monday.

The check engine light came on and it began revving strangely. David took the car over to a neighbor's home who has a diagnostic computer. The code we saw indicated that it was a transmission problem.

By Wednesday, we were able to take the car to a trusted transmission mechanic who said it was not the transmission, but that if he were David, he would look at replacing the fuel filter first and see if that takes care of it. Oh - and those front brakes are bad.

So, it was a much, much cheaper fix. David and his brother, Aaron, replaced the front brakes and fuel filter yesterday. Hopefully that is the end of this tale!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm re-resolving my New Year's Resolutions and making them Valentine's Resolutions. That means - back to blogging! I hereby resolve to keep you posted on our many goings-ons in our family at least on a weekly basis!

I like to say "I love you" in dark chocolate ganache and cherry preserves-filled devil's food cake...

Adam loves decorating sugar cookies and got to decorate this particular batch at Grandma Bryan's. He was given permission to eat only ONE cookie as a treat. Guess which one he picked?

I got to watch my neice, Lylia, on Valentine's Day. Grandma Bryan brought each kid a mylar balloon with this caterpillar tied to the bottom. Adam quickly turned his balloon into a weapon (it's in time out until tomorrow...).

Adam's balloon

Lylia and Julianna had matching balloons.