As I sit and wait

I have been sitting here four hours after I was suppose to go home waiting for some scans to load and being bored out of my mind. So, I though I would take the time to update the happenings of my little family.

We have had a very busy past couple of months. My youngest brother got married in November in Albuquerque. It was a fun trip, but very quick. I am so happy for Jarom and Tori. They are great together. They are also copycats since the first car they bought as a married couple was a Ford Focus, it was even red (just a different shade). I love them both and hope they have a very happy life together.

Austin and I spent Thanksgiving with his family and had an enjoyable day. We went exploring around the desert and found some cool glass bottles and clay pigeons. The clay pigeons have actually come in really handy because they are now propping up my dish drainer.

For Christmas we spent some time with both families. It is Austin's family tradition to open present Christmas Eve so we went over there and had a homemade Chinese buffet and presents. Christmas day we spent with my family and I once again was able to surprise him with something that he wanted. I have skills. The unfortunate thing was that he did not get his Christmas present until Tuesday because it was locked in a bay at Boulevards because my Dad's truck was getting work done on it before and after Christmas.

I got him a headache rack for an old 1971 Ford f250 we are working on. It fit perfectly and goes great with the truck. As a side story, one day after work Austin went to pick up Justin and Erin at his mom's house because Robin was on a trip. He decided that he would go off roading since it had rained earlier in the day. Well, he got stuck and Kenyon and I had went to rescue him with my dad's truck. Well, Austin's present was in the back of the truck (which was locked) and Austin asked if he should put the dirty tow strap in the back. Kenyon, smooth as silk said, "nope it's locked. Uncle Max's present is back there." Austin didn't think anything of it. Yep, pretty sneaky.

Austin got mad at me because I spent my Christmas bonus getting presents for everyone instead of getting what I wanted, which was a stand mixer. Well it actually turned out okay. After doing for research the mixer that I was going to get had plastic transmission gears which would have gone bad quicker than I would have preferred. Instead, I got to by myself a better (yes, slightly more expensive) one that should last a long time. My mom had one and it lasted forever, even after it got dropped on the motor.

Anyway, I enjoyed spending time with my family. We were all together. That made 11 total, maybe next time we get together for Christmas (in two years) there will be even more (no I am not announcing that I am pregnant, I am not). I really wish we could all get together more often.

Austin and I both got pay raises around the New Year. It will be nice to have a bit more wiggle room. We are hoping to pay off some bills this year and save to go on a vacation somewhere. I would like to go to an amusement park because Austin has never been to any. We will see where we end up going, although it might not be any further than Castles and Coaster in Phoenix. I really want to take him to a park with bumper cars since he never got to ride on those either.

Provo Temple

I am so excited that the Provo Tabernacle is going to be rebuilt into a temple. It was such a beautiful building and I was sad when it burned down. I will have to go to Utah and do a session when it is completed. Okay, it is really a bigger excuse to go visit my friends in Utah, but come on, a new Temple and friends? What could be better.

Peaches

Tuesday and Wednesday have been hellacious this week. I was stressed and often wanted to cry. It seemed the harder I tried to get things done at work or home, the more things fell apart. So when I got in my car after work yesterday to find ice so I could peel peaches to can them after I went visiting teaching, I was close to tears. I turned on the radio because I didn't want silence and the song that was came on was exactly what I needed to hear. Yes, it was a CD, but the song that came on had the message that I needed and wanted to hear. I love tender mercies.

The peaches turned out okay, I hope. I haven't been to check on them. I might go over to my parent's house tonight to can the pears I have because my Saturday is not as open as I thought it was going to be. We shall see.

Family Get Togethers

I got to spend a lot of time with my Burrell relatives last weekend. My Grandpa Burrell passed away on May 25, and his funeral was June 3, with a graveside on June 4. I love them and we did have a good time. We will miss Grandpa, and believe me there were many tears shed, but when ever we all get together, there is always laughter.

I am so grateful that Austin decided to go down to Mesa on Thursday night. He is not use to big family get togethers because his extended family get togethers consist of nine people, including us, and unfortunately some sort of family drama. Where as, my family, although far from perfect is too numerous to count and tends to save drama for a less public setting.

Austin had never been to a funeral of any kind before, so I am glad he got to spend his first one with my family. Yes, I know I am biased. We were more somber than usual, but the love that we felt for each other and Grandpa and Grandma was felt the entire weekend.

Little Annoyances

I answer three separate lines at work. Each has a distinct ring tone. I think telephone ring tones are annoying to begin with. The pitch gets on my nerves, but I can live with it. Yesterday, I had a guy calling one of the lines every 2-3 minutes from 1:00-2:30. Words cannot express how I long to throw the phone out the door and watch it smash to a million pieces. I officially hate that ring tone. He is incarcerated so he has to call collect, and I have to ask for permission to answer collect calls. It makes no sense for me to answer a collect call when the attorney is not here. Oh no. He is doing it again.

My Adventure

I can't believe I did this, but alas, I was happy to find out that I was not the only one. Sorry, I have no pictures, so just imagine in your head.

Yesterday Austin wanted to take a car we had to a mechanic to see if they could tell us what the problem was. The car doesn't stay running and will over heat because it needs a new water pump so Austin borrowed the mechanic's tow dolly. The little short ones where you drive the front wheels up and they rest on the dolly while the rear wheels spin freely on the ground. We tried to push it up the dolly ramps, but the two of us couldn't get enough momentum to get the tires over the metal that holds the tires in place at the back of the tire wells.

We decided to jump the car and drive it up the dolly, strap it on and go. That should have taken 30 minutes tops. Well, it ended up taking more like two hours. We got the car running and I was driving because Austin doesn't like me handling the jumper cables (I appreciate that, as I have no desire to shock myself or accidentally touch the jaws together and ruin the car), and I killed it once because I didn't have the gas pushed down enough (no it is not standard) and so I had the gas pushed down pretty far and gently let off the break, and I went up the ramps over the metal bar and over the other side of the wheel wells on the dolly. My car came to rest on the frame.

Everything turned out okay. After some maneuvering, jacking, and towing, we got the car off the tow dolly and then up the tow dolly in the proper place. Austin drove the second time. We did learn that his truck isn't as wore out as we thought. It pulled the car, the dolly, and the Explorer that was connected to the tow dolly about a foot before we realized that we were going to need a different approach to get the car unstuck.

Our little car, I have affectionately dubbed "Golde" is now safe and sound getting a ounce over by a Honda certified mechanic. When we dropped her off and were putting the tow dolly away, the mechanic's son came out and helped Austin, he said he did the same thing with his minivan, which made me feel so much better. I am so glad it was just a car and not a big minivan we had to move.

My lesson, always be able to push the break down.

Mice

All last week Austin swore he saw something going back and forth in front of our door to the back of the house. Friday, I finally found one of the mouse traps we got for the other place (which was useless because we had rats not mice), and set it. I didn't think about it again until I heard a snap and a jingle of metal the next day. I looked at the wall because I thought one of my stained glass pieces fell off the hook. When I saw both of them still in place, I remembered the trap. I am glad it was in a dark corner, because I would have seen more of the death shakes than I already did. All I have to say is that mouse was brave to begin with, he paraded around when we were in the front room watching t.v. Yea! no more mouse, well Austin thought it would be a good idea to put it out again and so we did. Sunday morning, there was another one. So that makes two. Please no more. I have had rats and now mice. No more vermin.