Standing Still and Going 110 mph

Last Friday, Mike noticed that the spedometer in our Yukon was registering at 60 mph, even though he was only going about 30 mph. The next thing we knew, we were "going" 110, even though the car was stopped at a light. Apparently, the spedometer went out in the car. I started to get worried about driving it and having to guess how fast I would be going. Mike said that he was concerned that it would be very expensive to replace, but he would be willing to get it fixed if it was not too expensive.

Fortunately, luck was on our side! Mike called the repair place, and they asked how many miles we had on our car. He told them 69,870. They told us that the part was under warranty if we did not exceed 70,000 miles...we made it by about 100 miles! Good thing, because we think it would have been about $1000 to get it fixed without the warranty. We were so amazed and grateful that we barely qualified for the warranty. What a blessing!

An Escape to Warmer Weather???

Mike and I decided to plan a long weekend to St. George over Presidents' Day weekend. I had a meeting for UALA to attend down there on Friday, so we thought that we should make the most of it and try to enjoy some warmer weather. Mike decided to invite his brother, mom, and her husband to come along, so we made a little family vacation out of it.

Our adventure began on Thursday night. There was a really bad car accident south of Beaver that ended up closing the freeway for over eight hours. It had been snowing fairly heavily the whole way, so we decided not to take the detour and just spend the night. Fortunately, Mike has family that live in Beaver, and his sweet aunt was so willing to take us in at a moment's notice. Thanks Julie!!!

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't too warm, but we were still able to have a good time. While we were in St. George, we visited a few of the Parade of Homes, saw a movie, and went to Snow Canyon. One of the homes that we visted was amazing...it had this swimming pool and grotto, a Harry Potter room, basketball court, racketball, rock climbing...it really was amazing. I was also so excited because Mike and I were able to go to lunch with Talia and Jordan. Talia and I have been friends for over twenty years, so it was good to catch up.

Mike and Lisa in Snow Canyon at the fossilized lava

Mike and Trevor hiking up to read the pioneer names off of the rock

John, Denece, and Trevor

FEARLESS

My sister shared this quote with me, and I really liked it. I am sure that we can all relate to at least one aspect of "fearless". I know that I can.

"To me, “FEARLESS” is not the absence of fear. It’s not being completely unafraid. To me, FEARLESS is having fears. FEARLESS is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, FEARLESS is living in spite of those things that scare you to death. FEARLESS is falling madly in love again, even though you’ve been hurt before. FEARLESS is walking into your freshmen year of high school at fifteen. FEARLESS is getting back up and fighting for what you want over and over again… even though every time you’ve tried before, you’ve lost. It’s FEARLESS to have faith that someday things will change. FEARLESS is having the courage to say goodbye to someone who only hurts you, even if you can’t breathe without them. I think it’s FEARLESS to fall for your best friend, even though he’s in love with someone else. And when someone apologizes to you enough times for things they’ll never stop doing, I think it’s FEARLESS to stop believing them. It’s FEARLESS to say “you’re NOT sorry”, and walk away. I think loving someone despite what people think is FEARLESS. I think allowing yourself to cry on the bathroom floor is FEARLESS. Letting go is FEARLESS. Then, moving on and being alright…That’s FEARLESS too. But no matter what love throws at you, you have to believe in it. You have to believe in love stories and prince charmings and happily ever after. That’s why I write these songs. Because I think love is FEARLESS."

~Taylor Swift

A Ride on Life's Rollercoaster

This has been an emotional week for us. On Tuesday, Mike and I went to the doctor for our first prenatal visit. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. When the doctor did the ultrasound, she said that the baby was developed to six weeks four days (instead of nearly ten weeks) and that there was not a detectable heart beat. She decided to run some additional tests to make sure that our dates were not off before saying for sure that we had a miscarriage. The tests confirmed what we were all expecting: the baby was not viable and I did end up having a miscarriage. There were two parts of this experience that were especially hard for me: waiting for the test results and wondering if there was any way that the baby was still viable and then trying to understand why this situation happened. It has definitely been a frustrating and emotional week, but we have tried to learn from the situation and see how we can grow from this trial. This is something that I would not wish on anyone, but I will say that I feel it has enabled us to grow as a couple. I am also so thankful to our family and friends who have been so supportive these past few days. I am so blessed to have such a great mom who was willing to drop everything and come spend time with me when I was really needing it. We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers. Hopefully things will work out better next time!

The Auto Show

A week ago, Mike and I went with the Olsen's and Sanderson's to the auto show. This has become somewhat of a tradition for us, as we have gone the past three years. It is always fun to be able to look at your "dream" cars in a no-pressure environment, plus they usually have some pretty sweet concept cars. This year, Mike and I were especially interested in checking out some of the cars because we have been in a constant debate over what type of car we should get to replace the Yukon. To be honest, we have not even seriously been considering getting a new car, but it something we still talk about. I decided that I want our next SUV to be smaller than the Yukon. I prefer to drive a sedan over an SUV, but since the driving distance to my work is a lot shorter than to Mike's, it makes sense that I drive the car that gets the worst gas mileage. Mike, however, really wants a big manly truck so that he can haul stuff. I don't see the point of us owning a truck, since when do we ever haul anything? Never. Anyway, we had fun looking at all of the cars. I think that we came to the conclusion that if we were to buy another car, we would probably get another Yukon. Yes, it is bigger than what I prefer, but it is a good compromise and they are good vehicles.

It is hard to see, but this picture shows all six of us seated comfortable in the Dodge Ram 2500. We couldn't believe how much room it had! All three guys were even able to sit in the back seat comfortably.

This is a Dodge Charger that Mike thought was pretty sweet. We did look at and like more cars besides the Dodges...I promise!

The Draper, Utah Temple

Mike and I had the opportunity to take a guided tour of the new Draper, Utah Temple on Tuesday. Let me just say that this temple was gorgeous! The Church definitely does not spare any expense when a new temple is being built. They tried to incorporate the beauty of northern Utah into many of the temple's rooms, and the artists did an amazing job. The craftsmanship was incredible...I was sitting in one of the rooms, looking around, and it was hard to believe that one person could produce such beautiful work by hand.

We had a couple general authorities that were in our group during the tour, and it was neat to hear their stories and insights. Sister Bangerter, who is the wife of Emeritus GA Elder Bangerter, shared her experiences of being the Matron of one of the temples. I really enjoyed hearing what they had to say and how you could really tell that they were so greatful for their experiences.

I would definitely recommend getting tickets for one of the temple's tours. Even though the temple has not been dedicated yet, you could feel the spirit so strongly. It was such a good experience!

Severe Weather

I had the opportunity to take another trip to Alabama for disaster preparedness training. This time around, there were several more people from my company that went. This was definately an eventful trip!

One day, one of the ladies from my work started saying that she thought it would be awesome if there was some severe weather (tornado). She said that she didn't just want heavy thunderstorms, but an actual tornado to touch down in the area. Let's just say that she kind of got her wish. During class on Tuesday, we heard that there was a tornado watch in the area. That is less severe than a warning, but I guess you still need to be on guard for the possibility of a tornado. A few people from my work went outside, and it was amazing to see how fast the clouds were moving. The sky wasn't really dark, but you could see that in the distance, the clouds were really black and it was raining hard. We also heard a rumor that a tornado had been sighted about twenty miles away, but it hadn't touched down. About twenty minutes later, one of the instructors told us that the buses were there to take us back to our dorms and that we needed to load them as soon as possible. So, we head outside, and the sky is really getting dark, even though it is still in the afternoon. As soon as we got back to the lodging area, we were told that a tornado warning was in effect and that we needed to go to the tornado shelter area.

Brynn, me, Jamey, and Ann in the tornado shelter

After fifteen minutes or so, we received word that the warning had passed, so we decided to see if we could get a ride into town. Then, we heard sirens go off, which signaled another tornado warning. There was a voice over a loud speaker that instructed us to return to the tornado shelter area. Eventually, the warning was lifted and we were able to go about our business, although they wouldn't take us very far away from the base. The next morning, I was watching the news and they said that they believed the neighboring town had received some damage from a tornado or small winds...I am just glad that wasn't us!

Besides the tornado, we still had a good trip. My coworkers and I tried to have as much fun as possible. We played a lot of card games, went bowling, and tried some of the local, authentic restaurants: Cooter Brown's Rib Shack (yes, literally a shack), Dad's BBQ (like Training Table, but all BBQ), and Top O'the River (fried catfish, anyone?).

I was also able to get some sweet boots from the local Tractor Supply Company. I think that a few people from my group were a little surprised when I said that I wanted to stop there, but I am so glad that I did. I wanted to buy some when I was in Alabama in September, but I didn't have enough room in my suitcase. I am glad that I didn't leave empty handed this time!