Spring Break Trip

We took the kids to New York City for Spring Break this year.  We spent Monday at the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the 9-11 Memorial.  The kids loved all of it and were such troopers.  It was super cold and windy and we weren't so prepared so we had frozen hands and ears but the kids never complained.  All day they continually thanked us for bringing them and told us how cool it was.  They thought it was really cool to ride the PATH train from New Jersey to the World Trade Center in New York.  The 9-11 Memorial is an amazing place to be and to reflect on the lives lost and the tragedy that struck our country that morning.  As we talked with the kids about the fateful day we reminded them how this tragic event pulled our country together and united people from all walks of life.  How grateful I am that we could experience this wonderful memorial and other sites together.

Monday evening we drove about 3 hours to Harrisburg, PA.  Joel had a work training there for the next 3 days and we got to hang out in the hotel with him.  The cool part was we didn't even have to pay for a room.  There was an indoor pool so the kids spent much of their day swimming.  It was snowing and cold outside but the kids could have fun swimming.  I was shocked how well sleeping with 9 people in one room went.  We were truly blessed.  At nap time each day, Thomas and Spring went to the lobby to play games and the others laid down to watch a movie. I turned out all the lights and each day Sara, Gideon, and Joshie were out cold within minutes while Sammy and Mary quietly watched the movie.  Evenings were much the same.  Joel would go with the older 2 out to the business center to prepare presentations for his next day of meetings and the older ones would play games.  I would turn on a movie and they would all be out within minutes.  It was amazing.

Harrisburg is only about 10 miles from Hershey, PA.  Tuesday Joel and I took the kids for a tour of the Hershey factory.  The kids and I went again a couple days later while he was in his training.  

Thursday afternoon Joel's training ended around 2:00 so we decided to head home.  On the way Joel noticed a billboard for the Flight 93 Memorial and we decided to make a little detour so we could visit that as well.  It was a humbling and sacred experience to walk along the outskirts of the crash site  where 40 people, in a moment's notice, became forever heroes.  There is a wall of names with each person that died preventing the plane from it's target of the US Capitol.  There is a boulder that can be seen from the path that marks the crash site, and the grave of these 40 heroes.  Only family members of the victims are allowed to enter through the gate and walk those sacred grounds.  As we continued our drive home we reminded our kiddos that we have seen all the places where the 4 planes attacked our country on September 11th.  How grateful I am for the wonderful country we live in that was able to rise above this attack and unite together to support and honor those that lost their lives that tragic day.

District Pinewood Derby

Sammy had a great time with Joel at the District Pinewood Derby.  He was a little disappointed that he did not win a trophy but his excitement quickly took over as he told us all about the morning.  He just really wants to earn a trophy because, in his words, "I've never earned a trophy for anything before!"

He came home and made his own pinewood derby track to race his car against some of Thomas' old cars!

Upward Basketball

Sammy and Spring played Upward Basketball again this year.  Their season ran from January to mid-March.  Spring's team was the Lady Commodores and Sammy was on the Longhorns.  They both improved so much.  Sammy is a very aggressive basketball player and was often found stealing the ball.  I think the thing I loved the most about watching Sammy was the smile that was always on his face.  It didn't matter if they were winning or losing, he was smiling.  When someone else made a basket he reacted with such excitement you would have thought he had scored.  Spring is getting much more comfortable moving and dribbling with the ball.  It was fun to see her learn plays with her team and drive to the basket.  Her last game of the season they were playing the team that had been undefeated all season.  This year she played in a league with 5th-9th graders so she was one of the youngest in the league. This particular team was almost all 9th graders...they were taller and more physically mature than Spring's team.  It was the most exciting game to watch and Spring's team won!  I think it took a couple hours before my heart slowed down to a somewhat normal pace after watching the game.  She made wonderful friends on her team this year.  I am grateful for the good girls she got to know through basketball.  They are looking forward to playing basketball again next year.

Our Family's Mechanic

Joel saves our family so much money with his willingness to do repairs and maintenance on our vehicles.  He is very adept at figuring out something new so he can perform repairs that are new.  I am constantly amazed by his ability to just figure things out and fix things.

He has always changed the brakes on our vehicles.  On Monday he took our "bus" in for the tires to be rotated.  We were told that the brakes needed to be replaced along with the rotors and the calipers. We were quoted around $600 for the job.  Joel politely thanked them and came home.  That evening, after work, he set out to do the job himself.  This brake job, however, turned out to be different from all other brake jobs he has done.

The first indication that things would be different was when he realized that the bus didn't come with a jack.  Fortunately, the jack from our minivan worked.  Then he realized he couldn't budge the lug nuts.  Try as he might, they wouldn't budge at all.  He ran out, just as the store was closing, to purchase a thing to attach to his air compresser to aid in getting them off (don't you love my technical terminology?).  Again, they did not budge.   I felt so bad for him at this point as he was near tears feeling inadequate and defeated.  We googled "how to remove tight lug nuts" and the mention of using a "cheater bar" was made.  Joel wondered why he hadn't thought of that.  At this point it was almost 11 pm and we didn't have anything that would work for that so we went to bed for the night.

Tuesday, Joel was hit hard with the stomach bug that had been plaguing our family since the weekend.  He came home from work sick and was not able to physically work on the car at all.  Wednesday evening as he came home from work he went to ask our neighbor if he had something he could utilize to get the lug nuts off.  Our neighbor is a mechanic and had just the bar Joel needed.  He came over and they immediately got the lug nuts loosened.  Joel took the tires off and confirmed that the brakes, rotors, and calipers needed to be replaced.  He called Auto Zone and all the parts were in stock so he picked them up and then headed to Scouts for the evening.

They got home from scouts around 9:30 pm and headed out in the rain to work.  The difficult thing is the vehicle is too tall to park in the garage so he had to work in the dark and rain.  He soon discovered another difference in this brake job.  The bolts for the tires are part of the rotors...it's all one piece.  After a lot of research, frustration, and trying he figured out how to remove the entire assembly.  At that point, the reassembly was much faster and he finished the first side shortly after midnight last night.  With needing to be up for work in less than 5 hours, gratefully he went to bed and plans to finish the other side tonight...which should go much faster.

I am so grateful for his willingness and ability to save our family hundreds of dollars with each of these repairs he does for us.  I know it isn't easy after long days at work, especially in cold rainy temperatures late at night.  I hope our children remember seeing their dad working hard in so many capacities as he does all he can to serve our family and provide for our physical and spiritual needs and wants.  We are blessed by this incredible man.

New Specs

Sammy has been wanting sports glasses for months now.  He had his yearly check up a few weeks ago and his prescription has gotten worse, thus he needed new glasses.  I, reluctantly, agreed to him getting sports glasses.  I did have him choose a "normal" pair as well for Sundays and other times.  He is excited about his sports glasses that came in last night.  I think he thought he would wear them all the time; however, he took both pairs to school today.  He left wearing his sports ones and came home wearing his other ones.  He said he just took off his sports ones after Gym because he was so sweaty and the band was slipping.  I, personally, don't like the sports ones but it was a choice I was willing to leave up to him.

 

Our Scouts

Thomas and Sammy both wanted their yearly pictures taken in their scout uniforms.  Thomas wanted to wait until his Eagle Badge was on his uniform and Sammy wanted to wait for his Wolf badge. 

Blessings

Around 9:00 last night, Sunday, Joel noticed we weren't getting any hot water in the kitchen sink so he went down to check the water heater.  Fortunately we noticed that someone, most likely Sara, had turned the temperature of the water heater all the way down.  He adjusted it and came back upstairs.  About 45 minutes later he headed down to make sure all was well with it still.  To our dismay, he noticed the water heater was leaking out the bottom.  So, we started searching online pricing out water heaters and trying to find one that was in stock at the local store.  He called Brother Juhasz to pick his brain a little and discovered that Brother Juhasz has installed many water heaters and offered to come over in the morning.  Last night we drained the water heater so Joel could start the repair first thing this morning.

 

He headed to the store to pick up the water heater at 6 am this morning as soon as it opened.  Brother McGarry, who happened to be off this week from work, came over to help Joel bring the new water heater into the basement.  With the help of Brother Juhasz they were able to replace the water heater and get the old one into the garage in time for the water to heat up enough for Joel to get a hot shower before heading off for his business trip this week.

 

How grateful I am that this tender mercy.  If Sara had not turned off the heat to the water heater we would not have noticed the leak until it was much bigger and by then Joel would have been out of town for work.  It seems the last few times Joel has left for business something breaks or goes wrong.  The timing of this was perfect and the wonderful friends from the ward are an invaluable blessing.  What could have turned out pretty bad, ended up being a morning of blessings.  I know our Father is mindful of us and knows how to bring us comfort, especially when He knows this would have been a little more than I could have handled on my own this week.