4th of July in Colorado

My sister Michelle invited us to come to her house for the 4th of July. We thought that was a good idea, so we went for it and even brought my Mom and Dad along for the fun :)

Shell and Zach and Katie had a surprise for us when we got there. They had been working on this all day and unveiled it for us when we got there. Pretty cool!

The kids went to town when Shell told them they could paint on the sidewalk.

I did a little something too :)

We had yummy food and did sparklers and then enjoyed quite the fireworks show put on in front of Shell's house, several of her neighbors contributed to that too.

We were able to facetime with Mike also. Hard to believe that he will be home soon and we will be able to be together again...very excited for that!

On Saturday Scott took us all to a cool place and we played laser tag. We decided to do kid vs. adults. I couldn't believe it when the guy read the results and I was the top point earner of both teams...believe me I was as shocked as everyone else there :)
After laser tag Scott gave each of the kids a token card for the arcade and they had so much fun with that.

Later we went swimming at their community pool, which was really nice because it was a hot day!

Had to get a picture with my mom and my sister

 Nice photobomb Zach :)

Saturday night we played Cards Against Humanity and had some good laughs.

On Sunday we got up and said our goodbyes and headed back home. Oh, and we left Dallin there, Shell had hired him to stay and help out with Zach and Katie for a couple of weeks.
The drive home started out ok...we even had our own church discussions and stuff.

About an hour into the drive I noticed that the air from the vents was not cool anymore. We drove with the windows down for a while, which didn't help much. No one was very comfortable and it looked like it was going to be a very very long drive home. I remember telling the kids to pray for the air to start working again or to pray for rain. Not too much later Dad and I saw some grey clouds up ahead. Dad said that with our luck we were probably going to miss them, but I thought we might catch them. As we got nearer to them it looked like we were going to get some rain, I jokingly said to the kids, "ok, who prayed for the rain?" Noah answered that he had just prayed for rain to cool us down. What a blessing. Our inside thermometer had been at 104 degrees and then the rain brought it down to 68 degrees in a matter of minutes. The relief we felt was amazing, and there was so much happiness in the car. The rain came down really hard for a little bit, so hard that visibility wasn't very good, but I didn't care. Soon the rain ended and we stopped at a rest stop for someone to use the bathroom. It was so nice to get out of the car and feel the cool breeze. We made it home, no more rain, but the temperature didn't get up that high again (I think it was in the 90s though). We said a prayer of gratitude for the rain, it was such a blessing!

The interesting thing is that this was the 3rd time in a year that our air compressor had gone out. If you read my post about our move out to Utah, you will remember that it died in Georgia. If you read my post about the Bush Family Reunion shortly after we arrived here in August, you will remember that it died on our way to that event. I actually think it was a blessing that it went out on our way home from Colorado instead of on our way TO Colorado! I also think it was a blessing that it went out at this time, because it was still covered under the 1 year warranty.

On Monday I took it in to get looked at. I took it to the same guys who replaced it last time. They were very nice and told me that it would be covered under the warranty, then Napa actually tried to tell us that they would only cover 60-70% of the repair because it was almost a year...the mechanic said that was ridiculous and that he would talk to them, but he told me that even if they only paid that much, he wasn't going to charge me anything...another blessing! It should be ready to pick up in a couple days.

Anyway, we had a nice 4th and hope yours was a happy one too :)

So Hard to Say Good-bye

...so we didn't

We just said See Ya Later!

Our last Sunday in Maryland was hard.

We had lived there for 8 years,

that is the longest we have lived anywhere since we got married.

We had seen so many friends come and go,

and now it was our turn to move on.

It shouldn't surprise you that I took my camera to church with me,

and then forced people to take pictures with me and the kids.

Now normally I prefer to be behind the camera,

but this time I stuck my face in pictures with a lot of people.

Just looking through these pictures makes me miss them all so much!

Yes I know there are a lot pictures...and I didn't even get everyone I wanted!

Some people weren't there, some left before I got the chance...what can you do...

The first picture below is of me with the wonderful ladies that I served with

in the Relief Society Presidency.

Bob and Dresden, the picture just below that one, with the Johnsons, is just to make you jealous :)

 I also had a tender mercy that day that really meant so much to me.

The kids and I had hung around for quite a while after church visiting

and saying goodbye see ya later, and it was time to go.

I got in the car and turned to Noah and sighed.

I was really disappointed that I didn't get to say

goodbye to the Bishop, and I didn't get to take a picture of 

Mike with the Bishop and Brother Thomas.

(Mike had just been released that day from the bishopric

and this was just a picture that I wanted.)

Noah told me that he was disappointed too because he really

wanted a picture with the Bishop and wanted to see him again before we moved.

Oh well, we both knew they were in a meeting and we didn't want to bother them.

So I put the truck in reverse and started to back out of the parking space.

Well, something was wrong...

At first I thought maybe I had a flat tire (oh great!)

Nope...then I thought, well the power steering has gone out...(wonderful!)

I had no idea what was wrong, but I was not happy!

I didn't know what to do, so I did what I knew to do :)

I went and knocked on the door where Mike was.

The door opened and there was Mike, Brother Thomas and the Bishop

going over things with the new counselor.

I told them what was going on. Mike was right in the middle of something with the

new counselor, so Bishop Martin and Brother Thomas both came out to help me.

They couldn't figure out what was wrong either.

Finally Mike came out and looked at the truck, 

tried to drive it and immediately figured it out.

One of the kids had accidentally flipped a switch for something.
(I can't even remember exactly what it was, I think it had something to do with the 4-wheel drive.)

I was so relieved that it was such a quick, easy fix...just turn it off!

 ...and now I had right in front of me the very people I had wished I had a picture of.

Noah also got his wish.

It may seem like such a small thing to someone else,

but this was something that meant a lot to me.

An answered prayer.

Mike with Bishop Martin and Brother Thomas

 I found out later that my friend Michelle had really been hoping to get

a picture of her son Mikey with Mike. Mike had really 

been able to create a bond with her little boy when few people could.

Another answered prayer.

I'm so thankful for these tender mercies.

Heavenly Father really knows and cares about what is important to us.

It really strengthens my testimony that He loves us and knows us individually.

And that He wants us to be happy.

We had some more friends stop by the house later that day,

My friend Haleigh even brought us a yummy dinner.
Me with Haleigh and Karen

Our kids with the Vance kids

 Mike and I with the Beals and the Thompsons
Such a flattering picture of Jason and Mike :)

 Later on Salena and her boys came by to help us get some more things packed and cleared out.
She is pretty much a saint!

Her teenage boys were happy to help us get rid of the food in the fridge.

We were so blessed to have so much help from so many people!
We can't possibly thank them all enough.

Suburban Trouble

Last Thursday I was heading to piano lessons...my truck had other ideas. 
(Actually Noah and Dallin were already there, and I was taking Grace for her lesson.)
Anyway, I was driving and I heard this horrible metal scraping sound. I got out and checked to see if I was dragging anything. I couldn't see anything, so I got back in and drove a little farther. The sound got worse and when I stopped at a traffic light, it felt like the whole bottom of the truck fell onto the road. I made it slowly through the light and pulled over. (I got a lot of looks as I pulled through the light...the sound was really awful!)

Well it was clear that we weren't going anywhere. Tina was nice enough to bring Noah and Dallin to me and then my good brother-in-law, Joe, helped us get home. Grace was very sad to miss her piano lesson, but I told her we'd be able to make it up. 

Later Mike had the truck towed home so that he and our "car smart" friend Chris could take a look at it. So glad that we have free towing service with our car insurance!

Saturday morning Mike and Chris worked on it and the consensus was that the transmission needed to be replaced, yuk! 

Part of me really wanted to just get a new (used of course) Suburban, but we decided that since this one is paid off that we'll give fixing it a shot. It is really nice to not have a car payment.

So...that's where my truck is right now, in the shop getting worked on. 

Hopefully I'll have it back by this Saturday.

Oh, and (as Isaac would say) a super ultra mega thanks to Elizabeth for letting us use her van while she is out of town, what a blessing!

Anna's First Day of Preschool 2008

Anna has been looking forward to today for quite a while now. "Mom is this the day I go to my school?" has been a frequent question asked over the past month. Well, today was the day and she was so excited. Last night she received her back to school blessing from Mike. Before he started the blessing he asked her what her name was. "Anna Banana Michelle Isom" was her answer, then she giggled and said, "just kidding!"

She had a great time at school today with some old friends from last year and some new friends too. There are several little kids from our ward that are in school with her this year also.

Is she cute or what!

We know she will have fun and continue to learn. Me, well, I don't know what I will do with 2 "kidless" hours 4 days a week...I'm sure I'll think of something!

Back to School

Today was the first day of the new school year, and Isaac's first day of Kindergarten. Isaac was so excited to wear his new Star Wars backpack and he was especially cute with it on...I think it is about as big as he is. When did my kids all decide that it was okay for them to grow up? It seems so strange to wave goodbye and send all but one on the bus.

The kids were very excited for school to start up, especially since last Thursday when we went to the school to meet the teachers. Noah is in 5th grade this year, his last year in Elementary school...Dallin is in 3rd grade...Grace is in first grade, along with two of her best buddies from Kindergarten. ...and Isaac, my adorable little Isaac is in Kindergarten. There was some preparation required by me to get them all ready for school, clothes shopping, supply shopping, labeling supplies and getting things for lunches, but probably the most important preparation is the traditional back to school Father's blessings that Mike gives the kids. We took the opportunity to do these blessings after church yesterday, the kids really listen and I think it gives them a little extra confidence heading into a new school year. We love them so much and we know they will do great!