So Long Old Pal...

It is funny how I find myself being sentimental about such an unexpected item as a car. Our old Land Cruiser has finally gone to the car lot in the sky. Just before we hit this last week of record high heat (112 to 115 degrees) the air conditioner totally died. We had finally come to the point where the car was worth less than the repairs. And so, we traded in our old car. I am thrilled to have a beautiful new (used) car, but strangely, it was hard to watch them drive our old friend off to the scrap pile. We bought the old Cruiser a few months before we had Alex, who is about to turn 7.



When Josh and I were discussing the old car, we both had the same memory pop up. We had been hiking in the Grand Staircase with Josh's family all day and were headed home to Arizona. About 30 seconds after we left the trailhead, we turned around and both boys were out cold asleep. We have seen a lot of road, and a lot of off-road, together. In the immortal words of James Taylor, "Life's good friends are hard to find, and now one of mine is [gone]..." I hope the newer car will give us the same good run! Viva Toyota!

The Stuff of Life

I know, two posts in one day, but I have some catching up to do. I couldn't go without showing off my little niece. These are some of the pictures of little Jane Woodford and her family. So far Kate still thinks she's pretty neat, I keep wondering when she'll be ready to ship her off "to California." (This is what another of my neices decided was the appropriate course of action to solve the problem of a new baby brother.) Besides, Sunny looks so good for a lady who just had a baby that I didn't think she'd mind being shown off too. :)

These other pictures are one of the great moments of parenthood. I came in and found Alex reading to Ryan for the first time. I really love having them enjoy being together, it warms a Mother's heart. Just in the last little while they have really started playing well together. It's nice that Jedi knights usually come in pairs! It wil be especially important that they can entertain each other when their baby sister arrives to complicate their little world. Here's to being comrades-in-arms as well as brothers!

Josh, the King of DIY!

How do I love thee? Let me lay the tile! My dear sweet husband knew that eventually I wanted to have black and white tile in my master bath. (Our builder seemed to think that cheap brown carpet was a really nice option for bathroom floors.) So last week, Josh spent every evening, after a full work-day and finishing his church work, working on his hands and knees to make me this lovely floor. Anyone who knows anything about the state of Josh's knees will understand what a labor of love this was. Thank you, thank you to my HHBL!

Alex and Ryan, as you can see were oodles of help. Actually, Ryan is quite responsible with the shop vac, and Alex excelled at demolition. You can see him weilding the hammer to break out the old brown tile around the toilet. He worked with great gusto until a piece of tile flew up and cut his finger. I was limited to official gopher, tool fetcher, clean water getter, and sponge wringer-outer.

I do love working with Josh. I look forward to more home improvement projects when I am no longer great with child. We have a long history of working together. Our first few dates were spent painting the exterior of Felt Lighting and re-caulking the front display windows. (I guess he had to try me out to see if I could cut the mustard.) I love being married to a man who can do this stuff!