Paying it Forward on Highway 12

Oh boy. Well, we were supposed to be back home late last night. After a five day camping trip and a long, exhausting (but beautiful) hike right before heading home (details later), we were ready to get home and get to bed! We were driving along on the super scenic Highway 12, and Andrew was going fairly slow since there are hundreds of deer all over the place and the last thing we wanted was to hit another deer! (Especially since we still haven't fixed the car that was hit by a deer.) Anyway, I fell asleep and Kate was dozing off, when Andrew woke me up with a start--saying, "Something's wrong with the car!" The headlights had been fading slowly, the radio didn't work, and the car was slowly but surely DYING. I looked around in a panic--it was pitch black (this was around 10pm), and we were in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. There were no cars around, no nearby city. Just me, Andrew, and baby in a 20 year old broken-down car. Andrew was able to get it to the side of the highway as it died. As soon as Andrew woke me up, I had started praying. I was really praying for a miracle that would allow us to get home last night, but that didn't exactly happen.

So, the car fell silent and we sat there--a little stunned at our bad luck. Kate woke up and seemed to sense something bad had happened, because she didn't make a noise. I just kept saying, "Oh crap." Andrew jumped out of the car almost as soon as it died because there was a car making its way towards us. He waved his arms and the car immediately pulled over to see what was wrong. It was just one person--a young guy. He was on his way to a nearby city from SLC to visit his mother. We could not have gotten more lucky--or blessed, I should say. He knew a lot about cars and a lot about the area. He said that Richfield was just 20 miles away, and it was a pretty large city (compared with the cities we had passed by already). He determined our alternator had died. The only way to get the car moving was for him to charge up the battery and then drive as far as we could until it died again. So once charged, the car would go for a few miles, then die. Jeff (the guy helping us) drove in front of us, then when our lights would completely fade, he would pull over and charge it up again. It took quite a while before we finally made it to Richfield. And along the way, several others stopped to see if we needed help.

Maybe I was just in an emotional state, but when the third person stopped to help, I started crying. I was just struck with how mindful Heavenly Father is of all of us--through the kindness of others. I was so grateful that He heard and answered my prayers. It would have been devastating to be stuck out there all night. The other people that stopped offered cell phones, which we could have called a tow truck or something, but this guy Jeff was so kind to stay with us for as long as it took to get us to town and to a hotel. We offered him money, but he wouldn't take it. He said, "Just help out someone else when they need it." It really was just like that movie, Pay It Foward. He really went the extra mile for us.

So, we are in Richfield at a Days Inn. Right across the street is a Chevy dealership. It worked out perfectly! It still had enough juice in it this morning that Andrew was able to get it over there. The alternator will cost $150, and so will the hotel after two nights, but it is all working out. The car should be done tomorrow morning, so Andrew may even make it home in time for his first day of spring classes.

Andrew has surmised that maybe our car breaking down saved us from hitting an elk. Jeff said that just up the road there were tons of them all over the place. Who knows--but we are just glad everything will be okay (aside from the cost of it all). Kate was slap happy last night when we finally got into our room. She started jumping on the beds and giving two armed hugs over and over to Andrew. Andrew thought she was saying (after sleeping in a tent for 5 days), "See! This is what I like! Try to remember for next time."

Anyway, that's all for now. We will hopefully be home tomorrow and I can update everyone on the actual camping trip--which was very fun.

So just remember--when you have the opportunity to help someone--do it! They will be grateful! :)

P.S. The lady on duty at the front desk last night was SO nice, too. I asked if there was any milk here I could buy for Kate. She said no, but there was a grocery store up the road, and I could borrow her car. I was sort of shocked by that. I turned down her offer, but she persisted in helping me unload the car. Richfield is really sort of a country folk kind of a town--but everyone is so nice here. Strange that we're only a couple hours from home--it feels like a different state.

Also, there is the nicest outdoor pool here--but no swimming suits! Dang!

To Tide You Over....

We are leaving for our camping trip tomorrow and will not be posting for FIVE days. So, you may want to watch one video every couple of days to get yourself through this difficult time. :) j/k

I will have an early weigh in tomorrow, and that's it. I'm a little worried about my weigh in when I get back after eating chili and hot dogs for 5 days. Hmm. Anyway, there will be LOTS to tell when we get back! So stay tuned!

Nah-nah-nuh

Phone chat

Kate loves to pretend to talk on the phone. I love how she tries to "talk" like me (her intonations). "OH...Hi. Mutter, mutter."

BONK

Kate goes around saying "Ba!" all the time (meaning "boo"), but is not in the mood to do it for the camera. For some reason, Kate bonks her head a lot--on purpose. Even when she hits it on accident, she will follow up with a puroseful bonk. So if she knocks her head on the wall on accident, she will rub her head, pout, then bonk it again, rub head, pout, then bonk again...and again. We're not sure why she does this. And we're really not sure why she hits her head in this video.

Some Sunday Family Pics

Experimenting with Photoshop here...(above)

I realized it's been a LONG time since we actually took a picture of all three of us. Since gaining weight, I pretty much hate being in any pictures and avoid it at all costs. But I decided just to do it anyway. Kate's going to wonder where I was (in her scrapbook), so here they are. Andrew just set it up on a tripod, so it was hard to keep Kate smiling long enough for the picture. Oh well!

Becoming a REAL boy!

One of Andrew's photographs has been accepted for display in the 84th Spring Salon at the Springville Art Museum! We've been talking about entering for a couple years now, but he hasn't had a photo printed, framed, and ready to go before this year. We are SO excited! Andrew has talked about becoming a "real boy" more and more as he has gotten more photography equipment that he needs and more experience taking and editing pictures. It's just our running joke about his quest to become a good photographer. This is a step in the right direction to becoming the "real boy" that he has been dreaming of. Just to have one of his pictures on display in a nice museum with appropriate lighting (and a price tag)--it's so great!

Last year the museum got about 1,000 entries, and about 270 were accepted. I know each year it gets more competitive. There isn't a lot of photography in the show; it seems to be more focused on canvas and sculpture. Anyway, his picture will be on display there from April 27th - July 6th. If you've never been to the museum--go! Not just to see his photo, of course. It is really a neat museum and it's free! Great for a date. :)

P.S. Click here to see which picture it is.

Which Character From The Office Are You?

More on The Office. Created by BuddyTV

Ha! Not sure where the "preying on people's insecurities" question was hidden...

I never watched The Office before this season. I discovered the reruns on TBS on Tuesday nights, and caught up on this season on nbc.com. I love it!

Three more pounds!

This week I finally lost more than just two pounds--a whopping three! Definitely not as good as some of the Biggest Loser competitors who somehow would lose 15 pounds in a week! I'll take it, though. :)

Ticklin' the Ivories

Really getting into it now--Jerry Lee Lewis style!

Combining her two loves--music and the phone.

Monday afternoon, Kate woke up from her nap blazing hot! She was breathing irregularly, and her hearbeat was racing. I had to run some errands with her, and while we were out I decided to buy her a little piano keyboard (only $10!) to lift her spirits. She loves music and loves to play on the piano. She's been at several houses now with pianos, and she goes right to it, and tinks away. Anyway, I also just watched the movie August Rush, which is all about a kid and music...so I was in the mood.

Anyway, as we were out, I became increasingly worried about Kate because her fever didn't seem to be going down at all and she was starting to have a blank stare. I decided to take her to the doctor (even though we're between insurance right now) to have her checked out. The doctor was so weird (I had to take whatever doctor I could get, since I didn't have an appointment)--telling me all about some depressed teen who started crying in his office, etc. He looked at Kate for a minute (between his stories) and said, "Uh, yeah, I'll chalk this one up to the flu." She didn't have an ear infection or strep throat, but her temp was 102 degrees. Poor thing. He said she'd probably start puking in a couple days. But today she woke up with no fever and seems to be feeling great! I should have probably held off on the doctor's visit, but I get so paranoid about her health ever since the bloody diapers. And it was nice to rule out an ear infection and strep.

I'm just glad she's feeling better and loves her piano!

Talks

Andrew and I spoke in church today. We were asked to choose a talk from conference to speak on. I chose Elder Oaks' talk "Testimony" http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-851-10,00.html. Andrew spoke on Elder Wirthlin's "Concern for the One" http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-851-6,00.html. They are both great talks--if you didn't have a chance to hear them, click on the links above. They had me speaking last on the program, which was different than what usually happens. When I was done with mine, I sat down and the bishop rushed over and asked if I could bear my testimony in Cantonese. Not wanting to say no...I said, "Ok..." and headed back to the stand. Boy, I was rustier than I thought! I really wish I had been more prepared for that. I started to bear my testimony about eternal families, but totally forgot how to say it! I stopped half way and tried again. I would've just gone on to something else (who would know, right?), except that there is a family in our ward from Hong Kong--dang it! Andrew was whispering how to say it from behind me on the stand--thankfully--and so I finished. How embarrassing! Afterwards, Brother Ng came up and was nice about my awful Chinese. Later on, a member told us that the bishop was inspired to ask me to do that because there was a Chinese family sitting on the back row. The bishop might have seen them sitting back there. Andrew thinks they are in the ward boundaries, but not members, and come sometimes. That made me feel even worse! I'm doubting they understood a word of it! Oh well. The talks went well, though, and it made us both grateful for the opportunity to speak.

The Massacre at White Fridge

Well, I guess spring is officially here, because we have an ant infestation! Last time we lived here there were ants. Sigh. There's nothing like catching your little girl playing with ants as you cook dinner. To make matters worse, these ants are hard to kill! I step on them, I slam things on them, and it only makes them slow down for a minute. They just pop their shoulders back into place and keep on truckin'. (The best method I've come up with so far, is spraying them with a cleaner.) One night, I was so sick of seeing them, that I went a little crazy with a shoe--taking out as many as I could. After pausing for a minute to witness the decimation, my heart hurt a little bit as I saw a lone ant searching among the carnage for survivors. I was shocked to see it pick up one of the ants and carry it!

But having sympathy for them won't get rid of them! I don't know where they're coming from, but I do know where they're going! (eyes narrow)

Not as morbidly obese as I thought...

This weekend I weighed myself and I was 5 pounds lighter no matter how I stood on the scale. My jaw dropped in disbelief. There might have been a few "Hallelujah's" shouted as I declared it a miracle. Then Andrew smiled and told me that he had just set the scale to zero, as it had been at 5 (like I had said in my last post). "Oh." I was disappointed at first that I hadn't lost that much weight in two days of working out, but then I was happy to realize I hadn't been quite as fat as I had thought. Yay! However, I'm still going to keep my goal the same--it will take me within a couple pounds of my married weight. I don't know if I can still get down that far just doing the bike, but we'll see.

Minus TWO!

Don't worry--this is not my weight! I'd have to lose a lot more than 50 pounds if that was the case. But this scale's lines look kind of like mine. Hard to read!

I've been working out every day for a week now, and I've lost two pounds! Yay! I've been doing the bike for about an hour a day on a pretty easy setting, which has translated to burning about 400-600 calories a day. Like I said before, I'm eating the same foods, but now I'm just trying to control the portions more, and I've cut out sweets (sigh).

I have felt GREAT--so much energy! Plus, when I stretch afterwards, I can touch my toes with relative ease! It's been a long time since I could do that.

The only trouble is with the scale. I don't know how accurate it is. Before I even get on it, it reads at five pounds! Yesterday when I weighed myself it said I lost four pounds, then an hour later I had only lost one...but I think I've figured out how to get a pretty accurate reading. Not only that, but the little lines representing pounds are so close together, it's hard to read from up high. So, I think the two pounds is about right (it might be 1.5-2). From the first day I started exercising, I have FELT skinnier, but didn't see results on the scale for a little while.

I'm excited, though. It's been a while since I've seen the numbers on the scale go down. So I'm headed in the right direction! Plus, I'm really enjoying the workout, which is the most important thing for me because I want this to be a serious lifestyle change--something that I will be happy to continue. I might have to change it up later for some variety, but so far I love it!

One BIG bed

For those of you who don't know, since Andrew and I moved, we decided to sleep in separate beds. Not because we don't love each other, don't worry! Andrew hasn't slept well ever since we got married because he couldn't stretch out. And I didn't sleep well because he was always trying to spread out. Sadly, when we got married we made a very bad decision to buy a queen sized bed instead of a king. When we moved back to his grandparents' house, there was already a queen bed in one of the rooms, so we decided to push them together and make one gigantic bed. It is awesome! It's like having a slumber party all the time. :) We both love it, and it will be hard to go back when we move. We've talked about buying a twin sized bed to put next to the queen. I would take the twin because I don't move around that much. Andrew's grandpa thinks we are insane, but it works for us, and that's all that matters.

Anyway, I don't know what Kate will do, either. She LOVES playing on the beds. It's definitely her favorite activity besides playing outside. In these pics she's in her diaper because she had a messy diaper that got all over her shirt and pants. Nasty. I need to get a video of her playing on the beds--it is very cute. She loves to fling herself as far as she can--anywhere she falls is a soft landing. These pictures aren't very good to show both beds, but you can probably get the idea.

In the last picture, she is doing her "big smile." She started doing this last week. Andrew and I would be talking or something and she would get in our face with this HUGE smile on her face. I don't know if she just does it for attention or what--but it works. We love it.