"Look Out, We're Comin' Through"

We are the proud owners of a new (well, used) BIG 12-passenger van—and this is certainly worthy of a blog. It is GREAT. I wasn’t sure how I’d like driving it, but it is nice. I feel like I own the road. It took a little getting used to (only ran off the edge of the road a few times), but we really like having some extra space.
How you know when you drive a big vehicle:
You dream that you are driving a school bus (Yes, this really happened!)
You need walkie-talkies to talk to your kids in the back seat.
You pull up next to a BIG pick-up truck at a stop light, the guy looks UP and you and then back, with a look on his face that seems to say, “Dang, I need a bigger truck!
It costs $10 in gas to go to church, but the trade off is a little more sanity and WELL worth it.
You have a back-up camera mounted to the rear license plate—no it doesn’t “beep” when we are in reverse. The kids love the camera, sometimes, you can drive around and it will pick up security cameras in stores. There is a gas station near-by whose camera is on the same frequency. We like to go there. David will go in and wave to us. We are SO easily amused.
You can pick up several friends to go to the park and everyone has their OWN seatbelt.
You can put a full size cooler between the two front seats—and still get to the back.
The kids are excited, because now we can have 10 children!
There are no fights over who sits where (I know this won’t last for much longer, but the novelty of trying out a different spot each time hasn’t worn off yet!)
You don’t look for the closest parking spot, but one where you can pull straight through and straight out without having to go into reverse.
At the bank, McDonald’s drive-through, etc, you have to lean way out and down to push the buttons and get your food.
And the BEST thing, is that you can drive with 8 people in the van for four hours to Columbia, SC to go to the temple and still be worthy to go in!!

We are the proud owners of a new (well, used) BIG 12-passenger van—and this is certainly worthy of a blog. It is GREAT. I wasn’t sure how I’d like driving it, but it is nice. I feel like I own the road. It took a little getting used to (only ran off the edge of the road a few times), but we really like having some extra space.

How you know when you drive a big vehicle:

You dream that you are driving a school bus (Yes, this really happened!)

You need walkie-talkies to talk to your kids in the back seat.

You pull up next to a BIG pick-up truck at a stop light, the guy looks UP and you and then back, with a look on his face that seems to say, “Dang, I need a bigger truck!It costs $10 in gas to go to church, but the trade off is a little more sanity and WELL worth it.

You have a back-up camera mounted to the rear license plate—no it doesn’t “beep” when we are in reverse. The kids love the camera, sometimes, you can drive around and it will pick up security cameras in stores. There is a gas station near-by whose camera is on the same frequency. We like to go there. David will go in and wave to us. We are SO easily amused.

You can pick up several friends to go to the park and everyone has their OWN seatbelt.You can put a full size cooler between the two front seats—and still get to the back.

The kids are excited, because now we can have 10 children!

There are no fights over who sits where (I know this won’t last for much longer, but the novelty of trying out a different spot each time hasn't worn off yet!)

You don’t look for the closest parking spot, but one where you can pull straight through and straight out without having to go into reverse.

At the bank, McDonald’s drive-through, etc, you have to lean way out and down to push the buttons and get your food.

And the BEST thing, is that you can drive with 8 people in the van for four hours to Columbia, SC to go to the temple and still be worthy to go in!!

The pictures are from our temple trip. On the way home we stop at Denny's where KIDS EAT FREE! We had a great time.

I'm Back!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, and yes, I feel guilty! I love to keep in touch with everyone and I am always disappointed when I check your blogs and there is no recent news. Well, it’s been TOO long from my end. The dial-up does make it a pain and that is my weak excuse for not being more diligent.
I talked to Debbie the other day on the phone and discussed the dilemma of trying to catch up or just take off from where I am. Well, I am going to give a quick “re-cap” of the last several weeks. After a fun visit from Grandma and Grandpa Cannon, we’ve been really enjoying some great weather and fun adventures which include in random, out-of-date order:
Peter’s broken collar bone, Parker’s horrible black eye—chasing Peter in a blanket he fell on the corner of a table, Spring break with lots of hikes (Roan Mountain, Bays Mountain), outings, and park days, and even a late snowfall, a trip to the temple in Columbia, SC—a success in our 12-passenger van (kids eat FREE at Denny’s on the way home), trip to the Knoxville cannery for 2500 lbs. of food (I am the ward food storage person and drove down to pick up orders)—the big van is sure coming in handy! The garden is planted, fruit trees pruned, lawn cut for the first time this year. Flower beds mostly weeded, gathered sticks from yard, had a fire in the fire-pit and Dad cooked over the fire—entertaining us with his “too close to the fire” dances, FHE dinner "cave-man" style (no plates or silverware--just ate meat cooked over the fire with our hands--No one wanted to go in and get the plates, etc.--it turned out really fun), Eliza turning 12—very excited about YW, she is fun—the other night she drew mustaches on everyone for April Fool’s Day—she put crazy hats on everyone and they all woke up laughing. She even did it to herself, so that they would not feel bad, a “1”—that is the best at the band festival. A trip to Greeneville—to visit home of President Andrew Johnson, very informative and uplifting. Also, visit to gravesite of AJ. Probably, over 100 loads of laundry, and that many decent meals, and several barely palatable ones. Another trip to Knoxville for water storage barrels, fun evenings of Blockus (really fun game), some piano practicing with bribes, their piano teacher (me) is pretty lame, we are trying to be more consistent, lots of dyed Easter eggs and fingers as well, eating lots of deviled eggs with colorful stains, and finally a good measure of crying, and lots of snuggling. We’ve sure had fun!
No wonder I haven’t posted anything in a while! Hope that you are all doing well. Happy Spring.