Adventures in South Jordan, Utah

Brother morning snuggles. 

The kids were entertained by sitting on the washer as it spun.

Friday night we got pizza and had a picnic at the church. Then Isaac got to practice riding his bike in the big parking lot.

Our church building has a pretty big hill and the kids loved running up and down and rolling.

Saturday morning the ward youth went and did baptisms for the dead.

After Steve finished baptisms we got in the car and drove to Saratoga Springs to go to the temple open house.

It was beautiful and not as crowded as I thought it might be on a Saturday.

Walking back to our car we got to ride in a golf cart and that was probably the kids favorite part.

We met Austin & Sara's Family and Brad, Jessica, and Brooks at the open house and then we all got food and met at a park to eat, talk, and let the kids play. It was so fun!

We got to meet baby Brooks!

As we were leaving the park Hannah lost her first tooth!!! 

Then the real adventure started :/

We left the park and as we headed to the freeway our battery light came on. So we made a mental note to not turn off the car and hoped it was fine. We got to South Jordan and stopped to go potty. Couldn't find a gas station so we pulled into trader joes. 

The automatic doors on the van weren't working very well but we took turns going then loaded up again. Headed out of the parking lot and Steve said the car wasn't acting right. 

A couple notes, my sister Kendra was with us, she went to school for automotive mechanics, and its like 4:30 pm on a Saturday. We stop and Steve and Kendra pop the hood and we start looking for mechanics close by. We call the closest one that is still open till 5 but they said they couldn't look at it till Monday. The only other option is Walmart. We figure if the van died on the way we'd have the most options that way so we load up and prayed we'd make it.

The DVD player stops working on the way, lights are going on and off, the car feels like it loses and gains power randomly. Hannah is upset. The AC isn't working so its hot. We pull into Walmart and Steve goes in to talk to them and we get the kids out to go inside in the AC. As we head in Steve comes out and says they don't do those kinds of repairs so they can't help us. 

So we load back up thinking we'll hurry to that other mechanic before they close. It gets worse sounding as we drive in the Walmart parking lot so its decided we park in some shade and call a tow truck. We go into Walmart to cool off and regroup. 

Kendra takes the big kids to the toy isles while Steve and I call around for tow trucks and try to figure out a plan. Call one and it would be 3 hours. Call another and they could be there in an hour to tow the van to their mechanic. 

Check, got that figured out. Now what about the stranded people.

We talked about renting a car, staying in a hotel, who do we know down here?

We called Sara and Austin who were almost back home to Logan by now. They dropped off people in Logan and then Austin headed back down to get us. 

We head out to the van and unload the stuff we need and the tow truck comes and takes her away. Smurphy, rest up and get better!

The boys loved watching the tow truck but Hannah was disturbed by it.   

We head back into Walmart with our carts of stuff and park it at Subway. Get some food and treats and just tried to make the most of it till Uncle Austin came to the rescue! 

He showed up about 7:15pm in their 15 passenger van named Marshmallow. You would have thought he pulled up in like a limo or Disneyland ride by how excited our kid were to ride in Marshmallow!

Kendra and Hannah were in the back row. Caleb and I in the 2nd row, and Isaac and Eli in the first row. Us in the back two rows were laughing and laughing because it was pretty bouncy at times. Caleb would smile or get wide eyed as we'd go over bumps. Hannah needed to go potty so we pulled out our portable potty and had her go in the back. It was comical with all the bouncing.  We made good time and were home before 9:30pm.

She also discovered putting her sucker stick through her newly lost tooth hole. 

Memories.

Memories.

Steve will call the mechanic down in South Jordan this morning and hopefully we'll get the van looked at, fixed and back to us.

Some tender mercies I don't want to forget.

We broke down at the end of the trip. We got to do the fun things we had planned to do.

Kendra was with us! Having another adult there was so helpful.

We didn't break down on the freeway.

We didn't break down/get stuck at a random mechanic shop that was closing.

We broke down at a place with food, AC, and really whatever else our heart desired :) 

We were watched out for!

As I'm writing this Isaac walks in and sees some pictures from that day and asks if we can do it again :/ ha! at least it's a pretty positive memory for him.