New Car

So the last few months we have had to put money into Scott's car to keep it going and I was getting so frustrated about it because I knew we could buy a used "new" car that wouldn't nickel and dime us to death.  So we went out several times car shopping with Rachel and all I can say is that is like a slow death with little kids.  She wasn't very patient at all during this so I started to do research online.  I found 3 cars that I thought I would like at Dennis Dillon so that night we went to go look at them.  I really wanted to get a Honda Accord or a Toyota Camry.  That had both on their lot.  We looked at two of the three I had printed off to look at.  Well the Toyota Camry was just turned in and so it was still going through the inspection and body shop.  We told them we would come back tomorrow to look at it.  I happened to see that there was a Hertz Car Sales across the street and they had a Camry on their lot also.  They were already closed and so the next day I called them to find out the information on the car.  It was a 2001 Toyota Camry that was just turned in by a little old lady.  It had 140,000 miles on it but everyone tells us that's okay.  Scott had this day off so I got us a babysitter and Scott and I went to test drive cars again.  We went to Hertz first and drove the 2001 Camry.  It was really nice and very well taken care of.  We drove it and liked it.  We told the Salesman we had one more car to drive.  So we went across the street to Dennis Dillon and the Salesman there said the car was still at the body shop and locked behind the fence and he meant to get it out before it got locked up but didn't get to it.  That made Scott and I ticked off.  So we were able to look at the exterior and the interior through the window.  Scott and I left there and went to talk about the pros and cons of each car.  It finally came down to Scott didn't like the color of the other car and we could pay cash for this car.  So we went back to Hertz and bought this Toyota Camry.  We LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

So these are the pictures.  I told Scott I always look down and I'm never driving the speed limit because it feels like you are going faster than the speedometer says.  Its very interesting. So we love it.  Yeah for a new car for me till at least Scott get's out of school or we get his truck paid off and then I really get to get a new car.  :-)

Rachel hanging

Well Rachel wasn't feeling very good today and so she got her "blankie" and went to the couch to watch her Elmo.  She was even able to figure out how to get the blanket on her to cover her up.  Most the time she asks us to help her but this time she was patient enough to do it herself.  It was so cute and I was trying to get a picture without her knowing but she saw me as I rounded around the couch.  She she totally cheese'd this picture but she's sure cute when she does it.

Random stuff with Rachel

Rachel's saying that have made us laugh the last few months:
I'm too busy(She says this when she doesn't want to do something)
I'm not grumpy I'm tired (Said while we were on vacation)
No Never (Says this also when we want her to do things)
Please go to timeout (Says this when she's tired of sitting in sacrament meeting)
I go to work? (Said this when I got home from work and Scott was heading to work)  Needless to say I told her to stay a child as long as possible because working isn't fun.
I'm a silly Goof.  It used to be I'm a silly goose and so now she has shorten it.
Aye Matey!  Walk the plank! (Its so funny we are going to try and get her to say it on camera but she gets shy telling anyone so I'm not sure if she will say it for the camera).

I also decided on Sept 6th to measure Rachel.  She has started to hit her head on everything lately.  Things she used to walk under she now hits her head.  So I went and measured her on the wall and she has grown 1 3/4 inches since her birthday.  Its exciting but also sad at the same time.  She's growing up so fast and becoming so independent.

We have also tried several times to potty train Rachel but she has been really against it.  So after a complete and utter meltdown we decided to wait again.  She's just not ready to do it.  So we are still in diapers and still trying to help her realize that she wouldn't end up with a burned bum from her acidic poop if she would use the toilet.  Hopefully by her birthday we will be able to get her to do it.

A couple nights ago I had gone in to see if Rachel was okay before I went to bed.  I do this every night and when I went in this is how she was asleep in her bed.  I don't know how her legs didn't fall asleep.  The day before this though I tried to get a picture of her in bed again because she actually was on the other side of the crib with her legs straight up the wall.  Silly Girl.

The next few pictures are her telling me to take a picture of her.  I was trying to get it while she was saying "Cheese" but she was to quick for my camera so I got all these goofy pictures.

 In her cowgirl hat.

 The next three are me trying to get her before she moved while standing against the wall.  She went to the wall her self to have the pictures taken.

 Finally I got one with her smiling.  Yeah.  Look how cute she is.

 She asked for her picture taken again today and said I need my hat.  I said okay.  She also went to get her purse to go with her outfit. 

 The final outcome of her going through her toy box.

Laughing while eating the string of her cowgirl hat.  I don't know why she thought it was funny to do this but she was laughing so I took the picture.

Hot Air Balloon Festival - Boise ID

September 3rd 2011 I got Scott to get up early with me to head down to Ann Morrison Park so that we could let Rachel see the hot air balloon's lift off.  Rachel thought it was really cool.  It was a good thing it only took about 30 minutes to get all of them off the ground because that was about as much sitting in a stroller Rachel was going to do.  She was in her PJ's and it was a little bit cold so we stayed only until all lifted off and then we went to get breakfast as a family.  Here are the pictures we took of the morning lift off.

Walking towards Ann Morrison Park at 7:30 in the morning.

Susan & Rachel at the Hot Air Balloon Festival, Boise ID 9/3/2011

 Scott & Rachel at the Hot Air Balloon Festival, Boise ID 9/3/2011

 Lots of balloon's getting filled up and lifting off.

We have lift off!

 Lift offs were so fun to watch.

Trying to take our own picture.

 Of course there is a BSU balloon there.  They played today Georgia so there was lots of excitement when this balloon lifted off the ground.  P.S.  They beat Georgia 35-21.

 A Rocket balloon.  Pretty cool looking.

 This was the balloon we were closest to as we watched all of them lift off.

 Some up in the air.

 

Idaho Lottery Balloon

 A look at the sky with lots of them up there in the air.

 USA Balloon

 Yep had to get a picture of the Coca-Cola balloon.

Coca-Cola balloon lifting off.

 At the end with all the balloons off the ground.  It was pretty cool to see that many up there.  Would love to go up in one but I'm also a little bit scared I might freak out.  I'm not really to big on heights so it might be a little bit scary.

New Hair Cut

So I have been wanting a hair cut for about six months.  I was talking with someone who said that they were giving their hair to locks of love.  I asked them how many inches you had to have and they said 10.  So I came home and made Scott measure my hair.  It was at 9 1/2 inches.  I felt guilty for wanting to cut it off when I was so close to the 10 inches.  So I endured for months until I had 10 inches to cut off.  So giving my hair to locks of love has left me with this hair cut which I totally love.  I know its a shocker to lots of people because they haven't seen my hair this short in a long time but it's so easy and it's helped with Rachel not being able to pull it when she is mad at me and that was a huge factor in this decision also.

 From the front

What the back looks like. 

I love love love this new hair cut.  It's taken a bit to get used to but I'm enjoying it.

Grandma Hobbs' 90th Birthday Party

So August 13 2011 was my Grandma Revola Hobbs' 90th birthday party.  We headed from Garden Valley Utah to Preston for it.  We got there right at 2:00 when it was starting. We saw lots of people who had gone to the Jaussi family reunion earlier that day.  We all got together at my Grandma's church for the two hour reception.  It was good getting to see my brother's and their families plus my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  There were a lot of us there.  I didn't get many pictures but here are some of them. 

 My grandma Hobbs and my Aunt Carolyn. They were deciding on how to set up the reception line for people to stop and talk with my grandma.

 This is Derek's Daughter Tristanne.  She was being shy the whole time around me.

 Brianna (Derek's Oldest Daughter)

 Rachel wanted her picture taken also while I was taking pictures.

 Ah cousin love.  Rachel loved giving Madylanne loves. (Derek's youngest daughter).  She is 6 months younger than Rachel but almost the same size.  It's pretty funny.

 Paul talking with Grandma.

 Swing me Daddy.  Yes one of the many new things that Rachel loves to do.  Of course she loves to say do it again. 

 Looks like a pretty intent conversation.

 The gym decorated for the party.  My aunt Maxine in the far yellow shirt, My aunt Christine in the yellow shirt next to Maxine.  Then there is my cousins Heather(pink shirt), Laura(yellow shirt), Cheryl (purple shirt).  It was lots of fun to see so many of my cousins because I don't get to see them very much living in Boise.

 Kaylene, Paul, and my mom.

(Dennis, Susan, Rachel, Revola)

 Four Generations.  Yes we finally got one with Rachel not crying.  I was so happy.

The dessert.  It was pretty good.  Rachel thought the Hershey kiss was going to be chocolate but it was white chocolate with peppermint pieces in it.  She turned to Scott with this really weird look and said I want chocolate.  When Scott gave her the Hershey kiss she gave it back and said, "No I want chocolate."  I tell you she knoww what she wants.

Bear Lake Timeshares

So the 2nd weekend in August we always go to a timeshare with my friends Kathy & Wade.  We weren't sure now that we have Rachel if that was still going to happen but we still go to go this year with them.  We had to wait for Scott to get off work no Friday so we didn't get down there as early has we had hoped but we got there eventually.  We ended up stopping in Poky for lunch at Costa Vida.  Oh we sure do love that place.  Rachel was so excited to see Kathy & Wade.  She talked their ears off the whole time we were with them.  We then headed to Montpelier.  Our plan was to stop at the fairgrounds on the way there but that didn't happen because just as we got there Rachel had fallen asleep only ten minutes earlier.  So we chose to keep going so Scott and Rachel could keep on sleeping.  We got to the timeshares over in Garden City.  We were early getting there so they let us have keys to go use the swimming pool while we waited for our room to be cleaned.  This timeshare has two pools and indoor and an outdoor pool.  We chose to go to the outdoor pool since it was so nice out.  Our room actually got finished just before we walked over to the outdoor pool.  So we hurried to unload the cars and then went to the pool.  Rachel was so funny because she loved having everyone watch her "swim".  They had a great part of the pool that was about 3 feet by three feet that was only 1 foot deep.  Rachel loved being able to be in that area and it took her two times of walking off the stair into the deeper part of the pool to figure out that she needed to stay on that platform area.  after two hours in the pool we went back to our rooms and changed to go to dinner.  We eat at the Bear Trapper Steak House.  It as really good.  I had to laugh though because we were sitting there and Rachel of course had the waiter eating out of her house and was really attentive to her but Scott said to me, "I think that hostess is my cousin."  It just sounded so funny to me because I think I would know most of my cousins but I understand why he doesn't.  We spent the night at the timeshare hanging out and talking.  The next day we got up and Rachel watched TV while everyone was still sleeping.  Kathy and I finally made breakfast about 9:30 for everyone.  We decided that we would go up to bloomington lake before our family went to Preston for my grandmother's 90th birthday party. (Pictures from that will be another post).  So while we waited to go here is what I found when I came out of my bedroom.  We had put Elmo on so she could watch it while we got ready to go.

 Yes that is our cooler we had food in while traveling.  She pulled it over to sit on it.

 Better shot of her sitting on the cooler.

Can you see how proud she is of her accomplishment?  She is so smart.

We headed up to Bloomington Lake.  It took us so long to get there that we ended up only getting to stop at the trail head and eat lunch.  Rachel really didn't eat and just found this rock to play on she she played on the rock while we eat lunch.

 We gave her a little camp chair to sit on to eat but she didn't eat anything.

 Climbing is more fun.

 Climbing on the rock that's just her size.

So Kathy and Wade ended up hiking to the lake and we went to our party.  We got back to Montpelier at 5:00 and got ourselves some donuts from the county fair and then meet up with Kathy and Wade to eat at the pizza joint in Garden City.  It didn't look very busy until we walked in and they were extremely busy.  We got ourselves a table and had to wait for our food to come out.  When it came out though it was pretty good.

That night after we put Rachel down we played hand and food.  This is our all time favorite past time with Kathy and Wade.  It was bitter sweet having to leave and go home.  We weren't totally ready to be gone but knew we had to go back home.  

 I don't want my picture taken. :-(

 We didn't get a smile out of her but at least she's looking at the camera.  This was us heading out of the timeshares to go home.

We did a couple more stops on our way home.  We stopped and saw Scott's friend Tyler and his family in Bern Idaho and then we stopped to eat dinner with Scott's family at his parents house.  It was a long ride home and we got home around 10:30 Sunday night.