You Say To-MAY-to, I Say To-MAH-to...

I say we have them coming out our ears!!!

LAST YEAR, I planted three tomato plants, and we had WAY TOO MANY tomatoes, so, as a solution, this year I only planted one.
WELL, I do believe our ONE plant has OUTPRODUCED the three that I had last year!!!

Every time I went out to pick.....

...I got this many!

And this has been going on for a couple of months now.

In fact, last month, when Kyle was trying to think of a way (translated: badgering asking me what to do) to answer a girl to the Harvest Dance.... after throwing around many different ideas, I said, "Can't ya do it somehow with tomatoes???"  (Since there's NO shortage of those around here!) 

So, he did:

(do you 'get it?')

So, now that it's October, there are STILL dozens (maybe hundreds?) of green and half green/half red tomatoes on the plant!  It's going to start getting too chilly at night to be good for the plant, so I tried something new that I heard about.  

Someone told me that I could dig out the plant, with roots still attached....

LOOK how monstrous that plant became!!!
It started out like this:

Instead of saying, "Growing like a weed," I'm gonna start saying, "She's growing like a tomato plant!"

 (A regular scene these days on my kitchen window sill - these are all the ones that fell off during the digging it up and transporting stages)

....anyway, after you pull it out, you're suppose to hang it upside-down in your garage, and the tomatoes will continue to ripen, and you can keep using your tomato supply instead of losing them all to the cold weather.  (At least that's what I heard)

So, I did it:

After each of the kids came in from school that day and ALL inquired, in half-panicked voices, a version of the same, "WHAT THE HECK IS OUT IN THE GARAGE????" question, I decided I better warn my husband before he got home, seems as it was hanging in his parking space.

So, I texted him, "You MIGHT be surprised when you come into the garage tonight.... just giving ya a heads up. ;)"

To which he replied back,  "A new Suburban?  HaHa."

Oh, man....now THAT would've been a first-rate surprise!!!

But, so sorry, Babe - you're going to be sadly disappointed when you open the garage door.......and discover it is ONLY an upside-down tomato plant!  ;)   

In Loving Memory

Well, It's hard to say, "Goodbye"

and let go.
And it's hard to see it end.
When the memories we just made may never happen again.
But it's harder for time to ever erase, the together times we've shared.
So, when we're apart, remember, all the love we've shared together...
(Do these lyrics ring a bell for all you 37-42ish yr. olds out there?)


Yesterday, we had to say goodbye to our awesome Suburban.

And it wasn't just because it was missing a very important driver's side door handle - I'd learned to live with THAT.


You see, six weeks ago, on our way down to St. George, half the transmission went out.
3rd and 4th gears -- completely GONE!
Which means we can't drive freeway speeds in it.
Which is a slight problem when there's 300 miles of freeway between where it went out and St. George!
We, lovingly, refer to that time as the "transmission adventure."
I won't go into it all...but the "adventure" involves the middle of the night, calling relatives at an insane hour, "sleeping" (or not) on someone's Family Room floor & couches, a $1,900 repair estimate (which we declined), driving the back roads from Orem to home to avoid freeway speeds (2 1/2 hrs. worth), borrowing a car, unpacking & repacking, and finally arriving at our St. George destination 21 hours AFTER we first set out to go!

Since then, we have known we need to get a new car, but I just wasn't ready (financially & emotionally) for this to happen, yet!
And since we could still drive it up to 40 mph, we have been these past 6 weeks.
In second gear.
Which makes a Suburban EVEN MORE of a gas guzzler than it already is!


The thing that made it harder was I thought I was only taking in the Suburban to let the car dealership owner have a look at it, so he could tell me how much they would give us for it (AS IS.) And then we would do the official trade-in the next day or so. BUT, when he came back from driving it, he told me I could just take the new car home right then. Yep, he let me take it without even a down payment! He didn't want to risk our Suburban losing the other half of it's transmission before he could even take it to the car auction, so he didn't want it to be driven anymore.
I didn't know if I was ready to give it up, yet -- especially so suddenly!
I took a while cleaning it out and transferring all it's contents over to the new car.
While stalling for time thoroughly cleaning it out, I discovered something stuck inside and under the middle console. When I pulled it out, it was a boys wallet.

Could it be what I thought it was? I opened it up. Yep, there, inside was $17.00!!!

You see, Ryan's wallet, with his life savings ($17) in it, went missing almost six years ago! It happened right around the time he had his 8 yr. old birthday party. So, when we could never find it anywhere in the house, we naturally assumed that one of those boys who came to his party STOLE IT! So many times over the years, Ryan has wished he had an extra $17. And then we would curse those 8 yr. old boys!

I apologize to all you [now 13 & 14 yr. old] innocent boys who were at that party! All these years, I've wondered which one of you was THE THIEF! At last, you have all regained your reputation, again!

OK, back to leaving the Suburban....
I finally did, and as I drove down the road, I got all teary-eyed.
"DUMB." you say?
This was my DREAM CAR!
"You really don't have very high standards!" you say.

I was first introduced to the Suburban growing up. We had one. It was "two-toned" - they used to all be like that. It was dark blue on the top and the bottom, with a light blue strip running through the middle section...aahhhh....it plowed through those snowy streets, up on the hill, in Bountiful...we called it "THE BURB"...I took my Driver's License test in it...it held a good load of teenagers in it as we went gallivanting around town - and out of town...it pulled our boat..and our trailer...and our trailer with our boat behind it (a 3 "vehicle" train if you can imagine it.)
And that is how my love affair with the Suburban was born.

So, back to my DREAM CAR.

Matt had come from a "BiG Van family", and could not fully appreciated the goodness of a Suburban - at first.
Earlier on in our marriage, when I told him of my plans for a Suburban, he said we did not need one! (with only 2 little boys and all.)
I promised him, "If you get me a Suburban, I will fill it up [with kids]!
Done deal!
We got the Suburban in Feb. 2003.

My intention was to also get it to pull a boat -- our boat.
That never happened. :(
Kids tend to devour up all of one's "Boat Fund."

We called it our "BMW" - Big Mormon Wagon.

We've made many a trips to St. George and Cache Valley in it!

We've had many a kids throw up and pee their pants in it! (And not just my offspring -- other children have also contributed to this cause!) :P

We took it on a road trip to Colorado Springs.
(lots of throw up on that trip!)

We drove it to Boise, Idaho. (Woo, Hoo!)

We may have "taken it the distance" even more, but since I started working at JetBlue, flying has become our preferred method of transportation.

It was the recipient of many a drink spills, crunched up food, stepped on crumbs and "mystery smells" as a result of the aforementioned items spoiling in their hidden places only known to my little ones.

We've been in little fender benders in it - and came away UNSCATHED - it's invincible, I tell ya!

It was "ol' reliable" as we drove it confidently through seven Utah winters.

And we can't forget our encounters with the cops in it!

Our family grew into it...from three children...to four...to five!
I didn't quite fill it to the brim - 6 children would've done that - so, maybe that's why I'm being punished! I didn't keep my promise to the fullest extent.

Since I wasn't expecting to give the Suburban up that day, I didn't come prepared with the camera. (Or a car wash for the "winter grime." Please pardon that.)

Matt went back the next morning to give them the money (a personal check) - yes, they basically let us give them a mere piece of paper with some numbers on it & our signature - and he took these last pictures. Afterwards he called me to tell me it was official -- he'd let her go -- and I cried. Real tears.
I had lost my baby.

*******

We got our new car from Rand's Auto in North Salt Lake. They were so great to work with! We've definitely found us a place to buy our cars EVERY TIME from now on! So, trusting of us! Wonder if we would've just taken off with their new car and left our Suburban forever?!? Without paying - ever? Not a great trade for THEM financially, but they'd still be LUCKY to have our Suburban - they just wouldn't understand WHY like I do!

*******

We got ourselves a Toyota Sienna. They have a much better life expectancy than American-made big, 4WD SUVs. It's an 8 passenger one - with a deep cargo space, in an effort to most closely imitate a Suburban. The kids are THRILLED! I can't believe we're a "minivan family" now! It's just that they're slightly less expensive than Suburbans these days!

Maybe one day, a Suburban will join our family again. I can only dream!

Why Can't Family Pictures Ever Go off Without a Hitch?

Inform my whole family about Family Pictures (so there would be no protesting/complaining they "didn't know!") -- check.

Laid out 3 different wardrobe options for each child (so there would be no meltdowns because they "hate that!") -- check.

Asked Matt to come home from work early (so we could have enough daylight left for pictures) -- check.

Allow one hour before "showtime" to double check &/or fix everyone's hair/face/clothes -- check.

Back out of our driveway ON TIME -- check.

Have the gas tank full enough to get us to the picture location -- *@$#%^+%!!!

Yep, we ran out of gas on I-15 on the way to our picture appointment!

I don't even make it a habit to check the gas gauge, so I wasn't even aware.

Matt, on the other hand, had noticed we were on empty, but because he knew how hard I was trying to make it on time, he didn't say anything, let alone stop to fill up.

So, there we found ourselves stopped on the side of the road. The relative who lives closest to this "incident" was the lucky one to be called to come help us! :) Matt's brother (Thanks Mike) went and filled up a gas can (and his own car, too, since he was at risk to also run out!) to bring to us/come to our rescue.

But, this all takes time - and the minutes (& daylight) were ticking away...and I could not get a hold of our photographer (turns out, her cell phone had fallen out of her pocket and was laying in the grass in her yard.)

Meanwhile, as we were waiting on the side of the freeway, a Highway Patrolman pulled up behind us. He got out of his car and approached my [passenger] side. Since the car was dead and we couldn't unroll the automatic window, I had to open my door.

He asked what was going on. We told him we'd run out of gas and had already called someone...and, with great timing, right then our "help" pulled up behind the cop car!

BUT, instead of commenting on how well we were taking care of our "situation," he says to me,

"You know I could ticket you for this!"

I said, "No, I did not know that."

He said, "Yep, it's called a 'voluntary emergency stop.'" (or something to that effect)

Then he goes on to lecture me about how dangerous it is to be on the side of the road, and especially with all my children in the car. AND then he asks,

"I mean, really, how many gas stations did you pass on your way here?
Probably 3 or 4." (it was actually only one.)

He was really trying to lay it into me how much this was my fault & how careless I was! (I know, I know!)

(He let us go without a ticket, but reminded me again that he totally could give us one!)

So, here we are totally late for our appointment and I'm trying hard to hold back the tears -- unsuccessfully.

So, what d'ya do when that's happened and you're suppose to get Family Pictures taken?

You just get a creative photographer to cut Mom's face out of the photo...

Or you just take one of these handsome boys only...

(that Matt -- I tell ya, he IS a sight for sore eyes! :) Wooo!)
And, of course, you stay out of the picture again by just throwin' the kids in to pose...

There's always the option of looking away and just catching the family photo from behind...

OR you put "the center of attention" in the mix -- the one who makes everything all better -- who has the ability to draw a smile out of EVERYONE (even a frazzled, upset, emotionally disheveled Mom)...
Again, I ask, "What would we do without Brookelle?"

Oh Crap!

FIRST: Do you notice something wrong with this car door?

Something missing? Like, perhaps, maybe the door handle of our Suburban?

It just came off as Matt was opening the [driver's side] door on Sunday!

We were at church, no less. THAT kind of thing shouldn't happen when you're going to church, should it?!? ;)

Now, I guess, we'll have to do it "Dukes of Hazard" style.

I told my kids that they officially are having a "deprived childhood" since they are not growing up watching this show! Remember my thing for John Schneiter - 100th Post #25.

SECONDLY: I thought I was doing pretty good helping Haylee get the "weekly homework" in her Homework Folder done. In fact, I specifically remember thinking that it was NOT ending up to be as intense as I thought it would be based on the impression I got at Back to School night.

BUT...THEN I was in her bedroom one day and found THIS all over the floor! THIS is the "daily homework" that she brings home in her backpack -- and apparently just empties it out of there onto the floor! There was 2 weeks worth of additional homework we'd missed!

THIRD(LY): It was raining one day, but Kyle's football coach DID NOT cancel practice in spite of this little fact.

Wet & muddy fields and white pants do not go together!

And this is after an attempt has been made (by the males in this family) to clean them up a bit. The refund of my deposit depends upon the return of these practice pants in "good condition."

FOURTH(LY): Here is a "sneak peek" of what my home looked like the other day when I got an unannounced visitor. This visitor happens to have a spotless house herself. She is consistent & thorough in her own housekeeping. I have NEVER seen her house look bad! She also notices things (of the cluttered, dirty, unkempt, imperfect, run-down, trashy variety, especially.)As you can see, my front room was full of the laundry I hadn't got around to putting away, yet. There's my daughter's backpack (probably full of additional "mystery homework") that she feels the need to DUMP there every day. Also, this visitor came in through my garage that's been on my "Honey, Do" list for MONTHS, walked through the laundry room with clothes baskets all over, then into the kitchen, as well. As we talked, my eyes scanned the kitchen. There were kids' blankets & shoes on the floor. There were CLEAN (at least they were clean) pans on the counter dish rack that were "drying." The breakfast aftermath was still on the table AND the usual pile of mail & other ever-multiplying papers were in a stack on the counter. Can you say, "Horrified?!"

***NOTE TO Y'ALL: Please give me at least 20 minutes (or an hour or two) notice when coming over. I usually like surprises, but not this kind. I'm DYING about this one.

AND LASTLY: EVERY OTHER TIME I've made these delicious Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins, they turn out beautifully! With nice, big rounded muffin tops.

NOT THIS TIME! And did I mention that THIS TIME I had prepared them for our Relief Society's talent night?!?. Yah, that's right, it was an evening to showcase our sisters' finest abilities! So, NO, I did NOT take them. There was NO WAY in **** I was gonna do that! :)

They became the kids' after-school snack (and they announced they were just as delicious as ever.)