January - The Gray Lady

For years, we've been talking about buying another van but have kept pushing it off.

Sean's 1995 Honda Civic has been on it's last leg for a while now.

The clutch needs replacing, one of the gears doesn't work 

and it makes a weird grinding noise, and it's leaking coolant like crazy.

One of the windows is being held up by duct tape and the driver seat is being held in place by zip ties.

Oh and there is no air conditioning.

Our 2006 Dodge Caravan has just over 150,000 miles and is starting to need minor repairs.

Sean doesn't trust it on road trips anymore.

Last month, Sean finally decided that he was done and wanted to buy a new van this year.

I had try to convince him to wait another year but finally agreed with him.

We wanted a van with 8 seats. Our Caravan only has 7, which means we have no extra seats.

The only vans with 8 seats are the Toyota Sienna, Kia Sedona and Honda Odyssey.

We found a dealership that all three of those vans.
Lexi and Avery were at a sleepover with their cousins,
and since we didn't know how long we'd be gone, we took the younger three with us.

There were so many people looking at vans at the dealership. We went to Veloctiy in American Fork.

It was crazy. You had to wait to get keys to look at most of the vans.

We quickly ruled out the Sienna. We didn't like it's extra 8th seat as much.

There was only one Sedona and one Odyssey that we were interested in.

We walked back and forth between those two vans several times.

Sitting in them over and over again and comparing them.

Here's the outside of the Kia Sedona.

And here's the inside of the Honda Odyssey. It is a 2015. It had 45,000 miles on it just like the Kia.

It was incredibly fancy but it was so much nicer than our Caravan. We really liked the 8th seat too.

We wanted to test drive the Odyssey first but someone else beat us to it.

So we test drove the Kia first. It was a 2017 and had leather interior and all the bells and whistles.

It was very nice. But we didn't know as much about it's reputation.

We liked it. But couldn't decided anything without driving the Odyssey.

As soon as the other family got back, then went inside and talk to a guy for a long time.

Finally they left and we immediately test drove the Odyssey.

We knew right away that it was our favorite and that we wanted it.

Hondas have such good reputations 

and that was more important to us then the fancy upgrades of the Kia.

After we signed all the paperwork, we waited for a long time 

while they put on new front tires (something Sean had asked them to do) and wash the van.

The kids ran around the showroom having a great time but being loud and a little wild.

No one seemed to mind though. We actually really liked all the staff at Velocity.

We had a great experience with them.

While we were waiting the man who had test drove the Odyssey before us called back.

Apparently he had asked them to hold it for him. But without putting money down, they didn't.

He didn't even seem that serious since he didn't even have the vehicle that he wanted to trade in.

I guess he sound mad on the phone when he was told that we bought the van. 

We were so happy though!

Finally the van was ready and we got the keys.

I had decided that I wanted to name my new van, The Gray Lady.

The Gray Lady is Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter Helena. 

She is the house ghost of Ravenclaw at Hogwarts.

My girls were so excited about the Harry Potter themed name when I told them.

After we were done, Sean drove Big Red (which we may start possibly calling The Man Van) 

and I drove The Gray Lady to Michelle's house to pick up the girls.

It had been a very long day and we were all tired.

The next day we were excited to all ride in our new van together for the first time.

After church we went for a little drive. 

Lexi kept telling us that this was the nicest car she had ever been in.

The kids all were so excited about our new van. Compared to our old one, it is pretty fancy.

The day after we bought the new van, 

Sean found a family in our neighborhood who wanted to buy Blue Bell.

Two days later they took it.

We were so grateful for the Civic when Michelle and Justin gave it to us.

That was so generous of them and such a blessing to our family.

That was the first time we had two vehicles and it provided me with so much freedom.

The Civic has been a great car for Sean even though it kept getting broke into and even stolen.

But Sean couldn't be more excited for his new ride.

January - Lexi's Science Fair Project

Back in September, Lexi was selected to be in the early morning advanced science club.

As part of that club, the kids had to participate in a science fair.

(This was the first year that our school wasn't making the fifth graders participate.)

Sean and Lexi decided on her project and got all the supplies.

They started on it the week after my surgery.

They bought some grown lights and set them up in the kids' bathroom.

They grew grass.

Then they conducted an experiment to see if plants, or in this case grass, help stop erosion.

First they poured a cup of water on the on the tray with just soil.

It started eroding immediately.

After pouring a cup of water on the grass several times, it didn't erode at all.

The roots held the soil in place.

After they conducted the experiment, Sean and Lexi made her board.

Lexi's project advanced to the district fair.

She had to present her project to three different judges.

I'm sure she did great. Parents weren't allowed in the room.

That night we found out that Lexi was advancing onto the state competition!

Lexi was so excited and so proud of her ribbon.

In March she'll go up to the University of Utah and compete.

January - Lexi's Biz Town Field Trip

The fifth graders at our elementary school participate in the coolest thing, Biz Town.

They prepare for months to go to Biz Town.

Biz Town is a miniature city that the kids get to run.

The kids had to learn about different jobs and pick their top three choices.

Then they had to do job interviews.

Then they were selected for a job and had to receive training before the field trip.

Lexi was choosen to be a medical technologist at Merit Medical.

I had planned to go on the field trip with her but due to my foot surgery, wasn't able too.

But I had several friends that texted me pictures of Lexi through out the day.

Here' Lexi all dressed up for her big day.

Here's Lexi with her friend Brylee. Brylee was the mayor of Biz Town.

She ran and had to give a speech and get elected 

and did lots of training and had to give speeches at Biz Town.

Some of Lexi's other friends were tellers at a bank and worked for Delta airlines.

Here's Lexi on one of her breaks.

Her friends all lucked out and got to take their breaks at the same time.

They met up at the Maverik and got drinks and treats together.

Each kid was given a certain amount of money to spend on the field trip.

They could spend it however they wanted but had to keep track of it in their check book.

Here's a "medical" supply Lexi made at work.



And here's Lexi's check book.







Lexi had a fun field trip although her feet hurt by the end of the day.
And she realized that she didn't want to be a medical technologist when she grows up.

January - The Circus

Last year the Jordan World Cirus came to our little town.

The tickets were cheap and the venue was a little older but we had such a good time.

So we were excited when we found out that the circus was coming back into town.

We invited the Greenwoods to join us this year.

And they did, even though it was David and Chelsi's wedding anniversary.

That just shows how much they love us!

The kids were excited about cotton candy. We don't go many places that sell it.

Ty got to eat it for the first time.

Apparently Ty wasn't so sure about taking a selfie.

Here's the venue and set up.

The tiger act was impressive again this year.

It just amazes me that such powerful, wild animals can be trained.

And that someone is crazy enough to train them!

The dog act was funny and entertaining.

There was a transforming car this year that was pretty cool.

David was picked to participate in a lip singing act. 

The kids didn't realize it until he was out on the floor. They were really excited to seem him out there.

We wanted to get a ride on the elephants but the price either went up
or were more expensive then I remembered. $20 a person was more than we were willing to spend.
So we settled for a picture instead.