Saturday, May 31, 2008

RIP Mrs. Potts

When I graduated from High School way back in 1997, I was very fortunate and my parents bought me a car. I had received a scholarship from CSULB, so my parents decided that since they didn't have to pay tuition, they would instead buy me a car. Having a car also meant I didn't have any excuse not visit them on weekends....Long Beach and Fontana are not that far from each other when you're driving. So, we looked around and found the perfect college student car, a 1995 4-door Honda Civic. It was only 2 years old, but it already had 75,000 miles on it and a lot of quirky things the previous owner has done to "improve"the car. There were power windows added in the front (only the passenger side worked, the driver side was manual), the windows were tinted (which soon began to bubble up), and it had an alarm that honked to horn when you pressed the button (it was the wimpiest sounding thing ever). Despite these quirks, I loved it!!! The body and interior were in great condition and I had my own car! I decided that I would keep it until the wheels fell off or it died. Well, the wheels have not fallen off, but Mrs. Potts (my name for the car....as in the fat little tea pot from Beauty and the Beast) has died. We have had 11 good years together! She was there when I left for college, received my mission call, graduated from college, got married, graduated from grad school, started my first "real job", and when Addie was born. She held out as long as she could. She will now be sold to some other lucky person who can fix her to work again as I move on to my upgrade. Mrs. Potts has been replaced.....hallelujah!!!! After11 years, that car has taken a beating as well as given others a good beating (including hitting a cyclist outside of CSULB....that's a whole other blog entry). She's old!!!!! The paint is oxidizing, she takes about 10 minutes in the morning before her heater works, and 10 minutes in the dead of summer before the a/c actually feels cold, she's loud on the freeway, had dents, scratches and cracks all over!!!! I have been waiting for her to kick the bucket for a while and she just kept going! Honda's last forever!!! Mrs. Potts has been good to me over the years and I am grateful for her, but soooooooooooo excited to have a new car! Well, it's a used car, but new to me. My parents bought a new Toyota Prius and sold their 2002 Lexus ES 300 to us! Leather seats, sunroof, dual climate control, keyless entry, 6 disc CD changer..... need I say more....I'm in heaven! I feel so ostentatious in this car, but I'm over it. I love it! Now I need a name for her and then I can drive this one into the ground too! Rest in peace Mrs. Potts!


Mrs. Potts
(dents in the hood from that pesky biker that decided to ride out in front of us at CSULB)


Backside view...it's hard to see the crappy paint, but you can see some of the bad paint in the bumper.

My new ride!!!!

Isn't she beautiful !!!!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Addie's Blessing

So, I'm a little late posting this, but better late than never. Addie was blessed in church on Sunday May 4 bright and early at 8am. Gotta love 8am church...are you catching the hint of sarcasm? Anyways, Brian did a great job blessing her of course, and all of our family and friends came to our house afterwards for a brunch. I made two kinds of quiche, potatoes and had fruit, muffins, bagels and homemade bread. Luckily, everything turned out fine. In the morning before church, my lovely oven decided to turn off in the middle of cooking the quiches and I didn't find out until I went to take them out of the oven...ugghhh!! I still had more quiches to put in the oven, but wasn't going to have time to finish the half cooked ones and still cook the others. I had a momentary freak out, but thankfully, my mom was here and she came home early from church to finish everything up. Have I mentioned church is at 8am? It was an early crazy morning, but everything turned out fine and Addison received a beautiful first blessing from her father. It turned out great!


Everyone who attended the blessing!
(Minus my parents - - they left a little early to get the rest of the food ready)
Addie in her white dress and fast asleep.

Addie and her Daddy...

My parents and all of their grandchildren...the other four are my brother's cute kids.
(Left - right....Brie, Grammie, Addie, Jason, Papa, Joshua, & Tyler)

The cousins having fun with bubbles...Brie, Tyler, and Isabella (Brian's brother's daughter)

Grandma Junell and Auntie Kelly (Kelly's baby boy is due in July!)
Papa and Brian relaxing out back.

Cousins Tyler and Blake

Cousin Joseph having fun with bubbles.