Random Thought Tuesday

So, nothing too important... just a bunch of little stuff:

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In case you were wondering, after my ranting parade etiquette post, the Fourth of July parade went surprisingly well- I'm talking as far as the number of stupid spectators went, not how my guard did. They're still learning. :)

Yes, there were still silly people shouting at us to play and spin (Eric...), but there were NO kids in our way on the road. Last year, this parade was one of the worst offenders that way, but this year the Provo police stepped it up (woot woo!) and just about tackled anyone who got too far out on the road. I could have kissed them. And I only got squirted by water once, in the back of the head and my girls didn't get hit at all. So, I'm counting it as my most stress free, happy parade yet. :)

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The little bebe has officially graduated from embryo to fetus. Hooray! Only other thing of note is that the doctor moved my due date up by one day (Feb 7th) and said he's not exactly sure about it because of various factors, but that we'll go with it for now. (I'm crossing my fingers... getting a free couple of weeks of pregnancy would be awesome! Haha... wishful thinking.)

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We had an AWESOME Fourth of July weekend. It was the perfect break for us! (And definitely very sorely needed.) My family came into town on Friday and we had a blast!

Saturday was packed - we all came home and pretty much just fainted into our beds at the end of it :) Here is what our day looked like: Provo parade in the morning, Tucanos for lunch, then to Seven Peaks for swimming, then a barbecue for dinner, and then we went and watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks on campus. It was such a fun weekend - we loved having everyone here. Thanks Mom and Dad for all you did!

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So people have joked before that buying totally crappy cars that need tons and tons of repairs is our cross to bear. We seem to have a knack for picking out ticking car repair time bombs. Every single car we have bought (I think we're on #5 now) has seemed fine and then had major issues. And don't get the wrong idea - we really do try to maintain our cars fairly well to avoid problems. And before we buy cars, we ask lots of questions, try to find out the history, have it checked by a mechanic, etc. We are just cursed. In the last two months alone we have spent thousands of dollars repairing our cars. (Anyone want to buy a Honda Civic?) I'll highlight a few of the biggest repairs:

• new catalytic converter for the truck - $700


• new struts, back bearing, something else I can't remember, and a wheel (to fix a dumb noise that wasn't a problem, but was just a noise that would make someone not buy the car) on the Civic - $600-700


• fixing various problems for safety and emissions on the Escort - $150


• a new problem that the mechanic found when fixing up the Escort for safety and emissions - $500

So, besides of being broke - we are sick of car repairs. The other day, I walked past the Civic and thought how nice it was that at least everything was nice and fixed up and we could rest easy about one car. Then, Eric took the Civic for a quick errand yesterday (we hardly ever drive it because we are trying to sell it and want it to stay in pristine condition) and when he got back he told me that the maintenance required light came on when he started driving. GRRRRR! What the heck? I seriously want to blow that car up. It's not due for an oil change, so it's probably something big. And wouldn't you know, the only place that can properly read and turn off the light for us if it isn't just an oil change issue is the dang Honda dealership who charges an $80 or $90 diagnostic fee on top of the hundreds of dollars they charge you to fix the problem.

I hate cars! This has just gotten ridiculous. The next time we go to buy a car, we are seriously going to hire someone to pick out a car for us, since we can't seem to get it right. Any volunteers?

Post-Edit: Just returned from the Honda dealership and it turns out that this was just a reminder to do an oil change and other regular maintenance and all they had to do was turn off the light. And it was free :) Hooray!

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For anyone interested in this sort of thing or who just wants something cool to do- no, let me rephrase that - something freaking awesome to do: the Blue Devils are rehearsing today from 1-10pm and tomorrow from 9-5pm at American Fork High School! It's totally free to watch and totally amazing! Also, Corp Encore is tomorrow night in Ogden at 7pm, I think.