insta-july

insta-july

{7.5.17}

We took Caleb swimming for the first time today. 🏊💦💦☀️ (All the other times we'd just leave him in his carseat on the edge of the pool.) He was pretty stone faced the entire time, but seemed to enjoy the water and didn't make a single peep the whole time we were there. Also, the clothes sharing between these two boys has officially started. Left: Caleb today. Right: Austin last week. Same super-cute swim suit. Let the twinning begin!👱👱

{7.12.17}

Impromptu summer haircut for the win. 

#thankyouYouTubeTutorials#bribedherwithpawpatrol#nomoreratsnests#cutaustinstoobutnophotodocumentation

{7.13.17}

When I just need like two. consecutive. minutes. to work on Primary stuff (or it will never. ever. get done). #buyingmyselftime#notsurethisoneisworthit#nextupcleaningmypantry

{7.14.17}

I've been rocking this pink Paw Patrol watch for the past couple of days because I can't find mine. I'd asked Lydia to help me find it and when she couldn't she brought me hers and said "I couldn't find your watch but you can use mine instead!" 😍😭⌚ She's such a sweet girl and I've been grateful for the watch because not having one makes me feel all sorts of scattered. Any other watch wearers out there? David thinks I'm silly because I have a clock in my phone but I just like my watch. (Especially the timex glow feature during the night.) #watchwearer #oldschool

{7.16.17}

The best weekend with some of my favorite people! Camping in AF Canyon then hiking up and going through Timpanogos Cave. The cave was so cool, and the whole weekend was just the best. We missed you Kevin @jennahaderlie, and Matt& Brooklyn @brooklynwalker.art !

{7.23.17}

🎵"You don't have to push a handcart, Leave your family dear, Or walk a thousand miles or more To be a pioneer! You do need to have great courage, Faith to conquer fear, and work with might for a cause that's right To be a pioneer!" 🎵 ...... Dressed as a pioneer for Primary today and feel so uplifted from hearing story after story of those "blessed, honored, pioneers" who had such a burning faith and determination to follow the Lord. Feeling rededicated to letting Him calm my soul and guide me through the hard paths of life. I choose to follow him with courage and faith! "Pioneer faith is needed as much in the world today as in any period of time." -Elder L. Tom Perry. #pioneerday

{7.24.17}

My heart belongs in Logan. 💓 We had the best day celebrating our great State, at our favorite place IN the state. #usuforever #loganday

Logan (Pioneer) Day!

This year for Pioneer Day we wanted to do something more than just hang around the house and have a BBQ. I was feeling particularly inspired after having a special Primary Sharing Time lesson where I invited eight kids (four in each primary) to dress up and share a pioneer story of their ancestors. It was faith filled and inspiring. I wanted us to do something more pioneer-focused and special. I noticed that Logan was having their Pioneer Day Celebration. We always try to take a "Logan Day" during the summer so we thought that it would be perfect to go to a Pioneer town, which also happens to be our favorite town in Utah! Unfortunately "Pioneer Days" didn't have much to do with the pioneers at all. I feel sad that people feel so pressured to not "push our religion" on other people that we can't even mention the Pioneers on the day that the State has set aside to celebrate them. It just seems like even if you aren't LDS, and even if you don't talk about their faith or love for the Lord, there are still so many lessons and good things that can come from celebrating their sacrifices and learning about their lives and what it was like for them to settle in Utah. It's sad to me. I think in the future we will be better at planning and try to do some of the "Days of 47 stuff". There was literally no mention of the pioneers (mormon or not) in the entire celebration (parade, activities, everything) other than a privately funded and unmarked section of the parade with people pulling handcarts (no sign or anything, but I found out later it's just a family who enters their handcarts in the parade every year). 

Setting my disappointment aside, though, we had a great day in Logan. It was nice to just detach from everything and focus solely on being together. Plus, it was nice to have the parade and activities to do, because sometimes it's hard to go to Logan with our kids because there isn't much for us to do with them there. It worked out nicely. 

Eating lunch at our grassy and shady parade spot.

Eating ice cream (using coupons that were handed out at the parade). 

Giving the kids a tour of all our old apartments/stomping grounds. Our first married apartment at 464 N 500 E, Old Farm (David) and Pineview (Shantel). 

"Pioneer Playground" (not) The kids made safari hats and vests. They also had hair spray paint and kids temporary tattoos, but we didn't do those. (But seriously, what does any of that have to do with the pioneers. It was no pioneer playground. But, letting go of that -the kids had fun with their Safari hats.)

The kids convinced us to let them go on the bounce houses. Always a hit.

We love this temple!

Can't go to Logan without going to 1st Dam. We ate lunch, tried really hard to fly our kite in the gentle breeze, and enjoyed wading in the water. (I'll be honest, the water was so cold I basically only stayed in to get a picture - but the kids enjoyed it.) 

All in all a nice day spent in Logan. We love it up there. But to satisfy my Pioneer Day celebration needs, here are a couple of quotes I've been thinking about:

"We must be sure that the legacy of faith received from the pioneers who came before us is never lost. Let their heroic lives touch our hearts, and especially the hearts of our youth, so the fire of true testimony and unwavering love for the Lord and His Church will blaze brightly within each one of us as it did our faithful pioneers." - M. Russell Ballard

"Pioneer faith is needed as much in the world today as in any period of time." L. Tom Perry

"The Lord isn't asking us to load up a handcart, He's asking us to fortify our faith. He isn't asking us to walk across a continent. He's asking us to walk across the street to visit our neighbor. He isn't asking us to give all of our worldly possessions to build a temple. He's asking us to attend regularly the temples already built. He isn't asking us to die a martyr's death, He's asking us to live a disciple's life." M. Russell Ballard 

I love these thoughts and hope that my legacy can be one of faith and love, just as these mighty men and women who came before. 

Introducing the Honda Civic

Introducing our new Honda Civic! She does not have a name yet...I'm thinking either Civi (original I Know) or Paige (after Paige from Scorpion since we just named our new computer Walter from scorpion. 

I had been looking for a car for along time and as I mention in our summer leftovers post, we drove a lot of different vehicles, which meant there were a lot of different features we considered. In the end, the things that I decided were the most important were:

-Backup camera: We only looked at cars with a back up camera from the very beginning because it is such an important safety feature. 

-Android Auto/Apple Car Play: All the cars we looked at had bluetooth interface with your phone, but everything is going to Android Auto and the functionality is much better. Since I use my phone a lot to listen to things while driving and because I go out to clients I wanted that interface built into the screen. 

-Push button start with keyless entry. Again, in 5 years all cars will have this and it was something that I wanted for convenience and also, because it would just be so nice. 

That is it, those were the things I decided mattered most. In addition, Lydia made it very clear that she wanted a car with an open top. So it was good that in our final choices, they all had sun roofs. 

That left us with two top choices, the Honda Civic and the Hyundai Elantra. Both had similar features, but at the same price point, the Elantra came with heated leather seats and electronically adjustable seats. However, the Honda's have a much better reputation and while we have liked our Hyundai's, our Accent had it's engine die at 130,000 miles and our Elantra does not have a lot of value at 150,000 miles. When Shantel and I talked about it, we realized that it would be better to pay a little more and get something that will last us a really long time since we hope that I'll drive this for 10 or 11 years and then our kids will drive it. In addition, there were two other factors. 1) It turns out that I did not really love the leather seats in the Elantra, they just looked a bit funny. The cloth seating in the Civic actually looked better. Heated seats would be nice, but I did not actually think I would use them a ton. The automatic adjusting seats are the one thing I would miss, but I'd rather have the reliability of the Civic. 2) I mentioned the things above that were must have's, but the other was having the color that I wanted. The Elantra's did not have any good looking blue's, I was hoping for a navy. They were out of White Elantra's and it was going to be an extra $300-$400 to bring a white Elantra from another dealer. However, the Civic I could get in White or a dark blue. 

Originally we wanted a car in the $16,000 to $18,000 price range. As we started looking we found that the higher level packages included some really great safety features like smart cruise control and lane keep assist. After lots of discussion, we decided the extra couple thousand dollars that these would cost would be well worth it. As a side note, I l have loved the smart cruise control, it has been really nice driving to work. 

We negotiated a price at a few Hyundai dealers to see where we would end up. Then we went to one Honda dealer to negotiate pricing from them. Finally we went back to Ken Garff Honda and negotiated the price. At the prior Honda dealer they would not budge below $24,000 out the door, but it seemed like if we would commit to buying they might be able to get to $23,500 out the door (including taxes). So we shot for that. After discussing price and going back and forth a bit, they told us they could do the $23,500 out the door we wanted, if we would finance the car through them. We had been planning to pay cash with money we saved, and even though you could pay the car back within 6 months and close the loan, it would still mean a few hundred dollars of interest and the hassle of doing it. We decided to stay firm and told them no. They went back and were able to get it to us for $23,500 out the door. We ended up paying $21,122. We felt pretty good about this because Ken Garff pretty much posts the price instead of haggling a ton, so to even get $500 off the posted price was pretty good. 

Once we decided to buy we had one more decision to make. White or blue. We drove a dark blue with gray interior and a white with black inside. I thought I would want the dark blue, but we did not love the gray interior. We loved the white with black and decided to go with that and are so happy we did, it is perfect. 

I have loved the car. The kids were excited too and wanted to ride in it right away. I feel very fortunate to have such a nice car and am excited to drive it for a long time.

I have really loved the car and and it has been nice for driving co-workers as well. Android auto and the maps/navigation has been so nice. Welcome to the family Paige.