Meet Sparky

What do you do when your last child gets his drivers license and you realize that no child needs you to drive them around anymore? 

 It has been almost 26 years of driving kids places.

 You get yourself a cute little car with basically no backseat! 

Complete with a lavender spray tied with a white ribbon.

Logan says, "Mom, watch the kids as you drive past they will slug each other." 

The neighbor says, "You are cruel to get that car." I think to myself cruel? How? Then she says my kids are constantly slugging me. Once Faith was over and we were on the porch and they pulled in and I saw the girl slug her dad two times. 

Faith's car was across the street at my house. HEHE then I knew!

Buying this boy a car

From the time this child was born he loved cars. As a toddler he lined his Matchbox cars up on the couch and studied them, watching the wheels turn. He would park them in perfect straight rows. Then he grew a little older and from his booster seat he would stare out the window looking at the cars on the road. He knew what all of them were and he loved to watch them. An amazing thing about him at this age is he loved to look at the license plates and see when the tabs expired and he was the first to spot the new years color's tab. He knew what year every color was. When we would wash cars on Saturday, he would detail the wheels on our cars with all the care in the world. His little body squatting down there washing every part. He has always planned on getting his drivers license on the day he turned 16. No one else in my family got it like this. He planned it out and took drivers ed at school back in September before basketball and track season so he would be ready. Friday night this car posted on KSL classifieds.  He and Kim went to Orem to see it. It was a perfect fit and he drove it home that night. That night they washed the dash, the doors and the console. Then they shampooed the seats and washed the windows. He said as he was going to bed, I won't be able to sleep tonight. I am too excited. Saturday he washed the outside with such great care. This time when he washed the wheels they were his wheels. Tomorrow Kim will go to the DMV and Tuesday he will drive himself to school. My cute little guy is driving himself to school!

Jake graduates!

Jake's Senior Athletic Dinner

 This afternoon/evening was a dinner to honor the graduation seniors

 who have played a sport at UVU.

In total there was 53 of them.  Up from 46 last year.  Also a great GPA among them...

 Jake pictured with the Mascot and his good friend Allah.

 Several tables were set up and 4 tv screens with highlights.  A man spoke and we took pictures.  Simple and easy and I was so glad to be there.  It was a bit tricky getting off work and getting there.  Tricky as in not a lot of time after work.

 All the sports teams were there but as these kids stood up and gathered themselves for this picture.  I cried.  These kids are his friends.  He has trained, ran and hung out with them and I recognize them all from track meets.  He has spent more time with them than us.  

He has traveled, trained, tested, studied and played with this group of kids. 

 He has a ton of friends.  Kids who have already graduated, kids on missions and 

younger class men.  This has been the best experience for Jake. 

 These are the boys who sprinted with him.

Proud of him!

Logan's Birthday

 Best movie out there 42.  If you have not seen it you have to!

 It is a movie about Jackie Robinson.  You will laugh, cry and cheer.

 Popeyes just opened for Logan's birthday and boy was it crowded.  We chose to eat and wait outside.

It is the first Popeye's in our area.  St George or Hill AFB were our only options.

 All of us here but Alida who was at work and Jake who was running in California.

Yes, we waited awhile.  OK a long while.  Try over an hour!

Look behind us that is the drive through line.  It snaked forever.

But to see the birthday boy smile......worth it!

He took a bite and said "Oh, so good."

Costco cake! 

Cute 16 year old.

He got his drivers license!

On her way to a concert

 A local radio station was having a contest for a private concert in a theater for Carly Rae Jepsen.  Kelsi called and called.  She got through 3 times but never the right numbered caller.  She even had 3 phones going!  Finally she got through as the right caller and won 2 tickets. 

The concert was during Spring Break on a Wednesday  The concert was held in Sandy so it was easy for her to get to and Alida could stop there after work.  She took Alida and had the best time.

The story of how Alida and her car came to live with us

Once upon a time there was a cute girl named Alida. She met my son while they were both attending CWU. When he came to Utah after finishing college she came too. Now this was a very bold move for both of them, neither of them had jobs or had lived here before. Alida had a semester of school to finish which she did and then did an internship for Kim to make up one more credit class and then she too was done with college. They both have degrees!

 Now this cute girl who came to live with us wanted a job. She applied for a job at Delta Airlines. She was going home to WA for her birthday and had a job interview the same day she flew out. She is so wonderful that they called her the next day in WA and offered her the job and she had to fly back that weekend, way before she had planned so she could start training.

Starting work at Delta was very exciting for this girl named Alida but she knew it would be a lot of training and passing tests. It is a very rigorous training program and the tests must be passed at 80% or better.

 5 weeks of training in a classroom setting and then more training on the job.

 Alida came to us without a car. She was going to fly to WA a week after she started the job and get her car and drive it here. Then her wonderful dad offered just to ship her car to her. 

 What a great plan.

 It was actually cheaper to ship the car to our door than to fly to WA get the car and drive it here

 But, what would she do for the first week without transportation?

 She quietly studied bus schedules and  Trax schedules to figure out what time she would have to leave to make it to work on the first day and never a complaint crossed her lips!

 The weekend before she was to start I quietly said to Kim, "We can't let her spend that much time commuting plus the time she has to put in training. What can we do?" We decided to rent a car for her.

This is her on her first day of work.  Note out the back window it is still so very dark outside.

I bought her a lunch bag, a travel mug plus not pictured a soup container and a salad container for her lunches.  She was so grateful. 

As this story continues, we find Alida driving in her WA car to work and loving it. She loves having her own familiar car and it has get up and go, something the rental car did not.

She is surprised by how fast the commuters drive here and she is getting to know her fellow new hires at work. They are getting to know each other and then she does something that I admire. She arranges a carpool with some other people who are getting on the freeway before her in Provo and Orem. Now she meets them at a Park and Ride in American Fork. As a side note......the first time she drives to the Park and Ride in American Fork she can't see where to enter it and so she called my Logan who tells her exactly how to get in there. 
Now she only drives once a week and is saving so much on gas plus they can use the carpool lane.

Coming up on April 12, Alida will graduate from the training class and move into the next phase of training which is at the ticket counter and she will have her shift be from 3:30 to 12:00. She is very grateful to have the carpool settled as driving home at midnight worried her.

 Pretty soon she will be using her flying perks more and more but so far she has flown to WA for the weekend to surprise her sister for her birthday and she surprised her mom too.

 (Her dad was in on it, she needed a ride from the airport!)

The story ends with a happy ever after. Alida is a hard worker with great customer service skills. She makes her lunch the night before, sets everything out and gets up and out early. 

 She can't be late during this time of training not even one time or she will be let go. 

 Talk about pressure.

 She has passed every test with flying colors and only has one more to take.

 

Wedding Anniversary

We've been married 28 years!

 We spent our whole anniversary day together.

We made a delicious breakfast for our family.

We found this pancake mix at Target.  

It was called Pecan Cinnamon Roll.

It was absolutely delicious.

If you are shopping at Target and see it, throw it in your cart.

This picture is food that Jake's friend made us one Saturday.  

Nick is from Dallas Texas and runs on Jake's track team with him.  He made us all this Southern food.

On our anniversary we tried a restaurant named Papa O's in Draper.  

It was so good, as good as Nick's food. 

Spring Break!  9 days off!  

I am going to catch up on my blog.

Things will not be in order.

But, I will then be caught up.

Easter Dinner

Dinner was a success!  The Easter Lily bloomed, the table was set, I got a new water dispenser that we floated fruit and ice in, there was plenty of candy and food.  Bingo after the meal and then dessert. My whole family present plus Alida, Faith and Kyle!