A Few Things

Look, all the doors in Dylan's car can be opened!

24 July 2015

Here's just a couple of things that have been going on around here.

First of all, Dylan took his "new" 1996 Buick Century in to have some work done. He now has four new tires and a new battery, and they were able to repair both door handles, so both front doors can be opened from the inside and outside! The driver side of the front seat still leans back kind of catawampus, so there's a laundry basket wedged behind it to hold it upright, and now the turn signals light up but don't blink, so there's still a bit of work to be done, but for a total investment of $700 so far, Dylan has a pretty dependable car.

Proud Jake.

Secondly, Dylan's friend Jake from Pennsylvania (not to be confused with Jake from State Farm) got his learner's permit and is working on building his driving skills, which, admittedly, were shaky at best when he started out. He truly had no driving experience ... none. In fact, during our first lesson on side streets, Dylan proclaimed that it was too scary and demanded to be dropped off at the home of his friend Mary until the lesson was over. Honestly, Jake was no more "scary" than Sarah and Jacob were when they were fifteen and I began teaching them to drive. 

I got lucky with Dylan. My second husband Ed actually started letting Dylan drive occasionally when he was only twelve, so I was blessed to miss out on his earliest experiences. That was one of the rare circumstances when Ed treated Dylan fairly well in the beginning, even praising his natural driving skills.

I noticed this display case while we were at the Motor Vehicle Department.

I didn't realize Arizona had so many options for license plate styles!

That's right, we bad. Two way-too-cool Wally-world employees.

1 Aug 2015

Third, there are now five members of my family/household employed by Walmart. Yep, you got it: Jake started on Wednesday and is already being trained to take over as manager of the frozen foods department. He has a lot of experience in retail, and frozen foods in particular, from his job in PA, so Walmart was thrilled to get him.

Jacob's new uniform for the photo department.

26 July 2015

Fourth, Jacob has changed departments on the job, moving from domestics to photo. I think he likes it. Part of his job is to examine all pictures as they come through, which he says can be pretty, um, interesting.

Lastly, I just wanted to post this picture because I liked it!

One day, before our Sunday family dinner a few weeks ago, the kids decided to do their favorite hike along the Rim Trail, about a mile from our house, and I thought this group selfie came out very well. (Chris and Sarah were still in church at the time.) I love that my children enjoy being together so much.

That about sums it up. Nothing earthshaking, to be sure, but it's the little things that keep us on our toes!