THIRTY

Sarah got lots of fun gifts for her thirtieth birthday this weekend!

I know that most women my age have children who are in their forties, but it still feels odd that my firstborn is now thirty...as of today, October 27th. We celebrated her big day with a birthday dinner and party on Friday evening, two days ahead of her actual birthdate. It was made even more special when Jacob arranged to come up and join us, so all three siblings could celebrate together.

A huge bowl of Navopache Chicken Salad for dinner.

He didn't arrive until about 7:15, but dinner was all ready to dig in when he got here. Sarah had requested a Navopache Chicken Salad, so-called because I found the recipe on the back of our local electric co-op (called Navopache) way back when the kids were small. It's a chopped cabbage salad with lots of shredded chicken, green onions, sliced almonds, and sunflower seeds thrown in.

Some sugar-free Crystal Light to mix with sparkling sodas.

For a beverage, she asked for a Crystal Light-and-soda blend. We had a gallon of strawberry-watermelon flavor drink to be mixed with a variety of sodas, according to each person's desire.

Sarah's stack of gifts, waiting to be opened.

After dinner, Dylan showed us a new video game, a very-much-updated version of the old Wii Fit. This one is called Ring Fit, and it's quite a workout! After Dylan demonstrated it, Jacob and Chris took turns, and they were both sweating! And moaning. And groaning. I think I need to own one of these, maybe after we get through the Christmas season. They assure me that I can set it for the less taxing "out-of-shape old woman" setting.

October 25, 2019: Sarah reads the sweet card from her dad.

Then Dylan decided it was time for dessert, so he urged Sarah to open her presents. And she did.

A better look at the cards from Mom ("30" on left) and Dad.

Gifts from Sarah's brothers and her dad.

Dylan and Jake gave her two boxes of Atkins Nutty Fudge Brownie Bars, which are delicious. She's really been sticking to eating better and has lost about fifty pounds already!

Jacob gave her a twenty-dollar bill, and her dad gave her a box of Atkins Peppermint Patties and a Bluetooth speaker she can use to listen to Spotify around her house. Chris, who is a trained masseuse, gave Sarah her annual birthday massage (but not at the party...).

My gifts to Sarah.

As for me, I gave Sarah a novel called Mutts and Mistletoe, which combines the two things she loves most in a book or movie: dogs and love stories. In fact, Jake jokingly called it a Hallmark-Movie-in-Book-Form. I also gave her a Jim Shore figurine of Lady and the Tramp, which is her favorite Disney cartoon-film.

The homemade cheesecake Sarah requested.

For dessert, Sarah wanted my homemade cheesecake with ice cream, so I baked the cheesecake on Thursday night and topped it on Friday. Both the cheesecake and our ice cream were sugar-free (with full-sugar ice cream selections for the guys). In fact, while Mark and I were in Mesa earlier this week, I snagged a tub of no-sugar-added Breyers Salted Caramel Swirl ice cream, which isn't available here in our community. We love it when we can get it!

When I tried to get a pic of my boys together at Walmart, Dylan ducked...

The fun continued on Saturday. Jacob decided to stay until Sunday morning, which meant another family dinner on Saturday evening (yes!). The kids had agreed upon a menu after the party on Friday, so Jacob and I drove to Walmart to get the needed supplies on Saturday morning. As we walked toward the produce section, Dylan ran up behind us, trying to surprise us. He'd just started his break and happened to see us as we came in the entrance.

...and then Jacob hid behind his sweatpants purchase...

When we passed the men's clothing, Jacob decided he needed to buy a pair of sweatpants, since he'd brought only shorts with him and quickly realized it was too cold for that. He's become a "flat-lander" so quickly! While he shopped, I wanted a picture of both my sons together, but they made me work for it!

While we were checking out, Sarah saw us from her place in customer service and managed to grab a quick break to come over for a short visit. It's fun getting to see my kids when I go shopping!

...and then I managed to get them together!

We ended the day with a family dinner featuring a big baking dish of Chicken Parmesan and another of Jalapeno Popper Casserole. I made the first, Jacob made the second, and Sarah assisted us both.

It's true that building and preserving family relationships requires a lot of work and attention, as well as open communication, mutual honesty and trust, a willingness to apologize and forgive, and an effort to see the world as others do. It's not always an easy thing, but there truly is no other endeavor in life that pays more abundantly than this. Family is everything!

My two goofy boys, Jacob (age 28) and Dylan (age 22).

Side by Side

October 13, 2019: Jacob with his new truck, a 2020 Toyota Tacoma.

(It was pretty dusty after a weekend of driving on our dirt roads.)

My older son, Jacob, and one of his roommates, Antonio, drove up from his home in the Valley on Friday evening. He had three purposes for the trip: 1) to return a truck he'd borrowed two weeks earlier from our family friends, the Halls; 2) to install new bedroom and bathroom doors in my bedroom, which Dylan and Jake had been helping me renovate for the previous three weeks; and 3) to have a little fun with family in the side-by-side Jacob won earlier this year.

Jacob seems to be a magnet for car problems. It began with a snowstorm in Utah in 2016, when a woman driving past their house slid on the ice and smashed into the back of Jacob's Buick LeSabre. For some inexplicable reason, the woman's insurance company (Progressive) decided to total the car, leaving Jacob with about $1,800 debt on the car not covered. (He now makes sure to carry gap insurance.) He couldn't afford a new second car but needed transportation for work, so he ended up getting a bad deal for a used black VW Jetta from the dealership where they'd purchased Jacob's then-wife's Nissan Sentra. They totally took advantage of Jacob's situation and inexperience. [Meanwhile, Dylan bought the LeSabre from his brother/the insurance company, replaced the smashed taillight, and has been driving it without issues for more than three years now...thus, the decision to total it is a complete mystery.]

When Jacob realized how little of his payments had been applied to the principal after owning the used Jetta for more than a year, he decided to get out of that deal by leasing a brand new red Volkswagen Jetta in 2017, with an option to buy at the end of a three-year contract. This was against my advice, but he felt he was up against a wall and this was the only solution. Things seemed to be fine until he took the Jetta to the dealership for a tuneup four months ago. When the service techs discovered the Jetta had been driven more than a prescribed number of miles, suddenly everything changed, with extra fees to be paid and the option to buy now in question. No one had explained these limitations when Jacob leased the car, and of course he hadn't read the fine print before signing. This is why I don't lease. It's not as if leasing a vehicle is cheaper than buying, so if I'm going to invest that much money every month, the car better be mine, with no one else telling me what I can or can't do with it.

They agreed to let Jacob out of the deal without penalties, in return for purchasing a 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV in June. (Gosh, how generous of them.) Again, everything seemed fine...until August, when Jacob noticed a horribly noxious smell inside the Tiguan. It took the dealership a couple of weeks to figure out the cause. It turned out that Jacob had allowed a roommate's girlfriend to borrow the Tiguan so she could take her car's battery in to trade for a new one. Apparently, her battery overturned during the drive and poured a ton of battery acid into the back compartment, which then ran down into the spare tire compartment, under the third-row seat, and under the floor mats, where it was corroding everything it touched, including nuts and bolts under the floor.

I was surprised that Jacob's insurance covered the damage under "comprehensive." However, they spent 32 days investigating the situation before okaying the repairs, but only paid for Jacob's rental car for 30 days. This is why he needed to borrow a car. We were so grateful to the Halls for loaning Jacob their 2000 Toyota Tacoma for a couple of weeks so he could continue working while he awaited repairs (he travels all over the state for his sales job).

In the end, the damage was so far-reaching and expensive that Jacob's insurance company decided to total the three-month-old Tiguan. Fortunately, he now has gap insurance to cover the whole amount he owes. I'm not too thrilled that he's decided to once again lease a vehicle, with an option to buy at the end of the three-year contract, but he assures me that he asked more questions this time and won't have the same issues as before. He enjoyed the Halls' Tacoma so much that he chose a 2020 Toyota Tacoma as his new ride. He wanted something heavy enough to pull his trailer for his new side-by-side UTV.

I sincerely hope this will be the end of Jacob's issues with his vehicles!

Antonio and Sarah watch Jacob back his side-by-side off the trailer.

Friday night, October 11, 2019

At any rate, now that Jacob had his new truck, he needed to drive the Halls' loaner truck back here to the mountain so he could return it to them. One of Jacob's roommates, Antonio, came along so he could bring Jacob's new Tacoma. Since he was driving up here anyway, Jacob felt it was the perfect opportunity to bring along his side-by-side, which he'd been wanting to share with his family and try out in our rural area.

I'm the first to go for a ride with Jacob in the side-by-side.

On Friday, the guys arrived around 8:00 p.m. We were all here waiting for them, and Mark had grilled some steaks while Sarah had prepared a salad and I'd steamed some asparagus. We enjoyed a family dinner with all three of my kids and their spouses (plus a roommate) before Jacob unloaded the UTV and took us out to experience his new toy.

Sarah is next to take a night ride with her brother.

It was a lot of fun, but it was icy cold out! We'd been enjoying a mild autumn up until that very morning, when the temperature suddenly dropped to 28 degrees! It fell to 23 degrees the following morning, Saturday. So by the time Jacob drove me around the neighborhood and brought me back, even with a helmet and jacket, my teeth were chattering so badly that I could hardly talk!

On Saturday morning, we load the truck with new doors for my bedroom.

We finished up the joy-riding before 10:00 p.m. so the neighbors wouldn't report us to the sheriff's deputies. Sarah and Chris and Dylan and Jake headed home, while Jacob and Antonio stayed the night here.

The next morning, Antonio kindly drove Mark to work for me. Then he took Jacob and me out to breakfast at Denny's, where we got to see Mark on the job. We also returned the Halls' loaner truck to them and then stopped by Home Depot to purchase doors, hardware, and trim for the job I'd asked Jacob to do. He'd agreed to install the two doors for me when he came back to Lakeside to return the loaner.

Jacob removes my old bedroom door on Saturday morning.

Once we had loaded our purchases in the back of the truck, we stopped in at Walmart to visit with Dylan while he was on break (he works in the auto center, installing tires and doing oil changes and such). Jacob also got to visit with some of his former co-workers from the two years he worked as a manager at our Walmart, 2013-2015. Finally, it was time to head back to the house and get those doors installed!

Jacob backs out of the driveway while Dylan waits his turn to take the wheel.

October 12, 2019

Dylan came over a little before 2:00 to spend time with his brother on his lunch hour. They took out the side-by-side for awhile. Dylan talked me into riding once around the neighborhood with him at the wheel so he could show me the thrills of "drifting." It was thrilling, all right! Yes, I had fun, but it's not an experience I'll plan to do again any time soon. [You can see a three-minute video of my experience on my Facebook page.]

That evening, we had the whole family together again for dinner. This time I roasted a couple of turkey breasts, which I served with green beans, mashed cauliflower, and mashed potatoes and gravy. The cauliflower (which will never really replace mashed potatoes for me) was for Sarah's and my diet, but it was unexpectedly popular with the whole family. It got eaten up rather quickly!

Before the kids returned to their homes at the end of the night, they took out the side-by-side again and had a great time. All in all, they only got yelled at two or three times by the neighbors for driving it around the area during Jacob's stay. (One neighbor accused them, inaccurately, of "throwing rocks at my house.")

The side-by-side UTV was a lot of fun for everyone, but I have to say that my favorite part of the weekend was being side-by-side with all three my children! I love life best when we can all be together.

With the side-by-side loaded back on the trailer, Jacob and Antonio

are ready to head back home to Mesa around 1:30 on Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday morning, Jacob and Antonio got the last of the trim up around my new doors. Sarah came over after church to spend a little more time with her brother. Then the guys collected their stuff, loaded up the side-by-side UTV, and headed back down the mountain. I'm always so sad to see Jacob leave, but this time I knew we'd be seeing him again in less than three weeks. That's when we'll be spending a whole week together for our family vacation to Southern California and Disneyland!