I forgot about some of our other fall financial woes... I was really worried about our finances this fall, particularly after our Utah housing situation, which had prompted me to apply for a job (more about that in another post). We paid $6000 in September to install a window well on the basement of the Utah house. In October, we paid $500 for just one portion of our shared backyard fence to be done. Both little cars are having issues. The blue car leaks radiator fluid, somewhere inside the system, so our current solution just involves re-filling the fluid (cheaper to keep doing that than pay much more to diagnose and fix inside the system). We also decided to pay $1100 to fix the radiator and oil seal on the little car and try to extend its life a little longer. It doesn't start smoking while driving it now. However, the engine light still comes on sometimes, so it's not a reliable long-distance car anymore. We take the blue car to sporting events and the temple (when we can just fill up the fluid before we go.) Our truck is the most reliable vehicle for trips longer than a few hours, but it guzzles gas the most out of the vehicles.
We had an interesting experience with the little car one Wednesday evening. On the way to the youth activity at the church, it started having issues - with the radio and things turning on and off. By the time I got to the church, turned it off, and then tried to start it again, it was dead. By the time Alex checked on it later, it started and seemed to be fine. I decided to drive home in that car with the kids after the activity. We had just turned at a light and started to get on the freeway when it shut down again. I managed to get as far to the right as possible, but we were just by the guardrail and very close to the freeway. I called Alex, but in waiting for him, cars and trucks were flying by. I didn't even have lights or hazards lights, so I was worried that cars wouldn't see us sitting there. I called for an officer to come park behind us with their lights. They arrived before Alex and were able to jump start the battery. (Somehow it was dead after just recently replacing it). Alex arrived as they were giving the car a jump. We were going to head out, but I decided that Alex should drive the car having issues. The kids and I traded cars. Meanwhile, Alex took off down the freeway but quickly noticed that the car was still having issues. He made it up to the top of the hill of our freeway exit, and despite not having power anymore, he decided to try to turn and coast down the hill. I don't know what he was thinking, but he managed to guide it down the hill and into the grocery store parking lot without power (also losing the power steering)! He had a pretty good adrenaline rush from accomplishing that feat.
We thought about paying to have all our ducts and vents cleaned out before we turned the heater on, but the estimate was $1200, so Alex tried to clean those on his own. I don't think we turned the heater on until the second week of December... We had family coming for Christmas, so we also bought a new mattress for the "guest room" (Savannah's room). I'm not sure how comfortable the new one actually is - it seems pretty firm, but it's probably better than the old one. This fall wasn't easy on our finances. Somehow the extra expenses just kept coming. Anyway, getting invited to 3 different friend's houses for dinner the first weekend in November was a blessing, although they had no idea about our financial woes.
In more happy updates, Owen got asked to a dance by our friend Eliza with a creative Star Wars poster, so he responded with a light saber message. They had a picnic dinner beforehand (inside, because of rain). They got out of the original roller skating part of the activity as well, which was good because Owen injured his ankle just a couple days before. He was able to dance a little bit and had a good time.
Alex and I went on a short hike one Saturday between Owen's basketball tournament games and Weston's band competition. Another Saturday, we went to the Redlands Temple between Weston's band competition and the awards ceremony.
We played a little bit of board games, Savannah and I went on a bike ride, and the kids decided to start doing planks in the evening before bed. Alex joins them sometimes.
The youth did an activity with all the kids from the surrounding wards (stake activity), where they dressed in clothes for Jesus' time period and sat on the floor to eat dinner. It was a "Friendsgiving Feast". They each got little mini oil lamps and sang some songs. I wasn't there, but I heard it was a great activity.
We decorated our tree before Thanksgiving this year. It just seemed like we should have it up longer. We spent Thanksgiving with a couple other families. We had to drive about an hour to get to their house this year, since they moved. We had a great meal, and they fed the missionaries and invited some other friends as well. I don't have pics of everyone who attended, but it was a big feast. We all contributed. We brought fried chicken drumsticks, green bean casserole, rolls, apple and key lime pie.
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