Long time comin'

Yes, it has been a long time coming! Anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes with me over the last two years has probably at some time or another had to hear me ramble on about saving up to buy a truck someday. Well, as it turned out, the end of May was that time.

If you are like most people you probably dread the thought of dealing with car salesmen. Yes, it is very stressful! I have purchased the last three of my four cars from dealers and can guiltlessly report that so far every single person at every dealership I have spoken with is a LIAR! They lie through their teeth while staring you straight in the eye. Granted, they are sly and come across as the nicest liars you will meet, but they all have one agenda...getting as much money out of your pocket from you as humanly possible while using their Jedi mind tricks to force you into believing you are happy and are getting a good deal. If my personal experience is not representative, then I apologize right now to the 0.01% of honest dealers out there.

As for me, I like to get the best deal on my purchase as possible. That is why I HIGHLY RECOMMEND CarBuyingTips.com. Jeff Ostroff I'm sure makes decent money from advertising on this website since it is so popular and has such a high volume of web traffic, but the information he provides here is real and it is free. I have never met, spoken to, or even emailed the guy, but his website has saved me thousands of dollars on my car purchases, literally! DO NOT BUY A CAR WITHOUT READING THIS WEBSITE...ALL OF IT, unless you like giving away your money, in which case I will be glad to negotiate your car deal for you and split the difference with you on how much you will save.

Anyway, back to what I was saying...please just ignore the season pass sticker to the lake in the windshield, or the "I'd rather be waterskiing" license plate frame, or the fact that it looks really lonely without a ski boat in tow. One thing at a time. My new "Baby Truck" is lookin' pretty good tucked neatly and safely in my garage protected from the elements of the outdoors. Good thing I got 4WD! Someday I'll take it out and drive it, but not this week. I like how it looks in my garage for now. Afterall, I'm going to be driving it for the next 20 years. A few more days won't hurt.

Memorial Day

This Memorial Day Miki took the kids and some friends to the Clark County Heritage Museum. It was a bit of a surprise. It only cost $1.50 for adults and $1 for kids. It has an old train depot from Boulder City, an old print shop, a few houses redone to represent their era in Las Vegas and an old red barn that served as a land mark for early Las Vegas residents. We thoroughly enjoyed it. It left us feeling a bit of a connection to Las Vegas. It used to be just a town, not so much a tourist destination. It was surreal to see the city in that light.

After the museum, we were introduced to O'Callaghan Park near down town Henderson. I was amazed at how beautiful that park is. It's a beautiful green heaven in the middle of our desert city. We enjoyed lunch with our fabulous friends then headed to the movie theater to see Night at the Museum 2. My kids will tell you it was a perfect day. Too bad Kalvan was in Utah.

Kalvan drove to St. George to stay the night with Rob and his family and get an early start on climbing Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. The weather was perfect and it was a beautiful day for a hike. Click on the link below to follow along and see the amazing scenery so difficult to capture with the camera.

Angel's Landing

My Garmin GPS watch did pretty well at maintaining satellite reception until further up when we went into Refrigerator Canyon.

Last day of school

Kaleb and Sage had their last day of school on May 22nd. The family was invited to take part in the class parties and awards ceremonies. Kaleb received a reading award and Sage received awards for handwriting and fantastic improvement. They both completed the Reading Across America program as well.

We are so very proud of our smart kids and their love for learning. We are still loving the new school and are looking forward to having the summer off.

Busy Week - Random Pictures

This is our last week of school and we've been very busy building up to it. So, this week's post is small bits of our week and random pictures.

Last Sunday was Mother's Day and I got spoiled! I got 13 long stem roses (one for each year Kal's put up with me). The kids had a large assortment of homemade cards. Kaleb even set up a display with signs and a cup that used to have Oreos. I thought it was very considerate of him to eat the Oreos for me since I've been trying to cut back on sugar. Kalvan made super yummy whole wheat waffles with strawberry puree and sugar-free whipped cream (oops, that was his first time making whipped cream and he didn't know you have to add sugar). For our dinner he made fabulous chicken kabobs. They were so good and best of all, I did none of the work!

I think Karter wants to be a photographer when he grows up. On a regular basis I'll turn to see him pointing the camera at me and yelling at me to smile. Then, he demands that I take a picture of him. Of course that sounds easy until you figure in that he's a moving target. He never holds still for a picture. He wants an action shot.

On Monday, Kaleb had his second piano recital. He did a really good job. Cub Scout Day Camp started on wednesday and went through Saturday. It's amazing all they accomplish at those camps. They did everything from archery, crafts and sports to cooking, carpentry and bicycling. The toughest part was that it was at least 90 degrees the whole time. Fortunately

, the stake leaders are wise and make kick ball into slip and slide kick ball. Water is an essential element of outdoor activities here in the desert.

Backing up, we have to mention that Sage started piano lessons on May 6th. She's super excited and we can't get her to do much other than "practice" even though what she's playing has nothing to do with her lesson or the music in front of her. We're hoping her enthusiasm will continue and sooner or later she'll see the necessity of practicing the actual lesson.

SWEET GET AWAY!

This weekend we had the priviledge of having 24 hours away from home, kids, callings, responsibilities, and work. We have some fantastic friends who volunteered to take our kids for 24 hours so we could have a little time to ourselves. I was so excited to get off on this little adventure, I was actually giddy when I came home from work Friday after having the worst day on record. I never would have guessed I could be in such a good mood after a day like that one.

Anyway, Friday afternoon we took off for a little Bed and Breakfast in St. George, UT called Ava House Inn. It was adorable! From the guest book we learned they even have a ghost! I can't say we saw anything though, bummer. It was a great get away, we did nothing. You heard right, we did nothing. We didn't go out to eat, we didn't take in a show, nothing. It was wonderful to get a whole 9 hours of sleep and not be woken up at 6:30am by a thirsty 3 year old! By noon on Saturday we decided we'd go to the temple and visit Kal's childhood best friend. The most responsible thing we did was come back and get our kids only an hour late. Thanks so much Ben and Terresa for taking our kids!

Auto Insurance Rant

OK, so is it industry standard for auto policy rates to hike every year? We switched insurance companies a couple years ago because our last company (Allstate) kept hiking our rates every renewal without cause (no tickets, accidents, or claims of any kind whatsoever). Now our new company (Liberty Mutual) started doing the same thing (still no tickets, accidents, or claims of any kind).

I thought maybe it's time to shop around again and get some new quotes. But then I thought of all the hassle it brings and really didn't want to do that. So I thought, alright, I'll call Liberty Mutual and ask them to lower my rate on my existing policy, you know, give me a new quote. I got the guy on the phone and he says, "Let me verify your information." He starts reviewing my policy to see if everything is correct, says he doesn't see any other discounts available to us, but then he asks how many miles we put on each car, so I told him what I thought we put on the cars. BIG MISTAKE!!! He then says to me that they had the usage on the vehicles lower than what I told him. I ask, isn't that just an estimate anyway? So we went to visit Grandma twice this year instead of once! He says that he has to enter the new usage into the computer, our rate will go up over $100 something dollars (I wasn't really listening at this point to hear the new rate), and that we would be receiving the new policy in the mail within 7 to 10 days. Then he asks if there is anything else he can do for me today? At this point I'm trying not to think bad thoughts! I told him Liberty Mutual SUCKS, I was going to find another insurance company, and, of course, politely said goodbye.

Now I have the hassle of finding a new insurance company to insure my autos before I give anymore money to Liberty Mutual. Had to get that off my chest. Please, someone, tell me if this is just a Liberty Mutual problem or an industry wide problem?

Warm Springs Camping

On April 24th, we went camping up at Warm Springs (map). If you haven't been there, Warm Springs is a piece of property owned by the church that they have developed with a couple of swimming pools and a nice camping area. It is an hour drive north of Henderson. There's also a beautiful stream that run directly behind the camping area. The water is warm, I think about 85 degrees. You have to go as a group and have reservations and it is a great little oasis in the desert. We went with Families Supporting Adopotion (FSA). We have been there a couple of times a few years ago, but haven't been back since.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. It was very windy and kept us awake most of the night. The morning was cold and rained a tiny bit after we broke down the tent. We still had a great time, though, visiting with the others in our group around the campfire and just being outdoors. This is the best place to camp near Las Vegas. If you every get the chance to go, be sure not to miss it!