In Love Already

I've wanted a Mini Cooper for...well...forever. But slightly impractical at this point in life. Today I just found out this will be released next year:

It's so wrong to feel this way about a car...

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3 Going on 16

Lately, Lillian has been obsessed about driving on her own. Now, when we get in the car, she reminds us that when she's 16, she will get to drive. I didn't think we would have to worry about this for at least a couple more years, but little miss independent is already counting down the days until she can drive away without us.

On a recent trip down to see Erik's parents, we had the driving conversation once again. But for whatever reason this time around, she wasn't content knowing that she will be able to drive when she's 16. She wanted to drive right then and there. So Erik asked if she'd like a Lily-sized car to drive right now. She thought about it for a few minutes and then decided that, yes, that would be an acceptable alternative.

And it just so happened that Erik's parents has his niece's pink Princess VW Bug powerwheel hanging out in their shed:

The kid took to it like she'd been born to drive, even with the one minor accident. Luckily the battery wasn't fully charged or we'd have been there all night trying to pry her away from it to head home. I'm not sure I'm ready for this...

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Doll house

I don't really have anything exciting to blog about today, but I just wanted to share this picture of Lillian playing with the doll house she got for Christmas. I just thought it turned out cute.

She has such a fun time with it. The boy is "Daddy" and the girl is "Rella," which is the name of any princess-looking woman, and at least five times a day, she comes to me asking to "play" and I have to pull it out for her. I don't know what she's doing with all her other toys if it's not "playing," but this is the only one she uses that word for...

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You think that's who?

Lillian has a book about a poor penguin who wishes he were more brightly colored. So he goes around to all his animal friends trying on their colors. One option is an orange orangutan (in a jungle gang...yeah, the rhyming is a little suspect!). Every time we get to that page, without fail, Lillian calls him "Daddy." Don't you see the resemblance?

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Start of a New Era

Last week, Erik calls me from work and tells me he wants to trade in the Passat. He thinks the CVs are going out again and he's suspected the struts have been going for a while, so he wants to trade it in before we start shelling out all sorts of money to get it fixed. And he's already decided what he wants: a Hyundai Sonata. I was a little hesitant. First, I love my Passat. Second, I was skeptical about getting what we needed for the trade in. But we went to the Hyundai dealership anyway, consciously taking the truck rather than the car since we have a bad track record at "just looking."

And we did just look. Erik went back on Friday for a test drive and decided this was the car for us. He talked numbers with a salesman and was told a car with the features we wanted was at one of the other dealerships and would be here Saturday so I could test drive it and we could get everything finalized.

Four hours after they promised it would be here (that's another story I won't go into), I was finally able to test drive a deepwater blue Sonata. Of course there are always things you would change about a new car, like the placement of some of the instruments, and there's always those quirky little things you love about your current car, like the adjustable height of the center console, but I decided it passed my inspection and we sat down to sign the papers. My main concern was the payment. When we bought the Passat, it wasn't a pleasant experience haggling for the price. I think the salesman actually said, "What can I do to get you in this car today?" And then he proceeded to waste our time bringing us a payment that was more than we were willing to do. Maybe it was the fact that this is a brand new car and used car dealers have a bad reputation for a reason. Maybe it was the fact that we were getting a screaming deal through dealer and Hyundai rebates. Maybe it was the fact that we have awesome credit and they probably would have jumped through fiery hoops if we asked them to. Whatever the reason, the payment was actually less than we're paying now. I didn't need to worry at all. Everything just fell into place.

So here it is:

Complete with satellite radio (which, honestly, we won't be renewing after our initial free trial), iPod hook up (a selling feature, definitely), and new NEW car smell.

But I have to admit, I felt a pang of sadness as we pulled away from my cute Passat, its smiley face decal mocking me with its ever-present grin and showing no signs that we were just abandoning it. That car was the closest to luxury we will probably ever get from here on out, and even though it was just a sedan, it was my little version of a sports car with it's turbo (how I'll miss the subtle "weeeee" as it charges and smoking the guy next to me when the light turns green). I almost feel it was a symbol of our care-free 20s with the leather seats and hip German engineering. :) Now we have a car that we chose based on the trash-kicking warranty and for which we actually purchased the extra seat protection in case Lillian spills something on them...a definite sign of growing up.

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If you can read this...

Last night, Erik decided that I needed to take a ride with him on the motorcycle so I could fall in love with it. I don't know that I went that far, but we had a good time.

First, let me explain the difference between riding double on a motorcycle and riding double on a scooter. On our little Beemer, it was a very cozy ride. I'm probably lucky I didn't fall off to be honest. But it was a fun way to zip over to see friends on warm summer nights when it seemed silly to drive the car. And it was always an adventure to see if we'd make it up some of the more challenging hills in Logan. It was just a little guy, after all.

Our second scooter was bigger and actually had a back rest. But it was a pain to get off and on, and while the coziness factor wasn't quite as high, it was still pretty tight quarters.

Given my previous experiences on the back of two-wheeled vehicles, I noticed a big difference as soon as I got on the motorcycle. Now the motorcycle has what I suppose they call a backrest, but it barely goes past your hips, so it's not very useful. But I had space to spare between my butt and the back of the seat: Hurrah for not feeling like you're going to fall off!!! And going up hills? No problemo! Although it goes quite a bit faster than either of the scooters, so the wind was a lot stonger - especially when that semi drove by...

We took a nice ride through "beautiful downtown Benson" and looped around to Providence for some dinner (which, incidentally, was provided by a landscaper who is sick of hearing our complaints). About half way through, when I realized there was no way I was going to finish it all, I considered the reality that I would be balancing a to-go box on my lap on the way home. Thank goodness for that extra room, right?

So I have to admit, the bike is fun. Granted, it doesn't make for the easiest conversation while you're driving, but the opportunity to have 30 minutes to just let my mind wander and hear myself think was actually pretty nice.

N.B.: For those of you who don't understand the title of this post, click here. This is a family-friendly blog after all... :-P

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New Toy

It's finally happened...Erik is the proud new owner of a motorcycle. He's been trying to get the proper approval from the proper authorities (that would be me) for quite a while now. I gave him certain stipulations that had to met before a motorcycle could move in to our garage, and let's be completely honest here, I didn't really expect him to be able to meet those stipulations for a while yet. But he did and here we are thanks to the fortuitous selling of the little Allstate scooter that he was never going to restore along with a great deal found on KSL. He went for a ride with the boys the same night we picked it up and is soooo in love with the dang thing.

But now I've added the stipulation that unless it is actually precipitating, he will be taking it to work so we can have the full gas-saving benefits he promised when approval was first requested. Which is nice for me since I will finally get to drive my cute car more often than his very un-ladylike truck.

So congratulations, babe. I hope you enjoy it!

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A Sad Day

Our Passat recently turned the 100,000 mile mark. I wasn't able to witness the actual event, but Erik sent me a picture when it happened. I almost expected to get a call telling me that as soon at it hit all those zeros, the car stopped completely and the wheels fell off - you know, like in a cartoon or something. But it was pretty uneventful except for the small tear I shed... ;)

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Busy Month

Doing these updates on Lillian's "birthday" each month seems like a good idea. More often would probably be better, but one step at a time...Plus, I had two requests for updates in two days. I can take a hint.

So this has been a pretty busy month. Erik received that promotion. He is currently doing training in Idaho Falls. The training is 8 weeks total: 4 weeks in Idaho Falls, 2 weeks in Brigham City (his new store), and 2 more weeks back in Idaho Falls for follow-up. We're nearing the end of week two. He gets to come home for the weekends, and if last week is any indication, they're going to be busy weekends. Lillian and I are getting kind of lonely...well, ok. Maybe it's just me. Lily seems perfectly fine. Although Laddie, I think, is starting to miss Erik more. I just don't romp the way Erik will. For one thing, I'd like to keep all my appendages. But I try to make sure I play with him a couple times a day so he doesn't get so mopey. Lily and I just do what we'd probably do if Erik were here anyway, but it gets wearing after a while when the other person in the room doesn't really contribute anything to the conversation.

With the promotion came a nice raise, so Erik decided he needed a new truck. He was driving a '93 Rodeo that, really, is still in pretty good shape, but he'd been wanting a pickup for a while and something that could tow a little more weight. We ended up with an '04 F-150. I call it pritty pritty truck truck. (If you don't watch King of the Hill, that will mean nothing to you.) Getting it in the garage the first time was quite the adventure. Erik didn't believe me when I used to tell him he had too many tools. I'm stuck driving the behemoth this week because the dealer needed to resurface the rotors. So Erik took my cute Passat to Idaho and left me to drive this thing that I can't park for anything so I could drop it off for the work.

Lillian is doing great. Like I said, today is her 6-month birthday. I can't believe she is that old already. She is getting so big. I was looking through some pictures the other day of when we brought her home. I don't even remember her being that small. Our neighbor had a baby 3 weeks ago who was the same weight Lillian was at 2 months...and that baby seemed so tiny compared to Lillian now. We go to the doctor on Monday to see how big she really is. She's doing great on solid foods. She likes everything we've tried so far and seems to really love green beans. Now that I'm mixing a little fruit in with her rice cereal, she does better with it. Have you ever tasted that stuff? I don't blame her for not being too stoked about it...it's not too impressive.

With Erik gone all week, we had to put Lily in daycare for the two days a week I go into the office. Some friends of ours recommended someone, and that's who we went with. She's in Hyde Park, which is about 15 minutes away. We could have found someone closer, but we felt better that we got the referral from someone who actually new Angie, not just a list provided by the state. And she's a little cheaper pricewise. Everything seems to be going well. Lillian always looks happy when I get there, and I haven't had any calls about Lillian going crazy and to come pick her up. :) When Erik starts his normal schedule, he'll be on overnights, but he'll have three days off a week. It depends on what they are, but we're hoping to work it so he can still have at least one day when he gets to be with her while I'm in the office. I think it's nice for them to spend some time together and get their own relationship figured out without me there all the time.

Compared to Erik and Lillian, my life is pretty boring. Work is busy with conferences, but that's not really that exciting. But I don't mind leaving the excitement to them. They can have it. Just seeing their excitement is about all I can handle right now. Except that the final installment of Harry Potter should be delivered on Saturday. Erik may get to spend the day with Lillian and Laddie while I curl up in my chair and read all day. Except for the few hours I'll take off to go see the new Harry Potter movie... ;)

I'll leave you with a picture of Lillian playing with her new favorite toy...paper.

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