Bonus Week in Utah

What do you do when you have an unexpected extra week at Grandma's?  Try to take care of business and make the most of the bonus vacation. 

When we left off our story, it was Friday New Years Day, and we were driving south on I-15 heading for Arizona.  We took this picture to note the freezing temperatures outside. We were eager to see the thermometer rise as we drove south. 

After about an hour of driving the car made a strange buzzing, stuttering noise, like something seizing in the engine.  The engine stopped, power steering died, and we coasted over to the side of the freeway.  We tried to figure out what was wrong with the car, called my dad and our insurance, and made a plan.  Pretty soon a highway patrol car pulled up behind us and offered to help transport us to Nephi, the nearest town.  So after prayer, phone calls, and plans, this is what happened.

I went with the little boys in the police car (probably the first time a car seat was strapped into the cage!) to Nephi where we met my cousin Ruth and her family who happened to be heading north and dropped us off at my parents' house.

 Ephraim and the two older kids waited in the van for the tow truck which took them all to a shop in Provo to assess the van. Soon I came to pick them up in Grandma's car.  The diagnosis was that the engine seized, and either the van or the engine needed to be replaced.  That meant spending a lot more time and money than we had planned!  I was very discouraged, but what could we do?

Ephraim had to be back at school, so he flew down to AZ on Sunday.  I stayed in UT to figure out what to do. Fortunately my parents are so kind and let us stay with them an extra week and helped me get everything sorted. They were super great about helping us stay busy so I wouldn't be so discouraged about something I couldn't control.  We planned a fun week.

Mom and dad helped me make a wooden nativity set.  It was so fun to work with the band saw, sander, and drill press in dad's workshop again.

We also went to the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City with grandma and grandpa who were serving as missionaries in an office in Salt Lake while waiting for their next assignment to start. We loved all the cool exhibits and the children's room.  

 

I recognized this lovely sister from a story in the video On the Lord's Errand about when President Monson was a bishop and got some members together to furnish an apartment for a family coming from Germany.  This sister was a child in that family.  It was neat to talk to her about that.

 We also saw this watch which is special to our family because it saved our ancestor President John Taylor's life.

Another day we hit BYU's museums.  The Bean Museum is always fun.  Especially with our Craig cousins!

Next we visited the Paleontology museum.

Then we hung out at Orem Library while Ella did some assigned reading.  And later had dinner with my wonderful sister Jill and her family.

We tried to get in all the sledding we could before we left winter for good. (I told the kids to do a cool pose.  Ella's doing Lindsey Sterling.)


After more prayers, planning, and waiting, our van was done.  We loaded up and headed for Arizona again on Saturday.  Frankly I was scared the whole day.  I was nervous about van, of course, and felt jumpy with every bump, shake, or noise.  I wasn't sure if I could do the whole drive by myself, but when you have no choice, you just do it.  And I did.  And we made it back to Arizona.  A week late, but safe and sound.