My Thursday

This last Thursday had just about everything that could happen actually happen.

I traded away the entire day from work. I had such a full day of taking care of my kids and events I knew I would need the time. Little did I know even more would be added!!!

So Wednesday night while at work Ben texted and told me Katy was sick. So since I was at work and had my work peeps at my disposal I traded away the only 3 hours I was working. I needed to take Katy to the doctor.

When I got up Thursday morning...this was my schedule:

8:30 - 9:00 Take kids to school
10:00 - 11:00 Be back at school to watch Elyse's dance performance
11:40 Pick Lyse up from school
12:00-1:00 Go to gym
1:00 - 2:00 Go home, eat lunch and get ready
2:00 - 3:30 Pick Katy up from school and take to Dr. Appt
3:45 - Have kids back at school for Dance recital prep
5:00 Pick kids up from Dance
6:40 Have girls back at school ready for Dance recital
7:00 Dance Recital
8:30 Home, put girls to bed - Fall in bed myself

Ok so that WAS the schedule. This IS what happened:

8:30 - Take kids to school. On way car starts acting REALLY funny. We have been having car issues for a while with our van. It SUCKS!!! When you only have 1 car, having that 1 car work is kinda important!

Well the van was a 2008 Chrysler Town and Country. Here are the problem:

1. Serious break issues (replaced brake pads 2 xs, then we paid for the pads, calipers and rotors 1 time due to design flaw in vehicle...car currently needed new brake pads, rotors and calipers again...that is WAY too many brake problems for less than 2 years of ownership!!!)

2. Replaced tires last April due to brake design flaw we were needing to replace them again. Oh did I mention tires are NOT cheap and hard to come by for the van. Walmart, Sam's Club and Costco don't even carry the size of tire the manufacture requires for van. Yay ANOTHER crappy design flaw. (By the way there is a class action lawsuit starting in regards to brake and tire issue on this car because they won't recall like they should)

3. The car has had 4 SERIOUS recalls (like car starting on fire due to radiator not sealed properly, brakes having flaws and not working). You would think that SOMETHING would be fixed in all those recalls. Nope! Our brakes were covered cause apparently at 34k miles on a car replacing the brake pads, calipers and rotors is NORMAL but at 32k miles it is not - Whatev!

4. The air conditioner went out - completely dead!

5. The engine was burning oil (even though we did all oil changes like were requested and required).

6. The rear suspension was making horrible metal clanking sounds.

The last one was the one that cause the whole schedule to change on Thursday.

See the sound just got worse and worse and WORSE until it sounded like the axle was breaking into piece. I kinda think it was. We had looked at a couple cars, worked on a deal with one car and while they kept contacting us on it the right deal had not been worked out. I just figured we were cursed with our van and had come to accept it until Thursday morning. When the clanking was so bad and the car vibrated unbelievably when braking (or at least attempting to brake) the car was a hazard...I gave up.

This became our schedule (please note the girls school is a 15-20 minute drive from our home):

8:30 Luckily get kids safely to school
9:00 Go get dressed and drive back to school for Lyse's Dance performance
10:00 Watch Lyse's Dance performance
11:15 While test driving Hyundai because a new car is no longer an option, get call back from Nissan dealership on car we had been working deal on for almost 2 weeks...they will agree to the one lease option
11:40 Pick Lyse up from school...trying to decide if we want to go with original Nissan deal or go back and try something with Hyundai.
12:00 Call Nissan and tell them we will be in to sign Lease
12:15 Get home clean out car, feed Lyse lunch, go to dealership
1:50 CAR DEALERSHIPS TAKE FOREVER leave to go take Katy to dr. appt
2:30 Get to Katy's dr. appt - DR APPT TAKE FOREVER!!!
3:00 Poor Katy's ear is super infected :(
3:15 Get back at to car dealership to finish signing papers. They decide to train a new guy on paperwork with us. I tell them I HAVE to leave and get them to their dance recital preview.
3:45 FINALLY GET OUT OF DEALERSHIP. Girls are late to dance recital preview :(
4:10 Drop girls off at Dance Recital Preview
5:00 Pick girls up from Dance Recital preview and race home to get them ready
6:00 Get in car and head back up to school for dance recital
6:20 Get phone call from Mom - "Dad's Defibrillator went off. Go to the girls dance recital we love you. Dad is now conscious and breathing we are headed to the hospital."
6:20 Call all siblings try to get more information
6:30 Get call from mom saying going to Jordan Valley Hospital and currently in ambulance.
6:40 Get girls to dance and frantically try and figure what the HECK I am going to do.
7:00-8:00 Watch Girls Dance Recital while stressing, checking text messages and FREAKING OUT!!!
8:00 Go straight to Hospital
8:30 Get to hospital...Dad, Mom and only siblings there...have some family time...dad is doing ok
9:15 Go to Mom and Dad's measure swamp cooler to get it up and running
10:00 Finally get home and get girls in bed...get some work for Friday traded cause we need to help mom and dad at their house
10:35 Crash into bed.

So Thursday:

I went to 2 dance recitals (one in morning one in night)
Bought a car
Drove about 100 miles
Visited Dad in hospital
Had a nervous break down!

My life is so full of adventure!

So I bet you are wondering about the car part. So here it is:

We got rid of our 2008 Chrysler Town and Country and we are now leasing a 2011 Nissan Alitma. We looked into trading in for used, new, anything that would not hurt us financially month to month or basically overall. We looked into selling privately vs trade in but with all the problems that was hard. Not many people want a car that is burning oil, needs new tires and you have to replace brakes every 6 months. We really looked at everything and all options. We test drove EVERY sedan out there. In the end when the van was on its last leg, we got the call from the dealership and although I was always against leasing...this really worked out GREAT for our family. I feel like it was meant to be. Hope I feel that way a couple years from now!

Here are some pictures of our cute kiddos and our old and new car!

The last picture was taken by Ben when he took the girls up the canyon while I was at work.


PS My weight updates cause lately it SUCKS. Today I am at 137. I have no clue how I am going to get back down. I am so tired of just moving up in weight. Got to find time to exercise and count calories!