Potter / Taft Family Info: August 2008

Hello my family:

It has been a while since I posted a blog. Summer seems to be whizzing by.

I was lucky enough to spend the end of July with Sara & Andrew and David, Michelle & the kids.

Most of you know I got a new 2009 Toyota Camry in March and I was really excited to take my first road trip. I got up really early (2:00 am) and hit the open road for Utah.

The trip was really fun and seemed to fly by as I was listening to a really good book on CD, Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. ( totally recommend it)

Anyways I got to my first stop in Ephraim, Utah to see Sara & Andrew (and their barn swallows). I had fun helping Sara continue to organize her new little home. (I love to organize and we actually found our way through the boxes into what will be her nursery).

We were unable to do sightseeing this trip because of the birds they rescued (They needed to eat every 30 minutes), but we managed to go out and eat a few times and take trips around WalMart.

I stayed till Sunday and then moved on to Lehi to see David & his family. ( Including the new Lily Jewel who I had not met yet.) Unfortunately I got lost on my way to church to meet Michelle and the kids but thanks to Brigham Young's grid I managed to only be about 10 minutes late.

After church we went home and had a delicious dinner. Then Ruby & Noah took me out to see the garden they are growing in the backyard. They were very excited because one of the radish's were ready to be picked. I have attached pictures and video of this experience.

Also our Miss Ruby had learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. I have attached video and pictures of that. I think that is quite an accomplishment at the age of 6. I know I was much older.

The next day we set out to Lehi pools with David, Me, Ruby, her friend Emily, Noah & Holly. It was really fun. Holly is like a little dare devil and nothing stops her. She thinks if the big kids can do it then so can I.

At one point they asked that everyone get out of the pool for 10 minutes. ( We never did find out why). Try explaining to a 6, 4 & 2 year old why they have to stand there and can't get back in. (It's not easy)

But we finally got back in and enjoyed the rest of our day. Noah did not want to stop sliding into the pool and we finally had to give him a count of 5 more times. When we got to the fifth slide, he said "One more time" and ran away before we could catch him.

I really enjoyed spending time with them and love hanging out with my family. They are the best.

As I mentioned above Sara had been caring for barn swallows that fell out of their nest. This was getting to be quite a task. And when you are 6 months pregnant & emotional it is even worse.

They could not find a rehab place in Utah to take the birds in. So after many calls Sara found a place in Long Beach that took wild birds in, cared for them and taught them how to fly and released them into the wild.

Since I was going home by car it was decided that I would take Sara and the birds home with me and we would have a good old fashioned sister car trip. I picked Sara and the birds up and we hit the open road.

Our trip was enjoyable until we started to get close to St. George and my air conditioning (brand new mind you) started to blow humid air. This was not good for us or the birds. We were directed to the local Toyota Dealership in St George.

They were very busy because everyone was trying to get their cars fixed before they were closed for Pioneer Day. (Of course) The very nice man took pity on me and said he could look at my car right away.

So Sara, the birds & I went into the waiting room where it was blessedly cool and hopefully awaited good news. IT WAS NOT GOOD NEWS!!!

I was told that a rock had kicked up and put a hole in my condenser leaking all of the freon out. This was VERY BAD NEWS!

We had to make the rest of the trip across the desert where the temperature at the hottest point was 109. We made the whole trip with our windows down, sucking on ice cubes, dropping ice cubes down our tops and praying that the birds did not fry their brains.

I asked Sara if I would ever remember this horrible trip and laugh. I was very grateful I had her with me though because it would have been even worse to do it alone. The title of the blog comes from our favorite movie Spaceballs, because it truly felt like wandering through the desert.

At one point we stopped in Mesquite & Baker and put a bag of ice in with the birds so they would not die. After what seemed like forever we got to Long Beach at 7:30 pm and handed the feathery friends over to their new home. We were so grateful to Heavenly Father for keeping us alive and well on this challenging journey.

We were grateful for all of the prayers sent our way by family as soon as they knew of our predicament.

And the GOOD NEWS is my car has air again. YEAH!!!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer.

Love Marilee