Our New Addition

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
I'm not even going to try two seperate entries today...no time, not that much to report.

Tuesday:
We got up early and Bart, Cherie, Ryan, Shena and I went to the temple, while mom and dad watched the boys. When we got out, we checked our cell phones to see if our guy from the Honda place had called yet telling us that he had found Shena's car, but he hadn't yet...so we had to wonder for a while longer. We changed clothes, then went to Smokey Bones for lunch. I had never eaten there, but Christensens had down in Florida and loved it. We did too. Cool thing is there is one in Greensboro, we didn't even know about. As we walked out of the restaurant about 1:30, we still hadn't heard from the Honda place, so I called to get a status report. I had to leave a message...so we were still not sure what was going to happen. We all decided to go back to the hotel and rest, since there wasn't anything we were DYING to do and we didn't want to get too involved in something just to have the Honda place call and tell us to come and pick up the van. The guy finally called about 3:30 and said that he had found a van, and he would have it to the dealership by about 5:30 and we should meet him there then. I didn't think he would pull through, but he did. The only "downside" was it was our 3rd color option that he found. He said he couldn't find a Silver (1st choice) or Slate Green (2nd choice), which is very close to the silver color, but he did find a Midnight Blue (Shena thought for sure he was only going to be able to find the Ocean Mist Blue, which is kind of a Carolina blue, and she didn't want that at all...so she was happy for the dark blue). We (and that means EVERYBODY) headed over there about 5:00, got there about 20 after. Since our salesman had called and said that he had found the van, Ryan, Bart & I took their rental car back to the rental place and since they turned it in early, they got a little money back, but that meant that we all had to pile into the Expedition to go over to the dealership. Luckily I was driving so I was comfortable, but it wasn't for the rest of them. We all went over thinking that we had taken care of the "waiting" last night. WRONG! It was 7:50 before we got out of there. That was frustrating. We for sure wouldn't have ALL gone over had we known it was going to take that long. We thought it would just be, sign here, sign here, here are your keys, the van is gassed and clean. I know they were just trying to have good customer service and make sure we were familiar with the van and Honda itself, but it was a little ridiculous. The boys were going nuts...which drove the grandparents crazy. Anyway, we FINALLY got out of there, with Shena behind the wheel of her new van ("Millie" as she will be called) happy she had a van, but very bugged and annoyed that it took so long and put everybody else out. Which was unfortunate because she didn't get to enjoy the moment as much as I would have liked her to. We decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was a quick drive down to Buckhead (the dealership was North of Atlanta). We pulled in, the valet took our cars, we walked inside and found out it was another 30 minutes wait, and we didn't want to try that with the boys. So we ordered a cheesecake to go, turned around and walked back out and paid the valet $2 to go and get our cars back (all within about 7 minutes). Not a bad deal for the valets, I guess. Then we had to wait for about 15 minutes for them to get the freakin' cheesecake out of their freezer ("I have to go upstairs to get it." So? Do it! We paid for it, go get it. Sorry to put you out and ask you to do your job! "I'm sorry, we don't have the kind you want, we are all out. Would you like this other kind?" Whatever! Just get me a blasted cheesecake. I paid for it 15 minutes ago! "I'll have to go upstairs and get it!" Good gracious! Do it!). So we are ALL on edge at this point. Kids screaming, adults annoyed, it wasn't fun. We decided to stop by Arby's and get take out to eat in the hotel lobby. I don't know if I even want to start THIS story...here is how it ends. After another 15 minute wait, they finally brought us our food, and we got to the hotel at 9:15 to eat...only to find out that they didn't give us the orders of fries we asked for! So much for my visions of a smooth, quick, pleasant car buying experience. I guess at least we had a good morning and early afternoon. After dinner we went upstairs and Grandma C. gave Cade his birthday presents. Kid is going to think everyday is his birthday! He got some cool toys that he and Kelson started fighting over immediately. Kelson has learned what "mine" means and uses it as often as he can.

Wednesday:
Mom and dad took Bart and Cherie to the airport at 4:30 am, since their plane left at 6:00. My family slept through it. We had said our goodbye's just before bed time. We got on the road about 9:30 and everything went fine. We stopped for drinks after an hour on the road, stopped for Lunch at Cracker Barrel in Gaffney, SC (home of the "big butt" water tower) about 12:30, stopped for gas in Archdale, NC, then took mom's Expedition back to the rental place (which we couldn't do in GA because they didn't have a "Triangle Rent a Car" in GA) about 5:00. We then dropped off mom and dad at their house (along with the boys), unloaded the van, ran an errand to Wal-Mart, picked up the boys, went home, I mowed, the boys ate, I ate, took Marcos' car to mom's (wanted to get rid of that thing as soon as possible...I mean, I appreciate being able to have it to get around for the last year...but it is WAY too hot around here right now to be driving a car with A/C as bad as that thing has), came back home, went to bed. How's that for a sentence summary?

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
You want more? Tough, see above.

Arellano Update
Ditto

Christensen Update
They apparently had some problems with Ryan's ticket in Atlanta. Somehow they voided Ryan's ticket because he didn't take the first 1/2 of the round trip ticket from SLC to Atlanta, which Bart and Cherie were told was ok. I'm not sure how that is going to pan out, but it's not cheap to buy a plane ticket last minute...which is what they had to do so that they didn't leave Ryan behind.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: Monday night: 11:45 - 7:00 Tuesday night: 12:45 - 7:30 - couldn't sleep, must have been the beds

TODAY:
Breakfast: Tuesday: wheat toast, with strawberry jam and boiled eggs, oj, strawberry yogurt
Wednesday: waffle, milk, blueberry yogurt

Lunch: Tuesday: Smokey Bones - Shena and I split a combination plate...we had pulled pork and a beef brisquet, mashed potatoes and gravy, baked beans, texas garlic toast, pink lemonade...very, very good stuff...the pork especially

Wednesday: Cracker Barrell: patty melt on sourdough (hamburger with sauteed onions, cheddar cheese), steak fries (thick cut fries), one biscuit with blackberry jam.

Dinner: Tuesday: Arby's - two Arby melts (roast beef sandwiches with nacho cheese), curly fries, sprite, lemon/raspberry Cheesecake Factory cheesecake (pretty dang good, but not worth the $22 if you ask me. I'd just as soon pay $13 for a sampler from Costco and eat it).

Wednesday: PB and J (may be a lot of these in the next year as we pay off this van!), milk