Our poor little Silly Sally...

For those of you who don't know, Emma likes to name cars. Our truck is named Mark, the moving truck was Clyde, and our car is named Silly Sally. Well, Silly Sally had a run in with a deer this weekend...
We were following a truck up Indian Canyon (from Helper to Duschene) when a deer ran out between us. I seriously didn't see the deer until it was in my hood. Thankfully, the truck I was following came back to make sure we were ok. Of course, we were at a spot in the canyon where I didn't get any cell reception so needless to say, I was very grateful that he came back to check on us. He went back up the canyon a few miles, called the Highway Patrol and my dad and came back to wait with us until help arrived.

Emma and Lucas were amazing through the whole ordeal. They only cried for about 20 seconds after we hit and I think that was mostly because I screamed and scared them. While we were waiting for the troops to arrive, Emma kept asking me why we weren't going anywhere. However, thanks to the DVD player from Grandpa Oz, she was so busy watching a movie that she didn't want to go anywhere even when the Highway Patrol showed up.

The tow truck took us back to my grandparents house in Helper where we met my dad and step-brother, Ryan. Emma was pretty distraught at the idea of leaving Silly Sally but when I explained that Sally was broken and had to get fixed, she was ok. She also informed me that next time I need to wait until the deer is done crossing the road. It was a good lesson in safety because I told her that the deer didn't hold her mommy's hand while she was crossing the street and that's why she got hit.

Michael took the news pretty good considering I was sobbing when I talked to him. In fact, he went out looking for a new car on Saturday (the excuse of having to wait for the insurance settlement is a great way to get car salesmen to back off). But, the repair shop said that the damage was mostly cosmetic so we should be back in business in a few weeks. Fortunately, Grandpa Oz is letting us borrow Sara (his Camry) until poor Sally gets fixed.

I am EXTREMELY grateful that we all came out ok. We hit the deer at the perfect spot in the canyon because just before and after, there were some pretty good drop offs down to the creek but where we were there was a pull out. It's a good thing we had our guardian angel, Grandma Susie, looking out for us that night.

The worst thing about the whole experience was feeling completely helpless. It was about 35 degrees outside, my car wasn't going anywhere and I had two small children in the car. It took me quite a while to calm down and say a prayer to have peace and comfort. Thank heavens for the sweet peace the Spirit can bring in times of need. I still cried, but mostly because I was mad at myself.

Thank you to everyone who came to our rescue!!

May I present, Jeff and Stacia Taylor

Well, since I was already driving to Vegas for THE movie, I decided (in the shower on Thursday morning) to go all the way to Utah for my step-sister's wedding in Roosevelt. I really wanted to go but wasn't going to because Michael had to work and I didn't want to drive all that way with two kids by myself. But, being the stubborn Wilstead child that I am, I went. Of course on the way, I had a little mishap but I'll put all that drama on another post.

Jeff and Stacia's ceremony was perfect. It literally lasted for all of 5 minutes. It was short, sweet and to the point. And really, why draw it out, everyone is there for the all important first kiss anyway.

Stacia looked absolutely beautiful in her gown. Emma thinks that all brides are princesses so she was really excited to see Stacia all decked out. She also really likes dancing so she was ready to get down and bogey all night long.

Joel and Kim came out from KS so Emma and Zac got to play together all night. Luckily, Zac didn't mind dancing with his cousin. We also got to meet Little Auggie (aka Trevor) for the first time and also Ryan and Sydnee's little girl Tally. It was fun to see everyone!



We really had a lot of fun and I was glad that we were able to be there. Congrats to the newlyweds, the best is yet to come!!! We love you!

Twilight!!!!

So I am that geek when it comes to Twilight!! I love the books! I really like the whole story line and I love the whole "vegetarian" vampire idea. So you can imagine how excited I was when I heard that there was a premiere for Twilight in Vegas the day before it officially opened. It was $25 to get in but there was an appetizer buffet, door prizes and we also got a coupon for free popcorn and drink so I totally think it was worth it. Anyway, so I drove all the way back to Vegas to see the movie. Now, before anyone thinks I was too weird, before we had even moved, I had promised my friend, Becky that I would come back to see the movie with her when it came out. It was so worth it. Granted we got there a little late and ended up on the second row with a great view of Edward's nose hairs, but we both LOVED the movie! Plus it just gives me an excuse to go see it again. My hat goes off to the screenwriters for keeping it so real and in line with the book. I usually hate books made into movies but with this one, I am really excited for the sequel!!

Coming home

Has anyone heard about a little fire in the LA area this weekend? No? Well let me tell you all about it. The fires this weekend were the worst fires in LA in the last 75 years. How lucky are we that we got to experience them first hand. I am just very thankful that we weren't more affected by them. Sure we stayed in LA an extra night and had ash rain down on us all day but we didn't lose our home. My heart goes out to all the people who lost everything that they had in the fires. Can you imagine being told that you have 5 minutes to pack up all your memories and leave? How would it feel to drive away from your home and not know if it will be there when you get back? I hope we never have to experience that.

When we woke up Sunday morning, we found a layer of ash on everything; our car, the ground, the bushes. It was gross to think that we had all been inhaling that the day before. We had all taken showers the night before and by the time we got done, the washcloth was pretty disgusting. We loaded up the car and headed out of town.

On our way up the I-5, Michael wondered where the fire had been so bad that they needed to close the road. Just south of Valencia, we saw why. This picture doesn't show it too well but the entire hillside was black.

We saw a few helicopters out fighting the fire and a couple of fire trucks headed south to help out.











I took a couple of pictures of the fires but they don't do them any justice. They were HUGE. Going home, we had fires on both sides of the car. Keep the firefighters and anyone who lives in those areas in your prayers the next few days because they will need them.

The day we got stuck in LA...

So, before we ever left on our vacation, we figured we would probably have one more day at Disneyland left on our tickets (we got the Southern California City Pass that had a 3 day park hopper pass in it already) so we had a few of our friends from Bakersfield come and meet us at Disneyland for one last day of fun. Little did we know that up the road, just south of Valencia, there was a raging fire that had closed I-5 (oh wait, isn't that the way home???). Wendy, Tracy and Kaiden had driven down the day before so they missed out on all the fun. (Check out their blog for details) There was also a fire that was burning about 7 miles from Disneyland that made sure that ash and soot rained down on us all day. Did we let little things like ash and smoke keep us from playing outside all day? NO WAY!!! We put Lucas in the stroller and covered it with a blanket (so he wouldn't get covered with ashes) and off we went.

Kaiden (or was it Tracy?) really wanted to see the Jedi Academy training. We watched a bits and pieces of it with the Romney boys but this time we sat down and watched the whole thing. I have to say that the Jedi Master who was in charge of training all the "younglings" was hilarious! He was very witty and had a great sense of humor. We were all cracking up. At the end of the training, Darth Mal and Darth Vader both came out on stage for the kids to fight. It was pretty cool.

We went back to Mickey's Toontown and actually got to see Mickey Mouse this time (our camera wasn't acting up so Mickey was home! Isn't it funny how that works?) Lucas was hungry and tired at that point so he cried and Emma was so excited that she just stared at Mickey the whole time. We couldn't get her to look at the camera at all. I guess that's what happens when you meet your favorite celebrity. The best part about Mickey's house was that we got out of the smoke for a few minutes.





As we were walking down Main Street in Disneyland, we noticed just how bad the smoke was and took this picture...
Keep in mind that this was taken around noon and if you look just behind the Christmas tree, the sun was shining somewhere in LA...just not on us. Can you believe we were out in that crap? Me neither now that I look at the pictures.

We didn't let that stop us!! No, no. We still kept going!! We headed over to California Adventures for a few rides and to see the Disney Pixar Parade later on that night. We had seen part of the parade on Wednesday but this time we got to see it all. Guess who we missed the first time around?? Lightning McQueen!!!! Emma and Kaiden both love "Cars" so they were pretty excited to see #95.
They had characters from almost all of the pixar movies. Bringing up the rear was Emma's other favorite from "Cars", Mater. What more could a little girl ask for? Hey Lucas, how did you like the parade? Was it a little too boring for you?


Throughout the day, we were getting updates on the road conditions (thank you to everyone we called all day long). Michael and I decided that we were too tired from the previous week (gee, I wonder why?) to do the 4 hour detour suggested by the CHP, so we ended up finding a cheap hotel and staying over night. However, Wendy and Tracy are more die hard than we are and they did the detour. They really only beat us home by a few hours. :-)

Legoland

Friday morning, we all piled into the van for the last time and headed down to Legoland. The boys were REALLY excited to go!! Of course, as soon as we walked in the gates, I got stung by a bee and had to go to the First Aid building. Before you all think I'm a wuss or something, it hurt like you would not believe and I had never been stung before so I wasn't sure if I would have a reaction or not. I didn't and felt like a big cry baby when we left but I was glad that I got stung and not one of the kids.

After I dried my tears, we explored Legoland. There were quite a few rides but my favorite part was all the things they had built out of Legos. They had almost the entire Strip in Las Vegas done all the way down to the animals at the dolphin exhibit at the Mirage. It was so cool. And to think I used to get excited when I built a tiny,little house out of Legos. They even had an entire car made out of Legos that I didn't even realize it wasn't a real car until Michael pointed it out to me.


They were really strict on the height restrictions for all the rides (no one under 32" can do ANY of the rides so don't take really little kids there) so Lucas got to watch everyone form the sidelines. He did enjoy a few rousing games of peek a boo to help him survive the day. If you listen, you can hear Michael in the background asking me a question while I ignore him...that's pretty normal around our house. :-)

I was so amazed at all the different things they had made with the Legos. From the old man sitting on a bench... (The Lego man is on the right, not the left.) to the animals on safari, they were all so cool! I could go on... and on... and on... and on about them.

Universal Studios

We were going to go to the San Diego Zoo on Thursday, but we voted for Universal Studios instead. Pete and Stacey took the boys and Grandpa Oz to the beach while Michael, Matt, Emma Lucas and I braved the traffic through downtown LA and Hollywood. It was fun but unfortunately we thought there would be more for Emma to do there. I felt bad that she had to sit around and wait for everyone else to go on all the rides but we did get to see a few special people while we were there...

We did get to take Emma and Lucas on the Shrek 4-D ride. While we were in line, we were ambushed by Asian tourists with flash photography!! No really, we were. We were standing in line, waiting for the doors to open when about 50 Japanese tourists came in behind us. One lady started clicking at Lucas to get his attention and the next thing I know, we were surrounded by cameras!! For some reason, they thought that my kids were cute (then again, how could they not) and took tons of pictures of us. So, if you are ever looking at a blog from Japan and you see my family on it, you'll know why. It was pretty funny.

While Matt and Michael went on the new Simpons ride, Lucas, Emma and I walked around for a bit. Little did I know that a giant Incredible Hulk was waiting around the corner to pounce on us!! Don't worry, we made it out alive.