An Exciting Week

Several exciting things have happened for us this week.

First of all, I finally got rid of my facebook! Now I won't have to worry about all the idle time I spend looking at other peoples' pictures (and sometimes friends-of-other-people's pictures... who knows why I got so caught up looking at those) and reading comments. The worst part is when I would cycle, or check my facebook five minutes after last checking it. What was I thinking? Now I can devote my time to more worthwhile things, and I am very excited about that.

Second, I have a calling in my new ward: 2nd counselor in the primary presidency! I can't express how excited I am about it. I was actually hoping I'd get called in primary, and I've been able to spend a lot of time these past two days looking up ideas and resources for sharing time, achievement days, and opening/closing exercises! These are things I haven't participated in since I was in primary over 8 years ago. I'm hoping I can remember enough for this upcoming Sunday, when I start officially. I am very excited for the chance to share my testimony with the cute kids in my ward and strive to help bring them closer to their Heavenly Father.

Third (this is more exciting for me than Clay probably), Clay is giving a talk this Sunday on "Our Pioneer Heritage." Clay always gives wonderful talks and I am excited to hear what he comes up with. I'm sure he will put lots of time into making it special, and that it will turn out wonderfully.

Fourth, it's Pioneer Day this Saturday, and because of it, we get Friday off, making this a short work week! That's always good news. No, great news. It gives us a chance to catch up on all the sleep we missed during the week (usually a lot). I'm excited at the chance to reflect on our pioneer ancestry and the sacrifices they made to allow us all that we have today, especially, and most importantly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Fifth, we finally have air conditioning! This may not seem like all that exciting, but our apartment has been BAKING in the heat these past few days, so this really is a wonderful change. We don't sit there sweating and tired anymore, but cool and refreshed! We love it. AND our new place doesn't have crickets! This is perhaps the most exciting news of all (just kidding. Sort of).

RIP my Jeep, 2002-2010

So my beloved car, the Jeep Grand Cherokee that I've driven since I was in high school, has met a sudden, tragic end. We were driving it one day last week, when all of a sudden the car started making a loud whirring noise and wouldn't shift from second to third gear (it's an automatic). We thought that was weird, but it eventually went back to third gear and ran normally. We took it into the car shop, and they thought it was just an oil problem, but that afternoon called to tell us that the transmission was literally falling to pieces (in big metal chunks) and it would take several days, and $2800, to fix the problem. This made us quite sad.

We've had to quit driving it since, since now it won't even shift from first-second, and will hit a max speed of 20 mph before clunking and grinding noises begin to sound from under the hood. We took it into a repair shop today, and thankfully, they quoted us at a lower price than the other place. So now it's there, in the shop, and we are carless. For the past few days, though, Clay's EQP has been nice enough to let us borrow their second car, so we've been able to run essential errands, like grocery shopping.

Still, I am so sad about my Jeep. I have driven the car since high school, and it has always been reliable, which is why its sudden demise is so shocking. It literally stopped running in two days. But we are getting it fixed up with a new transmission, and hoping to sell it and get a different car. Wish us luck!