ing a van. So the heavens shined down on me and I got my new car last Monday. It is a 2008 Ford Taurus X. It is a crossover. That means it is half way between an SUV and a station wagon. One of my friends described it as "A Subaru on steroids". I am in love with it. It is the first car that I have ever been really excited about. The kids love it. The 3rd row seats are raised so Jason can see over the seat in front of him, and he just loves that. The girls can get themselves in and out of it, I love that. It has all of these cool features. I think my favorite one is that by a push of a button the petals move up to meet my feet. (I am no longer sitting so close to the steering wheel that if we had an accident the airbag would crush me to death. That a bonus for everyone.) I know it can't be all perfect, and I will find things to complain about later, but for now the DVD playing, 7 passenger seating, dual zone climate controlling, SUV power having, car type gas mileage getting, made with short people in mind car, will do just fine.
o. It is a 2007 Honda Civic S.I. Basically a sports car. Now, he needed a new car. We needed to get out of the Toyota with the HUGE percentage rate. He loves the new car. He told me today that he has never had a compliment on a car that he owned before. Probably because he has always had a sensible Toyota Corolla or a van to drive in. Today he got 2 compliments at one stop. He was beaming. I understand. Before he got the Corolla he just traded in he was driving a Corolla. And before that one, yep, another Corolla. Man we just liked the Corollas. Or maybe that what we could afford. Before the 3 Corollas we had (YIKES!!!) he drove a 2 door blue Geo Metro. (We each had one. When we met we both drove matching blue Geo Metros. We did not know it of course, but it is the cars that our fathers gave us when we got out of high school. The only difference was mine was a 1994 model and his was a (approximately) 1984 model.) His car is fast and manual, but he loves it. 
e, and washed all of the laundry needed to go. Oh, all before 11am with all 4 kids with me. Lewis was working for the morning, so I had to handle it all alone. Lewis was supposed to be home at 11:30 and help me get the car packed, but he did not get home until almost 1pm, which was the time my parents were supposed to get to our house to leave. My parents showed up at 1:30, and their truck was so full that we had to unpack some of it to make room for the stuff that did not fit in our van. Who knew that camping with 4 kids and 4 adults ment bringing a year's supply of everthing? So we get on the way at a quarter to 2. We made it down to Virgin ( just outside of Zion's National Park) in 4 hours. We set up camp and made dinner. Hot dogs, chili, and chips. Followed by Smores. Got the kids to bed by 9pm and then the fun began, for me anyways. For any of you that know me, you know that I stay up really late. I watch TV until about 1 or 2 am every night. So at 10pm in the dark with the fire out and nothing to do, I was lost. The girls were asleep in my tent, and I forgot to bring a book. I litterally had nothing to do. Everyone went to bed, and I stayed up swirling the flashlight at the tent ceiling for hours. 
ade bacon and eggs, and then got dressed for the day. Lewis woke up sick. He was all stuffed up and miserable. He was alergic to the outside or he had a cold. I think it was both. It was supposed to be cool so we decided to go to St. George for the day. We stoped at a cowboy town for the kids to play. They fed the animals at the petting area and we got some cute pictures. We then drove down to Mesquite and had a buffet lunch at one of the casinos. And then went shopping at the outlets in St. George for the afternoon. Children's Place had all of their girls clearance on sale for $2.99 or less. EVERYTHING! So I got the girls some skirts and long sleeved shirts. We then drove back to camp and wanted to go swimming, but it was too cold. We had grilled sandwiches for dinner. Adam was the "offical" fire guy. He started our fires and kept them going. I was nervous at first but then he got pretty good at it. (The only problem that I had with the fire was the smoke always followed me anywhere I went. I know people say that the smoke is following them, but in my case it is true. By the end of the weekend it was a joke around camp not to sit next to me because the smoke would blow in your face.) We put the kids to bed early and Lewis, Alain, Donna, and I played Rummy. I won by a landslide.
and drove into Zion's. We did 2 hikes, which the kids enjoyed. Everyone liked the Weeping Rock hike. It is a short half a mile hike that goes strait up. Water from 1200 years ago runs through the rock and makes the rock cry. It was really interesting. Everyone walked the whole way except for Abigail. She was carried by Lewis and Alain. Then we drove through Zion's and went to a Buffalo Farm and had a really late lunch. Most of us had buffalo burgers, but Adam had chicken strips. After lunch we drove back to the camp area and the kids played at a park down the way. We cooked chicken for a late dinner, and then put the kids to bed at 9. We played Rummy again but stopped half way through because of the wind, and cold. It was really cold the last night. 
n forgave us and made it home by 4pm. We unloaded the car and I realized that I had a garage full of dirty clothes, blankets, shoes, and coats that just stunk like smoke. I had to leave everything out there while I washed loads. 
