Good-Bye Old Truck

Well it is the end of an era in the Cranney/ Zollinger family. This week Nathan sold our blue Ford Ranger. Normally, the selling of a vehicle probably wouldn't call for much of even a second thought but this truck has a lot of memories attached and has been around for a lot of time. My dad bought this car when I was barely a teenager. My fondest memories of this truck included being my dad's travelling partner. We would travel to Idaho to visit our family and to go to our cabin. Sometimes he would even let me bring Valerie and we would sit for hours sewing doll clothes and listening to Garth Brooks in the tape deck.

When I was 15 and learning how to drive it was pretty hard to get my parents to take me out to practice. After much begging, I am sure, Missy offered to take me to learn how to drive. She took me out to Backus Hwy and gave me my first lesson. I will always be grateful for that memory of not only the truck but of my sister.

Eventually my dad needed to part with the truck and, although I do not recall every detail, Missy was the one to purchase it from my dad. A couple of months before Nate and I were to get married Nate had to find another vehicle so his brother, Gavin, could have the Jeep to drive when he turned 16. Missy had had the truck for sale in the newspaper for several months with no luck. Luckily for us it hadn't been sold, because we really needed that truck, and she sold it to us.

The truck was in good hands with Nathan. When it needed anything, Nate, put blood, sweat and tears into it to keep it running. He's worked on just about everything you possibly can on a vehicle and probably then some. We took the truck on our 1st anniversary trip to California. We laughed as we drove this muddy, beat up (well loved), truck down Rodeo Dr. next to all the Mercedes and Jaguars. It was a scene straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies! We also took shelter in it when we went camping and our tent didn't have a rain cover when we needed it most. We discovered the truck was the absolute best option for drive-in movies. With the shell and a good stereo it was like it was our own movie theatre. We would put an air mattress and a whole bunch of pillows and have a great time!

Our girls have loved it as well. The biggest treat of all for them was to ride in Daddy's truck to go anywhere. Both Emma and Lila got to ride in Daddy's truck to go on a Daddy daughter date after getting potty-trained.

I am sure there are more memories that I am missing. Right here in the moment it is hard remember all of the good times that I know are associated with this truck. I would love to hear any memories that any of my family and friends have. You can email them to me at nahan21@hotmail.com or drop me a note on my Facebook page. All of this was brought about because Nate was able to get himself a new truck after the Ranger had run on its last legs. When we posted it on KSL it was only a matter of hours before someone contacted us. This person's family had hit some hard times and needed a vehicle at a good price and was handy enough to make the Ranger run a bit longer. We hope that they will grow to love that truck as much as we have and wish them all the best.

Good-bye old truck...

Family Fun

This past weekend we had great news! My parents were granted their visitation rights to see Josh, Melissa's son. Marti had actually been down to St. George the weekend prior so we got to see her a little bit then and then the very next week, we took off to Salt Lake when we got the good news. This was a big event for us because Marti, Chris, and I and all of our kids have not been allowed to see Josh since October of 2007 while all interested parties got it worked out. Another bright spot to all of this was Josh got to meet Lydia for the first time.

Here are some pictures of our weekend.
One of the highlights, for me anyway, was watching Grandma Z dive in and play rockband with all of us! Go Grandma!










Here is Lydia with Marti!












Here is Josh meeting Lydia. Usually she is very timid around people she doesn't know. But not with Josh. She crawled right up and sat on his lap like they had always been the best of friends.













In Saint George, the previous week, Nate and I got the opportunity to take Alex V. and Hunter along with our girls to a new family restaurant here, Pirate Island Pizza. It was a lot of fun. Alex here is wearing this kids menu on his head!






This kids had a blast. Not only did Nate win them prizes at the arcade, but the whole place was pirate themed all the way down to the pirate ship and waterfalls. All the waiters were dresses up and the food was decent as well! I have a hunch that this is where Lila is going to have us go for her birthday in March. All in all we really enjoyed our time with our family. Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Zollinger for facilitating our awesome family reunion. We love you guys!

Lila's 1st Birthday Party

We were so excited when Lila received her first invitation to a birthday party. She's been to others but this was the first where it was just her friend and Emma wasn't included. Her little friend Serena invited her to her 4th birthday party. It was Strawberry Shortcake themed and she came home with tons of goody bags and the biggest smile!

Lydia's Playin' Dress Up

Our Aunt Marti bought Lydia her first dress up during one of her trips here last fall and on this day we decided to break it out. I didn't want to completely undress her so she got the dress up experience over her clothes which I don't think she was too excited about. Lila decided that she wanted to be twinners with Lydia and so here is our two Snow White's.







Lydia gets extremely excited when she gets to play in her sister's room. There is never a dull moment there, that's for sure! Here she is playing Barbie's with Lila...










reading books...













and just generally enjoying being in the thick of things.

Mischief

So as I was going through my pictures for this latest blog, it was becoming blatantly clear to me exactly who takes more pictures on our camera. My children!

Just so you can see what they have been up to when I have turned my back here you go...

First, there are lots of rules in my house and most are just common sense. One of them that is farely recent is -there shall be no children on the computer as they do not know what they are hurting and have their own games and gaming consoles. (On a side note, this is a new computer that was purchased as a result of too many children playing on the computer.) Emma is going to learn that having her sister take a picture of her breaking the rules may not play to her advantage.

Lila is well known as our family acrobat and well, let's just say family tornado. Here is Emma documenting that fact.

Being almost 4, Lila is very into doing things all by herself. Today she decided to do her own hair... Luckily Mother is close by to help guide the child :)

Now, another one of the rules of our house is - we got you camera's of your own for Christmas so keep your grubby hands of Mom and Dad's!

This is Lila's opinion of that rule!

Say Cheese!

What I have Been Up to...

I realize that this is not necessarily front page material but I have received a couple requests from people to see what I have been up to recently.

This box is what Sherrill and I did when they visited last week. We learned how to decoupage and it was a blast. The added bonus was I got to use my Cricut which I have been looking for every available opportunity to do. I want to make more! :)



After the previous dress I made for Lydia got ruined (someone took scissors to it before Lydia could even where it) I just barely got the opportunity to make her another. I just finished it today :)
















I wanted to make the girls some jammies for Christmas but I just couldn't get them done. I cut out patterns for each girl to have 2 jammies each and just finished them the last week in January. Where does life take me I have no idea!

Our Climber

Well it would seem that Lydia has hit a new phase. Climber. In addition to our table, the couch, and pretty much every toy that stands to about her height, she really enjoys climbing on this shopping cart walker that she got from Santa Claus. I being the quirk I am was curious to see how she would get herself out of this mess.

At first I blamed Lila for putting her in there but now I am seen with my own eyes how Lydi Moo gets into her own brand of trouble.

At this point is where I stepped in!