our first bump in the road

Let's start off the journey document with the negative..  Because then the only thing left to tell you about will be rainbows and happiness and sunrises.

But there was this one morning that was SUPER stressful for about five minutes.  I wish those five minutes would have been on video but we were just so stressed out to think about anything other than breathing in and out.  It was Ben and I who were freaking out..  My responsible teenager is just so cute.

Okay, so Ben has a few more months of braces.  When we moved, we figured we'd just finish them up with a new orthodontist in Utah.  But because they were paid for in Vegas and because every new ortho wanted $3K to finish up, we figured it would be worth it to drive back down to Vegas every 6 weeks and party with our friends there.  According to Ben, every six weeks he has to be tortured so the rest of the family can have a vacation.  We're all so grateful to him :)

Anyway, Ben had an appointment at 8 in the morning.  The bus is NOT the vehicle we want to take on short errands, but the office is super close to our house and really, it was no big deal.  Ben and I got up early, had plenty of time to drive slow and enjoy the ride :) but as soon as we got on the road, we knew there was a problem.

I thought it was a flat tire at first.  We were slowly creeping along and heard the loudest clunk every time the wheel turned over.  I think we passed 2 houses before we pulled over and got out.  I was really stressed before looking at the tires because these are basically brand new tires and they are kind of pricey.  So Ben and I walked around the bus and couldn't find any problems.  Phew.  No flat tires.  So we get back into the bus and drive another 2 houses and still!  The same loud sound.. now I start really freaking out because it's something worse than a flat tire... like the axel is about to blow up or something!  

So Ben gets out of the bus to watch while I drive and we can see what is making the sound.  I can see him from the mirror, in the back of the bus.  Right away he flags me down and says, "You are not going to believe this.  There is a HUGE bolder stuck in the middle of back tires.  It's huge.  And it's making a dent in the road when you drive!"  So, I pull over and Ben runs to grab Aaron and a hammer.  We had a couple of small pieces of wood in the bus so I grabbed those and tried to pry the rock out.  It was so stuck, I knew we needed Aaron's help.  

Luke stayed home with the girls and Aaron, Zack and Simon came to help.  Aaron tried to pound it out with the hammer and a little bit of it did chip off, but it would have taken a hour to try to get it out that way.  I am not sure how Aaron had the idea to use the force of the bus to pry it out with the piece of wood, but that's exactly why I needed him!  I actually didn't even know what he was doing.  I was just behind the wheel reversing back and forth and doing what he told me to do.  And really, I was just having a good time.  After I realized it was a rock and that we would be able to get it out, I thought the whole thing was totally entertaining.  

Okay, so here's the video.  It took about 20 minutes to get it out.  This is the last minute and a half and I wish Ben would have been able to get Zack and Simon's reaction when the rock came out (hugging and jumping up and down!)  But he did a great job overall... he was filming, telling me what to do and trying to narrate to tell you what's going on.  So cute.  

I don't know what the chances are of backing up at just the right spot for just the right size of a boulder to get stuck.. but really, there's no way we could have prepared for this kind of drama.  What cracks me up is that the desert across the street from us seemed like the perfect place to park the bus!  Also, it's not in the video, but the first time Aaron put the 2X4 behind the rock and had me reverse, the piece of wood went THROUGH the hard desert dirt.  So he had to use another rock to prop it up and keep it from sinking in the ground :)

We got Ben to the ortho okay... we had to reschedule it for an hour later and it was no prob.  Walking into the appointment, Ben took a big sigh and said, "That was a little bit stressful, but actually... kind of fun."

All in all, I loved the whole experience.  It was not a big deal, but it was a small taste of what we will do when something wrong happens.  Aaron came to the rescue and I tried to stay as lighthearted as possible.  The kids got into it and each contributed.  And it was just a little bump in the road on our journey.

The other "bad" thing happened on the drive home.  We stopped at a flooring store to figure out what we want to do with the remodel and all the kids were super hot waiting.  So afterward we stopped off for drinks and slurpees and Roma spilled hers all over... I mean, a huge slurpee all over our clean floor and inside one of Ben's shoes.  Luckily, we had a stack of clean towels and we were able to clean it up (relatively) easy while Aaron was driving.  Luke stepped in it and tracked sticky feet everywhere so it was annoying.,  But that really was at the end of the trip and everything else was so blissful.  Rainbow and sunset documentation coming up next..  but guys!  Maybe not for a few days because life is crazy right now!