Discount Tire update

Many of you have inquired whether anything happened after my disgruntled customer letter I sent to Discount Tire. As a matter of fact, I received a very timely email repsonse from the corporate office and a call from the NEW manager of the AF store both with sincere apologies for my bad experience. They also sent me a gift card to Applebee's.

Cute things my kid says

Instead of reminding myself of all the naughty (but funny) things Garrett says, like "Momma! No talking to me" or when asking him if he remembers Kayden from our speech class he looks over at him and replies "he has a BIG head" - I feel it especially important to the record the good ones.
Walking into Rylee's room after I got her dressed the other day...
Garrett: Rylee you look just like a princess.
Me: She does look like a princess doesn't she.
Garrett: Yes, and I look like a king.

After leaving the exam room from Garrett's 4 year old check (of which he cried and screamed the whole way there) he goes back to the doctor...
G: Doctor!
Dr. Wilcox: Yes, Garrett?
G: Doctor, you are a very good doctor.
Dr. W: Well you've just made my day!

Highlights

9/15-9/26

~Garrett's birthday was a blast and I think all the kids had a good time!

~Garrett got his first bike and it was so enjoyable to watch him pedal away. He is, in his words "such a big boy" and was so proud of himself.
~After seven days without a husband I was near tears when Jon called and said his hunter got an elk and he was on his way home...two days early. Did you just hear the "Hallelujah Chorus" - I did?
~Rylee's first pony ride at Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country. She had a never ending grin.

~Going to the Dino Musuem with Kaisa and our friends Kim and Doug. We had a great time, had a yummy ice cream cone and checked out the Farmers Market.

~Date night with Jon was a long time coming. It was so nice to go to dinner without little ones crawling over us or under the table. Time well spent!

~Girls night at PF Changs with Alli, Tristin and Chanel my college roommates. We had a great time catching up and eyeing the seven layer chocolate cake at the table across from us. Next time girls!

~Spending two days making cards with my sister Alisa. The kids got to run around the house and play all day with each other and we just got to enjoy ourselves and chat. Good times!

Birthday Party Extravaganza!

(Good Morning Birthday Boy, The Three Musketeers, Stegosaurus Cake, The Party Attendees)

Garrett was so excited for his birthday this year that I decided he needed to have a friend party. For the last two weeks he'd get up every day and say "It's my Birthday! Momma, are you going to make me a dinosaur birthday cake?" To which I would reply "10(or 9,8,7 and so on) more days. This morning when he got up and realized that in fact it was his birthday today he went nuts - running around the house, jumping up and down, clapping for himself. This is what birthday's used to be about..before we got old! We went to McDonald's for breakfast with Grandma Sue (my mom). Rylee got stuck at the top of the play place so I got to fish her out. That was fun! At noon the friends arrived - Kaisa, Doug, Michael, Justin and Lexi. They colored a 9 foot dinosaur mural while lunch was getting ready. Ate pizza, breadsticks, fruit and carrots (well kinda ate). Then we played pin the horn on the triceratops, dinosaur egg hatch (popping balloons I had put dinosaurs in), dinosaur egg hunt, opened presents, ate cake (isn't that an awesome cake...thank you Tina!!!), and read dinosaur stories until their moms came. Needless to say I'm exhausted and my house looks like a dinosaur bomb exploded. But to see the pure joy and enthusiasm on that childs face was well worth it! We finished the evening off at Taco Amigo with Nana (Jon's mom). I think this was the longest day in recent memory!

Garrett is FOUR!

(Birth, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year)

It doesn't seem possible that four years ago Garrett was born! He has been such a blessing in our family and we love him to pieces. I love my Garbear because he is such a good big brother to Rylee, loves all of his family, is a good helper, loves to help me cook, is so passionate about the things he likes (dinosaurs, books, Rylee, treats), has the sweetest voice and an infectious giggle, loves to play and make friends, still likes to snuggle with me, strong-willed (some may say "stubborn" but he gets that from his dad:), loves to learn new things, smart and funny! WE LOVE YOU GARRETT!

The List

A couple of my friends do a Top 10 of their week. I think it's a great idea so I'm going to copy them - thanks Amanda and Kris! I don't know that I can rank so I'm just going to give a chronological list of our Highlights (or lowlights). This way I can remember all the little and daily things that we do.

Highlights!

9/8/2008 - 9/14/2008

• Taking Rylee for her 18 month check and knowing that she is healthy despite her on/off relationship with food - 22 lbs & 32 inches!
• Getting flowers from my hubby
• Enrichment Night Service Auction was so much fun and I "bought" a kid's birthday cake which is being redeemed for tomorrow (Garrett's birthday) and now I don't have to wonder how on earth I'm going to make the dinosaur cake he's been asking for every day for the last 2 weeks!!! Yippee for me!
• Hitting old State Street American Fork with my mom to check out all the fun stores that have popped up and which we never make the effort to visit. Going to the "Husband & Wife" store was a little uncomfortable with my mom so it was a very brief walk through! Lunch at Tangie's Cafe was...interesting, although the club sandwich was quite good. The last time I was there it was "The Italian Place" and I was with my Grandpa Barratt. He gave me the cute little toothpicks that used to come in your sandwich so I had two. I would have been about 4 years old. What great memories!
• Going with Ashleigh to Amanda's book review of "Breaking Dawn". Good food, good discussion, good times. Thanks Amanda!
• Checking out the Gardens (again) with our friends Cami, Justin & Hannah! We can't get enough!
• Shopping with Shellie (my mom in-law) all day. Finding the perfect bike for Garrett's b-day, getting the fabric for my curtains, lunch at Chick-fil-A, beautiful fresh produce at the new farmers market (I'm trying recipes from "Deceptively Delicious, I'll let you know how they turn out) and lots of visiting! A very successful outing!
• Finding out that my sister McCall and her family are safe from the Hurricane Ike, just a little water damage, but everyone is okay. Thank goodness!
• Watching Garrett shove cherry tomatoes in his cheeks and laughing hysterically at himself.
• Garrett's prayers. He always remember the "little things" to be thankful for. This morning it was: Joann's house (his babysitter) and her "arnimals" and food, Grandma Sue's house, the Triceratops and Spike he got with Nana Gray, dinosaurs in general, being safe from "spookies, dragons, monsters and T-Rex's", and smoothies. Yes, we have much to be thankful for!
  

Not everything stinks!

After the whole applesauce incident I did get a fabulous surprise. Jon sent me these beautiful roses just because he loves me (and maybe because he's leaving for the next nine days)! So the day was not a complete wash. Thank you Jon for being so sweet and making my day!!!

And - to boost my self-esteem I rely on my Garrett who climbed onto my lap last night and said "Momma, you are a beautiful princess". Ahhhh... How cute was that?

Fruits of my Labor...hogwash! And other such grievances.

(reader discretion advised)
Where to begin... A couple months ago my mom, sister Alisa and I canned several bottles of apricots. We had a lovely time and later made apricot jam. Yum! Last week I had Alisa and my cousin Becca over for lunch. Lovely time as well. Becca was telling us about all the canning she's done and we were welcome to her apples and pears since she has oodles! Great - free fruit! (SIDE NOTE: Becca should be a professional blogger, she is absolutely hysterical, please read her blog about the difference between a Domestic Goddess vs. Domestic Badass...she is the later). She's canned a gazillion jars of food this season. So I help myself to a laundry basket full of apples and decided this morning would be "Applesauce Day". My mom came over at 12:00 and we started the process. I somehow burned the first pot of apples, only being able to salvage about 1/4 of the apples. The second go round I burned my hand while taking off the lid to the canner/steamer thingy. One of the bottles (the one on the right front row) exploded out the top. After three and a half hours of sweat and tears I have 7, count them 7 not 17 or 27, bottles of sauce. Domestic Badass? I think not. My mother asked "do you feel like a pioneer"? "No, more like a dumbass" such a waste of my time. I won't be able to even eat the applesauce because I spent so much time on them - they'll be placed on a shelf in my living room to admire for the next 20 years. I think it's safe to say this was my first and last applesauce experience. I have no problem paying $.99 a can. Case lot sales - here I come!

Grievance #2- my letter to the store manager and the main office should explain it all.

Discount Tire
Attn: Store Manager
616 West State Road
American Fork, UT 84003

Store Manager,

Yesterday I came to your store to have a flat tire repaired on our Toyota Sienna and had a less than pleasant experience. I seldom get irritated over services rendered simply because “things happen” and we’ve all been there, however, yesterday was unacceptable.

I arrived at your store and was told it would be one hour and twenty five minutes for service. Having my two young children with me I told him that was fine and we left the store at 11:40 to get some lunch. We returned at 1:10 to find our van was in the same spot when we left. I was then told it was coming right up and would be about 15 more minutes. Okay – so we wait. Another 35 minutes roll around before I’m then told they can’t fix the tire because there is a slit in the sidewall. Fine, we’ll buy a new tire – no ones fault there. “Just a couple minutes and you’ll be good to go” or so they say. It is now 2:15 before they finish – total time TWO HOURS AND THIRTY FIVE MINUTES!
That is ridiculous!!!

Like I mentioned above, “things happen”, you get behind. But be honest with me, if it’s going to take another hour or more to get my car finished just be upfront so I can have someone pick up me and my children and come back later. Your workers didn’t even offer an apology for taking so long - just a smile and a look that said “thank you for wasting your whole afternoon and $114.90 with us. Don’t let the door kick you on your way out”. Which brings me to my last point. When a woman with two kids and a stroller is trying to get out the door (or any woman for that matter) it would have been nice if one of the three workers standing there would have held the door.

Would you do business with this company again?


Regards,

Jamie Gray

Library Trip

This morning the kids and I headed out for a walk. I intended to get some exercise since I've seen so little of it lately. Garrett didn't want to cooperate and everything that somewhat caught his attention received a stop, play, ponder before moving on. Needless to say we managed to cover about 6-7 blocks in one hour and twenty minutes. Not our best record. So this afternoon, since the weather is just fabulous, I decided again to head out for a good walk. I decided to walk them to the Library...we needed to go there anyway. This adventure worked out for the most part and we got a good 2 mile walk in AND got library books to boot! There were some highlights that must be mentioned:
1-Passing by a home that seriously screams WT (I'm sure the lawn chairs are welded to the drive way, a dozen bicycles, 12 pack soda boxes everywhere, miscellaneous household items strewn about...you get the picture) Garrett looks over and says "hey momma, look it's a garage sale"
2-Passed by a home that has on it's large tree in the front yard the kooky tree faces you add during Halloween and a "No Trespassing" sign that say...U Know Who You Are. (*note to self: do not pass by here after dusk)
3-Garrett throwing a tantrum at the front desk while checking out the books because he didn't want to let them go long enough to scan them.
4-Stopping at Thrifty C to get a DP and a treat for the kids. My total came to $1.42. I grabbed the $1 from my pocket and then grabbed my wallet to get the rest of my cash, but alas, no more cash - not even change. Embarrassed I ask what the minimum charge is to use a debit card and I'll just grab some more stuff. The worker nicely says, "don't worry about it I got ya covered". She refused to let me pay the difference. There are still nice people!!! Thank you Thrifty C lady!