Cars 2

The movie Cars 2 came to theaters last Friday, the 24th. Seth loves the original movie, so we decided to take him. I had heard on the radio that they were giving away free tickets to a special showing at 10 am on the release day. They were giving tickets to people that called in and people that showed up at their live events. On the 23rd I heard on the radio that they had extra tickets. They had not been able to give away all the tickets. Some people that won had not come by the radio station to claim theirs. The radio said to show up at 9 am and they would start handing out tickets. We got their at 8:30 am and there was already a line. They told us that they were not just going to give the tickets away, but that we would have to earn them. Since Lightning McQueen is a race car, they would have the kids race for tickets. Seth took dead last. He was the youngest in the group. They gave him tickets anyway. We got our tickets and got in line to go inside. The radio station then came by handing out raffle tickets for more prizes. One lady saw my shirt and said, "Oh, we're not letting BYU fans in." I said, "You have to. It's Cars 2." They let me in. We sat in the middle, on the 5th row from the front.

Before the movie started, they drew tickets and handed out prizes. Some kid up in the balcony had his number picked. The same lady that gave me a hard time for being a BYU fan said, "If that's that BYU fan, he's not getting this prize." I stood up and said, "No, I'm right here." They laughed and continued. Then came the final prize. It was a $100 prepaid Visa card. My number was drawn. The look on that lady's face when she saw that I had won was great. She said, "No way. Let me see that ticket. Is this a fake?" I just laughed and gladly accepted the $100.

We enjoyed the movie and had a great time. The tickets were worth the cost. Seth had too much root beer and had to go to the bathroom 3 times.

Happy 1st Birthday Carter

Carter turned 1 year old today. He is such a little cutie. He does everything that his older brother Seth does. He may not have understood everything that went on, but he had a great time anyway.

He started with some sliced chicken nuggets and ate them all.

Then he had a coconut flavored sucker. It was the first sucker of this little suckers life and he loved it.

One candle for the birthday boy. Jennifer wanted to use blue frosting, but could not find any. She used white vanilla frosting and mixed in a blue popsicle. It turned out great.

This may look like a party hat, but its not. Seth wanted an ice cream cone and then once he got it he decided that he did not want to finish it. I told him to eat it or I was going to stick it on his head. As you see, he did not eat it.

Carter enjoyed his cake. He ate every crumb.

Carter got a little train for his birthday. Seth was very jealous and had to be sent in the other room so Carter could play with it.

Cutting Down the Neighbor's Trees

The neighbor had mentioned to Dad that he wanted to cut down his trees along the property line that he shares with Dad. He had planted them too close to the fence. Dad offered to help. He just wanted Dad to know what was going on if Dad saw him in Dad's backyard. Some of the branches started to touch Dad's roof and the wind was making them scrape on the roof. Rather than let the neighbor get to cutting them down, we stepped in. We did not see any major damage, but it was good to get those branches before they ruined a few shingles.

The branches came down pretty easy. They were only about 4 inches thick.

Some of the branches were hanging over the house. We cut the end off the first branch and tied a rope to it. Then we threw it through a higher point in the next branch, so we could pull it and make it fall where we wanted.

Seth was there to help. He loved the crashing of the branches.

I was not sure if we were supposed to be smiling or grunting in this picture.

Timber!

Then we cut all the branches into 6 foot lengths, so they would fit in the back of Dad's truck. We put in as many as would fit and the rest on my trailer.
It's fun to build things and see improvements. Sometimes it is even more fun to tear things down. Demolition has it's rewards too.

New Receiver Hitch

I put a receiver hitch on my truck. It puts the weight of my trailer on the frame, instead of on the bumper. This bumper is not rated for the weight of even my small trailer. I had some difficulty getting the trailer on and off. We figure that the trailer had bent the bumper just a little bit and made the ball misaligned with the trailer coupling.

The hitch bolts to the frame in the same spot as the bumper. Four bolts hold on the bumper and six bolts hold on the hitch. Two of the bolts are shared. I had to drill four new holes in the frame.

The rack that holds my spare tire hinges down to allow the tire to be removed. The hinge rusted through and I had it wired shut for a while. We welded on some new metal and now it works great.

It took a bit of pounding and clamping to get everything lined up. We got it on and it looks great.

Now the trailer will be properly supported. It will also ride level. The ball on the hitch is a few inches lower than the ball on the bumper. With the front of the trailer lower, the back of the trailer is higher. No more scraping in dips and driveways.

We hope to be moving into our house in a few weeks and the truck and trailer will be put to good use moving all our things; plus all the projects we will be doing. I also will be hauling a few things up north for Michael (couch, table and chairs). I will pick up a few things at Jennifer's parents' house on the way back (cedar chest, beds, table and chairs, anything else I can talk them into donating). This new hitch will be great.