Brace yourself...

Samantha got braces yesterday! She was so excited! She looked in the mirror of the car visor and took pictures with my phone all the way home.












For some reason she loves the curled lip pose. She chose pink and turquoise bands. Her teeth didn't start to hurt until the end of Young Womens around 9.

Last gasp of summer

Jeff wrote this a few weeks ago and didn't post it. I thought you might enjoy it.

On September 1, Blake, Samantha, Casey and I took the Jeep out to Tillamook State Forest with Nathan Smith and one of his buddies. The only problem with Jeeping is that the Jeep isn't big enough so that everyone in the family can go. I guess this means we'll have to buy another one (just checking reading comprehension at home).

We bought the Jeep in the spring and Blake and I have been doing some work on it since then. He and I installed a lift kit. Then we found a stronger rear differential and had that put in and had both axles re-geared. We found a heavier duty bumper and some 33" tires on Craigslist.

Casey and I took it to the shop to have the new(er) rear axle installed. My timing was bad and I had my appointment for the day that Blake left for EFY and Rachael was at girls camp with the truck. I needed to get the Jeep and the new axle downtown and only had Casey to help with no other vehicle available to haul the axle in. I hurried home from work and only had a few minutes to figure out what to do, and I didn't know anyone that was home that had a truck. We stared at the problem for a minute and then he and I ratchet strapped the new axle to the rear bumper and headed down the road. I noticed nobody was following me very closely on that ride. When we got to the shop, the guy came out and looked a little confused. He said "I thought you were bringing an axle with you". We all had a good laugh when he saw how I got it there.

This was finally our first time takin it out. Nathan's friend Glenn captured some video and photos of a very fun day. Blake tried his hand at driving for a while and did great. I was a little worried he was going to leave paint and body parts on a few tight points on the trail, but he came through like a pro. In spite of our best efforts, we didn't break anything.

Jeff still needs to hook up to the video.