The McCalvy fleet... November 2013

In the space of 12 months, we sold and purchased three different vehicles.  XTerra, sold. White Subaru, bought and sold. White Truck, bought and sold. Toyota T100, bought. Quite the variety of vehicles we've been sporting.  The one constant in our fleet has been Little Blue. Isn't she cute?  This photo was taken during James' drive from Utah to Alaska in July 2013.

 

 

November 16, 2012 - we sold The Outlaw.  Goodbye to James' XTerra.  We needed a vehicle with better gas mileage.   Thank you, thank you to Grandma and Grandpa McCalvy for all their help in getting The Outlaw maintained and prepped for sale.

 

 

January 10, 2013 - we bought this Subaru Outback to replace the XTerra. It got much better gas mileage than the XTerra and it got us through the Utah winter and summer.  We weren't able to sell it again before we moved to Alaska, so we left it in Idaho with family and hoped to sell it there.

July 10, 2013 - we bought this Ford F150 to move us from Utah to Alaska.  We priced out the cost of renting a U-Haul from Salt Lake City to Cordova. Then we decided to buy a truck and trailer instead of renting one.  We probably spent the same amount on gas that we might have in a U-Haul and at the end of the journey, we didn't have to turn the truck in.  But.... it still isn't "just right" and James was still in the market for a vehicle with better gas mileage.

October 15ish, 2013 - Sold the white truck (owned it for about 3 months) to a local in Cordova. We sold it for more than we paid for it, which is good, because we spent A LOT on gas money getting it from Utah to Alaska.  We'll still see it around town.  Thank you White Truck for an event-free move!

 

 

October 30, 2013 - bought this Toyota T100 in Anchorage.  He gets better gas mileage and is a better size than the big white truck.  We named him Little John. And he gets a name because we're going to keep him for awhile.



 

 

 

November 13, 2013 - Sold the white Subaru (owned it for about 10 months). We sold it for less than we paid for it, but at least we're not insuring three cars when one of them was out of state!  THANK YOU Jed for handling that!

 

It's been an interesting vehicle merry-go-round, but I think James is happy with the end result of trading The Outlaw for Little John. Especially since we no longer have any car payments. Let's keep that up for awhile!!!

 

Goodbye to The Outlaw...Hello to...

November 16, 2012 - sold The Outlaw (thank you, HUGE thank you to the McCalvy's for all your help with the maintenance and prep for sale.)

January 10, 2013 - New (to us), as yet unnamed, white subaru

McCalvys come to Utah - October 17-29, 2012

We got a special treat this month - Grandma and Grandpa McCalvy came to Utah to visit us!

Lincoln had a stomach bug the first few days they were in town, so he took a few days to warm up. But then he was his usual adorable, fun little boy self. Grandma let Lincoln play with her cell phone ("Hi!" he says) and he sat in this toy and talked on the phone.

Uncle Brian and Aunt Tiffany came for one weekend and we had an apartment full!  We loved it! 

The weather was amazing most of their visit and they took Lincoln out for lots of walks. And one hike - we hiked along the old water trail above Ledgemere Campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  Most of the leaves have already changed color and fallen.

At the end of the hike (because of a pretty significant ravine) there is a bench for sitting and taking in the view.

I'm pretty sure Lincoln loves going for hikes - don't you think so? (He does, he's just making a face.)

We found some snow at the Ledgemere Campground after our hike and James taught Lincoln about snow balls. Lincoln would pick up the snowball, throw it, laugh, clap for himself, pick up the biggest remaining chunk of snow, throw it, laugh, clap for himself, and over and over again.

The major project of their time in Utah was spent working on James' XTerra.  The night before the McCalvy's flew in, The Outlaw broke down. If it had to break, we are so, so, so, so, so grateful that we had extra help to work on it!  Lincoln tried to help, he kept examing all the tools.

The couple days that it did rain, showed us that the covered parking isn't very dry over our spot.  They hung a tarp under the roof and over the car to stay dry.  Every so often, James would take ski poles and guide the water over to an edge of the tarp.  James guessed, and Dick proved, that the timing belt was the problem. So they had to take apart the front part of the engine just to get at the timing belt.  And then they changed the water pump since they were already in that deep.  Then they got the car put all back together and it ran!!! And it leaked. So they had to take it back apart and tighten up somethings. 

But in the end, The Outlaw is running again and we are so grateful! And now we have a couple new automotive tools and a tarp too.

We had lots of plans for their week-and-a-half in Utah that were put on hold because of the Xterra Project.  But we did get to explore Ikea and we got in lots of walks. We stopped by the kitchen store that Dick wanted to visit and we spent an afternoon at Gateway. We took Linc to the Instacare and Lincoln shared his stomach bug so everybody had a day or so of feeling under the weather.  Wasn't that generous?  We visited and we ate and I worked and James went to class and Lincoln played with Grandma and Grandpa. 

Next time: Jessi and James want a date night.  Grandma and Grandpa want to spend some time at the Family History Library. I'd love it if we could all go to the temple together. We want to wander the City Creek Center and maybe go to the zoo or to This is The Place Monument. 

Or lets just pack up the car and spend a week in Moab.

Park City - June 16, 2012

Maria had a Cross Fit Instructor Class and Test in Park City this weekend (She passed!).  So Jed and the girls came with for an adventure. Tucker stayed behind to work at the Fireworks Stand.  Maria spent all day in class and I met up with the rest of the Simpsons at the Park City Ski Resort Summer Activities.

First, we rode the carousel (I never did get the timing right, so the pictures are not great. Sorry.).  Hannah took Lincoln on his first Merry-Go-Round!

Stella and Hallie

Zoe on the zebra

In the same area as the carousel there was an airplane ride. (Zoe)

And a Space Train. (Zoe)

In another area, there was a rock climbing wall (Stella)

And an inflatable slide that you had to climb up through webbing to the top (Zoe)

And then you could slide down (Zoe)

For the Alpine Slide, you had to ride the chairlift with your sleds (Stella, Zoe, Jed, Hallie and Hannah)

Hannah

Hallie

Jed and Zoe

Stella

Another favorite: The trampolines!  Hannah

Hallie

Stella

There was also a "roller coaster" that Jed and the older girls did a few times. I didn't get a picture because Zoe and Lincoln and I were riding the carousel or Zoe was climbing up to the inflatable slide. 

We played some miniature golf too!  It was speed golf.  There was no waiting or taking turns.  The girls just picked out which obstacles they wanted to do and headed out.

Lincoln had a good time.  He got to go on the Merry-Go-Round twice and we hiked up the ski run a little way to get in a good position for Alpine Slide pictures.  He also managed to scrounge a couple of fruit snacks off of a red picnic table.  I only noticed because he was starting to have pink drool.  Linc wasn't sure what to do about all the extra attention from his cousins.  Once, Lincoln was sitting on the ground and we were watching Stella on the trampoline.  Hallie sat down in front of Linc and tried to interact with him.  He just pivoted on his little bum and turned away.  She followed. He turned more. She followed.  She tried to pick him up, he fussed. She let him go.  Then took his hands and helped him stand up and "walk" and he liked that!

Hannah and Lincoln

Zoe and Lincoln were buddies all day.  She would lean in and say, "Hi Linky!" 

Finally, we picked Maria up from class and met up with the Dotys and went swimming in Midway.  James' friend from school lives in Midway and has a neighborhood pool that they generously let me invite my out-of-town family to use.  Hannah, Emma and Hallie looking through an inflatable tube.

While I was hanging out in Park City with Jed and his girls... James was using his buddy's garage in Midway replacing all four shocks on The Outlaw. The original shock

Comparison: the new and the old

Finished (it took all day, but it is done!)!!

Busy, busy fun day!

Adventures of James and Lincoln - March 18, 2012

I had to work today, which means the boys were on their own.  Lincoln was having a hard time falling asleep, so James and Lincoln drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon for nap time.  It was snowing and beautiful and Lincoln was sleeping so nicely.  James stopped in at Solitude to look for their avalanche beacon practice area.  As he took his second loop around the back parking lot, he took the corner too wide and The Outlaw ended up stuck. Very, very stuck.  Tilting crazily in the ditch at the end of the parking lot.  The snow cats were out and busy.  Too busy to stop or to help.  But there is always a sheriff in the canyon, so maybe they wouldn't be stuck for too long?

By this time, I was on my way home.  I stopped at the apartment for the diaper bag, my coat and better shoes, and drove up the canyon to feed my baby.  The sheriff arrived.  He called for another sheriff with a vehicle with a winch.  That sheriff arrived.  The controls for the winch were missing.  That sheriff left.  They called for a tow truck.  That tow truck, a flat-bed, arrived and didn't even try to get to the XTerra.  That tow truck left.  They called for a tow truck with a winch.

Lincoln was having a great time.  He got to play with my work ID badge and we visited our friends who live nearby.  Thank you for a bathroom and a warm place to wait and a cat or two to distract our sleepy baby.  Plus it was fun to show off our six-month old!

Finally, the right tow truck with the right tools arrived.  It was fairly simple to pull The Outlaw out of the ditch and all the way across the lower parking lot and up the hill to the main parking lot.  James could have driven, once the XTerra was out of the ditch, but the tow truck had all that cable played out.  So they used the XTerra as a 'weight' to spin their cable back into the spool tightly.

A simple drive up the canyon ended up being a long, expensive adventure (Reminds me a bit of Gilligan's Island... A three-hour tour!).  Poor James didn't even get any dinner (I was in such a rush to come 'rescue' the baby, that I didn't bring any food for my man. Sorry!).  No harm to The Outlaw, James or Lincoln so it was a good adventure after all.

Every cloud has a silver lining - July 29, 2010

On Thursday, July 15 - The Outlaw had a break down.  Something inside the steering column was broken and so it was difficult to turn the key to start the engine.  James was at work, and after jiggling the key - just so - he was able to start the XTerra and bring it home. 

Friday 7/16 - unable to start The Outlaw again, so he took Little Blue to work. 
Silver Lining - I started riding a bike to work again and mandatory daily exercise is not a bad thing!

Saturday 7/17 - Jiggled the key - just so - and got The Outlaw to the shop.

Monday 7/19 - the shop has to send the steering column / ignition parts out to a refurbishing place and we won't get the XTerra back until Tuesday or Wednesday.
Silver Lining - Saving gas by only driving one car to work every day.  I get exercise and James picks me up after work because it is 105-degrees!!

Wednesday 7/21 - rode the bike out to the shop to pick up The Outlaw.  Yay!
Silver Lining - potluck day, I don't have to try to balance a container of pasta salad on the handle bars!

Thursday 7/29 - work day 10 of riding the bike.
Silver Lining - I'm not as saddle sore anymore, I have 3 routes I can choose from for the ride, and Utah has beautiful sunrises.

Idaho Adventure - June 10-13, 2010

We LOVE road trips!  We had plans to go to Idaho for the Sawtooth Relay.  We've been the volunteer support part of a relay team from Eagle for a couple of years.  This year the team didn't enter the race, but we didn't get official notification that we weren't needed until the week before the race.  We already had Friday off of work, so we packed up The Outlaw anyway and headed to Eagle for Eagle Fun Days instead.  And since we had an extra day, we planned to drive through Sun Valley and Stanley (the race route) on our way to Eagle.

Thursday night we planned to camp in the car (the futon mattress fits into the back of the XTerra just perfectly and makes a very comfortable bed) and wanted to camp somewhere on the way to Sun Valley.  We got to Shoshone after dark and thought that the Magic Reservoir was just off the highway and would make a nice campsite.  We were navigating by headlights and couldn't find the water!  We finally parked just off a dirt road in a grassy field and planned to find our way back out in the morning.

Friday morning we woke up to bird noise and ducks - we camped "in" the reservoir after all!

We enjoyed our drive through Sun Valley and along the race route.  Plenty of "Honey Buckets" set up at the different check points for the race - which would be on Saturday.  At Stanley, we forgot to turn and were driving along the Salmon River. James thought the scenery was a bit different and we finally stopped at Sunbeam Hot Springs to check the atlas.  We were only 14 miles out of our way.

This is the old bath house - constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps and now is completely empty.

This is how the water gets from the springs (just above the highway) to the river.

We thought the water would mix right at the bank and be comfortable.  WRONG - the hot water scorched our calves and the cold water froze our toes.  We didn't wade for long.

Our next "wrong" turn was on purpose.  We drove up to Cascade to visit Oma and Uncle Neil.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for dinner.

Uncle Neil suggested we stop by the Cascade Reservoir dam spillway on our way out of town.  It was raging!  The view from a dry distance.

The view from the parking lot at the bottom of the dam.

A rainbow from the spray.

The view from the top of the spillway.

Our final stop on the way home was at Ridgeline Specialty Sports in the Winco shopping center.  Friends from Eagle were having their Grand Opening on Saturday.  Friday night was the pre-grand-opening-party-for-friends.  So we stopped by to see the new shop and inventory and have some chips and salsa.

Saturday was the Eagle Fun Days parade, complete with water fight.

Kurt filling the water guns and kiddie pool.

Carlee selling CJ's Sweets and Treats. YUM!

Lining the street and hoping for candy.

After the parade we ditched the downtown crowds and headed for Gerber Park and the water park there.  Clay and Kristen brought some softball gear and we played a little ball.  Aspen was the ball girl.  We'd throw the ball in her general direction and she'd run to pick it up, and then run right up to Kristen to throw her the ball. 

Kristen

James

We had dinner and watched USA v. England World Cup Soccer at Clay and Kristen's.  Clay had forbidden anyone from telling him anything about the game so he could watch it after dinner.  James and I already knew the score and what time during the game each goal was scored.  We also knew exactly what the sports talk radio guys felt about the score, about the goals, about the referees and the players.  While we watched, James would nudge me, "USA's about to score...." and we'd get to see the goal we'd heard about on the radio.  It was a tie.  1:1.

On Sunday we had a wake up committee.  This is Bree and a battery powered dinosaur.  At one point they were on our bed, McKayla and Carter were on our bed, and Ellie was watching from the doorway.

Before church, we went over to Clay and Kristen's to go to the Veladrome bike park.  I wanted to get pictures of Kristen and Clay and James doing the big jumps, but the battery was super low.  I'm lucky to get these pics...

Emma - love that grin!

Aspen - love those stripey socks!

Kristen pushing Aspen around the dirt jumps

James - wheelie!

We went to church with Kurt and Carlee and family.  Kurt brought a package of skittles and handed it over to James - who was then the favorite uncle.  Christy would sit on my lap to color, but Jake only came over for skittles.  James taught him "Pick-A-Hand."  James would put a skittle or two into his hand, close his hand and then put both hands together and shake.  Then separate his closed hands and offer them to Jake to choose which hand to open for the chance at a skittle.  At first, Jake didn't know what to do.  After watching Tyler and Christy choose - and receive skittles, he finally would touch James' hands.  Both of them.  Every time.  Smart guy.

So sad when it is time to go.  Dinner eaten, car packed, chalk art completed.

The Jessi James Gang Was Here.