July

At the start of this month, Caitlyn got a chance to play the organ again for us in church. This will be the second congregational hymn she has played. She played the closing hymn and the postlude. She is getting a lot more comfortable doing it and is not so nervous anymore but she still resists having to do it.

We stayed home for the 4th of July this year and enjoyed a different kind of light show. Caitlyn worked half the day and Christian made a neat tailgate table for the TJ.

We usually use the tailgate of the pickup truck or just balance it on some rocks but this will be really convenient when we go out in the Jeep.

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I had jury duty that first week of July, but squeezed by without having to go in. 

Harbor Freight had some sales for the 4th. Since they don't normally have their coupons anymore, we decided to go in to pick up a few needed items with the coupons they were offering. (Un)Fortunately, we ended up coming home with more than we went in for.

We couldn't believe that they didn't exclude their winch from the coupon and thought we better snag on the deal before they got wise to their mistake.

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The next week, we planned to go to Monache Meadow on Caitlyn's day off to test out the winch and take the opportunity to go topless since it should be a bit cooler there because of the higher elevation. Caitlyn, however, decided to stay home and made plans to hang out with a friend. They went to do some shopping and swimming.

Christian and I took off on this adventure on our own. The drive up was very pleasant. It was not too hot or noisy or crowded. 

The place was beautiful. We took the main trail through to Monache Meadow, which was a bit too popular for our taste but found many possible off-shoots that we would like to explore in the future. We stayed pretty cool under the sun screen. When we stopped to take pictures or whatever, we definitely felt the heat of the sun when we got out but it stayed pleasant for us traveling in the Jeep.

We went up a few crazy obstacles with no problems or even struggles, so we were happy with the way the Jeep is performing...only, we didn't take the stabilizer bar links off when we aired down and I think we demolished them for good now. Christian had put in a make shift fix to them before but there is no band aid for this problem now. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for the parts we ordered to fix the problem. They claim that the parts were lost at the FedEx hub in Tennessee...twice. It seems like an awful big coincidence for two shipments of the same order to be lost at the same place. They sent out a supposed third order but this time, I requested that they not send it through FedEx again. We'll see how that goes and if we ever get our parts which we are now in dire need of.

There was another water crossing on this trail.

With the trail done, we pulled over to try out the winch to make sure it works okay. 

Everything seems to be working great. It was getting late though, so we started to make our way home. We did not want to be on the roads late as it gets dangerous these days. 

Unfortunately, once we got back on the main roads, the wind kicked up and it made for a pretty rough ride with the top down. It was actually downright miserable. I could not believe how strong the wind was. We stopped for dinner but could not eat on the go as we usually do because it was still so windy. I ended up having to wrap myself in a blanket to try to get some shelter from the wind. As it got dark, it got downright chilly going down the freeway. Even Christian was shivering at some point! Not only was the top down on the Jeep but the doors were off as well, so there was no shelter from the wind at all. I am not eager to do that again any time soon.

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Caitlyn has selected an apartment in Idaho. She didn't want to live at her sister's apartment complex after hearing all Emily's complaints. She went through several different plans for other places before she finally settled on one. We think it sounds pretty good. In fact, Emily wants to join her there eventually if things work out. We were a bit panicked about whether she would be able to reserve the spot in time before they gave it away to someone else, but everything worked out.

Emily will be home towards the end of the month. She stopped working at the daycare already and has given her notice to her normal job. She has been going camping a lot on weekends with her friends. Her roommate and best friend will be moving home to Tennessee at the end of her lease so they are spending a little time together before they have to go their own ways. We are sad that things did not work out for Lanie there at BYU. She will definitely be missed. Hopefully the new avenue she has chosen for herself will work out better for her.

Christian has been working his butt off on Caitlyn's car, trying to get all the things we planned for it before  she takes off for college. He only has a small window of time when it is actually cool enough to work. He usually works a few hours beyond that but he usually pays for it.