March (Yes I know it’s currently July)

The next birthday of course was Joshua’s.  Of course we went out to eat for our traditional b-day celebration.   We let each of the girls pick out a bunch of carnations at Meijer (they were on sale) and then we headed out to the cemetery.  Each of the girls picked at least one flower from their bunch to place by/on Joshua’s marker.  of course Mama couldn’t leave well enough alone … had to reorganize them after the girls headed to the car.   I thought it was funny how the flowers almost look like they were altered on photoshop or something.  I don’t remember why Lauren was posing like this but thought it was funny. Clearly it was a nice day as you notice few of us were wearing coats and Erica apparently made it out of the house with shorts on.

It wasn’t long and the track season was upon us.  We had a large group out for throws this year and most of them were new.

At the end of the month we got our new vehicle thanks to Oma(&Opa) and “Uncle Sam”.  The girls named it Zeus (our mini van was/is “Winnie”).  It was kind of funny because Brandon has always wanted a Suburban. He has fond memories of a trip they took when he was younger in a Suburban they had borrowed from family friends.  Well when we began our search (after a disappointing visit with the minivan to our mechanic) we discovered we were somewhat limited in our options because of the fact that we need to be able to seat at least 7 people, preferably 8.  We had gotten around that in our minivan by acquiring a second “back” bench from M45 auto parts and replacing our 2 seater middle row bench.  So our options were pretty much a minivan (7-8 passenger), or a 7-8 passenger SUV type vehicle (I was opposed to a Suburban because I had an image in my head of something like this).  There were not many Minivans on the market so we took a look at a Tahoe or something like that.  The inside actually looked like it had less room than our minivan and when we opened up the back to check out the cargo area I realized I would need our rooftop carrier just to get groceries.  I asked Brandon if there was something that would have a bigger back and he said a Suburban – I said no.  So as we are going home I see a vehicle that looks just right  in a parking lot and said … now what is that kind of vehicle and he said ” a Suburban”.  Hmm… so then we happen to drive by one ( a beautiful tan one) on a lot …it is almost closing time …we check it out …it is perfect (except that it was only 2 wheel drive) I hear myself say ” I think I want a Suburban”.   Long story short Brandon started looking online and we ended up with our new vehicle just in time (less than a week before) to take it to Mississippi.  It wasn’t the color I wanted but the miles and price were too good to pass up and it can seat 9 people if necessary.   We also learned that it is important to be very specific with used car salesmen …for example what would it take to cover the few small scratches? … a quarter …a plate …a 2×4  (Brandon drove to Lansing to check one out with a “few small scratches” -one of the “small” scratches was the length of the vehicle!)

… and finally a random picture of Sam and Jojo 

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