niagara and baby

i am so surprised to see all the people who found our blog. how fun. ok so there are two things to tell you about. 1. the trip to niagara falls and 2. the ultrasound. first of all we will talk about niagara falls

so i have really been wanting to visit niagara falls, i mean we are 4 hours away. and i am getting a little restless with staying at home and not doing much seeing that we have no family or close friends around. tyrell was not that excited about it and after a long discussion on what to do we decided we would go up and back on a saturday. i had a three day weekend and tyrell's family was having fun with out us at lake roosevelt, so we decided we would drown our sorrow with a trip to niagara falls.

so let me make this the readers digest version. we got a late start and a trip that should have taken 4 hours took 6 due to all the construction and traffic through canada (bumper to bumper 60km away from the falls, a weekly occurrence). tyrell was REALLY annoyed at all the people and once we made it to the falls we parked in the first structure we saw, 20 dollars. we got out and were able to walk to the falls. it was BEAUTIFUL, there were tons of people and we really loved going on the maid of the mist tours, where the boats take you close to the falls and you get soaked. we stayed there for about 2 hours and decided to head home.

once we got to the car tyrell pushed in the clutch and it hit the floor. not good. at this point you are thinking, "it's a good thing tyrell is a mechanic", and so was i. but as i have learned, a mechanic is only as good as his tools. we of course had none. we headed out looking for break fluid, found some and convinced some guy at the bicycle shop to lend us some tools that we would return in the ally after the shop had closed. we walked back to the car (of course the gas station was far away) and tyrell added some fluid, took the bleeder valve off and the break fluid ended up under the car on the pavement. also not good. tyrell knew it was the slave cylinder but of course getting to that part means you have to drop the entire transmission. not something you can do on the 5th floor of a parking garage with a wrench and some pliers. neither of us had charged our phones the night before so tyrells was dead and mine was on it's last leg. one more thing.

so we were stuck, it was after hours for any kind of shop on a saturday night. we went to the nearest hotel, (thank you crowne plaza and your VERY helpful bell boys nathan and ?) and used their internet, granted it was for hotel guests only, but apparently we were able to mingle amongst the other tourists. but it was just too late to call anyone or figure anything out. so we we had to stay the night. hotels were full and my dad was able to find us a hotel on priceline for an obsene amount of money. when we got to check in the hotel they of course had some disconnect with price line and after an hour we were in our very over priced mediocre room. we went to bed only to discover that the walls were paper thin and there was so much noise all night that we didn't get a good nights sleep. we got up, showered, put our old clothes on and headed back to the crowne plaza for the inter net. got some numbers made some calls. took a cab to the car rental place, they didn't have any available. nice tow truck driver drove us to another car rental place, they didn't have any. back to the hotel. phones dead. bell boy found us a charger from all the ones left at the hotel, thanks again ? ! got a tow, found a car place open on sunday, they were able to find a part and had a guy to fix it. towed the car into town.

with the six hours it would take to fix it we stayed down town and walked around. well you know we had had nothing to eat and so we ate lunch around 3 and walked around a bit. well you now you are thinking, "it could be worse, could be raining?". and that is exactly what it did for a few hours. but once it stopped we walked back over the the USA side and saw what they had to offer. much more nature like, it was nice. went to the cave of the winds, loved it, got soaked. the car was fixed around 8 we took a cab there and were so grateful to pay the 700 dollars so we could get home that night and would not have to leave the car, rent a car to get home, and then come back and get the car. we headed off and when we were about 15 minutes away they called to say they forget to put the transmission cap back on. turned around, tyrell put it on and filled up the fluid again. so at 9:00 we were on the road. got home at 1:30am, got up at 6:00 for work. it was quite a weekend.

but niagara falls was beautiful. we were glad we got to see it and that we didn't have to live in canada for the rest of our lives. the canadians individually were helpful but dealing with their businesses were not.

our ultrasound was today and we are having a BOY! i kept thinking it was a boy and i always wanted a boy first (sorry courtney). but tiffany makes a good point, boys of tyrell are going to be monsters. so as i am getting the room ready for this little guy i will also start padding the walls.

michigan

as mentioned in the 'about me' section, tyrell and i are living in michigan. it is far away from home and depending on the day, i find myself a little home sick. but there are lots of things to like about michigan. it is so pretty and green and there is more water than i have ever seen in my life. it rained everyday for the entire month of june it seemed and there are lakes everywhere. but despite all this water we are yet to swim in it. (well unless you count the time tyrell had to chase the canoe down the river at our ward camp out, diving in for it was his only option). the streets are lined with trees and the branches make a pretty canape over the road. there are all sorts of woodland creatures in my back yard and fire flies at night. we have been able to travel from american suburbia, to the middle east, to the ghetto all in a 5 mile drive down one street. our neighbors are very friendly. one of the first nights we were here, our neighbors showed up on our door step, after we had gone to bed, with muffins and wine. we graciously accepted their gift and were unsure if this would have been the appropriate time to inform them that we do not drink. needless to say the wine is in on our shelf and hopefully the bishop does not find us out when he comes to visit.

we moved out here with out a place to live, not necessarily something i would recommend, but we were blessed to find the house we live in in such short notice. it's older but it is perfect for the two of us. my only quarrel is with the old house smell it has. if anyone has air freshening advise, i am all ears.

this place is called motor city and rightfully so. but we have discovered that not only is it the headquarters to the big 3, but people are crazy about cars here, as evidenced by the frequent car shows. there is a particular type of car show that is interesting. really it's like a moving car show/parade of old/classic/supped up cars, where there is also regular traffic. odd i know but they have designated streets on certain weekends and everyone brings out their fancy cars and drive them up and down the street (along side regular traffic), while the spectators line up on the side walk and in business parking lots to watch. they cat call and the drivers rev their engines and everyone cheers. it was pretty funny.

telegraph cruise (moving car show)

i have also discovered that in michigan, while you are outside in your yard or on your porch, shirts are not required. men of all ages, shapes and sizes enjoy sitting on the porch with out their shirts or working in the yard half naked (and there was that 80 year old man in his whity tighties out to get the mail, my personal favorite). tyrell is the only one who wears clothes around here. i figure they are enjoying the warm weather until they have to bundle up outside and leave all their half naked escapades for the comfort of their own homes. so what's not to love about michigan, greenery, lakes, trees, wild life, fire flies, culture, very comfortable weather (in the summer at least), car shows and half naked men.

we went home the first of the month for my family reunion at the whiting homestead. tyrell thought such a huge organized gathering was a little weird and i guess it kind of is. it was fun and tyrell was a favorite when he set up the zip line for the kids. they loved it and he really likes showing people a good time. we were also able to go to lyman lake with his brothers so he got a lake fix that may hold him over for a little while.

cousins

lyman lake, that is amber being ignored in the background

we do miss az and the wide open spaces. there are so many trees here that you are never able to look out very far. tyrell, being the country boy that he is, is starting to feel a little cooped up here in the city. he bought a dirt bike (part of his, my wife is pregnant and i live in the city mid-life crisis) and because the bike tracks are so far away, sometimes he just rides in circles in our back yard. it's pretty funny, he's like a caged animal back there. we need to get back to a small town one of these days of tyrell might go crazy.

i get an ultra sound next week!