July 15 - July 21 2018

This past weekend I was going to take Dalton to the store with me to pick up some groceries. We got in the van and I started to turn the van on. At the same time, I pushed the button to close his door. All of a sudden the van died and Dalton's door stopped closing halfway through. We got out and went back home. Daniel and I were both so confused (we're not car people) because we had just recently changed the battery and the car was showing absolutely no signs of the battery dying. We looked it up on good ol' google and came to the conclusion it must be the alternator. It was Saturday night and we knew all the car repair places would be closed. Thankfully, we had my sister and her husband coming to visit on Sunday. When they got here, Jeremy looked up on youtube how to replace an alternator. Between his know-how and Daniel's ability to maneuver his hands in small spaces, they were able to get the alternator out! They went in to an auto parts shop and before they bought a new alternator, decided to have this one tested just to be sure. Turns out, it wasn't the alternator! It was pretty frustrating and discouraging as we figured it would be a much more complicated/expensive problem. They came back home and put the car back together and used a cleaning kit to clean the corrosion on the battery to see if that would work. It seemed like too easy a solution. But lo and behold it worked! All that work and that's all it turned out to be. Ha! Well, at least Daniel knows how to change an alternator now! Anyway, all that background just to explain these next pictures. In the process of putting the van back together, Daniel lost some screws and bolts and some coolant was spilt. So on Monday, we all went together to an auto parts store and Daniel took Dalton with him to do the last parts of the repair. I sat in the front seat dying at how cute he looked out there under the van hood with his dad:) He loves cars and was in heaven to look at the engine!

Eleanor stayed in the van with me and slept.

Maylee went out and joined the boys!

And then came back in the van because it was hot out there!

Enjoying the A/C:)

We got home and rested in our cool home. The Little Atwells had some kindle time.

One morning I about died watching Eleanor eat/play with her breakfast. She's seriously adorable.

Had to get some pics of adorable Maylee:)

Why is Eleanor eating an apple so cute to Daniel and I?? I think it's because, to put it into Richard & Linda Eyre's words, "parents have an almost irrational love for their children." How true!

Maylee loves taking pictures with our phones. She's still figuring out how to aim the camera. Here's a cute pic of her feet,

her eyes,

sad Dalton,

toes (not sure if they're Ella's or Maylee's??),

her back in her leotard (Daniel took this one for her after watching her struggle for several minutes trying to take it herself:),

and our ceiling. :)

A screenshot I took of my family infographic. (Familysearch.org)

Daniel and I are becoming obsessed with family history. Daniel has been for a while, I just recently started catching up to his enthusiasm! We have a great friend who drives an hour once a month with her small children to come watch ours so that Daniel and I can go to the temple together. It's been incredible! This week we did sealings for Daniel's family. Next month we want to do baptisms for both of our families. It's been such a blessing for us, especially me. The temple can be a triggering place for me so it is absolutely wonderful that I can go with Daniel. Having him there helps me out more than I can adequately say!

 

Daniel didn't mean to take these pictures of the sky and didn't even realize he had taken them till later when we were going through these pictures. I thought they were pretty beautiful for accident pictures!

The next day at church, Maylee said the prayer in her primary class and thanked Heavenly Father that daddy and mommy could go to the temple.

We love you Little Atwells!