Why be normal?

When Mindy was little, we made up a little exercise we called Mindy-lifts. On Thanksgiving night (probably to work off some of the feast), some of our clan did Jessie-lifts, Joey-lifts and Angela-lifts. You'll have to watch to see who won the contest.

Don't you agree that being normal is boring? Being weird is much more fun!!

(late) Thanksgiving Fun

We had all of our family home for Thanksgiving this year. We had a great time!

Mindy, Jessie, Joey and Angela waiting for food...and little Andrew sitting in the middle.
Megan waiting for the food.
Joey and Jessica waiting for the food.

Andrew is getting very bored.


Angela, Ryan and Andrew waiting for food.

TJ and Mike waiting for food.
Me making the feast.

Rest in Peace, del Sol

Thursday, Mindy and I met up for lunch. We had a nice time and then parted ways at the stop light at the new Walmart. We waved to each other, then I turned left and she kept going west. As I pulled into Walmart parking lot, my cell phone rang and Mindy said, "Mom, I just got into a wreck. I'm at the next stop light." I pulled back out of the parking lot and turned west. The traffic was already backed up all the way to my intersection and I couldn't get through; traffic was at a standstill. I could see in the distance a big truck and police lights. I started to get very scared, but I knew she had to be okay, since I had just talked to her. I finally moved forward enough to get on the frontage road and get to where Mindy was. I was terrified to see her tiny little del Sol, crunched, and a HUGE tanker truck (Mike says it's a bobtail truck) next to it with a little dent in the front bumper and red paint. Mindy was standing next to her car and she was fine, but I couldn't stop shaking, and neither could she. What had happened was this: Mindy was heading west in front of the truck when the light ahead of her turned yellow. She stopped. She saw in her rear-view mirror this huge truck barrelling down on her and she started to scream. The driver of the truck then slammed on his brakes and swerved to the right, then hit her passenger-side rear and sent her spinning into the on-coming lane (thank heavens the light was red by then, so traffic was stopped from that direction). Mindy came to a stop facing east in the east-bound lane. She pulled her car up (out of the traffic lane) and then called me. She is not hurt and the other driver was obviously not hurt but we were both very shook up.
I am absolutely convinced that Mindy has guardian angels watching over her and that she has a purpose in this life to fulfill because when I stood next to her tiny little car and that huge truck and thought of what could have happened, I just bawled. I'm so thankful to Heavenly Father for always watching over my little girl.
Here are some pictures.


Loading up her car to take it to the car graveyard (facing east).

What used to be Mindy's trunk.

The entire rear end of the car was just gone.