Stranded. Cali Bound.

Stranded.
Last Saturday on my way to work my battery light turned on.  I wasn't quite sure what it meant so I headed towards two different shops only to discover they were closed on Saturdays.  Ignoring the light I continued to drive towards work.  On 1300 East and 100 North my car decided to literally DIE.  Stuck on the beginning of a hill I was in panic mode.  I had to be to work in ten minutes and driving wise I was only 2 minutes away, but I knew I would never make it in time.  I popped my hood and grabbed jumper cables and tried to wave down a cop who just waved back and drove away... (a hole), and then finally got a nice guy to pull over and give me a jump.  After numerous tries with one set of cables my car wouldn't take a charge.  Finally after changing the jumper cables (luckily I had two sets in my trunk) we were able to get the car started.  The nice gentleman began to drive away, I switched my car into Drive and DEAD.. again!  The guy pulled back around and tried to give me a second jump. Same thing happened with dead being the final result.  Luckily Debi was close enough by that she was able to pick me up and drive me up the huge hill to work.  Lance and Russell came by later to deal with the car and get it back to my house. 
Monday we drove the car to the shop and learned that the alternator had given out.  Half a day and 400 dollars later the car was drivable and was taken back to my house.  Later that night we drove the car to discover an awful screeching sound that got progressively louder the faster you drove.  With us leaving for California at 6am, there was NO way we were going to make it 800 miles with the car not falling apart.  We post-poned our trip to take the car back into the shop.  The alternator's belt was broken (I still don't understand why they didn't know that from the day before) and after 2 hours and 50 more dollars we were headed south....

Cali Bound.
Last Tuesday Lance and I hit the road and headed south.  By 1:30 we arrived in the heat of Las Vegas (I'm still unsure how I lived in that heat for 15 years of my life).  We met up with my dad and had a nice lunch that consisted of Tropical Smoothie and Raising Canes before we hit the road once again to make it to California before dark.  It was a long ten hours in the car filled with movies, great conversation, and sleeping.
Getting to California safely was such a relief.  We were tired and just enjoyed the remainder of our night catching up with my family and watching netflix (Lance's new addiction). 
Wednesday we headed towards Newport where we enjoyed a lovely meal of seafood at the Crab Cooker followed by an afternoon and evening of shopping with my mom.  It's pretty hilarious to see the difference in Lance's mood and attitude towards shopping with my mom verses just with me.  Because of my mom's stubbornness she refuses for us to buy anything when we are with her.  This really spoils us because the second we go to a mall without her neither of us wants to look at anything...
We spent the night on our computers looking up new cars.  We never intended to get a new car, but to see what our options were...
Thursday we enjoyed some more family time in the morning and then headed out solo to test drive some cars.  Not really wanting to commit to anything we went to Lexus and test drove the IS 250.  It was a bit on the smaller side with an impractical trunk so we then headed to Acura.  Once at Acura we test drove their newest model the ILX.  It was perfect! 4 cylinder so it was decent on gas mileage, but with enough pep. White with tan leather. Classy and sleek.  After numerous hours of negotiation we decided to lease a new car instead of continue the road of nickle and diming with the Acura TL that we currently owned.  After the number crunching it was a better "investment" to lease a new acura with a decent monthly payment and take the equity that was in our TL and put it towards Lance's student loans.  It also has given us a little peace of mind knowning it isn't going to break down anytime soon. 
Friday we went to Sushi with my family and spent the afternoon swimming and shopping.
Saturday we woke up at 6am and went to IHOP with my mom (she insisted) and hit the road to Vegas to make it in just enough time to greet everyone at my cousin's baby shower (we just barely missed Elder Hollands son.. dang it).  Another afternoon swimming and shopping was concluded with a lovely dinner with my dad, brother, and brother's girlfriend at my favorite restaurant Lucille's Smokehouse!
Sunday was another early day of driving with us leaving Las Vegas at 5:30am and Lance driving the entire way to Salt Lake- bless him and his ability to be alert and functioning in the mornings!

Overall our trip consisted of a lot of driving with equal amounts of shopping and eating! My mom is hilarous when it comes to food and insisted on taking us to nice restaurants every day and filling us with snacks and other treats what felt like every 2 hours.  We are so blessed to have my mom so willing to help us and give us advise on a lot of things shes experienced that we have yet to stumble upon.  She is a very wise and generous woman whom we LOVE to death!



local grocery store grand opening. Can't even walk with all the people and carts!!



Outlets at Orange- Enjoying some kettlecorn as we shopped around

Driving home.. Finally. Lance spent the entire drive from LV to SLC with one head-phone in listening to movies so I could sleep with just the music on!

At the Sushi Buffet



Test driving the new car



Buffet Time