show low trip

for memorial day weekend we headed to show low for an awesome softball tournament. sweet! i am usually against this trip because i don't enjoy watching softball. one game every once in a while to be supportive and all that, whatever. but game after game in a tournament i will be honest, i was somewhat dreading it. this year chad took off an extra day before and after the tournament so we didn't have to fight traffic. it turned out to be a really fun trip. we stayed with devin and kristin at their house. it made it nice so i didn't have to go to every game. we had fun just hanging out with devin and kristin and enjoying the weather. (we sat on their patio a lot and made fun of golfers). avery was in heaven with their dogs toby, lilly, heisman, and winston. 3 are fairly large english bull dogs so you would think he would be a little intimidated. he enjoyed touching their teeth, trying to get them to kiss him, and chasing them with his bat or spatula. i was more nervous for their dogs then for them getting too aggressive with avery. avery was a great trial run for the dogs and devin and kristin. he broke in the dogs and the nursery for when their baby preston arrives in july.

Chad's 1st and last post

I am very excited about this, so I asked Corri if I could post this on her blog, for all the blogstalker moms out there. Not really, it's for the family who haven't seen it. Any of you who know me, know I like a nice, old VW. On many occasions, I have gone "treasure hunting" with my brother or my friend, looking for the old forgotten VW sitting in someone's backyard or garage. It is such an obsession, that I have been known to get on Google earth and try to find one in someone's backyard. Creepy, I know, but I have always wanted to find a good one. Well, I have found one, and hope it isn't the last. I wanted to share my story.

Driving back to work, from lunch one day, I saw 2 guys walking down the sidewalk, and one of them pointed at something. I turned to look, and I almost broke my neck! I did an illegal lane change and flipped a U-turn. My time had come!! Back in the brush and trees, behind an old farm house, barely visible from the street, was an old rotting VW bus. My heart started beating fast and I wanted to investigate. I checked it out later that day with a friend and started looking for the owner. I wanted to see if he would sell it. For 3 or 4 days I tried to find someone. It was always on my mind, and I couldn't sleep at night. I couldn't function normal. I had to find the owner. It was located at a farm, and there was a sign with a phone number, so I called and left a message. As I was driving away, I saw a man walking around, so I went over to talk to him. I tried to have a conversation with him, but all I really was able to get out of it was that he was not interested in selling it. It looked like it had been sitting for years. Trees had grown around it and it was not going anywhere. I drove away sad, and felt like I failed in my mission.

To make a long story short, I got a call from this man about 3 weeks later. He said he was willing to let it go if I made him a good offer. This went on for another month or so. The bus had to be freed from the trees and debris, he had to locate the title, and he had to convince himself that he was really going to sell it. I understand how he felt. It is not easy to let a VW go. They are very sentimental. So I finally made a deal with him, and towed it home. You might not think it is much, but it is a treasure to me. I am going to bring this bus back to life. I spent almost 3 hours that night cleaning out the bus from 20+ years of leaves, trash, and spiders. Then again on Saturday, another couple hours just cleaning and dreaming of what I can do with this. It is a 1959 Volkswagen Double Door Panel Van. For those of you who don't know, the doors on both sides is not too common, so it makes it a little bit cooler to me. Just ask Corri, I tell her all about these things and she listens, even though she probably doesn't care too much. I would like to thank Corri for supporting me in this endeavor. She told me I should buy it. She probably knew that I would have many sleepless nights if I didn't. Enjoy the pics. -chad