the one about the ice cream truck

My cute little nephew, Brayden, and I have been talking for months about starting an ice cream truck business. Everyone just laughed at us and thought we were silly. We already knew we had a vehicle. My Grandma has this old van that was not being used and we knew that it was already as good as ours. Well two weeks ago Friday, Brayden and I sat down and made a business plan. We went to my Grandma and asked if we could use the van. She was so excited that we were really serious about it, she offered to help us get our business started. Once everyone decided that we were serious, they were all on board and we all got super excited! We, meaning Brett, Quayd, My big brother Brandon, his wife Danette and their other son Brennen. We didn't think we could actually get it going for this year, but we thought we might as well start working on it now so we would be ready next Spring. Anyway, that Sunday, we decided to see what it was going to take to get the van running. We popped the hood. It didn't have a battery, so we took care of that. We poured a little gas in the tank, put air in the tires and no joke, it started right up!

We even took it for a spin around the neighborhood and it ran PERFECTLY! Once we realized that getting it going was not going to be as hard as we thought, we decided that if we all worked hard, we could get it done for the last couple months of summer. So the next step was to figure out how to make it look presentable. The old paint was awful! There were huge rust spots and it was chipping terrible. We knew we wanted it to look nice in the end, so we decided to sand all of the old crap off and just start fresh. We scraped, sanded, grinded for a whole week.


It was the suckiest job EVER! Brayden and his dad and Brett & I worked day and night. We did it in my back yard, so my whole house, inside and out, was covered in dust!!! Of course, during all of this sanding, I was running errands and making phone calls all day everyday to line up ice cream, bank account, sales tax info, business license, insurance, and on and on and on and on..... In the meantime, I was still taking care of my mom/wife duties, watching my nephews all day and working part time!FYI, setting up a business is HARD! Anyway, after the sanding was finished, we had to paint. My brother lined up a shop for us to use so we drove it there and had to mask everything. Of course, it needed a few coats of primer first. And each coat of primer had to be sanded again. So we all worked hard on that too.






Some of it was just to boring for the little boys, but they were so good and helped when they could. And when they couldn't, they rode bikes! Seriously though, they were such good boys.
Now let me back up a little bit. I showed you how awful the outside was... well we haven't even gotten to the inside yet! My grandparents had been using the inside of the van for storage. Yes, I said storage.... Look at that hideous wood paneling and orange upholstery. YUCK! And you can't even imagine all of the wasps nests we found! Anyway, the inside needed a makeover too. Brett ripped out all of the consoles, couches and carpet. The sub floor was in bad shape so Brandon replaced it. Brayden and I painted the inside, Brett did the linoleum and I reupholstered the ugly orange stuff.


As I said before, we never thought we could be up and running this summer. But here it is two weeks later and we are hitting the streets! I can't believe it. We went out and about yesterday and did quite well. There are still a few kinks to work out and a few things to fix up, but all in all, we are good to go. Now you have already seen the before pictures.... are you ready for the after pix??? The two big black things on the top are speakers.... Oh yah. We even have REAL ice cream truck music!!!



I can't believe we did it! I am so proud of it and it turned out better than I ever could have imagined. This old van has so much history in our family. I know that sounds stupid, but it really does. My grandma drove it for years and everyone knew it was her. We went on road trips in it and wherever else we needed to go that we could all fit inside. In fact, I even rode to my wedding in this old van!!! My skirt had the hoop things in it and was so big I couldn't get into a car and I didn't want to take the hoop slip thing off. I told all of my bridesmaids to hop in in the van and I plopped down right in the middle of the floor! It was so funny. Most brides ride to their wedding in a limo, but not me. I rode in the action van. We have called it the action van for ever, and it has a tiny squeak so we say it has a little mouse inside. When we first started it up and heard the squeak we all said, "The mouse is still there!" We have so many fun memories in this old van. The money will be used to help the three boys buy cars, college, or whatever else. For now it will be split between Brayden and myself. And when he gets older, the two little boys can run it and split the money. Since there are three boys, we decided to call it Triple Scoops. If you want to see us in your neighborhood, just call me, text me, email me or even leave comments on my blog or facebook. I have a blackberry so all of that stuff comes right to my cell phone. We are trying to find the best neighborhoods, so any help we can get is gladly accepted! Coming soon to a neighborhood near you!!!

the one about golfing

Quayd and Brett have spent MANY HOURS on the golf course this year. I can't ever get Brett to take any pictures while they are there, so I got some before they went a couple weeks ago.

Quayd, Uncle Gary, Spencer, Brett and Morgan

They were all very happy that I took the group picture! ;) They kept yelling at me, "we are going to miss our Tee-Time! For Quayds 3rd Birthday, we got him his own set of golf clubs. They were so cute and tiny. He played with them a little bit, but mostly just hit rocks and stuff. They are way to small for him now (besides being totally banged up and some of them lost) and this summer he has actually started to show some real interest in the sport, so we got him a new set. He LOVES them! He acts so proud and big when it is time to go golfing. Brett used to hate taking him because he would whine and get bored, but now they both enjoy it so much. I kind of enjoy it too!!! :)

the one about my new kitchen table

I got a super cute new kitchen table a few months ago and I just realized that I haven't even shown it off yet!!! I also redecorated a little bit in my kitchen. I have been wanting to totally make over the entire room, but we have been super poor lately, so I just changed some decorations and spent about $100 to fix it up a bit. Nothing to drastic, but it made me feel better!
The table has actually been a huge source of contention! Sorta.... let me explain. First of all, it was totally free. My mom traded tables with a friend or some weird thing, but then she decided she didn't like it. It was pretty new when she got it. The friend was moving or something, I don't know. Anyway she only had it a couple of months then she got a new one and asked if I wanted this one. HECK YES!!!! Its SO cute! So the whole contention thing is really not even a big deal, but Brett has given me NON-STOP crap about it. The table we had, has 6 chairs and leaves. It opens up huge. It is solid wood and super nice. Very outdated, but nice! I didn't want to get rid of it or anything, just store it downstairs. Brett had a total fit about it. This table only seats 4 and in his opinion, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." My attitude is, "Free, trendy, cute table that fits PERFECT in my dining nook! Change is good, GO WITH IT!" We are a family of 3! Table for $ is just fine!!! Chances are good that I will be sick of it and I will want to change again anyway. Brett isn't like really MAD, but he has given me such a hard time about it. Oh well, I love it!

the one about a FUNNY gift

I was cleaning my closet a few weeks ago and found the funniest gift I have ever received! A few years ago, Janice got me this t-shirt for Christmas and I LOVE IT!!! I am madly in love with Patrick Dempsey and she was able to finally find the gift that proves his love for me as well!!

the one about a note to the tooth fairy

Quayd finally lost another tooth yesterday. It was one of his top front teeth. Until yesterday, he had only lost the three three that the dentist pulled in February. This tooth has been really loose for a while now, but he was nervous about having me pull it. Yesterday afternoon, he finally let me have a good pull on it and it came right out. He was freaking out about it though and didn't even realize it was gone until I got him to calm down and I showed him it was in my hand. Of course, then it bled a little bit and he really freaked out about that! But it stopped soon enough and all was well. Then he was so excited about it and couldn't wait to tell everyone. He seriously looks so cute with the missing tooth. When I was trying to get up close and take a good picture I noticed that the permanent tooth is already surfacing, so he won't have a gap for long. He is such a handsome little boy and I can't believe he is growing up so fast. He will be 7 next month!





Last night as Quayd was getting ready to go to bed and put his tooth under his pillow, he got really upset that the tooth fairy was going to take his tooth. He wanted to keep that one because he said it was one of his best apple eating teeth. He decided to write a note for the tooth fairy. This is what it said: Dear Tooth Fairy. Heres a note. I would like to keep my tooth. Love Quayd Lane. He put the note in a bag with his tooth. This morning when he woke up, there was a note from the tooth fairy that said: Dear Quayd, I am so glad you lost another tooth. Your teeth are so nice! You must brush them a lot. I really like your note. I don't mind if kids want to keep their teeth. All you have to do is ask! I had a little bit of extra time tonight so I went back to my house and got the three teeth you lost before. I thought you might like to have them too. Keep being such a good boy! I have a feeling I will be seeing more of your teeth in the future. Brush, Brush, Brush and Wiggle, Wiggle, Wiggle! Love, the tooth fairy There was also some magic tooth fairy dust in the note along with 2 dollars. Quayd noticed later that there was some more sparkly dust around his bed and by the window. He thinks she must have flown in through the window. Pretty cool!!!

the one about a weird zit type thing

I haven't had anything nasty to blog about in awhile so when Spencer asked me to pick at a weird thing by his eye, I knew I couldn't leave my blogger friends out! Trust me, it was like my best day ever to get to pick at his face. He had a nasty one on his chin for awhile that I begged him to let me pick, but apparently his sister Whitney had already worked on it, so he was feeling like it was time to let it heal. I do apologize, by the way, that my pictures aren't more clear. Spence was pretty squirmy and nervous as it was, so when I put the camera in his face he was less than cooperative. Quayd also helped me out in the photo department. I am still not sure exactly what I was picking at. It was like a sty / zit / solid piece of white matter that should probably be sent to a special lab to be identified. It was on his eyelid and it such a hard place to reach. I actually had a very difficult time getting to it because of the location. Spencer even tried to crank on it a little bit but he couldn't get his fingers on it very well. I tried with my super zit tool, then pointy tweezers and finally had to get my super sharp cuticle trimmers. Spencer was pretty freaked out by my assortment of tools, so he put in his ear buds, cranked the Ipod and went to his own little happy place. I am so glad I have him around to torment. He is so much fun and such a good sport. Speaking of Spencer.... just an update. He is doing well at our house. We truly love having him around. He is so helpful and sweet and he makes us laugh every minute of every day. I am so glad he is living with us. I love taking care of him and I am thrilled that he likes hanging out with us. Quayd ADORES him, and even though Quayd probably drives him crazy, Spence is so great with him. Spencer and I have had a few important things to take care of this week and he has totally stepped it up, helped me out and we got everything taken care of. I appreciate him so much. I wish he could see how great he really is.

Anyway, all is well at our house! Because of the location and level of pain involved, I am sure I didn't get all of the goo from the weird eye zit, so if I get any thing else out, I will take pictures and keep you posted!!!