A Series of Unfortunate Events (Day Two)

We went out in the boat early today with 2 nephews, a niece, and my children. The sun shimmered on the glassy, quiet, pristine lake. The lake was undisturbed and perfect for skiing and wakeboarding. They had a fabulous time wakeboarding and skiing in the crisp, cool water. Everyone had a chance to participate in as many water activities as wanted.

It was a good thing, because later in the day it began to rain. It started as a small drizzle, and ended in a torrential downpour. I have never seen it rain like that. We hunkered down in tents, or in grandma’s motor home to play cards.

Once the rain subsided a little in the late afternoon, the boys’ began playing an impromptu game of wiffle ball in the camp ground streets. The women were challenged to participate. Each aunt took their turn hitting the ball. I wanted Ben to pitch to me thinking me would try to pitch a decent ball to me. His intentions were to pitch as high and crazily as he could.

Being a little competitive, I was going to hit the ball regardless. I jumped up, swung, hit the ball (mighty fine I might add), got off balance and rolled off the street and into the small ravine. I am sure it looked worse than it was. I was quite a spectacle!

The next day I felt like I had experienced a terrible wipe-out while water skiing. I had a little discomfort when I would breathe (a few bruised ribs I’m sure), along with other aches and pains, nothing serious. It reminded me of my skateboard adventure.

Meg and Quinn delivered the extra key to the Suburban this evening. I was so excited to finally have my own vehicle. They arrived in the early evening so Mike, Sarah, Jordan, and I quickly ventured over to Cedar Springs Marina to retrieve the suburban. Much to our surprise, when Jordan opened the door to the car, alarms started blaring as if we were seasoned thieves trying to steal a vehicle. We ignored the alarms; Jordan inserted the key in the ignition, only to find that the car was in “theft” mode and would not start.

My heart sunk, and my determination to not be defeated continued to thrive. I began the desperate calls again – first AAA, than Chevy roadside. Their suggestions were to tow the vehicle back to Salt Lake and get a key made. That just didn’t seem like a viable solution to me. Finally, I called Murdock Chevrolet, the car dealer who had made my duplicate key, and received a more practical solution.

They had to make several phone calls to get me the feasible solution, but once they did, I was happy. Each duplicate key must be micro chipped. If it is not, your key cannot be used unless the “theft mode” is disabled. It takes quite some time to disable, but IT WORKED!

Once the “theft mode” was disabled the battery was dead and the car battery needed to be jumped. Thanks to Grandpa Wayne, and Aunt Jen, we got a jump, and finally were able to drive the suburban after hours of working on it. Mike stayed with me the entire time. What a trooper!

The troubling part about this was that every time I locked my car and opened it, the car alarms would start AGAIN. My children always seemed to need something out of the car at 7:00 a.m. or earlier. You can only imagine the commotion it caused in our camp ground. Our fellow campers weren’t real pleased with us. After a mild cursing from our neighbors, I left the car unlocked the remainder of the trip.

One would think we had experienced enough unfortunate events for one trip. Stay tuned....there is more to come. We all were able to have a good time despite these events and enjoyed ourselves throughout the trip.

"It's not so much what happens to us but how we deal with what happens to us."
James E. Faust - Oct. Gen. Conf 2004
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