Flowers for Lilly

Friday, the 13th, was a crazy day weather-wise.  The weathermen were forecasting that that weekend was going to be bad in terms of weather.  Friday was supposed to have some bad storms and then Saturday was supposed to bring the same caliber of storms that came with the May 3rd tornado.  So Friday afternoon Kolton and I went to the Brammer's house so that we could park the car in a garage and so that we were close to a tornado shelter.  We got bad hail there but no tornadoes it Moore.  We thought a couple of times that there might be a tornado and so we got all our shoes and jackets on and were ready to run to the shelter.  That is when Kolton started freaking out.  He could tell something was up and so he started getting nervous and didn't want me to stop holding him.  Fortunately, nothing actually ended up happening. There was a tornado that went through Norman for a minute or two. It actually went right by Sterling's work--scary! This is a picture of the tornado. 

 

Jeff and Kolton went to go get some pizzas and then pick up Brady at 5:00.  We ate dinner and then ended up staying until about 1:00 in the morning there at the Brammers to make sure we didn't get hit by any more storms.  Then on Saturday (which was supposed to be the worse day) we went over there in the late afternoon and waited through some of the storms.  Then we came home and watched most of the Thunder game (it was the first game of the play-offs against the Mavericks) and then went back over there afterwards because there was supposed to be bad storms coming.  We stayed there until like 5:00 in the morning and then came home once all the storms had passed.  None of them actually amounted to anything really, so that was good.  Brady was exhausted, though, because he stayed up the whole time with his dad watching the weather.  We are glad we weren't hit by any tornadoes and everyone we know was safe.  I now have our 72 hour kits all ready! This is something I've been meaning to do for FOREVER and finally got it done earlier that week.  Its nice knowing we are ready and prepared for a storm or emergency if one comes. 

On the 19th we worked on our front yard.  Brady's parents wanted to help us do a flower bed in the front of our house in remembrance of Lilly.  

Here's what it looked like before...nothing...

 And then this is pretty much what it looks like after.  We have since finished laying the bricks around the flower bed two high, but other than that it is the same.  There's two hibiscus plants (which I love! They are such pretty flowers), three lily flowers, and a bunch of other flowers.  The rock we are going to have Brittney paint "Lillian" on it.  Its really pretty and we love it!

 One day Pierson and Rigdon came over to play while London had to get a tube put in his ear and get his adenoids removed.  The boys had a lot of fun playing together and imagining all sorts of things. 

 I came in to my kitchen and found toys ALL over the kitchen counters.  I asked the boys what they were doing and they said they were trying to scare off the fly that was in there by putting all the cars, guys, and animals around.  It was funny. 

 Kolton loves to ride his bike! We've gone on several walks to the little "park" in our "neighborhood" so he can ride his bike. 

 With is being so warm, though, he gets pretty tired by the time we get back and he'll end up riding like this.  Makes me laugh.  He's so dramatic.  Haha.

 Hanging out with my buddy.  We were watching cartoons together that morning. 

 On the 20th of April was the young men/young women fundraiser.  It was supposed to be on the 13th but because of the storms it got postponed to the next week.  It was fun.  We had chili for dinner and then there was an auction.  "Brady" (aka-me) brought 18 truffles to be auctioned off and then we ended up buying a couple things.  We actually made off pretty good with the things we bought.  We bought a $20 Earl's Rib Palace giftcard for $20 and then I bought a month of tanning for $5.  The truffles I brought sold for $40.  It was a good time.  

Then on Saturday we went car shopping.  We had been spending a lot of time looking online at cars trying to figure out what we wanted/could afford.  The Foys were nice enough to volunteer to watch Kolton for us so that was nice! We spent like 8 hours shopping that day and ended up coming home with a 2010 Nissan Altima.  We got a GOOD deal on it and are really happy with it.  Not so happy with the dealership (Fenton Nissan East) but the car is awesome.  

 

Seriously, the dealership sucked! Our salesman was fine, the used car manager was super nice and helpful, but Chad Lewis (our finance guy) and Brian Smith (the general manager) were JERKS! I'm talking like ridiculously unprofessional.  Here's a quick version of the story...We had already been pre-approved when we went car shopping.  We told Chad that and so we filled out the paperwork for Weokie.  He told us as we were leaving that he might try on Monday to see if he could get us a better rate somewhere else and that he'd let us know.  Well on Monday he called Brady and left him a message saying he found us a better interest rate.  So I called him because Brady was busy at work and Chad told me that he could get us a better rate at FAA but we needed to purchase an extended warranty in order to get that rate.  I told Brady that and he said it sounded weird so I called FAA and asked them if they ever required you to do that.  They said absolutely not.  So I called Chad back and asked him again if I had to purchase the warranty to get that rate.  He said yes.  So then I told him that I spoke with FAA and they told me that that isn't true.  Then he started being very rude and said "I have the right to refuse to send in any paperwork I want so you can either take advantage of the better rate and purchase the warranty or I'll just send in your Weokie paperwork." We went back and forth for several minutes arguing about how I didn't want to purchase the warranty, I just wanted the better rate and him saying no he won't do it unless I purchase the warranty but that he never said I had to purchase the warranty etc. etc. etc.  I also asked to speak to Chad's manager and he said he was in a meeting so I asked for his name.  He told me it was Charlie Morgan.  So I hung up and called back and asked the receptionist to speak to Charlie Morgan and surprise, surprise Charlie Morgan wasn't in a meeting and talked to me.  He said he'd look in to it and call me back later. So I called Brady and told him so he called Chad and talked to him and he acted the same way with Brady so he called the used car manager and he said he'd take care of it.  I waited until about 4:00 and hadn't heard from Charlie so I called back up there and they said he had left.  I was livid.  So I spoke to about 3 or 4 people trying to get someone to take care of this for us.  Finally got someone to help and he said we could come in that evening and sign the paperwork for the better rate with FAA.  We went up there and Charlie gave us the paperwork to sign.  The next day I decided to call the general manager and explain to him what happened.  I was very non-confrontational and friendly, just telling him the story so he'd be aware of the way Chad had mistreated us.  He flipped out on me when I told him how much we payed for the car and said I should just bring it back because he could get more at an auction etc.  He was just yelling and rambling all this stuff off at me and was extremely unprofessional.  I was NOT expecting that from him.  As a manager I assumed he would be understanding (or at least pretend to be) and apologetic.  I've never dealt with a manager with such little customer service.  SO, I would NOT recommend Fenton Nissan East! Anyway, LOVE the car and LOVE having a second car!

 Such a handsome guy drawing me some chalk pictures on our sidewalks! :)