Weddings

The end of December and beginning of January brought my 31st birthday and weddings. Two of Mike's nieces got married within a week of each other. Their mother must have been going crazy trying to plan and organize! We weren't able to attend Caryssa's wedding due to weather conditions, but we made it to Ashley's on January 7th.

Brock and Ashley were married in the Salt Lake temple. Mike and I were excited to attend the ceremony since we haven't been back to the SLC temple since our own wedding. Unfortunately, Mike's recommend was expired, and mine was left at home. We tried to make some quick phone calls to my bishop and stake president to verify my recommend so that at least I could attend, but the process took too long. Instead, we waited with the kids in the designated waiting room until the family came out for pictures.

We had a nice visit with Mike's family, including two of his brothers who live far enough away that we only see them every couple of years. Both newlywed couples looked happy and completely oblivious to the world outside their own--just the way newlyweds should look!

There was a beautiful reception that night in Wyoming. Everyone danced. I got video of nearly everyone, although a few people managed to dodge the camera. My kids had a blast dancing, particularly Hyrum. I have no idea where he learned to "dance" like that, but he had me laughing so hard that I didn't have time to worry about whether or not he was putting holes in his suit. Although I love the scenes of Hyrum dancing, I have to say that my favorite parts of this video are Mike and my brothers-in-law dancing with their daughters. Too sweet! <3

If only...

Big changes are happening in the company I work for, and, unfortunately, they're not too great. Where to start...

As I may have explained before, the owner owns two companies: Recreation Idaho and Sunshine Recreation. Both companies in the same business, just separated territories: Sunshine in Utah and, well, guess where Recreation Idaho covers. I was hired for Utah's office work and have never been employed by the Idaho division. However, since the owners' health has decreased dramatically over the past year, I have had a significant hand in the office work of both companies.

The market in Utah is very... "different" from that of anywhere else in the country. The people there care very little of quality and everything of price. Which means that a company that sells quality products and service like ours hasn't ever competed very well. My personal belief is that the teachings of "thrift" to the general population in Utah goes a little bit too far. We got the feeling that the idea of business down there is, "If you can't give it to me for little or no profit, you should give it to me at a loss." I know this is stereotypical, but if the shoe fits...

I would be lying if I said that was the only reason the Utah company failed. I place most of the blame for Sunshine's failure on the messenger of our companies profits and values. The salesman in Utah based everything on discounting to make people happy, rather than being firm on if you want it good and want it to last, buy from us. He has single-handily cause the company no success where so much potential lies.

So, now the owner is closing the Utah operation. It's stayed in the red-ink far too long and it's just not feasible to keep the company open while employing 5 employees. Lucky for me, my integral part in the operations of Idaho leaves me still with a job, although the pay increase I received a few months ago will be limited again. Looks like another hard Winter ahead of us.

However, there is one opportunity to all this that presents itself to us. What if... I became the new dealership in Utah? The possibility presents itself to be self-employed in a very profitable business from now until retirement. All the while presenting a good company name that can last beyond the 2-5 year stints that have fated previous operations in Utah. It's the perfect opportunity. The product is an excellent one, it speaks for itself and is the leader in Playground development, quality, and service. There is little difficulty in targeting your market and advertising to your customers, because they're already looking for you.

So, how could I make a difference where others could not in the past? Well, I won't bore you with the details (although the details is what gets me excited). However, I have to present a plan to the regional manager of Playworld and the owner of our company.

we also have an advantage of being able to go wherever we want to. Boise is not a bad place, but there isn't anything we can think of that ties us down here. It's just a community that we've never really bonded well with. It's not fun having no friends, but it is a good feeling knowing that we can up and leave if ever we needed to.

But then, there is also a reality. As much as opportunities like these rarely EVER present itself to anyone in their lifetimes, the timing is not good right now. Typical Playworld dealers need to front $20k in contract as a dealer. We would also need a minimum of $15k for start up business costs... kind of. You really don't need much money for start up costs, but it would be good if we had 1- several months of living expenses while we get things started up and 2- an operating line for those un-paying or delinquent customers. All I would need is a loan-- oh, yeah. Most banks are freezing loans. Well, maybe I can get one against the assets I own-- oh, yeah. What assets?

Were we in the position to make the step, we would do so. But as it stands now, the step is more of a hurdle. We simply don't have the means to do what we want. I'll keep looking for this opportunity again, and more importantly, planning for it when it presents it's beautiful head again. In the meantime, I'm still going to present my plan to the big guys, just to get some feedback and know what is expected in the future.

Wyomtah!

**Note** Read previous blog first before continuing.

July 3rd, after Mike got off of work, we set out for Mike's sister Jen's house in Wyoming for the 4th of July. As soon as we got there, Hyrum took off to play with Jen's youngest, Jarom. He was excited when Jarom asked him to sleep in his room with him that night. Hyrum loves playing with his cousins.

The next day, Mike's other sister Angie came with her family. We had only seen their youngest daughter Hayley when she was about a month or two old. She sure was a cutie! And Tanner and Taylor were so much bigger. We had a nice BBQ together with wonderful food made by Jen and Angie. I wish I had known ahead of time so I could have contributed too.

We played games and messed around on the Wii for a while until it was time for fireworks. Jen had been bragging about Evanston's fireworks show. It promised to be a good display, and I was looking forward to it. Sadly, it was a very windy night. I think they must have canceled the big show for safety reasons. Actually, we did see some that were set off in rapid succession, so that might have been the city's show, but Jen didn't think so. She said it was usually bigger, with more shells than that. Still, it had some impressive ones. We also got to see some wonderful fireworks around the city. All those big fireworks that are illegal everywhere else are completely legal in Wyoming. Mike says that he think it's because they figure, "If anything in Wyoming gets burned, it would probably be an improvement." So we still got to see some very cool fireworks that we wouldn't have seen here in Idaho. The Golding's home sits up on a hill, so we had a terrific view of all the fireworks at the houses below. And the husbands went out and bought a bunch of fireworks that we set off as well. Hyrum and Emily both loved it! They were both saying "pop pop pop pop!" As they went off. Hyrum has been asking nearly ever day ever since if we can go see fireworks. We've told him over and over that there aren't any to see, but still, he asks. He really had fun!

We stayed at Jen's house again that night, although this time, Hyrum had been booted from Jarom's room to make room for Angie's son Tanner. I was glad to see more of my son that day even though it was because he was excluded when Tanner came. We're worried about Hyrum. He loves playing with other kids, but sometimes he's bullied because of his slow speech and because he can't fight back, and is too meek to fight back anyhow. Emily was always playing around me and Mike since she refused to go to anyone else, and wouldn't even let us put her down.

The next morning, Emily finally gained some courage and let Karolin take care of her a bit and feed her breakfast. She played more independently that day and didn't need to keep us in her sight at all times. Angie's family went home early in the morning, but we stayed late into the afternoon playing Mario Kart, Wii Fit, and DDR Hottest Party with Jen's family. Jen has a great family with wonderful kids. I'm always so impressed with the way they're all growing up to be smart, social, active, and involved while keeping to the gospel guidelines. Both Ken and Jen are great examples to their children and also to us in how we would like to raise our family. We always enjoy visiting with their family.

We left Jen's house to head out to Mike's Mom's house in Utah. Mike's brother Dave had come in from Texas for a visit. We haven't seen their family in years. They had a new daughter Marlaina (Maggie) who we had only seen pictures of. She was the happiest baby! We visited a little while before going to bed.

Hyrum has had this thing lately with temples. He loves seeing pictures of them, and even more, loves driving past them. We thought he would flip over the chance to walk around Temple Square, so Sunday morning, we took him. We got there as the Tabernacle Choir was doing their weekly Music and the Spoke Word broadcast. Hyrum also loves the choir, so we tried to get in to see the broadcast. However, the ushers wouldn't let us in because our kids were too young. We went to the Conference Center Theatre and watched the broadcast from in there. Then afterwards, we thought Hyrum would like to see the actual Conference Center where they sang. They choir was still inside rehearsing and rerecording. They let us in, and Hyrum sat transfixed as he listened to them sing. After we left, he kept trying to pull us back into the room each time the sounds of the choir escaped through an open door.

We crossed the street to the temple and walked around the grounds for a while, but my feet were hurting badly from my lousy shoes, so we found a spot where we could sit and look up at the temple. Some visitors passed by and asked to take a picture of Hyrum because they thought he looked so cute in his suit jacket as he sat looking at the temple so reverently. Hyrum has always pulled a lot of this kind of attention from strangers ever since he was born... People asking permission to photograph him, going out of their way to tell us he's the cutest they've seen, or even just being stared at. He's just a good looking kid. But we really should teach him to be careful of people he doesn't know. It was great to see the temple again. We haven't been to Temple Square for 3 or 4 years. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we needed to head back to Mike's Mom's house for church.

After church, we had a family dinner. Angie's family came again. Tanner and Taylor had so much fun playing with Savannah and Maya, but what really stole the show was the way Maggie and Hayley played together! They were so adorable! Emily developed a little crush on Dave and wouldn't go to anyone else. She even preferred Dave to us.

Mike's brother Dan called from Afghanistan. We all got a chance to talk to him. It was really good to hear from him, but made us realize we need to be better about keeping in contact with him. I've always liked Dan and Cristtin and their kids a lot. It was a harsh reminder that they were the only family missing from our little reunion.

After it got too dark for the kids to play outside, we packed up dinner and went inside to watch some old slides of Mike's family. I had never seen any pictures of Mike's childhood, so this was a special treat for me. There actually weren't many pictures of Mike, just a few of him as a baby. I'm guessing this is because he is the youngest and they probably just stopped making slides. Nearly all the slides were of South Carolina, and they moved from SC when Mike was still just a baby. It was so funny to see all of his brothers and sisters as kids and how much their own kids look like they did. Jen, in particular, looked just like Sarah.

Monday, Mike had a training to go to in SLC for work. I stayed in Kearns with his family. Mike's mom, Karen, and I left the kids with the boys and went out to a movie together. We saw Made of Honor at the dollar theatre then met up with the boys and the kids at Arctic Circle for lunch. Emily was just as attached to Dave as ever. I don't think she even missed me!

I tried to set up a visit with my friend Juliet, but we just couldn't work out a time before Mike got back from training and we headed back to Idaho.

I would have loved to post pictures of this trip (not ones with Hyrum picking his nose). I brought our camera on the trip, but left the batteries at home! Boy, I'm stupid sometimes!! So I'm going to use this space here to beg Mike's family to email us any pictures you have of the weekend we were there. Of course we want pictures of our own family, but please make sure you give us pictures of yours as well. We had a wonderful time visiting with you all!