Summer and Fall

Let's see... in our last episode, I had just gotten a job at Qwest, Mike was doing well in school, and things were looking up. Well, that's only half true now. Mike is still in school, but I lost my job at the beginning of August. I was concerned that I wouldn't make my quota coming out of training, and that's exactly what happened. I don't have any hard feelings though. Qwest treated me very well in my short time there, and my coaches and trainers fought hard to try to keep my job in a review board. All those that worked with me directly knew how good I was on the customer service end, and felt that I was still a good fit with the company. But after what my trainer said was the longest review board meeting she had ever been in (over 2 and a half hours), it was a corporate decision to let me go. The rest of the summer sped by in a blur of homework and unsuccessful job hunts.

Early in the summer, we went to visit Mike's family. His sister's family owns some property which they fittingly call "The Land" at Starvation Reservoir in Utah. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. We made stick horses, went 4-wheeling, swam in the reservoir, and played the most physical game of spoons I've ever seen. Hyrum still talks about how Ken threw him in the river. In fact, it was what he talked about for his part in the Primary Program in October.

Making stick horses.

Hyrum and his horse (photo swiped from the Golding's blog)

Hyrum started kindergarten in mid August. He's loving it so far, and doing really well! His teachers are all great! In his first parent-teacher conference, I was told that he leads the class in reading and math. His teachers think he is quite brilliant, although he can't communicate it well. He is still doing speech therapy and is talking much better now. It's hard to believe that only a few short months ago, he wasn't speaking in sentences. Now he's quite a chatterbox, although his speech often sounds labored and mechanical. His speech pathologist referred us to a private speech and language clinic in Idaho Falls. He has only gone for 2 weeks now and is still in the testing phase, but I am anxiously looking forward to his continued improvement. Sitting in the waiting room during his testing, I feel blessed that his condition is mild, and that he has met good teachers along the way. There are so many other kids with many more problems than him. In fact, I feel a little guilty worrying so much about his speech when he's clearly better off than nearly all the kids there.

Hyrum's first day of school

The end of summer brought the start of the college football season. Mike had bought season tickets for Boise State before I lost my job. Mike and I went to the opening game against Oregon and got to watch Boise start yet another perfect (so far) season with a great win against the Ducks. We also got to witness the "Punch Heard Round the World" in person. Since then, Mike has taken each of the kids individually to games, and we once went as a whole family to sell our tickets and watch from the warmth of the basketball arena. On that trip, the kids got to go out on the blue turf, pet the Boise State Bronco, and wave as the band walked by about two yards away. They loved it! Hyrum thinks he wants to be a football player, and Emily is in love with the "pretty horse named Bronco."

Hyrum and Mike at the BSU/Miami (OH) game

Emily after the BSU/UC Davis game

If summer was a blur of homework and job hunting, fall has been a blur of sickness. There hasn't been a single week since October when one or more of us hasn't been sick. We had a good Halloween despite all four of us having the flu. Hyrum asked to be a super hero, and Emily asked to be a pink star. I decided it would be easier to make the same costume for both of them and convinced her to be a pink super hero star... whatever that means. I didn't want them to be any specific super heroes, so I made them their own style costumes and crests. I was planning to make them super hero capes for Christmas, but I guess this saves me the trouble.

Hyrum's school didn't allow costumes, only crazy hair. Here he is with green hair. Yes, it was green even if the picture doesn't show it well.

These are the crests that Mike and I designed for the back of their capes.

Emily with her star wand. Do super heroes have wands?

Criminals beware! Super Emily is coming for YOU!

This is as tough as Hyrum can manage to look.

He may look scrawny, but he's surprisingly strong. *cough*

November 17th was Hyrum's 6th birthday. Six! I can't believe it! We celebrated his birthday on the following Saturday. The only present he asked for was a fish. We kept him locked out of our room for a couple days while we set up an aquarium and let the water cycle. I thought he was getting suspicious because he kept catching glimpses of the towel we draped over it. Saturday afternoon, we moved it to his room and put the fish in. I think he was afraid to acknowledge that he really got fish. When we brought him to his room and told him his present was inside, he very purposefully avoided making eye contact with the tank and searched his room for a wrapped gift. We had to confirm several times that the fish were his before he allowed himself to get excited about it. Since then, he has spent a lot of time watching and studying them. Now Emily wants a pink one for her birthday next week. That evening, my mom invited us over for dinner, cake, and presents. He got a new bedspread from my mom, a puzzle from Emily, and church socks from Mike and me. I'll try to post a birthday video like last year, but it took me a long time to put that one together, so no promises.

Hyrum is still avoiding looking at his fish tank.

DeeDee thought it was her birthday.

Yesterday, we had Thanksgiving with my Mom and Sherwin. Sherwin's son Dale and daughter Suzanne were there as well. We had a nice time eating, chatting, and playing games. I can't wait to see Mom's and Suzanne's pictures and videos of Sherwin, Dale, and Mike attempting to do the "stunts" from the Cranium Family Fun game.

After four months of unemployment, I'm still looking for work. However, Mike and I have decided that I will be returning to school full time this spring. I have wanted to go back to school ever since leaving, so I'm very excited. However, I'm also terrified. What am I thinking!? It's been almost 9 years since I left Ricks! I hope I haven't forgotten everything. Also, I'm worried about living off of student loans and financial aid with both of us in school full time. I spoke to the music department, and they seem to think I should be able to do a work study in the music building to help supplement our income. I just hope it's enough. So far, the plan is that I'll continue my degree in Music Education, but I'm apprehensive about the amount of time I'll have to spend away from my family. Music is a very time intensive major. I've been arguing these points in my head since Mike brought up the idea about two months ago, and it has caused me an enormous amount of stress. However, after making a shaky decision last week, I've received several reassurances that I'm doing the right thing. It almost reminds me of when I was at Ricks and struggling with my choice to be a music major. I had my answer then, and I have my answer now. So wish us luck!

I hope to post again after Emily's birthday, but let's be realistic here... I'm lousy at keeping this thing updated! Heck, look at the banner at the top of the blog. Emily was a baby in those pictures, and she's going to be 3 next week! I'll do my best to be better about posting updates, but if you really want to know what we're up to, just give us a call.

Spring and Summer So Far

It's been a while since we last posted a blog. A lot has changed around here, but I'm going to try to keep the news brief and post a lot of pictures and videos instead. So let's get the news out of the way first. In the beginning of May, my job cut hours once again, bringing me down to 25 a week. They encouraged me to stick it out until they could offer 40 hour shifts again, but I told them that this was completely unacceptable and asked that they give me paid time off to find another job. That same day, I received an offer from Qwest and put in my 2 week notice at Center Partners.

I began my 10 week training at Qwest in mid May. My official title is Qwest Center Service and Sales Agent - Western Region, Idaho Falls. Yup, quite a mouth full. The pay is better, the employees are treated better, the benefits are incredible, and I enjoy the job more. The only problem is that there are quotas. On Tuesday, I begin the evaluation period of my training. I need to meet certain revenue goals in the next 4 weeks in order to remain employed at Qwest. I'm more than a little nervous. I've had several high revenue days, but I've also had several low ones. I'm hoping it all evens out during the next 4 weeks.

Mike has been extremely busy this summer. He decided to take summer classes in order to catch up in his new major so he can finish sooner. He also accepted a summer internship. I think it was a bit more work than he was expecting, but he's enjoying it. He loves his calculus class, and his boss at work has started training him to be a reactor operator.

The big downside to us being so busy is that the kids are at daycare for 8-9 hours a day. Luckily, they love it. The daycare is run by some members of our ward, and they are great! The adults interact with the kids rather than just sitting back and watching, and they encourage learning and imaginative play. They know each of the kids individually and are as proud of them as we are. Despite the adult/kid ratio being somewhat poor on certain days of the week, all the kids in the daycare are well mannered and friendly. They're doing an awesome job! My kids actually look forward to going to daycare to see their friends and learn new things.

Even with as busy as we've been, we've still found time for fun. Memorial Day weekend was great! Even though we had to stay close to home, we still took the kids to the park and flew kites in the baseball diamond in our back yard. Yes, we have a baseball diamond in our back yard. The kids' new favorite song is "Let's Go Fly a Kite!" We actually had to tell the kids not to sing it at daycare anymore because we were afraid the staff was getting tired of it. Mother's Day and Father's Day were great too. Mike and I also celebrated our 9 year anniversary on May 12th.

Last night, we went to a company party at Tautphaus Park. Qwest provided food, a live band, discounted ride tickets to Fun Land, and free tickets to the zoo. We had a great time! After eating, we headed over to the rides. Hyrum was anxious to try the ferris wheel, but Emily was afraid. However, when she saw me and Hyrum get on, she suddenly became braver and asked Mike to take her. Hyrum loved every second of it. Emily, on the other hand, started out scared. When their car got to the top, he pointed out all the things she could see from up so high, and she decided it wasn't so bad. She happily told Mike, "Oh! Ferris wheel isn't scary! I like the ferris wheel!" Here's a picture of Mike and Emily during the ride.

After that, we hit the merry go round. Again, Emily was afraid, so I stood beside her. It didn't take long before she decided that it was fun and even became brave enough to take her hands off the pole to wave at Mike as we went past. Hyrum was a pro. He must have remembered going on the merry go round when he was younger. He didn't even want help getting on to the horse because he was determined to do it himself. After the merry go round, the kids went on a train ride. They both loved it! Hyrum said it was his favorite, but later he couldn't decide if he had liked the merry go round or ferris wheel better.

After the rides, we went to the zoo. It was probably about 7:00 in the evening, and some of the animals were already asleep for the night. Hyrum was disappointed that his usual favorite, the otters, weren't swimming. Emily still got to see her favorite, the zebra. She has loved zebras from the very first time she ever saw one. By the time we got to that exhibit, she was sleepy and resting on Mike's shoulder. When she saw the zebra, she suddenly perked up and got more and more excited. "Zebra! It's my zebra!" They also had a petting zoo with animals such as a donkey and goats.

After the zoo, the kids wanted to play on the playground. The video needs a bit of an intro. Emily is afraid of crossing bridges thanks to Dora the Explorer and the Grumpy Old Troll Who Lives Under the Bridge. All in all, we had a great night!

We're looking forward to taking the kids to see the fireworks show next weekend. After how much Hyrum loved the fireworks at Jen's house last year, we think he's going to love it! We'll just have to make sure Emily gets a good nap that afternoon.

Easter and Other Stuff

Alright, I know it's been a while since we've posted a new blog. I'll try to keep it short.

I've been really proud of Mike lately with school. He has been really dedicated and working hard to get good grades. Mike has changed his major. He was struggling with some of his programming classes and not enjoying it as much as he was enjoying his math and physics classes. He spoke to his astronomy teacher who recommended he try nuclear engineering. Mike has been really excited about this idea, and even more excited about the prospect of $150k - $200k a year to start. They'll even provide tuition reimbursement for him to get his Masters and Doctorate. I'm mostly happy that he can finish his degree in nuclear engineering quicker than he can finish in computer engineering. I really miss being home with the kids.

This leads me to my next topic. My job. Shortly after I came out of training, two more classes came through with 22 agents each. Those 44 agents were congratulated, given graduation certificates, and as they were eating their cake, were laid off and sent home. Of course, the rest of us started to panic about the security of our jobs. Center Partners assured us that our jobs were safe, but there were signs all around that Capital One might cancel our contract at any moment. The end result was a cut in hours for the entire product group. Every day I wish more and more that I had signed on with the Sony account. I'm currently looking for another job, but I don't dare quit at Center Partners until I have another job lined up. The economy hasn't hit East Idaho as badly as it has other areas, but jobs are still scarce.

The kids are absolutely adorable! Hyrum is doing so well in school. He can read entire books by himself with only minimal help. We're so proud of him! He'll be ahead of most of the other kids in that area when he starts kindergarten. His speech is still a little behind, but he is making huge progress every day. His teachers want to have him see a child psychologist and have him tested to see if he's border line autistic. We've been wanting to have him tested for a while, but with all the moving we've been doing the past several years, it's been tough. If he is diagnosed, we'll have a lot more resources available to help him with his speech. Of course, we hope nothing is wrong, but it'll just be good to finally know. He continues to excel academically.

Emily is bottled sunshine in convenient travel size! She is such a happy child! Emily is very funny, and she knows it. Although she loves being girly and wearing jewelry, dresses, and carrying purses, you really can't call her ladylike when she'll drop the whole facade to stand on her head or pretend to be an animal or sing a silly song to make us laugh. She is also very smart. She knows most of her letters, several numbers, all her colors, and shapes. She must think that she needs to make up for all that Hyrum doesn't say by jabbering all the time. She speaks very clearly and in full sentences, and even expresses complex ideas. She loves to sing primary songs, and can say prayers all by herself. She thinks she can spell as well as Hyrum. And although she can spell Hyrum and Emily correctly, all other words are spelled "H-I-J-K-O-O-O-O-P!"

Ok, so both my kids love to sing, and they sing very well. But every time I try to get a video of them doing so, they decide to goof off. I love the part where Hyrum gives the camera an exasperated look after Emily's high note solo. He wasn't happy about being upstaged.

I must say that this Easter was the best I've ever had! On Saturday, we took the kids to my work for an egg hunt. Emily was an egg hunting demon! Hyrum was a little too timid to pick up very many when there were so many other kids who wanted them too. I swear, that kid is too gentle for his own good. The kids ended up with quite a haul. They each got a blow up Easter Bunny (which they both love and won't let out of their sight for too long), several pinwheels, finger puppets, bottles of bubbles, foam gliders, stickers, whistles, and of course, too much candy. I think the kids were a little disturbed to find out that the Easter Bunny is actually a red headed chain smoker. (actually, she's a coworker, and a very nice lady.)

After we came home from Center Partners, we dyed and decorated eggs. We had a kit with glitter pens and foam stickers. The kids loved it, even though Hyrum looks so serious in his picture.

Then Mike and I had a babysitter over to watch the kids while we took advantage of a 50% off coupon to a grand opening of a new restaurant in Idaho Falls. The place was called The Hard Hat Cafe. It's supposed to be really great food, but we'll never know. We had a reservation for 7:25, but still had plenty of time to enjoy the construction decor while we waited an hour to be seated. After being seated, we sat. And sat. And sat. Nobody waited on us for about 45 minutes We brought it to the attention of a waiter as he passed by, and he informed the owner. The owner came to our table and apologized and promised us that he would send a server immediately, but that the food would still take 30-45 min to cook. We had already kept our poor babysitter much later than we had intended. We decided to leave and picked up Jack In the Box on the way home.

On Sunday morning, Hyrum woke up first. He waited patiently for nearly an hour for Emily to wake up because he didn't want to go see what the Easter Bunny had brought until he could share the excitement with her. When she finally woke up, it took Hyrum a while to convince her to go to the living room with him to see their baskets. She was probably too young to remember last year, so she's fairly new to this whole Easter thing. However, the moment she came around the couch and saw her new pink and purple tricycle, (exactly what she had asked for. "Mom, I want a PINK bike!") she threw aside her blow up Easter Bunny and ran full speed to check it out!

Hyrum got a new fire station Lego set. Hyrum is a mad genius with Lego! He can build anything! He patiently waited until he was sure it was ok and he had permission to open it. We gave him the go ahead, and he went to work building a fire truck. Then he brought in his old set and introduced his new Lego fireman to his old Lego dock worker. "Oh, hi! Nice to meet you! I have a new truck. Want to come for a ride?" "Sure, that will be fun!" Later, he told me they were friends. (love my kids!)

Before you think we spoil our kids from the size of their Easter stash, it wasn't all from us. They also got new, very cute hoodies and an Under Dog video from my mom. My Grandma Sears gave Hyrum a book and Emily a blanket with zebras, monkeys, and tigers (her favorite animals) on it and gave them both bendable Easter Bunnies and lots of goodies. Mom helped me buy an Easter dress for Emily too. (although I still need to pay her back...)

After church... Oh, that reminds me! Mike and I have new callings. Mike is a ward missionary and I am a Sunbeams teacher. Anyhow, after church, we came home and had an egg hunt in our back yard. Hyrum was much more aggressive at home than he was at Center Partners and beat Emily hands down in the number of eggs found. That night, we had deviled eggs which is the only Eastery thing we had for dinner that night. We had Easter dinner and watched Conference with my mom and Sherwin the week before since they were in Oregon for Easter.

This weekend, we've finally been blessed with some beautiful weather. Mike was able to take the kids out to ride their bikes while he worked on the Toyota. I was sick in bed. *cough cough*

Updates

° School is in for Mike. School is a lot more work than Mike thought it would be and is thankful that he doesn't have a part-time job. However, the lack of income has made things quite tight. It will work out, however, because of that tithe law. Mike is taking Java, Trig, Astronomy, and Business Statistics. An interesting variety of classes, but until he gets on course for his Major, it will have to be that way.
Do you remember me complaining about how much I made at my last job? Well, that raise was well worth it. It shot us into another tax bracket (for the first time in my life) as I made $35k last year. Nothing exactly to brag about, but we've never really been that successful. Too bad about the lay off!!! Now we'll have to settle for a stint at school in hopes of landing a $250k one. Grrr.

° Work started for Jay, and she just got out of training with an unjustly, horrible schedule. She scored 100% on her training exam and was given quite possibly the worst shift they have, while others in her class did quite bad and was given early shifts, including 4-10's. This is going to make the daycare quite expensive. I've urged jay to try and find someone to talk to to find the method of their madness and perhaps petition for a better schedule. They never did give any options to select your preferred shifts, so it's as if they just assigned schedules randomly. We hope all goes well, and I'm sure it will, as long as we continue to be obedient and enjoy the temple. However, there has been talk about looking for other open positions in the region as well.

° Speaking of, we've finally gotten back to the temple. It had been so long... we estimate about 6 years or more. We just took the close proximity to the Idaho Falls and Boise temples that we never attended. And you wonder why things weren't working out for us in the past?...

° Myson LOVES school, of course. We spoke with his teacher and they didn't seem too excited to be getting another kid, as their actions spoke louder than words and left him out of 2 weeks of school to do "paperwork." When we met, we helped him learn his teachers' name (Mrs. Hayes & Ms. Welker). She just said, "Oh, don't worry about it. The other kids just call me teacher." In the interest of respect, we wouldn't have that -- but we didn't have to try anyway. We met her on the Friday before he would start Monday. He had already memorized her name and let us know the whole weekend before.

° Em has started what we call "preschool," which is really daycare but she doesn't want to go to daycare (even though she calls it that when she leaves). She is the most adorable thing that we know of on this Earth (but she's also 2 right now, so she's also very difficult). One example: Myson brought a teddy bear to school as an assignment for bear week and Em would not go to daycare without one as well. So we let her. As we were leaving when I went to pick her up, we were interacting with her and the attendants and they asked, "What's the bears name?" To which she replied, "Bear Haddox" quite matter-of-factly. Very cute. There are a million more examples which need cataloging, but I'm horrible at memory, so we'll let Jaypea do that.
She's also potty-training, which I was just reminded to talk about as she said "Ooooh. Big poop" as she currently sits on the toilet. She was doing so well her first week, but then got in a pattern of not caring and just letting it all go onto the floor. I tried to make the thing positive, but after 3 days of non-stop cleaning of the carpet, I let her know the law. After that I didn't need to discipline anymore. She's knows what right and wrong now and she gets Hello Kitty! stickers for doing a good job.

° For Deedee, the move to Eastern Idaho was just another move. Since she's been through so much she doesn't make a big deal with them anymore. However, she does get motion sickness, so we had to buy some powdery stuff you mix in her food to calm her down. It worked quite well. So far we love Shelley. The people are all very friendly and the city is shut down on Sunday's which helps us observe the Sabbath a bit better. They only have 2 decent fast food places which means it's easier to get sick of them and not go to them.
Although I am switching to BYU-Idaho next semester (upon approval), we will still live in Shelley do to the proximity to the kids' grandparents and the cheapest daycare prices I have ever seen ($2/hr/kid).

° Dan came home from Afghan- and I can't wait until he's free to take phone calls. I'm excited to talk to him again but I really want him to spend as much time with his immediate family before we get to converse again.

° Great Britain has abolished the use of the apostrophe on all their street signs do to it making things too confusing. I wish the English language would the same as a whole because I suck at it. I signed up for an English class for the very reason to improve upon this, but then I did just one assignment and felt myself sick to the stomach the moment I got involved. Hence, that was dropped and Statistics was added (because it was the only interesting online class). Anyway, I brought that up because instead of making corrections on this blog, I'm just letting it go. For instance, I began the blog in third person, now I'm in first. How fun!

° I have a test at 2pm which I have not studied for... That gives me 1½ hours to do so. Enjoy the blog and please comment. We'd love to hear from you!

Let's Review Part 3: Jessica's Birthday etc.

My birthday was December 31st. We had my mom and Sherwin over for dinner. I made salmon, and Mom made a cherry chocolate cake. Mom and Sherwin gave me towel racks for the bathrooms and a step-stool so I can reach the cabinets in the kitchen. We watched an old movie called The Court Jester and played pinochle.

Mike gave me my "present" the next day. I knew he was up to something because he kept secretly taking calls. Sometime between 5:00 and 5:30, my friends Lezhai and Melissa came with their families. Shortly after, Dan and Carissa and their girls came. Finally, Sandi came with her husband Nathan and daughter Annalee. In all, we had 9 adults and 11 kids. The kids went off to destroy our play room while the adults ate and chatted. Lezhai and Darnell had to leave early because their daughter wasn't feeling well, and they had to pick up their two boys from the movies. The rest of us played a great game of Cranium. Mike and I used to entertain a lot, but we haven't had friends who were into parties and games since we moved to Boise. It was a lot of fun to do that again! The only down side is that we left our vacuum in Nampa by accident and can't clean the chips out of the carpet.

Mike's niece Caryssa will be attending BYU-I this coming semester. We went to Rexburg on Saturday to help her move in. I can't believe how much that city and campus have changed. We'll be glad to have her nearby, and plan to have her over for dinner sometime.

Saturday the 3rd, my brother and his wife had a baby girl. Congratulations, James and Tessie! She's beautiful!

On Sunday, I found my Aunt Zelma (She's really my grandma's cousin, not my aunt) is in my ward. She was so excited to see me there since she hasn't seen me since I was very young. Still, she knew who I was immediately. I guess my grandma tipped her off that we were moving out near her. She seems to be a very positive, bubbly person. I've been told she is a very talented person. It was nice to meet her.

Next Monday, I start work, and Mike and Hyrum start school. I'm a little apprehensive about how all our schedules will work out... or not work out. Wish us luck!

East Idaho Trip Update

Since Mike lost his job and decided to go back to school, we've been looking for jobs and apartments in East Idaho. However, we found it very difficult to do this while still living in West Idaho. So Sunday the 23rd, after choir practice, I left Nampa for my mom's house in Shelley. The original plan was that my move was permanent. Mike and the kids would join me later after finishing up the packing and getting Hyrum's school records transferred. I missed my family, but it felt so great to be back in that area again. Since we've moved out here, I feel almost paralyzed by the city. We don't have any friends, I don't know the roads, I hate our neighborhood and am afraid to let the kids go outside. Because of all this, I never leave the house and have become antisocial. Not healthy, I know. There were plenty of things I didn't like about East Idaho, like how people there are cliquish and how every store and restaurant plays country music. Still, East Idaho is home to me, and not just because that's where I grew up. I enjoyed just driving down the familiar roads and visiting with my old friends who have been anxiously awaiting our move back to the area. The feeling of freedom seemed to confirm to me that we were making the right choice. I feel like I can finally get back to being healthy again.

Monday, I found an apartment. I looked at a few places, but for the money and space, the best option was a complex just down the road from the credit union where my mom works. I never would have thought I'd live in Shelley. The problem was, there was a ton of paperwork to be approved to live there. They gave me an estimate of at least a 3 week wait. That meant 3 weeks before the rest of the family could come join me. We decided not to worry about that until we had to.

Tuesday, I found a job... kind of. I applied at a company called Center Partners which is a call outsourcing company I've worked for before. I used to be on the Qwest Loyalty and Retention account, but Qwest has since moved all their call centers in-house. You have to be a top agent in the Qwest general queue before being considered for a loyalty agent position. This all worked out great for me since they said that any accounts they currently have would be a cake walk after my retention experience. They gave me a basic computer skills test and set me up for an interview on December 3rd. I was told that it was mostly a formality, and that I'd be offered a job unless they found something wrong in my past HR records or if I messed up badly in my interview. I was one of their top loyalty agents in both quality and save rate and received more kudos calls of anyone in the center, so I wasn't worried. Then came the bad news. The training class wouldn't start until mid January. I decided to begin looking for temp work the next morning.

My temp job search didn't go as well as everything else had up to that point. I applied for seasonal work at Walmart only to find out that I couldn't work at the Idaho Falls store because my aunt works in personnel there. I couldn't work at the Ammon store either, because they had entered a hiring freeze. I did, however submit my application to the Blackfoot store. I planned to apply at Shopko, Target, and other such stores after Thanksgiving.

I enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Judy's house the next day. We had a nice time visiting and playing games. Mike and the kids had dinner at my brother James's house in Boise. After dinner, they drove out to Shelley for the weekend.

Friday, we opted to stay out of the after Thanksgiving shopping traffic and submitted applications online instead. On Saturday, Mike got a call from the Ammon Walmart for a job and went to a late night interview. They offered him a position as a cart pusher on a temp/seasonal basis and told him to go for a drug test on Monday. I was surprised since I had been told they had a hiring freeze. However, when he went for his drug test on Monday morning, the store manager told him that the assistant manager had hired him by accident and that they weren't accepting new employees. Still, he did say that he might need someone in the electronics department, so Mike is hoping to get a call about that soon.

Hyrum had Friday and Monday off for Thanksgiving break, but had to be back on Tuesday. So the plan was for Mike to head home after his drug test on Monday. Instead, he decided to stick around until after my interview on Wednesday and take me back with him since the temp job idea wasn't working out. He decided to use his free time to meet with advisers at BYU-I and ISU since he still hasn't decided which school to go to or what to major in. ISU couldn't fit him in for an appointment, so we drove to Rexburg. He got a lot of good information, but now he's even more unsure of which school he'll attend. He found out that he can take his entire first year at ISU remotely at the Idaho Falls campus. That would be really convenient, but ISU doesn't have the exact major he wants most and BYU-I does. I don't really care which school he chooses. I just wish he'd choose!

Wednesday was my interview at Center Partners. I showed up early and was the only candidate dressed appropriately for an interview. I thought I had it locked. The HR director took me back to the call floor and began chatting to me about the people I knew when I worked there 7 years ago and how all the accounts and buildings had changed. We went to the break room where she got me a large cup of hot chocolate, then we returned to her office for the interview. I set my hot chocolate on the edge of her desk while I pulled off my coat. Well, you all know what a klutz I am. Yep, I knocked the hot chocolate over with my coat sleeve. It spilled all over her desk and the 2 inches of paperwork she had piled on it. I quickly ran back to the break room for paper towels and water, and we spent the next several minutes cleaning up the mess and trying to save her memos and reports. The spill narrowly missed an envelope of her kids' school pictures. I felt terrible. She had to sit on her jacket because the hot chocolate had dribbled off her desk and soaked her chair. I must be totally awesome because I still got the job!

We're home now, and it feels good to be back. I'm anxious to move to East Idaho, but my mom's house was just a little too crowded with the 4 of us and Sherwin's son Dale and daughter Donna visiting as well. We're hoping to hear from the apartment complex soon. Until then, we get to do my least favorite chore... packing.

Tomorrow is Emily's 2nd birthday. We'll see if I can find the time to make a video of that.

Happy Birthday, Hyrum!

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, Hyrum's 5th birthday was Monday! I can't believe he's already 5 years old. Wow.


Hyrum and Emily helped Mike make a fort in our living room on Sunday. This was quite a feat since our living room is about the size of a shoe box. After Emily went to bed, Mike and Hyrum put pillows and sleeping bags in the fort and fell asleep watching movies. Hyrum loved it! He's about the only one who did. Well, maybe our cat liked it. Hyrum kept waking up Mike every few minutes to kiss him and tell him he was happy, and Mike ended up with a sore arm from sleeping on the ground. Emily was upset that Hyrum wasn't sleeping in the bedroom with her and kept waking up crying. This, along with Mike's occasional trips to the bedroom to tell me he was sore and miserable kept me awake all night too. It's a good thing Hyrum has school in the afternoon!


Monday, after Hyrum came home from school, we went to IHOP to eat and open presents. Now, this may sound odd to you. Why IHOP? Why not Chuck E. Cheese or some other kid type place? Well, IHOP is most decidedly Hyrum's favorite restaurant. What can I say? Pancakes are one of the few things he'll eat. Pizza isn't.

Here's how things went at IHOP. If you want to see all 7 videos in their full version and with full audio, they're posted on my facebook. Someday maybe we'll get a real video camera instead of one that's primarily for stills. Also, yes. I know the music is weird. I like it.




We had a good time at IHOP despite the waiter who intruded on our table far more often than was necessary. I'll forgive him since he gave Emily free yogurt and Hyrum free ice cream. I only wish I had gotten a video of him trying to sing "Happy Birthday to You." I gave up trying to sing along after the 12th key change. Sorry... I have a hard time not slipping back into snooty music major mode sometimes.


Hyrum got Cooties from Grandma and Grandpa Crooks. ~Sigh~ *gets out the shampoo.* We got him a sweater, a shirt and a Simon game.


We're still looking for a new apartment and job. The trouble is knowing which city to look in. Mike applied at BYU-I and ISU, but we don't know where he'll go yet. Problem is, Rexburg and Pocatello are rather far apart. If Mike does ISU, he'll probably try to take as many classes as possible at the satellite campus in Idaho Falls, but he'll still have to go to Pocatello for a few others. So I guess, not knowing where he'll be, Rigby might be the best place for us to live. It's about halfway between Rexburg and Idaho Falls. But do I really want to live in Rigby again? There's a house for rent in my old neighborhood, only about 2 blocks from where I lived. Feels a little strange. Living in Idaho Falls or Shelley would be better if Mike ends up at ISU. ARGH! I just don't know! All that being said, we're rather optimistic. We're just... a little stressed.


I'll update the blog again when things settle down a bit. Or at the very least, when we have some more definite plans.

Again...

For those of you who don't know yet, Mike lost his job on Friday. Due to reasons we've mentioned in past posts, the company was no longer financially able to retain him as an employee. There's good and bad to this. The bad, obviously, is that we have no income at the moment. The good news is that we're planning to have Mike go back to school! This is also good news for me, not because I'll have to work full time after being a stay-at-home mom for 5 years, but because we're most likely moving back to East Idaho. I've been wanting to move back ever since we left. But, ugh... I hate job and apartment hunting. It's especially hard when we live in another city. We'll probably have to take a few days for a trip out there for interviews and to look at apartments and houses to rent. Mike has already looked at both BYU-I and ISU. He has missed enrollment for Winter Semester at BYU-I, and ISU doesn't list any admissions deadlines. So we're waiting to hear back from counselors from each school. We also need to figure out what will happen with Hyrum's school. I really hope that there's another school he can transfer to without having to retest.

We had a good Halloween. Mom came to visit for Tessie's baby shower which was on November 1st, so she was able to come trunk-or-treating with us and the kids. I procrastinated making costumes for the kids, and had nothing for them to wear. I ended up digging out old costumes from years past. Emily wore Hyrum's dinosaur costume that he wore when he was just under a year old. Mike had to literally cram her into it with his knee on her back to get it to fit. Oh well. She loved it! She was pretty upset when we took it off to put her pajamas on. Hyrum also wore a too small kitty costume from 2 years ago. His wasn't nearly as small as Emily's was. It nearly fit him except that the sleeves were too small. He loved being a kitty. Emily enjoyed petting his fur and scratching his ears. Our friend Phil and his daughter Anna visited as well and joined us in a quick door-to-door trick-or-treat around a nearby neighborhood.

I don't have any pictures of the kids in costume. Sorry. What I do have is Hyrum's new school picture complete with a fake "smile" and messy hair. Enjoy!

Look forward to our next post after Hyrum's 5th birthday on Monday! (hopefully)

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.

Not my turn

Friday morning is going to be the last day at my job #2. I'd like to explain what I liked and disliked about working at AlarmCo, but I'll leave that to Jessica.

Myson is sooo cute. He's such a dork, he started singing his old made up songs. I'd tell you more, but Jessica wants to do it. I think she even has video of him singing, too.

We're very excited for the 2 upcoming vacations. Our plans will be told by Jessica.

We recently obtained a Wii Fit game/balance board. I let Jessica tell you the woes and joys of it.

Stay tuned for our next blog, where Jessica will explain in detail how much Emily is growing and how adorable she is.

I'm sorry I couldn't post more. My wife is extremely oppressive and won't let me do much. She would let me post this picture of what I'll be losing by quitting my graveyard job:


Jacobugath showed off his new desktop so I thought I'd show off mine... that I won't be using any more. Oh, well. The 13 episodes of Firefly were great on the large screen I was supposed to be using for the security cameras (shown on the left) ^^

Vote =====>>

BAM!

{All right!}

Well, I did commissions for the company and the boss had me add 10% to the 2% I already received! Translation: I got a raise! A nice one too! It should boost my yearly gross income from 21k to 36k.

More than the money, it was also good to know that I had the owners trust and confidence in handling the company. I also feel I can do my job without griping (much) about Utah sales guy. Now, instead of trying to see what jobs he can give me so I can get my own commissions, I can either 1- give him and know I'll still share the commissions or 2- do the job/bid myself and probably get more margin than he ever would.

It won't be that easy. I still won't be doing sales calls in Utah so it will be hard to have my own jobs. So the only things I can do is what comes in the office.

Before, I also felt that although I wanted 12% of all of Utah, I thought it may not have been exactly fair. But I would estimate that 70% of my work is actually for Idaho. We're doing one job in particular that is about 150k, however, I'll never see any commissions for that. So, I now feel the 12% surely compensates for the additional work I do for Idaho.

Well, this blog should have been of our cute kids and other life things that you actually care about, but I blame Jay for not beating me too the punch :P

Around the blog in 38 days

Hey, wow! Long time-no see! How have you been? What have you been up to?

...If you're answering these questions, you do realize nobody can hear you answers, right?

I found time to read Dave's blog yesterday when I realized... I'm in danger of being just as neglectful to our family and the public as he is! My problem is that he can get away with it as the looker of the family. Speaking of looks: Dave/Dan, have you started receding? I digress... So, it's time to get you all caught up!


When did we post last... back in March? Ok.

April 1st - My boss was bringing back the NEOS from being on display at BYU-I (Caryssa, they might buy one for the Manwarring Center or elsewhere... let's hope!!). He left a message on the phone telling me he was 10 miles outside of Burley where he rolled the truck. This is how bad I am... My first thought was that he was making an April Fools joke. But then I doubted that he'd do that on the company voice mail. Well, I found out later it was true.




Bossman escaped unscathed, which surprised me after I saw these pictures as you would assume. His tone of voice on the phone was quite deceiving in regards to the seriousness of the accident. However, he was extremely sore after that first night of sleep and the insurance guys had him take the rest of the week off. He was able to come back in the following week, but was still very sore. With the owner of the company having bad hip trouble and his Parkinson's never letting up, it gave me a weeks worth of responsibility dropped on my shoulders. I had several large bids to complete in very little time, went on several sales calls to which I had no experience, and of course, had to perform my usual duties as well. But it was no big deal, it was only for a little more than a week.

I write this next part to explain a little more about what transpired during the month, and also to illustrate the busyness of our lives which kept us from calling, blogging, e-mailing, or even reading your blogs. But in no way do I want it sounding like "it's all about me and my woes." I only want to state the facts of recent events as it is still hard for me to imagine and deal with feelings that emerge from this tragedy.

On Thursday of the week my boss returned to work, I received a call at home in the evening. It was my boss explaining that I would have to tell the owner that he would not be coming in to work for the next few weeks. I could tell he was distraught so I asked "...what happened?" It took a few sentences for him to get out that his 16 month old son, Keelan, passed away that afternoon.


I don't feel that this is the place for details. But I will say that the Lord works in miraculous ways. The wreck gave time for my boss to spend a week with his Son as a way to say goodbye. His presence was severely evident in the comforting of my boss and his family, as well as Jessica and I. For example, there is no doubt that my boss, I, and many others know that the truck accident in the previous week was meant to be. I had several personal experiences where the Spirit comforted me when I had difficulty... 'contemplating' the situation.

Well, my boss and his family are doing fine. They are still sorrowed often, particularly my bosses wife, but they have had personal witness that Keelan is already serving his Father in heaven.

Needless to say, this did give me quite a bit of work in the office. The boss didn't return until Monday, April 21st, but even for the next 2 weeks he had limited hours. It was sure good to have him back in the office, however. It gets rather lonely when you have no one to talk to or punish with my eloquent jokes. it was also a good experience. I believe I moved into a new light of reliability and responsibility in regards to this business. My boss always knew I had it, but no matter what responsibility he gave me, the president was never around much to witness it. I know now that Alan trusts me with the business -- sure, he really had no choice, but it was good that I was able to show my worth.

All that lead to the ever growing problem that my current wages were not covering the costs of our families needs. We scrape by each month with no money for new clothes that Jay and myson badly need, as well as doing our best to live from our food storage and low cost recipes (macaroni and tomatoes will never get old!). With my 1 year work anniversary coming up on May 15th and the fact that I was promised 12% commissions of sales I perform last November which never came to fruition, it was time I ask for a raise/additional compensation. I had a hard time asking my boss about it, as I knew it may not have been the best time for him to talk about such things. But I was able to get it across to him that I needed that additional compensation or I would have to look for other employment. He agreed that I deserve better but asked that I talk directly to the CEO instead of him in my behalf. he had talked about it a few times before but they could not figure out how to get me employed by Idaho (I'm only employed by the Utah company) for the additional company commissions from that state. I'd go into details, but I don't want to post company information on such a public forum.

Needless to say I brought it up with AY (the owner) when he came in one morning. He said that it would not be possible for me to be employed by Idaho and the only way to get an increase was out of Utah. I was amazed I didn't just shy away but I boldly said, "Well, I don't see that ever happening. With the way (the Utah sales rep)'s contract is written, he will get all commissions I make in his territory. And I don't believe that (the sales rep) will ever make enough margin for 2% to make a difference for our family." It was then that AY mentioned that he will change that to "ten plus two"...

I really didn't know what that meant and today I still don't. AY said briefly during the same conversation that I may have to get it from his brothers area of Northern Utah. I got an idea that he might want me to travel to N. Utah and be sales rep, but I'm not sure that was what he meant. When he said "ten plus two" he highlighted the 2% on the commissions sheet we use each month. So that should means that I will get 12% of what all of Utah makes. That would boost me from my meager below-20k year salary to about 34k, with upwards potential.

!!!

I so wish that is what he means. Unfortunately, because of the owners condition, we never see him often enough to have him elaborate. The best I can do is wait until the 15th of this month when I do the commissions report and see what he does. My boss (I'm tired of saying my boss. Thus forth, he will be called soiree, for obvious reasons), soiree, isn't sure that is what AY meant. He feels that's a huge boost and I probably shouldn't get my hopes up. Respectfully, I hope he's wrong and I'm not!! :D

Lastly, If you haven't noticed, I've been replying to recent e-mails and posting on your blogs at very early hours of the morning --I began this post at 3:10am today. This is because Jay snores all night and I can't stay asleep.

...All the women reading this may hit me now...

Ok, she doesn't snore .. often. But when she does it's so cute!! I can actually get her to snore by wrapping my arms around her when she's asleep and slowly squeezing. So fun :)

Back to topic: Effective yesterday, I now work a 2nd job at early hours in the morning at AlarmCo. It's an extremely easy job. I sit in front of several monitors and monitor camera and alarm systems and respond if I ever need to (which is 1 or less per night). Sure, the hours suck, but I much prefer this to a night job. I did night jobs before and I just hate, hate, hated how I was never able to see my kids. Now, I wake up at 1am, work from 2am-6am, drive to my day job and sleep in the office for an hour, work 8a-4:30pm, go home and play with the most adorable children ever, and go to bed when they do (hopefully around 8, but so far the children don't agree with us on that time). Jay and I won't get our alone time, which no doubt will probably cause a little bit of stress, but I think as long as we still have family time, it should all work out.

If the good news and a huge raise goes through on my previous job, I probably won't leave this job I just started. It's really evident to me that we need to start "living providently." We're going to make double payments on debt and take care of our family, while preparing for the future with savings, gardening, food storage, etc. I just need to get my bodies clock adjusted. Slacking off and blogging for the half the shift helps me stay awake ... you think the boss will agree? o_O

That's us!! Well, mostly me. Jay has a lot of things to post about as well, but she has to wait about a week-ish before she blogs so we can be sure you don't miss this one.

Long Awaited Update

Alright! So I promised this update a long time ago. We've been very busy around here, so I haven't found any time to update until now. However, this busyness also means that I have a lot more news to share.

Let's see... where to start..? We took our trip to Utah as I mentioned in my last blog. It was so nice to visit with Mike's family again. It was especially great to show off Emily since none of his family had met her before. We also got to see Angie's new baby who we'd never seen before. What a cutie! I could hardly believe how grown up Jeni's kids were. The thought of Caryssa getting ready for college just blows my mind!

Mike's mom was good enough to watch our kids for us while we stayed in the hotel Mike's boss provided. Boy was it a dump! Our floor reeked of onion rings, (Mike thought it smelled like curry) There was a crazy lady living down the hall from us, our front door didn't seal correctly, the lock wouldn't lock, the air conditioner and heater worked part-time, the bed was unfathomably hard, the lights flickered, and the bathroom door wouldn't latch. If we weren't staying for free, we would have complained.

I got to visit with Juliet, an old college friend, while Mike was in class for his certification. She brought her son Lincoln to the hotel to pick me up on Tuesday. First, we drove out to Kearns to visit my kids and have a picnic. However, when we got to Mike's mom's house, we realized we didn't have the car seat capacity to take all the kids and us to a park. We weren't horribly disappointed since it was quite freezing anyhow. After a great lunch provided to us by Mike's mom and dad, Juliet took me out to her cute house and we visited some more while Lincoln napped.

Wednesday was Halloween. Juliet and Lincoln met me at the mall across from the hotel. Lincoln was all dressed up for trick-or-treating. He made a very unintimidating ninja. Somehow the glasses and the un-ninja like smiles weren't too convincing. Still, the store clerks were glad to dump all the tootsie-rolls he wanted into his bucket, and lucky for Juliet, Lincoln didn't like tootsie-rolls! Mike and I were supposed to meet up with Juliet that night for their ward's trunk-or-treat, but Mike didn't get out of class until much later than he had anticipated. By the time we picked up the kids and got them in costume, trunk-or-treat was over. Instead, we took the kids around Mike's old neighborhood. Hyrum really enjoyed it at first, and Emily loved riding around in her stroller. The fun ended when, after only about a dozen houses, Hyrum tripped and skinned his knees and we had to go back. He got mostly gum. Gum, and a lot of Mexican candy.
- Mike: "What's 'Sabor Platano.. Goma de mascar'?"
- Me: "I think it's banana flavored gum."
- Mike: "Ah." *nods*
You're all going to have to wait a bit for the answer to the last poll. I was dumb and forgot to take pictures on Halloween, so I need to dress the kids up again so I can post one. Needless to say, they looked very cute. I'm sure you'll agree when you see them for yourselves.

Mike took the test on Thursday and said it was really hard. (We just found out last week that he passed!) I sat outside the classroom for over 2 hours with nothing to do but play on the internet on Mike's phone. Yay for wi-fi! Juliet met us again in the parking lot after the test and gave us some pumpkins and squash she had just picked up and we said goodbye to her. Then we picked up two very tired and cranky kids and headed home. Both kids slept like bricks over the next couple of days. They had a lot of fun getting to know their Grandma and Grandpa Aitken.

Emily met with a physical and developmental therapist earlier in November. We were concerned that she still wasn't crawling and figure she fell behind when she lost all that weight. They told us not to expect her to walk until she's 15-18 months. They said that's still average.. the slower side of average, but nothing to worry about. The rest of her development is adequate or above average for her age, so that was good news. Emily's development really wasn't far enough behind for her to qualify for the Infant Toddler Program through Health and Welfare, but the physical therapist is going to stop by now and then between her other appointments just to check in on us and suggest more exercises for us to do with Emily. Right now, we're supposed to brush the bottoms of her feet with a stiff brush. Apparently, the rest of her body developed while her feet didn't and the brush is suppose to stimulate some growth reflex in them. Her pediatrician didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with her at all, and told us not to let a physical therapist scare us. Since our meeting with the therapist, she has started getting around quite well. She still isn't exactly crawling, but she pulls herself along with her arms, and sometimes inches along like an inchworm. She is now up to about the 25th percentile for both height and weight. That's better than Hyrum's 20th percentile height and 10th weight. Yay, Emily! She has become quite a chubby little baby.

Hyrum started school this month! I'm so incredibly excited, and so is he! He absolutely loves school, and riding the bus is such a treat for him. He goes from 9-11 on Monday-Thursday. The extra half hour before and after for the bus ride brings the total to 3 Hyrum free hours for me! Now I get to do laundry without him kicking over the piles! Actually, I have yet to really enjoy his being gone. It's still so new to me that I sit by the window waiting for him to return. I've already seen some progress in his communication, and he's learning new things about shapes and animals. The teacher says he gets along great with the other kids and already has friends. Here's a couple of pictures of him on his first day.




Hyrum's 4th birthday was Saturday the 17th. We had been playing games at Spencer and Megan's house until really late the night before, and I wasn't feeling very well, so we didn't do anything that day except watch movies. But I did make him an apple crisp. He enjoyed it. He got to open his presents Sunday morning. I added subtitles for those of you who don't understand Hyrum speak.

No, Hyrum isn't crazy. He was meowing at his orange stuffed kitty who you can see sitting on the couch where he put his present. The backpack was from Hyrum's Grandma and Grandpa Crooks. Grandma and Grandpa Aitken gave him shoes while he was in Utah. The Moon Sand was from us. For those of you who don't know what Moon Sand is, it's similar to Playdough... kind of. It's almost like brown sugar in that you can crumble it to sand or pack and mold it. Thankfully, it isn't sticky like brown sugar! It also doesn't stain and vacuums up better than Playdough if it falls in the carpet. This is especially important to note when you remember that we don't have room for a table in our apartment. It's bound to get messy!

We had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving followed by a seemingly endless trip home with a very whiny Hyrum in the back seat. We got in late, and Hyrum crashed immediately only to have us wake him early the next morning. Our friends Spencer and Megan invited us out to their parents' house for a family get together to play some games, eat leftovers, and have birthday cake for several of the kids who had birthdays that month. They even had a cake for Hyrum! We knew their parents from our old ward in Meridian. Hyrum got to ride a horse for the first time. I wish I had remembered to take a picture. He was so excited for his turn while watching all the other kids go. But when his turn came up, he ran out to the horse only to realize when he got up closer, just how big the thing was! Bro. Pond lifted him up onto it's bare back and Hyrum flattened himself against the horse's neck and grasped a handful of mane. The horse shifted its weight, and Hyrum panicked and asked to get down before it could even take one step. Still, I thought he was very brave.

We left somewhat early because Hyrum, although he loved playing with the many other kids, was still very cranky from the day before. When we got him home, he continued to cry. We sent him to his room to play, but later found him curled up on his bedroom floor sobbing. Mike lifted him to his feet to give him a hug, and in the process realized that he was burning up. We've all been sick ever since. I'm really hoping that we're better by this weekend. My sister, Julie invited us out for Thanksgiving, but we already had plans. My niece, Shae is in town. I haven't seen her since she was about 6, and she's 21 now. We're hoping to go visit on Sunday.

That's about it for now. I'll try to take pictures of the kids in costume and post them sometime tomorrow.

We're Expecting!!!

--just not a baby. We're expecting a lot of other things, though. I'm expecting Friday to come tomorrow. I'm also expecting bills to come in the mail. I'm expecting a Tax Refund next year, but then expecting it to go straight to pay off my Commerce and Labor debt. I'm also expecting to be debt free (excluding student loans... and something else) by March next year!!

Yes, I did have news before, but it fell through. We may have that news next Spring, but we won't know for sure until then.

On with other things!!

Family First. We're all doing much better now that we're out of the watchful eye of the evil landlord. We still haven't unpacked everything, but I'm not sure we ever will until we move again. This place is much too small to be able to fit everything.

Myson is scheduled for his screening today for speech therapy. He has a deficiency in motor and comprehension skills as well, but they believe it's from the lack of communication. For example, they would ask him to bring them the Red bear out of a few colored bears and he wouldn't do anything, but when they asked him, "What color is this bear?" He would respond with the color. We know he has a huge imagination and is intelligent, but not being able to communicate with him causes a lot of hindrance in him being able to learn and obey, which in turn leads to tantrums because hes not very patient with us. But the boy is dang-cute! He loves his mom and goes to her for comfort all the time, and goes to dad for a tickle victim and wacky fun ("Ok, son. When that car comes closer, walk out in front of it and Daddy will get a nice big paycheck!")

Thegirl is cute as ever! She's still happy most all the time, but not as much as her first several months of life. The veil definitely thinned. She's gained teeth -- I finally saw them! Jessica told me a few weeks ago she had them but when she'd try to show them she just wanted to hang her tongue out for me to see and blow raspberries. The most she's crawled was about 3 inches, the rest of the time she just goes in circles.

In other news... My CEO may fold the portion of the company I work for. It is still a long way off before he decides, and he's investing $ in my to get trained in Utah, so I'm not too concerned yet. However, it would be stupid of me not to have alternate plans as well. My backup plan is to move to Utah and take over sales in that area. We plan to buy the house from mom and find a place nearby where she can visit us everyday.

-- That, my family, was a joke --

Utah is for crazy drivers, and now I am a slow Idahoan. I enjoy the happiness of waving nicely to someone who allows me to merge in front of them on the freeway. I also enjoy reading the speed limit and not adding an additional 30 mph. We would, however, LOVE living close to mo-tab and the music environment of the Salt Lake Valley.

Moment of Inspiration!!
So, as some of you know from hearing me whine in my e-mails, I worked a lot last week... a lot. A very, very, lotted lot. 40 hours M-F on my daytime job and 45 hours Sun-Sun on my nighttime/weekend job. It was a pain not seeing my family. But beautiful Jay (adjective added for mum) in her wisdom and for her sanity would bring the kids by EatFreshway to see dad. It was soooo good seeing them. Emily would see me and say "DuD!" then push her face in Jay's shoulder being the shy girl she is. Anyway, that all sucked very much. I was able to see the kids and spend a bit of time with them Saturday morning, but it wasn't enough after finally being able to sleep in and then go back to work at 3.00pm. So, after slaving away all week, I was finally able to have Monday night off with my family.

I tell you, family is where it is at. It only took 10 mins of playing playing with myson to realize how much I missed him. I was overcome with a great feeling of peace, happiness, joy, etc. I couldn't exactly describe what it was, but I knew that I was doing the right thing by being with my family. It wasn't until later that night we had a knock on our door. I opened it to find 2 young men dressed in suits standing in front of me. They asked if they could talk with us about having our family be "together forever." I had never really thought that much about family after we get old and they my progeny going to college, so we invited them in. They told me a story about a 14-year old boy who went out to pray in the woods to find out which church was tru--

Can you guess where I started fibbing? Needless to say, I LOVE MY FAMILY! I even told Jay I loved her -- Crap! Did I just type that out loud?
-- Moment over --

Oh, you all know by now, but we won't be going to Utah this weekend. Earlier I told Jen, "We can't afford to go to Utah, but we also can't afford not to go." That statement would probably be profound if it wasn't so minimalistic. It simply means we have not the $ to go to Utah, but it's more important to forsake fiances finances and be with family, especially since we won't be seeing Dave/Karen/mini-DKs for a very long time. In the end, we crunched our numbers and just couldn't make it happen. Part of the reason being we need to save up $ to go to Utah the following month.

Which leads me to discuss this trip. I'll be going down to Utah on business from Sunday to Thursday/Friday, October 28th-November 1st-ish. I would love to meet up with my family one of those evenings. We'd like to have dinner at a restaurant or mum's with as many people as can make it. I'd like to say we can do other things on other nights, but this trip is for business -- and a break for Jay and I from... everything. I'll also be studying most nights for my exam on Thursday. I'm not sure if we're driving back to Idaho on Thursday night or Friday morning. The boss drives back the morning after on his trips to Utah, but -- you know -- he's the boss.

So... fake news, family, work... what's next?

Oh! I have officially quit FFXI. I don't have the time to do it + it was just taking too much time from the important things in my life: like my family and BSU football. I will miss my friends online, but the close ones I still intend to keep in contact via other means. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, read this section this way: "Mike's a geek. Mike's a geek. Mike's a geek. Mike's a geek."

Summarizing: I love you all, I'm lovin' life! My family is everything to me and I doubt I'd survive without them.

Nampa at last!

Yay! We finally moved! Have I ever said how much I hate moving? Well, I do. But I'm very glad to be away from our crazy landlord in Meridian. We had a few more run-ins with her before we left, however. The first involved a big Tonka dump truck that Hyrum liked to wheel his stuffed kitty around in out in the back yard. It was old and rusty, so we kept it tucked away in a hidden corner of the patio. As we were packing up, we found out that Dana had thrown it away because it didn't "show well." I love how she thinks she has ownership of not only the house, but the way we live our lives and even our personal property.

The second incident is a slightly longer story involving our back screen door and a forced entry. Basically, I like to lock the screen doors just for added security. Dana wanted to show the house to a prospective buyer and couldn't get a hold of us while we were at Mike's company picnic, so she forced the door open and broke it in the process. When we did the final walk through with her, she said she didn't remember doing it and it must have been the wind. So that will probably mean that she'll charge us for the damages.

She also conveniently doesn't remember that she got angry when she couldn't get a stain out of the dining room carpet and wasn't patient enough to wait for the professional steam cleaners to remove it and ended up bleaching the carpet white in that spot. Add on top of that the window that she broke while spraying the outside of the house with a pressure washer. Of course, she doesn't remember that either. I really wish we had picture documentation of all the damages she has done to the house while we were living there. Even if she takes our full deposit, I'll be ok with that. I just want to be done with her once and for all.

We're liking our new place so far. It's a little bit smaller, but not too bad. We had some difficulty with the move. We had plenty of help from our old ward in moving out of our old place, but no help at all moving into the new place. After moving what boxes and furniture Mike and I could do alone, we finally had to just call it good and leave the rest in the garage so we could return the truck. My brother James came out the next afternoon to help Mike move the rest of the heavy furniture in. We were so grateful since we know how busy he is with his wedding just a few days away.

Here is a video of the new place. Please forgive my voice. I've been sick for about 3 weeks with a nasty summer cold. (Let's hope this works. This is my first attempt at an embedded video.)

So that's the apartment! The biggest thing we miss has been having a yard for Hyrum to play in. I think he's getting pretty bored too. Last night while I was on the phone with my friend Sandi, I heard evil laughing from the kitchen and ran in to find Hyrum with the sink sprayer hose thingy spraying, well, everything. He had soaked the entire kitchen, two computers, the cushions on the bar stools, the carpet in front of the breakfast bar, the couches and end tables in the living room, the laundry I was folding and now have to dry and fold all over again, the living room carpet, and even the ceiling. Wow, that sprayer has good range. He had a lot of fun until he got caught. He got in BIG trouble!

Our neighbors are... interesting. There are tons of kids who live in these duplexes and they come over from time to time. On the day we moved in, 7 of them came to visit. I haven't let any of them come in to play with Hyrum since that first day though since one of the kids stole one of Hyrum's favorite trucks and he was quite upset about it. Most of the other neighbors who don't live in the duplexes are all related and own a family farm type of thing. It's not really a farm as much as it is a cow, some goats, and some chickens. They let Hyrum come and pet the animals and seemed very nice.

Emily got her first teeth! She seems to be getting more too. Either that, or she's just inexplicably cranky... I'll take some pictures and post them later, but it's hard to get her to show her teeth.

I got an email the other day about my 10 year high school reunion. I can hardly believe that I'm that old already! It's been kind of neat since it has given me an excuse to make contact with some old friends. They had only found 60 of us when they contacted me, and they didn't know where most of my friends were. Luckily, I do! Or at least I know who might know where they are. Boy, I wish I had kept up with them better. However, I've talked on the phone to a few friends since then, and my old friend Kristy is coming over for a visit today! I'm pretty excited to see her! She lived very close by when we lived in Meridian and we never saw each other even once.

Well, I've got lots to do today since it's Labor Day and Mike has the day off!! YAY! This is the first time in a long time that he's had a day off from both jobs, so we have lots of plans. Mike might post later on with another video he took once he figures out how to convert it. And hopefully we'll have some Labor Day fun pictures of us and the kids. Also, be expecting a surprise announcement from Mike! My mom already knows, but Mike hasn't told any of his family yet.

Eat Fresh!

I've finally secured my 2nd job. I wanted something that I could work part time nights and weekend, but also that wouldn't stress me out or tire me so much. Lucky for me, there is a Subway right around the corner!

Funny how I got hired: I had filled out a Subway and an Arctic Circle application. I was leaning towards wanting to work at AC since their customer service is so good -- I knew that their management would be good to work with. Subway was first on my way home, so I stopped in there. I met up with the manager to drop off the questionnaire while leaving an impression. She asked me if I had a few minutes to talk to her now. I did, so we sat down and asked me a few questions. She barely looked at my resume and asked me about my current job when she said, "Well, I'm ready to hire you if you're ready to accept!" Yeah, I wasn't going to turn something down when it gets laid in your lap like that -- consider it a blessing.

It feels good working there. They changed the management in the past month so it's running a lot smoother than it had before (we witnessed pretty bad service at this Subway before as customers). They put me in charge of the till on the 2nd day even though my first shift was only 2 hours long. After only 4 shifts, I'm closing the store solo tonight.

I asked the manager if there was anything she could critique me on or recommend I improve on. She said, "Nothing at all;" she was just glad that I was adult and mature as opposed to some other employees. She also told me that I could become a manager with ease if I wanted to. I let her know that was not my interest. See, I would work for them for a good long time -- about a year or more -- but I don't want to be full time restaurant unless I own one. The reasoning I have for even working at Subway as opposing to a higher paying job waiting tables is the stress factor. I don't have to be burdened with complex decisions and a stressful night. I want to be able to go home and be able to focus on my family, not whine about how hard the day was when I first get home.