Park Family Chaos

Delta...

2011-01-04T06:12:00.001-08:00

So the cruise was a blast, the airline, not so much. We flew Delta, because thats who the travel agent booked, before John was able to talk to me about it. I had read many horror stories, and knew that flying Delta was a bad (& expensive) idea. But it was booked, so we tried to make the most of it.

We got to the airport on Wednesday at 11. Due to our large group, carry-on bags, and parking clear out in the long-term and needing a shuttle, we gotto the check-in counter at 11:27 (yes I know this by heart). We were watching the clocks like a hawk because our flight was scheduled to leave at noon. Delta's policy is to be there no later than 30 minutes prior to your flight. We made it, albeit barely. Unfortunately we got to the desk with a clerk who either was having a very bad day, or was just a genuine @$$hole (I tend to lean toward the latter). The first thing he started with was that he couldnt check our bag. Our ONE bag, for all of us. ($25 a bag to check is pricey). So we began to ask if we could send it on a later flight, what we could do. He started yelling and saying there was nothing he could do, and now he couldnt get us on the flight. He was slow about working with the computer, and when the gate called to see what was going on he yelled at them and told them he didnt think he could get us on there. We begged him and he got even more hostile. The gate called back and he told them to go ahead and leave without us. They even asked if he was sure and offered to wait, and he told them no. So, we missed our flight.

We then started asking what we could do and what other flights there were to Miami. He said there were no other flights at all to get us there in time to board the ship the next day. WE found this incredulous but he insisted and shooed us out of his line. So we ended up spending 3 hours on the phone with travel agents, Delta reservations, our moms, all trying to figure out how to get our family to Miami. We offered to split up and fly separate, drive to Boise or Vegas to catch a flight there, etc. Delta insisted they had no other flights. Finally I asked my mom to go online and attempt booking a flight. She found 3 for that afternoon. So I went up to another clerk, and nicely asked for his help. Within 5 minutes and $1200 later, we were booked to Detroit, where we would spend the night, and then fly into Miami the next morning, just in time to board.

We took the kids and left the airport to get some fresh air and food. We got back well before our flight was to leave. We got in to Detroit at 11pm eastern, and the kids were starving so we ordered pizza. We had to be up at 5 eastern (3 am our time, ugh) to be back at the airport for our flight to Miami. They tried to bump us from the flight into Miami, but we adamantly refused. Both flights themselves were relatively uneventful. We made it to the pier and onto the boat.

On the way home, the flight into Ohio was uneventful as well. But from Ohio to SLC, was another story. Before we boarded, the flight attendants asked if anyone would be willing to check carry-ons since they were running out of room. We offered, since it was free. So we checked 3 or 4 of our bags. Once we were on the plane, Johns remembered that the car keys were in the pocket of one of the carry-ons he checked, so he asked a flight attendant if he could get them. She then proceeded to yell at him in front of the entire plane full of people, telling him how stupid it was to check keys, and that she would never do that because it was the stupidest thing on earth. They asked us to check bags!! We only did it for them! Anyway, he was able to get the keys and we got all situated again. The flight attendants bickered and fought with each other the entire flight, and with passengers. It made for a very uncomfortable trip.

Once we finally landed, we went to get our luggage, only to discover that our suitcase, which was carfeully packed with fragile stickers on the outside was completely ruined. The 3 liter bottle of Jack Daniels that we had bought on the boat was shattered and spilled all over everything. The bottle of Bacardi was fine. But we lost clothing and items, not to mention the suitcase.

When we got home, John researched and then logged a formal complaint with Delta. We wanted our money back for the flight that they bumped us from in SLC in the beginning (we were told by another agent that we were bumped because our party was so big), the bottle of Jack, and the luggage that was ruined. It was under $1500, and we simply wanted that refunded to us. The customer service was terrible, and it affected everyone of us and our vacation.

They proceeded to send us a $50 voucher for each person, with a "sincere apology" in the form of a scripted email. We refused it and again requested our money back. When they again declined, we filed against them in small claims court.

Dec 1 was our court date. John went, and after it started over half an hour late, he plead our case, and then filed a motion for a default judgement since the Delta Representative was 5 minutes late to the hearing. the judge smirked, asked the rep why he was late, and his response was "traffic". The judge himself was half an hour late due to traffic, but he stated that since Delta was holding their passengers to such high standards, he felt it acceptable to hold their representatives accountable too. So we got our default judgement.

After a month of requests for the money, and finally threatening to get a garnishment and come seize a plane, Delta finally sent us our money.

Happy day for us!! We will NEVER fly Delta again!! Who else has a horror story about them?

The Cruise!!!!

2010-12-30T15:40:00.000-08:00

The entire family went on a cruise, and it was fabulous!! Well, except for the flight part, but that is for another post. We left on a Wednesday. The cruise ship was leaving on Thursday, so we figured flying out the day before would be best. The kids were stoked, and we were in for a long but interesting flight. When we got to the dock, we had a very exhausted 5 year old. Of course the lines were long, it was hot and humid, but we all knew we were in for a very nice treat!! Our ship was the Carnival Destiny. None of the kids had been on a cruise ship, nor had they ever seen one, so imagine their awe when they saw it for the first time! We boarded, finally got some lunch, did the muster drill, and headed to the cabin for a much needed nap. Poor AJ was so over stimulated and tired of doing things in a timely manner. He was sick of the schedule, and wanted to play. We had dinner the first night, and he fell asleep at the table!
This is our ship in Key West. We spent Friday in Key West, and Saturday in Cozumel with Sunday a day at sea. We had originally wanted to tour the pirate museum in Key West, but they closed it down a couple months before we got there. So we just went and shopped around the port. There was a really cool toystore there, with some parrots that we could hold (if they would cooperate). The kids seemed to really enjoy it, but it was very hot and humid, so I think we were all glad to get back to the boat. The kids enjoyed their Camp Carnival activities, and we pretty much let them have free reign of the ship with check in times.
We had 2 cabins, John, AJ and I shared one, and the other 4 kids shared the second. They were side by side, and everyone had their own key so we were able to come and go as we pleased (except AJ). The cabins were spacious enough, and the beds were extremely soft and very comfortable. AJ slept in teh bunk above me, and kept dropping his pillow down on me. So finally I just took it and slept with it!
In Cozumel we went to Dolphinaris!! Definitely a MUST in everyones lifetime. It was by far the coolest thing we did on the cruise. We have a disc full of pictures, as well as a video. As soon as I can figure out how to upload it, I will put it on here. Our dolphin was named Atlantis, and she was 4 months pregnant. She was so sweet and loveable, and all the kids loved her. We went in with another little family that we didnt know. Everyone took turns doing tricks with Atlantis, and had a ton of fun. We all even kissed her! AJ was a little scared, but he did all the tricks with a little help from mom.

After Dolphinaris we did a little shopping (Ky and AJ stayed back on the boat in Camp Carnival). Cozumel definitely has a large selection of shops and souvenirs!

Sunday was a fun day at sea. There was alot of browsing the ship's stores, swimming, napping, sunbathing, and all around fun had. We enjoyed our dinner the last night in the dining room, where all the staff sung us a farewell song. It was awesome!!

The kids loved all the free food, the pools, and Camp Carnival. John and I loved being there with the kids, but also being able to have some adult time without them. It was definitely one of the funnest vacations we went on. We all want to go again, but John and I are going on a week long cruise in April with our good friends. Maybe we will book a cruise for the family in 2012 if they are good....

Making a house a home...

2010-08-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

Since we have lived in our new house for 4 months now, I figure its probably a good time to post new pictures :) You can reference the previous post to see the difference in the rooms.

The sitting room, now fully furnished, and with an AJ lounging (as 5 yr olds do) on the couch. I am still looking for some decorations, I would like some type of floral arrangement for the top of the bookcase.

AJ is very proud of his room. We decorated it with his Cars decorations from his previous room. He is very happy to have his own room, and does pretty good cleaning once we can convince him to do it ;)

Cooper has a pretty sweet setup in his bedroom, but is saving up towards a flat screen TV and Xbox. He is doing well at reaching his goal so far! Millie enjoys hanging out with him as well.

The computer nook all set up with the kids' computer. Its a nice little center station for them.

Some different views of the great room, we got an excellent deal on the couch and TV combo, so this is the "adults" room. We like to cuddle and watch movies here, or read a book.

My kitchen, after being painted and border put up. SO much better than the cream color that was in there. The wood laminate floors are really nice, and pretty easy to clean. SO much space, I love it!!

It didn't take us long to fill up the closet! And John has more clothes than me...

Remember the nasty olive green that used to be in here? It had to go. I initially painted the bathroom the same peach color as the bedroom, but then discovered that the countertop is actually a shade of blue instead of grey. Needless to say, it clashed bad. So I repainted it grey. I think it looks better anyway!!

Our bedroom is huge, and I quite like that. We have learned that the wall directly behind our bed is shared with the kitchen, and that can be very noisy in the mornings. The kids do pretty good, but we always have the option of switching it around.

This is the family room downstairs, it used to be a mint green. I like the peach color much better. This is where the kids hang out for movie nights and to play Wii. We still need to get a mini-fridge, and the setup will be complete for some awesome teen parties.

This is Syd's room/guest room/craft room. Remember it was dark red and had rubber flooring? Looks so much better!! I still havent unpacked and set up my craft stuff. Maybe this fall....

The pool room. We had originally talked about a ping pong table or something, but found a really great deal on the pool table. We also scored big on the Tiffany pool light fixture off KSL.com!!

Jaydn's room. He unpacked it all himself! I helped hang up the wall decor, but he did the rest. He quite likes his own space. He loves his school and is very glad we moved!

Kyler's room. It is a light yellow with green border, and I put up some safari wallpaper order. He loves animals and wants to be a zoo keeper when he grows up. This is the first time he has had his own room, and he loves it! He does a great job at keeping it clean.

And this is the den. Both of our computers are down here, along with the Jazz recliner. Its a comfy little place to hang out and surf the net or post on the blog.... >.>

Everyone is doing well, Max is so much better now that he is on meds and a new diet. We are staying busy, loving our new house and neighborhood. Summer has flown right by, and now we are leaving our beautiful home for a week to take the kids on a Caribbean cruise. We will be sure to take lots of pictures and will post them on here, hopefully not 4 months after the fact....

Today my heart broke.... Did you hear it?

2010-05-26T18:54:00.001-07:00

My dear sweet Max has been sick. He was fine until this weekend, when he quit eating. We figured it was a stomach bug or he had eaten something that didn't agree with him. We gave him a couple days to sort it out, since he seemed fine otherwise.

Monday morning I noticed he sounded stuffy, like he had a cold. So we kept filling up the water bowl, and just let him chill. This morning, I noticed as he went outside that he was having a bit of difficulty walking. It seemed like his hind legs just wouldn't work right, and he kept staggering.
I told John about this, and that he still wasn't eating, and he was shivering when he came in. John decided it was time to visit the doggie doctor.

The vet could tell he was sick, but wanted to run some labs because he wasnt sure what was wrong. So he did, and about half an hour later John called me at work, crying, to tell me my sweet Max was in Renal Failure. We could hospitalize him, try to hydrate him, and see how it went (very costly), or take him home and try to hydrate him, or of course euthanize him. There really wasn't much hope that Max would ever recover from this. So we chose the option that would be the best for him, to let him go.

I took off from work to meet John at the vet to say my last goodbye. I cried the entire way there. I couldn't understand how a dog that seemed fine 5 days ago was dying. How was I supposed to tell my kids? My heart broke as I thought of all the memories of Max, how sweet and cuddly yet independent he was.

When I got there I sat down with Max, John and the vet. He continued to tell us how he had been doing some research while they were waiting for me, and had maybe found a small ray of hope. He thinks Max might suffer from Addison's Disease. It has to do with a deficiency of steroids in the body. He thinks Max might be having and Addison's crisis, and that has caused his kidneys to shut down. He compared it to a diabetic in need of their insulin. He suggested we leave Max in the hospital overnight, and they would give him IV steroids and hydrate him. He told us it would take 12 to 24 hours to know if this was indeed the problem, and if Max would respond to the treatment. If he does, he can come home, and live a fully functional life on medication. His quality of life would be completely normal.
If he doesn't, then there is nothing that we can do for him, and it will be time to say goodbye.

I cant imagine our house and family without Max. Even though he is a dog, and has only been with us for 2 years, he is such a big part of us. John worked so hard with him and trained him, he is such a smart dog and so eager to please. We have watched him grow, right along with our kids.

Today has been a difficult one. You never realize how much you can love an animal until you are faced with the inevitable goodbye. The kids are all taking it hard, all but AJ have been in tears, right along with John and I. AJ is too young still to understand.

We are all hoping and praying that we will get to bring Max home tomorrow. I sat with him in the little room at the vet's, trying to say goodbye, just in case, and I just couldnt do it. I couldnt look into his big brown eyes and digest that it could very well be the last time. I am at peace knowing that I got to hug him and pet him, but that word just wouldnt escape me.

In the end, no matter what, I want him to be happy and free of pain and suffering. But why does it have to hurt so much?

A new house...

2010-03-07T12:18:00.001-08:00

Many of you have seen or heard bits and pieces of our latest adventure. Here is the entire story, albeit a bit condensed.

Back when John got hired onto the Fire Dept, we met with a lender to find out what we needed to do to buy our own home. We have long wanted to get into something bigger, that would fit the needs of our family, as well as fit some of our wants. John and I have always talked about having a home that is "ours". The lender we met with told us it would take about a year to get things in order. Unfortunately not long after that John got laid off, and of course the house-buying idea got put on hold. 10 months later we found ourselves both in new jobs, adjusting to a new schedule and life.

John has spent a few months paying off the majority of our debt and getting things caught back up to a good place after being unemployed for so long. We figured that the house idea was still aways off. Well, not long after John surprised me with a trip to Wendover for my birthday, along with the news that all of our big debts (with the exception of the truck) were completely paid off, we heard an ad on the radio for a real estate agent that could help people get in a house in time to make the tax credit cutoff. We figured it was a long-shot, but what the heck? Why not give it a try?

So the night of my birthday we met with the agent for the first time. Within a couple days we heard from his lender, and received the initial list of things we needed to collect. They kinda put us on the back burner, I think they felt like it was a long shot as well. But we (John) got everything together within a couple days and he went down and met with the lender. We got another list of things that needed to be taken care of so they could do a rapid rescore. My sweet extremely persistent husband got all over this and had it done within two weeks. The agent and lender were both really surprised and got right to work on our numbers. We were given the go-ahead to look at houses on Feb 23, went and saw 5 on the 24th. We had narrowed down our long list of homes that we found from browsing the net, and those first 5 were the top choices in Davis/Weber county. We still had ones in Salt Lake, Tooele, Stansbury Park, and Saratoga Springs. But after seeing a house that night that has been on our list of favorites since the very beginning, we just new that it was the one. We went back again, took the kids, and then placed our offer on March 1st. It was accepted, and we went under contract on the 2nd.

The house is in Syracuse. It has 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, is 3400 square feet. There is a 3 car garage (and the truck fits!), fenced in backyard, landscaping, and a hot tub!! We are scheduled to close somewhere around April 2nd. I will go in that weekend and paint, then we plan to move the weekend of the 10th, which is also our 6th anniversary. Happy Anniversary to us!

Here are some pictures.....

The front of the house from the street. It is a light grey stucco with a red/brown brick (going off memory, might not be exact).

The entry way, see the nice hickory floors and arched doorways? This view is from the sitting room.

The sitting room. I really like the paint in here. The bay window is nice, and the bookshelf is built in. Behind that is the stairwell.

The built in computer nook at the top of the stairs. This will be the family/kids computer/homework area.

Another view of the nook, complete with a Kyler in the background.

The fireplace in the great room. When they put it in, they also put a gas connection on the outside for a BBQ grill. No more propane tanks!

Another view of the great room from the dining area.

A view of the kitchen from the great room. The island is huge, and the granite countertops are gorgeous!

The kitchen again. The walls in here will be painted grey.

The kitchen again. Our agent is buying us a fridge, which makes it easier on us!

The countertops are actually grey, even though they looked black in the pictures. I initially did not like the kitchen from the pictures, but when I saw the house in person I really did like it. It is so nice! Now to teach the kids to wash their hands and quit leaving fingerprints and smudges all over the white...

The arched hallway to the upstairs bedrooms and bath.

AJ's room. I like how all the rooms have ceiling fans.

AJ's closet. I also like the built in organizers!

Cooper's bedroom. He really likes the window. It is the only bedroom with a vaulted ceiling.

Coop's closet, complete with an AJ.

The upstairs bathroom.

Upstairs bathroom again. Cooper and AJ will share this one.

Closet in the upstairs bath. I love all there is in this house!

This is the master bedroom. It is a nice size, but the green has got to go. I intend to paint this grey as well.

The master bath. I am soo excited to have a bathroom I dont have to share with the kids! This will also be painted grey.

The master shower. Dont know if you can tell, but all of the shower heads are a very large oval shape. We will have to see how we like them. They may have to go.

The walkin closet from the bath, as well as the little potty room. Someone could sleep in that closet!

Inside the walkin closet. Built in shelving is so nice...

The laundry room. This is actually tiny compared to what I am used to. There will be some changes in how laundry is done, as well as probably teaching the boys to do their own as they get older. We are going to buy a new washer and dryer to go in here. So excited for laundry to take less time!

As you go downstairs, this is the first room you go into. The game room. We have ideas of putting a ping pong table and a gaming station down here.

The family room downstairs. Again, the green has to go, but the rest of it is nice. The white door goes out to the backyard, almost directly to the hot tub!

The wetbar in the family room. We need a mini fridge and we are set!

Jaydn's room. He likes it, even though its baseball instead of basketball. But the light fixture is cool, there are red lines around it making it into a baseball.

Jaydn and Kyler checking out Jaydn's room.

The downstairs bathroom, which will be shared by Jaydn and Kyler.

Kyler's room. He is thrilled to be getting his own room!

Kyler and AJ checking out Kyler's room.

This is what we currently refer to as the blue room. It does not have a window. It will most likely be the computer room/den. It has a nice big closet with shelves that will be storage/possibly a craft room.

Through the closet in the blue room you can go into the cold storage room. Here are AJ and Dustin checking it out.

This room is called the red room. ROOM, not rum. ;) The previous ownder used this as a home gym. We will most likely take out the rubber flooring, put in carpet and make this the guest room/Syd's room. There is no closet in this room.

The wonderful hottub!! It is less then a year old, and very well maintained. We are absolutely thrilled that this comes with the house. It will be so nice chillin in the hot tub! The awning spans the patio, which is the entire length of the house. It will make a nice hang out spot in the summer.

the backyard is fenced, but the fence does not line the entire property. We plan to take it down and put up a new 6 ft privacy fence all around the property line in the back. We sit off of the golf corse, so no back yard neighbors!

This all has happened so fast. We expected the process to take a couple months, then a couple more. Not to be all done in one month! But it is what it is, and we are in love with the house. Besides, speedy is just how we do things. Remember the whole engagement? lol Its all worked out great for us so far, and we couldnt be happier. Once we are all moved in (ugh...so NOT looking forward to that part) we plan to have a house-warming party.

We cant wait!!

We all got a little cleaned up.....

2009-12-25T08:31:00.000-08:00

....and this happened:

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Love,
The Park Family

What a day!!

2009-09-25T18:54:00.001-07:00

I have been behind on posting, but I have been tremendously busy.

As most of you know, we both have been searching for jobs for a long while (10 months to be exact). With the economy job-finding has been extremely difficult. I had 2 jobs I was trying for, one with the Post Office and one with a company called Iron Mountain, they handle medical records. The specific job with them was at Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful. My friend works for them, and got promoted, so the job I was trying for was her old one. She would be my boss.

Of the 2 jobs, I wanted Lakeview more, because of the hours (9-5 mon-fri) and it being closer to home. The post office job is out at the SLC Remote Encoding Center, and I would have to work nights and weekends. The Post Office paid more, but didnt have benefits, whereas the Lakeview job did.

I went through the process for both jobs, and was waiting for a 2nd interview for the Lakeview one. We figured we had a real good chance with that one since my friend was referring me. Well, while we were waiting for the interview, the guy who was supposed to do it went ahead and hired someone else. It was supposed to be my friend who did the hiring, but he went over her.

So, on Sept 12 I officially started working for the post office. I had orientation that day, then started the two week training the following Monday. It was 6-midnight mon-fri. The training was rather daunting, all computer based. There were drills, a review test and a final test for each lesson. The keyboard was set up differently than a standard one, so I was learning a new keyboard on top of the other rules for keying in mail. I was SOO wrong when I thought all I would be doing was typing in addresses. There were many different scenarios where the computer would ask for different info. lots to learn in what felt like a short amount of time.

Those two weeks went by quickly, and were hard on everyone, me physically and mentally trying to get used to the new responsibilities and schedule, the kids because I suddenly wasnt ever around during the week, and John because I havent ever worked outside the home during out entire relationship.

I finally passed the training on Thursday night of the first week. I was actually out on the floor keying live mail for the last hour of my shift. I was due to start another type of training the next dayand finish on Monday, and then I would start my regular scheduled shift the following weekend: Friday 4:30-9:30pm, Sat 2:30-11pm, Sun 12:30-9pm, and Mon 4:30-9:30pm. Yuck, right?

Well last Friday John and I had to be in SLC for a meeting with the HR rep for his job, so we could get our insurance set up. We had planned to spend the afternoon in Salt Lake and then I would drop him at the train station and go straight to work.

Well, on the way down there, my friend called me and asked if I was still interested in the Lakeview position, as the girl they hired didnt work out. She wanted me to start on Monday. Um....whoa!? So we went through our meeting, got some food, and discussed all the pros and cons of me doing this. After all was said and done (panic attack controlled and chaos averted) I took the job. It was the best decision for everyone. But what to do with the job I already had?

I went into the REC since we were already in SLC and put in my resignation. I felt bad, since I had just started and barely finished training, not to mention the LONG process to get hired in the first place (put in my app June 2nd). Its likely I will never get to go back since I quit while still in probation. But, I have a much better chance to move up with Iron Mountain, I work in a professional setting and the hours are the best a mom could ask for. I am home with the kids every night. I get all the weekends off, all the holidays, plus better benefits as far as paid vacation, leave, etc.

So what do I do at this job? I work in the medical records department. Today was my second day. I am at the front desk as you walk in to the office, and I handle all the requests for medical records. I make sure they are HIPAA compliant and then process and fill each request as needed. Its quite busy, as we get requests mailed, faxed, called in and also patient walkins. Its been alot of fun so far, I get along great with everyone in the office, and so far seem to be doing really good. My friend, who is now my boss, will be there training me for a couple weeks just to make sure I know how to handle everything.

It has so far been a great experience learning how things are handled in that area of the hospital. I never thought I would be working in a hospital setting, and really enjoy it so far. Working with people is something I have found that I have missed while being at home the last 9 years.

I am still trying to nail down a sitter for AJ for Mondays and Fridays for the next 2 months, until John's schedule changes or he gets a different job, whichever comes first. so if you know anyone who might be interested in letting a crazy cute 4 yr old run around from 12-6 Mon and Fri, let me know!

Anyhow my sweet hubby just walked through the door so I am off. Talk to you all soon!

Feeling a lil cRaFtY....

2009-08-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

I got an itch this afternoon to be creative, so I pulled out my card stuff for the first time in a couple (or more) months. I couldnt think of anything real pressing coming up to make a card for, so I just decided to make some fun ones to use in the future. I made 4 in all...

This one is my least favorite of the four, I was using a sketch I was a little bit skeptical about. All different colors, pastels to match the watercoloring in the stamp. Its not terrible, but doesnt appeal much to me. I am sure I will find some use for it.

This one I made because I have been wanting to use my bamboo stamp. I also was attempting to do something that would work for men. It is very simple and turned out well I think, could be used for any occasion.

This was the first one I did. I love the quote on this card, it is one of my favorites (Work like you dont need the money, Love like you've never been hurt, Dance like nobody's watching). I also really like the way the colors play together.

And my very favorite. I wish the colors turned up a little bit better on my camera, the red is Ruby Red, with brown and black to accent. I stamped the rose in black and then used a blender pen to color it in. I absolutely love the way it turned out, and I left room at teh bottom in case I want to stamp a sentiment there at some point.

Do you ever create something that you love so much you just want to frame it and keep it forever? Thank goodness for cameras, or I would never give any of these away.

In the words of my dear husband...

2009-08-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

After a long hard search in the worst economy I've lived through, I FINALLY have got a job! I send out this announcement on the heels of a really rough night where I spent a sleepless night in worry about the future as things really seemed hopeless, only to have my prayers answered by a phonecall with a job offer today. I will now be working for Salt Lake City Police Department as a Police Information Specialist, dealing with police records and investigation information. My start date is supposed to be after Labor Day Weekend and I will find out what shift I'm assigned to next week. Once I have that information, we can FINALLY put all our indecision to rest over how our lives are going to go both financially, and logistically. There are so many questions we haven't been able to answer with this frantic search and now with the stability of full time employment, we'll be able to schedule out our lives and include (and afford) the things we have been missing.

I really want to thank the people who have stuck by us during this hard time. Close friends, words of support and encouragement, our loving family, and everyone who kept the faith in us when mine has been shakey.

Last but not least....YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!! FINALLY!!! YES YES YES!!! WOOOOOOOOO!!!

That is all

CoOpEr'S RoOm

2009-08-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I did a post on switching around our bedroom and the den. Since we moved our bedroom back upstairs, we decided that we wanted to have AJ close to us, so he needed to be moved upstairs, meaning Coop would be moving downstairs. Probably better for a teenager anyway, right?

Well Coop went to stay with his mom for 3 weeks, so this was my chance to get his room redone. I had decorated the room in Cars a couple years ago for AJ, painting it red and yellow to match. This is what it looked like after it was done, and before he destroyed it (being 2-3, not much else to expect I guess. He tore off all the wall paper, and drew on the walls. Plus made plenty of dents and dings. Oh well!)

I alternated red and yellow paint on the walls, and did 4 foot sections alternating along the bottom half. It turned out so cute, and he loved it! But obviously a teenager isnt going to love a bedroom done in Disney, especially with the after-effects of being occupied by a toddler for 2 years. So, I asked Cooper what he wanted his room decorated in. I like the give the kids their choice, and let them do whatever they want (Jaydn & Kyler's room is Pirates of the Carribean). Being such a good son, and definitely a daddy's boy, he picked Seahawks, John's favorite football team. So John and I discussed this, and brainstormed a few ideas. Of course I came up with a challenge for myself (I like to do this), and seeing as how I made a fantastic cake for the year they were in the Superbowl...

I decided it would be easy to draw and paint a mural of the Seahawks logo. (I look SO young in that picture!!)

So I planned out what I needed to do, and picked out paint colors. Home Depot has a magazine and paint that is made specifically to match team colors. All teams! It is awesome! So I bought the paint and supplies and headed home.

The first thing I did once Cooper left for his mom's was pack up his room and store all his things in the laundry room (thank goodness I have a large laundry room!). Then I vacuumed it up and began to move AJ's things upstairs. Kyler was my little helper during this whole process, he offered to help and continued through all the not fun parts. For his efforts he got to go and pick out a new toy.

We got AJ all settled into his new room, and convinced him that since he is a BIG boy now, and has his own TV, he can sleep WITHOUT the light on. He has a nightlight right by his bed, and even though the first night was rather difficult, I taught him how fun it is to make shadow puppets and every night now he sleeps without the big light. "Cuz I'm a big boy mom!!"

The next step was to clean up his old room and vacuum the floor, (I decided to leave the fingernail polish stain on the carpet until I was done painting) and clean the walls. Thank goodness for Magic Eraser! I mudded and sanded and got everything ready to paint. Because I had chosen dark, vivid colors to paint before, and now wanted to cover those colors with even darker colors, I had to use grey primer. It took *3* gallons!! ok, more like 2 1/2, but still!!

Once the entire room was grey, I drew out the mural. It measures 5 feet by 2 1/4 feet. It was surprisingly easy to draw out. Then I taped off what needed to be taped, and brought out the paint. Dark blue was fun! Because there are 2 different shades of blue in the logo, I decided to paint the walls alternately, and paint the ceiling and trim white.

You can kinda see the contrast in the shades of blue on the walls, the one with the mural is the darker, the one to the right, the lighter.

Taping, painting, repainting, pulling tape and retaping, over and over again, was a BIG job. Bigger than I originally thought. It took me a complete week, every waking hour, the last three nights ending at 4 am, only to start again by 10 the next morning... you get the idea. The mural was probably the part I enjoyed the most, because it was challenging to get it sized right, proportioned right, and of course figuring out how to tape curved lines was interesting. Oh, and I also did pinstripe lines around the room, handpainted as well. My knees are STILL bruised from kneeling!!

But I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I loved tapping into my creativity and watching it all come together. It was well worth the time, pain, sweat, and sleeplessness. And I did all this while sick with a nasty cold/laryngitis bug! I completely lost my voice, and had a hard time breathing with all the sinus pressure and congestion. But I insisted it be complete when Cooper got home.

He came home on a Saturday. My in-laws brought him and Syd up and stayed for dinner. They had planned to be here at 6:00, and at 5:45 we barely finished moving all his stuff in. I had time for a quick shower and jump right into making dinner for 9 people. We wouldnt let Cooper go down to his room until we could all go together. Once everyone convened in the hallway, this is what Cooper saw...

Millie and Max approved! lol

Cooper absolutely LOVES it. He has been saying all week how cool it is and how lucky he is. He even thanked me again today when he left to go to his mom's for a few days. I was pretty impressed with myself and what I put together for him. John is very jealous, and would now like me to paint the den in Seahawks, Utes, Jazz, and Lions. All on alternating walls. We will have to see if he gets this job we are hoping for first!

All in all it was fun and turned out great. I love doing things like this, so if anyone wants a room painted, just buy the supplies and I will help! :D

Tips on raising a child with Aspergers

2009-07-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

I havent posted for awhile, I have been busy with Cooper's room (more on that later) and sick on top of it.

Anyway, I found this on Facebook and wanted to post it on my blog so I can reference it whenever, and also so you all can read it as well and maybe get a little insight on what it is like raising a child with Asperger's Syndrome. There are so many ups and downs that go with AS, and I am still learning alot as I go.

1. Keep a sense of humor. Seek to enjoy, not to scream.

2. Celebrate your Aspie child's humor, creativity, and passion.

3. Remember that a child with Asperger's is still a child with thoughts and feelings, and that you are the adult this child looks to for support and guidance.

4. You do not have a standard child. You can view the issue as a disability. Or, you can view it as wonderful uniqueness. Or, you can view it as both. This "disability outlook" will help because it eliminates blame; sets reasonable expectations thereby minimizing anger; and points the way for parents/teachers to see themselves as "therapists" not victims.

5. Recognize that attention issues in the child are only the tip of the iceberg that the whole family must address.

6. The patient in Asperger`s is the whole family.

7. Remember that children with Asperger`s have two time frames: Now,and Huh. There is no future. There is only now. The past is non-negotiable.

8. Do you want to understand the aspie`s actions? Just ask yourself: What behavior would make sense if you only had 4 seconds to live?

9. Instead of punishing wrong behavior, set a reward for the correct behavior you would rather replace it with. Rewards should be immediate, frequent, powerful, clearly defined, and consistent. Also remember that a behavior always gets stronger before it changes.

10. Plan ahead. Give warnings before transitions. Discuss in advance what is expected, and what the results might be. Have the child repeat out loud the terms he just agreed to.

11. Dont argue; nag; or attempt unsolicited and spontaneous transplants of your wisdom to your child. Instead, either a) decide that the issue is aggravating but not significant enough to warrant intervention; or b) make an appointment with your child to discuss the issue.

12. Head off big fights before they begin. Seek to diffuse, not to inflame. When tempers flare, allow everyone to cool off. Serious discussion can only occur during times of composure.

13. Especially with teens, negotiate, negotiate, and negotiate. Parents need to model negotiation, not inflexibility. Dont worry about losing control: the parent always gets to decide when negotiation is over and which compromise is accepted. Remember: negative behaviors usually occur because the aspie is spinning out of control, not because he is evil. While evil behavior would need to be aggressively squelched, the much more common overwhelmed behavior needs to be calmly defused.

14. Pick your fights. Is the issue at hand worth chipping away at your relationship with your child? Can your child really control the offending behavior at this moment?

15. Although it is not the childs fault, he will still ultimately be the one to take the consequences of his behavior. It will help your child if you can explain the consequences clearly and logically when your child is able to listen.

16. This is hard work. It is also hard work for your child.

17. You will make it through this; you have no choice.

18. The children who need love the most will always ask for it in the most unloving ways. [Words of a teacher quoted by Russell Barkley.]

19. If it is working, keep doing it. If not, do something else.

20. Forgive your child and yourself nightly. You didnt ask to live with the effects of Asperger`s any more than did your child.

21. Review this text, and others, periodically. You are going to forget this stuff, and different principles will likely be needed at different stages.

22. imagine your child delivering your eulogy. What do you want him to say about you? Keep those bigger goals in mind as you choose your interactions/reactions to your child.

23. This is not a contest with your child. The winner is not the one with more points. The winner is the one whose child still loves them when they graduate from high school.

Jaydn Daniel

2009-07-01T19:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my Jaydn's 10th birthday. My firstborn. My miracle.

A little history real quick... At the age of 14, I was diagnosed with Endometriosis. My mom had this, and it resulted in her having a hysterectomy at 25. Because of my history, and problems I had, my doctor told me I would most likely not be able to have kids, but if by some miracle I was, to have them as quickly as possible. This was hard for me, because my whole life the only thing I wanted to be was a mom. The thought of not being able to have kids was heartbreaking.

So, once Jeramie and I got married (right out of high school), we went on fertility to try and get pregnant. Timing is very important when on fertility, and when you are waiting for something like that, it feels like it takes FOREVER. Finally when it was time to take a test, we were both very nervous and very hopeful. I took a home pregnancy test the day after Thanksgiving, which came back positive. But the blood test I had was negative. So we waited a few more days (again, FOREVER), and went to the doctor. This time we got a definite positive (never had a blood test done again after that! lol). I took the night off work and we went to Toys R Us and bought a baby monitor, the only thing we could really think of that was gender neutral. Then we told our parents.

Everyone was surprised, including my doctor. I wasnt thrilled with him for a variety of reasons, so I changed to a different one once I got confirmation of pregnancy. I really liked my new doctor. My due date was August 3rd, 1999.

The first trimester I was sick. All day sick. But I was so happy that I didnt mind. I really enjoyed being pregnant. We found out in March that we were having a boy. We were very excited!! Jaydn was sitting breech, and I had a nagging feeling that the cord was wrapped around his neck. I asked the doctor at the ultrasound, and she said she didnt think it was.

We got to have another ultrasound at 32 weeks. The baby had flipped that very morning (I remember it WELL) and was now sitting head down. He measured perfectly and we were looking forward to the downhill portion leading to the birth of our baby.

At 34 weeks, I went into labor. We ended up going to the hospital because we couldnt get the contractions to stop. I was admitted and put on Magnesium. That was a horrible time! I couldnt focus my sight, so it felt pointless (AND gave me a headache) to keep my eyes open. It took almost 2 days, but we got the contractions to stop finally, and after 4 days I was allowed to go home on strict bedrest, and had to take magnesium pills to help control any contractions.

We had to go back to the hospital one night because the contractions came back, but after a couple doses of Terbuteline (sp?) they stopped. Then we went in for a checkup. I was 35 weeks. The doctor measured my belly, and was concerned. She measured it again, got the baby to move, and tried again. Finally she told us we needed an ultrasound, because the measurement was too small. She told us that if the measurements were right, our baby had stopped growing, and needed to be born. So we had to come back that afternoon. We were very scared at the thought that something was wrong. We had a little time to kill so we went to the store and bought some preemie bottles and a diaper bag, just in case.

We went back for the ultrasound, and after waiting for what felt like forever, we finally went back. She did the measurements, and confirmed that not only had he stopped growing, he had lost weight and gotten smaller. So we went directly to the hospital to be induced.

I was started about 3 pm. They gave me a steroid shot to help his lungs. My family came up and stayed with us, everyone nervous and scared. It took awhile to get things going, since I had been taking the Magnesium to stop labor, and now had Pitocen trying to start it. Once the contractions got going things started to progress. I tried very hard to go without pain meds, but with the Pitocen, and the exhaustion from the long day and all the worry, the pain was too much for me to handle. I finally got my epidural about 4 am. Things sped up really fast after that, and I went from a 4 to a 10 in half an hour. No one was expecting things to go so fast, so it was a rush to get ready. Because we didnt know what was wrong, we had NICU nurses and other doctors in the room with us, and Lifeflight was on standby.

Once the doctor got there and everything was ready, I was allowed to start pushing. They turned off the Pitocen, and we waited for contractions. Because of the Magnesium, the contractions stopped. So, we had to start up the Pit again! Finally things got going again and I was able to push.

Jaydn was born at 7:06 AM on June 30th. He came out crying, and after they rushed him over the baby heater and checked him out, they decided he was ok. The reason he had stopped growing? The cord was around his neck (NEVER question a mother's intuition!) and when he flipped, it tightened, cutting off a partial supply of bloodflow. He was unable to grow like he needed, and he started to get smaller because of it. The doctor had estimated he would weigh around 3 lbs, he should have weighed about 5, and he actually weighed 4 lbs 6 oz. My smallest baby! He was 17 inches long. Life flight was cancelled and things calmed down, and I finally got to hold him. He was so small!

We got to take him home 2 days later, he didnt have to stay in NICU or anything! He grew very well, and before I knew it he was running around and talking up a storm. I knew by the time he was 2 that he had ADHD, but they wouldnt do anything to treat it until he was in school. That was a fun 3 years! lol

As he grew I also began to realize there was something else wrong. I spoke to doctors, teachers, and his psychologist and psychiatrist often, and did some research. We considered a few different disorders before the final diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. It has been a long hard road, but now that we know exactly what is wrong and how to help him, things are a little easier. He struggles, and always will, but he is surviving.

Jaydn will be in 5th grade this fall. He really likes to draw, and is pretty good at it. Because of his condition he gets fixated on certain things, and right now it is Transformers. He got to go see the new movie last Friday, and since then, its all he thinks about. So of course for his birthday, he wanted Transformers!

Last night to celebrate we went to Chuck E Cheese. We also celebrated AJ's birthday there, since it was just 2 weeks ago. They had so much fun!! Our host was great, and hooked us up with a TON of free tokens, so the kids got to play for a long time, and everyone got cool little prizes. Mom and Dad were exhausted when we finally got home!

It was alot of fun, and Jaydn had a great time. I cant believe he is 10, I feel so old. He is a good kid, and we are lucky to have him in our family. We love you Jaydn!

What a week... and softBRAWL?

2009-06-27T11:08:00.000-07:00

So last weekend we went to Wendover with some friends for a birthday celebration. John and I love Wendover, it is our little escape from reality when we want a change and dont mind busy/fast-paced. (The Alaskan is our escape for peace). We (especially I) were really looking forward to it. Then I woke up on Saturday morning feeling nauseated. but luckily it passed (or I ignored it enough that it seemed) amd we headed out about 3 pm. The rain was terrible, making the drive slow and just about painful. Past Tooele or so it cleared up and made things smooth sailin again. I set the cruise on 80 and chilled. This lasted for a beautiful hour or so when all of a sudden bam! Torrents of rain hitting the windshield, seriously out of nowhere. Talk about slam on the brakes in dire fear of iminent death! But luckily we made it safe and sound. The storm hit us just about 20 minutes out of Wendover, so we didnt have to deal with it for long. By the time we got into the hotel parking lot it had slowed down to a normal rain.

We checked in, then got ready to play. We made a stop at the liquor store (for anyone who drinks, this is an excellent idea, especially since with the economy they have watered down the free drinks a TON. Just keep it in your room and go up every little while for a sip or two ;) and then went to dinner. Once we were full and happy, we hit the tables. Blackjack was terrible, all night long. Just bad hands all the way around. So John and I went to 3-card Poker. It was going alright, then all of a sudden John got a straight flush. This is the rarest hand to get, and pays the most, 45-1. Which on a $5 bet is $225. Woohoo!! That was fun. The table was on fire over the next few hands, there were two 3 of a kinds, and then *I* hit a straight flush!! That NEVER happens, but it did! Within 5 minutes we had won $450. We were thrilled!!

We spent the rest of the night gambling a little, hanging with our friends and just having a good time. It was a good trip. We got home in time for the kids to give John their Father's Day gifts, and we went to dinner at my parents. Later that night I started feeling sick again, and at some point was no longer able to hold down any food. This lasted a few days. My friend who was in Wendover with us was sick also, so we wondered if maybe it was something we had eaten, but we werent sure. I was sick most of the week. Started feeling better to the point of being up and about around Thursday, which was good seeing as how I had a week worth of errands to run :P

Last night (Friday) was our last 2 games of the softball season. Next week is a BYE week and then tournaments begin. We lost the first game, but it was a close one, going back and forth each inning. Then the second game.... The other team came out with egos, and hostility. There were 2 or 3 of their players mouthing off, getting tempers going. We have our own team Hothead, who mouths off every game, but has behaved physically so far. Which is good, seeing as how the team is made up mostly of his family, and there are many family members in the stands watching. Cooper and I were there watching too. Well literally 3 pitches in, and one of the other team's players didnt like being tagged out, so he started shoving our team hothead. This did not bode well. Needless to say, it started a brawl, clearing their entire bench and most of ours. Granted, at least 75% of the people out there (including John) were trying to break it up, but when it gets that big its going nowhere good. They got it stopped once, only to have it start up again. Of course once it was broken up there were the typical egotistical promises of "finishing this in the parking lot". I mean really? Come on! You are all adults!

So what ended up happening? Both teams being ejected, 3 of our players personally ejected, upset family members, including Cooper and another little boy ending up in tears out of fear. John was furious that the majority of our team stooped to that level instead of being the bigger man and walking away. I literally could not believe that I was watching a field full of grown men going after each other like they were in junior high school.

There hasnt been a final word yet, but after looking over the rules, we are certain both teams will not be allowed to participate in the tournament. What a crappy way to end the season. And for what? It was SOFTBALL. John may go back in the fall, *if* there are promises of change in attitudes and the removal of certain players from the team. He has taken enough physically by being pitcher without having to babysit as well. Last week he took a line drive straight in the knee, and last night in the brawl while trying to break it up he was pushed down on the ground, sore knee first.

As far as me, I go to watch our boys have fun, and to cheer with my girls. Cooper likes to go watch his dad (the other kids are too young to be interested, so they go to Grandmas, which was EXTREMELY fortunate last night). But if this is what we have to look forward to, I have no desire to let my family participate. Our poor sweet soft-hearted Cooper was so upset. I was a mixture of things, mostly irritation and disbelief. I was sure that the majority of men would have realized they are too old for this, but I guess there are still, and always will be, some.

In the end, a MAJOR disappointment. But, the season is over, time to get back to "real life". Which now, after all is said and done, I am grateful for.

Andrew Joseph

2009-06-17T10:10:00.000-07:00

This post is a couple days late, but we have been so busy with moving, and I have spent very little time on my computer. So here it is!

Sunday was my AJ's birthday. He turned 4. He is still a little too young to really be excited about his birthday, but he did INSIST on having a Spiderman cake.

My pregnancy with AJ was definitely UNPLANNED. John and I had only been married about 6 months. We had decided we didnt want anymore kids, 4 was enough. Kyler had just gotten potty-trained, and I was getting comfortable with not being in the "baby stages" of life anymore. I gave all my baby stuff away! I had an appointment to have an IUD placed, and 2 days before was informed "You're pregnant!". This was November 16th, 2004, putting my due date at July 26th, 2005.

My pregnancy with AJ was extremely difficult for me, emotionally. I hit the lowest point in my depression that I had ever hit. I really struggled with my capability of being a good mom to a newborn after everything I had been through. I was about 4 months along before I finally realized that this was going to happen whether I liked it or not.

The pregnancy was difficult physically as well. My doctor had to put me on progesterone, since my body cant support a pregnancy on its own. I also got extremely sick, needing more than one IV to rehydrate within the first 16 weeks. There was a point where I was taking 9 different pills a day!

Once I got past the morning sickness and depression, things started to progress well. I was a bit bummed when we found out it was another boy, because we already had 3 boys, and I had given all my boy stuff away! But I do love my boys.

I only had one trip to the hospital for preterm labor, at 29 weeks. My doctor immediately put me on Tributelene (sp?) pills to help control the labor. So I got to stay at home to control it! This was a nice change from my previous pregnancies. I did have some trouble with bleeding, but the doctor wasnt too worried, as long as it stopped if I went to bed. So I was supposed to be spending the last 10 weeks on bedrest. Hard to do with 4 kids!

At 33 weeks (June 10th), my water broke. It was a Friday night, about 9 pm. Cooper and Syd had just gotten here for the weekend, and John was at work...in Provo. My entire was family was in Alaska (some had left that day!) and John's mom was in Europe. I called my mother-in-law from my first marriage to come stay with the 4 kids for the night while I went to the hospital. John hurried as fast as he could to come home and take me. I wasnt having any contractions or anything, so I wasnt too worried yet.

When we got to the hospital I was dilated to a 3, but had no contractions. They immediately started the steroid shots for his lungs. We were hoping to keep him in at least long enough for those to take full effect. Despite the water breaking, he had no intentions of making an early appearance!

My doctor was going on vacation, so gave us the choice of being induced at 34 weeks, or risk him coming on his own without her there. We chose to be induced ( I love my doctor!!). So on the morning of June 14th, she started the pitocen. I got my epidural about 11 am, thinking it would speed things along, like it had with my other 2 babies. WRONG. It slowed everything down! We went through an entire epidural, and only when it started wearing off did we speed up and progress. I refused to give birth without an epidural, so we got another one going. It hadnt completely gone into effect by the time I had him, I could feel it all, just no pain.

Sadly, this is the only pic I have of my belly. It was taken with my cellphone by a nurse before we went to the birthing room.

Anyways, they had me deliver in the OR, because it was next to the NICU. John got to deliver the baby, with my doctor next to him. AJ was born at 6:15 pm, weighing 4lbs 13oz. He cried and sounded really good, but then started grunting, causing the nurses to panic that he couldnt breathe, and they rushed him to NICU.

I didnt get to see him again until about 11:30 that night. He was doing fine, but was hooked up to all kinds of tubes. They had put in the IV in his belly button, and he had one in his hand. He also had an oxygen tube across his face, which he HATED. While I held him, he kept swiping at it with his hand, until he finally pulled it off. The nurse watched him for a little bit to make sure he was still breathing fine, and he promptly went to sleep. He was just bugged by the tube! We immediately knew he was a fighter.

They doctors insisted he would be in the NICU at least 2 weeks, he was there 8 days. Every goal they set for him he blew right past. He was ready to go home!

We brought him home on June 22, and this is when he met his siblings for the first time. He was a typical newborn, sleeping, eating, pooping, rinse and repeat.

We discovered he had an inguinal hernia, and had scheduled surgery to fix it when he was 4 months old. It was very difficult to give him off to the surgeon, but it was really quick. He had to stay the night for observation. He started getting really sick before we even left the hospital, and spent the next 2 weeks violently ill. His incision was also looking bad, swelling from the inside out, until it finally burst, putting him back in the hospital for IV antibiotics. Once we got past all that, he was a happy camper!

He has grown very fast, and is incredibly cute. He has huge eyes, which everyone always comments on. He is definitely all boy, loud and crazy. We have survived an ambulance ride after he cracked his head open, with the fear of a broken neck (he was fine, turns out the radiologist tech at the drs office wasnt very good at taking childrens xrays). He just finished his first year of preschool, which he LOVED. He still asks me every once in awhile when he can go back.

He very much wants to be "one of the boys", bugging his brothers all the time to play with him. He loves to play with cars, and action figures, and wants to play outside as much as he can. He is very independent, and like doing things "mysewf".

Such a cute little monkey, isnt he?

I just might be certifiably insane

2009-06-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Not entirely a new concept, I know.

So! We have, after much debating, decided to move our bedroom back upstairs, and move the den downstairs. We have discovered this is one of the very first moves in the domino effect. We like having our room downstairs where it is cooler, but it is always inundated with massive piles of laundry, and of course we have no bedroom door. I hung a shower curtain to suffice.

It would be nice to have a bigger area for the den, so that when we throw Superbowl parties, or other get-togethers, we have more room for people to mingle. Plus, it would make more room to play Rockband without having to move the Xbox into the living room. There are more outlets downstairs as well.

Now of course we had to figure out where to start. Trying to move rooms in a house that is already cram-packed is quite the daunting task. Our laundry room also serves as a storage area, so we decided that cleaning that area out would be first. Then we will have a place to put furniture while in the process of switching. We have spent the last two days working on going through the closets and cabinets to clear them out so I can move my stuff that is currently in the den closet down there. Once we do that, we can start moving our clothes back upstairs. Also, we will have room to start moving things like entertainment centers and dressers to get them out of the way. We will pull the sectional back out of storage to use in the den. The two biggest hurdles will be moving our mattress (cal king super thick pillow top) upstairs, and the Jazz recliner downstairs. Our house is split level, so we have 2 staircases to navigate.

You know they always tell you that when you give birth, you instantly forget all the pain, otherwise you would never do it again. Well, I remembered the pain everytime, and still had 3 babies. I remember the pain and suffering in the way of scraped knuckles and frustration from moving the mattress and recliner. Perhaps I am just a glutton for punishment. Who knows.

We want to get all this done before we get jobs, so it has moved to top priority. Once that is done, we want AJ close to us, so we decided we will need to switch his bedroom with Cooper's, so he is upstairs with us. That also will make it easier for Coop to have internet connection on his computer. This means I have to repaint AJ's current room. No more red and yellow! I also want to paint our bedroom upstairs, but that is just going to have to wait.

Alot of people know and have been asking about my project with the bathroom. So, I may as well give an update on that too. I have grown tired of the blue wallpaper with pastel ocean-y border. So I decided it was time to take it all down, and repaint a darker grey with white trim, and replace all the wood towel bars, toilet paper holders, shelves, etc with brushed nickel. I bought a really pretty brushed nickel light fixture.

Well, stripping wallpaper was ALOT more mundane and irritating than I thought. It has taken quite awhile. I have one more wall to finish, but have been busy with kids and things. So with all the rearranging and things, I decided it is just going to have to wait for a little bit.

Hence, we are inviting utter chaos to take up residency in our already overflowing home. It will be nice when it is all done, if we survive long enough to get there!

Anyone wanna help? ;)

tidbits and randomness

2009-06-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

Alright so I havent posted for a few weeks, but really there isnt a whole lot of anything interesting going on to post about. Little bits and pieces here and there, but I just havent felt real motivated to sit down and write about it.

I am still toying around with card making, and made a super cute one for my friend Mindy's wedding tomorrow.

They are alot of fun to make, and I could do it all day, but its a little (alot) messy and I am too much of a perfectionist. Plus these crazy kids of mine think they need attention. What is up with that?!

AJ was out of preschool last week. The boys are out tomorrow. So this entire week AJ has been home alone with nothing to do but pester Mom. Thats what he did before, but at least I had 6 hours a week by myself :P I cant believe its summer already, I havent decided whether I am happy about this, or sad. I think a little bit of both. Its good to not have to worry about school and homework and grades, but I have 3 months of bored kids coming up.

Jaydn is thrilled school will be out, Kyler is very sad. He loves his teacher and doesnt want to leave her. Jaydn has had a very difficult year this year, he struggles because he gets lost in the group of kids, and doesnt catch on to the way to do things, like his math. I tried to work with his teacher, but she wasnt very helpful. We finally got him tested for resource, and he does not qualify for learning but will qualify because of his AS. However it requires large amounts of paperwork which I am still in the process of trying to collect. We had a meeting with the resource teacher, the school psychologist, and the principal to share info and decide what we need to do. Of course with it being the end of the year nothing will go into effect until the fall, but it is great to finally feel like we have people on our side. Hopefully we will be able to get past the meltdowns over homework!

John got the news early this week that Salt Lake City Fire will not be hiring until January at the earliest. They are petitioning to keep their current list, but as it is now, he will lose his spot and have to retest next year all over again. So, he is now trying to find a different job. We spent the last 8 months waiting for that call, but because of the economy, they are letting people go via early retirement instead of hiring. So, if anyone knows of Fire/EMS places hiring, please let us know!

I am also trying to find a job. I just spent 2 hours filling out an online application for USPS. Now I have to log on and take their assessment. Ugh. I am pretty sure I wrote my entire life history in that app! Hopefully it pans out for me. Its been really hard to find a job, given I havent worked outside of home the last 8 yrs...

We have met some new friends that we get together with every weekend for drinks and games. It is so much fun to kick back with friends. It makes for late nights, but the kids are always taken care of (my brother is a great babysitter!) and its the perfect stress reliever.

John is currently playing Softball with a bunch of friends. Their team is the Outlaws, and they play every Friday at Weber County Fairgrounds. It is a ton of fun to go watch them play. They wives got matching shirts in pink, so now we are known as the "softball wives". We are loud and rowdy and have a blast.

We have a small trip scheduled for Wendover towards the end of June. We are going with 2 other couples (our friends we get together with each week), and CANT WAIT!! It will be fun. My favorite games to play are Blackjack and 3 card poker. I love to play holdem, but get nervous on the table in a casino. I am great at home or online! lol

Anyway, cant really think of much else, but AJ's birthday is coming up, with Jaydn's following 2 weeks later. I have a feeling June is going to fly by....

Kyler Logan...

2009-05-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today is my Kyler's birthday. He turned 8. I decided that this year I would make a post for each of the kids on their birthday, so here is Kyler's.

My pregnancy with Kyler was planned. We got pregnant in September, so his due date was June 4th, 2001. The pregnancy itself was rather difficult. I was extremely sick the first 16 weeks, and then at 28 weeks I began preterm labor. I went into the hospital 1-2 times a week to get my contractions stopped. The nurses and I were all on a first name basis! This lasted until 37 weeks, when my doctor finally gave the go-ahead to have this baby. We discovered on the last ultrasound that he was resting right on my pubic bone, hence all the preterm labor.

Sunday, May 13th was Mother's day. I decided to stay home from church, because I started contracting around 7:30 am. Jeramie had just left on another run (he was a truck driver) and was somewhere in Nebraska. I had a nesting mood come over me and spent the day scrubbing my kitchen from ceiling to floor. I even cleaned off every shelf! I finished this project around 5 pm. About that time the contractions were getting annoying. Not too painful yet, but had to stop and breathe through them. I decided now would be a good time to shower and go up to my moms, and prepare for another trip to the hospital.

We hung out and ate dinner, no one was in a real hurry considering how many times I had been in labor before. Finally about 9 I decided it was definitely time to go. The contractions were really starting to hurt, and they were staying consistent. By the time I got to the hospital and checked in, I was dilated to a 4. They decided they would keep me and we would have this baby.

I spent some time on the phone trying to track down Jeramie through his dispatcher to let him know it was time. She had promised me she would fly him home for the birth, but for whatever reason she wouldnt do it. So he had to catch a ride on a truck back home from Nebraska.

The next couple hours I labored well, got to walk the halls and sit in a rocking chair. Around midnight the nurses decided to start the pitocin. Around 2 am my water broke. This sped things up, and I finished dilating rather quickly. The baby had crowned, and they werent ready for him yet. I had to lay perfectly still and not move, or he would be out. They rushed and got everything ready, and I hoped that Jeramie would make it in time (He didnt, his son was 3 hours old when he finally got to see him).

Finally everything was ready, so I sat up and pushed once. He came flying out. The time was 5:52 am, and he weighed 5lbs 11 oz. My biggest baby! He was covered in blond peach fuzz. Jaydn was 2 when Kyler was born, and was very excited to get his "beebee". He got to come up to the hospital and see and hold his new little brother.

Kyler is my most cuddly child. He was the best nurser, would always fall asleep in my arms, and still to this day loves to give hugs. He is an excellent student in school, and sweet kid that is willing to always help out. He is funny and loves to laugh. He loves movies/tv and stuffed animals, and also loves to read. I cant believe he is 8!!

Today for his birthday he took cupcakes to school for his class. John planned a surprise party for him at Chuck E Cheese, complete with goodie bags, pizza, cake, tokens, and a dance with Chuck E Cheese himself. Kyler loved it, and had a blast. All the kids did. I took my camera and got some good pictures.

We will be doing one more cake and icecream party at my parents this weekend. These kids are spoiled! But thats ok, birthdays only come once a year, and Kyler told us today was the best day ever!!

A trip to Wheeler farm...

2009-05-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

So today was AJ's last field trip with school. He is out in exactly 2 weeks. Cant believe it!! It seems like only last week I was taking this picture of his first day of school...

Such a cutie. Of course, I may be a little biased :)

Anyway, we went to the Wheeler Farm. I have never been there before today. Crazy huh?

We all met out there at 10:45. AJ has been SOO excited about this trip, his class has been talking about the farm for a few days. Of course the first thing he did when he got there was find his friend, Spencer. They both climbed up on the fence and sat together.

I didnt realize how cold it would be, it wasnt cold when we left the house! So we both had little goosebumps for the first little while. When I rubbed AJ's arms he told me, "Mom, I am NOT cold!" But as soon as we found the sun and got going on the tour the goosebumps were long forgotten.

One of the first things we saw was the old lightning tree. This tree has been struck by lightning, causing it to split, and burn. The farmer thought the tree had been lost, only to discover the next spring that the split branch grew into the ground and recovered, and was still growing. The kids all got to climb into the middle so we could have a picture.

We continued walking around seeing different animals, and Mrs. Cindy asked the class to group up so she could have a picture. They all grouped together in front of the pen for the twin calves.

We got to walk around and see all kinds of animals, and their babies. AJ liked the chickens, horses, sheep and lambs the best. There was also a big turkey there that got mad and strutted his stuff. Very cool to watch.

One of the highlights, and also AJ's very most favorite part of the trip was a ride on a wagon pulled by a tractor. We didnt see a whole lot of animals or anything, but it was fun to ride around and see the farm grounds. I got a picture of AJ before we left.

After the wagon ride we saw the rest of the animals and then ate lunch. AJ decided again that it was too cold and told me it was time to go home. He fell asleep on the way, but has been very excited to tell everyone all about the farm. It was fun for me too, I love seeing baby animals. They are so cute! Of course now I am just wiped, and my allergies are acting up from the dust and fur and everything, but it was worth it. Especially at the end when AJ looked at me and said, "Mom, Wank you for going to farm wiff me." aww the stinker can be so sweet.

Now why did I do that?!

2009-05-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

So I have always admitted to not being the brightest light on the strand... but sometimes I still surprise myself with the wonderment of predicaments I find myself in the middle of.

On Friday, John and I gave in to the calling of our yard desperately needing attention. It was one of those chores that loom over you like a 100 lb weight...it had rained the past weekend so the grass had grown out 2 weeks. The weeds were so tall Max had to stretch to see over the top of the ones along the back fence. It was time. We just couldnt stand it anymore. We had just enough time to take care of it and still shower and be ready for John's softball game that evening. While doing this I decided I may as well trim up the bushes along the porch, and the bottom of the pine tree so we could weed-eat under it.

I have no idea where my brain went during this. I had the hedge trimmer out and plugged in, ready to go. I knelt down to trim up under the tree, and went for the first branch. Now I dont know whether I tried to reach for the branch to steady it, or for the blade for added stability (you know, like putting your hand along the top of a knife while cutting potatoes or something) but either way it resulted in alot of blood. I stood up and tried to wipe my hand off on my pajama pants (still no functioning brain cells since the only thing that accomplished was bloody pants). Of course all that happened was more blood seeping from my fingers. I called over to John, since he is the doctor of the family. He came over and we went inside to wash off my fingers and see what kind of damage I did (this hurt REALLY bad by the way). We ran my hand under cold water and then tried to get the bleeding to stop. the pinky did not like this idea. It continued to bleed so we applied direct pressure. I am not good at this.

John finally got the bleeding to stop and bandaged two of the fingers, while I proceeded to reopen the pinky, starting the bleeding all over again. So I got to be the one squeezing the life out of my little finger to get it to stop, while John finished up the side yard real quick so we could go to the doctor. He didnt think I needed any stitches or anything, but we decided I definitely needed a Tetanus shot (I dont remember ever having one of these either).

We finally got to the doctor, and the nurse had me soak my fingers in some solution that was supposed to sanitize the wounds. This is where the ring finger decided to bleed. We discovered I had knicked the vein, since the blood was squirting out right in rythm with my heartbeat. Quite interesting to watch really. John had to come over and apply pressure since it really wasnt feasible for me. We got it to stop, but the doctor got it started all over again when he was looking at it. He announced that we could either stitch it, or immobilize the finger so that it didnt reopen. We decided to immobilize. So we put a bandaid on the middle finger, it was more like a really bad pinch with a couple small cuts, then he glued the pinky, and wrapped the ring finger. This is what my hand looked like coming out of the doctors.

He wasnt exactly the most competent doctor, but he tried. (The doctor did the bandaging, not his nurse). I also got the dreaded tetanus shot. I left the doctor just in time to go home, change my clothes, fix my makeup and head out to the game. John had to leave me at the doctors office to get to the field since he was supposed to be early. When all was said and done I managed to only be 10 min late!

It hasnt been to extremely sore, unless I apply pressure to my fingers. I have to keep the splint on or my ring finger bleeds. I do take the bandages off at least once a day to air out the wounds and clean them.

I just took them off and decided to snap a picture of the actual damage. Sorry if it grosses you out, you have been warned! Actually they look better today than yesterday ;)

There has been some seeping, but the doctor said that was expected. The glue came off the pinky this morning, like I said, not the most competent doctor. I thought for sure he was going to glue his finger to mine! But I keep it covered so I think it will be ok. The ring finger is by far the worst, but its looking better. Its not bleeding anymore either!

My arm has been achy from the shot, so I keep massaging and stretching it. Overall, I survived my momentarily brain lapse. I am a lucky girl! But man, you never realize just how much you use your fingers until you cant! I have figured out a way to shower, by ductaping a cleaning glove on my hand so I dont get my hand wet. Kinda trippy, but it works well, and I can still wash my hair and everything. So I am not totally handicapped.

I am incredibly blessed to have a wonderful caring husband who takes fantastic care of me. He is so sweet, I dont know what I would do without him! Not only did he do great with me, but on Saturday he finished the yard and took a load of junk to the dump. The yard looks great!

Lesson of the week: DO NOT put your hand by the running blade of a hedge trimmer. Not exactly rocket science, but sometimes...

Spring break, Anniversary, Easter...

2009-04-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have pretty well established the fact that I am terrible at habitual posting. Sorry!

Last week was a pretty busy one, the 3 younger boys were out of school ALL WEEK. (Cooper is out this week). I tried to plan different activities to keep them somwhat occupied. On Wednesday we took them to the Aquarium. The only one of us that had ever was Jaydn, on a field trip for school.

Yes, my children are insane. AJ seems to think this is the best pose for pictures. We had a great time seeing all the different types of fish, and getting to touch some of them. Jaydn and I let the shrimp clean our fingers. That was an interesting feeling! There were some beautiful fish there.

Again, goofball kids. John took pictures throughout the trip and posted them on his Facebook page. Check it out! He did a great job logging our day's activities!

After leaving the aquarium we went to Godfather's Pizza for lunch. This is one of Kyler's favoritist places ever to eat. When we were all stuffed full we went to Gateway to see Monsters vs Aliens. It was a great movie! We got cookies from Ben's Cookies and headed home, exhausted. Well, at least Mom and Dad were ;)

Thursday Aunt Patsy came over and helped us color Easter Eggs and make cards. The boys showed her how to play Mario Party on the Wii. It was great fun. We colored 3 dozen eggs. Anyone have a great recipe for Egg Salad? ;)

Friday was our 5th wedding anniversary! Yay us!! We had wanted to stay in our cabin at the Alaskan, but...it was booked :( so instead we booked a suite at the Grand America Hotel in SLC. The kids stayed with my mother-in-law (thanks Mom!!). We had never stayed there before, and it was an adventure. The room was great, we were on the 22nd floor! We had an entry hall, sitting room, bedroom, and huge bathroom. It was very elegant. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, which consisted of a filet mignon about the size of half a tennis ball, two carrot strips, 3 asparagus, and some other green plant that looked sorta like a mix between broccoli and a weed (it was not brocolli!!). Very small entree on a huge plate, drizzled in a wine sauce. The desserts were good, John ordered a bread pudding, while I ordered some dark chocolate tart thing. It was basically a small chocolate pie with mocha ice cream on it. Tasty indeed.

There were a few snags in our little get-away, but alll in all it was a great time. The best part of all was I got to be with my sweet husband. I still adore him, and it only grows more and more each day!!

Easter Sunday we woke up to let the kids find their easter eggs and baskets. This is part of what the Easter Bunny left....

These are the big baskets. There was also a small basket hidden for each of the boys, Jaydn and Kyler each got an Ipod, and AJ got a miniature trainset. Before they could go upstairs, we actually had to wake AJ up! (it was like 9:30) He insisted I take a picture of him in bed...

He was showing me that he was awake :P. We let the kids go upstairs and once AJ saw his basket on the couch he ran up and hugged it! He was pretty much done then, we had to coax him to find the other basket and the eggs. They were done with the hunt in about 1 minute flat. Then we got to relax while they played with their new things.

Some of my family from California came into town over the weekend, and it was nice to get to spend some time with them. I wish we got to see them more often!

Anyway, the kids are now back in school, except Cooper, but he is easy ;) It has been alot quieter the last couple days!

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!!

I have been owned....

2009-04-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

Today after the gym AJ ran in to sit on my lap. I started bouncing him on my knees and he was giggling. I asked if he was riding a horsie, and he said...

"No, I am riding a cow!!"

AJ-1 Mom-0

pwned.

Crossfit Challenge

2009-03-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Given the extra time we have on our hands, and John's need to get in better shape for getting on the fire department, he has found a new workout to follow. After a couple weeks I decided to join too. It is called Crossfit, and if you havent ever heard of it, it is the kind of workout that firemen, policemen, military people, etc do to keep in shape. It is a complete-body workout, rather than focusing on one particular muscle set each day. Here is the description I pulled off the website:

"Crossfit is functional fitness based around the concept that a grandmother, Navy Seal, housewife, or NFL football player all benefit from the same types of movements. Professional athletes do clean & jerks, box jumps, squat, and deadlift and so do we.....we just start out with lighter weights and scaling back the intensity. Then we up the intensity until we're training like a pro athlete would. It always changes and while you may suffer you'll never be bored."

Sounds scary, right? Trust me, I never would have thought I could do any of these workouts. There is a gym in Kaysville, right by AJ's preschool, which works out just dandy for us. They have classes throughout the day, so you can pick the time of day that works best for you and go. We like the 10am class, so we go after dropping AJ off. Sometimes there are 4-5 people, sometimes it is only John & I and the trainer.

Another good thing is that you tailor the workout to what you are able to do. The goal is to finish the workout, and then as you get fitter, increase weight, and start doing it for time (usually 20 min). The instructors are all really nice, encouraging instead of critical. The only competition is with yourself. They do keep track of the scores throughout the day so that you can keep track of your progress if you want.

Each day, you go in, start by rowing 1000m on the rowing machine. After that, you take a few minutes and can work on whatever you are struggling with, or want to get better at. Then we gather for a group warmup, which varies each day, just like the workout. Today's warmup was everyone standing in a circle facing outward, doing ballslams, and passing around a medicine ball. The goal was to do 2 ballslams between each pass around. With only 5-6 people in the circle, that makes it quick! Last Friday's warmup was jumprope for 30 secs, situps for 30 secs, and Superman pose for 30 secs, done 3 times. That is just the warmup!!

Everyday they have a different workout, called the Workout of the Day, or WOD. You will see that I have put the WOD on the corner of the blog. Check back each day, and see if you can do it! (these workouts can be done at home or at your gym). They name the workouts, and today's was named after a Firefighter that was killed on the job in 2000. There is also a website, www.wasatchcrossfit.com for our gym. They post the workout each day, as well as the scoreboard from the day before. They like to take pictures and post them there too.

They are very personable there, and like to get together outside the gym. Last weekend we all went to Roosters to celebrate Priscilla's birthday (she and her husband Damon run the gym). They rented a conference room upstairs and had catering and a cash bar. It was alot of fun. There has been alot of talk about doing group hikes, BBQs, and even a trip to Moab this summer. Funstuff!

So that is what we are doing to get fit. Its a lot of fun, so if you are looking for something new to do, check out their website and give them a call!

Meet Millie

2009-03-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

Alright, this post is a little late, but better late than never, right?

Anyone who has been reading our blog should know about our Max. We have had him since October, and he has been the greatest dog. But he is a high energy active dog, and after awhile we realized that human play just wasnt enough for him. So we started taking him to Doggie Daycare once a week to let him socialize. He LOVED it. He would get so excited anytime we mentioned it, and would come home thoroughly exhausted. But only one trip a week left a pretty bored dog the rest of the week. He would seriously come and sit by our chairs and make it a point to heave a big sigh, just to let us know he was bored (who says dogs arent like kids?).

After much consideration, and John's unquelched desire to still own a Lab, we decided to start looking for a furry companion for Max. We saw a few online, and took a family trip out the the shelter in Murray. Max got to come along too. Here we met Millie. She is the same age as Max, (both turn 3 this month!) and twice as big. She was so docile and lovey/cuddly that John immediately fell in love with her. It took me some time, because Max is my mutly, but I have grown fond of her.

This is the first pic I have of Millie at home. She is sitting in the corner of my desk and the closet, where everything I dont want to deal with right-this-second gets piled. She was dirty, but as you can see she is a very light blond.

When we got her home we quickly realized she had Kennel Cough. We took her to the vet and got her on meds for it, and she soon started feeling better. This also brought out the "real" Millie. The docile doggie we saw at the shelter was clearly the SICK Millie. Non-sick (or at least, over the cold. We just had her treated for Giardia) Millie is a hyper, attention starved 100% Lab. Anytime we try to give Max attention she would butt in. Of course, this created some issues that we had to learn to deal with. The two dogs took some time to establish who was the dominant one, and even still I am not totally convinced its been decided. Max struggled with suddenly having a new dog all up in his business, and Millie just wanted to be everyones baby.

We immediately hired a dog-trainer, to help with loose-leash walking, Max's bolting, and just helping them get to know each other and learn to co-exist. She introduced us to the best invention ever, the Electronic Collar. Now before anyone starts spamming me with accusations of dog abuse (I know, it DOES sound harsh), I want you to know that we all, even the kids, have felt the effects of these collars on our own hands. They are remote-controlled, and the level is adjustable. The level that we could finally feel it was twice as high as what the dogs are at. It doesnt hurt, it is more like someone poking you on the shoulder saying "hey you! pay attention!" There are two buttons for each dog on the control, one that just vibrates them, and one that delivers the "shock". Anyway, we have had these for about a month now, and the dogs have responded AMAZINGLY well. We can take them outside OFF-LEASH and they stay right with us. Max doesnt bolt anymore. They have learned new tricks, and have grown to love their collars, because to them, they are a sign of freedom.

You cant deny that that is a happy dog! Check out that big ole grin!

Maxie getting in some cuddle time with John. He is happy too! See his smile? He is clearly the more reserved one.

She is a Rolie-Polie. She loves to lay on her back and stretch out. Both dogs have grown accustomed to each other, and even like each other. They play together all the time, and even cuddle sometimes. All in all, I think it was the right decision to bring Millie into our family. Max has a playmate, and she got a new home. And...we have utter chaos reigning in the house ALL the time! Two dogs blocking the entryway instead of one, two water dishes spilling, (and you know labs, they get their water EVERYWHERE), twice the doghair, etc. But they are so much fun, and such a great addition to our family.

Now all we need is a cat.... ;)

My very first card!

2009-03-14T11:34:00.001-07:00

I have never been a creative one when trying to scrapbook, so I just dont do it. But my friend does Stampin' Up!, and I have been to a few of her workshops. I really like the ideas that I have seen, and even used a few of the stamps when I was doing Pampered Chef. However, I was never confident enough to try out making cards. But, the last workshop I went to I decided to give it a try. Here is the first attempt with my new products!

I made it for John's Grandma, who is turning 90. We are going to a family party for her this afternoon, so I decided to give it a shot. I am quite happy with it! I hope she likes it!

Conflicted

2009-03-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

I have officially joined the masses of the unemployed. How do I feel about this? Conflicted. That best describes what I feel. There are a few different reasons that feed into this. I guess I should start though by actually describing my job.

Back in November, after John got hurt and left SLC Fire, we decided that I would step up and find a job to support the family. This was a rather daunting task, seeing as how I had not worked in 8 years. Well I worked, but the powers that be do not consider being a mom an actual "job". I looked online day after day, made up a resume and submitted it to a bunch of jobfinder services. I applied for all kinds of clerical/receptionist/etc jobs. I figured that would be the best type of starter job for me. I had alot of previous experience that led down that avenue.

Then one day I happened upon an ad on Craigslist. Yep, Craigslist. It was simple, asking for a personal assistant, work at home, etc. I emailed the person and she called me almost immediately and set up a time to meet for the next day. That person was Jamie, my soon-to-be boss. There were so many perks to the job, the biggest being I get to work from home. She initially said I would work 20-30 hours a week, for $10 an hour. Well, she actually needed me full time, and offered me 5% commission on projects that got funded. Funding takes 45-60 days, so she offered to pay me $250 every two weeks out of her own pocket until the commissions started coming in. The company was a private lending firm, and what they did was help get funding for large commercial real estate projects. My job was basically the same as a receptionist, answering calls, taking messages, sending out forms and keeping track of who has done what. We had 50+ directors, who worked with the deals, and over 200 brokers who were responsible for bringing in the deals. I was in charge of all their paperwork. Meanwhile, Jamie was working with a few different principals to get their projects funded. We were looking towards having around $5k in January. What a number, right? That was just one month, and she promised even more on the horizon.

Well shortly after Christmas, I started hearing about some troubles in the company. You know, crooked lawyer, psychotic employee, millions of dollars missing, etc. All kinds of BaD MoJo. Jamie kept me informed somewhat, and tried her best to answer my questions. Long story short, the president of the company ended up filing for bankruptcy, thus not paying ANYONE commissions. Also, it came to light that he had not been able to get any of the deals funded that we had been working on. So where now?

Angel, who was the Vice President of the company, also had the connections to the traders and was able to salvage her relationship with them. Thus she began her own company, bringing over most of the people who worked for us previously. I was tasked with helping create the new documents, contracts, etc. I worked my butt off for them, Learning on the fly how to do things I had never even known could be done on my computer. Since Jamie still wasnt making any money, but still continuing to pay me, I cut back my hours to make it fair to us. That also enabled me to get a second job if needed.

Throughout this all, I became an invaluable asset, I can say this, because I was told it constantly. I did the things that no one else had time for. I dealt with the people and the questions that they didnt have the patience to deal with. I kept my faith up that something good was going to come out of all this. There was a great deal of potential, if we could get over the hurdles of the first few weeks of starting up.

I was told I was going to become part of the administration, for all the work I had put in. I was told I was going to start getting paid by Angel, thus freeing Jamie from the financial resposibility of keeping me. I was told I would be working directly with the other administrators. What a gratifying feeling that was.

Within two days Jamie called me to tell me that Angel simply didnt have the time to deal with me, and things would remain as is. That was the first day that I had real doubts about my future with this company. To be told that the president doesnt have time for you, well, what does that say to potential customers? Needless to say, I started picking apart other details. I started questioning the real outlook on this whole thing. It sounded great, like a real money maker, and it could still possibly become one. But did I want to wait around while making pennies (my pay equalled out to $6 an hour) in case that might happen?

So when Jamie called me yesterday to tell me she just couldnt afford to pay me anymore, I wasnt entirely heart-broken. I am totally grateful for what she has paid me over the last few months, all of her own money. She hasnt been making any money. But she did her best to at least give me something. Plus I walk away from this with all kinds of new skills that I didnt have walking in.

I also noticed a big change in myself, that was echoed by John. For the last 8 years, I have been a stay-at-home mom. I love my kids to death. But during that time, I faced some difficult trials, huge life changes, and all kinds of emotional issues. I have gone through the deepest depression that I have ever had, and turned into an anxious anti-social grumpy hermit. When I was given this job, even though I worked from home, I felt like I was a part of something OUTSIDE my current existence. I suddenly felt important again. It brought back my motivation to be a good mom, a good wife, a good friend. Its like finally leaving the cave after a long winters' hibernation. I feel the sunshine on my face, the wind whisping through my hair (no angels singing though, the kids are too loud). But honestly, I am a better person because of it. All of it.

So, I walk away from this a new person, with a newfound purpose, desire, etc. Of course we worry about finances and all that, but we are blessed enough to be fine for the time being. If we are careful, I can manage taking some time off, catching up on spring-cleaning, getting back into excercising, etc. At some point I will find another job. I do not want to just stay home anymore. I dont want to fall back into that hole. I think a job that is part-time, 2-3 days a week would be perfect.

Know anyone who wants to hire a fat chick with black and red hair? :D

The Four Musketeers

2009-02-20T12:03:00.000-08:00

Alright I know I have fallen behind on posting, we have had a phenomenally busy 3 weeks. But all that is going to have to wait for another post (or posts) because this one is for my girls.

The four of us, dubbed "The Four Musketeers" long ago by I think my dad, have been best friends for roughly 25 years (yes, we are that old). Mindy, Megan, Katie and I all became friends in Kindergarten. all 4 of us all lived within a couple blocks of each other (our parents all still live in the houses we grew up in), so we were all in the same church ward and of course schools.

We went through all 13 years of school together. There were of course times we fought with each other, times when one or more of us ventured off into another group of friends for awhile, Megan even moved to Arizona for a short period of time. In the end, it always came back down to us 4. We were always there for each other all through school plays, dances, boys, drama, birthday parties, girls camp, even graduation. We have gone to each others weddings, been there for the births of our children, and everything in between.

Not many people can say that they have been friends and have stuck together through it all, but we can. My girls have been there for me through everything I have gone through. They were there for the 1st wedding, the births of my boys, they were all there at my parents house crying with me the day after Jeramie died. They were there for the funeral and the tough times after. They were all there when I met and married John, when we had AJ, and everything since. We have girls night once a month to catch up and hang out. I truly cherish this friendship, and look forward to continuing this great relationship until we are 4 old ladies sitting together in wheelchairs poking fun at others ;)

My Katie just got married on Jan 31st. I almost think she may have been the smartest of us all, seeing as how the rest of us are on marriage #2 (or at least working on it). She married a great guy who has 3 kids of his own to make a family with Katie and her boy Myer. I am so incredibly happy that she has found a good man that will make her happy and take care of her. The sad part is though, they left for Japan for 3 years last Sunday. Carl has a job as a civil servant with the US military and is currently stationed in Okinawa. I know Katie will do just fine, but I sure will miss her.

We were able to have one last get-together with our husbands the day before she left. It happened to be Valentines Day, and we went to Olive Garden for lunch. I was smart enough to bring my camera!

Mindy & Jason, Tara & John, Megan & Daniel, Katie & Carl Feb 14 2009.

The Newlyweds, Carl & Katie Canlas. Katie and I were pretty much inseperable growing up. Katie is very sweet and caring person, and I know she will be a great wife. She is a great mom to Myer.

Myer got to come with us to lunch since it was his birthday. He turned 6 (its also Carl's bday, 2 valentines babies!). We had the waiters sing a celebration song for him, Carl, and as a farewell and I think poor Myer was ready to hide under the table!

Megan & Daniel Jensen. These 2 are quite funny. I sense a growing friendship between the guys! Which works out for us, couples dates are always fun!! Megan shares my tendency to have preemies. We make em small! :)

Mindy & Jason. Alright, these two arent married yet, but are working on it from what I hear. June wedding anyone? I see and talk to Mindy the most out of the girls, because I do her hair. We also have pretty much had parallel lives. She is a goofball and we generally laugh a whole bunch when we are together :)

That leaves John and I. You know us, we arent all that exciting. Ok, we are, buts thats mostly because we (at least I) say or do alot of silly things and laugh a whole lot.

There is the condensed story behind the 4 musketeers. We have been and will continue to be the best of friends. I owe alot to these ladies, and will forever cherish the unique relationship we all share.

So here's to friends...May everbody have at least one they can count on through it all. Thanks girls for being mine!!

(ok for some reason beyond my comprehension there is alot of extra spacing in this post. I cant figure out how to fix it, so if any of you know how please enlighten me! :)

Garbage Trees

2009-01-25T21:42:00.001-08:00

Today I had the chance to just chill and not *have* to do anything. I have been sick with a bugger of a cold, so resting all day would be ideal, right? No, I got fed up with looking at the piles around my desk, so I tackled them. Then it was the floor and shelves under my desk. This transpired into cleaning the den/office, I mean REALLY cleaning, moving things to clean under them, dusting, etc. (stirring up dust when you have a cold that is already moving into your chest is not entirely a good thing. I swear to Pete if I sneeze one more time I am going to blow a lung). I cleaned off the entertainment center and got all the Wii stuff organized and homes found for everything. Then after that I decided to move onto the bedrooms. Cleaning kinda has the domino effect to it, you know, take things from one room to another and then you have to clean THAT room.

So I start with AJ's room. Jaydn and Kyler have already cleaned their room at this point, just needing it to be vacuumed. Since I am in this mode of deep-cleaning, that means going through all the drawers and toybins ,under beds and everywhere. While doing this, I come to the conclusion that when a child is born, it comes with an invisible garbage tree attached to it. You cant see said tree, but by golly you bring that kid home and your garbage triples. And this phenomenon doesnt ease with time. In fact, it might just get worse (bigger tree, bigger mess, right?). How it is possible to leave a 3 yr olds room with 2 full bags of garbage after cleaning it is beyond me. Where does all this stuff come from?! Oh and the older kids....I wouldnt be at all surprised if at least half of the landfill consisted of my household's garbage alone. And what is it with kids' fascination with garbage? I find torn papers and partial packaging and all kinds of things stuffed in drawers, hiding under the bed, along with those mysteriously disappearing socks. And its not like they dont have access to a garbage can, Jaydn and Kyler have 2 (TWO!) garbage cans in their room. Go figure.

The other day I wanted some crackers to go with my soup, so I start poking around in the pantry to find some. What do I find? not crackers, because they have all been devoured by the bottomless pits I call my children. No, what I find is 5 (FIVE!!) EMPTY cracker boxes sitting on the shelves (I shop at Costco, so of course there are multiple boxes of Ritz, graham, and Saltines). There is a garbage can right to the side of the pantry. But apparently we are saving cardboard boxes in the event that we run out of food and have to eat the box. Or something like that, right? I also find empty juice pitchers in the fridge. and empty cereal boxes in the cupboard. It never ends.

If I had the chance, I would take a chainsaw to those garbage trees. But knowing my luck, the sawdust would still be on the floor. Right next to the garbage can.

2009-01-21T20:04:00.001-08:00

Ok so, I made a new years resolution to blog once a week. Already blew that one, and its not even a month into the year! I call do-over!! To be honest, I really havent thought of much of anything interesting to blog about. Brain-freeze, writers-block, whatever.

The kids are back to school after a 4 day weekend, and we are all very happy about it (even if they tell you otherwise). John and I got to enjoy 2 very quiet hours today while all the boys were at school, and Max was at doggie daycare. Ah what a beautiful thing, doggie daycare. It is just like a daycare for kids, but its for dogs. You take your dog there and they get to play and romp and run and come home exhausted. Max absolutely loves it. We try to take him at least once a week. He isnt able to go run around the back yard right now, since its so muddy. Hopefully soon it will either freeze back up or dry up, one of the two. That way he can go run in circles to his heart's content! We have toyed with the idea of getting him a playmate, but we just arent sure we could handle 2 dogs, plus we both know there is no way in hell we could be lucky enough to get another dog as good as Max.

Kyler and I are both sick with colds right now, he is worse than I am. I mostly just have the stuffy itchy sinus/throat thing, but he is coughing and slightly feverish. Hopefully it doesnt get too much worse for him, and hopefully it doesnt spread throughout the house! I cleaned the kitchen tonight, after spending about 3 1/2 hours running errands and grocery shopping. I even cleaned out the fridge! There was only one or two small science experiments found in the back... Now I get to sit down and enjoy some time to myself.

Cooper has been living with us for about 3 weeks now, and we all really enjoy it. We do miss him quite alot while he is visiting his mom on the weekends, but I guess we do have to share :P He is a great kid and a big help. Plus alot of fun. We have quite a bit of playful banter going on pretty much all the time. Lots of laughs. And speaking of laughs... Everyone who is a mother knows that there is no longer such a thing as using the bathroom in peace... there is always at least one other little body in the bathroom with us. (and a dog diligently waiting outside the door, standing ready to follow you at your heels to whatever room you go to next). So today I am in there, and AJ is climbing in and out of the bathtub, sliding down the back of it. It is slanted, so makes a nice little slide. Anyhow, he looks over at me and in his ever so honest little 3 yr old voice tells me, "Mom, you have a big butt". I was half laughing and half threatening him with his life if he didnt get out of the bathroom. Little bugger. He is such a character.

Well hopefully I will think of more interesting things to write about for next time. We are just super busy keeping up with a routine of work/school/chores and everything in between. Hope all is well with everyone!

Where did Christmas go?

2009-01-10T18:39:00.000-08:00

My last post was right after getting the tree up...a MONTH ago!! So where did all that time go?

Well, I got busy. REALLY busy. But thats what its all about, right? I do most of our Christmas shopping online, but there are still all those fun deals at the stores (no, I do NOT participate in black friday, not the morning portion anyway. I might venture out in the afternoon when all the crazy people go home), with Mervyn's closing we decided all the kids get new outfits for Christmas. So I did do a bit more store shopping than normal this year. But I found Max the CUTEST stocking...

And it fit perfectly on the railing! So our family is definitely complete. Christmas came alot quicker than I wanted it to, but it was fun. Cooper & Syd spent Christmas eve & morning with their mom and came up that afternoon. So Jaydn, Kyler & AJ got to see what Santa left. They were all really excited, and had a blast opening presents. They all got their own little toys, and then the family got a Wii. I think Jaydn almost peed his pants he was so excited. (I didnt get any pictures of Christmas morning, John got me a cool digital video camera but it ended up not working and had to be returned) The Wii has been alot of fun, we got Mario Kart, Wall-e, Wii-fit, and a couple other games. We had my family party Christmas Eve, I wore a Santa hat and John took a picture...

We usually have his family party on Christmas Day, but it got postponed due to illnesses. So we actually stayed home the entire day! My family did a Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday after Christmas, (we never had one on the actual holiday) and a New Year's Eve party. John's family Christmas party was on New Year's Day. I tell ya, by the time that was all said and done with, I was partied out!! TOTALLY ready for school to start back up :P

Workwise, we were getting ready to close up for the holidays on the 16th (our lenders are actually closed from Dec 15 to Jan 15). We are also converting to a new system, and all the files have to be transferred over manually. Guess what my job was? Along with my regular duties dealing with the new brokers. So saying I was busy was putting it mildly. But it was nice to have 2 weeks off. I am back at work now, but things are slow and pretty quiet. Its nice since we still have alot of work to do with the new system.

This last week the kids were all back to school and it was wonderful. So nice and quiet! OH!! And Cooper is officially moved in!! We are SOO excited that he is here. He is such a great kids and everyone has so much fun. We definitely miss him on the weekends when he is visiting his mom.

Thats all I can think of for now, I will try and do better again now that the chaos of Christmas is over. Although my tree is still up...

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2008-12-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

I finally feel like its ok to be in "Christmas mode". You know how its hard to accept that people put up their Christmas lights the day after Halloween, (what about Thanksgiving people!?) or that the stores have their Christmas displays up right after school starts. I usually refuse to get into the Christmas spirit until the 2nd week of December. Sometimes I *might* get there in the first week, but thats pushing it :P

Yesterday we got the tree set up, and the kids decorated it. John made a fantastic spaghetti dinner, and reindeer sugar cookies for dessert with eggnog to drink. While we were decorating John quizzed the kids on Christmas facts, and when they were right they got a cookie. We were both surprised at how much AJ knows!

The tree itself wasnt too terribly irritating. I wore long sleeves to avoid the rashes (I am allergic) and it went up fairly easily. I only had to take off 3 strands of lights. I replaced one, and then put the bare branches in the back where they wont be seen >:) I decided that I would buy new lights this year, and put them all on next year. When I take the tree down I will remove the remaining working lights and put them somewhere else. After the tree was put up and decorated, another strand went out, but I left it as is because I will have to remove the entire strand to replace it. And it really doesnt show up much.The joys of Christmas!! While I was fighting with the lights John downloaded the 12 pains of Christmas song and laughed at me :P

I also managed to put up the lights and silver leafy vine stuff around the railing and hung up all our stockings. I discovered we have just enough room for a stocking for Max! If you go by our railing, our family is now complete :)

Now that that is done, and I feel ok listening to Christmas music, I am getting excited. I may even put up my nativity this year! I have been shopping and putting together a fun surprise, not even John knows about it! But it is alot of fun.

I actually have 2 trees, and alot of cute SnowBuddies decor. But since our family has outgrown the house, I just dont have room for all of it. So my pretty tree is put away with all my silver/blue decor for when we have a new house, and now we just put up the kids' tree. It is colorful, with Santa on top, and all their ornaments. (we have a tradition of everyone getting a new ornament each year).

We also have nailed down a time for when Cooper is moving in with us!! Over Christmas break, between Christmas and New Years. We are really excited. We really enjoy having him here and know it will be great. He likes being here too, and feels it is the best place for him to be right now. He needs to be with his Dad :) So...one more testosterone factory for this little house! Its all good, I like being the pink in my house of blue ;)

Done for another year....

2008-11-29T20:08:00.000-08:00

So today we went and had our family pictures done. It is the time of year that I dread the most. Trying to get 5 kids to sit/standup straight, smile, and not fidget through 6-7 different poses is almost impossible. Not to mention keeping hair and faces looking presentable. And there is always one who keeps blinking right when the camera clicks.

Of course this event requires alot of preparation. Finding decent shirts that aren't stained, jeans that dont have holes or grass stains in the knees, matching socks, etc. Despite the fact that I keep buying the boys belts, they still cant find one. So on it is to another pair of pants that arent going to fall down around their ankles at a most inopportune time. Making sure each kid has a clean face, and KEEPS it that way is a huge task in and of itself. Not to mention their hair. Jaydn and Kyler have both been on this long hair kick, and despite my attempts to keep it looking clean and well kept, they still manage to end up with unruly flyaway moptops. 10 minutes before we were supposed to be at the portrait studio I stand their chiding myself for not cutting their hair BEFORE pictures.

AJ is supposed to be napping so he is happy for pictures, yet he sits in his room playing and singing. And yes, we can hear him all the way upstairs. When we tell him to go to sleep, he announces he has to poop. We get that done and him back in his room, and all he does is play and sing. And occasionally thump the door. So of course he didnt take a nap, and is inpatient and unwilling to cooperate.

The studio part itself wasnt that bad this year, Cooper set a record with not closing his eyes even once! Syd had trouble with smiling, and AJ wanted to be a doofus and make funny faces. We gave in early to the fact that Jaydn just struggles with holding a pose and smiling. That is just part of his AS. Kyler had the giggles, but all in all we managed to get out of their relatively quickly, at least for us.

I am so relieved to be done with it until next year! Oh, and I finally got a good picture of AJ by himself!! I havent done that since he was 17 months old!! It is SOO cute too! Of course John had to bribe him to smile by holding up a candy bar, but whatever works, right?

Now all I gotta do is figure out who gets what and get them printed....

What I am thankful for....

2008-11-27T10:47:00.001-08:00

The last couple days I have been able to really reflect on my life, and discover what all I am thankful for. The list is quite long! So while "Team Whirlwind" is in effect (ask me about that later), I decided to take a few minutes and type out what today means to me.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I love all the yummy food, but most of all I love the big family get-togethers. Christmas get-togethers are great too, but on Thanksgiving there are no presents, no distractions. Just family.

Every year when you ask people what they are thankful for, a most common answer is "my family". It is so common in fact that it feels almost cliche to say it. But when I really think about it, I am most thankful for my family. For many reasons. No matter what happens in life, you always have your family. They are the few who will love you and be there for you, unconditionally. They look after you, support you, guide you, and always love you.

My parents did their absolute best to raise me, even when I didnt always agree. They let me fly when I was ready, but were always there to catch me when I fell. When my entire world crashed into a million pieces and I suddenly lost all understanding and meaning of who I was, it was they who picked me up and carried me until I was ready to walk again. They served as my bumper guards as I swerved along the path of life. And when everything fell back into place and I found my way again, it was they who were waiting to walk me down the aisle to my future.

I am grateful for my wonderful cousin who was there by my side during a most interesting year of my life. We didnt always do right, but we had one hell of a time. She is alot like the sister I never had, and I continue to cherish our unique relationship.

I am grateful to my mother-in-law, for giving me my soulmate. Without her, I would be alone. John is everything he is today because of the influence she has had on him.

I am eternally grateful for my sweet sweet husband. He has been a huge support, a perfect companion, lover, best friend. I knew without a doubt when we met that he was my soulmate, and I have never once questioned that. He is always there for me, and loves me for who I am, shortcomings and all.

I am grateful for my chance to be a mother. I have 5 beautiful, unique children who bring so much to our family. Even when it is blue and green hair paint streaks on their bedroom carpet.

I am thankful for this fantastic job that I stumbled upon. I have always been taught to never question miracles, and I know that this opportunity is truly a miracle. It gives me the chance to still be at home, but work and be able to supply a wonderful future for my family.

All in all, I am thankful for everything in my life, the people, the memories, the opportunities, the pain I have felt, the losses I have endured, the happiness I have basked in, the love I have cherished, the lessons I have learned. I wouldn't trade it for anything, for without it, I would not be who I am today.

Go Utes!! And Happy Birthday John!!

2008-11-22T19:31:00.000-08:00

So we just got done watching the UTES game. What an awesome game! Sorry to all the BYU fans out there, but we kicked your butt!! Today is also John's birthday, so we had a party at our house to have cake and watch the game. A couple of our friends came over and we had tacos for dinner and cheered super loud. It was a blast!! John got a new Utes tshirt to wear, and a mini football to throw at the kids (dont worry, they LOVED it). All in all it was a great day, John was extremely happy, and everyone had a blast.

I hit the jackpot when I went to the store to pick out his cake. They had this one made already so I snatched it up and had them write Happy Birthday John on it. It was perfect!!

Its a bit blurry, but my camera is broken so I have to use my phone. You can still see what a great cake it was! AND I put all *33* candles on there :) It was bright!! Everyone is just chillin' now, AJ went to bed, the rest of the kids are watching TV, & John is playing around on the net.

Once the kids go to bed I will give John his last birthday present... a "little" something I picked up at Vicky's in the mall ;)

Tomorrow I have to work, I should have today but didnt want to. Plus we had stuffs goin on!! Hopefully over the holiday weekend we can get all caught up and this excess amount of work will go away. But we are working on closing another $50m worth of deals this week. That makes for a beautiful paycheck for me! This week coming up I will start working with the brokers directly. I am learning fast, and my boss has told me repeatedly how much she appreciates what I have done for her so far. Its been good!

Thanks Megan and Melissa for leading me to the blog template site. I like this one, but have already changed it 3 times, and will probably change it a few thousand more. But thats what we do, right?

I need a new template

2008-11-20T21:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, so all of you have such cute templates on your blogs! I tried to find one but apparently am handicapped in that department. Will you guys please tell me a good (non-popup/spamming type) place to find a really cute unique one? Links are a wonderful thing!!! Thanks!!

A few days in...

2008-11-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

Now that I have been officially working for a few days, I figure I will post an update. I am still in the learning process, but catching on quickly. I have spent the last few days going through my boss's files on directors and brokers and making seperate files for each. We have almost 30 directors and close to a hundred brokers to manage, with new ones coming in almost daily. I have been creating and updating spreadsheets for each. I should be finished with that later today, and then we move on to training me to process emails and take phone calls. My poor boss is so completely overwhelmed right now with all this work and I have been trying diligently to help her out. She has been thrilled with my work so far. Like I mentioned in the last post we set up remote access so I can access her computer from mine, and easily transfer files back and forth. Its kinda weird, I can pop on her computer and start using it as if I were sitting right in front of it. Sometimes she is on it so we have figured out a way to communicate via notepad until I can get her messenger set up right. But the remote access has become a great friend of mine, I can find anything I need to with a press of a few buttons. We have a wonderful IT guy that helps me figure out anything I want to know, and right now he is working on getting her outlook files to transfer to my computer.

So far I love working from home, I can sit in my jammies all day if I want, and no one will know! I can take a break and do a chore, or spend a little time with AJ. I only work an hour past when the boys get home from school, and they have their homework hour then, so it works out pretty well.

The best news of all so far is that we closed a $20m deal on my first day!! That means lots of commission for me, which really is a beautiful thing. This deal is for a golf resort in Magdalena Bay, Mexico. It will eventually turn into a $100m deal. We are also working on trying to get another deal or two closed this week. Well...my boss is working on it, while I am working on organizing her chaotic file system. Making tons of progress though, and I am all for closing deals!!

Anyhow, I gotta get working on those spreadsheets so I can be done with them. Until more come in anyway ;) Thanks for all your love and support!

Last day of freedom

2008-11-16T08:46:00.000-08:00

So on Friday I went to my "interview". Like I mentioned before, we were meeting at Starbucks (on a side note...their peppermint mocha coffee is to DIE for!!). I got there early and later discovered that she had too! So we sat down and chatted a bit. She told me more about what it is she does and what she would need me to do. She works with Phoenix Lending, which is a structured lending firm. I would be helping her manage her client files and emails, phone calls, and paperwork. The great thing about this job is I can do it from home! She was very friendly and we clicked really well. After a short talk she offered me the position. So, I took the job! I am now a full time employee after 8 years of staying home. The pay wont be half bad either! I went to her house yesterday so she could start showing me the things I would be needing to know, and we set up remote connections between our computers so that I can access her files from home. She is going to be giving me a work cell so that I dont have to use up my personal minutes for business.

I am starting tomorrow, and for now I will be going to her house so I can learn hands on how the workday pans out. Once I get the hang of things I will be able to stay at home. This is fantastic, meaning we dont have to put AJ in daycare. It may also make it so John can stay home until the next recruit school.

So today is officially my last day of "freedom". We are just hanging around this morning and later I will be going to my parents to do my mom's hair. I still have some reading to do and research on one of the computer programs I will be using, so I will probably have to do that later today too.

I guess its a good thing that computer at IHG didnt like me. I had a much better opportunity waiting!!

What is this world coming to?

2008-11-12T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well today I had an interview appointment with Intercontinental Hotel Groups. They own Holiday Inn, as well as other hotels. The job I put in for was a reservation agent. You know, taking people's reservations via phone in a call center. Not that complicated, right? Not to mention I have 2+ years experience working in a call center. They told me to expect to stay there for about 2 hours to complete the interview process. So I get there (in Salt Lake) and they sit me down to a computer and have me watch a small video about what it is they do. This video talks about the hiring process, which included a computer assessment, mock reservations, an interview, and a background check.

So I start the assessment, which consists of two parts. Part A has a series of questions with four scenarios each, and you have to decide the TWO that would be most likely to frustrate you, aggravate you, or make you uncomfortable. You have to complete each question. So I start going down the list, and the scenarios are things like, "starting conversations with strangers" or "entering information on a computer using a keyboard" or "maintaining computer equipment" and things like that. Very few of these options would frustrate me at all, but knowing that I HAD to mark 2, I just picked the ones that would most likely have at least SOME potential to annoy me. Then there was one option "working with a group of people that are capable of commiting violence". Uh, YEAH, that would make me uncomfortable! Most of these questions had the same scenarios in a different order. So I did the best I could, keeping in the back of my mind that the instructor said this program was designed to be able to tell if you were not telling the truth. (uh, its a computer, but ok).

Part 2 was a series of questions where you had to pick a response out of the 6 or 7 different options, like never, almost never, sometimes, frequently, etc. I answered these pretty honestly, even though alot of the questions were asking how my co-workers would view me. I just thought of what John would say since he is pretty much my co-worker in life.

After finally finishing all these questions, I sat in the waiting area waiting for an interview. The lady calls me back, and we go in a little room, and she then proceeds to thank me for applying but they have decided to go with other applicants. WHAT?! Who decided? A computer? I asked her what I failed, seeing as how the only thing I had done so far was answer a bunch of random questions on a computer. She said "I dont see it as failing," and then goes on to tell me that this is a system created by their corporate office that compares my answers to the answers that "makes a good employee", and then sends her a rating of either low, margin, or high as far as whether or not I am a good candidate. I apparently scored low, because she sent me on my way. She did say I could reapply in 90 days when they do their next hiring season. Gee, thanks!

So!! without even talking to a live person, I was denied a job answering phones. WOW. Can I tell you how frustrating that is? I didnt even get the chance to TALK to anyone. A computer decided whether or not I qualified. This wasnt based on my past experience, my work history, ethic, personality, anything like that. It was totally based off a bunch of completely randon questions. Seriously, one of the questions was "do your guests often comment on how clean your house is?" I marked never, because for one, we dont get alot of guests. For two, those who DO visit couldnt really care less whether or not my house is clean. That isnt why people visit others! And besides, what the crap does THAT have to do with this job?

I do have another interview on Friday, this one is with a lady who is looking for a personal assistant to work from home. I dont know many details yet, but she runs some kind of business funding projects, and I know my duties would include answering phone calls (on a cell phone she would provide me), handling clients, emails, etc. $10 an hour plus commission. Sounds really good so far, plus we are meeting at Starbucks so it should be a pretty personable interview. I am looking forward to it, and hopefully I wont have to fill out any computer assessments!

Today was very frustrating, but hopefully God has something better in mind for me. I just wish I couldve known before wasting my time! Oh well I guess, Hopefully Friday will turn out great, and until then, back to the grind.

A day in the life of a mother...

2008-11-05T19:16:00.000-08:00

So today started as usual... Jaydn & Kyler rummaging around making their lunches and getting ready for school, noisy as all get-out so of course everyone else woke up too. This is at 7:30. Max has a freakout moment after coming in from a potty break, running psychotically around the house and jumping up on our bed getting the sheets dirty with his muddy paws. Great, one more thing to add to today's to-do list, wash the sheets. I havent slept well lately and the last thing I want to do is pull myself out of the warm comfort of my bed. I do, until the kids leave for school, and then lay back down. In runs AJ with his toy guitar and starts jumping on the bed. Not so comfy anymore. So I get back up only to chase Max out of the bathroom. What is with dogs drinking out of the toilet anyway?

John has errands to run so he leaves roughly the same time I do to take AJ to preschool. Ahh, two hours of peace and quiet, how I love those rare moments! Of course I spent it on the internet looking for jobs and posting applications and resumes (and playing on Facebook), but at least I didnt have to chase AJ.

As soon as I got home from picking AJ up, we started cleaning his room. Well *I* cleaned, while he occupied himself with trying to make a tent out of his bed. Now this child has no ordinary bed, he will not sleep on one. He had a cute toddler bed all done up with Cars sheets and blankets, and he still slept on the floor. His room is in the basement, so his floor is carpet and pad on cement. Talk about hard and cold!! But he insisted, so I eventually got rid of the bedframe and put his mattress on the floor. Well he slept on that for all of two nights before going back to the floor. Luckily for Christmas he got a blow up Cars bed from Grandma, which he loves. So I finally got rid of the mattress and now he sleeps on his airbed. At least it isnt the floor anymore!! This bed can fold into an airchair, hence the trying to make a tent out of it. The room is finally cleaned and I convince a rather unwilling AJ to take a nap (took 3 pieces of Halloween candy to bribe him) and decided to tackle the downstairs toilet.

Ahh the toilet. This toilet and I go way back you see. I am pretty sure it has had it out for me since the kids moved downstairs. I am betting it is because Jaydn has terrible aim and manages to douse the toilet as well as the walls on a daily basis. Thank goodness for Clorox!! I never knew you could get pee in so many places at once. I wish I could do that!

It all started months ago when the kids came to tell me the toilet was clogged, AGAIN. So I went in with the plunger and tried to unclog it. wasnt working, so I asked John to come use his uber-plunge magic. All of a sudden we noticed a splash of red coming up through the hole and going back down. Hmm. So we keep plunging, and finally catch a good enough glimpse to determine that this is a bouncy ball. Not the small marble sized ones, nooo. This is a tennis ball sized one. Ugh!! So we start asking the kids who put it in there, only to have Jaydn tell us nonchalantly that he was bouncing it one day and it bounced into the toilet. Now of course he didnt try to get it out or bother telling anybody. (I am fairly convinced that kids dont start actually USING their brains until after college). So it ends up getting flushed over and over, but is too big to clear the passage way.

We keep plunging trying to get it to come back up into the bowl, but it keeps slipping back down out of reach. So I finally had to undo the floor bolts and detach the water hose so we could tip the toilet over to get it out. It finally worked, but in the process I noticed the water hose was an old copper pipe, so I decided to replace it. I didnt have the stuff to do it right then, so we just put the toilet off limits until I got it reconnected. I also found a small hole that had been filled in with caulk. I debated just buying a new toilet, but after seeing the prices decided against it. So I finally got the hose I needed, plus a new set of toilet guts for the tank. I got home and replaced it all, and finally got the toilet working again, only to find that it still was slow-flushing. I bought a toilet snake that was a rather deceiving contraption. I could put it all the way down without pulling anything out, so I wasnt entirely sure there was anything still stuck in there. I eventually gave up and we lived for a few months with a slow flushing toilet that would clog up from time to time.

Well today I decided enough was enough and I was going to take the toilet apart and figure out what the problem was. Nothing is ever easy, and this was no different. After fighting with bolts and hoses and all that junk I finally get the toilet off the floor. I dont see anything in the drain or underneath the toilet, so I take the toilet snake and weave it through again. I get it through after some prying, but still nothing that could give any idea as to why its having problems flushing. After many different maneuvers, spilling water and bleach all over the floor (I now have multicolored towels)I finally manage to get a glimpse of what is clogging it. After 3 of us failing to get it out, I took the tank off so I could move the base around easier. I finally was able to pull the culprit out once it finally fell back into the bowl.

The picture is a bit blurry, but this is a Shrek toy that came in a happy meal forever ago. This is what has been making my toilet not want to work. After berating all the kids, I threw this nasty thing away (AJ was fascinated with the "new" toy and wanted desperately to play with it) and finally managed to get the toilet put back together and turn the water back on to make sure it worked. I flushed it three times just to watch it work right!! I may have even done a little dance :)

Now my back is sore and my fingers hurt from prying bolts. I may just have to steal one of John's muscle relaxers!! But by golly the toilet flushes!!

I just close my eyes and think....Oh dear child, how I love thee....

Have YOU mentally strangled an unruly child today?

A new beginning.......

2008-11-03T17:07:00.000-08:00

Yay! We now have a new blog. Who knows, maybe I will do better at keeping this one updated. I am turrible, I tell ya, turrible.

There have been alot of new happenings around here lately, hence the title of this post. But let me begin by introducing Max.

Max joined our family on Sunday, Oct 26th. He is a 2 yr old German/Aussie Shepherd. He is extremely well-behaved and a wonderful companion to all of us. He knows alot of tricks and commands, and is intent on pleasing us. We found him after 3 days of searching every shelter between here and Murray. We actually saw him a few times, but were a little intimidated at the idea because he was underweight. But after some research and consideration we met him and I immediately fell in love with him. John was a little more reserved, but after spending some time with him and seeing how affectionate he was, he also grew to like him. Max has proved to be somewhate of a picky eater, only eating his food if we sprinkle Parmesan cheese on it first. We have been feeding him 3-4 times a day to get some weight on him. He has gained a few pounds, but still has a ways to go. He is active outside, and he LOVES to play ball. All you have to do is tell him to get his ball and he will find it wherever it is and bring it over, dropping it at your feet. He is a real sweetheart, and very well trained!

Most of you knew about Bella, our Lab-Retriever puppy that we got this summer. We had great aspirations of training her and raising her to be a great family dog. She was only 4 mos old when we got her. We worked with her everyday and got her into puppy classes, bought her tons of toys, etc. But she was extremely energetic, and we found it incredibly difficult to contain her in the house. She considered AJ nothing more than a plaything, and would jump on him knocking him over and nip at him, scaring him half to death. It got to where he wouldnt go anywhere near her. Cooper could hardly control her on the leash, let alone any of the younger kids. John being gone to academy and the kids being in school left only me to take care of her. But I was faced with a bit of a dilemma. I had AJ at home with me, and since he wouldnt go near her, I had to choose between being with him, or taking care of the dog. Of course, my son won out everytime. But that unfortunately led to Bella spending the majority of the time locked in her kennel. After much consideration, we decided with heavy hearts that we were not the right family for her. We talked with the breeder who luckily is a very understanding person, and we ended up giving Bella back, so she can find a family who will be able to give her everything she needs. A very sobering learning experience for us. It taught us alot about what we were capable of handling, which played a huge part in our choosing a new pet. Luckily for us, Max fit the bill perfectly.

Another New Beginning....

John decided that he wanted to follow his dream and become a firefighter. So in February of this year he begun the fire academy course at DATC. He graduated in May at the top of his class, and begun putting applications out there. He set his sights on Salt Lake City, it is the best department in the state, as well as the hardest to get on, and he knows most of the people there since he worked alongside them on the ambulance. He started the testing process for them in May, and that lasted through September. He placed 7th out of 2000+ applicants, and geared up to start their recruit school on Oct 20th. SLC's recruit school is the equivalent of military boot camp, with the addition of intense academics. It lasts 10 weeks, after which the recruits get their station assignments.

The first week was HR stuff, pretty boring, but required shirt and tie. Since John only owned 1 set of dress clothes, I got to go shopping for him and put together some really nice outfits. He looked pretty sharp! The second week began the REAL hard stuff. He had to get up at 4:30 am, get dressed in his physical training gear (they has strict requirements for these, and a long list of what he needed. Sent me on a scavenger hunt for all the right pieces!) and go to work ready to start running and other intense excercise. After PT he had to do housework and equipment checks. Then he had to clean up, and put on his uniform for uniform inspections. They are EXTREMELY strict on this, John once had to write a haiku as punishment for a thread that was found INSIDE his pocket. After inspections, they either did classtime or drills. That lasted the rest of the day, finally getting to go home at 6pm or so. Once John got home, he needed a shower, dinner, and studytime. He was tired he usually went to bed around 9, to get up and do it all again. This was Mon-Thurs.

My days while he was at work were getting kids off to school and preschool, running errands, cleaning, getting dinner ready, etc. Once John got home and showered I took his uniform and PT clothes to be washed and ironed. I also polished his boots. This had to be done every night. Needless to say, we were both kept pretty busy.

I speak of this in past tense, because last week John injured his back while pulling a hydrant bag of the truck. He was sent to Concentra (industrial clinic) where they did alot of different types of physical therapy to try and help relieve the pain and swelling. He was sent home early (this was on Thurs, last day of the week) with scheduled physical therapy for Fri and Mon. Because the recruit school is so intense they really dont want you to miss any time for risk of getting too far behind. So the instructors told John that if he wasnt fit for duty by Monday he could opt out of the class and retain his hire spot for the spring. All weekend was pretty stressful, with the thought of him suddenly being unemployed. Monday came and he went to the doctor, who said he still wasnt fit for duty. So after meeting with the instructors and debating on what to do, he decided to pull out and go back in the spring. He still has physical therapy until next week. Hopefully he can get his back healed and not need any further care for it.

So thus is the newest of our new beginnings, John looking for another job to last until spring, with me looking for a job as well. We still have a few decisions to make and some unanswered questions as far as benefits and that, but I am confident we will make it through this hard time and land on our feet once again. I am a bit concerned about finding a good job, considering I havent worked in 8 years. But there has got to be something, right?

Thank you to all our family and friends who have been following along with us on this journey. It has been a challenge, full of ups and downs. But we know its not over yet, and John's dream is still within reach. Keep your fingers crossed for us, and I will keep this blog updated along the way!