Now that I've figured out how to add photos to my blog, I've gone back and added photos to my October 1 blog post. The photos are of our trek to drop Cameron off at the MTC.
So, now you can add them to the photo frame Meagan and Zac gave you for Christmas. Or you can print them out and add them to the big binder Sheri made you. I bet Sheri's glad I didn't post these BEFORE Christmas! :)
P.S. I cropped most of them and added captions. If that doesn't work very well for you, let me know and I'll e-mail you (or Sheri) the uncropped, uncaptioned photos. And I just know you're going to add the photos of Jetta and Thor from my Dec. 10 blog post!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Photos!
Jetta says, "Hello!"
(Translation: "Take me outside! Yes, again! Out, out, out, out, out - Pleeaasseeee...")
Thor says, "Hi."
(Translation: "Leave me alone, but if you must take my picture,
at least you turned off the flash on the camera this time! Duh.")
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Hoy es El Gran Dia!
Today Cameron leaves the MTC and flies off to California. I can't believe it's already been nine weeks since we dropped him off at the MTC!
I miss my Camernon. It snowed this morning and it reminded me of how Cameron always cleaned off the car for me when it snowed. Then he'd give me a crushing bear hug before I drove him to school. He's so sweet. Cameron writes to me every week, but only on Wednesdays - that's his P-Day. But, he's off doing good things and learning and growing, so that is my solace.
David thinks it's stupid we can't go see him off at the airport. Rules have certainly changed from when David went on his mission. I wish we could go see Cameron off at the airport. Hopefully we'll get an e-mail today letting us know he got to his mission OK.
Wow. I just picked up the phone and guess who was on the other end? Cameron! He sounded good. It was nice to hear his voice and be able to talk to him. I thought I was going to have to wait until Christmas to talk to him. He says there are 15 other missionaries going with him to San Jose, but he thinks he's the only Spanish speaking missionary. Cameron told me he was able to call us because “somebody was being nice.” Whoever was being nice, I’m grateful. I told Cameron I was in the middle of blogging about him and he chuckled.
We're almost done with Cameron's room. It's taken longer than I thought it would. Just when we think we're about done, something else turns up to do. Today I'm painting inside the closet. I'm determined that we're going to be completely done with his room by this Saturday.
The Primary Sacrament Meeting Program was last Sunday. It turned out really well. The children said their parts well and they all sang beautifully. We had about 30 kids show up. That's more than we've normally been getting lately. At first we had about 50 kids every week, but now we only have about 25. Several families with Primary age children have moved out of the Ward and others have stopped coming. Unfortunately, the trend of not coming to Church seems to have struck the entire Ward, not just the Primary.
One of the Primary boys in the Ward told me after church: "We sounded like that choir that sings at General Conference." "The Tabernacle Choir?" I questioned. "Yes, that one," he affirmed. I had to agree with him. In fact, I liked our Primary choir better!
My, but the kids were wiggly during Primary. The Primary Program must have stressed them out, too. We didn't have lessons during Primary time; just some wiggle songs and a dvd and some treats (fruit snacks, popcorn, pretzels and water).
Next week it's back to normal again. Except that I need to request another Second Counselor. My third Second Counselor left because her husband got a Stake YSA calling and she has to be with him. Oh, and they're moving the end of this month. I have it narrowed down to a couple of names. I hope I'm inspired by Sunday, because I really want to submit a name by then.
Meagan, Amber and I practiced face painting Monday night. We found a bunch of Halloween designs and practiced some of them on each other. The second time face painting was easier than the first time, that's for sure.
I painted a spider web with a dangling spider and a dragon on Meagan and some candy corn people and a cupcake on Amber. Amber painted an autumn tree and a ghost on me and Meagan painted a stegosaurus. Meagan painted a spider web, a target, a musical heart and a treasure map. Amber painted a Captain America Symbol and a smiley face on Meagan. Then Meagan took pictures of our lovely paintings.
We borrowed the face paints from our neighbor Cyndi. She says they’re the brand of face paint they use at Disneyland – they’re non-toxic and don’t make you break out. If regular makeup felt as comfortable, I’d certainly wear it more often!
Meagan is interested in buying her own set, so I checked them out online. The brand is Snazaroo. The big set like Cyndi’s is $120 on Amazon. You can get the same set on eBay for $55. I know where I’d get them!
I miss my Camernon. It snowed this morning and it reminded me of how Cameron always cleaned off the car for me when it snowed. Then he'd give me a crushing bear hug before I drove him to school. He's so sweet. Cameron writes to me every week, but only on Wednesdays - that's his P-Day. But, he's off doing good things and learning and growing, so that is my solace.
David thinks it's stupid we can't go see him off at the airport. Rules have certainly changed from when David went on his mission. I wish we could go see Cameron off at the airport. Hopefully we'll get an e-mail today letting us know he got to his mission OK.
Wow. I just picked up the phone and guess who was on the other end? Cameron! He sounded good. It was nice to hear his voice and be able to talk to him. I thought I was going to have to wait until Christmas to talk to him. He says there are 15 other missionaries going with him to San Jose, but he thinks he's the only Spanish speaking missionary. Cameron told me he was able to call us because “somebody was being nice.” Whoever was being nice, I’m grateful. I told Cameron I was in the middle of blogging about him and he chuckled.
We're almost done with Cameron's room. It's taken longer than I thought it would. Just when we think we're about done, something else turns up to do. Today I'm painting inside the closet. I'm determined that we're going to be completely done with his room by this Saturday.
The Primary Sacrament Meeting Program was last Sunday. It turned out really well. The children said their parts well and they all sang beautifully. We had about 30 kids show up. That's more than we've normally been getting lately. At first we had about 50 kids every week, but now we only have about 25. Several families with Primary age children have moved out of the Ward and others have stopped coming. Unfortunately, the trend of not coming to Church seems to have struck the entire Ward, not just the Primary.
One of the Primary boys in the Ward told me after church: "We sounded like that choir that sings at General Conference." "The Tabernacle Choir?" I questioned. "Yes, that one," he affirmed. I had to agree with him. In fact, I liked our Primary choir better!
My, but the kids were wiggly during Primary. The Primary Program must have stressed them out, too. We didn't have lessons during Primary time; just some wiggle songs and a dvd and some treats (fruit snacks, popcorn, pretzels and water).
Next week it's back to normal again. Except that I need to request another Second Counselor. My third Second Counselor left because her husband got a Stake YSA calling and she has to be with him. Oh, and they're moving the end of this month. I have it narrowed down to a couple of names. I hope I'm inspired by Sunday, because I really want to submit a name by then.
Meagan, Amber and I practiced face painting Monday night. We found a bunch of Halloween designs and practiced some of them on each other. The second time face painting was easier than the first time, that's for sure.
I painted a spider web with a dangling spider and a dragon on Meagan and some candy corn people and a cupcake on Amber. Amber painted an autumn tree and a ghost on me and Meagan painted a stegosaurus. Meagan painted a spider web, a target, a musical heart and a treasure map. Amber painted a Captain America Symbol and a smiley face on Meagan. Then Meagan took pictures of our lovely paintings.
We borrowed the face paints from our neighbor Cyndi. She says they’re the brand of face paint they use at Disneyland – they’re non-toxic and don’t make you break out. If regular makeup felt as comfortable, I’d certainly wear it more often!
Meagan is interested in buying her own set, so I checked them out online. The brand is Snazaroo. The big set like Cyndi’s is $120 on Amazon. You can get the same set on eBay for $55. I know where I’d get them!
Monday, October 01, 2012
Engineering Week and Getting Ready for a Mission
Alot has happened since my last real post.
Jarom went to Engineering Week at USU. He made a couple of new friends, made E coli glow, climbed up a wall like spiderman, went on a scavenger hunt, saw some baja buggies (I don't think they let them drive them), built a small bridge and I can't remember what else. He didn't turn his paperwork in time, so he wasn't in the running for a scholarship, but we did end up getting to go to the Awards Banquet. His friend we sat next to at the Banquet (Steven, I think?) got a 4 year scholarship. He told Jarom, "Don't worry, if you apply in time, I bet you can get one, too. You have until December."
They served the best meal at the Awards Banquet I've had in a long, long time, and I could even eat most of it! They had turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, a very nice mixed green salad, cooked green and wax beans and carrots, rolls with butter, a big fruit tray, ice water, lemonade and your choice of chocolate cake, strawberry cake or cheesecake.
David, Cameron, Amber and I were planning on going to the Logan Temple the Monday we dropped Jarom off at USU. We didn't realize the Logan Temple is closed on Monday. Plus, I think it was closed for cleaning for a couple of weeks. So, we went to Chuck-a-Rama and ate lunch. It was tasty, as usual, but not as good at the meal we had at the USU Awards Banquet.
We'd seen the Brigham City Temple on the way up to Logan, so we thought maybe we'd go there. When we drove up to the temple and saw orange construction webbing all around it, we figured it probably wasn't open yet. So, we decided to head home. We got mixed up and took the wrong road heading out of Brigham City and almost ended up in Paradise. That's when I told David we'd better head back to Brigham City and find I-15. We didn't have a map or a GPS and I didn't want to get totally lost.
On our way home, we stopped at Missionary Mall in Layton. They told us it would be better to wait until a month before Cameron's mission to buy everything since their 2 year guarantee starts with the date of purchase.
Little did we know that the Layton Missionary Mall has hardly anything in stock. We found that out the hard way in August when Cameron's suit and pants almost didn't come in BEFORE he had to be in the MTC. We ended up picking up all his stuff at the Orem store, because it's the main store where they ship everything. If we buy Jarom's stuff from Missionary Mall, we're going to go to Orem in the first place. Who knows, we might just end up getting everything from Mr. Mac. We'll see how Cameron's stuff works out.
Getting Cameron ready for his mission was a hassle. I should have figured that, though, because Cameron HATES shopping, especially if it involves buying clothes. Back to School shopping was not a happy time for us. He just couldn't see the sense in putting on clothes more than once. If I had him try on a pair of pants and they didn't fit, he'd balk at trying on any more pants.
Once I made the mistake of taking Jarom and Cameron school clothes shopping at the same time. I think Cameron was 8 and Jarom 6. I figured they were too old to go into the women's dressing room, so I sent them into the men's dressing room and told them to come out when they had an outfit on. I could hear them giggling and talking and they weren't coming out. I called to them, and they still didn't come out.
After about 10 minutes, I finally went into the men's dressing room (all of the ShopKo dressing room employees had disappeared) to see what they were up to. I found them both in the same dressing room, putting the new pants on their heads. I was tired and the store was closing in an hour and I just wanted this over with, so I took the pants from both of them, probably left them in the cart and dragged them out to the car. There are additional Cameron clothes shopping stories, but that's enough for now.
When Cameron got his mission call, he wouldn't let me see anything that came in the envelope for about a week. Once he'd finally let me touch it, I went through and wrote down checklists of everything he needed to do and get. Man, that's a long checklist - and that doesn't even include all the time Cameron took filling out his mission paperwork in the first place.
The only thing we didn't really catch in time was that he needed a meningitis booster and a DTP booster because he'd had them more than 5 years ago. If we'd figured that out before the end of May, when his health insurance ended, the shots would have been free. Instead, we ended up paying $122 for the menegitis shot and $49 for the DTP shot. At least he got his physical and a couple of other shots and all his dental stuff done before he turned 19, or it would have cost a whole lot more! And we know to make sure Jarom gets those booster shots before he turns 19.
Cameron had a struggle setting up a time to go through the temple for his own endowments, too. Once he finally got his recommend, the Jordan River Temple just happened to be closed for two weeks for cleaning and maintenance. He called the Salt Lake Temple, but they weren't very helpful. The only time that worked for both Cameron and I was Saturday morning, and they didn't have any of those available for months. I'm not sure if he called Bountiful or not. In the end, he waited until the Jordan River Temple re-opened and got right in.
I had wanted to get new flooring in the kitchen before Cameron's "Mission Farewell," but we didn't have the money - not after we paid for Cameron's clothes, luggage, glasses and medical and dental necessities. I suppose the new floor was not the most important thing anyway. I had to be happy with cleaning the carpet in the living room and hall.
Quite a few people showed up for Cameron's "Farewell" (not sure what else to call it, but we're not supposed to call it a Farewell anymore), but we only invited family and close friends to our house. For one thing, our house is not all that big, and for another thing, that's what I understand is being asked of families sending missionaries off now. I think Cameron was happy to see his extended family a few of his friends before he took off.
I know he enjoyed spending a few days at Grandma and Grandpa Young's house before he left on his mission. Sheri and David took him to see the latest Batman movie, he played video games with David, and visited with Grandma, Grandpa and Sheri. I think he may have gotten a haircut, too. I know he went to the DI with Grandpa a couple of times.
Then the big day came. August 22nd. I made Cameron weigh his suitcases one last time - since we'd FINALLY gotten everything. He wasn't too happy about that, but he put up with me. Then we all threw on our clothes and headed out for Provo. We picked up Meagan and Zac on the way - David almost forgot to, because Cameron was trying out his GPS and had set it for Provo, not Meagan and Zac's.
We met Grandma and Grandpa at Chuck-a-Rama in Provo and had a nice lunch. Several other elders getting ready to enter the MTC and a few who were serving in the Provo area were there, too. Cameron seemed genuinely excited to talk to them. After lunch, we took a few photos outside Chuck-a-Rama. Some of them even have a big shrimp sign in them. Most of us are squinting, because we're looking into the sun. Oops.
In these next photos, we're facing East and not squinting quite as much? And we have the lovely backdrop of even more cars in the Chuck-A-Rama parking lot and of Burger King across the street.
After that, Grandma and Grandpa headed home and we took off for the MTC. Cameron tried using his GPS, but couldn't find it listed. Zac ended up using the GPS in his cell phone. It worked better. Once we found the MTC, we realized Cameron still had about 20 minutes before he had to be there, so we found a nearby parking lot to wait in.
I decided it would be good to check his suitcases one more time. It's a good thing we did! We hadn't taken out the 12 pounds of books we'd put in his medium suitcase to simulate the books he'd be getting at the MTC. I wonder what the MTC would have thought of him having a big hard-bound Webster's Dictionary and a Pseudepigrapha? He had an extra Book of Mormon and Triple Combination, too, but I think they would have been OK with those. Cameron blamed me, of course: "Mom, why didn't you take those out?!" Well, I did take them out at that point. He got over it pretty quickly, though.
Then everyone else got out of the van to give him one last hug and we all piled back in the van. It was time.
We drove past a family of several children gathered by a streetlamp dressed up in their Sunday best, taking one last photo with their missionary and several other families walking their missionaries to the MTC.
We drove up to the parking attendant booth and a man with a bright orange vest over his suit motioned for us to roll down our window. He asked if we had a missionary with us. David said, "Right here behind me," and pointed at Cameron. Cameron waved his hand and the man asked him where he was going. "San Jose, California," Cameron answered.
The man said, "You're the second one today, your companion is waiting inside for you." Then he stuck a bright pink post-it note on our windshield, with one corner folded over. I'm assuming, the fold signified the side of the van our missionary sat in. The man told us to turn left and we'd be directed where to go from there.
A few missionaries in bright orange vests stood along the left side of the street, directing the myriad of cars. To our right, was a sidewalk with at least a hundred missionaries with "Host Missionary" stickers above their name tags. Numbered posts lined the sidewalk and we were directed to park at post number 6. On the way out, I noticed there were 25 posts in all.
David, Cameron and I got out of the van and a Host Missionary hopped right up to help Cameron with his luggage. The first thing he asked Cameron was if he had everything. The second question was, "Do you have all your immunizations?" Cameron and I assured him he did. David and I hugged Cameron again, then Cameron took off on his exciting new adventure, barely looking over his shoulder to wave goodbye.
Then we didn't hear from Cameron for two and a half weeks. But that's another post and it's time for me to head out to work.
We managed to get Jarom and Amber ready to go back to school amidst all the missionary chaos. And a week after we dropped Cameron off at the MTC, I broke out in hives. I still have a couple, but they are mostly gone, thank goodness!
Jarom went to Engineering Week at USU. He made a couple of new friends, made E coli glow, climbed up a wall like spiderman, went on a scavenger hunt, saw some baja buggies (I don't think they let them drive them), built a small bridge and I can't remember what else. He didn't turn his paperwork in time, so he wasn't in the running for a scholarship, but we did end up getting to go to the Awards Banquet. His friend we sat next to at the Banquet (Steven, I think?) got a 4 year scholarship. He told Jarom, "Don't worry, if you apply in time, I bet you can get one, too. You have until December."
They served the best meal at the Awards Banquet I've had in a long, long time, and I could even eat most of it! They had turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, a very nice mixed green salad, cooked green and wax beans and carrots, rolls with butter, a big fruit tray, ice water, lemonade and your choice of chocolate cake, strawberry cake or cheesecake.
David, Cameron, Amber and I were planning on going to the Logan Temple the Monday we dropped Jarom off at USU. We didn't realize the Logan Temple is closed on Monday. Plus, I think it was closed for cleaning for a couple of weeks. So, we went to Chuck-a-Rama and ate lunch. It was tasty, as usual, but not as good at the meal we had at the USU Awards Banquet.
We'd seen the Brigham City Temple on the way up to Logan, so we thought maybe we'd go there. When we drove up to the temple and saw orange construction webbing all around it, we figured it probably wasn't open yet. So, we decided to head home. We got mixed up and took the wrong road heading out of Brigham City and almost ended up in Paradise. That's when I told David we'd better head back to Brigham City and find I-15. We didn't have a map or a GPS and I didn't want to get totally lost.
On our way home, we stopped at Missionary Mall in Layton. They told us it would be better to wait until a month before Cameron's mission to buy everything since their 2 year guarantee starts with the date of purchase.
Little did we know that the Layton Missionary Mall has hardly anything in stock. We found that out the hard way in August when Cameron's suit and pants almost didn't come in BEFORE he had to be in the MTC. We ended up picking up all his stuff at the Orem store, because it's the main store where they ship everything. If we buy Jarom's stuff from Missionary Mall, we're going to go to Orem in the first place. Who knows, we might just end up getting everything from Mr. Mac. We'll see how Cameron's stuff works out.
Getting Cameron ready for his mission was a hassle. I should have figured that, though, because Cameron HATES shopping, especially if it involves buying clothes. Back to School shopping was not a happy time for us. He just couldn't see the sense in putting on clothes more than once. If I had him try on a pair of pants and they didn't fit, he'd balk at trying on any more pants.
Once I made the mistake of taking Jarom and Cameron school clothes shopping at the same time. I think Cameron was 8 and Jarom 6. I figured they were too old to go into the women's dressing room, so I sent them into the men's dressing room and told them to come out when they had an outfit on. I could hear them giggling and talking and they weren't coming out. I called to them, and they still didn't come out.
After about 10 minutes, I finally went into the men's dressing room (all of the ShopKo dressing room employees had disappeared) to see what they were up to. I found them both in the same dressing room, putting the new pants on their heads. I was tired and the store was closing in an hour and I just wanted this over with, so I took the pants from both of them, probably left them in the cart and dragged them out to the car. There are additional Cameron clothes shopping stories, but that's enough for now.
When Cameron got his mission call, he wouldn't let me see anything that came in the envelope for about a week. Once he'd finally let me touch it, I went through and wrote down checklists of everything he needed to do and get. Man, that's a long checklist - and that doesn't even include all the time Cameron took filling out his mission paperwork in the first place.
The only thing we didn't really catch in time was that he needed a meningitis booster and a DTP booster because he'd had them more than 5 years ago. If we'd figured that out before the end of May, when his health insurance ended, the shots would have been free. Instead, we ended up paying $122 for the menegitis shot and $49 for the DTP shot. At least he got his physical and a couple of other shots and all his dental stuff done before he turned 19, or it would have cost a whole lot more! And we know to make sure Jarom gets those booster shots before he turns 19.
Cameron had a struggle setting up a time to go through the temple for his own endowments, too. Once he finally got his recommend, the Jordan River Temple just happened to be closed for two weeks for cleaning and maintenance. He called the Salt Lake Temple, but they weren't very helpful. The only time that worked for both Cameron and I was Saturday morning, and they didn't have any of those available for months. I'm not sure if he called Bountiful or not. In the end, he waited until the Jordan River Temple re-opened and got right in.
I had wanted to get new flooring in the kitchen before Cameron's "Mission Farewell," but we didn't have the money - not after we paid for Cameron's clothes, luggage, glasses and medical and dental necessities. I suppose the new floor was not the most important thing anyway. I had to be happy with cleaning the carpet in the living room and hall.
Quite a few people showed up for Cameron's "Farewell" (not sure what else to call it, but we're not supposed to call it a Farewell anymore), but we only invited family and close friends to our house. For one thing, our house is not all that big, and for another thing, that's what I understand is being asked of families sending missionaries off now. I think Cameron was happy to see his extended family a few of his friends before he took off.
I know he enjoyed spending a few days at Grandma and Grandpa Young's house before he left on his mission. Sheri and David took him to see the latest Batman movie, he played video games with David, and visited with Grandma, Grandpa and Sheri. I think he may have gotten a haircut, too. I know he went to the DI with Grandpa a couple of times.
Then the big day came. August 22nd. I made Cameron weigh his suitcases one last time - since we'd FINALLY gotten everything. He wasn't too happy about that, but he put up with me. Then we all threw on our clothes and headed out for Provo. We picked up Meagan and Zac on the way - David almost forgot to, because Cameron was trying out his GPS and had set it for Provo, not Meagan and Zac's.
We met Grandma and Grandpa at Chuck-a-Rama in Provo and had a nice lunch. Several other elders getting ready to enter the MTC and a few who were serving in the Provo area were there, too. Cameron seemed genuinely excited to talk to them. After lunch, we took a few photos outside Chuck-a-Rama. Some of them even have a big shrimp sign in them. Most of us are squinting, because we're looking into the sun. Oops.
 |
| Cameron with Grandpa and Grandma Young |
 |
| Cameron with Dad and Mom |
 |
| Amber, Cameron, Jarom, Meagan & Zac |
In these next photos, we're facing East and not squinting quite as much? And we have the lovely backdrop of even more cars in the Chuck-A-Rama parking lot and of Burger King across the street.
 |
| Grandpa, Grandma, Cameron, Mom & Dad (and the UTA Bus!) |
 |
| Back: Jarom, Amber, Cameron Front: Zac, Meagan, Mom, Dad |
 |
| Here's the uncropped verison of the photo, with a VERY nice shot of the Shrimp Sign. ¡Que Bueno! |
 |
| Back: Meagan, Zac, Jarom, Amber, Cameron Front, Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad |
After that, Grandma and Grandpa headed home and we took off for the MTC. Cameron tried using his GPS, but couldn't find it listed. Zac ended up using the GPS in his cell phone. It worked better. Once we found the MTC, we realized Cameron still had about 20 minutes before he had to be there, so we found a nearby parking lot to wait in.
I decided it would be good to check his suitcases one more time. It's a good thing we did! We hadn't taken out the 12 pounds of books we'd put in his medium suitcase to simulate the books he'd be getting at the MTC. I wonder what the MTC would have thought of him having a big hard-bound Webster's Dictionary and a Pseudepigrapha? He had an extra Book of Mormon and Triple Combination, too, but I think they would have been OK with those. Cameron blamed me, of course: "Mom, why didn't you take those out?!" Well, I did take them out at that point. He got over it pretty quickly, though.
Then everyone else got out of the van to give him one last hug and we all piled back in the van. It was time.
 |
| Cameron and Dad |
 |
| Cameron Doing his GQ Missionary Pose :) |
 |
| Cameron getting ready to go across the street to the MTC (and squinting in the bright sunlight) |
We drove past a family of several children gathered by a streetlamp dressed up in their Sunday best, taking one last photo with their missionary and several other families walking their missionaries to the MTC.
We drove up to the parking attendant booth and a man with a bright orange vest over his suit motioned for us to roll down our window. He asked if we had a missionary with us. David said, "Right here behind me," and pointed at Cameron. Cameron waved his hand and the man asked him where he was going. "San Jose, California," Cameron answered.
The man said, "You're the second one today, your companion is waiting inside for you." Then he stuck a bright pink post-it note on our windshield, with one corner folded over. I'm assuming, the fold signified the side of the van our missionary sat in. The man told us to turn left and we'd be directed where to go from there.
A few missionaries in bright orange vests stood along the left side of the street, directing the myriad of cars. To our right, was a sidewalk with at least a hundred missionaries with "Host Missionary" stickers above their name tags. Numbered posts lined the sidewalk and we were directed to park at post number 6. On the way out, I noticed there were 25 posts in all.
David, Cameron and I got out of the van and a Host Missionary hopped right up to help Cameron with his luggage. The first thing he asked Cameron was if he had everything. The second question was, "Do you have all your immunizations?" Cameron and I assured him he did. David and I hugged Cameron again, then Cameron took off on his exciting new adventure, barely looking over his shoulder to wave goodbye.
Then we didn't hear from Cameron for two and a half weeks. But that's another post and it's time for me to head out to work.
We managed to get Jarom and Amber ready to go back to school amidst all the missionary chaos. And a week after we dropped Cameron off at the MTC, I broke out in hives. I still have a couple, but they are mostly gone, thank goodness!
UPDATE: Dec. 31, 2012 - Now that I've figured out how to post photos, I've added several to this post. And I've succeeded in making a rather long post even longer! Mwhahahahahaaa! I've even figured out how to add captions. How about that? Maybe if I'm very, very lucky, Jarom will allow me to post a few photos of Engineering Week. We'll see.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Will Blogspot Allow Me to Do Paragraphs Again?
Or will this be one big massive blob of words like my last two posts?
I have not posted in a while because I've been mad at Blogspot for not letting me do paragraphs!
I have not posted in a while because I've been mad at Blogspot for not letting me do paragraphs!
Friday, June 08, 2012
Life is Like a 1,000 Piece Puzzle
Wow. I haven't posted in almost 2 months. My life has been a little crazy the past two months. As for the title of this blog, I started putting together a 1,000 piece puzzle a couple of months ago. I'm not sure what possessed me to do that since I don't like big puzzles. Maybe it's the stress of trying to get Amber through Algebra?
I got quite a bit of the puzzle put together, but I got alot of help from David and Zac. Which is good. It would have taken me forever to do it myself - especially the part with the panther where all the pieces are black. Don't know how David and Zac did that part.
What I'm saying is, in life you do the best you can, but there are times things get complicated and you can't do things yourself and you need help. And sometimes you mess up, even with the best of intentions and efforts. Sometimes things don't go the way you had hoped or planned. Thank goodness there are people that are willing to help. And, of course, there is always, always Heavenly Father to turn to. When you can't handle everything, He's always there.
I've decided I'm not going back to school with the Digital Arts Grant. Joe is not shutting down HCPT any time soon and I can't go to school full time and work almost full time and be a wife and mother and Primary President and everything else and do school full time too. Even taking one online course at time has been a struggle, so I can't imagine what it would be like trying to go to school full time on top of everything else. But that's OK. Life it good and things will all work out.
Cameron got his mission call the day before his birthday. It's old news now, but he'd going to the San Jose California Mission. Spanish speaking. We've gotten a couple of things for Cameron's mission, but there's still alot more to get. Cameron got his temple recommend, so now he needs to figure out when he's going to go to the temple. Then he may start working in the baptistry at our temple. One of our neighbors works there every Wednesday morning and has offered to give Cameron a lift. I think working in the temple would be a great experience for Cameron, especially as he's preparing to leave for his mission.
Jarom is getting ready to go the Engineering Week next week. I'm not sure if he's packed yet, but I'm taking next Monday and Thursday off so we can drop him off and pick him up. Should be exciting.
Amber's been at Oakcrest Camp all week. She comes home today. Hope's she's had a fun time.
Well, got to go. It's almost time for me to go to work.
Have a great day.
Blogspot is still doing the all one paragraph thing. I wonder how I change that???
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Woo Hoo! I'm FINALLY Done!
Today I forced myself to finally finish my very, very boring Microsoft Office class through Univeral Class. I'm SO glad I'm done. It took me 6 months, but then again, the class had 48 lessons. Then throw in recovering from Meagan's wedding, Thanksgiving, Christmas and all the rest.
I got a 98% on the class, which is pretty amazing considering I didn't learn nearly as much from the class as I had hoped. Also, most of the quizzes had trick questions, which I can't stand. I'll never take another class from that instructor. On the up side, I did really like the PowerPoint part of the class. That's probably why I finished that part of the class in two weeks, rather than two months.
In other news, yesterday Cameron and I went to Mom and Dad's got our missionary haircuts. Really, only Cameron got a missionary haircut. I think for sister missionaries the guidelines are much more lax. Thanks for the haircuts, Dad! And thanks Mom and Dad for the donation to Cameron's Missionary Fund and everything else you do for us.
It was nice to visit with Mom, Dad, Sheri and Spike. We didn't see David, as is usual (sadly).
Tuesday I went to SLCC and took the Accuplacer test and sat through Orientation. The Accuplacer is supposed to take 1 1/2 - 2 hours, it took me 2 1/4 hours. But I did pretty well. I placed into English 2010 and Math 1050. Not that I have to take either of them. Then I got my SLCC acceptance letter in the mail the next day that pretty much told me they had my transcripts and I didn't have to take the Accuplacer after all. I forgot I sent them my transcripts about 5 years ago. I didn't think they'd still have them!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Teefs und Grants und Such
Cameron got his wisdom teeth pulled out Thursday morning. While Cameron was hanging out with the oral surgeon, David and I wandered over to Cameron's dentist, who just happens to be in the next building. First, we had to run to Target to buy a package of envelopes, because Cameron forgot to bring one. Next, we dropped off Cameron's missionary dental form and a stamped envelope addressed to our Bishop.
We got back about 15 minutes before Cameron's surgery and recovery were over. The oral surgeon said everything went smoothly and the surgery didn't take long. Cameron was a bit groggy and could not feel his mouth. He couldn't talk very well due to the drugs and all the gauze stuffed in his mouth. Even though we could only understand about every fifth word Cameron said, he chattered on and on. Must have been the sodium pentathal that made him so talkative.
In a tradition started with Meagan's loss of wisdom teeth, on our way home we stopped at Iceberg and bought Cameron a milkshake. He chose Hot Fudge New York Style Cheesecake. When we pulled around to the payment window, Cameron noticed a little sign that read, "New York Style Cheesecake Milkshake - now with chunks of real cheesecake." Ack!
I ran to the closest door, but it was only 11:00 am and it was locked. Then I sped to the door on the other side of the building. Luckily, it was open. I rushed to the counter, but no one was there. I spotted a girl making a shake and ran over to tell her, "We don't want chunks in the hot fudge cheesecake milkshake. It's for my son and he just got his wisdom teeth pulled."
"No, we wouldn't want that," she agreed. Fortunately, she hadn't started his shake yet, so she made it with no chunks, only cheesecake flavoring. Whatever that means.
We were going to stop at Smith's on the way home to drop off Cameron's prescriptions, but decided we'd better get Cameron home so he could pull out his gauze and eat his milkshake before it melted all over him. He appreciated that.
Speaking of melting, David kept licking at his milkshake, swerving all over the place and narrowly missing oncoming traffic. David refused to pull over and let me, the only one without a milkshake, drive. Instead, he glared at me.
Because my sunglasses were the only pair in the van, David was wearing them. With his garbled voice, Cameron slurred somthing like, "Daths looing bery diant in wooms suglees." What? After a few go-thrus, we deciphered that Cameron was saying, "Dad's looking very defiant in women's sunglasses."
So, we got Cameron home, he pulled out his gauze and settled on the couch and slurped his milkshake. A good share of it landed on his t-shirt, but he enjoyed his treat.
After that, I rushed off to Smith's to buy Cameron's prescriptions and some soup, yogurt and Malt-o-Meal for him to eat. That took about an hour, then I rushed off to work.
Work. Ugh. Someday soon I'm going to get out of that job and into a wonderful-fantastic web design job. One way or another. Yesterday was crazy busy. I worked 10 hours and had to rearrange the schedule about 50 times. And wait 15 minutes for someone to find a pencil. No lie. The whole day was like that. Just like practically every Friday. I hate Fridays. Joe and Lorry are nice and everything, but I've had it with this job.
Pherphy told me last night that I could start making alot of mistakes so I get fired. That thought had crossed my mind, but I just can't bring myself to do it.
Hopefully it ends up how I was planning before Joe got all wishy-washy about going over to work exclusively for one of the companies we contract with. This is so frustrating.
I had it all worked out. Joe had laid me and Lorry (and everyone else) off. I discovered I could get a Grant - even though I already have Bachelor's Degree! - to pay for my schooling for the next year. I could collect unemployment for most, if not all of the year, and not have to worry about working 30 hours a week and going to school full time. It was practically perfect. In a little over a year, I could be in the career I've yearned for the last 12 years and not kill myself or put myself in debt doing it.
I guess it could still happen. I'm hoping it still happens - in time for me to sign up for Summer Term, which starts May 14. Of course, I do have a Plan B and a Plan C, just in case. One way or another, this is going to happen!
Praying that Plan A works out in time. The Grant ends June 2013, so it's not like I have alot of wiggle room. Pray for me that things work out well - I know I am!
In other exciting news, Amber is getting an "A" in Algebra. Wow. Amazing. We will not mention Amber's grades her Quest classes, but she's getting an "A+" in Theater. Guess Theater is her thing?
Jarom just got accepted to USU's Engineering Week this summer. He gets to go to USU for a week and stay in the dorms and run engineering experiments with a bunch of other high school students. Should be fun!
Meagan brought a breakfast casserole over this morning while I was at the Activities Day Luncheon. That was nice of her. David said it had eggs, bread, sausage and cheese in it. I must have been good, it was all gone by the time I got home. Cameron even ate some.
Here's a good quote for the day:
"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing." - Dale Carnegie
We got back about 15 minutes before Cameron's surgery and recovery were over. The oral surgeon said everything went smoothly and the surgery didn't take long. Cameron was a bit groggy and could not feel his mouth. He couldn't talk very well due to the drugs and all the gauze stuffed in his mouth. Even though we could only understand about every fifth word Cameron said, he chattered on and on. Must have been the sodium pentathal that made him so talkative.
In a tradition started with Meagan's loss of wisdom teeth, on our way home we stopped at Iceberg and bought Cameron a milkshake. He chose Hot Fudge New York Style Cheesecake. When we pulled around to the payment window, Cameron noticed a little sign that read, "New York Style Cheesecake Milkshake - now with chunks of real cheesecake." Ack!
I ran to the closest door, but it was only 11:00 am and it was locked. Then I sped to the door on the other side of the building. Luckily, it was open. I rushed to the counter, but no one was there. I spotted a girl making a shake and ran over to tell her, "We don't want chunks in the hot fudge cheesecake milkshake. It's for my son and he just got his wisdom teeth pulled."
"No, we wouldn't want that," she agreed. Fortunately, she hadn't started his shake yet, so she made it with no chunks, only cheesecake flavoring. Whatever that means.
We were going to stop at Smith's on the way home to drop off Cameron's prescriptions, but decided we'd better get Cameron home so he could pull out his gauze and eat his milkshake before it melted all over him. He appreciated that.
Speaking of melting, David kept licking at his milkshake, swerving all over the place and narrowly missing oncoming traffic. David refused to pull over and let me, the only one without a milkshake, drive. Instead, he glared at me.
Because my sunglasses were the only pair in the van, David was wearing them. With his garbled voice, Cameron slurred somthing like, "Daths looing bery diant in wooms suglees." What? After a few go-thrus, we deciphered that Cameron was saying, "Dad's looking very defiant in women's sunglasses."
So, we got Cameron home, he pulled out his gauze and settled on the couch and slurped his milkshake. A good share of it landed on his t-shirt, but he enjoyed his treat.
After that, I rushed off to Smith's to buy Cameron's prescriptions and some soup, yogurt and Malt-o-Meal for him to eat. That took about an hour, then I rushed off to work.
Work. Ugh. Someday soon I'm going to get out of that job and into a wonderful-fantastic web design job. One way or another. Yesterday was crazy busy. I worked 10 hours and had to rearrange the schedule about 50 times. And wait 15 minutes for someone to find a pencil. No lie. The whole day was like that. Just like practically every Friday. I hate Fridays. Joe and Lorry are nice and everything, but I've had it with this job.
Pherphy told me last night that I could start making alot of mistakes so I get fired. That thought had crossed my mind, but I just can't bring myself to do it.
Hopefully it ends up how I was planning before Joe got all wishy-washy about going over to work exclusively for one of the companies we contract with. This is so frustrating.
I had it all worked out. Joe had laid me and Lorry (and everyone else) off. I discovered I could get a Grant - even though I already have Bachelor's Degree! - to pay for my schooling for the next year. I could collect unemployment for most, if not all of the year, and not have to worry about working 30 hours a week and going to school full time. It was practically perfect. In a little over a year, I could be in the career I've yearned for the last 12 years and not kill myself or put myself in debt doing it.
I guess it could still happen. I'm hoping it still happens - in time for me to sign up for Summer Term, which starts May 14. Of course, I do have a Plan B and a Plan C, just in case. One way or another, this is going to happen!
Praying that Plan A works out in time. The Grant ends June 2013, so it's not like I have alot of wiggle room. Pray for me that things work out well - I know I am!
In other exciting news, Amber is getting an "A" in Algebra. Wow. Amazing. We will not mention Amber's grades her Quest classes, but she's getting an "A+" in Theater. Guess Theater is her thing?
Jarom just got accepted to USU's Engineering Week this summer. He gets to go to USU for a week and stay in the dorms and run engineering experiments with a bunch of other high school students. Should be fun!
Meagan brought a breakfast casserole over this morning while I was at the Activities Day Luncheon. That was nice of her. David said it had eggs, bread, sausage and cheese in it. I must have been good, it was all gone by the time I got home. Cameron even ate some.
Here's a good quote for the day:
"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing." - Dale Carnegie
Monday, March 05, 2012
Train Car Racing
Here's a clip of train car racing from Rocky Mountain Raceway. Jarom and I rather enjoyed watching it. We particularly liked how the one of the lead cars is a black hearse and the caboose car for "Chuck-A-Rama" looks like a covered wagon. I want to go to the train car races this spring!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
I'm Half Way Done...Sorta
I'm on lesson 28 of 48 in the Microsoft Office Class I’m taking an online from Universal Class. I've learned a few things, but not as much as I had hoped. The class is poorly organized, the assignments are random and the exams are filled with trick questions. I've finished Word and Excel. Hopefully PowerPoint will be better.
I was so frustrated by the class, I took 11 days off. I found another online class that only teaches Excel, which is massively better - the Smart Method. The first two lessons out of seven are free. I can get the book to finish the class for $14.99 or the CD-ROM for $21.99, which isn't bad. I'll probably do that after I finish the free class. Or maybe I'll see what the library has.
I feel like I've mostly been going to work, learning MS Office, eating and sleeping these days. And making sure Amber does her Algebra.
Monday was President's Day, so the kids were off school and I was off work. We went to the Aquarium and looked at the fishes. Note to self: Never go to kid-friendly entertainment on a school holiday again! We got there around 10:00 am (opening time) and stood in a long line that had started to wrap around the building. If we'd bought tickets online we could have walked right in. The aquarium was clean, interesting and well organized, but by the time we left around 1:00 pm, it was wall-to-wall people.
The best part was the sting ray petting pool. Every few minutes a sting ray would flip up the side of the pool into the face of an unsuspecting child. The child would invariably jump back and freak out. Ah, entertainment!
Due to the crowd that never quite dissipated, I enjoyed watching the sharks from afar, swimming in circles past the wobbegong disguised as part of a rock. For some reason, I dreamed about a plethora of wobbegongs last night. I just looked up wobbegong to make sure I was spelling it right. Yikes, they’re sharks, too! That explains why they’re in the shark tank.
Sadly, the otters slept through our visit. At least the part when we got close enough to see them. They slept curled around each other with their heads in the middle, like an M.C. Escher tessellation.
The penguins' liveliness almost made up for the otters' lethargy. I felt sad for the penguins, cramped in their little enclosure. Eleven penguins in a space 1/3 the size of the otters' living quarters. I was glad to hear that the penguins will get a bigger home in the new aquarium.
Apparently Meagan, Zac and Jarom liked the electric eel the best. We'd made it past the big old prehistoric looking fish, the poison dart frogs, the penguins and the spiders and they were still back looking at the eel. Apparently a bunch of kids came and pressed themselves against the eel's glass and the eel kept smacking into the glass in an attempt to attack them. The electric meter above the eel's aquarium kept spiking up. Poor eel.
Cameron and I lost David, so we sat in Calypso's Cafe by the restrooms. David took all his water pills that morning, so we knew it was only a matter of time before he showed up. Our plan paid off within about five minutes...
The coral reef, jelly fish and seahorses were interesting, too. After we'd seen everything the aquarium had to offer, including the $15 otter coin purses and $10 plastic otters and picked up a free *otter* pop on the way out, we decided it was time to go hunt down some food.
We’d planned on going to Texas Roadhouse, but they don’t do specials on holidays, so we ended up at Chinese Gourmet. Yum. I had a big salad, a huge plate of Mongolian Stir Fry and some coconut macaroons. Topped off with lemon water and raspberry lemonade, I had the perfect lunch.
By the time we finished lunch, David, Jarom and Zac were ready to take a nap. Cameron, Amber and I dropped them and Meagan off and headed out to Mom and Dad’s. I don’t think we’d been out since Christmas. I had been out once in January, but not David or the kids. Sheri set out snacks for us and later made dinner for us. Ah, Sheri is so nice. And we got to talk to Mom and Dad and see what they’d been up to. David was off on his adventure to soak in the springs all by himself. He’s an adventurous boy. Or maybe he met up with someone he met on the internet…. If I went on a vacation by myself, it would be to a spa.
Today we went to Uncle Dale's funeral. He died from smoke inhalation from a house fire earlier this week. Who would have guessed that would happen? I certainly didn't see that coming. It was nice to see family again, but I would have preferred to see them at the family reunion, not a funeral.
By the time all the funeral stuff was over and we got to Andy and Tiffany's they'd already finished moving, so we talked to Andy for about 15 minutes and left. Fortunately, they had several people help them this morning, so things went pretty fast. They still have a few small things to move, like clothes, but other than that they're done. We helped them paint for about 6 hours last Saturday, so at least we helped them that way.
Cameron needs to go to the U Fine Arts Museum before the end of the semester. I'm planning on going with him. It looks like the Museum has its own building now. When I went there, it was in the Art and Architecture building.
I guess that's about it. Now to decide if I'm going back to sleep or working on Primary stuff or if I'm going to start with the PowerPoint lessons. Decisions, decisions.
Only other thing is, I'm going to try the NEWO (No Excuses Work Out) Win Tomorrow/Win Today Checklists. See if I can't get some energy. I need to do something!
I was so frustrated by the class, I took 11 days off. I found another online class that only teaches Excel, which is massively better - the Smart Method. The first two lessons out of seven are free. I can get the book to finish the class for $14.99 or the CD-ROM for $21.99, which isn't bad. I'll probably do that after I finish the free class. Or maybe I'll see what the library has.
I feel like I've mostly been going to work, learning MS Office, eating and sleeping these days. And making sure Amber does her Algebra.
Monday was President's Day, so the kids were off school and I was off work. We went to the Aquarium and looked at the fishes. Note to self: Never go to kid-friendly entertainment on a school holiday again! We got there around 10:00 am (opening time) and stood in a long line that had started to wrap around the building. If we'd bought tickets online we could have walked right in. The aquarium was clean, interesting and well organized, but by the time we left around 1:00 pm, it was wall-to-wall people.
The best part was the sting ray petting pool. Every few minutes a sting ray would flip up the side of the pool into the face of an unsuspecting child. The child would invariably jump back and freak out. Ah, entertainment!
Due to the crowd that never quite dissipated, I enjoyed watching the sharks from afar, swimming in circles past the wobbegong disguised as part of a rock. For some reason, I dreamed about a plethora of wobbegongs last night. I just looked up wobbegong to make sure I was spelling it right. Yikes, they’re sharks, too! That explains why they’re in the shark tank.
Sadly, the otters slept through our visit. At least the part when we got close enough to see them. They slept curled around each other with their heads in the middle, like an M.C. Escher tessellation.
The penguins' liveliness almost made up for the otters' lethargy. I felt sad for the penguins, cramped in their little enclosure. Eleven penguins in a space 1/3 the size of the otters' living quarters. I was glad to hear that the penguins will get a bigger home in the new aquarium.
Apparently Meagan, Zac and Jarom liked the electric eel the best. We'd made it past the big old prehistoric looking fish, the poison dart frogs, the penguins and the spiders and they were still back looking at the eel. Apparently a bunch of kids came and pressed themselves against the eel's glass and the eel kept smacking into the glass in an attempt to attack them. The electric meter above the eel's aquarium kept spiking up. Poor eel.
Cameron and I lost David, so we sat in Calypso's Cafe by the restrooms. David took all his water pills that morning, so we knew it was only a matter of time before he showed up. Our plan paid off within about five minutes...
The coral reef, jelly fish and seahorses were interesting, too. After we'd seen everything the aquarium had to offer, including the $15 otter coin purses and $10 plastic otters and picked up a free *otter* pop on the way out, we decided it was time to go hunt down some food.
We’d planned on going to Texas Roadhouse, but they don’t do specials on holidays, so we ended up at Chinese Gourmet. Yum. I had a big salad, a huge plate of Mongolian Stir Fry and some coconut macaroons. Topped off with lemon water and raspberry lemonade, I had the perfect lunch.
By the time we finished lunch, David, Jarom and Zac were ready to take a nap. Cameron, Amber and I dropped them and Meagan off and headed out to Mom and Dad’s. I don’t think we’d been out since Christmas. I had been out once in January, but not David or the kids. Sheri set out snacks for us and later made dinner for us. Ah, Sheri is so nice. And we got to talk to Mom and Dad and see what they’d been up to. David was off on his adventure to soak in the springs all by himself. He’s an adventurous boy. Or maybe he met up with someone he met on the internet…. If I went on a vacation by myself, it would be to a spa.
Today we went to Uncle Dale's funeral. He died from smoke inhalation from a house fire earlier this week. Who would have guessed that would happen? I certainly didn't see that coming. It was nice to see family again, but I would have preferred to see them at the family reunion, not a funeral.
By the time all the funeral stuff was over and we got to Andy and Tiffany's they'd already finished moving, so we talked to Andy for about 15 minutes and left. Fortunately, they had several people help them this morning, so things went pretty fast. They still have a few small things to move, like clothes, but other than that they're done. We helped them paint for about 6 hours last Saturday, so at least we helped them that way.
Cameron needs to go to the U Fine Arts Museum before the end of the semester. I'm planning on going with him. It looks like the Museum has its own building now. When I went there, it was in the Art and Architecture building.
I guess that's about it. Now to decide if I'm going back to sleep or working on Primary stuff or if I'm going to start with the PowerPoint lessons. Decisions, decisions.
Only other thing is, I'm going to try the NEWO (No Excuses Work Out) Win Tomorrow/Win Today Checklists. See if I can't get some energy. I need to do something!
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Algebra 101 - Again!
Amber and I have been spending lots of time doing Algebra lately. I think she's starting to understand it better.
It's really fun doing Algebra with Amber. She reminds me of Holly. Every chance she gets, she ducks into the bathroom or finds something else - anything else - to do. She does better when I sit at the table with her and talk her through problems.
One of these days, she's going to understand Algebra. Or at least be able to pass the class with a C!
It's really fun doing Algebra with Amber. She reminds me of Holly. Every chance she gets, she ducks into the bathroom or finds something else - anything else - to do. She does better when I sit at the table with her and talk her through problems.
One of these days, she's going to understand Algebra. Or at least be able to pass the class with a C!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Every Day It's Getting Better
Work yesterday wasn't quite so bad. Lorry came in for almost five hours, so I didn't have to do everything all by myself. I ended up only having to work about seven hours and it wasn't nearly as stressful as a regular Friday. Can you see why I ended up working nine to eleven hours every Friday? I don't know how Christopher works twelve hour shifts. I would be a zombie.
Right now, I'm debating going to Yoga Class at the fitness center or working on my MS Office Class. Decisions, decisions. Actually, I'm avoiding both by blogging, aren't I?
I'm taking an MS Office class online because I need to know MS Office better if I'm going to get an Administrative Assistant job at SLCC. I feel like that's the next step in my career. My long, weird, meandering career.
I'm hoping that as an Admin Assistant I'll get to design things, like brochures and charts and presentations. That would be cool. And much more artistic than my current job. Plus, the insurance and other benefits are great. I'd get to take SLCC classes for free! How awesome is that? Especially since I can't get government grants anymore since I have a Bachelor's Degree. Apparently the government thinks that once you've earned a Bachelor's Degree, you've got it made.
I don't think working at SLCC would be as stressful as the inevitable ups and downs of home health. Either we have so many patients we don't know how to fit them all in or so few patients Joe is fretting over having to lay people off. Hopefully they won't expect me to cram a totally unreasonable amount of work into my alloted time (unlike my current job!). I think it would be less stressful to work full time and know I can get my work done, rather than never being able to catch up. I hate having tons of loose ends hanging out at the end of the work day.
Cameron and Jarom are over at Meagan and Zac's at the moment. They probably stayed up all night playing Zombies. Meagan invited Amber, too, but Amber decided not to go. Maybe because Meagan is working this morning? Maybe because Amber wants to play basketball with the Young Women this morning?
Want to know something great? We almost have all of the Primary teacher positions filled. With teachers who actually show up every week or are responsible enough to get subs if they won't be there. And seem to be happy to be in Primary. It's been a struggle getting two teachers for each class. We're almost there - we just need one more Sunbeam teacher and two or three Nursery workers. Oh, and I need another counselor. Tomorrow is Ward Conference, so we'll see how that goes. At least I don't have to do Sharing Time by myself this Ward Conference. Carol (my one and only counselor at the moment) is helping with that.
Hmmm...let's run through the family roster, shall we?
David - has taken up oil painting again. He's on his second or third painting since he started painting a few weeks ago. He's doing a winter scene at the moment.
David's locksmithing skillz saved us $50 on getting our van door fixed. The driver's door kept making a popping noise every time we opened or closed it. Gine's said we'd need to take it to a body shop, since they don't have a spot welder. We took it to K&S Automotive, which is about a block from the library. They told us it would cost $400-$500 to fix it because they'd have to take the door off and take it apart. It ended up costing only $200, and then they gave us an extra $50 off because David fixed the sticky knob on their front door. In the end, it only set us back $150. How awesome is that? And the door works perfectly now.
David wants a bowling ball that smells like birthday cake. Can you believe they make such a thing? When we went bowling on MLK Jr. Day, David spent half his time in the Pro Shop at the bowling alley. Maybe he doesn't really want a bowling ball that smells like birthday cake, but he does want a shiny purple one that fits his arthritic fingers better. I think we'd have to go bowling more often than once every year or two for that investment to be worthwhile.
Meagan - Since Meagan didn't pass Anatomy the first two times around, her grant wouldn't pay for it a third time. She was only going to take a Drawing class, but I reminded her that she has to take at least six credit hours or her grant won't pay for anything. Luckily, she still had enough time to add a Psychology class.
She seems to be enjoying school a lot more this semester. No tough math or science classes. And she's also not training full time for a new job, putting together a wedding, or moving. That may make a difference, too. Through it all, Meagan is still crocheting amazing things. She certainly didn't get that skill from me. Must be from her Great Grandma Baran and her Aunt Tammie.
Zac - is going back to school in March. He's going to ITT Tech and working on an Associate's Degree in - what was it? - Internet Security, I believe. That sounds like a good field to go in to. Zac likes technology and the internet certainly needs security. I hope he likes it.
Cameron - is taking Java 2, Calculus and Drawing. In fact, he's taking the same Drawing class as Meagan, just at a different time, with a different teacher, since they work opposite shifts. They're doing some similar things and some very different things. Every time they see each other, they compare what they're doing in drawing. They are both good artists and it's interesting to see what they end up drawing.
Cameron's Calculus class starts at 7:00 am Monday thru Thursday. He gets himself up every morning around 5:30 and has made it to the bus on time almost every day since class started. I'm impressed. Cameron seems to really like computer programming. I think it's a good field for him. He's planning on transferring to the U eventually and majoring in computer programming with an art emphasis.
Jarom - has been better at getting up in the wee hours of the morning for Jazz Band. He's been pretty much on time since December, when I threatened to pull him out of Jazz Band if he didn't start getting up in the morning. I'm impressed and excited that he's been doing so much better.
Jarom's scheduled to take the ACT Test in February and we need to get him signed up for Engineering Week at USU. Jarom's leaning toward Chemical Engineering, but he's not sure yet. During Engineering Week, high school students live on campus and get to try out experiments in several different kinds of engineering. I think Jarom will enjoy that. Jarom is good at chemistry. Last year when he was taking high school chemistry, he helped Meagan pass college chemistry. I was impressed.
Jarom's art teacher thinks he should major in Graphic Design or Illustration. She's impressed with Jarom's drawings and sensitivity to line and color. His dragon drawings are amazing. He keeps getting better and better. Even Jarom's Physics teacher is impressed with his drawing skills. He had the kids do comic strips about Physics principles and was blown away by Jarom's comic strip.
Amber - goes to Anime Club at the library every month. This week they drew comics and got a free comic book. My, the comics in the book they got were silly.
Amber has been working on improving her grades. She somehow managed to pull 3 D's & F's up to C's, just before the end of the semester. With much urging from David and me. This semester, we're going to keep on top of that better. So far, that's involved sitting at the kitchen table after dinner, doing homework. I usually help Amber with her math. One night Meagan even helped Amber with her math. It was a nice break for me. :)
Amber is taking a Communications class this semester. She finished writing some movie reviews and previews. Next, she gets to record them and add sound effects. I think Communications, Art and French are Amber's favorite classes.
Jetta - poor Jetta is getting old. She's having more trouble getting up and down and she's developed cataracts. The vet told us last summer that Jetta needs her teeth cleaned desperately, and while she's knocked out, he'll remove a couple of tumors (benign, fortunately) she's developed on her chest. I think he told us it’d cost about $400-$500. Somehow, we keep having other expenses/things come up and we haven't taken her in. Maybe when we get our income tax refund?
Thor - is so grouchy, but still so cute. Sometimes he stays out all night in the freezing weather and sometimes he snuggles up in bed with us. He's unpredictable and stealthy and oh so fun to bug. I'm not sure where he is right now, but I'm sure he'll turn up somewhere. Just so he isn't stuck in a bedroom with the door shut...
Well, I guess I’m not going to Yoga Class today…it started fifteen minutes ago. I guess I’ll get back to work on MS Word, figuring out how to do Macros and Mail Merges. Exciting!
Right now, I'm debating going to Yoga Class at the fitness center or working on my MS Office Class. Decisions, decisions. Actually, I'm avoiding both by blogging, aren't I?
I'm taking an MS Office class online because I need to know MS Office better if I'm going to get an Administrative Assistant job at SLCC. I feel like that's the next step in my career. My long, weird, meandering career.
I'm hoping that as an Admin Assistant I'll get to design things, like brochures and charts and presentations. That would be cool. And much more artistic than my current job. Plus, the insurance and other benefits are great. I'd get to take SLCC classes for free! How awesome is that? Especially since I can't get government grants anymore since I have a Bachelor's Degree. Apparently the government thinks that once you've earned a Bachelor's Degree, you've got it made.
I don't think working at SLCC would be as stressful as the inevitable ups and downs of home health. Either we have so many patients we don't know how to fit them all in or so few patients Joe is fretting over having to lay people off. Hopefully they won't expect me to cram a totally unreasonable amount of work into my alloted time (unlike my current job!). I think it would be less stressful to work full time and know I can get my work done, rather than never being able to catch up. I hate having tons of loose ends hanging out at the end of the work day.
Cameron and Jarom are over at Meagan and Zac's at the moment. They probably stayed up all night playing Zombies. Meagan invited Amber, too, but Amber decided not to go. Maybe because Meagan is working this morning? Maybe because Amber wants to play basketball with the Young Women this morning?
Want to know something great? We almost have all of the Primary teacher positions filled. With teachers who actually show up every week or are responsible enough to get subs if they won't be there. And seem to be happy to be in Primary. It's been a struggle getting two teachers for each class. We're almost there - we just need one more Sunbeam teacher and two or three Nursery workers. Oh, and I need another counselor. Tomorrow is Ward Conference, so we'll see how that goes. At least I don't have to do Sharing Time by myself this Ward Conference. Carol (my one and only counselor at the moment) is helping with that.
Hmmm...let's run through the family roster, shall we?
David - has taken up oil painting again. He's on his second or third painting since he started painting a few weeks ago. He's doing a winter scene at the moment.
David's locksmithing skillz saved us $50 on getting our van door fixed. The driver's door kept making a popping noise every time we opened or closed it. Gine's said we'd need to take it to a body shop, since they don't have a spot welder. We took it to K&S Automotive, which is about a block from the library. They told us it would cost $400-$500 to fix it because they'd have to take the door off and take it apart. It ended up costing only $200, and then they gave us an extra $50 off because David fixed the sticky knob on their front door. In the end, it only set us back $150. How awesome is that? And the door works perfectly now.
David wants a bowling ball that smells like birthday cake. Can you believe they make such a thing? When we went bowling on MLK Jr. Day, David spent half his time in the Pro Shop at the bowling alley. Maybe he doesn't really want a bowling ball that smells like birthday cake, but he does want a shiny purple one that fits his arthritic fingers better. I think we'd have to go bowling more often than once every year or two for that investment to be worthwhile.
Meagan - Since Meagan didn't pass Anatomy the first two times around, her grant wouldn't pay for it a third time. She was only going to take a Drawing class, but I reminded her that she has to take at least six credit hours or her grant won't pay for anything. Luckily, she still had enough time to add a Psychology class.
She seems to be enjoying school a lot more this semester. No tough math or science classes. And she's also not training full time for a new job, putting together a wedding, or moving. That may make a difference, too. Through it all, Meagan is still crocheting amazing things. She certainly didn't get that skill from me. Must be from her Great Grandma Baran and her Aunt Tammie.
Zac - is going back to school in March. He's going to ITT Tech and working on an Associate's Degree in - what was it? - Internet Security, I believe. That sounds like a good field to go in to. Zac likes technology and the internet certainly needs security. I hope he likes it.
Cameron - is taking Java 2, Calculus and Drawing. In fact, he's taking the same Drawing class as Meagan, just at a different time, with a different teacher, since they work opposite shifts. They're doing some similar things and some very different things. Every time they see each other, they compare what they're doing in drawing. They are both good artists and it's interesting to see what they end up drawing.
Cameron's Calculus class starts at 7:00 am Monday thru Thursday. He gets himself up every morning around 5:30 and has made it to the bus on time almost every day since class started. I'm impressed. Cameron seems to really like computer programming. I think it's a good field for him. He's planning on transferring to the U eventually and majoring in computer programming with an art emphasis.
Jarom - has been better at getting up in the wee hours of the morning for Jazz Band. He's been pretty much on time since December, when I threatened to pull him out of Jazz Band if he didn't start getting up in the morning. I'm impressed and excited that he's been doing so much better.
Jarom's scheduled to take the ACT Test in February and we need to get him signed up for Engineering Week at USU. Jarom's leaning toward Chemical Engineering, but he's not sure yet. During Engineering Week, high school students live on campus and get to try out experiments in several different kinds of engineering. I think Jarom will enjoy that. Jarom is good at chemistry. Last year when he was taking high school chemistry, he helped Meagan pass college chemistry. I was impressed.
Jarom's art teacher thinks he should major in Graphic Design or Illustration. She's impressed with Jarom's drawings and sensitivity to line and color. His dragon drawings are amazing. He keeps getting better and better. Even Jarom's Physics teacher is impressed with his drawing skills. He had the kids do comic strips about Physics principles and was blown away by Jarom's comic strip.
Amber - goes to Anime Club at the library every month. This week they drew comics and got a free comic book. My, the comics in the book they got were silly.
Amber has been working on improving her grades. She somehow managed to pull 3 D's & F's up to C's, just before the end of the semester. With much urging from David and me. This semester, we're going to keep on top of that better. So far, that's involved sitting at the kitchen table after dinner, doing homework. I usually help Amber with her math. One night Meagan even helped Amber with her math. It was a nice break for me. :)
Amber is taking a Communications class this semester. She finished writing some movie reviews and previews. Next, she gets to record them and add sound effects. I think Communications, Art and French are Amber's favorite classes.
Jetta - poor Jetta is getting old. She's having more trouble getting up and down and she's developed cataracts. The vet told us last summer that Jetta needs her teeth cleaned desperately, and while she's knocked out, he'll remove a couple of tumors (benign, fortunately) she's developed on her chest. I think he told us it’d cost about $400-$500. Somehow, we keep having other expenses/things come up and we haven't taken her in. Maybe when we get our income tax refund?
Thor - is so grouchy, but still so cute. Sometimes he stays out all night in the freezing weather and sometimes he snuggles up in bed with us. He's unpredictable and stealthy and oh so fun to bug. I'm not sure where he is right now, but I'm sure he'll turn up somewhere. Just so he isn't stuck in a bedroom with the door shut...
Well, I guess I’m not going to Yoga Class today…it started fifteen minutes ago. I guess I’ll get back to work on MS Word, figuring out how to do Macros and Mail Merges. Exciting!
Friday, January 13, 2012
My Last Three Posts Have Been Drafts
'Cuz as I wrote them over the past few weeks, I decided it would be better if I didn't "publish" them.
*SIGH* Not liking my job right now. At least I can get a different one if I want, right? I'm pretty sure I'll have a different job within the next few months. A much, much better job with benefits and paid time off and work I can actually get caught up on. I can't handle my current job much longer. I like Joe and Lorry, but the job is horrible.
So...that's what I've been up to. Writing blog posts that will never see the light of day.
Here's something happy, though: I'm taking Monday off of work. Yay! I think we're going to go bowling for MLK day. Should be fun, huh? I NEED some fun right now.
Speaking of fun, it was nice to go to Bountiful and see Mom and Dad and Sheri on Wednesday. I like visiting them. And I found out stuff I never knew before - like that Grandpa Gambles trained to be a barber when he was younger. Who knew?
*SIGH* Not liking my job right now. At least I can get a different one if I want, right? I'm pretty sure I'll have a different job within the next few months. A much, much better job with benefits and paid time off and work I can actually get caught up on. I can't handle my current job much longer. I like Joe and Lorry, but the job is horrible.
So...that's what I've been up to. Writing blog posts that will never see the light of day.
Here's something happy, though: I'm taking Monday off of work. Yay! I think we're going to go bowling for MLK day. Should be fun, huh? I NEED some fun right now.
Speaking of fun, it was nice to go to Bountiful and see Mom and Dad and Sheri on Wednesday. I like visiting them. And I found out stuff I never knew before - like that Grandpa Gambles trained to be a barber when he was younger. Who knew?
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