Last Day of Swimming Lessons

Just when I thought this year couldn't get any worse...

I lost my job.  17 years at a company, and poof, it's gone.  They told me they were moving my job to Costa Rica where they have had an office for many years.  They didn't want me to train anyone or document my job, just told me I had to gather up my stuff and leave immediately.  A few weeks later, I ran into a former co-worker and this person said that some other employees in the office where trying to do the job.  So, I don't know if the whole Costa Rica thing is true, but sure did rub salt in the wound.  It has been a painful experience, and has kept me up many nights.  It appears that corporate decided to lay off people so they could get their bonuses.  But, it seems they shot themselves in the foot because they are already so behind on other parts of production.  They either don't care about the work? Or don't know enough about it to know the delay and disruption they have created for the other employees.  I guess it really it isn't my concern anymore, and it is time to move on.

Things have been OK being at home so far.  We are getting into somewhat of a routine for summer, but as much as I love my kids, I do miss my job.  It allowed me some time to myself, and the kids loved going to Grandma's house.  Unfortunately,  finding a job with similar benefits and flexible hours in the same area near Grandma's house is a pretty tall order.  Also, the whole logistics of school have changed too.  Our plan was to send Rowan to 2 more years at Kids Village, and Liam was registered to go to Kindergarten by Grandma's house.  But now that I am not working in Orem, it doesn't make sense to make that commute, so we have found Rowan a preschool closer to home, and signed Liam up for the Kindergarten in our district.

Anyway, summer has been all about swimming lessons, and below are a couple of video's I have taken:

Liam's Video: 7-17-13




 Rowan's Video: 6-5-13 (need a more recent one, but found this one from first week)

Moab 2013

Well we did it, we finally took the kids on their first vacation!  It just so happened to be our first time camping as a family too.  We were invited by Mike's brother and his family to Moab this year.  My experience camping has mostly been growing up back east.  Once with our 8th grade class, and the rest were all church activities. I have only been twice since moving to Utah, so it was somewhat a new experience for me, especially taking kids.  My memories of camping have always been good ones, but also most of the work was done by the adults, and we just had to show up and have fun.  We were lucky in that Tiffany graciously planned all the meals, so we didn't have to worry too much about what food to bring.  But, I have to admit the thought of packing all the things we still needed, and also for the kids was a bit daunting.  The closer the trip got, the higher my anxiety got.  

The campsite was decent, although we will never forget the zillion caterpillars all over the place!  They were all over everything, including ourselves!  A few even hitched a ride home with us, and we discovered a few weeks later that they were moths!  Other than the unavoidable, yet harmless creepy crawlies the campsite was pretty clean.  I had been a bit worried after reading some negative reviews online, but overall I was happy the negative reviews were not accurate.  For future trips however, I wouldn't mind finding a site that has a little more room for the kids to play, since the road was really very close to the site...but since we spent most of our time away from the site, it wasn't too big a deal.

Anyway, the first night we arrived we all went out to a restaurant called Zak's.  They had really good pizza and other food as well.  On the way there, there was a huge downpour with thunder and even some hail, it was pretty crazy.  We were glad no damage was done to our equipment.  The next day, Saturday, we went to the Arches National Park and pretty much spent the whole day there hiking and looking at the beautiful scenery.  That evening a meal was planned by Tiffany, but since everyone was too tired, Mike offered to take everyone out to dinner.  He found a place that was right by our campsite, Buck's Grill House, that had decent reviews online.  After a long day in the hot sun, we were disappointed to be sat outside in the sun again.  But thankfully, the sun shifted by the time our food arrived, and the patio was quite pleasant with live music as well.  I LOVED the Pesto Pasta meal, and even wrote a review raving about it on Yelp.  That evening the kids stayed up way too late!  It was very crazy trying to get them ready for bed, especially Rowan.  She kept screaming on the top of her lungs, and it wouldn't have been a big deal except it was late, and there were other campers trying to sleep!  But once we finally got them to settle in, they crashed, and slept much better than the first night.

The next morning we decided to do one more trip into the park before heading home.  The kids did amazingly well for their first ever family trip, and we look forward to making more good memories on our future family trips.

Kids Village Graduation Pictures Spring 2013

Update on Life

So, it has been a while since my last update.  Life with Mabel and Dipper has been pretty hectic, but their training is coming along slowly. Mostly because between work and 2 kids, our time is pretty limited to spend time training.  But, considering we have only had Mabel for about 6 weeks, she has made vast improvements from when we brought her home in early April.  Today was one of their best days yet.  They actually were able to hang out in the back yard and relax in the grass together while we were all out there playing with the kids.  Mabel didn't jump or knock either kid over.  She sat next to Liam, and let him pet her several times.  It is nice to finally have mostly well behaved dogs.  They still have a long ways to go, but considering where they were, and where they are now...we are quite happy with them.

We have had a couple of big events this past month.  One was, we went on our very first trip with the kids....they did awesome!  Although if you asked me at the time, I wouldn't have been so enthusiastic to say that.  (Amazing what hindsight can do to a person).  But considering they can barley make it to and from Orem without fighting, I would say the trip was successful, and we look forward to taking more in the future.  (I will do another post in the near future about our trip) The other big event this month is the kids graduated preschool. It was Liam's 3rd and final year of preschool, and Rowan's first year of preschool.  Funny how during the year they complain about not wanting to go to school, and as soon as they are done with it they miss it and want to go back.  Anyway, we are very proud of them, and it is bitter sweet for Liam to be saying good-bye (most likely) to KV.  They love it there, and so do we.  The teachers there are wonderful, and we always feel like they really enjoy and love our kids.