I always mean to blog but there's just no time. In July I went back to work, I'm the Marketing Director for a national franchise that has about 200 residential property management offices. It's a very intense job. Even better, in October, David got his dream job doing criminal defense at a small, well-respected firm in downtown SLC. It's busy and he has an intense schedule also. Kids are also busy, in school, doing after-school 4H club, Sophie's in a million plays and Ben is busy with trumpet and swimming. Noah and Lucy are just going with the flow--although our "flow" is more like the Snake River's rapids in June.
Why am I blogging mid-day at work when I have ten hours of work to fit in the next 72 minutes? Because our crazy hurricane-force winds yesterday were so exciting that Ben got on the news! It is only 3 seconds at :39
http://connect2utah.com/news-story/?nxd_id=185267
All is well here, no damage or lost trees for us, but a day or so without power, a fun sleepover at my mom's for everyone last night, and a lot of yard clean up to do tomorrow (balanced with whatever work I don't finish today). Love to family and friends far and near. Here is my advance apology for not sending out Christmas cards this year, again.
xoxoxo
Valerie
Friday, December 2, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Milestones
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Sunday Update
You know it's been a long time since you blogged when you don't even recognize the Blogger interface when you log in.
I have exactly 23 minutes of silence before I need to head off to the first Utah Chamber Artists rehearsal of the season--the family is at my nephew Kadin's 17th birthday party. I remember watching Kadin overnight as a tiny baby when I was just a young know-nothing. I didn't know what to do with him and didn't understand why he wouldn't just sleep! I was 22. I can see now why the Lord had us wait another five years to have a baby of our own.
If I blink too fast I know my sweet Ben will be following in Kadin's footsteps. He passed the sacrament for the first time today and was ordained to the priesthood last Sunday, on his birthday. I'll send pictures from the phone in a minute. I have felt so proud of Ben and what he is becoming--so full of hard work and drive. He has started his own lawn mowing business this summer and has just been earning up a storm--often mowing lawns of houses wherein kids his own age are on the couch playing video games.
After last Sunday he woke up and went to his first scout camp for a week. He came home very weathered and happy--he caught a fish! I'm so grateful to good leaders and an especially good group of boys in this ward. He had a great time. I'm just so proud of him. He has a strong testimony and a serious approach to the gospel. He finished the Book of Mormon before he was ordained and had lots of long talks with his dad about what it means to hold the priesthood. It's exciting to have two priesthood holders in the home now.
David is working still on his own practice and is starting to emphasize working for lawyers more--he loves research and writing and he's had a few good opportunities come his way where he can do this kind of work more regularly.
Meanwhile, I am back in the workplace, I've been a month working for a fast-growing national property management franchise based out of Layton--it's a 25 year old company that needs help keeping up with how fast they are growing in this market of increasing rentals. I was hired by a new president who was brought in to turn everything around and prepare them to go global. I'm his right hand as the marketing director and am tasked with putting a lot of new programs in place, a lot of web-based franchise support. The good news is I don't have anything on my plate that I haven't done before, so even with the intense pace I don't have to worry about not knowing what I'm doing. And, at the same time, they've never hired well in the past, so my normal is their Quetzalcoatl. That's always a plus.
From the first day it was an intense, career-minded position. In the spirit of stability and paying off student loans and the house, I think I'll be working a long time, so I might as well claw my way up the ladder, right? They've never had a woman in management before, but my bosses like me and things are going well. I'm very grateful that David is so supportive and that we've been able to be such a team keeping the family going. Before I got this job I was working hard to build my freelance clientele, so for good or bad, that means I often come home from work, eat dinner, and then work until bed on side jobs.
I feel very calm about the kids, because we prayed for the right answer--oh did we pray!-- and this was the only real option that presented itself. I think the kids will do well in school and are happy simply because normality is being restored.
Lucy is going into kindergarten in a couple of weeks. She's scheduled to go to the local elementary mornings and a play school in the afternoons, but I'm hoping she'll end up getting the lottery into the charter school that Sophie and Noah have gotten into. As much as I love Capitol Hill, having them on the longer, normal school schedule and the whole free thing is what we need, and I really like this school--I can take them in on the way to work. They are so excited--they actually start school this Wednesday. Ben, of course, will stay at Capitol Hill and bus down there each day. We're going to try out two afternoon classes in addition here at the local Jr. High--trumpet and art.
David and I both got called into teaching--I'm in RS and he's in priesthood. We both had to teach the chastity lesson today. A good laugh was had by all.
That's us in a nutshell. I do hope to write just a bit more often on Sundays when I get a moment to breathe.
Love to all,
Valerie
I have exactly 23 minutes of silence before I need to head off to the first Utah Chamber Artists rehearsal of the season--the family is at my nephew Kadin's 17th birthday party. I remember watching Kadin overnight as a tiny baby when I was just a young know-nothing. I didn't know what to do with him and didn't understand why he wouldn't just sleep! I was 22. I can see now why the Lord had us wait another five years to have a baby of our own.
If I blink too fast I know my sweet Ben will be following in Kadin's footsteps. He passed the sacrament for the first time today and was ordained to the priesthood last Sunday, on his birthday. I'll send pictures from the phone in a minute. I have felt so proud of Ben and what he is becoming--so full of hard work and drive. He has started his own lawn mowing business this summer and has just been earning up a storm--often mowing lawns of houses wherein kids his own age are on the couch playing video games.
After last Sunday he woke up and went to his first scout camp for a week. He came home very weathered and happy--he caught a fish! I'm so grateful to good leaders and an especially good group of boys in this ward. He had a great time. I'm just so proud of him. He has a strong testimony and a serious approach to the gospel. He finished the Book of Mormon before he was ordained and had lots of long talks with his dad about what it means to hold the priesthood. It's exciting to have two priesthood holders in the home now.
David is working still on his own practice and is starting to emphasize working for lawyers more--he loves research and writing and he's had a few good opportunities come his way where he can do this kind of work more regularly.
Meanwhile, I am back in the workplace, I've been a month working for a fast-growing national property management franchise based out of Layton--it's a 25 year old company that needs help keeping up with how fast they are growing in this market of increasing rentals. I was hired by a new president who was brought in to turn everything around and prepare them to go global. I'm his right hand as the marketing director and am tasked with putting a lot of new programs in place, a lot of web-based franchise support. The good news is I don't have anything on my plate that I haven't done before, so even with the intense pace I don't have to worry about not knowing what I'm doing. And, at the same time, they've never hired well in the past, so my normal is their Quetzalcoatl. That's always a plus.
From the first day it was an intense, career-minded position. In the spirit of stability and paying off student loans and the house, I think I'll be working a long time, so I might as well claw my way up the ladder, right? They've never had a woman in management before, but my bosses like me and things are going well. I'm very grateful that David is so supportive and that we've been able to be such a team keeping the family going. Before I got this job I was working hard to build my freelance clientele, so for good or bad, that means I often come home from work, eat dinner, and then work until bed on side jobs.
I feel very calm about the kids, because we prayed for the right answer--oh did we pray!-- and this was the only real option that presented itself. I think the kids will do well in school and are happy simply because normality is being restored.
Lucy is going into kindergarten in a couple of weeks. She's scheduled to go to the local elementary mornings and a play school in the afternoons, but I'm hoping she'll end up getting the lottery into the charter school that Sophie and Noah have gotten into. As much as I love Capitol Hill, having them on the longer, normal school schedule and the whole free thing is what we need, and I really like this school--I can take them in on the way to work. They are so excited--they actually start school this Wednesday. Ben, of course, will stay at Capitol Hill and bus down there each day. We're going to try out two afternoon classes in addition here at the local Jr. High--trumpet and art.
David and I both got called into teaching--I'm in RS and he's in priesthood. We both had to teach the chastity lesson today. A good laugh was had by all.
That's us in a nutshell. I do hope to write just a bit more often on Sundays when I get a moment to breathe.
Love to all,
Valerie
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sanity in Rexburg
David's Swearing In
Maybe if I post this between the others he won't notice I said anything about "the one who must not be named (on the blog)".
Hike to Farmington Pond
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sphere I - First "True" Computer?
I decided to sell my dad's first Sphere I--the first model of the first "true" PC according to Byte Magazine. I even put a website up with the system's history. Take a look if you are interested in that kind of thing: Vintage Computer Sphere I.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Thanks to Megan for picking up my slack
Freshly copied from Megan's blog:
Begin forwarded message:
Wedding: Friday Evening at Val's
I wanted to find time in our schedule to see Val and her new house in Farmington. It's been a couple of years since we've seen our dear Pasadena friends! So after visiting Mom's grave, we drove even further north for our visit.
The house looks like a Pasadena craftsman (Google it and you'll see...) and is in a wonderful location. Of course, we took a tour while the kids got reacquainted. Katie and Sophie jumped on the trampoline (and I said my prayers that no arms would be broken) as we looked at the back yard.
Tom, Ben, and Daniel fed earthworms to the chickens. The soil was just gorgeous and rich!
They also fed the chickens and gathered lots of eggs.
Val pointed out that in a few years, most people won't know what ZCMI stands for or what it is. Her house still has a charcoal chute and lots of vintage charm.We enjoyed a warm chili dinner complete with some of the best cornbread I've ever had and topped it with local honey. Perfectly yummy! After dinner, we decided to take a walk to the Lagoon trail. Spencer and I were happy to put in our 30 minutes of exercise and the kids enjoyed it, too...That is, until little Lucy ran Daniel over with her bike. He tumbled to the sidewalk on his left arm (the 3rd fall of the trip) and just cried as he held it. This reaction was markedly different than his other falls. So, we trekked back to Val's house, put his splint on, and called the insurance's nurse line to see if we needed to take him for an x-ray. I was certain he'd broken it further. The tests she had us do indicated that we just needed to keep an eye on it and as he calmed down he relayed that he was really angry and frustrated that Lucy just ran him down. Anger I could handle. Broken arm would've been a different story. Needless to say, the splint stayed on for the rest of the trip. (And, of course he didn't fall after that!)
We decided that we still wanted to walk the trail so we headed out again, this time sans bike. It was the perfect family walk and I loved it! Thomas commented on how green and lush it was. It's definitely a stark contrast to our barren desert!
Along the trail we saw bison, this elk (or whatever it is) and a baby deer nestled right there next to the fence.
On the way home, we walked by the building where the Primary was first organized.We took our obligatory departing pictures and were happy to see David, Ben, and Noah as they returned from their time at the church Fathers & Sons activity they'd snuck off to. These boys have been friends since they were 18 months old.Sophie and Katie didn't want to part especially when they remembered that they were exactly one year and 3 days apart in age.We could've spent much longer catching up, but we knew we had a big day ahead of us and decided to head home.
--
Posted By Blogger to Hall Pass at 5/24/2011 06:16:00 PM
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