oKToBeRFeST

When Dave lost his job and decided to start an event company with a few of his buddies, some of the wives got together and wanted to start something as well. You know, to help motivate the boys by creating some competition! So Katie Clayton had the idea to do a home decor business. I thought that would be super fun, so we started talking about it. I felt that Utah was pretty saturated, but that San Diego was seriously lacking. So we came up with a plan to have a booth at the upcoming Oktoberfest in La Mesa. This is our trial run. If this goes fabulously, we may continue. We have had a few run throughs and they have gone really well. Everybody seems to like our products here in Utah. So we will have to see how it is received in San Diego. We have a website that is seriously under construction but it is www.backhomedecor.com Keep in mind when you check it out that we have been focusing all our attention on getting ready for the fest. The website has maybe 1% of our products. So keep checking for updates.

For those of you in San Diego, please come visit our booth! Bring friends, and have fun! We can't wait to see you all! This should be a super fun weekend!

Take a BITE out of Crime!

Calling all neighbors!
Missing: Blue Mongoose Bike
Last seen: last night on our front lawn
Color: Blue
Pegs: lucky (Napoleon Dynamite) but yes there are pegs
Owner: is sad
Please keeps your eyes out for this lost bike. We know that together we can fight crime!
Thanks for your help!
Please inform us if you see it around the neighborhood!
Thanks!

Never Forget!

I was laying in my bed when the phone rang. I looked at the clock and it was before 7 a.m. Dave had already left for work. I thought maybe it was him. When I said hello, my father-in-law said, "are you watching the news? Our country is under attack." I turned on the news and saw that the first plane had already crashed. I then saw the second plane go into the tower. I could not believe that this was happening on our nations soil. I never thought that we would be attacked here. That day will forever live in my mind.

Where were you when the towers fell?

consequence jar revisited

this turned into


this which contains (drum roll please.....)


these


give your momma a foot rub and paint her toenails

scrub all the toilets

scrub the bathtub in my bathroom

scrub the bathtub in the kids bathroom

scrub the bathtub in the basement

Pull 50 weeds on the side yard

Pull 50 weeds in the Garden

wipe down the cupboards in the kitchen

wipe down the table,chairs and the counters

pick up 10 items and put them away

scrub floor boards in the living room

scrub floor boards in the dining room and kitchen

scrub floor boards in the front entrance and the front room

Clean front bathroom, toilet, sink, mirror, wipe down cupboards, floorboards, and floor

Vacuum the stairs up and down

Dust the bookshelf (take all books off, dust shelves and then put books back NICELY)

Wash walls on the main level
Wash walls on the upstairs and the hallways upstairs

Wash walls on the basement stairs and the basement hallway

Clean out the toy closet, take everything out and organize toys.

Wash all the doors and the doorknobs on the main level

Wash all the doors and the doorknobs upstairs

Wash all the doors and the doorknobs in the basement

Clean sliding glass door inside and out, and the door track upstairs and down.

Wash the wood floor with soap and water on hands and knees

Dust the blinds of two windows in room of mom’s choice

Thank you for your suggestions! I think that I will love the foot rub! I will keep you all posted on how this is received!

p.s. you almost hope they are a little naughty!

good ole days

My sister Lillian posted this picture on her blog a while ago. I have been looking at this adorable photo for months. Each time I look I get a little teary. You see, this is a picture of my mom and dad, and their four young children. My mom was younger in this photo than I am now. I look at her, in her stylish dress with her necklace, and pumps. She looks so beautiful and so proud of her young family. I look at my dad, with his mustache and shiny shoes. They were just starting out. They had four kids that were so cute! What a good looking family. I think of how, in this picture, at that moment, they had their whole lives to look forward to. They did not know at this point that they would adopt two beautiful little girls, and years later have two more little girls, for a total of eight children. They did not know that in 10 years their oldest son would be diagnosed with cancer, and die two short years later. They did not know that two years after that, that lovely young mother would be diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which would change her life forever. I look at her so full of life, and wonder if she would have done anything different had she have known what her future would hold.

Tonight I went to enrichment night, where we talked about being happy. One of the things that was shared was the importance of living in the moment. Taking advantage of the opportunities to enjoy our lives, and our children. I have thought about how important that really is. Life is so short! We have no idea what our future holds. Like that young mother in the picture, my mother, things can change so quickly. Live so that there are no regrets. Let go of all anger, bitterness. Forgive and move on.

When we were down in San Diego one of my best friends sister passed away. She was young, a mother of three the oldest is 13 and the youngest is 9. She had breast cancer that spread to her bones and then through her whole body. Her funeral was beautiful, she was such a good example of living in the moment, really living life. The week before she died she went to the temple and did sealings. She could not walk, but she wanted to be in the temple. It just made me think, we never know what our future holds. Make the most of your todays! I have a quote hanging on my wall it says...

Learn from the past
Live in the present
Prepare for the future




Here is a similar picture of my young family. I want to take the example of the courageous women in my life and learn from them. I want to make every moment count and prepare for what my future may hold. Life is a beautiful thing! Lets be happy!

p.s. don't forget to call your mom and tell her you love her!

nueve-neuf-nove

summer fun in groups of nine
I know you have all been waiting to see what we were up to for the entire summer :)

summer started with Lauren dancing in the Stadium of FIRE!!! It was so much fun to watch her this year. We really enjoyed our first experience at the Stadium. It was so much fun, and so patriotic. I cried when they brought out all the different flags from our nations history! America really is a great country! The Jonas Brothers were very entertaining as well! We had a group of girls that were sitting in front of us, and they kept turning around to take a picture of the big screen that was behind us. The flash was driving my eyes crazy! Their screams were louder than the fireworks!
We went down to San Diego with some good friends. We had fun on the beach, went to Comic Con, posed with a fake pirate, watched a navy ship pull out of the harbor, and the boys went deep sea fishing!



learned to surf, had a blast boogie boarding, made our own private pool on the beach, camped on the beach for a week with family and friends, Lills loved the water, which made the twelve hour drive worth it (see the little snip-it below), watched many sunsets, this one is from the back patio at my sisters house in Laguna Beach, posed on the beach, and turned a cute little girl into a mermaid.





I just love this picture of Dave, thanks Nathan Petty for taking some awesome pictures of the Extreme Event crew, fell in love with Wicked, went to fan night for the Chargers, Brian and Carrina's wedding, happy birthday to Brad on 9/9/09, lots of baseball games, more posing at the temple, and by the end West just wanted to go home! We had a fun summer! We are glad to be home, and we want you all to do something fun on this special day!

Have a great 9-9-09!

it's a good thing...

disclosure...the purpose of this post is not to get sympathy, please no "I am sorry..." The purpose is to journal, document the situation for history and posterity, and to see if anyone knows anyone who can help us move forward! Thanks!



On April 23rd Dave lost his job. He worked for Summit Fasteners. He had the job for a little under a year. He felt inspired to leave his Irwin job to take this position that would allow him to stay in Utah. See Irwin wanted him to move to Seattle area. Later we would find out that they wanted to promote him, because they would be dissolving his position, and they did not want to lose him, since he was their top Field Product Specialist. We did not feel good about moving to Seattle. So, he decided to take this job with the local company. He had worked with these guys when he was with Irwin, he had a good relationship with them. He said the owner was like a father figure to him. So there was no hesitation to take the job. He worked there for 9 months. The first month he was there he brought in 10 new clients. The guy who had the position before him had brought in two new clients in the two years that he worked there. Dave was feeling pretty good about his efforts. He continued to bring in new customers and worked hard for this company.

The owner who if you remember he compared to a father figure had all of a sudden turned into this ogre. Nothing Dave did was good enough. He was continually being told that he was not earning his wage. Dave worked so hard for this guy, he never took a lunch, he was always doing deliveries on his way home to save the company a trip. He just went above and beyond for this company. The other co-owner said that Dave was doing awesome, and that these lectures that the owner would give him were just his way of motivating Dave. Well, needless to say this was taxing day after day. Dave started to hate his job. He would never quit, or tell them that he was miserable, that is not Dave's character. I knew, and those that stayed in our home knew how much this weighed on him. April 21nd the owner told Dave that he was going to have to cut his wages in half. Dave came home and we talked about it, we decided that some wage was better than no wage. He went back the next day and told the owner that he would except the wage cut. Well, then April 23rd the owner pulled him in, and told him that he was going to let him go, that it was strictly his decision and that it was nothing that he had done. Dave said okay, shook his hand and got his stuff out of the companies truck, and someone brought him home.

So we counted this as a blessing. He was no longer working for this miserably grouchy man, and we could start looking for a different job. Dave applied for unemployment, and we waited for the approval. He got a phone call a week later from the unemployment agency. The women who was assigned to his case said that he was fired for being beligerant, vulgar and showing signs of anger. Dave was floored. He said are you kidding me? She said no, and that it was her job to get his side of the story before she made any formal decisions. Dave told her that this was simply untrue. He gave her some character witnesses phone numbers and waited. Well the lady called back the next day and said that she does not know what is going on, the witnesses all affirmed that Dave is a nice, even keeled kind of person. She also could not retrieve any kind of paper trail. There was never anything documented that Dave had ever been spoken to, or was warned or anything. So the lady granted Dave his unemployment. Well Dave needless to say was really hurt by the slanderous words that his former employer had used against him. He could not believe that this man would lie, and say these horrible things about him. What little respect he had left for him was gone.

Dave had never been fired from a job. He took great pride in his work and his work ethic. This situation took a toll on his self esteem. It is a guy thing, that who you are is defined by the work that you do and how much money you make, etc. He was bummed that this had happened, but at the same time relieved that he did not have to deal with that disfunctional job anymore.

He has since been looking for a job, but has had no bites. We were not too worried, since we had a nice chunk in savings. Since he lost his job he has placed over 50 resumes out there. So, instead of waiting to be hired, he decided to create his own company. He and three other great guys are starting a Event Planning Business. They are calling it Extreme Event Prodcutions.



So if you guys know anyone who needs help planning any kind of event, please let Dave know. This is my effort to help him get the word out.

Or if you know of any jobs, let Dave know.

Thanks!

Consequence Jar say WHAT?

You might be asking why is there a picture of an empty peanut butter jar? I am going to turn this into a Consequence Jar. My kids are good, don't get me wrong, but the fact is that they are kids, and well, sometimes they misbehave. My friend Andrea started the consequence jar a while ago, and she loves it. So, I am going to give it a try.

This is how it goes down. When your kids are naughty, after you teach them why what they are doing is not appropriate, you send them to the consequence jar. They get to reach in and pick something out of the jar. Andrea fills it with stuff that she does not enjoy doing, like cleaning the toilets, or wiping off the cupboards. I love this idea!

I need some suggestions! What would you put in your consequence jar?