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?

So much to blog about

We have been on vacation for a little over a month! I need to do some serious blogging! Someday I might grow a 25th hour in the day!

How do you eat your cake?

I personally like Lillian's way, just shove your face in it!



What a happy year with this little addition to our troop! We love you Lillian Jane!

Cute Little Easter Bunnies!

The kids in their Easter duds. What a good looking bunch of bunnies!

Leave it to me....

Do you know how hard it is to get 5 kids to look good and smile at the same time. Hard, very hard. This picture is perfect, except for ME glorious me!!! Dang blinking!!



This is the next shot. I am amazed at how quickly the camera can capture images. You might say in the blink of an eye! Thanks Mike for taking these great shots. No easy feat getting seven of us to look good! You are a true miracle worker! Check out his photography site here