Well, it feels like we’ve been very busy recently, but it isn’t until one of us sits down to write about life on the blog that we even stop to think about why life seems crazy busy and what exactly we are up to…and then we just give up and the blog doesn’t get updated.
So..here goes an attempt. At work we decided to shift directions a bit and as a result no longer have a need to have different teams creating our different products. It’s more complicated than that, but the end result was to downsize which meant saying goodbye to friends and coworkers that I work with closely on a daily basis. That was tough. On the positive side though I am very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for us as a company and enjoy the cohesiveness of a smaller group, similar to how it was in the beginning almost 3 years ago (3 years already..that’s crazy). An immediate affect though is that fewer people are left to handle the work that 2 or 3 people had been doing before which make for some pretty long, exhausing days at work, at least for now. BriAnne has been very supportive and even though I know it’s tough on her when I call to say I’m going to be late getting home she says “Ok, love you!” – she’s great!
Nextly, the expectation of #3 has us on the lookout for a good van deal. That’s right, a minivan. All pride is gone. Seriously, I’ve always hated them, but I guess there just comes a time in every Mormon family when the dang things just look too darn efficient. They haul a lot of people, and a lot of crap, and do it with fairly decent gas mileage. In preparation for that we sold the truck and are sharing the good ol’ Altima until such time that I’ve found a little beater truck and said minivan. Sharing the car does have it’s advantages (we’re saving quite a bit!) but it’s also tough for both of us to not have the freedom to just jump in the car and take off whenever! I think we’ve got schedules coordinated for now (between work, dance lessons for Katelyn, etc) that it’s pretty smooth. It’s also great to work with my brother Dave who is good w/ taking me home in a pinch, etc.
Next is the calling…being ward clerk started off busy enough. Somehow, some way, it’s gotten about three time as busy over the last month or so. I honestly love it, but for the first time ever I’m finding it challenging to keep track of everything on my plate and feel like a ball isn’t falling somewhere. The bishop assures me I’m doing well, so I’ll just keep plugging away and hope everything falls into place!
BriAnne has been busy with her calling as a youth instructor as well, not to mention dealing with the craziness of having a 3 and 5 year old at her heals all the time! She does great at juggling what’s on her plate, getting Katelyn to school, being involved in parent helper stuff at school, gymnastics and piano lessons, planning out the holidays and everything else.
In the midst of it all, we are very excited for the holidays coming up and are loving every minute of being in our new house (although we’ve not done anything in the way of improvements, like THEY have!) We’re still stuck on trying to figure out what we want to do 1st!
That precedes the real season that you say “Tis the season” for….
That’s right, it’s HUNTING season!!!
Some inevitable things are going to happen here within the next couple weeks. 1)The usual hunting clan, minus Ryan who wussed out this year, will set up a massively over-engineered camp site that leaves everyone not familiar with it thinking “why not just go find a Hilton to stay in?” To which I respond internally with “get lost”. 2) based on the meals we usually have there, we’ll be getting approximately 60% of our yearly intake of cholesterol in less than a week, and finally 3) I’ll call up my friend Clayton who will humbly relate the story of how he shot another great buck.
Mark my words, it will happen!
I was reading my sister-in-law’s blog about what she was doing on 9/11, and it reminded me of my experience that day. I had just met Jon two days before, and yet I remember him entering my thoughts much that day, wondering how he was taking the news, thinking it’d be so nice if he’d call me, and thinking I’d feel better if we could be together. I also remember wondering why I was feeling all these things so strongly towards him – since I barely knew him, and I thought he had a girlfriend, and since I was actually dating some other really nice guys at the time and hadn’t thought of them at all. “Love at first sight”? Or maybe just “When you know, you know” – you know? But either way, being with Jon has always been a great sense of safety and comfort to me. I’m happy to know that for every 9/11 from here on out, I’ll always have my Jon with me.
