Bitter Sweet

Doug has now rejoined the land of employment. He got a job working for May Trucking. Last week he went down for orientation and to see if he could pass their drive test. They asked when he would like to start and he told them Monday. They said if he didn't hear from them by 11am Monday morning to call them. He spent a lot of Saturday purchasing things he needed and packing. He ended up having to call them Monday and they told him they weren't able to find a trainer at the moment. He was to then wait until Wednesday afternoon and call in if they hadn't contacted him before then. Late yesterday (Tuesday) morning he gets a call from May saying they've got a trainer coming in later that evening and he needed to call him so they could meet up. Doug left last night around 6pm and was told they had a few stops on Oregon to make then after that it was off to Massachusetts. It was hard on everyone when he left knowing he'll be gone for 2 weeks. I know that's not very long but when you're used to having him home 24/7 for the past six months, two weeks sounds like an eternity. He called me this morning telling me that they were still in Salem! (where May Trucking is located) He said something about his trainer and hours and that they weren't going to the east coast but more likely to Denver. They were going to be heading out this afternoon.

We're not exactly pleased with the long-haul driving but it's what he needs to get the experience and we know with the experience, he'll get a better job. Hopefully something that lets him come home each night. We're hoping he won't have to do long-haul for more than a year.

I'm really thankful I have my parents here and even if they didn't live so close, my ward is wonderful. I'm so greatful for the love and support from all my friends and family. Thank you.

I'm seeing red

For the longest time I've wanted a red kitchen but have been too afraid to paint it. About a year ago we were given six gallons of paint from a neighbor who was moving. We finally decided to do something with that paint.

First we had to prime the walls and since two out of the six gallons of paint were pink, we used that. (sorry for the messy kitchen)

Then we put the first coat of red on. I went around with the roller while Doug used the trimmer. It looked like Valentine's Day.

We then added another coat of red and then another. Altogether, four coats of paint and four days later. We love the end result!

(Above: Notice the line on the ceiling next to the lights? That's water damage from our washing machine, somehow the hose worked itself out of the drain and was draining water onto the floor in the laundry room. Our next project, once Doug gets a job.)

We had a day of rest then it was on to painting the living room. Just a boring Vanilla Custard color so you can't really tell the difference.

25 Random Facts

I was tagged a few times on facebook to do this so I thought I'd post it at both places.

1. I love the smell of coffee and cigars (but I don't drink coffee or smoke)
2. I still have 3 grandparents alive. Two will be 91 this year.
3. I hate ear wax. I love to clean my kids ears out.
4. I bite my nails. I've tried to stop, it's hopeless.
5. Love makeup and jewlery but don't wear hardly any of either.
6. If it were legal in my state, I'd be a surrogate.
7. My initials growing up were JJJ.
8. One of my jobs as a teenager was working at a kennel.
9. I hate it when wipers are going and it's stopped raining.
10. I also hate when people drive with their blinker on and they don't turn.
11. I started out as an architect major, couldn't handle the math, then changed to dance and finally generals. My associates says "Arts and Sciences".
12. While in Hawaii, I took a 15 minute crash course on scuba diving from my brother-in-law and then went diving. It was AMAZING and I absolutely LOVED it!
13. I was in a triathlon in 2007 and completed it while I had the flu (thank goodness for priesthood blessings).
14. I've been to Germany, Rome and Venice Italy. I was on a dance team in college and left for three weeks, three weeks after I was married. Hubby had to stay behind.
15. I started getting gray hair in junior high school and now I have tons.
16. Love eating raw chocolate chip cookie dough.
17. I catch on to things pretty quickly. Teach me something and it won't take long til I've got it. Hence #12.
18. I love anything tropical. Someday when I'm rich I'll travel all over the tropics.
19. I sometimes wish for another tattoo but I know I'll never get one.
20. I was engaged twice before I met my husband (something I'm not proud of).
21. I love to sew but never have time.
22. I've always wanted to be a professional ballroom dancer.
23. Yuck onions, yum onion rings.
24. I love to swim and was on the swim team 10-12 grade (I was in track my freshman year but wish I had started swimming earlier).
25. I've been to a strip club. I saw worse on the pool deck.

Tidbits

The beginning of this month was the cub scouts Blue and Gold Banquet. This year Bry wanted to make a bear for his cake. Of course we waited until the last minute so instead of both Doug and Bry working on it, I did it myself seeing as we were out of time. When it was time to eat the desserts, the first to go were the ears then the mouth, nose and eyes.

Last night as I went to check on the kids before I went to bed, this was how I found Aiden. I'm amazed at how much they move around when they're little.

Finally, for my birthday Doug got me Mama Mia. When I was real little, my dad would play his records Saturday night as we'd get ready for church the next day. Mom would do my hair and dad would be sitting in front of his stereo playing record after record. ABBA was won of my favorite groups he played. So when I went and saw the movie in the theater, I knew I just had to have the DVD. My kids love the songs and they're constantly singing them.

Woohoo!!!

I am so happy right now. Doug took his driving test for his CDL and PASSED! This is such a relief because he's been really stressed these past 4 1/2 weeks, not sleeping well, studying everynight the five pages he had to memorize and really struggling with backing the truck up from a 45 degree angle. Next step: finding a job.

Way to go honey, I knew you could do it!

"Wake me up!"

Last night as Liv was getting into bed she said she wanted me to wake her up in the morning. I said I would if she didn't wake up when it was time to get up. This morning as I was reading, waiting for her and Aiden to wake up, she started calling for me. "Mom.....mom...," I waited for her to get out of bed. About a minute later I hear, "Mom......mom......wake me up!" I again waited to see if she would get out of bed by herself. Then I hear, "Moooooooooooom, come (pause) wake (pause) me (pause) uuuuuuuup!" I then went into her room and she was just sitting there. She looks at me and says, "I was telling you to come wake me up." I aked her, "How can I wake you up if you're already awake?" She looked at me with this scrunched up face like she didn't know how to answer then got out of bed. It's nice to start the day with a laugh.

Can't think of anything for a title

I haven't really been wanting to blog lately, that's why nothings been posted until now.

After, or should I say during, our winter storm, we decided to go to Idaho Falls and visit Doug's family since all the siblings were going to be there. We wanted to be there for Christmas but I-84 was closed so we waited until that weekend after Christmas to go and spend New Year's with them instead. There was a break in the weather, no snow just rain so we headed out on Saturday. We should have gone the day before because when we got to Pendelton, the pass was closed. It took us 3 hours to decide to try and drive around it and the only roads that were open was up through WallaWalla, Lewiston, Missoula and on down to I.F. The drive up to Wallawalla and Lewiston was clear. We did get lost in Lewiston and spent about an hour trying to get back on the right road (thank goodness we came across a LDS church that someone was having a wedding reception at. The woman we met had us follow her to where we needed to be). Just after Lewiston, it started snowing, HARD. We drove about 30-40 mph the whole pass and through about 50 miles of 6 in. of powder that the snowplows didn't get. I think we saw about 10 cars, including a few snowplows. By the time we got to Missoula it was 1am and my nerves were shot! We got a hotel and stayed the night there and were back on the road around 9:30am. So instead of taking 11 hours to get to I.F. it took us about 16, if you subtract our little rest in Montana. We're so glad we went though, we had a blast visiting family. We had no problems getting home and were glad we left when we did because the next day another storm hit and the pass was closed again. I hate traveling in the winter.

This week we've had two new students in the family. Olivia started pre-school. I wasn't going to put her in but she's been crying that she wants to go to school and my friend opened up a pre-school so I said why not? She loves it! Not sure how long we'll keep this up, right now we're bartering for payment so we'll see. Doug also started school. He's going to truck driving school, working on getting his CDL (commercial drivers license). It's an intense course, 4 1/2 weeks, 6am-4:30pm, Mon-Thurs. We're not sure where this will lead us but sometimes you just have to hold your breath and jump.