Josh's Trapping Season 2012-2013

It looks like Josh has found a way to fulfill his passion of the outdoors during the winter months.

 

 Or a way to keep busy between hunting season and fishing season.

 Either way, both statements are true.

 

This winter, Josh got bit by the trapping bug. He learned to trap several new animals. He is so excited to break out of the norm "cat & dog" (coyotes and bobcats) trapping, and venture into other animals, like raccoon, muskrat, beaver, and mink.

 

This year, he decided to tan a fox and the below beaver. Not sure what we will do with them, but he was so proud, he had to keep a few for himself.

 

 The two next pictures are from his phone, so they might be a little fuzzy. Both pictures are of mink. Unfortunately, their season was over by the time he found them. But he's excited to try them next year.

This year, the final tally was:

10 beaver

8 raccoons

5-9 muskrats (short story there, a coyote ate 4 of them while they were still in the trap)

2 fox

5 coyotes

Administrative Professionals Day

I am always grateful for my job. And, for the most part, I think I'm a valueable employee there. But still, its nice to get that extra vote of thanks on Administrative Professionals Day. This year, they gave us a $25 gift card to Dickey's Barbecue Pit. Josh and I haven't eaten there yet, so we are excited to try it.

Play Date

Josh's work schedule recently changed to 8 days on and 6 days off. On the down side, that is a lot of time I have to live without him, but I'm trying to make the most of it.

 

So for his first weekend away, I let him know I had planned a date. A date, with TWO very cute boys. And since he wasn't here, there was nothing he could do about it. He just laughed, because he knew who I was talking about.

 

I spent Friday morning, scrap booking (about the same to boys actually). Then that afternoon, I headed to town. My sister had the day off, so we decided to take the boys to the park. I spent most of my time pushing Valex in the swing, and the rest of the time just trying to keep up. So I didn't get a lot of pictures.

 They thought the bike rack was a cage and played in it for several minutes.

 After the park, we headed to the store and bought a few things. Then at home, we colored on the windows with some new markers. Then, we did some finger painting.

 

Then I wanted to try something I had seen on Pinterest. You take baking powder and sprinkle it in a pan. Then you dye some vinegar. Using a dropper, or syringe, you drop the vinegar into the baking powder and it makes exploding volcano's.

 

 This happily entertained both little boys for quite a while.



 Then we decided to go out to dinner. Valex had wanted to eat AT Subway a few night ago, but instead, my sister their dinner to go. Valex was excited to get to eat there. I think its because he can sit in the window.

 

It was the perfect afternoon. I love those boys so much. 

Crazy Weather & Quick Life Update

If April showers bring May flowers, what does April snow bring?

 

Towards the end of March, winter finally seemed on its way out of here. I even wore sandals for a few days.

 

Then, on April 9th, I woke up to well over a foot of snow, and it was still coming. When I went out to start my car, I couldn't even get the doors open, they were frozen solid. Since Josh was away for work, I called my supervisor and told her, "if you want me at work, you'll have to come get me."

So she did. And then we got stuck. Luckily I could hear my landlord on his tractor, so we called him and he came and rescued us.

 

That night, I came home to find the snow had stopped, but not melted.

 

Nor did it melt the next day. Sigh, at least its pretty.

 Then, it snowed again on the 15th. Again, we got about a foot. By this point, we had gotten more snow in a weeks time, then we did all winter.

 Tuesday, the 16th, was by far, the WORST! I knew it had been snowing all night again, because the power flickered off a few times during the night. I got up, plugged in my hair straightener and then went to look outside. Just as I turned the front room light on, the power went off. And didn't come back on. I threw my hair stuff and makeup in a bag, put on a hat, and decided to get ready at work.

 

Ha ha.

 

Almost the ENTIRE basin was without power that day. For me, that meant spending the entire day answering the back up phones at work and explaining that because of the severe weather, power was out everywhere; but our guys were out there working on getting it back on.

 

At noon, I realized, I would never get my hair or make up done. It was a long day for everyone. I feel so bad for those who were without power, all day. And I felt bad for the linemen who were out in the storm trying to get it all restored. Some areas were without power over 12 hours.

  

Then, to round off the crazy week, I had a jury duty summons on Wednesday. But after answering phones ALL DAY on Tuesday, I was actually pretty excited. I had never been chosen before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I knew it would be a lot calmer and quitter then Tuesday.

 

In the end, I didn't get chosen. Which I guess is a pretty big deal since I was #3 on the list.

 

Training for the new job is going well. I even had to do one thing by myself one day when my coworker called in sick. I'm also learning that I picked a good time to leave Facebook. With all the training, I don't have time to get online much anymore. And when I get home at night, I'm too exhausted.

 

This weather is also making it hard to train for a 5k. A month, or so, ago, Vanessa, Josh and I signed up for the electric run in Salt Lake City in September. But I wasn't too stressed because September feels forever away.

 

But then, Vanessa told us about a Mud Run 5K in Roosevelt in July and we decided to sign up for it too. Now I'm feeling a little panicked I won't be in good enough shape. I detest running, but also, I don't want to be the wuss that walks the 5K.

 

So Josh found a plan online that was couch to 5K in 15 weeks. But by that point, it was only 13 weeks until the first run. But its not like I'm going from "couch potato", so I wasn't terribly worried. I decided to just skip the first 2 weeks and start there.

 

Then it snowed. And melted. And Froze. And repeat. That made it pretty much impossible to run outside. So I've been trying to run with my Wii Fit, but I know, its not the same thing.

 

Finally, last Sunday, I ran outside for the first time. Somebody, please shoot me. I thought I was going to die. Josh told me I did pretty good, considering it was my first time running AND the wind was blowing. He said it was much easier when the wind isn't blowing.

 

And he was right. I ran again yesterday. This time no wind. And I did much better. Maybe I can do this after all. 

A Horse Trailer to Call Our Own

After years of looking, we found us a horse trailer that we can pull behind our truck.

 

It needs some work.

 A new floor.

Some new wiring.

A new tire.

A paint job.

 

But its ours.

And its paid for.

That makes it almost perfect. 

Pink Flamingos for Child Abuse Awareness

A few weeks ago, the Family Support Center came into work and asked if they could hang some fliers for their upcoming Child Abuse Campaign. The first poster they hung simply said "The Flamingos Are Coming." They left this up for about a month.

 

Then last week, they came in to change the poster. The new one had a description that it was Child Abuse Awareness and they were doing something to raise money for the program.

 

The deal is, you can pay $10 for five flamingos or $20 for ten. You choose the size of your "flock", pay your money, and then tell them where you want the "flock" planted for 24 hours.

 

I thought it was a great cause, but even more, I thought it was something the boys would enjoy.

 

So yesterday, I went and paid for my "flock" of 10 flamingos and gave them my mom's address. I think it is set up so you can surprise someone with the flamingos, but since it was for the boys, I warned my mom and sister.

 

They were in a rush to get to day care this morning, so they didn't see the birds until this afternoon. I told my sister to send my pictures so I could see their faces.

 

The first two pictures are as they are pulling into the driveway and seeing them for the first time.

The other two pictures are when they got to check them out up close. My sister said they both loved it!

 

My only worry is there might be a temper tantrum tomorrow when the birds are gone. But that is the great part of being an aunt. I get to deliver the fun and not worry about the bad. ;)

 

If you live in the Roosevelt area and would like to send a "flock" of flamingos to someone, you can call the Family Support Center at 722-2401.

Promotion

At the end of May, one of the employees in the billing department will be retiring.

 

This started, what I have come to call, the water fall effect.

 

In the past, when there has been a job opening, I have always hoped that eventually, it would trickle down to me.

 

But this time, it rushed.

 

When Allen gave his notice of retirement, they posted his job in house so they could get the next person trained. JoLynn got that job.

 

Then they posted JoLynn's job, along with a newly created position for an additional billing clerk. The new billing clerk would take up the back corner of my current office.

 

I, along with 2 others, applied for the above jobs. Interviews were held on a Thursday and we were told they would let us know in a day or two who got what job.

 

We were all hopeful we would know before the weekend. But no announcement was made.

 

I tried to not think about it all weekend, but I realized, if Ilene got JoLynn's job, that would make her job available. (She is currently a billing clerk.) And that was the billing clerk position I wanted. They are both the same position, but I want my own office.

 

Of course, my supervisor had already figured that out. We had to wait the extra day because she had to get special permission to just let the other 2 who applied for the billing clerk positions to be hired immediately. This would make it so they wouldn't have to list Ilene's job and do interviews, again.

 

So Monday morning, we were all in for a shock.

 

Ilene got JoLynn's job.

I got Ilene's job.

Richelle got the new billing clerk job.

 

This left my position, on the front desk, and Richelle's position, as a telephone receptionist open.

 

We had kind of pictured all these changes meaning that Richelle would get my job and then our part time gal, KayCee, would get Richelle's job.

 

But since both our jobs were open, they let KayCee take over my job, and asked the part time girl in Altamont if she wanted to go full time.

 

Needless to say, work has felt insane lately. We all need to train the new person in our position, but at the same time, we all need new training ourselves.

 

It also means, I will get a new office when this is all done. I'm very excited about that. But I probably won't get to move into it until the 1st person retires. So until then, it will feel like we are working on top of each other. Already, I am planning how to decorate my office. Some people have a flower theme, beach theme, horse theme, etc. When I picture my office, I picture lots and lots of nephew pictures. ;)

 

I started training KayCee last week to take over as the front desk receptionist. Its been a lot of information to hand down, but she is catching on fast.

 

Today, I got to have my first training in my new job. I think the game plan is, in the mornings, we train our new person. Then in the afternoon, we switch gears and go learn on our new job.

 

Like I said, its been insane. But a good insane.

 

And if you think about it, its not done yet because we have another billing clerk retiring this summer.

Happy April Fool's Day

 I don't think I've ever really gotten into April Fool's Day, but when I saw this idea online, I just had to do it!

 

My office is HUGE on treats. We bring them for any excuse. So this morning I put this pan in the break room. Then I walked by every one's office and told them there was "brown E's" in the break room. ;)  Some were quite disappointed, others laughed, and even a few asked to take some of the "brown E's" home to their families for dinner.

And it wasn't a complete disappointment in the break room. Like I said, we bring treats for ANYTHING. We had a new employee start today and even she knew to bring treats. So after laughing at my "brown E's", they dug right into the other treat.

Easter 2013

 Easter morning started with cinnamon rolls shaped like bunnies. The picture I saw online used raisins for eyes and the nose, but I didn't have any, so we used M&M's. It was so fun that they may just have to become a yearly tradition for us.

 

 

While breakfast was cooking, we exchanged Easter baskets.

Josh's basket had a chocolate bunny, peeps, chocolate covered peeps, Reese's candies, iTunes card, the 3rd book to the Game of Thorns series and the Hobbit movie. It was also supposed to have a cowboy hat, but when that came in the mail 2 weeks ago, he tried it on and it was too big. So we sent it back, but the new one hasn't arrived yet. 

My basket had Dove dark chocolate eggs, Cadbury Candy Eggs, 3 necklaces, 3 sets of earrings, Amazon gift card (for my Kindle) and the Les Miserables movie. My basket was also missing 2 books I ordered from my favorite author, Marcia Lynn McClure, "Midnight Masquerade" and "The Pirate Ruse."

 

Earlier in the week, Josh found a turkey we had in our freezer and decided Easter would be the perfect time to cook it. So in the afternoon, we started our own dinner. While the turkey was cooking, we went to visit with his family so we could give Preston &Tyler their gift. They seemed to love it, maybe that's because it didn't have any clothes. ;) 

 

 

When we got home, we finished getting our Easter dinner ready. We had turkey, twice baked potatoes, cornbread casserole, deviled eggs and raspberry Lemonade. It was all delish!