Yikes!

One day in Early June Aaron came home from work early. It was a bit surprising to see him walk in the door so early in the day and he didn't look very happy. He was told that his job would be ending at the end of the month. Yikes!!!! This wasn't news we ever thought we'd hear, we were very very unprepared. There was so severance and not much time to find something new before major financial problems would start. Not to mention the loss of health insurance which for our family is almost our #1 concern.
So naturally panic ensued. Anger and fear followed. And then a little bit of depression. Thankfully Aaron had until the end of the month, but this also made it hard to be out job hunting when your at work all day. This was Aaron's first job out of college so the idea of searching for a job, well a non entry level job, was pretty foreign to him. And I think he was feeling pretty overwhelmed and didn't really even know where to start.

So we've known a lot of people that have been without jobs after layoffs and such. And even the best people seem to take months to find new jobs. And usually not better jobs than they had before, but enough to get by, so we were bracing ourselves for a long road ahead.

So June 6th was the day we found out. He spent many hrs sprucing up his resume, searching online, and talking to everyone we knew about what they might know of out there.

June 14 or 15th Aaron received an email from a girl he worked with in Chicago. His company handles benefits for other companies and works with a company in Chicago called BSwift. They own the program that is used for online enrollments, and only 2 companies in Utah have rights to use it. Firstwest where he was working and a placed called ISIHR.  So Aaron had spoken/emailed this girl several times over the years as they handled accounts and she just might be one of my favorite people now.
So... she found out he was leaving Firstwest and told him that ISIHR just happened to have a position open, doing the same thing he was already doing. The people they had doing it had both left and they needed someone NOW. She said that if he would send her his resume then she would forward it on to them with a recommendation.  It was farther away than we wanted but he hadn't had any interviews yet so we figured it couldn't hurt to at least see what would happen, if anything just for interview practice.

Monday June 17th and 11:15ish he emailed his resume.
          11:45 ISIHR president calls to ask for an interview. It's set up for 3:00 that afternoon.
          3:00 - interview +++ JOB OFFER!!!!
 The details were worked out, and on June 25th he STARTED!! He even left his old job a week before planned and we had ZERO days without a paycheck.
So yes his office is now farther away. His commute has doubled and so has the gas. BUT... He found a job right away - HUGE BLESSING - and the pay was more so even with the extra gas and other things we still come out ahead in the end.  And that means that I can do cakes if I want to help boost our cash flow but if I don't, and we watch what we spend, we can get by!! Yay!!!

There was huge potential for this to be a very very bad thing. But it has been one of the best things that has happened to us. He likes the new job, the people are great, and he gets to see his brother who also works nearby, on a regular basis now when they go to lunch once a week. One day we'd like to live closer, but the freeway construction is almost done ad the commuter train will be open soon and that will help. And in the meantime I can't imagine a better place to live. We have an incredible neighborhood full of wonderful friends and life is good.

New -Old Carpet

 This was my carpet. Not terrible, but not particularly great either. This part looks pretty good because it's been covered with a rug for the last 5 years. The rest was not so pretty, even with frequent cleanings you can imagine what 4 boys can do to carpet. 

I never liked the color and the quality was so no great. Then we got new neighbors. The house is much bigger than ours but the layout similar. The previous owners built the house, lived there 4 years, only had 1 small child when they left, and were practically never home. So the carpet was in really good condition. 
The new neighbors wanted laminate flooring on the main floor so out went the carpet and up went a facebook post offering the carpet for free to whoever wanted to come get it.

 So say good bye to the old carpet. So long, I'm not sad to see you go. I was surprised at the amount of debris that was left on the floors when they laid the carpet originally. Thanks Fieldstone contractors. It's awesome that you left us a few spare screws and lots of piles of plaster and junk.

 Enter new to us carpet. I LOVE it. We replaced the pad with some that actually feels like there is padding and after hiring one guy to lay it who never followed thru we found a great flooring guy who came right away when I called in a panic needing it done asap. Bare floors and tack strips don't mix well with toddlers. 
After a few hrs he was done and we even had enough to cover the stairs. Now to save up to replace the rest upstairs

Ready for another one???!

Our Summer Staycation

With money being tight thanks to our horrible money management, medical bills, and a job change, we couldn't go on any vacations this summer. But Aaron's new job has a summer party at Lagoon every summer and he started just in time for us to be able to go. So Grandma Kathy let Clay and Quinn have a sleepever at her house and we took Parker and KC on an adventure.

It started in Ogden. We played in the pool, slept in a gross and noisy hotel with beds and pillows that felt like laying on a pile of bunched up stuffing, and not the really soft kind. But beds nontheless so can't complain to much.

 



















First thing in the morning we headed out to Hill Air Force Base 
to see the Aerospace Museum. Which I have to recommend. It's FREE, and so cool!! A boys paradise for sure. We saw planes and helicopters from as far back as the first planes ever made and we took pictures in the photo booth, because who doesn't like a photo booth after all. 

 


















 

Then we left and went to Lagoon! I've only been a few times, the last being when I was newly pregnant with Quinn and didn't know yet. I wondered why I was getting nauseated so quickly. 
We had a blast. The boys loved the rides. I liked meeting some of Aaron's new coworkers, we got free lunch, went in the water park, and walked till our feet throbbed. It was a long day but so fun. I can't wait to go back next year. And of course the kids are already talking about what we'll do then. 

This boy had a birthday, and so we had a party

6! 
I love a good party, the stress, the excitement, the exhaustion when it's done, and most of all the smiling happy faces.

Kc turned 6 in July and what could be funner than a carnival! Unfortunatly the weather was no so cooperative so it ended up inside, but the kids were all good and we had a blast.
We played carnival games, had balloon animals, ate pizza and cupcakes and candy.

Thanks to all my great friends who came and helped run everything! I couldn't have done it without you!!

 

Just for you...

Here you go. Apparently blogging is still a thing, or so my friends tell me. I'm a facebook girl myself, easy and fast. So I apologize if you still blog and I never look. I do occasionally, I promise. 
So to my dear friend who always checks my blog in hopes of a post this is for you. ;-)

So for starters, here's Quinny!!! This little boy makes me laugh everyday. I love this age, fits and all. 
Here's a little about Quinn at 18months

He LOVES to wave, as you'll see if you watch the video, which you better. It's super cute. He'll wave at anyone and everyone. Cars driving by, people in the store, people not even looking at him. He loves it, he's pretty friendly. Then if you let him he'll give you a big hug, if you don't you'll get a nice bite instead.

He climbs on everything. The table, the chairs, the counters, everything

He can say all his brothers names, ball, car, dog, hi, hello, and a bunch of other random nonsense.

He just started nursery at church and so far so good!! They haven't had to bring him to us and I think he's loving it, helps of course that Clay is still in there for a few months.

He dang cute and I love to squeeze and snuggle him.

And a bunch of other stuff, but I don't have the attention span to keep going, you'll just have to come see him