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Sunday, August 30, 2009

Bridal Veil Falls


We went to see a waterfall in Provo. On the way we hit a traffic jam. It was so crazy because on the OTHER side of the freeway an 18 wheeler fell over in the middle of almost every lane of traffic. Though it seemed like no other cars were involved. But it backed up OUR side of traffic, all because of rubber-necking. People are weird.

But we finally got to the water fall and it was great! Emma loved it. She has no nerve endings I swear because that water was ice cold and she could get enough.




Dada got her a snow cone, she was very happy!



Frank was climbing up...and then back down.





Emma trying to get me off her back...she won't smile for pics anymore!




We met a dog named Sammy. He liked to fetch rocks out of the water. First you throw a rock. Then he fetches it out and adds it to his pile! Emma loved this dog so much.





Monday, August 17, 2009

Hummingbird MADNESS!

This hummingbird was right up to my face! It was amazing. I am hoping to get better video and photos in the next couple weeks as their fall migration gets into full swing.


Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Rock...

...you need no money, no job, no nothing but ROCK in this life.



Sorry the video is sideways.



And, in my defense, this post WAS made last night, but I left to let the video upload and I forgot to hit "publish"....so I guess I failed my 14 days straight....lol

Monday, August 10, 2009

The Luck of the Irish

So about one year ago Frank's employer, Sensory Sweep, began to hand out late paychecks. They said publishers were late giving them money and so they were late giving employees money. We took that in stride. After a few months paychecks not only got later, the began to bounce and go missing.

We liked the free health insurance and hoped to ride out this storm, hoping that this company would recover. But they never did. Frank ended up quitting at the end of November. Turns out it was a good decision. This company wasn't paying the IRS any taxes, they were stealing 401k money and apparently this isn't the first time they've done this kind of thing.

So we head into the Christmas season with no job, no income except unemployment.

Frank has a promising job prospect in Austin, Texas. He flies out for an interview, the job looks good, looks like he might have it! After a few days of denial that we'd have to move to TEXAS I accept and begin to look forward to renting a house, having a yard and seeing new birds.

The company in Austin ruptured and closed their Austin branch.

Job after job is close but no cigar.

Frank interviews for a job in Provo. They like him, he's exactly what they want. But they don't like his "look"...his long hair and beard offends their BYU sensibilities. They insult him, call him "anti social" and offer him a temporary job if he gets a haircut and shaves his face. You know Frank...he's SO antisocial...with is love of cooking and being with his family. He declines this nasty offer.

Another job interview in Austin! Great! Denied.

Finally...FINALLY a real job offer for a small company, small but solid. We aren't out of the woods but at least it's a steady paycheck. Smaller paycheck, but steady. The bottom rung of a potentially lucrative ladder.

Today, 5 months into the job, laid off. The company forced to close it's doors because their biggest and onliest client decline to sign a contract because the owner of the company died in a car crash. Tragic. Ripples into the universe that happen to hit the Lucky Irish 3.

How can we have this much bad luck? Did I mention our car broke down...twice...with in 3 weeks...costing us over $1000?

The law of averages demands that we have stability for at least a little while. I was just unclenching my fists from this last round of madness. I was just starting to believe things were looking up.

We'll survive, many have it worse. At least we have each other.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

sigh

Frank and I went to the movies today, we saw Julie and Julia. It made me uncomfortable to watch a movie about a lost 30 year old woman who blogged her way into SOMETHING.

sigh

Saturday, August 8, 2009

10th anniversary


I never did say anything on the blog about mine and Frank's 10 year wedding anniversary last month.

10 years seems like a long time to me, so much longer than it's felt. Frank and I always had this image of doing something really amazing on our 10th. We didn't have much of a wedding and no honeymoon. We are ok with that. Life with each other is great as it is. But we always told ourselves our 10 would be something really great.

Well, a years worth of financial crap can ruin those plans. Late paychecks turned into no paychecks which turned into months of unemployment which mercifully turned into a good job in a solid industry and a trustworthy company. But we are still a ways from recovering from all that burden.

Well, as our 10th anniversary neared Frank and I realized that some fancy vacation, huge party, big gifts weren't really all that important. Frank and I are happy to have ridden the waves we have together. We ended up having a lovely dinner at home and watched a movie on TV. And I mean this honestly. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Frank and I have always believed it's about our relationship and not the stuff. Frank and I can still laugh until we hurt and we can talk until 4am. We are still so happy to be together. No one else we'd rather be with than each other. And that makes us lucky! How many people get that in life? Not many, and those of you who DO have that, good for you! I get to wake up every morning and hang out with my best friend, the funniest person I know and someone who loves me and my flaws.

I am only happy I get to spend many more decades with him.

Friday, August 7, 2009

This is not easy!

I wrote some poems about blogging every single day:




Roses are red
The night sky is starred
Blogging every day
Is getting kinda hard

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Roses are red
Birds like to soar
Reading this blog
is probably a bore

--------------------------------

I thought it easy
to blog for fourteen straight days
But I was so wrong


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Big
List
Of
Good &
Great
Ideas
Now
Getting

(that last one sucked!)