I'm A Horrible Blogger

Okay, so it has been months since I posted anything on my blog, I know, I am horrible at keeping it updated. I am always so busy & I always think about doing it, but I just never get around to it. It's one of those things that just gets put on the backburner, along with many other things that I won't mention (laundry, yard work, scrapbooking, basically anything that is going to take longer than an hour of my time. Oh yeah, I wasn't going to mention any. Sorry just thinking out loud!) :)

So here goes what I am going to try to make a short & sweet update...

Gary is back to work full time at the mine now, working mandatory overtime of 50 + hours a week. He is still going through the process for Border Patrol. They just completed the last step of his pre-hiring process which was his Background Investigation. Holy cow, they want to know anything & everything about you & everything about everyone that you know too! Which job he is going to have in the end we are still debating. Menawhile though, he is back to his usual crazy, hectic, busy life with work, djing, household chores, and playing stay at home dad with the kids in the evenings.

Alyssa just started her very first day of Kindergarten yesterday. She was so excited to start school and reminded us everyday for the last 3 weeks of how many days left until she was "big enough to go to school". Her first day was an early release & she got out 2 hours earlier than a normal day and she was already exhausted. We let her ride the bus home & when she got off you could see the exhaustion in her eyes. She told us that she had started falling asleep on the bus ride home. Poor kid! I knew it would be a big transition. Here is a picture of her right before we took her to school yesterday morning.

Bryant is about to turn two & is as busy as ever. He talks pretty much non-stop now & is starting to sing songs. I love it at night when he sings the songs with us as we sing to him at bedtime. During the day, he is in to absolutely EVERYTHING. He thinks he has to always have a pair of keys & one of daddy's screwdrivers in his hand. The scary part is that he knows how to use them too & is always sticking keys into the locks on my house & car doors & has learned to take the screws out of pretty much anything. He definitely keeps us on our toes.

I am still working at Denny's for the time being. Before Gary went back to work full time, I went ahead & took an R.P. position (fill-in manager) & have been training for that. With Gary working full time now & Alyssa being in school & dance, it is very hectic to try & work around everyone's schedules and not have to rely on a babysitter too much. I feel like I am a horrible parent sometimes because I do have to take my kids to a babysitter just so that I can work, but until our jobs & future get a little more settled we feel like it is the right thing to do for me to continue working. I don't know what we would do without the help of family & we hope they know how much their help is appreciated. Other than that, I am just trying to stay somewhat caught up with housework.

Here area few pictures we have taken of the kids over the last few months.

Okay so the dog had to join in on the fun too!

What A Crazy Life!

Well things have been so hectic for all of us that I haven't had any time for blogging. Gary of course went back to work for the mine part-time for the time being. I am working usually 40 + hours a week at Denny's. And the kids are just busy being kids. Gary & I usually work completely opposite schedules, him working the days that I have off and me working the days that he has off. Although it leaves us seeing each other in passing usually, it works out nicely so that we don't need a sitter very often for the kids. Gary is still pursuing his border patrol stuff and has passed everything needed so far. Now it is just the sitting and waiting for them to call him to go to the academy. That will be when it gets fun with him being in New Mexico, 7 hours away from us for 6 months. I am working and attempting to keep up with my housework somewhat. It drives me crazy that I don't have time to keep up with the simplest things like laundry. I can keep it all washed & dried, but am lucky if I can get it folded & put away before we're pulling clothes straight out of the basket to wear. A couple of my managers at work keep asking me to go into training to become a manager myself so that they have someone to take over when one of them leaves in a few months. The one most persistent about it is quite obviously not married , nor does she have children. I keep telling her there is absolutely no way. She just doesn't understand how incredibly hard it is already to try to be a working mom. It would be a great opportunity for someone, just not me.
Alyssa had her 5th birthday a few weeks ago. It makes me feel so old to think that I have a kid that is going to be starting school soon. We took her last week & got her registered for kindergarten. They tested her vision, hearing, motor skills,etc. She of course passed with flying colors. She was a little shy at first, but she eventually warmed up. We don't know which school she'll go to yet or who her teacher will be but we should find out in June sometime. There are 3 elementary schools in Safford so she could end up at any of them. We were allowed to put down a preference, but they don't guarantee anything. I am hoping that she will get put at Dorothy Stinson just because she has cousins that go there already & I think it would put her (and us) at ease a little to know that they are there too.
Bryant is growing up so fast. He has just become quite the little chatterbox in the last couple of months. There isn't a word out there that he doesn't attempt to say. Quite the same about trying to do things too. He is definitely all boy! He climbs everything & loves to play outside & be on the go. Everyday he says, "Daddy got truck. Go bye-bye truck." I don't know what it is about Daddy's truck, but he definitely likes it. Everytime we try to leave he runs straight for Gary's truck & is quite upset when I have to go chase him through the sprinklers to bring him back to the car. And I still love him like crazy even though I do have to chase him through the sprinklers. :)

My Wonderful Hubby of Six Great Years!

I have to take some time to brag on my wonderful husband. Yesterday was our sixth anniversary and I have to tell everyone what a wonderful six years it has been. I truly believe that Gary is the hardest working, most loving guy on the face of this earth. He works so hard to provide for our family and he does absolutely everything possible to make sure that we have not just what we need, but what we want too! Yes, he spoils us rotten, which isn't always a good thing, but I still love him like crazy.
When Gary & I started dating, I knew that my family & friends just looked at him & thought that he was an immature teenage boy. To tell you the truth, I thought that sometimes too, but I somehow deep down knew from the time I met him that someday he was going to be my husband. Of course there were times that I really wanted to slug him, but deep down I still loved him more than anything and anyone. He truly gave me a new perspective on life and made me realize things that I never would have without his help. He is & has always been more than my husband, he is my best friend! I don't know what I would have done without him all these years & I just want him to know how much I appreciate him & all that he does for us and our family.
Gary, you are my light at the end of the tunnel and my absolute everything! Thank you for all of your hard work, your lack of sleep everynight so that you can spend time with us, your goofiness that lightens my mood at the end of the day, and for always being there no matter what. I Love You So Much! Thank you for the best six years of my life!

HELP!!!!!

Yes, as Heidi said I am staying at home with the kids. Consequently I am seeing my therapist twice as much as I used too. ☺ If I had any hair, then I would have pulled it all out anyway. My props to moms everywhere. Okay, I am actually glad to be spending time with the kids and I enjoy getting to take them and go do fun things like going to the park or feeding the ducks or going to Denny's and making mommy be our waitress and then complain about everything ☺.
I do agree with Heidi that Wyoming is not my first choice of place to go and live, but I'll go where there is money, even if it is -20° F there during the winter. Besides, it is a good excuse for me to sell my camp trailer and buy that new 30' weekend warrior camp trailer that I have wanted (most likely that is what I will be living in while I am there). Another good thing is that this is a chance for Heidi and I to fly over and see Wyoming for a couple of days when I go for my second interview, and Heidi gets to fly for her very first time!!! (she's scared!) Well anyway, I just though I would put in my two cents on this whole blogging thing now that I have some spare time. Ciao!

Update

Okay I haven't updated in quite a while. So here it goes... as most of you know my hubby got laid off from his job. His entire department was laid off along with 1500 other people at the mine. So luckily, I had taken a job at Denny's as a server beforehand because we pretty much knew that the inevitable was coming. Of course I don't make near as much as my husband did, but at least it is something to pay part of our bills. It isn't the job that I would have chosen, but any job is better than none. Gary is still searching for jobs, but unfortunately there isn't a lot around. He has an interview in Wyoming in a couple of weeks (YUCK!) but if it is the only job that he can get for the time being then we will be grateful & take it probably. I REALLY don't want to move that far away & somewhere where it is so cold, but at this point we can't be too picky. He has had a phone interview for a job in Carlsbad, New Mexico which wouldn't be too horrible & they said they would be calling him for a second interview, but we haven't heard anything back from them yet. Both of those jobs are for vibration analysts job, the same thing that he was doing for Freeport. He also has a test with the state prison next week for an officer position & then 2 weeks after that he has a test with the Border Patrol for an officer position. We are somewhat confident that the companies in Wyoming & New Mexico will offer him jobs & if so then he will take one of those positions temporarily & then if at a later time the prison or border patrol offer him a job then he will most likely take one of those. We have learned now that working for mines is just too risky (especially in today's economy) & would prefer not to have to go through any lay-offs again.
For the time being Gary is just playing Mr. Mom at home with the kids & trying to finish up some projects on the house, at least the ones that don't require too much in supplies. It has been really nice for the kids to be able to stay at home and spend time with Gary. I have never seen Bryant respond to Gary as much as he has in the last couple of weeks. The two of them have really grown a lot closer. So at least there is a silver lining, despite the stress & other hardships that we are currently facing.
The kids are doing well & we just continue to take everything a day at a time. We are just keeping our fingers crossed and keep hoping for some good news to come our way.

Finally I Can Post Pictures

These are the pictures I was trying to post from my last blog.

Well the holidays are over & everything has somewhat gotten back to normal around here. Gary has finally gone back to work after being on vacation for the last two weeks. The holidays are always so hectic around here and even more so when Gary is home & we are trying to get some projects done around the house. Unfortunately his vacation is never much of a vacation, instead just a chance to finish up household chores. At last we are finally done replacing every single old, ugly window in our house with new dual paned windows. We also replaced our back door & built a new storage unit during his vacation. Hopefully this storage unit will provide better protection for our stuff than the old one did in case we get flooded again.
Christmas was as usual a lot of fun. We really enjoy getting to spend time with the family. I don't think we saw our house more than a couple hours a day for the whole week of Christmas. It actually is kinda nice that way because if we aren't home to make any messes then that's just less housework I have to do. The kids got a power wheels truck from Santa & they have had a lot of fun with it. We've loaded it up & taken it with us to grandparents' houses & to the fairgrounds one day and let them ride it. It has prepared us for what a crazy driver Alyssa is & will be when she gets older. Bryant likes to get in it & play with the radio. Probably sooner than we like he'll figure out how to operate the rest of it. Well anyways, I was going to post some pictures from Christmas, but for some reason it won't let me upload them so I will have to try to do that part later. Hope everyone had a good Christmas & Happy New Year.