Welcome Home, Titan!

Billy waiting to see his dad

Waiting for Bill to come in

Having Bill return from Afghanistan was truly the bright spot of my week.  I was so happy when my boss let me have the time off to greet Bill at the airport.  The timing of Bill's return couldn't have been better.  Tina's parents, Ralph and Abby, happened to be in town to help with Eliza's birthday party and to be there for the birth of their latest grandchild (due Wednesday).  Eliza's party was Saturday and her actual birthday was Sunday, so Bill didn't miss a thing.
We had a pretty good little group waiting for Bill at the airport.  Emerson and I were there (the boys had to work).  Tina, Billy, and Eliza were there (of course).  Tina's parents, her brother and his wife and kids showed up soon after we did.  Then some of the other Air Force wives showed up with homemade signs to help welcome him home.  Their husbands just left for Afghanistan a few weeks ago and it will be about five more months before they get their happy reunions.

Our first glimpse of him

Bill and Tina reunited

We were all so anxious waiting for Bill to arrive.  Tina got a text from him when the plane landed, but it seemed to take forever before he made his way to where we were.  Billy and Eliza ran to greet him.  It was so cute to seem him scoop up Eliza (in her best Halloween colors).  Tears definitely flowed as the whole family was reunited.

The happy family!

Tina has lost weight and looks amazing!  Bill has slimmed down, too, but it's not nearly as obvious with all his gear on.  Billy and Eliza would hardly let go of their daddy for the rest of the time we were with them.  At lunch, both kids were pretty much leaning against him.  I know it will wear off, but it's so cute to see how devoted they are to him.
Bill was fortunate to have been in an assignment that didn't put him in as much danger as other areas of Afghanistan.  My boss is having a tough time right now because his son is a Marine and recently began his tour of duty in Afghanistan.  His unit from Camp Pendleton had six or seven deaths just this last week.  I'm so impressed with those who can put their lives on the line for us and I hope I never take it for granted.

A Few More Pitfalls

We knew Emerson's job at Birdseye was going to end eventually as they decided to handle their academic program using the help of the local school district, but things ended in a more unexpected way.  The school district thing didn't ever really happen and they decided to have a tutor/residential employee instead of a teacher. That allowed them to offer much less pay and save some money. That was an unhappy development for us, but at least Emerson won't be making that long and dangerous drive during the winter months again.

So.....the job search takes on new urgency.  Emerson has been hired on as the tutor for the Indian Education program in the Provo School District.  It's extremely part time and he has to hope for Native American students to fail classes and need help so he can get some hours in.  The Utah Valley University Class he taught last year probably won't be offered this school year due to low demand.  We do have one lead on an upcoming teacher's assistant job that might give him some work for the remainder of the school year.  We're just waiting for the listing to show up on the school district's website.

My own job seems a little less certain right now.  I guess the state of California eliminated mental health funding and probably 90% of our clients are from California.  It doesn't affect the kids who are already at Heritage, but we won't be getting any more clients until they figure out a way to fund their care.  It's hard to say how long we have before the company has to start making more cutbacks and I don't want to be caught by surprise, so I'm keeping my eyes open for other jobs.

We've been hoping the truck will hold out until we can afford to repair it.  My precious puppy, Gambit, managed to really hurt himself again and I had to cash out vacation/sick time to pay his vet bill. There are times we feel like the universe is ganging up on us.  We are trying to keep our spirits up and hope for the best.  Your prayers are more than welcome as we brace for more.

Our Idea of Adventure

 I think Emerson and I are becoming an "old married couple" in some ways.  Since finances prevent us from going anywhere truly adventurous, we tend to go to pretty much every home show, outdoor show, and any other type of show that happens around here.  Emerson even tags along with me at the women's expos.  We've hit some good ones recently.  There was a Gem Faire that we got two for one tickets to and they had the best deals on stones, gems, and jewelry making supplies that we had ever found. It led to some great new creations for our Etsy shop.

As part of my membership in the Women's Business Network (part of our local Chamber of Commerce), I got free tickets to a women's expo and won a certificate for a free laser hair removal for my upper lip. Haven't used it yet, but I do like getting stuff for free.

The latest home show we attended had opportunities to try different massage devices (nice!) and we watched a really fun Halloween cupcake competition with local chefs.  Two of the judges were a couple who own Hatch Family Chocolates and were part of a reality show called "The Little Chocolatiers."  They did their own cooking segment after the cupcake competition and we got to experience their fun personalities.  The wife is the chocolate expert and is very focused on what she does while the husband helps and provides comic relief.

With the boys all grown up, we're getting more "us time" than ever before.  Going to events like these keeps us from driving each other crazy and helps us generate new ideas of things to create.  

More Doggy Injuries

Gambit is quite the spirited little puppy and managed to hurt himself again.  This time, it was his neck.  He managed to puncture it on something (still don't know what) and got his collar dug into his neck, slicing under the fur and skin.  He likes to roll around a lot and he has growth spurts that make his collar tighter.  Because he gets himself dirty and the collar covers some of the damage, we didn't catch it until a few days after he must have done the initial damage. Once I discovered it, I kept trying to clean him up.  It was obvious that he hurt a lot and that made it difficult to clean him properly.  Two baths later, he neck was still a mess and he kept scratching at the injuries, making them bleed.  So frustrating!  My anxiety level from this shot through the roof.

When I took him to the veterinarian, the sticker shock of having them sedate him, shave his neck, clean the wound, administer antibiotics, and send him home with appropriate medications was enough to make me throw up (my response to anxiety).  Gambit still kept scratching and Emerson came up with an interesting solution.  He cut the sleeve off a shirt and Gambit is now wearing it like a turtle neck (I call it a "beagle neck").  Twice daily medication and applying ointment to his neck is quite the workout (from trying to hold him still).  Fortunately, he looks like he is healing.  I never imagined we'd be going through this with our dogs, but I love them so much and it's worth all they give back to us.  I just wish they would wait until the economy recovers more...

So Dang Busy

Just to catch everyone up to what's been going on....
Emerson is still hunting for jobs, but his current employer has been working with him to give him hours as long as they can.  He's been busy creating things for our Etsy shop and playing the new Halo game with the boys.
Dwayne is working full time and searching for a new cheap car to buy since his car completely fell apart.
Dexter is in training to work at the same tech support place where Dwayne is working.  He visits us, usually to play games with Dwayne.
I'm in the middle of several looming deadlines at work and beyond overwhelmed.  I won a free month at a fitness boot camp and I'm learning how painful early morning workouts can be.  On nights and weekends, I work on stuff for our Etsy shop.  If anyone has Blue Bird flour sacks sitting around, I'd love to have them to make things out of. 
That's about it for now.

22 Years!

Yesterday was our 22 year wedding anniversary.  I had to work, but not for long.  With all the stuff I did this week, I only needed to put in a few hours.  That left me free to run off with Emerson and have some fun.  We went to a place in Salt Lake City called Advance Display.  We saw a cool display form that a vendor was using at Craft Lake City last weekend and this is the place she got it from.  Photographing items for our shop has been difficult without having some sort of model to use.  Consistency in the photos is also good.  This store has all kinds of display stuff and was really awesome to check out.  After that, we headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for our celebratory meal.  We had fish and chips and then had our cheesecake.  No matter how hard I try, I always end up choosing the Godiva chocolate cheesecake.  Emerson had the banana cream (that's his favorite pie as well).  Thoroughly stuffed, we headed to the mall to walk around some and then stopped by Ikea on our way home. 

How did we make it through 22 years of marriage?  I honestly don't know.  Part of me still expects him to run screaming from the house some day once my craziness gets to be too much for him.  We have definitely had our down moments and struggles.  The fact that we're willing to continue to keep trying is probably why we haven't called it quits.  Things are so much easier now than when we started.  We know how to help and comfort each other so much better now.  I don't have to tell Emerson when I'm upset, frustrated, or troubled...he just knows.  He knows how to calm me and reassure me.  It's pretty amazing! 

News About Dad

In case you didn't know, my Aunt Twyla had a personal experience last year that prompted her to do something about the temple work for my dad (her brother).  This was a remarkable thing since he had been the source of a lot of pain for her.  Dad had been excommunicated from the LDS church when I was in middle school.  For those who aren't LDS/Mormon, see this article about temple work for an explanation.  Being excommunicated removed his baptism and temple endowment ordinances.  When he passed away last year, I wondered if it would ever be possible to restore those ordinances so he could be sealed to his parents and possible have our family sealed together as well.  I turned to my Aunt Twyla for guidance and she checked into it.  It took a lot of work for her to gather the necessary information about Dad and I had to write a letter about his intentions and state of mind at the time of his death as well as his remorse for the things he had done in his life.  Everything was sent to the church offices and we've been waiting for an answer.  Today that answer came.  Here is the letter I received (mine was a copy addressed to President Buxton, Twyla's stake president):

The First Presidency has asked that the Temple Department respond to your letter on behalf of Sister Twyla Heath, requesting readmission and restoration of temple blessings for her deceased brother, William Lea George.  Approval has been given for vicarious temple ordinances to be completed for Brother George.  We are pleased that this will allow the ordinances to be made available to him.  The First Presidency has directed that the readmission by baptism and restoration of temple blessings be performed in the Salt Lake Temple by members of the temple presidency.  When these ordinances have been completed and recorded, within a few months, we will notify you by mail.  Please give this letter to Sister Heath for her records.  Thank you for assisting Sister Heath's family in this matter.

Very Interesting Weekend (already!)

Yesterday, we had Gambit neutered...poor baby!  To keep him from bothering the stitches, we had to put a cone on him.  Yes, the "cone of shame."  For such a little dog, this is very difficult.  He doesn't lift his head enough and the cone catches on the carpet and keeps him from going anywhere.  When he finally gets moving, the cone catches on everything he walks past.  Then he just sits there and mopes and whines to let us know his frustration.  Only 5 more days, baby...

We went a a great (and free!) event in Salt Lake called Craft Lake City.  I'll write more about it on my Etsy blog, but I will post this picture of the earrings Dexter should buy for his girlfriend.  Emerson and I had some great conversations while looking at all the booths.  There were some bizarre items as well as many of the same hair accessories.  The most interesting part was seeing how many of the artisans were tattooed, pierced, and had colorful/interesting hair.  This was quite the contrast from the street fair they have in Provo for the Freedom Festival.

Upon coming home, Emerson noticed we were having some electrical problems in the back of the house.  After some trial and error, we traced the problem to the dryer.  Emerson mentioned that his clothes hadn't dried and there was a smoky smell .  The smell wasn't like the last time we had problems (burnt rubber smell from a belt problem).  The only skill we have in this area is knowing the phone number of the most wonderful handyman in our ward.  We called him and he knew all the right places to look.  It turned out that excess lint had made its way under the drum (where the clothes are) and had caused several wires to connect that shouldn't have.  The result was some singed piles of lint and burnt and melted wiring.  Fortunately, Brother Sanford had some extra wires and connectors that he was able to splice in and now we are up and running again.  It was scary to realize how close we came to burning our house down.  Are we just disaster magnets?  At least we know the right people to help us out!  Brother and Sister Sanford were even pleased to get some of the squash fresh from our garden as a thank you.

Victory is Ours!!!

If you're a parent, especially if you've had teenagers, you will understand why I'm celebrating.

When Dexter came over tonight to play video games with Dwayne, I asked him about something that happened with his girlfriend the other night.  Dexter and Dwayne had been playing video games at our house and Dexter's girlfriend (Emily) was off somewhere else with some other friends.  About 2:30 or 3:00 a.m., Dexter got a call from Emily's mom.  She was wondering if Emily was with him.  Since she wasn't, Dwayne and Dexter left to go search for her.  She wasn't answering her phone and they found her car at a grocery store's parking lot.  While they were looking for her in the store, she had noticed Dwayne's car in the parking lot and went into the store to search for Dex.  They found each other and Dexter let Emily know how worried everyone was. (Ironically, this was in the wee hours of the morning of her 18th birthday.)  Dex found himself telling her she should have let someone know where she was.  When she told him that her phone had died, he uttered the very words we have asked him several dozen times...
"Couldn't you have used someone else's phone to call?"

Dexter knew I would laugh when I found out he had used our words.  I did! Honestly, I thought I would have to wait until he had children of his own before this would happen.  Dwayne has had a few times where he has been upset at Dexter leaving him waiting because he didn't let anyone know what was going on.  These experiences are just awesome!  See, your parents knew what they were doing.

Being Productive

Here you can see our back yard and garden.  The zucchini is growing very fast behind the dog pen (the cage with the roof in the middle of the picture).  Emerson's Anaheim chiles look great and are in a pot on the top of the white shelf.  A few tomatoes have turned red (yippee!) and we've had some yellow squash and small bell peppers, too.  You may have already noticed the row of corn growing in front of the grapevine along the fence.  They're not very tall, so this has probably identified one more place that the corn doesn't grow well.  Keeping up with keeping the grass green has been a challenge with the scorching hot weather.

Back to the zucchini - no matter how hard I try, one zucchini will manage to slip by me and grow to gargantuan proportions.  Squash that large isn't the greatest to eat since you have to work around huge seeds.  I found one today and let the dogs have fun with it.  Scout was mildly amused (she's had some in past years), but Gambit really went to town on that zucchini.

I learned how to do a tatted rose and went a little crazy making them.  I made one in a variegated blue that I made into a hair clip for Dexter's girlfriend's birthday (she's 18 now).
Then I made a bunch of roses in red and white.  I turned some of them into earrings so I could sell them on Etsy.  I took a red rose, a white rose, and a red & white rose and put them on a hair clip.  After much thought, I've decided I want to keep the hair clip rather than sell it.  Then I made a few more roses that I will probably give as gifts.  Enough with that obsession, time to do a new project...