Holland & New Opportunities

In my last post, I ended with a brief paragraph on my job situation. I’m very happy to announce that I left that place and am so very fortunate and grateful for a new opportunity that came so quickly.  The week my Director was let go was the week I was going to give my notice but since that happened I put it off thinking things would get better. I’d applied for a couple of jobs and was either over qualified, didn’t meet their requirements of having a degree, or they couldn’t pay what I was asking. I was being as patient as I could stand to be whilst being stressed out at my job due to the harassment and highly inappropriate comments made by the Director. I can’t even put into words or explain the craziness. He being let go was the best decision that company has made.  I was treated so unfair and it was so obvious to everyone. I would ask to leave 30 minutes early for an appointment or to attend a function for one of the kids and he’d make me take a half-day vacation but my co-worker could ask to leave an hour early and he’d let her work through lunch to leave early.  He shaved his face at my desk!  He would talk for hours about aliens…..  It was INSANITY!

Anyway, I finally mustered up enough courage to quit in hopes that I’d find something quickly. I was really holding out for an offer from a large oil and gas company that has presence in Houston but since they were being acquired by another massive oil and gas company, they put the job on hold. I had two really good interviews with them and they assured me that once the job was re-opened they’d let me know. There was massive flexibility with that role, flexible hours, working from home a couple of days a week or when need be, 9/80 schedule, etc. That job being put on hold put a little wrench in my plan but being in the industry for so many years, I had a lot of contacts to reach out to again.  The problem is that with this downturn, no one is hiring. It’s very difficult to get a job right now so on one hand I was grateful to have a job but on the other I just couldn’t deal with the stress anymore. I gave my notice on September 11^th and didn’t look back.  My supervisor was so inexperienced that he didn’t know what to do with my resignation letter, I had to tell him to take it to HR. He didn’t know how to conduct a handover or do a proper MoC so I did my best to hand over my current tasks to a co-worker who unfortunately didn’t’ have any experience in that area. I miss my co-workers a lot.  We endured some crazy shit the past 6 months and if it wasn’t for us all sticking together and laughing through the madness, I don’t know what I would have done.

I’m now working for another oil and gas company, Petrofac. I spent a week in Holland in October and am so grateful for this opportunity. I’m an Implementation Consultant and am now working with many clients around Houston. So far, I love it.  I have flexibility and am treated like an adult. No one is watching over my shoulder to see if I’m here at a certain time, or tracking my every move. We are adults, we all have a job to do and as long as we get it done, we have the flexibility to manage our clients, tasks and time.

October and November flew by.  Kiarra played in her last volleyball game and Jayden finished up his Jr. High Football season.  Kiarra had a great final season and played with a great group of girls.  They took 2^nd place in district which is something to be proud of.  Jaydens football team also took 2^nd place in district. 

Taryns birthday was in November and she wanted to have a painting party. I LOVE painting so this was so much fun for me to plan.  We kept it simple and had the girls paint on canvas and then they all spent the night.  It was a great group of girls!  We played telephone, musical chairs, drop the pin, pop the balloon (and do whatever silly item on the paper inside), etc.  They all had a blast but most importantly, Taryn felt special on her big day. With the other kids being older now and having boyfriends/girlfriends, she's not getting the attention she is used to getting so it was great that she had a night dedicated just to her.

Basketball has begun and Jayden couldn’t be more excited.  I love watching him on the court.  He is so passionate about basketball and it shows.

Christmas is in 11 days and for the first time in a few years, I’ve actually started my shopping already – YAY!!  Kiarra and I knocked out a bunch of it on Friday and I kept trekking along Saturday.  I still have several items on my list but it feels good to know I don’t have to knock it all out in one day this year.  Can’t wait to see the family in Iowa for Christmas this year.  The kids love seeing their cousins and I love seeing all of my family.  I hate living so far from family but am very grateful for the few days each year we get to spend with them.

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Oh Snap.. it's September

Since my last post, a LOT has happened in our lives. This may be my longest blog yet…  It’s been a tough year, but I’m finally able to share a glimpse of what has been going on in our lives.

December was a great month!  Since it was our first Christmas in the new house, I had to go out and buy a few more decorations and there is no other store better that Pier 1 for the cutest decorations.  I almost can’t wait for Christmas again this year just so can pull out those cute little reindeer again! Our dear friend Penny was in town so we got to have dinner with her and her husband and sweet kiddos along with our group of other friends.  We finally got to see Tamia which was great.  We snapped a few pictures while she was with us for the weekend.  December flew by and before I knew it, Christmas was here and we finalizing our plans to get to Iowa to celebrate with family.  Before going, we had our Christmas celebration at home, on a school night, with the fireplace going. It was a nice little celebration.  My cousin was throwing my aunt a surprise retirement party and it just happened to be a couple of days before Christmas so we were able to join in on that. My Aunt Peg had worked at the courthouse for 32 years!  My kids babysat my cousin’s kids so the adults were all able to go to the bar and have a few drinks with the family after the celebration at the courthouse.

 We had plenty of time to spend with family for Christmas last year.  We had our traditional Christmas Eve with the Melby side at my Aunt Loretta/Uncle Russ’s house and as always, it was a great time. There is never a dull moment when around this side of the family.  It wouldn’t have been a great evening without a game of Heads Up and Mom showing us her lap dancing skills (I hope to go the rest of my life without ever having to see this again…).  Great people, food, conversation, games, laughter and just an overall great time.  Seeing the littlest boys in the family was icing on the cake.  These 3 boys are so dang cute and have so much energy.

Christmas morning was a typical morning for us being out of town. The kids slept in, barely remembered “Santa” and then we headed to Teige and Kathy’s house for the day.  After a delicious meal, Teige and his father-in-law took the kids and Jeff outside and they all shot guns. My kids have never shot a gun before and Jeff hadn’t shot these types of guns so they had an afternoon of fun doing that.  It was loud and I was a bit freaked out but they had a great time.  That evening we had the Thompson Christmas at my Grandpas house so we got to see the remainder of the family that evening.

Before heading home, we had to have an evening at the Ulvens so the kids could hang out and the adults could catch up.  Thanks to my brother Talan for getting me sick, I wasn’t feeling the best so basically just sat and stared at them while they ate and conversed.  Our kids and their kids get along so great, it’s doesn’t matter that a year or sometimes 2 years go by without them seeing each other, they always pick up right where they left off.

Besides seeing family, the best part of the trip was getting to see my sweet high school friend Melissa, her husband, their kids, her parents and her sisters and their families. It’s been years since I’ve seen all of them.  It was so great to catch up with all of them!

 We spent New Years Eve with some of our very best friends and since I can’t remember much of that night, it must have been a good one!!

 2015 was a year I had thought about since the day I had my first baby girl. It’s the year she’d turn 16!!  What do we do, a big party, a small party, a surprise party, rent a hall, go skating, have it at the house….. Does she get a car, what kind of car, jeep, truck, little car, big car, blue, purple, green, silver…?? When I would inquire about a party, she simply said she wanted something small, maybe a few girls spending the night and going to dinner or maybe taking a few girls to the beach for a couple of days.  She was adamant about not having a big party…  We’d thrown Jayden a few surprise parties and a few years ago she’d mentioned that she’d loved to be surprised one day… hmmm, yessss… the decision was made to throw her a surprise party!!  With her actual birthday being in February, I knew we’d have to do the party in January if we really wanted to pull off the surprise.  Since I couldn’t ask her who she wanted invited, this became quite challenging.  I have a pretty good grasp on her friends and knew which friends I could trust with getting the invites out for me, I was just hoping I didn’t leave someone out (which I did and I’m still very sorry for that) or that one of her friends would accidentally say something at lunch or whenever.  Her favorite color is purple so I thought we’d request that everyone must wear purple to get into the party.  Since we invited 60 of her friends, were having the party at our house with a DJ and photo booth, we knew we wouldn’t be able to have kids at the party so we turned it into an adult only (13 and up) party.  Invites went out, cake was ordered, logistics were ironed out and now it’s time for the big day.  I’d made arrangements with Mom for her to ask Kiarra to be spend the day/night with her and then had all sorts of lies concocted to get them over to my house for the actual party that evening.  What I didn’t know is that Kiarra had seen a calendar at her friend’s house the day she went to Moms that said “Kiarra’s Surprise Party” for the next calendar day so each of the lies and goose chase places I sent them on all day was causing Kiarra some anxiety. Each time she and Mom went somewhere, she thought the surprise was happening at that time and when it didn’t she was like “what the heck is going on”.  The final goose chase was telling them to come to our house and we’d all ride in the car together in my suburban to go eat at Babins. She is thinking, “ok-ok, everyone will be at Babins”….  Hahahahahahhaaaa, think again sweetheart…  Kiarra walked into our house and everyone screamed SURPRISE… I think she was actually surprised.  The party was a great success, everyone danced, took a ton of pictures in the photo booth, ate a bunch of goodies and had a great time. It was as perfect as I hoped it would be.

 February was a whirlwind. My boss was unexpectedly let go and since we were in the middle of a system implementation, this became a little tricky.  Mom and Kiarra both had birthdays that month so we enjoyed celebrating them but soon after their birthdays, everything changed and it became a very emotional month.  My best friends Mom/my Moms best friend was diagnosed with brain cancer. She lived with my Mom and we’d become pretty close in the past couple of years. My kids loved her and she loved them.  It was no secret that Jeff was her favorite though!   It’s a month I’ll never ever forget. My friend comes into town to take her Mom to her home with her for what we thought would be a short period of time. She knew something wasn’t right, and that week everything changed. A trip to the ER, which led to cat scans, other tests and a hospital transfer to a bigger more experienced one, turned into brain cancer, brain surgery, and a life changing, heart breaking emotional rollercoaster. It’s so hard seeing someone you’ve known your whole life go through the motions of taking care of their mother knowing there is no cure for this type of cancer.  They were all so brave and so strong through it all.  We made it over to see her several times and I’m so grateful for those days.  Seeing my Mom hurt so deeply for her best friend tore my heart to shreds and seeing my best friend care for her Mom on a daily basis knowing the outcome wasn’t going to be good was just something I couldn’t digest. I am in awe of her strength through it and will forever be grateful to her and her family for opening their home to Mom and I to visit any chance we could get.

 Kiarra’s club volleyball team had a rough start but they ended up having a good season. She played with some great girls and since that was her last year to play club it was bitter sweet. We had several out of town tournaments so I got some good one-2-one time with my girl.  If I could convince her one thing over the next 3 months, it would be to play club again this season and again her senior year next year. She is pretty adamant about not playing again after this school season.  I love watching her on the court.  I don’t know how she makes some of the plays that she makes but she does and I’m so proud of her for putting her all into something she loves.

 Jaydens school basketball team had a great season.  Jayden is a beast on the court. I love watching him play, especially when he gets mad.  Whew, he gets mad and TURNS.IT.UP.  I love it.  He also had a great season in track.  He did the high jump, triple jump, 800 m, 4x400 m and the 4x100m.  He placed in most meets but broke the 7^th grade boy’s school record in the 800 m as well as won district champ for the 800 m.  Jayden has had a good year.  He was also inducted into the National Junior Honor Society along with 300 other kids from his school.  Several of his art pieces were displayed at the KISD Administrative building which was pretty cool. His art teacher expressed how disappointed she was when he told her that he wouldn’t be taking art in 8^th grade.  Once school basketball season ended, it was on to AAU. Jayden played with a fun bunch of kids again this year. They had a few really good games, but there is one I will hopefully remember the rest of my life – triple overtime and Jayden hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to put us into the 3^rd overtime of that game. It was awesome.  He also had the opportunity to play in the Blacktop battle this year.  This is an outdoor tournament sponsored by the Houston Rockets. He and his boys won the age bracket they were in.

 Makenzie and Talan came down for a visit in May. It’s always a fun time when they are in town. She celebrated her 19^th birthday with us which was fun.  Although they were only here a couple of days, we packed in as much as togetherness as we could in those days. Movies, games, 1000 piece puzzles, mini golf, Mexican food and lots of laughs… lots and lots of laughs that may or may not have included helium.

 School was coming to an end and Kiarra was getting anxious to get her license.  What is the point of having a license if you don’t have a car, right?  After all, I’ve been planning to buy her a car for 16 years!  Jeff and I didn’t exactly see eye to eye on the car situation so I had a bit of persuading to do….it didn’t take much before he was on board too.  My brother had been telling me cars that would be good for her and I’d been looking on and off for several months to try and find a good deal.  We finally settled on a 2014 Chevy Cruze, it’s cute and fits her well.  She loves it and has taken good care of it.  Soon after getting her the car, she got her license and is a legal driver!  YAY.

 The kids wrapped up the 2014-15 school year the first week of June.  They all had really good report cards which always makes this Mama happy.  Kiarra was excited to get a job, Jayden was excited to sleep, play basketball and hang out with his friends and Taryn was excited to sleep in and watch tv.  This summer was the first summer ever that they basically didn’t have rules. I didn’t make them read for an hour each day or write me a story with 4-5 random words where they had to use their brain to come up with some silly story. They went to the pool a lot, went roller skating, out to lunch with their friends, to the mall and all that good stuff.  Jayden and Taryn spent a week at Great Adventure camp.  This was Jaydens 5^th year to go and Taryns 1^st year.  They both had a blast and returned home with no voice and completely exhausted.  Kiarra attended a volleyball camp, worked and hung out with friends.  Her first summer with a little freedom now that she has a car.

 In July, we decided to take a mini vacation and go to San Antonio for a couple of days.  We stayed at a great hotel (what is it about kids LOVING hotels??), went to Six Flags, Sea World and then hit up downtown and went to Ripley’s Believe It or Not.  Can’t go to San Antonio without stopping to see family.  It was with sad hearts that we had to say goodbye to our dear friend for the last time on this earth. She passed on the following weekend. RIP sweet lady!  Mom and I were able to make the trip to Iowa for her memorial service. It was an absolutely beautiful service. The sermon was perfect, the music was touching and friends and family came together to pay respects to a wonderful woman who had the sweetest heart and best laugh in the world.

 August was here before we knew it and that means VOLLEYBALL. Kiarra is playing on the JV team again this year and couldn’t be happier.  There are a lot of talented girls this year and they’ve had a great start to the season.  Of course August also means back to school so boooooo to that!  Jayden is playing football again this year so he’s been practicing daily after school and awaiting the first game of the season. School started two weeks ago and so far they are all happy with their schedules and teachers.  They all seem to be happy with their teachers.  Kiarra is attending 2 schools this year, she’s taking a criminal justice program in addition to her regular classes at her high school.  Jayden has a full load with regular classes in addition to Algebra to get a jump on a high school credit.  Taryn really likes her teachers but has a couple of bad boys in her class.  They get in trouble a lot and she just doesn’t understand why they can’t follow the rules (don’t we all).  She is enjoying that she gets to switch class rooms this year and doesn’t have to be stuck in the same classroom each day.  Hoping for an uneventful 2015-16 school year.

 Jeffs job is still great. He works from home several days a week so that has been nice.

 My job is so-so.  Lots of changes this year with a new director and dealing with some really crazy personalities, micro-managing, inappropriate comments, etc.  I can’t go into detail but if you have a great boss, PLEASE be grateful for that.  Tell them they are awesome.  Thank them for being awesome.  I’ve had some great bosses and looking back I took that for granted. I didn’t know someone could be so horrible until experiencing the things I’ve experienced this year. Thankfully, he was terminated a week ago.  I’m looking forward to the future, whatever it may be…

 

Well, that is all for now.  Hope you enjoyed the book! J

So Thankful and Blessed

This year, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house… in our New HOME. I’m so thankful and grateful for so many things but “family” is near the top of the list.  What would we do without family?  I think of those that don’t have a family or those that have to spend it alone because they don’t get along with their family and this makes me so sad.  I’m so grateful to have a family that I get along with (most of the time – LOL) and love dearly.  We kicked off the holiday Wednesday night with appetizers, chili and a movie in our theater room followed by a very yummy Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. Friday was low key, we hung out and played games and the kids and Jeff watched a movie with Jeff’s parents.  We had our annual dinner at Pappadeaux followed by going to a high school football game that Tamia was performing at during halftime.  The kids and I have not seen her since January 2013 and although we didn’t get to talk to her, we got to see her and watch her dance. It was so great to see her and that beautiful smile of hers, and I think she was excite to see us tooJ.  Hopefully we can start seeing her more and build up our relationship again.

 



Jeff carving the turkey - doesn't he look so cute!!

My little helper in the kitchen.

Basketball is ramping up and Jayden’s first game is this week! He made the A team and we are super proud of him for his hard work and dedication to this sport.  He’s a giant now, I think he’s about 5’9” or maybe even 5’10” and eats 3 times the amount of the rest of us.

Club Volleyball is in full force as well.  Kiarra’s first tournament of the season is this weekend and it’ll be interesting to see how they do.  We are at a new club this year and we only know 2 other girls on the team so I’m excited to see how they play.

We are planning to get Taryn back in dance now that our schedules are not as crazy.  Poor thing, she is just sooooo bored and doesn’t get to do aaaannyyyyyyyything!  She is seriously growing up way too fast.  Now that she has big (HUGE) teeth in front, she looks so different.

Christmas is right around the corner and I can’t wait to get my shopping done and get our trip planned.  We put out 6 trees up over the weekend and are hoping to get the outside lights done this week.

Pick 6 Baby!!!

Last week Jayden had his last football game of the season.  It was raining all day so I thought they’d call the game off but I was informed they don’t call football games because of the rain.  Before this season started, I pretty much knew NOTHING about football. I thought the sport was so dumb. I simply don’t understand why someone would want to catch a ball, attempt to run with it and get chased and tackled to the ground by HUGE boys/men.  I didn’t understand tight end vs corner back vs safety vs quarterback… Ok ok, just kidding, I knew the role of the quarterback but not the others.  I couldn’t understand first down or fourth down or first in ten or whatever all that lingo is (I still don’t know if I’m even saying it right).  We played a total of 9 games and to be honest, I was pretty clueless for the first 4 or 5, OR 6.  People in the stands would be hollering stuff that I knew nothing about.  I would be on my phone Googleing what they said just to try and understand what the heck was happening.  One minute we were running the ball one way and the next we were running the other way.  What the heck, I knew it wasn’t halftime yet so WHAT IS GOING ON?  I had a lot to learn.  I read a couple of great “Football 101 for Dummies” type of articles which were helpful but just as I thought I understood what was going on, I’d hear someone yell something from the stands and yet again, I was clueless.  Sorry I don't have any pictures from the front, the pictures we get from the school have not come in yet. He's #84.

 

Our playoff game, last Wednesday was rainy and chilly.  We kicked off to the other team and they attempted a play or two. The scoreboard clock wasn’t working so we had no idea how much time was left in the first quarter.  Their quarterback was all set up to throw the ball and threw a beautiful pass…… right into the hands of Jayden (insert crazy Mom screams here).  If my knowledge of the game is correct, Jayden was playing safety for this play (I think I get double confused because he plays offense and defense) but he caught the ball and ran it in for a touchdown.  It was beautiful.  Jeff was yelling “pick 6 baby” and our fans went crazy!  Do you think I had my phone out and ready to record, of course not….Ugh!  I now understand the hype of JJ Watt.  No, I’m not comparing my son to the amazing JJ, but I finally understand they hype of him scoring because of him being a defensive player.  A couple of weeks ago, Jayden had his first touchdown ever as this year is the first time he’s ever played football but he was playing offense so although I was extremely excited (and shed  tear or two) it was expected.  This touchdown, or pick 6 as I’m told I need to call it, was just the icing on the cake for our last game of the season.  Soon after this excitement, the lights on the field went out.  It wasn’t completely dark yet but was getting dark pretty quick.  It was POURING at this point as well.  They continued to play and we scored another touchdown.  The score was now 12 – 0.  It was approaching half time and they decided to call the game due to the rain….or so we thought.  Since this was the last game and was our playoff game per say, which determined our ranking for the season, we needed a winner.  Come to find out after picking up Jayden from the school a bit later, the other team forfeited the game.  Wooo-hoooo.  We took 3^rd place overall which is great in my book!  We are very proud of Jayden for his attitude on and off the field and his growth in this sport this season.

 

Basketball tryouts began today at 5:30 am so we move right along to one of my favorite sports.  There are about 120 boys in the 7^th grade trying out this year and there are only 36 who will make a team.

 

Taryn is 8!!

Today is Taryn’s 8^th birthday!  WOW, what an amazing 8 years we’ve had with this child.  She brings so much joy to our family.  She makes us laugh harder than anyone else can make us laugh, just by being herself.  She is a ray of sunshine and reminds us daily that God is more important than anything or anyone.  We had her birthday party on Saturday.  She wanted a small party with 6-8 girls where they could watch a movie in our theater room and have ice cream sundaes.  Not a great deal of planning had to go into this and with our busy lives right now, this made me so happy.  I let her decide the toppings for the sundaes and she helped me make cookies and cake balls. Party days are tortuous for kids, they are bouncing off the walls and wait ALL day for the party to start.  She was sitting at the front window an hour before anyone was supposed to get there, JUST in case someone arrived early.  Her first guest arrived and she was so happy!  Her second guest arrived minutes later and the 3 of them started to play and giggle while waited for others.  They didn’t want to start the movie without the other friends because they didn’t want anyone to miss any of it.  After waiting over an hour, they decided to go ahead and start the movie.  Taryn was so grateful for these 2 girls but I could see the sadness in her face that the other didn’t come.  We had 5 others rsvp and say they’d be there.  I get it, things come up, people get sick, etc.  8 year olds, don’t necessarily get it.  When the movie was playing she kept coming downstairs and peering outside to see if anyone else was coming.  It broke my heart.  I pulled her aside and explained to her that something must have come up and the others are not coming.  She took it like a champ.  I probably should have said those words to her an hour earlier but I was holding onto the hope that someone else would come.  Her response “it’s ok, that means more ice cream for us”.  That really tugged at my heart strings.  Although I could still see the sadness in her face, she put on happy face and enjoyed the rest of her party. At a last minute notice, one of the girls was able to spend the night so for the most part, that made up for it.
 

 

Kiarra wrapped up volleyball two weeks ago and has been eagerly awaiting the start of club.  Tomorrow is their first practice.  We changed clubs this year so there is a bit of anxiety for the new season, new coaches, new location, etc.  Kiarra has improved so much over the past few years.  Her vertical has increased and her love for the sport is greater than ever. At the beginning of the season, she was playing front row for one game and then back row for another game.  One district games started, she barely left the court. There were times she needed to be pulled to re-group and calm down but for the most part she played hard and did well.  We are proud of her attitude on the court as well.  It’s not always easy playing out there when fans/students from the other teams are shouting obscenities and doing everything possible to throw you off.  We had an interesting experience with these coaches this year.  The girls did a LOT of conditioning.  I think they could out-run any other team in the district, possibly the state of Texas.  Coaches would keep track of missed serves, shanks, etc. and their punishment would be conditioning. It was hard for me to understand why they didn’t work on those serves and passes and sets or hits but I’m not the coach and don’t have a say in the matter.  I do understand the need for the girls to be in shape and be well conditioned. What I don’t understand was the punishment of conditioning for everything they screwed up on during the games.  Needless to say, we are all very excited for this club season.

 

Over the past year or so Jeff has been going through training and taking lots of tests to become certified in Six Sigma. I am proud to say that he is now a Green Belt in Six Sigma and is hoping to move forward and get his Black Belt.

 
I still really like my new job, not the commute!  All my travel plans have been delayed to next year so although I was really looking forward to traveling this year, I won’t be going anywhere for a few months. I’m so grateful for this opportunity and am looking forward to growing in my career and learning new things

How can it possibly be 10 years....

The first six weeks of school have flown by.  It’s been super busy with my new job, volleyball, football and life! 

I’m feeling so blessed and so proud at this very moment.  Jeff and I just celebrated our 15 year wedding anniversary.  We didn’t do anything spectacular, as a matter of fact we spent it exactly how we would of wanted to, cheering on one of our kids at their sports function.  It happed to be a volleyball night so we spent time at Kiarra’s game and then the two of us went to dinner at a super fancy restaurant, Pot Belly. Don’t judge! It was late and we were running errands so it was a good fit into our schedule, and their sandwiches are pretty good tooJ.

I almost can’t believe I’ve been married for 15 years.  Besides all odds being stacked against us, it doesn’t seem possible that I’m old enough to be married for this long let alone be able to keep something going this long.  We’ve had our share of ups and downs but reflecting back over the years, we sure have had a lot of fun.  We don’t take fancy trips, or get-a-way weekends without the kids but yet we have so many memories together.  I’ll never ever forget the moment when I realized I loved Jeff, not the early puppy love stuff but the true love I felt when I knew we’d be in it for the long haul.  I don’t know the date, but I do recall exactly where I was, the clothes we were wearing (yes, we had clothes on!!) and the tears we shed that evening.  We’ve not had it easy, but it’s all been worth it.  Each day we continue to grow stronger as a couple, fighting trials (literally) and tribulations and hoping and praying for a happy healthy life together.

I am so very proud of my kids right now.  Progress reports were good and the kids are making their way through the first 6 weeks of this school year.  Kiarra made the JV volleyball team this year and has been playing well.  Almost the entire team is the same that she played with last year.  Jayden is playing football for the first time ever and he made the top team. There are so many kids playing football this year, they have 4 teams just for 7^th grade.  He has a lot to learn if he wants to continue to play and he’s still trying for that first touchdown but for someone who’s never played, I think he’s doing a great job (I’m not biased or anything).  Taryn is still struggling with having to change schools. It makes me so sad when people ask her how school is going because there is not a positive answer.  Even though her school is brand new, it’s already busting at the seams.  They have 6 second grade classes and are creating 2 more.  I put in a request for her to move to a new class and we were just informed yesterday that she was chosen to move.  YAY!! She’s not been to dance in weeks because our schedule just doesn’t allow for it.  She is such a good sport about it though.

My new job is going really well.  The commute is horrible but looking past that, everything is good.  It was a slow start, as it’s a much slower pace than what I’m used to but I’m starting to get the hang of things and am enjoying it.  I’m looking forward to traveling again, looks like my first trip will be to Amsterdam!

Sunday marks the 10 year anniversary of Dads accident.  There are times it seems like I haven’t talked to him in 20 years and other times I just can’t believe it’s already been 10 years.  People say it gets easier with time.  LIARS!!  They are!  They lie, right to your face!  I know it’s with good intentions but the more years that go by, the more and more I miss him.  I know I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for his passing but I hate it that he’s not here to share our lives and be here to see the kids grow up. Friends - PLEASE don't drink and drive.

 

Love you all!  Thanks for reading.

Summer Vacation 2014

Since before school got out, Jeff and I were talking about a vacation and getting away for some relaxation.  Booking a vacation is stressful for me.  I looked at Cruises, Disney, Beaches, Great Wolf Lodges and other Adventure Parks.  Each time I’d begin to look, I’d get so overwhelmed with all the options and hotel choices and cruise ships…. I needed a travel planner! Weeks went by and we did nothing!  I knew I was about to resign from my job so there was also a bit of hesitation on booking something.  Well, we waited so long that I looked at the calendar one day and realized we only had 2 weeks left to do something because of volleyball camps and tryouts.  Everyone always raves about Destin and it’s a relatively short drive so I found a reasonable hotel and booked it.  I would have preferred a condo but since it was such a short notice, the condos were quite pricey. 

We left at 4 am on a Wednesday and drove to Destin.  It was only about a 9 hour drive; the kids slept off and on and watched movies the rest of the time.  It’s not a very pleasant drive, kind of boring actually.  We were able to check into our hotel early so we did that and then headed straight get something to eat.  We went to a place called Harbor Docks that was referred to us by the hotel staff.  The service at first was not good, we didn’t get waited on for 10-15 minute and they were NOT busy. I was thinking we should just up and leave but we stuck it out and were all so glad we did.  The restaurant was on the water so while we waited, Jeff took Taryn down to the boardwalk and watched fishermen cut some massive tuna, red snapper and other fish.  She thought that was pretty cool.  Once our drinks came, service was great for the remainder of the meal and the food was delicious.  IT was too early in the day to not do something fun or relaxing so we headed to the beach.  Everyone was right, the sand and water in Destin is amazing!  I wish now that I would have bottled some of the sand up just because it was that soft and pretty!  Soft like baby powder! Jeff and the kids all buried each other and then had to break out of the sand. Jayden and Jeff threw the Frisbee while Taryn and Kiarra built castles.  After enjoying the beach for a few hours, we headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner.  We couldn’t decide what we wanted and we were not super hungry so we landed on pizza.  We found this great place called Merlins Pizza just down the street; actually everything is “down the street”.  We arrived and it wasn’t busy so we found a booth, ordered and they said it would be 75-90 minutes… WHAT!!  We had a choice, we can wait the 90 minutes or we can leave and try to find something else and wait an hour at any other place… so we decided to wait it out. By the time the pizza came out, we were all quite hungry and it was YUMMO!  Not as great as Flippers Pizza in Orlando but pretty close.  Once we ate, we were all exhausted so called it a night.









 

Taryn driving the boat!!

Thursday was the only day we had real plans.  For the most part I wanted to wing each day (yes, I said it – Mrs. “I plan every minute of every day” said I wanted to wing each day!!) but this day was planned.  We got up and had breakfast in the hotel and all got ready to go to the boardwalk. We planned to spend the entire day there because we had a dolphin watching excursion planned for 7 pm that we knew we had to check in at 5 pm.  On our way there, roughly 10:00 am, it started pouring.  POURING!!!  Ok then, change of plans.  We decided to do a little souvenir shopping instead.  Each of the kids got a really cool t-shirt made and we picked up some things for the family and co-workers.  We were in the store for almost 2 hours.  By the time we left, the rain had stopped and everything had dried up.  We headed back to the boardwalk when we faced yet another setback.  This setback sent up to the pharmacy and back to the hotel.  2 of us stayed at the hotel while Jeff and 2 of the kids went to get us lunch.  He picked up some shrimp po’ boys and they were pretty good.  Our kids had never had a po’ boy before… can you believe that!?!?  Taryn was the only one that didn’t get one, she got pasta instead.  Finally around 2:00, we were able to go to the boardwalk for real!  Parking was nightmare but other than that the boardwalk was a great time.  Kiarra and Jayden zip lined and Taryn climbed a huge rock wall.  Jeff, Kiarra and Jayden did this freaky 4D zombie shooting thing while Taryn and I watched them on a screen.  It was finally time for our boating excursion to go see some dolphins.  Some friends of ours were in Destin at the same time we were there so we met up with them and they were able to book the same excursion.  We did get to see some dolphins and a beautiful sunset.  Every Thursday in Destin, they have fireworks off of a barge in the water so we booked this excursion so we would be on the water for the firework show.  While waiting for it to get dark enough for it to start, we were getting bored and decided to play the game Heads Up.  It didn’t take long before every kid and half of the adults on the boat were playing the game with us.  It’s such a fun game!!  Finally, the fireworks started.  I love fireworks.  There is something so beautiful and magical about them.  It was so nice being on the water with family and friends during that moment.  Once it finished, our excursion was over and we were pulling back up to the boardwalk.  We’d had such a late lunch that we didn’t eat before getting on the boat so now that it’s 9:30, we are all starving!  We left to find something to eat.  Most restaurants close at 10:00 so I got online to find something open until 11.  The only one I could find was Bubba Gump Shrimp.  When on vacation, I hate eating at places that I can eat at any day of the week while home but we didn’t have much of a choice.  We got to Bubba Gumps a little before 10 and gave our name to be put on the list.  The staff was kind of rude but it was late and I didn’t think much of it.  We didn’t have to wait long and they called us to seat us.  One girl had a major attitude so Jeff asked if something was wrong or something like that.  She said “we close at 10 – or are supposed to close at 10”.  I about snapped.  I was quick to say, “Your website says 11:00!”  She said “yea, that’s wrong, we close at 10”.  I was willing to leave, I didn’t want the chefs spitting in my food for coming into the restaurant so late. I was outta there, but they insisted that we stay and that it wasn’t a problem.  Food was mediocre; dessert was disgusting (they forgot to put the fancy sauces on the bread pudding).  I just wanted to get out of there.  We were the last ones there and it just didn’t feel right.

Taryn with her cute face paint.

Bubba Gump Restaurant

Taryn climbing the rock wall

Friday was the day I was really looking forward to.  The beach – ALL DAY!  The weather was beautiful.  We wanted to go to a different beach than the one we went to on Wednesday but that didn’t work out so well for us.  All the beaches by the condos are private beaches for people staying in the condos we went back to the place we’d already been.  It was just as gorgeous on Friday as it was 2 days prior. We set up our canopy and Taryn went straight to making sand castles.  I sat in the sun and soaked up as much as I could.  It wasn’t long before it got a little hot and Taryn was begging me to get in the water with her.  I refuse to get in the water in Galveston but this water was blue-ish and I could see my feet even being in the water that was to my waist.  The waves were strong and knocked us down but it was a lot of fun.  I sat with her for hours and played in the sand (yes, I know, for once I actually got my hands in the sand).  I literally could of stayed there for 5 more hours but we didn’t plan the day very well and didn’t take our normal “beach food” so everyone was hungry.  Since we skipped lunch we decided to have an early dinner.  We cleaned up and decided to go to Old Bay Steamers in Fort Walton Beach.  It was only 12 miles from our hotel so we thought it would be a quick trip.  We left the hotel at 5:15 and called ahead to see if there was a wait.  They said to come on in because they had not wait.  Sweet!  As we pulled out of the hotel we realized we would not be getting there anytime soon.  Traffic was horrible.  It took us an hour and 15 minutes to travel 12 miles!  I thought Houston traffic was bad… Houston traffic has NOTHING on the traffic in Destin.  By the time we go there, there was an hour wait for the 5 of us.  Ugh, we’d already skipped lunch and the kids had been saying for hours now that they were hungry (right before leaving the beach, during our cleanup/shower time at the hotel and the drive to the restaurant).  We were able to order drinks and appetizers from the bar which I’m glad we did.  They had great appetizers.  The wait wasn’t so bad either.  We were seated and ordered our food. If you are ever in Destin or Fort Walton beach and don’t mind spending a little money on a nice dinner, you HAVE to go to this place.  Our food was so good.  Some of the best seafood I’ve ever had.  They steam or grill everything, nothing is fried.  I had lobster tail, shrimp skewers with rice and veggies.  Soo sooo sooo good!  We all really loved our food.


Old Bay Steamers - Lobster Tail and Shrimp



Old Bay Steamers - Pineapple Shrimp



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday we packed up to head to New Orleans to spend the evening with Jeffs parents.  Before leaving we went to the place next to us where the kids could ride go carts.  They had a blast.  We probably could of stayed there all day doing that.  Then we headed to the outlets to do a little shopping.  Talk about disappointing.  I was ready to spend some money and get the kids school clothes knocked out…..  Or not!  I bought 3 things.  A pair of shorts and a tank top for Taryn and lunch!  That is it.  The shops were terrible.  I couldn’t even find thing that we liked that were overpriced where I had to disappoint the kids and say no.  They just didn’t have anything we liked.  Guess I shouldn’t complain, saved us some money J.  From there we headed to New Orleans.  On the way, we went through Pensacola which is where Jeff was born and lived until he was 8 years old or so.  We even drove by the house he grew up in.  It was our luck to hit traffic in 4 places on our way to his parents’ house so we arrived much later than anticipated (guess I should of planned each of these days better and we wouldn’t of had all these mishaps).  Thankfully, Shirley had dinner prepared for us so we didn’t have worry about that.  We visited with them and got up the next morning and headed home.

Although it wasn’t a super fancy vacation, I am so grateful to be able to spend a few days relaxing and spending quality time with my family.  The day before vacation is when I’d given my notice at work so that was a huge weight off my shoulders so I was able to relax and enjoy.  I’m also very glad we didn’t stay longer that we did.  Destin is not as big as I thought.  I was expecting this huge island and night life and a million things to do.  It’s definitely not that, but it was perfect for us.

Leap of Faith

God is so great!  Today, I got out of bed knowing it was going to be my last day at BP.  It wasn’t the easiest decision to leave but it was absolutely necessary.  The situation with my job continued to spiral downward so Jeff and I began to discuss taking a leap of faith. I began to pray, or beg God to be honest, specifically about opportunities outside of BP.  After 9 years, I was quite comfortable there however with the hiring freeze, I knew there wouldn’t be opportunities for me anytime soon.  During this time, there were many nights I would come home crying or fall asleep crying simply because everything we all worked for was being taken from us and everything we poured our hearts into was being forced to conform into a process that doesn’t work.  We had 9 coordinators leave since our transition to this new group just 6 months ago and this group refused to back fill their positions so the work just continued to pile on the remaining team members.  I was being forced to do 2-3 peoples full time jobs in 40 hours a week with no mistakes and everything done in a timely fashion.   This is seriously impossible.  During this same time, Kiarra put in a prayer request for me at church. 

Within days of that prayer request, I received 3 calls about opportunities, 1 with BP and 2 with other companies. I was so overwhelming, in a good way.  One of them was from a lady I worked with 10+ years ago at Waste Management.  The following week I interviewed for that position, later in the week I received an email from them to do a back ground check and personality tests and then the following week they offered me the position. This, my friends, is what I call God Speed!  I couldn’t wait to give my 2 week notice!!  I thought about waiting until we got back from Destin but I knew that would prolong my time to be stuck with those crazies so I went ahead and gave my notice that day, 2 weeks ago today. Although I was excited to give my notice, it wasn’t necessarily easy.  I look around and see people that I’ve worked with for 9 years, people I hired, people I remember getting married and having their first child.  These people I consider my friends, my family.  There were many weeks that I spent more time with them than with my own family so although I was eager to get out of the situation I was in, it wasn’t the easiest decision.  Knowing all the other coordinators are super busy and don’t have the capacity to now take on my work load, it hurt my heart a bit knowing they will have to take on all my responsibilities.  At some point, I have to walk away and say “it’s no longer my problem”, I’m not there yet…

After taking a few weeks off, I’ll begin my new job as a Learning Systems Specialist with an offshore drilling company.  I will continue to be in a Learning Organization but will be working on the systems side of it rather than the logistics and coordinating side.  I will be traveling internationally a great deal which I’m quite excited about as well.  I’ve been working contract for the past 3 years and although it has its advantages, I have to say that I’m super excited to have paid holidays, vacation days and be a salaried employee again.  Some of the additional perks of this job are just amazing, almost too good to be true.  I’m very excited for this new journey.

It’s really amazing to see how one prayer request can come full circle.  From the day Kiarra wrote that request to the day I was offered the job was only 32 days.  I’ll say it again, God Speed.  When you pray and He says move, you better be ready to act upon it.

And yes, Aunt Loretta – I will still be home for Christmas!  I have pre-approved days off.