Much Obliged Monday

Ok I always see people doing their "Thankful Thursdays" and I like the idea, but I figured since it occurred to me on a Monday, I probably will have forgotten by Thursday.  There aren't any other synonyms to thankful that start with the letter "M". So Much Obliged Monday will have to do.

I really do have much to be thankful for, and I really need to focus on the good things in life rather than worrying about the issues.  We all know what a lot of good worrying does for us, right?

I am thankful for my health, and my gym membership.  For some reason, I just work out a lot harder at the gym than I do at home.  Probably seeing all those other fit people in real life gives me that extra motivation to work harder.

I'm thankful for work.  I am so thankful I have the job I do with the wonderful free health insurance for my whole family.  As much as I gripe about the early hours and the truly hard work, I am blessed.  How many people only have to work part time, and get full benefits (medical, dental, behavioral, retirement, vacation) 100% paid for the whole family and get raises every 6 months? I'm also thankful that Ira was able to get his CDL and has a full time job.  That year and a half that he was unemployed was one of the hardest times in our lives. I don't ever want to repeat that again.

I'm thankful for my husband and how hard he is working right now to help us get ahead.  I know he makes a huge sacrifice to be gone for weeks at a time, and it's not easy to be alone and living on the road day in and day out.  I may have to deal with the kids and handle everything at home on my own, but at the end of the day, I get to sleep in my own bed, I can make myself something to eat whenever I feel like it, I can veg on the couch and watch tv for hours if I like, I can run to the store or go to the gym, or whatever I want.  He is pretty much confined to his truck 24/7.  I think I would go crazy.  I am thankful that after he gets his first year of driving in, he will have a lot more options available and be able to be home more.

I am thankful for my kids, even though they drive me crazy sometimes. 

I am thankful for my dogs, Bella and Chico, cuz they help keep me sane when the kids are driving me crazy :)  I never considered myself a dog person, but now that I have them, I can't imagine my life without them.  They just add so much, and are so full of personality.  They too, drive me crazy sometimes, but then they just give me those puppy dog eyes and nuzzle up against me and all is forgiven...I wish kids were that easy!

I am thankful my kids are back in school, I love a quiet house in the mornings.

I am thankful for my home...even though it needs a lot of work and is most definitely not my dream home, I am grateful to have it.  We came awfully close to losing it when Ira was unemployed, and that was scary.

I am thankful for the internet and cell phones and texting capabilities.  It all just makes life so much easier and more interesting.  I can't imagine Ira being an OTR trucker without having a cell phone or internet to post facebook updates.  I would be worried sick all the time. I am especially thankful for google..I love having so much information at my fingertips.  I am definitely a google freak.

I could easily get lost in google and spend hours just looking random stuff up.

I am sure I could keep going, but it's time to make dinner.  I am much obliged to have you read this! ;-)

Adrie Got the Job

Just wanted to say thanks for your prayers.  It must have been the Lords doing, because He knew how stressed I was about her working at Lagoon again.  With Ira being gone all the time and my work hours I just didn't have a clue how it would work out trying to get her to and from Lagoon every day.  In years past she has had friends who live nearby who worked with her and because she was under 16 she worked the day shift and could take the bus/frontrunner.  Now she has no local friends who work with her and she is 16 so she will work the night shift, and the lagoon shuttles and frontrunner don't run after the park closes.  She doesn't yet have her license, we are working on that...hopefully soon.  And even if she has her license she is afraid of driving the stick shift, which gets good gas mileage and would have to drive the gas hog.
With gas prices right now and 12 mpg, she would be looking at 4 gallons of gas per day, or around $13-$14 per day, just driving to and from lagoon.  That adds up fast when you are only making minimum wage!

So one day when she was at Lagoon training I hopped online and was looking for online applications at places she could work.  I went to the Newgate Mall website, found a few places hiring, but they were all just printable applications.  Then because of being there being disappointed Cinemark wasn't hiring I decided to see if the Megaplex was hiring.  The website didn't say if they were hiring, but there was an online application.  I decided to go ahead a fill it out for her.  A little tricky and I almost quit as there was like a 20 minute questioneer I had to answer as her, good thing I know her pretty well :)  It turns out they were hiring and my timing was perfect.  They had 6 positions to fill for concessions and during the week they were accepting applications, they recieved over 300.  The Director told them she went through those apps with a fine tooth comb and narrowed it down to only a few who were then interviewed and only 6 of those were hired, including Adrie.

Now I realize the Megaplex isn't exactly a dream job, but Adrie has been applying for jobs regularly ever since last September when she turned 16!  The economy is getting better but jobs are still hard to come by, even low paying jobs only teenagers would want.

She is super excited.  She had an orientation on Wednesday, which she probably should have rescheduled because she was ill and ended up throwing up while she was there (because she thought she was better and ate real food for the first time since Sunday).  She needs to get her food handlers permit on monday and she starts work on Wednesday.

If you all are really really nice to Adrie, she might just take you to a movie ;) She can take a guest to see a movie with her on Sundays- Thursdays for free as long as it's not brand new (over 10 days in the theater)  She also gets 30% off the concessions.  She can also attend some of the prescreenings for free, but she has to earn points in order to be able to bring guests. I have a feeling I'm gonna be seeing a lot of movies in the near future!

Job interview for Adrie

At the Megaplex 13 movie theater in downtown Ogden.  Her interview is on saturday afternoon.  Pray she gets it!!! I really don't want her to work at lagoon again, this would be sooo much better.

And its so pretty, too! lol

Junior Prom

I know most of you have seen Adrie's junior prom pics that I posted on facebook, but I figured I could post them again and tell you how her day went :)

I will start with how she was asked, about 2 weeks before prom:

She was in class when a girl came to her class asking for Audrianna (everyone calls her Audri or Audrianna so she figured it was for her, and it was) The girl had a fish bowl filled with Gold fish crackers and a note that said: "If wishes were fishes and you had 3.  I hope that one would be to go to prom with me" Then also something to the effect that she would have to search thru the goldfish to find out who was asking.  He had written the letters of his name on the back of a few goldfish so she had to find those and unscramble it.  It was a good friend of hers, Devan. <><

She responded by baking him a giant chocolate chip fish cookie, making a tinfoil hook in it's mouth and wrote in frosting "I'll Bite!"  She was going to have it delivered it his classroom, but he wasn't at school and it was a friday so she just took it to his house later that day. <><

Fast forward a couple days, I suggested Adrie try on her dress (which we had bought back in September) to make sure it still fit.  It didn't!! And she only had a week till prom.  Not good at all!  First she checked with her friends.  None of her friends are the same size as her.  Her best friend, Malin, is a twig...5'10 and wears a size 0!  Most of her other friends are at least a couple of sizes larger than Adrie, so no one had a dress that would fit :(  Then we went to all the dress stores and I about had a heart attack.  For prom dresses they start around $300.  Not gonna happen!!  We also were looking at a few home based businesses that rent dresses.  With less than a week till prom, pickings were very very slim.  I had messaged a couple of girls who were selling their dresses on ksl and one finally got back to me.  We called and went straight over there, she had been a student body officer in high school and went to every dance.  No joke, she probably had 20 dresses in that room, all either for sale or for rent and they were gorgeous!  Adrie was set on red, black or white, and the girl only had one dress that fit those requirements- it was red.  She tried it on and it fit perfectly!! Yay!! And for only $75, only a little more than it would have cost us to rent a dress for her elsewhere, and it's hers to keep or sell down the road.

Finding the dress was a huge relief...I think we found it on tuesday.  Phew!!! Prom was Saturday, cutting it way too close!

Fast forward to Saturday, the day of the prom.  For their day day they got together and went downtown to the Union Station in Ogden.  One of the moms planned a scavenger hunt for them, so they first had to solve the riddles and figure out what they were looking for and then go into the various businesses on 25th street and ask for the items, silly things like toilet paper rolls and stuff.  And some of the items on the list were to take pictures of themselves doing silly things.  Adrie and Devan got the most items on the list and won the scavenger hunt :)  Probably cuz they are just friends and didn't have to bicker and fight over stuff like the other "couples" lol.

The scavenger hunt went from 11-2ish then they rushed home, grabbed their dresses and makeup and tuxes and everything.  The girls went to Kelsi's to get ready and the boys headed to one of the guys homes.

Malin, Adrie, Kelsi & Azhia getting beautiful!

The plan was to be ready and at Olive Garden by 4:45.  Parents could come to Olive Garden then if they wanted to take pics.  Didn't work out quite that way, they were running behind and didn't make it to the restaurant until about 6pm and it was getting cold and windy but I was able to snap a few pics. 

My favorite pic of Adrie

Adrie & Malin

Their little group (they were part of a bigger group)

They had a wonderful dinner at Olive garden and 4 other couples joined them there also then they went back to Kelsi's house where the Limo picked them all up (in 2 groups, I guess 16 kids was a bit much for one limo to handle, lol).  The prom was held at WSU's ballroom.  Adrie said it was really pretty and they had a blast.  They took some pics there, which I will post below and got group pics taken, can't wait to see those!  Then they danced the night away.  Adrie says the boys hardly danced, but the girls danced all night long.  It went until midnight and they stayed the entire time and had a fabulous night!  I am so happy Adrie was able to go to her junior prom and other dances too.  She has had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories <3<3<3

Adrie was worn out after dancing so much and had to sit for a bit

Random Shot

The whole group: And the girls of Adries smaller

group showing off their shoe choice- Vans :)

Silly snapshot