Back to work after 15 years!

Well, a month ago Spencer told me to take my resume' into his office because they were hiring for a Medical Assistant that had a Phlebotomy background. Well, that was me - 15 years ago. Things have changed. After making a resume' - hahaha - I took it in and the lady at the desk said she'd fax it to the HR guy. The resume went to a place called Physicians Assistant Something or other. And I got a call from a guy named Brent Davis asking me if I was still looking for a job. I was kind of confused as to why this stranger was calling me but he told me that they do all the hiring for the Dr.'s office so the Dr.'s don't have to. So I met with him and he got me an interview with Dr. Court Empey that I had known 15 years ago when he was the neighbor kid named Courtney. Now all grown up and a Dr. So I met with him and thought things went well. The only problem was the filing system that they used was ALL computerized. They didn't have a single piece of paper in that office. I had no idea how to do that. Back in my day notes where written on paper and put into and actual file. Not any more. So that didn't quite work out but I wondered why any of this ever even happened because I wasn't thinking about going back to work until the start of next school year because David is only in Kindergarten and gets out at 12:30 everyday. But for some reason we felt really good about applying to work with Spencer and Court. We figured that if that is what I'm supposed to do then it would all work out. It didn't. So, a month passes and I get a call from Brent again wondering if I was still looking for work. Well, I wasn't really. I just thought that it would be fun to work with them and after it was over the thought never crossed my mind again to apply anywhere else. But I told him sure if he still needs me. In my mind I thought Spencer and Court still needed another person but it ends up that Brent hires for many Dr.'s and clinic. So, he had me go into an interview Wednesday at 9am to meet with Dr. LaRowe at the River View Medical Clinic. It was a great interview and he asked me if I could just stay and start working right that second. At first I thought he was kidding but he wasn't. I started the next day. I work from 8am to Noon. I leave there and go straight to the Elementary school to pick David up. It's amazing! I usually just workout or go play tennis with JoEllen before noon everyday so I don't feel like I'm missing anything. When I get home I still have time to do everything else. After the kids get out on May I will start full time. There are 2 other Dr.'s that work there and the people are great. 1st day on the job and I already had drawn 3 different people's blood. It was just like riding a bike. I didn't tell anyone that it had been 15 years since I last poked anyone. No need to. I'm a PRO! I rock! It's been fun to get back into the medical field and a small little office is right where I need to be. Not a lot of the people there are LDS so I feel this will be a really good experience for me. I will need to be on my best behavior all the time. I have already ran into a lot of people in the medical field that I knew from before. It feels like home. I am so comfortable there. I'm excited. Dr. LaRowe asked me today if I could go full time tomorrow so I know it's where I need to be and will work out for the best. My goal here is to get our family out of debt so Joel can be home more often and to save for missions and weddings. YIKES! Weddings? I guess you start to think about that when your daughter is 18. I'm old. Well, I love my new job and love that I can be home for David. Jan, Andy, JoEllen, Kyle and Joel and I are going out to dinner tomorrow to celebrate! I love my family!

Birthday #8!

Eight years ago I had the fastest delivery ever! So fast it in fact that Joel didn't even have the camera out. The other three took at least 15 hours from when we got in to the time they actually decided to grace us with their presence and they needed forceps and/or a plunger to get them out but not Ben. Ben decided that he wanted out and he wanted out now. My Dr. always scheduled me to be induced since Shayne broke my tailbone with her huge head and my babies were all around 8 pounds two weeks early. But with Ben he waited until only 4 days before my due date and I thought for sure I would have to deliver him C-Section. Joel and I had told Heavenly Father that if we were done having kids then this delivery would be be a C-Section so they could just tie my tubes while they were in there and we'd be done. If not we knew that we needed to have 1 more kid. Well when the time came to go to the hospital we packed the kids up to sleep overnight at grandma & grandpa Beckstrands and dropped them off. The hospital is 2 blocks from their house which was really nice. We got to the hospital and they broke my water because I was already dilated to a 6. I always dilate a month early so that was no big surprise. And my water never broke with any of my other babies so everything was going as planned. It had been 4 years since Josh and so naturally I thought it would be the same 13 hours of labor and 2 of pushing because my body would have to relearn a few things. So I got my epidural - my best friend - and we settled in. I turned on the TV and Joel went back to his parents house to make sure the kids got ready to for bed and then to Subway to pick him up some dinner. Well, by the time he got back and got his sandwich out the nurse came in to check me and slammed my legs together and said, "Don't push!" and ran out of the room. It was just after 10pm and luckily Dr. Chamberlain was making his last rounds at the hospital and was just 2 rooms down. He and 5 other nurses came running in all a blaze trying to get everything ready. A couple minutes later he said push and I did and then he said to stop because his head was out and the cord was in the way. So he moved it and and told me to push again and he was out. 1 contraction, 2 pushes and out came a dark haired 8 pound 6 ounce 20 inch baby boy at 10:15pm. My biggest baby. Tons of black hair! I was so happy because the other 3 took after Joel and were all toe heads. I yelled to Joel to get a camera and the first picture he got was of them weighing him. I don't even know if there is a picture of me with him in the hospital. One thing is for sure...we knew there was one more baby waiting to come down to us. But until then we would enjoy this dark haired dark eyed baby that turned into a blonde haired blue eyed boy.

We don't do the big, invite the whole neighborhood, birthday parties for our kids every year. We do one on the 8th, 12th, 16th and 18th. Milestone birthdays. All the rest consist of cake and ice cream with the cousins on the closest Sunday to their birthday. Well, since this was #8 we went all out. We invited the whole neighborhood thinking that some of them will be no shows. Nope. All 17 kids showed up. It was pretty funny. I drove my van full, Joel drove his van full and JoEllen drove her van full over to AntiGravity Arena. It was really fun. The kids ended up loving dodgeball. They played it most of the time.







Then we took them all to the closest park and had pizza and cupcakes and let them run around for awhile and play. At the end I made them all climb up the rick wall and head to a van. Ben loved it.



That night we went to the Dixie College game and The JAZZ BEAR was there. Ben got a little basketball from one of the security guards. It was a long, fun, busy day. I'm glad I have 4 more years until his next one.

State Swim Championships!

I love the Pine View High School kids! They always have been and always will be my favorite kids that come from the best school. They are humble and caring and are always respectful. I cannot say that about any other school. I have known some of these kids for more than 6 years and they never cease to amaze me and their love for the sport and each other. This season has come to an end and was finished with times broken and tears of happiness and sorrow. Happy that they all did so well and sadness thinking that it has come to an end. It was like a room full of bipolar teenagers and mom's too for that matter. We were laughing one minute and crying the next. I was lucky this year to have a deck pass. BYU only has room for the coaches and swimmers actually on the pool deck. Everyone else must sit up in the bleachers where you can only scream for you child and wave to them like a fool. This year Dani signed me up as an assistant coach so I could be down where I belonged, down with the teenagers where I could hug and high five them as often as they needed. I will never change a single moment of that weekend. It's like a dream now that I look back at it. I was so blessed to be a part of it. I felt so bad every time I looked up at Joel knowing what he was missing out on. Luckily he didn't realize and was having a great time with the wonderful parents doing cheers and sending "positivity" (it's a swim thing) to the kids.

When the swimmers line up by their blocks to swim the only people that should be there is that swimmer, the timers and the officials. But somehow I managed to sneak in and no one ever said anything to me. I got some great pictures that no one else got. I was able to walk on with Shayne, take pictures, and be the first to hug her as she got out. It was amazing. I am truly blessed. Here is the weekend in photos. I'll explain them as I go. I took over 300 pictures so be glad you only have to sit through these 20.
This is our tradition picture. I don't really remember how the Butt Shot started but it has become a tradition. Before any swimming starts we always start out at the mall with Lunch at Wingers and then they have about a half an hour to wander or shop.




We checked into the hotel and as soon as everyone left it was Joel and my job to hang Will You Go To Preference? signs in rooms. Shayne asked Cashe, Alex asked Mitchell and Megan asked Kyle Buck. It was pretty fun but hard to get them to stay up on the walls so we taped them to the pictures.

Then we got to the Swim Meet and they were warming up. All in good spirits and ready to Rule the Pool!

Another tradition is the boys A Relay team always buys some sort of underpants to wear as they walk up to the blocks to get ready to swim. This is what they wore this year. Classy!


Here is Shayne's 50 Free. She took 3rd overall and knocked off a half a second going from a 25.97 to a 25.46 and braking the Pine View High School Record!






This is one of my favorite pictures of the weekend. Buck giving Shayne a hug.

That was the end of day one.
Day two started out great. The boys had another relay race and Mitchell took first in both his 500 free and 200 free. This is them with Shayne. Being the boys that they are.

Then Shayne had her 200 Free. This is another favorite photo. Adam Caldwell (Dani's husband and an official) always managed to get next to her to give her words of encouragement. Do you see me? Hehehe. I'm so sneaky.

This is of Joel sending Positivity.

And this is of her on the podium for taking 3rd again knocking more than a second and half off of her 57.68 to 55.90!


The girls had there relay and did NOT come in last! Alex, Shayne, Taylor and Caitlyn.

Self portrait. Surprised it turned out. I had to get proof that I was there.


Our incredible coaches: Shawn King, Eric Arevalo, Dani Caldwell and Christian Armstrong. Inti Chabert was unable to make it to state because he was at National Guard. We love you all!

Last cheer of the Season. Shayne right in the middle of it all.



Last but not least...these 3 cute girls who will be friends and sisters forever.


A great note to end on is that we learned today that both of Shayne's times broke PVHS records! She now hold the records for the 50, 100, 200 and 500 Freestyle. And is within hundredths of a second in the 100 Fly and 200 IM which were the 2 races that she was supposed to have swam this year but couldn't due to meningitis.