The Blessings of the Temple

Most of you know my dear friend, April, and her precarious heart condition. She lives life to the fullest, even though her body will not do all the exciting little things her mind wants to. She is also a very determined lady. She decided she wanted to attend an endowment session at the temple, (it could be her last...) For those who haven't been through the temple , an endowment session lasts about two hours long and is a very symbolic, spiritual ritual and a special way to worship our Lord. It can be tough on the healthiest of persons, but when April decides to do something she does it - so we all packed in Chris's suburban and off to to the Boise Temple we went. I was on the phone most of the way, talking with the temple matron explaining our special circumstances. We not only had April, who could have a "heart episode" at any moment , but we also had our Annie, who is pregnant and managed to fall down the downstairs and break her tailbone. We had to make sure we were seated in a certain order, with April up front and Annie on the large bench to sit on with her donut... I can't even imagine what this dear temple worker was thinking.
She made it!! April did have to pop a pill or two, but she did it. We can all learn a bit from this lady.

April and Cindy Birch. Cindy is the only person I know who ALWAYS has a smile on her face, I mean it, ALWAYS.

Sometimes I think April is faking her illness because she looks so dang good!!

April and Kelli Pabst. Thank you Kelli for crying with me the whole time. I was starting to go into the "ugly" cry, not good... Kelli was right there with me and even lost the ability to tie a bow at one point. The rest of the gang are quite cold hearted and don't cry - Thaaaank you, Kelli!!!

Hi, Friend. I love ya like a vampire.

Afterwards we went to lunch were we celebrated the gender of Annie's baby. I have already dubbed him Hank. Annie was so hungry she ate french fries off the floor. I am so glad I am not pregnant.

This is what really cracked me up: April's Heart Healthy Meal. Deep fried potatoes and and some oily fishy something. Awesome, a good reminder to those who bring dinners in, apparently April eats what she wants now. Good for you.

Thank you, April, and all the girls for such a wonderful day. My love to you all.

I'm Bringin' Home the Bacon...

For those of you avid readers who don't know, my hubby has been out of work for quite some time. He was in construction for 17 years and when the building market crashed, Pat's family business was hit quite hard. At the same time we also found that Pat has extensive nerve damage to his hands, wrists and arms do to repetitive motion while on the job. So, to make a long story short, we have been without work and steady income since last summer. I began to babysit more and tried to make extra money with my vinyl lettering business, but this only goes so far... Dang it. One morning, I prayed for other opportunities to bring income into our family. That very day I was contacted by a very sweet friend from our ward who wondered if I might be interested in a temporary job at her husbands Orthodontist office. I stumbled a bit at the thought at first, I wasn't planning on having to leave home during the day, but this seemed like a direct answer to a prayer. I was contacted later in the week by the office manager and after three interviews I landed myself a temporary job through the summer as a front desk receptionist. (Which is a miracle in itself, because I have been out of the work force for 12 years, and never have done work in the Ortho field, period.) Now I find myself working full time M-F for a DR. PAYNE... Don't let the name fool you, he is a wonderful orthodontist.
Now, remember, I still have a baby at home. Ok, not a baby, but my baby, and Pat is going to take over my babysitting duties (isn't he just the sweetest thing??) So, of course, I had to leave a 5 page note on how to care for children. I could have written much more, but it was about 2 a.m. when I started this one on the night before my first day. Has he read it? Don't know, but for my sake I hope he pretends he did. It is a hard thing to leave your babies for a job. The only thing that has made it ok for me is that Pat is the one looking after my little ones while I am gone.

After reading my blog, my mom said there were a lot of pictures of myself. Well, Mother, it is my blog. So to continue in the same fashion, on my first day at work, I had Teresa, the Office Manager, take my picture. It is a fabulous, state of the art office with computer technology I am very scared of...

PERKS OF WORKING AT AN ORTHO OFFICE: Instant blackmail... Smile Susan!! You are on my blog. HA. HA. She was muttering something to the effect that she was going to get me for this...

Katie got her braces off today by sweet Janet. She was one happy camper. (Note: this was, like, my second day on the job and I am ignoring my front desk duties to take pictures...)

Smile, Beautiful!!

And to Dr. Payne and his AWESOME staff, thank you for the best job in the world. Also, be looking forward to more pictures, I have to get one of all of you...