Fire Figher Job Update

Ogden City Fire:  Jesse passed the physical test with flying colors. And on Thursday the 24th Jesse had an oral board interview followed by some more tests such as; a medical assessment on a (pretend) patient and fire fighting skills. Jesse felt really good about the interview and tests. We still haven't heard anything on his results so Jesse is constantly feeling eager every time his phone beeps when an email comes in. If he wasn't already a patient person he's certainly going to be after this long process of waiting.

Salt Lake City Fire: Saturday May 19th Jesse went and took the Entry-Level Fire Fighting Exam. And yesterday he received an email from them saying...

Congratulations! You scored 92% on our entry- level Firefighter written exam. (The top score was 96%.) This ranks you among the top 121 candidates qualified to participate in our BPAD test process (Behavioral Personnel Assessment Device). Your test time has been scheduled for June 22, 2012, at 10:00:00 AM. The test will last less than one hour. If you live out of state and are unable to travel to Utah for the BPAD test, please contact me immediately. The BPAD test will account for 90% of your total score.

  

So he has a couple of options. Ideally he'd love to get on with SLC, but Ogden would give him really good experience. It's all a matter of time. And while we wait and see what the Lord has in store for him (us) we pray and keep our fingers crossed that all will be well.

Keep up the good work Jesse...We are all rooting for you!

Memorial Day

In past years Jesse and I have always taken the chance to go to Moab over the Memorial weekend, but with two boys and busy work schedules it just isn't possible lately. So we hung around here. Which actually was very nice. I needed to get caught up on laundry and things around the house from being gone for 5 days. Plus working.

Jesse actually had to work, so while he was gone I did as much as I could around the house before me and the boys headed out to Grandma Heidi's house to swim.

When we arrived nobody was home because Mike and Heidi took Grandma Mickey up to Brigham City to visit Grandpa Bill's grave site. So while we were waiting I took a few snap shots of the boys in their swimming gear all ready to go. Ryker got some goggles that he was very proud of to sport.

 I love, love, love his CHEESE face.

Cy was thoroughly enjoying the pool. The whole time he kept making his "ohh-ee-ohh" noise.

Gotta love the pose.

Jesse came later to swim. When he did I took the opportunity to go put Cy down for a nap.

A few hours later we all met up with Andrew and Emily on the Jordon River Parkway for a short little bike ride.

Afterwards we all went back to mom and dad's to make dinner. By this time it was almost 8pm... let's just say that we were all starving. Once the food hit the table we all pretty much inhaled everything.

One casual memorial day. But a great time with family. Like Always!

Oregon Sister Time

Several months back I planned a trip up to go visit Manda and Jon. As it got closer it turned out that it was going to be the same time Manda's mother and sister in law (Lisa and Mary) were throwing her a baby shower. So since my mom, grandma and sisters were all invited they all joined me for my trip. (My dad too came along).

We all flew up Saturday night (May 19) together. We had to fly into Portland, rent a car and still drive two hours to Eugene. By the time we got to Manda and Jon's place it was 11:30pm (Oregon Time). We were all really sleepy in the car, but as soon as we got there it's like we got this burst of energy and we (mostly Chan, Manda and I) all stayed up till 2:30am just getting caught up. Awe... some much needed sister time.

The next morning we took the morning easy just hanging out around the house and getting ready for the shower (It's funny... when I'm with my sisters it's like they all of a sudden become incapable of doing their own hair, so I  went to work to make them look beautiful for the shower).

The shower was at this cute little restaurant called "Our Daily Bread". They had awesome homemade food. It was nice to be out on the patio section during the shower. Thankfully the rainy Oregon weather held out for this special day and gave us sunshine.

 Manda wanted to get a picture of her sisters and sister in law all together....

 ...and the moms.

 Everyone who came to the shower were all really generous, especially considering Manda didn't know most of the guest very well and some not at all. Most of them were friends of the Duke's. She was very grateful we were there.

I love this picture of her and her cute baby bump. It gets me all excited to meet my nephew.

Monday morning the whole gang had to head back home... but I got to stay. Yahoo. I stayed until Thursday morning.

The rest of the time Manda and I took it easy. We got some baby shopping done, bought some maternity clothes, went and saw a movie, stayed up late talking, took naps the next day due to staying up late, and cut and colored some hair in their kitchen (even their toy poodle, Gus got a haircut).

Thursday morning came too fast and too early. My flight in Portland was leaving at 7:10am and we had a two hour drive there. So I had to wake up at 3am to get ready and pack my stuff in the car so we could leave by 4am...ugh. Manda was so great to be willing to do that for me. Bless her heart. It gave us one last chance to chat with each other. Ya know sisters never can get enough of that.

I loved having this time with Manda. It was so great to see her. I love her oh so much. Don't know where I would be without her. We have become so close over the past few years. That makes me super excited as to what the coming years are going to bring for us.

Manda is going to be a great mother. I'm really excited for her to have that in her life. And we'll then be able to relate to each other on another level.

Love you Sista!

The Chicken Coop is Done

Before...

During...

After...

 The nests where the eggs will be collected...

 Didn't Jesse do an awesome job? Then again he always does, so there's no surprise there. I have to add that I helped where I could. I did alot of the staining and touched up the paint.

The chicks seem so much happier out in their coop. And in return I'm even more happy to have them out of our house. Once I got them outside I cleaned out the bathroom and the dust that was created from them was unbelievable. I haven't ever seen anything like it.

Inside the chicken house we put the heat lamp inside so they can have the warmth at night. 

Another thing I should mention is the night that we put the chicks in the coop we gave Henrietta (the white hen) to our next door neighbors. Reason being is because the chicks and her needed to be separated and both needed to be in the house part. Henrietta needed it to lay her eggs and the chicks needed it to stay warm. Unfortunately Henrietta had to go. But she'll be happier at the neighbors where she can be with a bunch of other hens.

7 years ago...

...THIS happened (see picture below).

May 7, 2005 seems like such a long time ago, but yet at the same time it all just happened yesterday. And here we are 7 years later with 2 beautiful boys, a home with a great yard, and raising 12 chicks...who'd of thought?

 My gift to Jesse was a new BBQ. We have been using his parents old one for the past 4 1/2 years and it has been great, but I guess a 12 year old BBQ is bound to fall apart at some point. And that point was now.

 I also surprised him with a new ring (might I add this is is FOURTH ring he has received in 7 years). After he lost the third one I just decided not to care anymore. But I think as a soon to be Firefighter working in action he should have a ring on his finger.

The unfortunate thing about this ring is the size...it's apparently too small. Go figure! I got the same size as last time, but for some reason it won't even go past his knuckle. Thankfully I bought this from my boss who also owns the Gem Smith next to the salon, so I'm sure he'll be understanding and switch it out for a new one. This one was on closeout so I'll have to find another one that is a size bigger. (I'll have to post a picture of the BIGGER and hopefully BETTER ring when I get it.)

It was Jesse's turn to plan the evening. His original plan was to go to an Indoor Skydiving place up in Ogden, but I guess they were closed that night. So he gave me a gift certificate from there so we can go together another time. I'm excited about it.

 For dinner he took me to Epic. I had only been there twice with Heidi and loved it. So Jesse took me again. I didn't even think about it but I totally forgot to take pictures to document the night..I even had my camera with me. haha I guess I was enjoying myself too much to even think about pictures.

After dinner Jesse took me to the mall and let me shop. When he first told me this was his plan I thought "Who are you? And what did you do with my husband?"

We only went for a little bit before the mall closed. Which was perfect because I didn't want to torture Jesse anymore with boredom on our anniversary night.

A short but very sweet evening together. Perfect!

I'm grateful to be married to such a good man. We have grown together and strengthened each other in ways I didn't think were possible. I believe we make a really great team and am grateful for the growth that has come from that. I can't imagine what the coming years will bring for us...but I certainly look forward to it.

Upgrading

Last week Jesse was able to finish the fence. Which was much needed because Henrietta (that's what we named the hen) kept getting out of the yard. It's rather embarrassing when the neighbors bring your chicken back not only once, but THREE times (that we know of). So now she can't escape.

 He did a pretty awesome job of putting it all up (but then again he always does a good job on everything he does). It's going to be SOOO nice to have this up.

 The other side of the house we put up a straight fence. We debated back and forth if we should put a gate on that side as well. But to save some money we decided to forgo the gate. I don't think we would use that side for a gate all the much, so it works out great.

 We've had the chicks now for 2 weeks. They have started to grow their adult feathers and become taller so they started to roost (chicken talk for perch) on the edge of the container. I didn't mind at first until they started to jump out of the tub. A few times I found one chirping really loud because it was on the floor of the bathroom. You could tell it was it's cry for help.

 While they roost they like to sleep... Check out the one roosting on the water feeder. It's kinda cute. Seems uncomfortable to me, but they like it.

With roosting comes lots of pooping. So the tub was covered in poop. YUCK!!!

 Today we cleaned everything out and decided to put down some rubber in the tub and let them have more room. That way they couldn't get out easier, and the tub would be protected from the serious poopage.

Look how big they have become.

 I have to remind myself...only TWO MORE WEEKS and they can go out side...this is only temporary. I'm hoping this new arrangement for them will work out better and won't be so messy and easier to clean.
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Jesse Update Time:
Last week Jesse received an email from South Jordon with some bad news. He wasn't selected to move onto the Physical testing. He was disappointed, but even more so when he heard from a fellow student that too had applied for South Jordon. This guy passed the Civil service test, but never was asked to interview. But strangely he was asked to come and take the Physical Test! SO UNFAIR!!!

After Jesse told me this I decided they weren't worth it and that he wasn't suppose to be there. It's obviously not where the Lord wants him to be. And besides they seem super unorganized. I wouldn't want to work for that department anyway. So Jesse is better off.

This Wednesday Jesse is testing with Ogden. They have their testing set up differently because Jesse gets to do the Physical test first. So that is a good thing. We all wish him Good Luck this next week and throughout the rest of the month. Salt Lake is also doing their testing this month. That test is next week.