One Big Huge Post

I’m tired of playing catch-up. Here goes one long post to hit the highlights and share our exciting news.
Before school let out Ally competed in the school speech contest. Last year she took 1st place and then 3rd place at the district contest. She felt the pressure to match that same success this year. I tried to tell her not to worry about it. Last year she was the oldest in the 5th/6th grade division. This year she is one of the youngest in the 7th/8th grade division.

She ended up tying for 2nd place! The scores were so close that the 1st place winner only won by one point! The teacher made a point to say that they did the math several times to make sure they had it right.

Way to go, we’re so proud of her!

Several months ago we were working in the front yard pulling weeds and some teenage kids came walking by. One of them had a pretty tall mohawk and Luke was amazed. He said, “Mom, I want my hair like that!” I thought it was just a phase but he continued to ask me every day if he could have a mohawk. We started styling his hair with a faux-hawk to try and satisfy him but it just wasn’t good enough. Since it was time for a short summer haircut anyway, I gave in.



I cut his hair on a Monday only with the agreement that he would let me cut the rest of it off Saturday night. There was no way I was going to let him go to church like that. Actually he looked pretty cute with it and he was in heaven!

So now on to the big news……… L.J. has a new job! We’re so glad the 14 month unemployment run is finally over! He was offered a position as a Biomedical Technician for Banner Health. Surprisingly he has no background or training in this field but a friend of a friend recommended him, he had great references and had an awesome interview. It all finally fell into place!

Basically he will be repairing medical equipment at Banner facilities. Simple things at first like electronic beds & stethoscopes then as he’s trained and certified he’ll move on to more advanced equipment for ultrasounds and such. The boss told him that he could teach anyone to do the work but he liked that L.J. had owned his own business for so long. Obviously his customer service skills would be high and that’s not always something that people can learn as easily. Banner is a huge company so the benefits are wonderful, there is plenty of room for advancement and the medical field is recession proof! We are really excited!

And more great news….. We are moving!! For a couple of years now I’ve been dreaming of moving into a bigger house. So many different things stood in the way for awhile and we have made due just fine. But now the time has finally come and we are actually moving into a smaller house. But it’s Our House. We are moving to Heber!

It might be crazy but we’re really excited about this move. When I say everything fell into place it literally all fell into place all at the same time. First we had a friend approach us about renting our house from us. He knew we had been trying to move before and he was looking for a rental that he can use long term. We decided to take him up on the offer but didn’t have anywhere to go yet.

We looked at bigger homes to rent since we couldn’t qualify to buy another one but they were all so expensive. We were nervous committing to something like that and not having a steady income. We started talking about moving to Heber and staying with family so we can go ahead and get this house rented. We knew we’d never sell it anymore with the housing market crash so having a good renter is the next best thing. If we didn’t rent to him, we’d have to take our chances with some stranger later.

L.J. was talking to him and mentioned what we might do. He said that his friend lives in Show Low and wants to transfer back down to the valley AND his company was hiring. He thought what if they hired L.J. who is moving up there anyway and then his other friend can transfer here. So he put them in touch with each other. Trying to make a long story short, L.J. got the job!

Since November we’ve had renters in our house in Heber. They were nice people and took care of the house but had a really hard time paying the rent on time. We were pretty depended on that money and it was tough waiting. Once we had decided to move to Heber, we were fine letting them stay there to finish out the lease but they just couldn’t pay the rent. So we came to an agreement and they left.

Now we can live in our house and the rent we’re charging in Glendale is enough to cover both house payments! That and with a steady job again the plan is to save as much money as possible to finally buy that bigger house we need.

Not everything is perfect yet though. L.J. has a lot of training to do and that’s located in Chandler. It’s not going to be easy but he will be commuting for awhile, staying with his brother Andrew in Maricopa during the week then with me and the kids in Heber on the weekends. And in the end, getting the position in Show Low isn’t in stone yet. The boss does know this friend wants to transfer back here and L.J. would like to transfer there. That’s actually another reason they liked L.J. He’s from the area, has family there and would be willing to stay for awhile.

Another detail I should add is that Banner Health also contracts with smaller hospitals and clinics in rural areas. This position would actually travel around Show Low, Holbrook, St Johns, etc so Heber is a good central location.

So……………… I’m going to have to put the blog away for a little while. Did I mention we are moving THIS Saturday? With swim lessons and girls camp, I’ve had very little time to start packing. We’ve been trying to prepare for living in a smaller house. We rented a storage room and what ever we can live without for awhile is going in there. We’ve donated a lot of stuff to charity and I’ve gotten back into selling things on Ebay & Craigslist. Who knew this crazy thing would sell for $76.00!!!



It’s a Little Einstein’s Pat Pat Rocket with all four characters. But then I had a brand new pair of girls Heeley’s sell for only $8.00 so you never know.

For the next couple of weeks all my time and energy is going to focus on this move and getting resettled. We’re really excited. Even though this house is smaller, the kitchen is about twice the size so I’m thrilled. It will be an easy move for the kids since we visit there so much. They have cousins the same age and already know other kids in Primary. Starting a new school is a little nerve wracking but I know they’ll do fine. It will be a good experience for all of us.

One last picture. We took this just before Father’s Day. I call it The Top 5 Reasons to be a Dad: