Trip to Utah, A Job, School and Other Good Stuff

Wow!  So it's been a while since I've actually posted anything noteworthy.   I have posted a couple things here and there, mostly pictures, but nothing that stands out as amazing. I'm sorry for being such a slacker!  It's just that I have had a crazy past few weeks and I don't see that ending any time soon.  In fact, my life just got even more crazy, but it's all good.  I will just have to include blogging time into my schedule and be better at sticking to it. 

Here is what has been keeping me away....

School - You all know that I started school about 6 weeks ago at Colorado Technical University Online.  I am loving it!  But needless to say it's a full-time commitment in and of itself. Continuing my education is a HIGH priority for me right now and I am fully committed to achieving high grades and making the deans list in the near future.  So far I have an A in both classes.  Yeah!  This past week I have been working on my final papers for my classes, as we start a new session next week.  So I have been non-stop schooling lately.  Upcoming classes will be a little harder as I will be moving into Business Math and English Composition I.

Trip to Utah - Last week we made a trip to Utah for my family's camp out at Gooseberry Reservoir.  I'll get to that in just a minute. 

First I want to mention that Bill and I got to meet his daughter that was given up for adoption 25 years ago for the first time.  She and her husband, David, live in Arizona and just so happened to be in Salt Lake on the same weekend as us to attend the funeral of David's sister who had passed away.  Natalie made contact with Bill about a year ago and they have kept in contact since then.  Meeting Natalie and David was the most amazing experience.  She is so beautiful, inside and out! She and David just got married in May and they are a perfect match for each other.  After we left from meeting with them, we realized we didn't even take one picture.  And I even took my camera with me for that very reason.  I was and still am so upset by this.  So I had to borrow this picture of them from her facebook profile (I hope you don't mind Natalie).  We look forward to spending more time with them in the near future.   We are very blessed!

Now back to the camping trip... All of my family; my parents, all my siblings, nieces and nephews, and my kids all went camping to Gooseberry Reservoir in Sanpete County. The only person that was missing was my BIL, my sister,Valerie's husband, Bob.  And he was very much missed! This trip had been planned for many months and it was just so nice to be together. We had not been back home since we moved a year ago. 

We fished, camped, ate great food, had some fun nights around the camp fire telling silly progressive stories which was a hoot.   Did I mention that we fished?  We all caught 1 or 2 fish, but I think my 6 yr old niece caught a ton of fish all on her tiny Dora pole.  Every time she would throw her line in she would get a bite, it didn't matter that my line was right next to hers and it had the same bait.  For some reason the fish just loved her! 

Here is a movie I made of our trip...

We returned back to Salt Lake from camping on Sunday afternoon which left Bill and I a little time to visit with some friends and past neighbors for a little while.  I was able to catch up with some friends of mine who I haven't seen in several years, and who just happened to be in Utah also on this same weekend.  I feel very blessed to have been able to have this opportunity for chance meetings. It was also really nice to spend some time with my kids, but now I am missing them like crazy!  The weekend was so AWESOME! 

Job Status - My work with the Census ended a few days before our trip to Utah and so I had been really stepping up my time spent seeking a new job.  I met with a Career Assistance Advisor through my school who assisted me in revamping my resume and brushing up on my interview skills.  And I spent many hours apply for job after job during this past month.  On July 26th I received a phone call from O'Reilly Auto Parts, a place that I had applied to several months ago.  A job opening has come available and I interviewed that day, and found out the next that I got the job.  Yes, you read that right..... I finally got a job!  It's a full-time position driving auto parts around.  And it couldn't have come at a better time.  Yeehaw!

Now this is where my life gets even more crazier.  Full-time school + Full-time job = A very full life!  Now I just have to figure out how to keep it all in balance including my family and social commitments.  I haven't had a full-time job in a few years and I definitely have not had school on top of it.  But hey, people do it all the time, right? 

Other stuff - I have hundreds of pictures I still need to edit and post of our hikes and Daisy's Adventures.  I haven't spent a lot of time on that because I still need to get a new computer and an external hard drive for this one before I start adding more files to it.  That will be a project I will have to work in my spare time. Ha!  And I would still like to be able to spend some time catching up on your blogs too.  Life is just getting in the way just a bit right now.  I hope you will forgive me. 

Great News - I'm SO excited that my in-laws are coming for a visit later this month.  I am really looking forward to spending some good time with them.  MIL is an excellent photographer and am hoping she can teach me a thing or two. Here is a cute picture of the two them and their dog "Dinky"..... 

Can't wait to see you Mom & Dad!

Now to all my bloggy friends out there.... I promise to catch up with you over the next few days.  I can't wait to see whats been happening in your lives.