Quinn's birthday

We got to join the family for dinner at Chuck-a-Rama for Quinn's 23rd birthday! :) We had fun and aside from 1 little outburst from Preston, the kids were super good and made it a pleasant experience! After dinner we went back to the Call's for ice cream cake--yum!

Happy birthday, Quinny. We love you!!!

"Journal entry"

So, here's the story....

TJ was hired as our Front End Assistant Manager in August. She is in charge of creating our schedules each week. My availability has always been limited because of Nick's long hours at work, and because I have kids and I wanted to spend as few hours away from them as possible. I have been working nights at Wal-mart for almost 2 years! My schedules have changed here and there, but basically I would start my shift at 9pm and work until 3am. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

Our work schedules are done 3-4 weeks in advance, so when she got hired, my schedule was already set for the next month. BUT, once those schedules were done, I noticed my NAME wasn't even on the schedules anymore!

After talking to her (and pleading for hours to work) she told me that she will ONLY work with my availability if I work EVERY Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. OR, she will be totally fine with me transfering stores, OR I can quit! (seriously, she said this to me!) I told her I would let her know--which I never did!

My assistant managers overnights allowed me to work my "normal" hours, as many nights as I wanted. Each week I felt like I was inching my way out the door...like if TJ found out how many hours I was working, she would fire me!

Almost immediately, I submitted transfers to 3 different stores--Saratoga Springs Wal-mart, South Jordan Wal-mart, and South Jordan Sam's Club. I was REALLY hoping I would get the Saratoga Springs Wal-mart job because it is literally 5 min from my house (save on gas $$ and travel time), but they were VERY scattered over there and I was told flat out that they are only hiring for Temps right now for the holidays! So, I moved on to the next store. I was more proactive this time around. I found out the store manager's name at the South Jordan Sam's Club and sent him an email from work. He called me 2 days later and told me he is REALLY interested in having me join their store and could I start the next week--which was November 1? I told him I can start as soon as my store manager would approve my transfer. My store manager dug his heels in for almost 2 weeks, but finally I got an email back from Jeff--my NEW store manager telling me that the transfer was approved and to come in to finalize everything!

I went in yesterday--November 13 to accept the job offer, meet some of my new associates, and get on the schedule for the next 2 weeks. ALL of the people were SO nice and warm and welcoming! It's a strange store to work in, after being at Wal-mart so long, but I feel right at home there! Technically, I am a cashier--and will be for about a month--so that I can get the lay of the land-so to speak, and learn everything I can to move back up to my manager position.

I went to my "old" store after going to my new store to say good bye to the friends I've made there! Oh man, was that emotional! I saw Glenise, Martin, Tiffany, Paul, Vahid, Juan, and most importantly, Becky! Becky is the first person I met when I was trying to transfer from the Murray store to the Riverton store. She welcomed me with open arms, and made me feel like I was a part of her little family. I heard her tell me on many occasions that I remind her of her little sister. We've been to Girls Night Out together, we always had fun at work together! She is a sweet, kind hearted, genuine, and a caring person and I feel SO blessed to have met her! She is the person I will miss most of all! I have to go back to the Riverton store this coming thursday to get something to an old associate there, and then I'll have the chance to say good bye to the other half of my group of friends--Alma, Saane, Nesse, Lisa, Mandy, Kevin, Doug, Sarah, Barbara, Rita, Matt, Jennifer (another favorite), Lyle, Isaac, Tualagi, and all the overnight stockers. And, I want to see Store Manager Scott to thank him for hiring a B**** like TJ, which has made it necessary for me to find another job! (Literally, I hear at least a dozen complaints on a weekly basis about how TJ has screwed up someone's schedule! I am not the only one!)

I am finding that there are WAY more positives than negatives to my working at Sam's club... none of which I will list here, except that I don't have to work nights any more!!! I can go to bed at a decent hour, wake up in the AM, not the PM, and I don't have to fight anyone about my hours any more! I am SO excited about that... However, I tried to make a fresh start today, ya know, go to bed "early" and wake up "early", but my body is so used to the opposite that I ended up tossing and turning for over an hour before I finally fell asleep at 3am, and instead of waking up at 9:30am like I had hoped, I didn't wake up (and get up) until just before Noon! ugh.

Now for my new schedule....(this will change depending on if Nick gets the Geico job, or if he changes to swing shift) For now, Nick works Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday--10 hr shifts. So, since Sam's club is not open over night like Wal-mart was, my only options are to work on his days off--so I will be working Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday--8 hr shifts. It's been more than a year since I worked more than 5 1/2 hour shifts, so it will be different--AND, working day time...lol. will be different too. but I am SO excited for the change and new challenges! I think this will be a good thing. :)

MY JOB TRANSFER HAS BEEN APPROVED.....
meeting with the new store manager Friday....
more news to come once I know anything...
wish me luck that I get the schedule I want
(and the pay, lol)

:-)

Birthday gifts and party

On Thursday, Randy and Juli came over to give Ash her birthday gifts. I can't even tell you how excited Ash was ALL day to get her presents! After all, at 7 years old, gifts are the most important thing about a birthday. :-)







Her favorite thing was the airbrush color wonder art kit. She played with it the whole evening and painted us lot of pictures. Preston kept trying to use it too...it's so hard to understand that this is HER birthday, not his! THANKS Gma and Gpa Call!! :)


My parents came over the next day (friday) to take Ash on a date to buy her present and get some dinner at Betos. Yum!

Preston and Ashleigh have been playing the tea set every day since she got it....they LOVE IT and Ash painted her wood clock last night. She did a great job.

Then we had a small family party, and Ash got some more great gifts.

And the "best" present of all--a new 2-wheeled scooter! :)

Then we had cake, cupcakes, blueberry muffins, and a veggie platter with Ranch dip.

And we all visited while the kids played. It was a great party and plenty of fun.

I can't believe my daughter is 7 years old!

Ashleigh turns 7

Today, my sweet Ashleigh turned 7 years old! Wow....I can't believe how fast 7 years just flies by! Ashleigh is constantly referred to as our "perfect child". She is compassionate, loving, empathetic, loyal, sweet, sensitive, affectionate, attentive, motherly, happy, entertaining, beautiful, friendly, Smart, thoughtful, etc... She was always the kind of child who obeyed the first time--if she did something bad, we would correct her behavior and she wouldn't do it again. (Wish Preston were like that, lol). She makes friends easily and has some best friends already. She loves school and loves learning new things.

From the mouth of Ashleigh:
What are your favorite subjects in school? Art, and listening center, and math.
What is your favorite color? Blue, red, and Green
What is your favorite thing to eat? Mac N Cheese
What is your favorite thing to wear? My Halloween costume
Who is your favorite neighborhood or school friend to play with? Jasna
What is your favorite activity/thing to do? Art
Do you like to do chores? No
Do you like to do homework? Yes
What would you do in 1 day if you could do anything you wanted? Either play with my friends or I would color
What is the name of your favorite book to read? "A Time for Everything"
When is your favorite time of year? I like winter, because of the snow
Do you have a favorite number? 7 is my number
What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher or I would like to be a Chef
What is your favorite thing about being a big sister? That I get to be the boss of him every morning
What is your least favorite thing about being a big sister? I don't like when he takes stuff from me.
Who is your favorite parent? mommy, cause you tickle my back
What is your favorite thing to do with daddy? Going on a daddy-daughter date
Do you like sports? I do like gymnastics
What is your favorite dessert? blueberry muffins
Do you like drawing pictures for me? yes

I love my Ashleigh... for those of you who don't know, we named her after 2 people....
the first is a girl I met when Nick and I were first dating. her name is Ashley Sanders. We all went on a group date in Spokane and I had to borrow a skirt from her. She was warm, kind, sweet, friendly, and I felt like her best friend after only knowing her for a few minutes. She was (is) also incredibly beautiful with the most gorgeous hair!
The second is Ashleigh Banfield. She is a pretty famous TV journalist and war corespondent. I first saw her in my late teens and was struck by her beauty, her confidence, her eloquent way of speaking, her intelligence, etc. When we had our Ashleigh, we chose this specific spelling because we wanted her "simple" name to be a little more unusual. And Nick and I secretly hoped that our Ashleigh would have the same personality traits, intelligence, and attributes as the 2 women we named her after. So far, it seems that she does, which makes us very happy. :)

I absolutely adore my Ashleigh and I am so happy that she is 7 years old and that we get to share her birthday with her!

Happy birthday, Ashleigh
we love you!

Christmas decor...x2

We changed our decorations a bit on the inside so I took new pictures. And Nick spent the day putting up our outside decorations as well. We (not surprising) are the first one's in the whole neighborhood to have our Christmas decorations/lights up. But today, I saw a neighbor putting up their outside lights too... Lol... such followers. ;-) Actually, it's nice to see them follow suit! Enjoy the pics and hopefully you will be inspired to put up all your own decorations too!

I stole this from another blogger (thanks!) I like it and I like to think that this is how Nick treats me. ;-) It's how all men should treat their woman! :)


"Listen, moe toto, you better treat this lady like a queen cause you my friend, you found yourself the perfect woman. If I was ever so lucky to find the perfect woman I would give her flowers everyday and not just any flowers, ok, her favorites are orchids, white, and breakfast in bed. Six loaves of wheat toast with butter on both sides, no crust, the way she likes it. I would be her shoulder to cry on and her best friend and I'd spend everyday trying to think of how to make her laugh. She has the most, the most amazing laugh. That's, that's what I would do if I were you."
Melman, Madagascar Escape 2 Africa