July Happenings

Hallee loved having Trinity over a few times. 

I started my job at UVU on July 8th.  I was terrified to have a job after being out of the workforce for almost 20 years. It went really well and I really like my job.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to learn and remember new things, my mind is not what it used to be. I have been able to learn and understand what I need to. I've made some mistakes, but overall I feel like I'm getting the hang of it. 

The best part of my job is I really like the people I work with, unfortunately they have all left. Tyler and Dena were the ones that interviewed and hired me.  Tyler left right after I started. Dena applied for Tyler's job, but she didn't get it so she was mad and started looking for other jobs.  Karrie, got Tyler's job and I really like her so I'm glad she will still be there.  Jenny trained me, she is the afternoon receptionist so I worked with her while I trained, but after that we just overlapped for an hour each day. I really like her.  She is so sweet and did a great job explaining things and teaching me. She helped me feel at ease and calmed my nerves.  Dena was great too, she is so fun to talk to and knew the answers to every question I had.  I was sad that she left a week ago.  She came into visit yesterday and took this picture. Linus works a few hours a day and he is still there for now, but I won't be surprised if he leaves soon too. It's hard to see them leave, hopefully they will replace them with good people.  My schedule is every day from 8AM-1PM. I will work more hours while we are short staffed. It has been hard to work this summer while the kids were home and I was missing out on stuff.  They started school this week and that has helped.  I am up with them in the morning and get to see them off before I go to work. Then I'm home when they get home.  I'm very grateful for this job and that I'm happy there. I don't dread going to work.  I don't love the commitment of working every day, but I'm happy with my job.  Dena said both her and Tyler liked me the best and they interviewed a lot of candidates. She said that usually they hire students, but they both felt like they should hire me. It is a blessing to have a job, the job market is getting harder and harder.  They have had a ton of applicants for Jenny's job. We keep hoping and praying that Keith will find a job soon!

Caitlyn has been working hard on getting her CNA this summer. She had a month of online learning and then a week of in-person classes. The classes were very long days!  She got up early and made her lunch the first day and it got harder and harder to get up early.  Keith offered to make her lunch every night.  She was very happy about that!

After that she had to do two 12-hour clinical days.  She did those last weekend. She went to a nursing home and followed CNA's around.  The nurses weren't very happy to have the students there and didn't know they were coming so that was frustrating for her.  She loved working with the residents.  She is such a natural nurturer. Now she needs to take her test and then she will be a licensed CNA.  I'm so proud of Caitlyn for working so hard for this. It has been overwhelming to do while she is working full time, but she got it done!

I went to dinner with Pam, Shelley, Natasha and Hailey before Pam left town. It's always fun to talk and laugh with them.

Jonah went boating with friends a few times.

I loved seeing the video and pictures.  He is really good at wake surfing.

Hallee has loved hanging out with Tessa this summer. No matter how long they are together it's never long enough.

They girls had fun putting beads and braids in Lindy's hair. 

Hallee has been making lots of bracelets.  When I get home from work she likes to show me all the bracelets she made while I was gone. 

Hallee has had fun playing on the slip and slide at Tessa's. 

Hallee went over there during Wyatt's party.

I'm so glad the girls got a lot of time together this summer.

Tiff and Paul had us over for July 24th.  They fed us a great dinner and then we had fun playing games. Wyatt and Rockwell taught us a new game. Tiff and Paul have fed us so many meals since Keith lost his job. They have brought meals over multiple times and fed us at their house multiple times. It is so thoughtful and very much appreciated!

My lips have gotten swollen on and off this month.  It started out with just one lip getting swollen at a time and it would go down over night.  A couple of weeks ago I could feel both of my lips getting swollen and when I woke up in the morning both of my lips were huge.  It was very uncomfortable and very embarrassing. I am the receptionist at work so I'm the first person they see when they walk in the door. I told people I was having some sort of allergic reaction when I noticed them staring. One girl said, "Oh, I thought you just had a bad lip job." We had a huge staff event that day so I met some people that I messaged with, but hadn't met in person.  These two ladies came in and introduced themselves and then said, "It's nice to see your face." They looked at me and looked alarmed when they saw my face, Ha! They were really nice about it, but it was embarrassing. I had to work at BYU that night too. The swelling was starting to go down, but when I walked into work they all gasped in unison and asked what happened.  I was so happy when I woke up the next morning and most of the swelling was gone.  I have also been getting hives on my head, neck and back. They come and go. They start out small and then grow pretty big and then slowly go down and go away.  I can't figure out what would be causing this.  My best guess is stress.  I think starting my job and learning all of these new things has really stressed me out.  You add in the stress of Keith being out of work and worrying and being sad about my mom and it is a lot of stress.  

Jonah and Wyatt stared at my giant lips in horror.  Jonah couldn't believe I was going into work like that! By that night I think they were less worried when they could see that the swelling was going down. At dinner Jonah made this face and said, "guys, who am I?"  Ha, Jonah is always good for a laugh.