Thanks....

Several years ago I wrote a poem. This poem is how I feel about all those people who helped to raise me. I know that I was not the easiest child to deal with but I really appreciate those that loved me for who I was, saw the potential of what I could become, helped me become what I am, and stood by me through it all. 

A NOTE OF THANKS

To all the people in my life

who've been there all along

who've been with me through everything

and taught me to be strong

THANKS

Thanks for giving me support 

and offering suggestions

Thank you for accepting me 

with all my imperfections

Thanks for lending me a hand

when in a time of need

Thanks for telling me I can 

it's helped me to succeed

Thank you for encouraging me 

when I have had my doubts

Thanks for helping me to see

I'm worth it and I count

Now that I am on my own

and much more independent

I give to you a note of thanks

and with my love I send it.

My Slumber Party!!!

My niece and I have the same birthday. She was turning 15 and was allowed to have a slumber party. I took the younger siblings out of the house for a birthday party of my own. 

On the evening of the slumber party I took the kids hiking to Stewart Falls. We were accompanied by my friend, Megan and her four kiddos. We really enjoyed the hike. After the hike, we came to the apartment for root beer floats and birthday cupcakes. 

This is the kids "not" blocking the gate

My absolute favorite picture from the weekend.

 Megan and her kids.

The next day,we took all the kids to the Children's museum in Salt Lake City. I think the kids had a lot of fun there.

   
                                         

 

WHAT'S UP WITH THE WENDTS?

I'm not sure where to begin since it has been so long. I had been so busy with work and school that we didn't have very many adventures. I considered our lives too ordinary to be anything but boring to our blog followers. However, I will update on our status.

Last fall I made the Dean's list which I was pretty proud of. In June, Brad and I moved into our own apartment in North Orem. We love having our own place. We have a new appreciation of each other and our hidden talents. For example, although I knew Brad was good at working on cars, I had no idea that he could be so handy with the appliances like when our dryer broke. He took it apart, replaced the defective part and put it back together, saving us tons of money. 

For my birthday in August I had a slumber party. It was in part to help my 15 year old niece who shares my birthday and was having a slumber party of her own. I took the younger kids and we had a great time. I have lots of pics and will post on that adventure later. 

In November, my sister Beth, went into labor and had a beautiful baby boy (on 11-11-11) who lived for about 23 hours. It was devastating for the entire family but I admire the resiliency and strength of my sister and brother-in-law. 

Our first Christmas in our own place was memorable. Funds were low but our spirits were high. We had a tree which fits in the lone box with the rest of our decorations. Hopefully we'll have a bigger one next year. 

That is all the big news from our year. I will be starting the Elementary Education program at Utah Valley University in about a week. I am so excited to finally be a junior and to be done with generals. 

IT'S BEEN A WHOLE YEAR!!!

New Year's resolution....... Do more blogging. I will get on later and give updates from our year.

Christmas 2010

Brad and I drove to Idaho to see some of my family this holiday season. We drove to Ririe, Idaho on Thursday and spent Christmas Eve morning with my sister, Stephanie and her family. They open their Christmas on Christmas Eve morning so we got to be there for that. Here are some of the highlights.

On Christmas Eve, we drove to my parent's house in Dietrich, Idaho. There was a ton of family there and it was so good to see everyone. I have three musically talented nieces. They are all sisters and they perform together regularly. We enjoyed some songs from them. Here they sing three part harmony, acapella.

Livin' the Good Life

Last March at work we learned that about three quarters of our co-workers were being laid off and that their jobs were being outsourced to Slovakia. This brought great concern to many of the remaining employees.

I began looking for another job almost right away. The thought of not being able to make payments on my debts was more stress than I could deal with at the time. I applied for several jobs. One that I applied for, I had connections in the HR department. Another, I was referred by the vice-president of the company. And on another I had many connections and previous experience with that company. I had many interviews but no luck. I concluded that I was being turned down due to a lack of degree. With so many out of work these days, I don't think companies can even consider someone without a degree.

It was a pivotal moment in our lives. We knew that going back to school for me was a must. But how? We had too many bills that we couldn't afford for me to not work and I didn't think that I would be able to handle the stress of attending school full-time while working full-time. My job was getting more stressful by the day and I was literally a basketcase. I had been with the company for two and a half years but I knew I wasn't going to last much longer. We finally figured out a way that I could quit my full-time job and go back to school.

After careful consideration we decided to sell our newer cars and pay cash for a couple of older cars. This was one of the best choices we could've made. By selling our newer cars we got rid of two car payments and we were able to get rid of two additional debts (a grand total of about $830 a month in payments). I gave up my 2006 Nissan Sentra and Brad parted with his 2008 Honda CRV.

Brad found an old truck (something he's always wanted). It's a 1967 Ford F100 pick-up truck. He's only the third owner. The gentleman he bought it from had had it since 1969 and it only had 66,000 miles on it when we got it. It still has the original engine and transmission. It is Brad's pride and joy. The find was a one in a million. We only paid $1750 for it.

Before the paint job.

And after the paint job

Brad found me a 1988 Honda accord for $1400. I didn't want a car because we live close enough to the school for me to walk there. However with all of the events I get hired at I need transportation and the bus isn't really an option for those. And, not long after all this happened I got my pizza delivery job back and my little Honda is the perfect Pizza car.

Hiking

I've started hiking with my 15 year old nephew, Jared. The first week that Sundance was opened for summer, I picked up Jared early in the morning and we drove out there. It was raining when we left and by the time we reached the resort there was somewhat of a blizzard. Even though we dedided not to hike that day, we wanted to go into the lodge and pick up some trail maps. They didn't open for another hour and a half so we decided to bag it for that day.The following week, I picked Jared up a little later in the morning. We drove out there, went in and got the trail maps and learned that the trail to Stewart Falls was still closed due to the freak snowstorm from the week before. So finally, yesterday, we got to hike for the first time. The trail to Stewart Falls was still closed but we were able to take the tram to Ray's Summit and get out and hike around the loop. Brad came with us but stayed on the tram after Jared and I got off at the summit. The hike was roughly one mile and took about 30 minutes. The guides pointed out some numbers on the map and assured us that all of the trails were clearly marked. As it turned out, the map was marked with only numbers while the trails were marked with names of places such as Arrowhead Summit, Stewart Falls, etc. Even Ray's Summit on the map went by a completely different name on the trail. We were confused but in the end figured out how to get back to Rays Summit. It was a very fun hike. The trail was narrow with a steep mountain climbing up on the left with an equally steep mountain climbing down on the right. There were some loose rocks and even trees growing out of the side of the mountain that we had to climb over. It was more dangerous than any hike I'd been on in a while but we had a really good time.

When we got up there the second week and still couldn't hike, we walked around and took a few pictures.

I really love the flowers in the spring time.

A Native American statue on the grounds of the Sundance Resort.

A little closer view.

A totem pole.

When we couldn't hike at Sundance on that second week we decided to go hiking at Vivian Park. We saw an old payphone and decided to take a picture since it's a rare site anymore. We didn't get very far on that hike since the wind was so cold.

After Jared and I got off the tram we waited on Ray's Summit for Brad to loop around and come back so we could get a couple pictures of him. It was so nice to have my hubby with us.