Create!

19 Nov 2013: Dylan (age 16) displays his banner

Both my sons had opportunities to be creative this week. Today Dylan went on a job shadow required by one of his vocational classes. His career goal is to become a video game designer, but there are no such businesses here in our rural area. So he and his friend Mary elected to go to High Country Signs.

There they spent 3 hours watching the employees (including my long-time friend Paul Fish) do their jobs and getting some hands-on experience. Dylan and Mary each got to design and create their own banners and ended up with two pretty awesome signs to hang in their rooms. Dylan said the hardest part was having to sew the heavy plastic to finish off the banner.

He, of course, chose to put his favorite new Xbox game on his banner. Call of Duty: Ghosts came out a couple of weeks ago and Dylan was among the first in line to purchase it (with a little assist from his older brother). Now he can hang that lovely, creepy skull right over his bed...

18 Nov 2013: Jacob (age 22) prepares to leave for singles home evening;

you can see in his eyes how tired he is working 2 jobs!

Jacob actually had all day yesterday off. It was the first time in 3 weeks he didn't have to work at least one of his two jobs. That meant he got to attend the singles home evening activity, which was a dinner. Since his friend Bryn volunteered him to provide dessert, Jacob spent the afternoon whipping up oatmeal-Reeses Pieces cookies and toffee turtle bars.

18 Nov 2012: Jacob's culinary wizardry

When Jacob returned home last night, I asked him, "So did you meet my future daughter-in-law tonight?"

 

He gave me a pleased grin and replied, "Well, there was this one girl..."

 

Hmmm. I think I'll stay tuned...

Working Man

15 Nov 2013: Jacob finishes up his work day at Walmart

When it rains it pours! 

My son Jacob moved back to northern California on May 1st of this year (he'd served a 2-year mission for our church there in 2011-12).  While living there this time around, he worked the graveyard shift at a convenience store, but on August 17th he moved back home to Arizona. For the next 6 weeks he searched for a job with no luck.  Finally, on October 3rd he started a new job as a cashier at our local Walmart.

15 Nov 2013: Jacob (age 22) is ready to head to his next job

at Native New Yorker

We were so grateful that Jacob finally had a good job with decent pay and hours, especially since he needs a new car (and his rent money is most helpful to his mom)! But then a few weeks later, he got a call from Native New Yorker, a popular restaurant in nearby Show Low. They were looking for a fry-cook and liked his high school training in culinary arts.

 

Jacob aced his interview with the owner of the restaurant and was offered the job. The owner was impressed with Jacob's knowledge of commercial cooking and health laws. They wanted him so badly that they were willing to work around his Walmart hours.

 

That same night we happened to run into Jacob's high school culinary arts teacher, Kay Shores. She was thrilled when we told her how Jacob recalled specifics from her class more than 3 years after graduation.  She is a master teacher!

15 Nov 2013: I love the back of the official

Native New Yorker tee-shirt

So, since October 29th, Jacob has been working 2 jobs, putting in 70+ hours per week. His typical day starts around 6am, reporting to work at Walmart from about 7am to 4pm, then working at Native New Yorker from 5pm till closing, around 11pm. He works 5 days a week at Walmart and 6 nights a week at Native New Yorker.

 

Right now Jacob's life basically consists of working, working, eating, and sleeping (but not enough of that last one). No social life these days.  His schedule is kicking his booty, but he loves watching the money in his account grow.  He should be able to go car-shopping in the next few months. 

6 Sept 2010: Sarah's first month as a WalMart cashier,

3 years ago! She was still single then!

I might add that Sarah has been working at the same Walmart for more than 3 years. She started there in August of 2010, when she was 20.  She is also a cashier, although sometimes she works in Customer Service.

 

Here's a funny little side note: Sarah and Jacob's dad, Mark, was working at WalMart at the time of our divorce in 2006.  And he worked as a dishwasher at Native New Yorker in Mesa way back in 1988 when we started dating. Oh, the ironies of life.

7 Sept 2013: Mary wins a prize!

Back in September, Jacob and I hoped we might be able to win him a car. Our local electric co-op has an annual meeting, and they offer lots of prizes to get us members to show up. They have hundreds of small prizes like cookware, but this year they were also offering a used GMC Jimmy. How great would it be if Jacob could win that car, we asked ourselves.

7 Sept 2013: The un-winning tickets...

In the 23 years I've lived here in the White Mountains, I'd never attended this meeting. But this time Jacob and I were there, claiming our prize tickets and crossing our fingers for luck. No such luck. The numbers on our tickets weren't even close.

I did win an electric skillet, though!

7 Sept 2013: The emcee for the drawing is a friend of ours, Joe Kay

15 Nov 2013: A storm was rolling in when I picked up Jacob

from Walmart today; it's been raining, hailing, and thundering all night!

Bittersweet

1 Sept 2013: Sarah (age 23) and her mom, Mary,

on Mary's 59th birthday, getting a pedicure at Sassy's! 

Sunday was a bittersweet day for me.  The bitter was not being with my husband, Ed, who was born on September 1st like me.  Since we met in April 2010, we have spent our mutual birthday together every year.  With our birthday falling on or near Labor Day, we always booked a resort condo, usually in Tucson, and spent a wonderful weekend alone together.

 

This year, though, we are separated.  Family problems came to a head and we have been apart for almost 2 months.  I deeply love the good man who is my husband and I miss him terribly.  I hope we will be together again someday.  For now, this special weekend has been very difficult emotionally.

Glittery blue-and-silver toenails on Mary.

Thank goodness for my sweet children, who went the extra mile to cheer up their heartbroken mom.  On Saturday, my daughter Sarah took me to get a pedicure (my first ever) and to see a movie: Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.  The movie was pretty good and getting a pedicure with my daughter was fun.

Purple toenails for Sarah.

While waiting for our toenails to dry, the lady sitting in the chair next to Sarah commented to us, "You two must be related; you have the same toes."  Hmmm.  Our feet are so different, with mine being long and bony while Sarah's are short and chubby, that I never thought our toes might be the same!  I don't know, what do you think? 

Jacob grills my favorite meat, bone-in chicken breasts!

After church on Sunday, the day of my birthday, Jacob prepared my birthday dinner with the foods I requested (so I wouldn't have to cheat on my diet).

Grilled chicken breasts...

Fresh corn-on-the-cob from a neighbor's garden...

(Which I did not eat, by the way.  Too many carbs!)

Green salad with fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and bell peppers

from Ed's beautiful garden. 

(I so wish he were here to enjoy the fruits of his labors.)

 

Joining Jacob, Dylan, and I for dinner were Chris, Sarah, and our dear friend Gwen. 

My birthday dinner guests (left to right):

Chris, Sarah, Gwen, Dylan, and Jacob.

After dinner I opened the gifts.  The kids were very excited for me to open them, especially the large one that Jacob, Sarah, and Chris went in on together.

Gwen needlepointed the beautiful "Friends Forever" trinket.  I know just where it will hang in my office.  Jacob bought me the nativity to enjoy at Christmas.  Sarah gave me another lovely Willow Tree figurine for my Willow Tree collection.  This one features a girl releasing a white dove, and it's called "Soar."  I love it.

What was in the large package?  I was so delighted to find it was a weed-eater!  In Ed's absence, I had been lamenting the raggedy state of my front yard, so I felt it was an extremely thoughtful gift (even though I, personally, am unlikely to ever use it).  On Monday Jacob went out and made the front yard look presentable again.

Another thoughtful gift was this adorable hanging from my good friend Debbie, who took me to lunch at Persnikkity's on Friday.  I love the sentiment on the sign!

The 4 cards I received look nice on the entertainment center.

 

 

We ended the night with my all-time favorite dessert, a sugar-free cheesecake with sugar-free chocolate chips, homemade by my talented son Jacob.  It was delicious.  The secret?  A teaspoon of orange extract!

 

 

Not only did a nice wedge of this cheesecake not make me regain any weight, but I also lost another one-fifth of a pound the next morning!  My total loss today is 31.6 lbs, which is nice to report after a birthday weekend.

 

Mary with her birthday (cheese)cake.

 

Getting ready to blow out the candles.

 

Thank goodness for families who rally around during the tough times.  It was truly a bittersweet birthday, but the sweet parts made all the difference.

Snowboarder

24 Jan 2013: Dylan rides the lift to the top of No Name Hill.

Check out the gorgeous scenery and volcanic ridge in the distance!

Dylan has been looking forward to high school for one basic reason: he couldn't wait to join Ski Club!  Now that he's a freshman, he is a member of the club, but not for skiing.  Snowboarding is his love.

Dylan (age 15) starts off with a small spill.

His first Ski Club outing to nearby Sunrise Ski Resort (on the White Mountain Apache Reservation) was 9 days ago.  He has two more coming up, on February 7th and 14th.

No more spills!  Dylan glides gracefully down No Name.

He says it was snowing at the top (11,000 feet)

and raining at the bottom (9,200 feet).

I've never actually seen my son snowboarding.  I'm either too busy to go along or he's headed to locations that require heavy uphill hiking through deep snow, and I just don't have the energy or strength for that anymore.  However, the people who board with him tell me all the time what a natural he is at the sport.

My thanks to my friend Kim (who's also the wife of our high school principal), who took these pictures of Dylan and sent them to me.  Kim and Dylan have become good friends, and they spent much of the day on the slopes together, even though Kim is a die-hard skier (not snowboarder) who grew up in Colorado and Wyoming.  She tells me that Dylan is a much better snowboarder than even he realizes!

Flatlanders in the Snow

18 Jan 2013: My lovely niece Celesta and her boyfriend Riley came to visit!

I can't believe I never did a single blog post during the month of January!  I've been extremely frustrated with Blogspot for the past 2 months. They've suddenly become very user-unfriendly, making it impossible for me to upload pictures, even though they required me to start paying for the space to store those pictures.  So I am trying to use a different browser tonight.  It's allowing me to upload photos, but I do not like the format of this browser at all.  I'm feeling pretty resentful that I'm unable to choose my own browser so I can blog in comfort!  Why is it that every time someone tries to "fix" technology, they only manage to make it a bigger headache?

 

January 19: On their way to the cinder pits, they came across a herd of deer

including this beautiful doe.

Okay, enough of that!  I'm here to share our fun visit from my niece Celesta and her boyfriend Riley over the 3-day weekend in January.

 

Celesta takes aim!

Celesta and Riley came up on Friday evening and joined us for a dinner of grilled steaks and salad.  On Saturday morning, they headed out with Ed and Jacob to go shooting at the Porter Mountain cinder pits (an inactive volcano about 20 minutes from our house).  The cinder pits are a popular shooting range in our area.

 

Oh yeah, that's right, she bad!

Riley is very much into guns, just like Ed, and Celesta was game to experience her first shooting lesson.  Being a little intimidated by firearms myself, I waited at home, but I heard that Celesta was a straight-shooter!

 

Ed scopes out the range while Celesta tries out a rifle.

 

Jacob isn't about to be outdone by his cousin!

  

Jacob takes aim at the target.

 

Riley looks right at home with a rifle on his hip.

Riley tries out Ed's .50-caliber Barrett: it's got quite a kick!

Celesta and Riley: two "flatlanders" (folks from the Valley) enjoying the snow!

 

Some other shooters left this "Twilight" target behind for our group to shoot up.

I thought it was humorous.  Jacob and Edward got their heads blown off,

but Bella's is still intact!

Cousins Celesta and Jacob with their Grandma Butler's headstone.

(And Grandpa Butler's, too, but thankfully he is still with us!)

On Sunday, Celesta and Riley attended the singles ward at church with Jacob. After church, they stopped by Show Low Cemetery to visit the grave of their Grandma Butler (my mom).

 

 Jacob, Celesta, and the back side of the headstone,
listing all 6 of my parents' children.

 Celesta and Riley at the cemetery.

That evening, while waiting for Jacob's chicken enchiladas to bake, Celesta and Riley took a walk with Chris and Sarah down to the duck pond a few blocks from our home.  It was mostly frozen over after a week of below-zero temperatures.

Riley walks out on the ice to about the middle of the pond, 

scaring the ducks back to open water.

Chris risks walking to the center of the pond, too.  I'm not brave enough to do that!

Celesta follows suit, silly girl!

After they returned, we all enjoyed a warm enchilada dinner before Celesta and Riley packed up their stuff and headed back down the mountain before the roads could get too slick.

Riley and Celesta attempt to make snow angels, 

but the snow is frozen too hard to make a nice imprint!

We were so sad to see them go, but we sure enjoyed their company for the weekend!  Ya'll come back now, y'hear?