#FirstSevenJobs

These were my first seven jobs.

1. Babysitter.  This started for my mother and to be honest it sometimes paid and sometimes didn't.  My brother David ended up being the hardest kid I ever had to babysit.  You'd never guess now because he is super laid back but he was a tiny terror.  I best family I ever babysat for was the Carasco's.  They would give me a fifty dollar tip if I came short notice.  Their girls were great, they almost always ordered pizzas, and they had cable.  It was a win/win/win.  I liked them so much that I even one year cancelled new years plans to babysit their girls when I was home for Christmas vacation from college.  

2. Cold call insurance salesperson.  This job lasted me exactly one night.  My friend Melissa worked for a State Farm Agent.  He had a list of phone numbers that he wanted her to call at night when people were home from work.  He said bring a friend.  It was the pits.  No one wants to talk insurance when they first get home from work.  I did it the one night and backed out of doing it again.

3. Child Aide at the Foundation for Blind Children.  My friend Pamela worked for this woman who had a son with some physical and mental handicaps.  Occasionally I would go and help her out.  Every summer he would go to summer camp at the Foundation for Blind Children.  They hired her to be his aide for the summer and asked if she had any other friends who wanted to apply.  I had to drive downtown every weekday that summer and I missed our family vacation and girls camp, but it was totally worth it!  The kids were great and the people I worked with were awesome as well.  Plus I got to see my bestie all the time!  

4.  Library employee.  I worked in the request section of the BYU library.  Basically I just sat at a copy machine all day and copied articles that had been requested and then put them in envelopes and mailed them out.  Now that we have the internet I wonder if anyone even still does this job.  The worst part was trying to get some of those journals cracked open wide enough to get a legible copy.  I meet this guy there who a few weeks later showed up at my apartment with a bunch of his old roommates, "Oh we used to live here before our missions and just wanted to check the place out."  We hung out with those guys a few times including a pretty fun Halloween party at a Dojo they lived in.  Nothing ever came of it though and two years later when one of our other roommates little sisters happened to live in the exact same apartment those guys showed up again and pulled the same thing.  YIKERS!

5. Teaching Assistant.  I really hated my library job.  Don't get me wrong, I love libraries but I sat at a copy machine all day and had no one to talk to.  It was seriously depressing.  I was taking an anthropology class that I loved at the time.  It actually made me switch my major from Chemical Engineering to Anthropology.  Of course  biological anthropology class a year later lead me to my final degree in Zoology with  Human Biology emphasis but that is neither here nor there.  But I really loved this class.  It was like listening to a living, breathing National Geographic.  So one day I stayed after class and asked my teacher if he had anything I could do.  He was working on editing some film he'd taken on his last trip to Ghana.  Did I want to help.  Well of course I did.  It didn't hurt that this cute guy who sat a few seats away from me stayed after to ask if I was going to help and told me he was helping as well.  So I did that for a few weeks and flirted and went on a few dates with this guy Ryan...a relationship that petered out pretty fast when he found out I was 17.  He as 24 although still ended with one of he best lines I've to this day ever heard.  "Thanks for helping me getting over my ex.  Who knew dating a 17 year old could be so fun."  At this point I didn't really care because I was all lovely dovey over an 18 year old who lived across the street but while the guy didn't keep, the job did.  I worked for the anthropology department, although mostly this professor for the rest of my Freshman year of college.  I did transcription, film editing, ordered supplies, made copies, and while I wasn't always with other people at least I got to get out occasionally, plus the interviews and film were so fascinating and while I didn't keep this as a major I did finish out a minor in anthropology.

6. RA.  The summer after Freshman year my roommate and I without even talking to each other both applied to be RA's for the summer.  The nice part was we got free room and board and paid.  The lame part was every week we had to check in high school kids for summer camp and at the end of the week we had to collect and count all their linens before the cleaning crew could wash them.  On the weekends I lived in a resident hall all by myself.  It was to be honest kind of scary.  We also took turns working the front desk at Heritage Halls.  That part was great.  I know some people hate being a secretary but I think it is fun to talk to the random people who come in, plus it put us close to the mailbox.  That particular roommate and I happened to love the same boy who went on a mission that summer.  We used to get our mail together and compare our letters from him..."Why is yours longer," "Well why did you get two."  That was until our boss asked her out.  They were engaged before the summer was up and were married by that Christmas.  

7.  Video Librarian.  After summer was over I left BYU and went back to ASU.  My grandmother had been diagnosed with cancer that winter and it was extremely hard to be so far away.  So I transferred home for a year and half.  She ended up dying right before thanksgiving at the end of my time home and then I transferred back to BYU that Christmas.  I will always be grateful for that extra year and half I had to be close to her but I still needed to get a job.  I looked up a ton of jobs when I first got back and one that caught my eye was the Video Librarian.  ASU had a bunch of classes that they filmed for engineers who were already working in the field.  People who registered for the classes could then come and pick up the videos and watch them when they were no longer at work.  Here again is a job that I'm sure the internet has completely gotten rid of.  Someone had to work at the front desk and check the tapes out for them.  There were also a ton of TVS and VCRs in the library that students could use to watch the tapes there and we also were responsible for rewinding the tapes.  I got that job because my previous job in the library that I had hated.  You think I would have hated this one as well but I loved flirting with all our patroons.  They were all engineers and they loved the extra attention.  I also had three employees that I worked with and it was fun to have the company.  I was working there maybe a month when they offered me a supervisor position.  It was a great job and I loved it.  

Dr. J's Baby Bucketlist

So our baby is going to be delivered via c-section in just two weeks and a day from today and so Dr. J took a good ten days off so that we could do one big blow out before school starts and the kids go back to school.

We started with a camping trip with Great Grandpa Wid.  The day after J's last day of work we loaded the van up with all our camping gear.  Turns out it didn't fit very well so we had to pull one of the seats out.  I don't know what we would have done once the baby is born...I guess not gone.  We drove down to Utah and picked up J's new to us truck.  With all the "farm chores" we now have a truck just started to make more and more sense so his dad kept an eye out and when a good deal came in he called him up and let him know.  J went to the grocery store to stock up on food that night and then loaded all the camping gear into the back of the truck.  How/why have we gone so many years without out a truck.  It is seriously awesome, oh yes we were always broke.  But now that we aren't always on the edge of financial ruin it is quit nice to own one, although in two weeks we will have outgrown the truck as well.  It has only six seats.  Time to get a suburban?  That night my mother in law said to me, "So I was thinking we could keep Cheetah here with you and then we could maybe drive her out Friday to camp with her dad."  "What do you mean here with me?" I asked.  "Well surely you aren't going camping?"  I had a good look when I saw her face when I assured her that yes I was going camping, although truth be told in private I told J that if I had my baby up in the middle of the woods I was taking zero responsibility for it and I was going to kill him...like dead.  Luckily I did not have to make good on that threat.

The next morning we loaded the kids in the truck and drove up to meet Grandpa and my husband's Uncle Steve.  Then we followed them up into the Uintas.  A mountain range somewhere in North East Utah.  If any of you have ever been to Mirror Lake then we were close to that.  Wid had picked out a nice little primitive area for us to set up in.  He put up his potty rocket...a tall tent around a bucket with a toilet seat and TP.  We set up three tents and put up a big pavilion cover where our water, tables, chairs, and food sat except at night when we loaded all the food into the cars to try and reduce the chances of attracting unwanted guest.  After that J took the kids for a quick hike and Wid and I got started on dinner.  That night I read a little to the kids before turning off the flashlight and then we all lay down to sleep.  We'd left the cover off the top of our tent and the stars were AMAZING!  I mean seriously there were so many of them.  Unfortunately I spent a lot of time looking at those stars because sleeping was nearly impossible.  I'd fall asleep for half an hour then wake up, try and get comfy, stare at the stars some more, and finally maybe two hours later fall asleep for another half an hour.  At one point I finally said, "Screw it," and climbed into the truck next to all the food.  I sleep for maybe an hour in there but because there was no room on the seat to put my feet they got super swollen and I woke up again.  I swore at that moment I was heading home tomorrow.  Finally daylight came, the rest of the family woke up and we ate breakfast.  We then went to a little mountain lake to fish.  Between J, Wid, Steve, and I we managed to keep the kids in bait and the lines relatively untangled.

All went well until Wid fell at the lakes edge, bruising his side on a log and breaking a porcelain veneer.  He'd had a lead weight in his mouth when he went down and apparently bit down on it really hard when he hit the log.  Luckily besides a bruise, a little gap in his smile, and a little wounded pride he was ok.  He did spend the rest of the fishing trip sitting though to avoid having another mishap. This was one of the main reasons that J wanted to get this trip in.  His grandparents were phenomenal backpackers and campers and when he was about the age of Cheetah they started taking him along on their trips.  He hiked with boy scout troops, ward groups, family group, friend group, the powder puff and huff, which was a yearly trip backpacking trip that Wid took the teen age girls of the ward and their mothers on, and other ward powder puff and huffs because when other people heard what he was doing they wanted to do it in their wards as well and asked him to lead it.  J has been all over those mountains and also mountains in Southern Utah, desert, and slot canyons with his grandparents.  As they've aged though they've had to slow down.  The last five years have been particularly hard for them and J realized this was probably the last opportunity he would have to camp with his grandpa and so he took it. 

Wid's fall must have brought good lucky though because after that the kids were reeling in fish left and right.  We ended up with seven that made it to the shore and were grabbed by an adult before they slipped off the hook.  J taught the girls how to clean and gut the fish.  Our son had zero interest and found that whole part seriously distasteful.  Definitely not a surgeon in the making but on the other hand probably not a serial killer either so I will just take comfort in that.  The girls on the other hand, well it could seriously go either way.  Cheetah was scary with the bonking stick and even at one point tried to bonk her dad.  After clean up we took those fish back to camp and had a yummy dinner of rainbow trout, buttered rice, fruit, and potato chips.  Although I had sworn I wasn't going to stay another night by the time night came around I was ready to try it again.  This night was really no better but at least this time I tried to switch my position every 30 minutes or so so that no one part hurt more than any other part.  I also manged to only have to get up two times in the night to pee.  That seemed like a relief.  The next day we broke camp and did a short hike around mirror lake.  Then we headed back to Wid's house to unload his trailer and then to my mother in laws to shower.  After my shower I sat down on the couch and promptly feel asleep.  When I woke up my mother in law had started all my laundry and I realized there was no way we were driving home that night, so instead we went to a cool little water park they have in their town, at pizza, and then I had the first good night sleep I'd had in three days.  The next day we were able to head home with our van, our truck, and all clean clothes!  My mother in law is the best.

Sunday I had to give a talk at church.

Monday we got caught up on chores, I went to the doctors (you know that annoying, you have to go in every week time in your pregnancy, well we are there) and we went out to eat.  While I was at the doctors my sister had teased me I should mention our camping trip and our water park plans.  My OB's face went white when I told her about camping.  "Are you crazy," she said, "I'm so glad I didn't know about this before the fact, I would have been a wreak."  She then made me promise I would go on zero water slides, "Haha, I said, "You know they wouldn't let me."  "You are no longer trustworthy," she teased.

Tuesday we took the kids to Roaring Springs.  J took the three older kids on all the big water slides.  I spent my time with cheetah in the wave pool (which by the way pregnant ladies were not suppose to be in), the lazy river (which she loved), and the baby splash pool which had three slides which were just her size to ride down alone.  There was a purple and blue one she'd ride down on with a tube, a yellow one that was a big straight slide that non pregnant moms could go on with their kids, and a green curvy one that you rode with no tube.  She was hilarious and fearless and probably went down those slides 100 times.  We also meet up with J and the kids a few times to eat and then he took all the kids several times on a huge magic carpet ride slide.  She loved that as well and the other three kids had a blast on all the slides they went on.  Originally J and I thought we'd leave at around five but at eight when the park shut down we had to be pried out of there. 

Wednesday we drove to this tiny little state park that had a short hike to a water fall and pool.  The kids loved it and J swam them all out to touch the water fall a few times.  We then drove to Silver City.  I'm not going to lie that trip was terrible.  We'd been there zero times and the road going out there is 20 miles of dirt path/rode.  You aren't really sure you are going to a real place and at one point I finally just lost it.  I had to pee so bad and all the bumps were killing me.  J pulled over and I peed on the side of the road only to a mile later find a real toilet and the "town".  It apparently was a mining town that in the 1930's dried up.  Now there are just a few summer residents who give tours and sell rocks, and jewelry and stuff.  In the winter everyone leaves and one lone guy gets snowed up there until spring when they come dig him out.  The lady running the jewelry shop we were in told me he was a little crazy...can't imagine. 

Thursday we took the kids to the petting zoo to meet up some friends from Indiana who now live out here.  We then came home, had a relaxed lunch, watched a few episodes of Merlin and then worked in the garden and the orchard.  My kids picked three giant boxes of nectarines and J says we have probably twice as much of that still out there.  I don't know what else J wants to do before the baby comes but he is certainly keeping our last week of summer busy. 

My bucket list before the baby comes included putting up the bassinet.  Captain E and Peach did it for me.  Getting an infant car seat.  Target.com delivered it last week.  Washing some baby clothes.  Done.  And finally getting my eyebrows waxed because this lady has let them go so long they are beyond the help of plucking.  Hopefully I can make that happen before my next week ;)