Finally!

Anyone who has had a single conversation with me in the past, oh, 6 months knows that I have been desperately searching for a job. I had nearly given up hope after not getting a really good one I interviewed for a few weeks ago. This job was one that just seemed to pop up, and I thought, "One more time. I'll just give it a shot." Things moved quickly after that, with a last minute interview last Tuesday, and then another on Thursday. After the one on Thursday, the clinical director told me she really wanted to give me the job, but she would call me for sure on Monday. After waiting an agonizing weekend, I just got off the phone with her, and I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!! I am so thrilled! I can't wait to start!

So, the all important details that everyone will be wondering about.....

It is a substance abuse agency for women and their children, called House of Hope. It's a very respected agency in SLC, and has been recognized by the governor. To start I will be working with the residential clients (just the women who live at the facility) and then some outpatient. Once I get the hang of things, I'll move to do some work with the children's center also. I love that I'll have so much variety. I will be part time, 32 hours a week, which is really great for transitioning our family to having two working parents. But, enough hours to feel like I really have a job and be able to justify childcare expenses. The hours are Monday through Thursday 8:30 to 5:00. I haven't had a "normal" workday in ages!!!!

I start next week!!!!!

Well, I will surely keep everyone updated, but right now I have to save Griffin from his torture chamber (sorry, his bedroom) and take him swimming.

HAPPY DAY!!!

Wedding PARTY!

This is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time! I wish I had been brave enough to do something like this at my wedding! It would have really made it the awesome "rock opera" that I had envisioned. I can only imagine what our crazy minister (or, Babs, as she's not-so-affectionately called) would have thought, she would have had a total fit! I don't know though, with that silver belt maybe she was showing a little bit of her inner "star" potential.

We belong, among the wildflowers...

So all week I've had every song about wildflowers I know running through my head simultaneously. It starts with "Wiiiiiiildflowers" (actually not a song about wildflowers, but Wildfire, the tragic horse and the name of my first car) then moves to Tom Petty "You belong, among the wildflowers, you belong somewhere you feel free" and then finishes with Ryan Adams "Wildflowers, dear". Yeah, I only know three songs about wildflowers. But that seems like a lot.

Why all these songs about wildflowers? Because, my beloved blog readers, we had a very special trip to the mountains this Saturday for the Wildflower Festival! My mom and Griffin and I went together, and had a lovely time. The flowers were beautiful, the mountain was the deepest, brightest shade of green, the weather was mild (sorta, it was a little on the hot side, but way better than down in the valley). Griffin loved listening to bluegrass music, and drawing on the pavement with sidewalk chalk while we waited for our guided hike. We took the children's hike, and our poor guide was trying so hard to teach 5 two year olds about the flowers. It was so funny, she's talking about the colors and the names of the flowers, and all the kids are chasing a butterfly together.

It was also a very interesting mix of people in the group. One of those "small world" experiences. First, our guide was a lady my mom and I have known from church for about 15 years. Then, one of the other families in the group has a little boy who is only a few days older than Griffin who lives in our neighborhood right next the park, so we've played with him before. Then, we were talking to another one of the mom's, and we discovered that they had just moved from Shawnee Mission/Overland Park area (that's right next to where we lived in Kansas, I worked in Overland Park). Small World!

It was truly a lovely time. We even got packets of seeds that I can't wait to plant in my garden this fall. Hopefully, by next spring we'll have our own "Wildflowers, dear" and I can sing those three songs all the time!

Lock up your daughters!

Because this handsome little devil will go after them! Griffin has been all about the ladies lately, starting on Monday when he was flirting with twin girls, Charlotte and Grace. We had lunch with them and their mom, my good friend Anna and our old roommate Angela. Griffin was moving back and forth between to the two of them in their carriers, tickling their toes and giving them kisses. Oh, I should mention the girls are 6 months old.

Then, today, Griffin was putting the moves on all the girls! We went to library time, where he sat practically in the lap of one little girl in a purple shirt, then proceeded to poke at her and try to show her his "boo-boos". After I pulled him away from her, (her mom didn't look too pleased, but she was dressed in an identical outfit as her daughter, so she probably doesn't have much of a sense of humor about these things) he moved on to another blond girl with a pony tail. She was slightly more receptive to his advances, but I interrupted him before he could make any more moves.

Later the same day, we went to the Chick-Fil A to play on their playground (it's getting too hot to be outside and they have a really cool play area!) and there was another little girl that he followed around. She was close to the same age, and they spent a lot of time "talking" in the little tree and climbing around the play area together. She left to go see her mom, and when she came back he opened the door for her and said, "Come on! Come play!"

I think I have a little ladies' man on my hands!

CAMPING!!

Sean suggested on Wednesday that we take advantage of a rare day off and go camping. I thought there was no reason not to, so we threw together a last minute adventure to the mountains. I'm so glad we did, because it was so fun and relaxing (well, as relaxing as camping with a two year old can be.)

We picked a spot only about an hour away from us, in case we needed to call it quits early. It was this beautiful little lake tucked high up in the mountains. It was pretty crowded, since it was a holiday weekend, but we were lucky enough to get a camping spot that was perfectly shady and had a little stream next to it. The crowds were not bad though, everything was so spread out that we didn't even notice too many people.

It was one of those glorious weekends where things just came together naturally and easily, which I love. Fishing with Griffin was fun, but insane, naturally. Imagine keeping him out of the tackle box, convincing him there only needed to be one piece of bait on the hook, that Daddy had a fishing pole and Griffin had his own (hookless) fishing pole and that there was no trading. Dodging the pole and lines that were being flung in every direction. Needless to say, we didn't catch any fish. Sean and Griffin also took our little blow-up raft out for a bit, imagine trying to explain to Griffin why he can't paddle the boat. "I do it" is his newest phrase.

I took Griff on a little hike, where we searched for baby bears, and found "bear" poop, which Griffin thought was hilarious. He RAN the whole quarter mile hike, uphill and down. Griffin also enjoyed taking his shoes off and dipping his feet in the stream, and digging his toes into the mud. Sean and Griff followed the hike up with a little afternoon nap, while I enjoyed the luxury of sitting in the sun reading. We had a gourmet dinner of chicken kabobs and corn on the cob cooked over the fire, followed by roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Griffin had no interest in eating either of these, the marshmallows were too sticky (I know, Griffin refused food!!?!) and he really just wanted to turn the hot dogs to charcoal. Keeping Griff contained in the campsite was a challenge, especially when he wanted to "help" Sean in building the fire, but once we turned the tent into a rocket ship we were golden.

Griff liked walking around the campground seeing all the other campers, and once it got dark we went on a little drive to help Griffin get sleepy. We saw a deer on our drive and a beautiful almost full moon. It took a little coaxing to get him to settle down and go to sleep, but he loved sleeping the tent. The next morning we had gourmet breakfast burritos, spent the morning chasing chipmunks, and headed home. It was a wonderful experience, and we will definitely be doing it again soon!

I put more pictures up on facebook, for those of you who have it :)