A long over due update...

If you didn't get a Christmas card from us, it's most certainly NOT because we don't love you. It's because it was an easy thing to let slide during the busyness of Christmas. That, and I just couldn't bring myself to write a family newsletter this year. Things have been so unsettled and circumstances have been changing so rapidly that I didn't know what to say.

However, enough questions have been answered to give you at least a partial (and extremely long winded) update. So here goes.

On the school front...

I think it's worth noting here that RM has been at a terrible disadvantage while working on his Masters degree. He has been unfunded. Most of the other graduate students in the program have been working as Research Assistants on projects for which professors have secured research funds. They have been paid to go to school. RM has been working as a Teaching Assistant in order to get a tuition waiver and paying for the lion's share of the research materials himself. RM has really enjoyed teaching, in fact, it is a big part of the inspiration as to why he'd like to get a PhD: to teach at a university level. However, the responsibilities of teaching have also tended to slow him down along the way. But, you gotta do what you gotta do.

RM walked last May with the expectation that we would finish up his research over the summer and graduate at the end of summer semester. The date we were given as the "drop dead" date for having everything submitted was so close we reluctantly decided to save ourselves summer tuition and finish Fall semester instead. The research hours that were supposed to happen over the summer got sucked up by RM's contracting job, where he was training his replacement. Fall semester came and we set our next goal date of Halloween to have all the research finished and the thesis written. This would have allowed RM to be a Fall 2010 graduate.

A week into the semester, we found out that RM had reached the maximum number of semesters for which the department would waive tuition in exchange for being a TA as a Masters candidate. In order to receive more tuition waivers, RM would have to switch to the PhD track. He could still TA and be paid for his work, but it his tuition wouldn't be covered. Being a TA without the tuition benefit doesn't really pay enough to compensate for the time put in, so we decided to let it drop and make a mad dash to the finish line. We dropped to the bare minimum credits to finish and paid the tuition out of pocket.

RM went to work, putting in long hours and struggling to locate glitches on the robotic wheelchair that is his Masters project. However, life happened. Between writing grant proposals, job interviews, and the birth of a new baby, we missed the Halloween date. Like it or not, we would be Spring 2011 graduates. The next date to shoot for was January 7. It was the last day by which RM could defend his thesis and graduate without having to pay Spring tuition.

RM redoubled his efforts. He put in long day after long day after long day. There were a couple of weeks when he came home between 2am-4am every night. Still he struggled trying to fix physical problems with the chair and errors in the feedback, etc. He finally got a fully functional chair late in the second week of December; not much time to perform tests and get a fully written thesis into the hands of his committee so that I could be reviewed on January 7. But, we were going to try. The morning of December 20, RM got a phone call from his adviser, just before he left town for Christmas break. He had been thinking about RM's project and how much hard work he has put in. His adviser said that he would really hate to see all that hard work unappreciated because of a rushed thesis that didn't give it it's proper due. He advised RM to wait a little longer, put in a few more experiments and make sure he's got a great thesis that will truly reflect all the hard work (pretty much a PhD's worth) that he's put into the project. After a lengthy discussion, RM and I reluctantly (very reluctantly) decided to push the defense date into the next semester, pay one more semester's tuition, make sure the thesis is done well, and enjoy what was left of Christmas break (as we were now about a week into it). (I simply couldn't bear the thought that we'd get all the way to the end to have RM's work rejected because we rushed the thesis writing proper. I think I would have gone postal if that had happened.) Less than 12 hours after we called it, RM became extremely ill. We're not sure if it was because much of the stress had been released or if he would have gotten sick and been unable to continue anyway. In either case and despite his illness, we were able to spend some good time together around the holidays and RM was able to put several hours in at his contracting job to help out on the finances front.

On Christmas Eve, we received the proverbial lump of coal in our stocking. We found out that the grant proposal that was submitted in early September had been rejected. So, at this point, there is no funding for a PhD. And since we have pushed our family and finances to the limit to get to this point, we are, at least for now, done with school and looking for a job just as soon as the Masters degree is officially finished.

Today was the first day of Spring semester and RM was back working on the project. I believe the next target date is early March.

On the job front...

The weekend of Halloween we took a slingshot trip to Idaho for a job interview in Idaho Falls. RM's brother and his family live in McCammon, ID and they graciously put our family up for the night and watched our kids the next day while we continued on to Idaho Falls. In Idaho Falls our good friends, the Jewells, played host to me while RM interviewed. They fed us lunch and dinner and gave me a tour of the city. It was great to visit with them again. RM had a really good interview. I think we both left feeling maybe more interested than we wanted to be. We thought about the job a lot. We prayed a lot. We talked to the kids about the possibility of moving...and they cried. We thought about it more. A job offer finally came in on November 10, just as we were headed out of town for a three day family retreat. (It was supposed to be our victory celebration weekend, but we missed the Halloween deadline). We both wanted the offer to be so good we couldn't turn it down. I think we wanted it to be accompanied by a choir of angels so we would know undeniably that it was "the one". But, it didn't happen that way. It was a very good offer, with a start date in January, but not what we hoped it would be. In fact, the more we looked at things the more the offer just felt "almost perfect but not quite". We discussed, we thought, we prayed. We asked for an extension to consider the offer more. In the end, we decided to let the offer go. We tried and tried to make it work for us, but the timing and relocation, etc. were just wrong. It wasn't until after we made the official call to turn it down that the peace came. It was the right decision. The really good news there is that we are still on very good terms with the owner. RM spoke with the owner's son recently and he let us know that his dad meant it when he said to call him if our circumstances changed. Who knows, maybe this offer was just wrong because we weren't going to be done with the Masters degree in time. We'll have to see how things go.

While we were in Idaho, RM got a call from a company in Lehi. They did an impromptu telephone interview and set up an additional two-day interview (the "About Us" wine & dine dinner and on site tour/interviews the next day). RM was really interested in what the company did and the interviews went well, but we were not excited about the shifts they offered (3 twelve hour days on, 4 off, 4 on, 3 off and 4 months day shift, 4 months night shift). I'm pretty sure they sensed our hesitancy during the interviews because a position was not offered.

We also didn't make the cuts for a job in Clearfield. (Shoot! It would have been great to move near my BFF!) That one went to someone RM knows from school. We also missed out on a what seemed like a perfect job about 15 minutes from home. The phone interview went very well, but we did ask how long they thought the interview process for the position would take, as we had the offer from Idaho in hand. I think it's possible we were removed from consideration just to free us up for the other offer. Oh well. Live and learn. That one was really disappointing though.

What was perhaps the most frustrating situation, however, came from the position in Flagstaff/Phoenix. Just a little background information, so you can understand the rest a bit better. RM interviewed with multiple people from this company over the course of a few hours. One of the interviewers gave RM a scenario outlining what they needed done and asked him to design a machine/process for doing it on the fly. I don't know exactly how long it took RM to do it, but he did come up with a design in not a lot of time. The interviewer asked him if he could see any problems with his design. At the exact moment, he couldn't. But, by the end of the day he had not only found the flaw in the design, but designed a new machine that would eliminate the problems with the first design.

In late November, RM received a call from the engineer he had created the design for. They discussed the design RM had made, it's flaws and how RM had figured it out and fixed it. The interviewer had already known that RM would do just that. He said that RM was one of the most gifted design engineers he had ever met. The design RM had put together on the fly had taken his team six months to design, build and reject for its flaws. Ultimately they figured out a design very close to RMs solution, but again, it had taken them months in the process. He told RM that he had been all the interviewers' favorite candidate in terms of being personable (engineers are not known for being people people and those of you who know RM personally know that he is definitely a people person) and able to express himself.  In short, he was extremely impressed with RM, but he wasn't calling to offer him the job. He told RM that he was calling without the knowledge of the HR department to tell him the news personally because he just couldn't stand the thought of RM getting a generic "thank you, but no" email or letter. He explained that while RM was a brilliant design engineer, the position that they were hiring for was a process engineer and he truly felt in his heart that RM would be miserable as a process engineer. He said he just couldn't stand the thought of RM being miserable in a job. He had scoured the whole of the company looking for an open design position to no avail. He kept a copy of RM's resume for himself and forwarded the original back to HR with a note saying that if they have any design positions open up, they should put RM first on the contact list. Now, neither one of us were super hot on the idea of moving to Arizona. But, it's very flattering and disheartening to be told that you are our "favorite candidate" and "we're not hiring you" all in the same conversation. It really, really smarts. Oh yeah, I should probably mention that RM got this phone call just a few minutes before we called Idaho to let them know we weren't coming. :P

So, basically, all the resumes that went out in our initial round of applications have reached dead ends, except one.


On January 20, RM flies to Saginaw, MI to interview with a company there. They'll do interviews, etc. on January 21 and fly him back home that afternoon. RM was recommended to this company by one of his professors. This professor's graduate adviser is now working for the company in Michigan and asked the professor for the names of students with a specific set of skills. RM was one of two candidates recommended. Neither of us is sure how we feel about relocating somewhere so far away from our family. But, I guess if it's the right thing, it's the right thing. We just have to trust that the Lord will let us know and show us the way.

So, if you've actually managed to read through this monster entry that has taken me days to compose, give me a little shout out so I know it was worth my time. ;)

Good things:
-Finishing an epic blog post.
-People who care enough about us to ask for epic updates.
-Knowing that the Lord is watching out for us.

Finally, a Favorite Photo Friday

I'm way overdue to post one of these. We were cleaning our room yesterday and I found this one. LOVE IT! It's from our trip to Lagoon this past August.

I know many of you are eager for an update and our school/work situation. I have been working on an epic update post for the last couple of days. I'll post it as soon as I get it finished.

Good things:
-Cramming six bodies (one of which is extremely pregnant) into a photo booth.
-A working printer/scanner!! (I've got to post that story here.)
-Christmas pants that are becoming too loose.

Introducing The Baby Boy

As many of you know, we have a new addition to our family. He arrived on September 10, 2010 at 6:44 am. He was 7lbs and 20" long. Here are the pictures that were taken just before we left the hospital. Enjoy. :)

Favorite Photo Friday -- Special Edition

Ok, ok...I know. It's been over a week since I posted anything new on my blog. Plus, I forgot to post a picture for last Friday's Favorite Photo Friday. If I post a special favorite photo today, will you forgive me??



















So, am I forgiven for my scatter-brainedness now?


Edit to add details :D :

Thanks! :D

I saw my doctor on Thursday and we got this little sneak peek. I'm ten weeks today (Saturday) and due Sept. 18.

We're about 95% sure this is our caboose...and if it's a girl about 99% sure. PrincessBug has been asking for a sister for years (and we've kind of had a feeling that there is supposed to be another girl coming). We've joked for a long time that we'd give her one more chance to come and if she didn't then she'd have to figure out how to get here on her own because we'd be done. :) So, think pink!! (Though healty is our #1 wish. We'll happily take another blue, though I'd wonder where the pink vibes we've felt have been coming from.)

I've been feeling pretty well. I can tell you though that having a baby at 35 is a lot different than having a baby at 32. I've been really, really tired. I never get really throw up sick, but I have had a perpetual stomach ache between the nausea of needing to eat and the indigestion and heartburn of having eaten. I'm kinda looking forward to that part ending. :) So, other than that and the occasional muscle cramp or round ligament twang, we're doing well. (And, developing a baby bump remarkably fast with this one.)

It's Very, Very Strange...

to wake up to the morning news on your radio and to realize that the "stupid criminal" story they are reporting is about your car...(Later a cousin sent me this link.)

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

(I'm going to copy the article text to the bottom of this post because I figure some day the video clip won't work anymore.)

RM's car was stolen out of our driveway about 11:25pm on Monday. He was working in the garage and heard it being driven away. He called me to make sure I wasn't in the car (I was in our room working on the computer) and then called 911. The Sheriff's deputy told us that Honda Civics usually disappear into a chop shop within hours, but that since we reported it so quickly, we might get lucky. We made a few phone calls and said a few prayers.

About 1:30am we got a call that the police had our car. After RM got there, he found out that the three guys who stole our car had been caught. They guy who tried running got tackled face down in the snow! We got most everything back (except a clip board full of yet to be turned in homework, ug!) and a few odds and ends. They caught them so fast they didn't have time to do much or take it to the chop shop. The steering column is broken up and the little triangle window in the backseat is busted, but all in all not too bad. The scary thing though is that one of them had part of our garage door opener on him when he was caught. Don't know where the rest is, so our garage door is unplugged until we can replace it with a new code.

Really, this has turned out to be a lot less awful than it could have been. We have been very blessed! We know that the guy who took the car thought he had hours before the car was reported missing. After all, the house was all dark. If RM hadn't been in the garage building stuff for homework, we probably wouldn't have known until morning. Earlier that night RM brought more things into the house from his car than he normally does...including the binder that has all his Master's research notes in it and some expensive parts for this robot. It is being inconvenient, but not too much worse. We're just thrilled the guys that took it are in jail.

"December 8th, 2009 @ 7:31am

WEST VALLEY CITY -- Overnight snowfall helped police track down a man driving a stolen car.

A West Valley City police officer noticed a stolen car on 4000 West near 4100 South around 1 a.m. When he tried to pull over the car, the driver took off.

Officers called in police dogs and followed fresh footprints in the snow to find the suspect around the corner.

Sgt. M.T. Johnson with the West Valley City Police Department said, "I think it's pretty cut and dried. Stolen car and the bad guy got caught."

Eddie Garza was booked into jail for driving a stolen car, fleeing and possession of a burglary instrument."

Pumpkin Patch

I'm just now getting around to uploading my October pictures from the camera to my computer. I haven't had a chance to properly sort through them all, but I thought I'd share a few really quickly.

We went to the pumpkin patch the Thursday before Halloween. It's honestly the first time I'd had an opportunity to even think about going. We had fun, even though it was quite cold and we were in a rush to make another appointment. I got some really cute individual pictures, but the attempts at a group shot were comical to say the least. :D


A little too much personality.


Is anyone looking at the camera?


Maybe portrait instead of landscape will help. No? OK. We're done.

Ups and Downs

Finally! I'm just gonna ignore the housework for a bit and get this camping trip blogged! :) Warning, this will be long!

It was definitely different than any other camping trip I've been on yet. Lots of struggles and cool stuff all rolled into one.

Our original plans were to spend the entire week of July 20th camping with RM's brothers' family. But, because we had all spent so much time sick earlier this summer, RM really couldn't take the extra time off work. So, we decided to go just Wednesday through Saturday. We made arrangements with RM's parents to borrow their camper trailer and truck for the trip. When RM drove the truck, he noticed that the steering was really loose. Feeling concerned, he spent Tuesday repairing the truck and we weren't able to pack the camper like we had hoped. We decided to get up extra early Wednesday to finish packing and get on the road.

Well, as we began to pack Wednesday morning, a pulley broke on the camper. The top would go neither up nor down. RM and his father went looking for a replacement pulley, while I did my best to pack the camper and bed of the truck. We weren't able to leave until just after lunch. I took the delay philosophically: there was simply some reason we weren't supposed to be on certain sections of road at certain times. We wound up eating dinner on the road (note that this is now two meals worth of food I have packed in our coolers that we haven't eaten while camping) and arriving just before dark. We set up camp super quickly and jumped right back into the truck to go into Escalante on an errand for RM's dad. It was past bedtime when we got back. Day one of our camping trip over, and we haven't been anywhere near the lake.

Thursday morning we noticed the truck had a flat tire! We ate a pancake breakfast (RM's brother's family had so much batter ready we didn't make our mix at all. Three meals to take back home now. :p ) and RM and the kids headed down to the lake. I stayed behind with 'Lashes to finish setting up camp. Of course they went with little or no sunblock and got nice and toasty. PrincessBug caught her first fish on this camping trip last year, so she was stoked and ready to get some more. SunshineBoy didn't catch any fish last year and has been of the opinion that fishing isn't really that fun. Well, that changed when he caught his first two fish this year. Now he gets it and is eager to go fishing again.

SunshineBoy and Bob holding his and PrincessBug's fish.

I finally made it down to the water in the afternoon and we took a family paddle around the lake.



Unfortunately, 'Lashes isn't very fond of his life jacket, so our excursion was rather short.

'Lashes holding some water plants off of PrincessBug's fishing pole. He doesn't like his life preserver. I wonder why?

Toward evening, RM and his brother put the spare tire on the truck. Shortly after that the camp host came around. He had a tire repair kit and we were able to repair the original tire. Yay! Then we followed RM's brother and their family to a secluded spot a bit up the road to go target shooting. It was a first for my kids.



Uncle C. and RM help the kids target shoot.

RM & 'Lashes with their earplugs.

The gun totin' mama.

After target shooting we headed back to camp for a dinner of freshly caught fish and taco soup. We told SunshineBoy that if he wanted to fish the next day he had to at least try one bite of fish. We're trying to teach the kids that the fish they catch need to be eaten (by someone) or it's wrong to take them from the lake. I even ate some fish to be a good example. But, it was no use. SunshineBoy wouldn't budge, he wouldn't eat even one bite. Mommy & Daddy got tough and SB didn't go fishing on Friday, just boating.

Friday morning RM wanted to go to Devil's Garden. However, when we tried to go, things got weird. The kids didn't want to go, they wanted to go to the lake. I felt grumpy about going. Breakfast took extra long and it was getting hot. Finally we abandoned the idea.

On our way down to the boat for another outing, I got a few pictures of some pretty wild flowers.





While I was taking pictures, I noticed the charm on my necklace was oddly tangled in the clasp and I made a mental note to have Quinton help me sort it out as soon as we got a chance. He was already on the boat when I got there, so I decided to wait a bit. When I got back to the camper, the charm was gone. I was devastated. I hunted up and down the trails, in the boat, near all the clumps of flowers I had stopped by, but with no luck.

Anyone familiar with my charm will know it was literally like looking for a needle in a haystack. You can see it around my neck, tangled in it's clasp, in the picture from target shooting. RM made the charm for me in a jewelry class he took before his mission, so I've had it for sixteen years or so. It's always been one of my very favorite pieces. It's unique and has always captured peoples' attention. Everyone always wanted to know what it was. It was described as a flute, a sword/knife, a stalactite, a needle, you name it. In reality it was just a cool shape made from a broom casting. I've been meaning to take a close up picture of it for months and just hadn't gotten around to it. For the rest of the trip I kept my eyes out, hoping beyond hope that it would show up, but it never did. Even now I'll reach for it, and it hurts every time I realize it's not there. Here's another picture. (Sorry for the poor quality, it's a tight crop from a much larger picture taken earlier this summer).

After lunch that day, RM took the big kids on a hike up to the Posey Lake overlook, while I got 'Lashes to take a nap. The quiet time in the trailer was really nice. My favorite part? The humming birds that would come buzzing around our camp. They have the most amazing high pitched thrum and they are so pretty. I wasn't able to get any pictures, but I found this picture by Greg Joder on the internet that should give you an idea of how beautiful they are.

The whole crew at the Posey Lake Overlook

After the hike, RM suggested going to Devil's Garden again. This time it just felt right. Everyone was happy and excited to go. So, we piled in the truck and headed out on the 40 minute drive to Devil's Garden. Devil's Garden is a really cool set of rock formations, called hoodoos. The worst of the heat was gone by the time we got there and we got there early enough to hike deeper into the formations than we've ever gone before. The kids thought the formations were cool, the multiple varieties of lizards interesting and the fine, soft sand a blast to play in.








On our way back to camp at dusk we came across a dog on the road. It would follow the truck, but run away each time we stopped, only to follow next to the truck again or run ahead of us. It took us three tries, but eventually RM was able to convince the dog to come near enough to us to let us pet it and get a look at the tags. Her name was Bernice and she lived in Kaysville! We picked her up and put her in the back of the truck, gave her some water and took her into town. We tried all the telephone numbers on her tags, but with no luck. No one in Escalante could give us any advice or had seen her owners, so we finally took her back to camp with us, after grabbing a pizza in town because it was going to be too late to eat dinner at camp. (Are you counting how many meals we've missed now?) Bernice was so sweet and well behaved. She spent the night bedded down in the back of the truck.



Saturday morning we packed up camp and got ready to leave. We took Bernice back into town asking around for her owners and leaving many more phone messages with the local sheriff, the BLM and US Forest Service, notes at gas stations, etc. with no luck.


We couldn't find anyone willing to care for Bernice until her owners found her. Not knowing what else to do, we decided to take Bernice back home with us. We figured that if we had to, we'd drive her to the address on her tag.

At the last minute I felt inspired to leave a note at the trail head near where we found Bernice.

Then, we headed for home over the dirt road between Escalante and Loa. About 8 miles out of Loa it began to rain. About 5 miles out of Loa is began to pour. All I could think about was poor Bernice in the bed of the truck getting drowned. We stopped the truck and RM and I got out to cover the bed of the truck with a tarp. We were soaked to the skin in seconds! But, we did manage to get Bernice and the gear covered up well enough to get us to a drier, less windy place where we could redo it better. We pulled into Scipio about 6pm to get gas and eat dinner (a meal we were supposed to eat at home :p). While I was waiting in line to order, my cell phone rang. It was Bernice's owners!! The lady on the phone was so emotional she couldn't speak and she had to hand the phone to her husband. They were still in Escalante and wouldn't be able to make it to us until very late, so we made arrangements for them to pick Bernice up at our house on their way home on Sunday. So, Bernice the dog had a sleep over at our house.

Sunday afternoon Bernice's owners came to pick her up. They have owned her for 11 years and she is a true member of their family. The thought of her lost in the desert made them sick. She had gotten spooked by some gunfire and run away from her owners Friday afternoon. They spent Friday night and all day Saturday looking for her. They finally found our note at the trail head. It had been rained on and sun faded. It was barely legible, but they had been able to make out my cell number by holding it up to the light. It was a wonderful blessing to find Bernice's owners and to get her back to her family. It was definitely a high note on which to end a camping trip that had had several ups and downs.

All Our Bags Are Packed

We're almost ready to go, but we won't be taking an airplane. Just a borrowed truck and camping trailer. We're off to Posey Lake to go camping/fishing with family. I'll have pictures and stories when we get back. Catch ya' later!