Oscar's New Career

So most of you know by now that Oscar has changed careers. His passion in life over the last few years has been financing, investing, real estate, and anything that goes along with it. So instead of having a side thing, he made it a full time passion. He said goodbye to his partners Warren Stewart and Lad Cluff (two great guys) at Elk Mountain Engineering, and joined Legacy Lending located in Meridian with two friends he has made over the past couple of years, Jason Oswald and Dave Perry (also two great guys). He is now a Loan Officer. He has been there one month and is throughly enjoying it, and gets more confident every day. It makes me happy to see him enjoy his new career. I also don't mind seeing him in his new attire everyday, he looks pretty sharp!!

We were fortunate to have my sister visiting when we needed to get Oscar some new clothes. Here is what we found for a steal of a deal, I thought, at Ross. I love my sister's ability to find great things on sale, unfortunately I have not been blessed with the same gift. Thanks sis!!!

Ever Have One Of These Days/Weeks

Oscar says it builds character, but I wouldn't recommend it, and plus it didn't happen to him.

It all started Tuesday morning at 6:20 a.m. I was getting home from working out and my garage door wasn't working right. I pressed the button it would only go up about a foot and then stop. I tried this several times while freezing, but it still didn't work. I stood there debating if I could crawl underneath it, but I was afraid it might try to squish me so I just shut it again. The reason this was such a dilema was I didn't have any house keys. I took Oscar's car keys and no house key was on it. I felt like a criminal trying to open the gate to the fence from the wrong side and sneaking around the back. I only hoped Oscar would hear me knocking on the bathroom window. Thank goodness he did! I got into my warm house and thought my wo's were over. Little did I know.

Here is how the rest of the day went.
I forget to tell Oscar to look at the garage door before he left for work. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but he now works in Meridian (not a quick jog home anymore). My vehicle is in the garage with all the carseats. I need to take the boys to school and I am running late already. So I try to manually disingage the door and pull it up, that doesn't work, and after saying some things I shouldn't I started ripping out carseats to put into my father-in-law's truck. I still need to get Parker ready for Preschool and pick up Molly and McKenna Dribnak (since Jessica's back was still hurting, I'm glad you're better now). Needless to say I was crying by now and very very frustrated. The boys were tardy and Parker barely was ready to go when April showed up for him and McKenna.

The morning started to get better and Oscar promised to come home before 1:00 to fix the door so I could drive my own vehicle. But then....I had Molly all ready to go fed, changed, happy, and Mason decided to give her an open gogurt which she thought was great. She had it all over the front of her cute little outfit. I screamed at Mason (that was a glorifying moment as a mother) and cleaned her up, but she didn't have any extra outfits. I wasn't about to put her in boy clothes either. I decided she would be okay in her onzie at Sara's. Oscar gets home and says I have good news and bad news. GREAT! He opened the door, which was extremely difficult, but one spring was broken. $$$$$$$

I get Molly and McKenna to Sara's, come home and put Mason down for his nap, and remember I have scouts to prepare for in just a couple of hours!!!! My house is a disaster so everything goes to my room and shut the door. The spare bathroom really really needed cleaned. I went to get the supplies out of the laundry room and my last disposable toliet cleaner falls down the air vent. GREAT!

I manage not to hurt anyone at scouts, or burn them with the glue gun. But Oscar and Zachary left for soccer practice with only a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I sat down to watch some TV, thought that might be relaxing. NOT. My digital cable wasn't working and by this time all I could think was everything I touched was breaking! I went upstairs to watch on the little TV and sat on the floor, very comfortable. When I went for a potty break, the handle broke on the toilet. GREAT! This was definetly NOT my day. When Oscar got home from soccer, he just started laughing, and of course I started bawling. I couldn't take it anymore so I just went to bed, hoping the next day would be better. WRONG

I had Oscar pull the garage door up and back out my vehicle, but he forgot to leave my keys! So I am switching carseats again, crying, and running late. Yes the boys are tardy again!! And I somehow had to pull myself together because I had to go visiting teaching that morning. Thankfully Oscar brought my keys back. And visiting teaching did help me although I was a little emotional.

The rest of the week has been a blur. We got the garage door fixed $240, and a potential client for Oscar on refinancing, so I guess that could be a good thing. I still just see $$$ going out and none coming in.

So long story to say why Vicki has been grouchy, emotional, and very stressed the last week!! I don't think it helped that Oscar dropped a bomb on me 2 weeks ago that he was changing careers from Drafting/Engineering for the last 14 years to a loan officer, and not just gradually. He told me Thursday night and quit the next day, so I've been a little stressed, scared of the unknown, and emotional. I pray it will get better.

Happy Birthday Oscar

Monday, April 7, 2008, 4:23 a.m. Mom and Dad woke up Oscar on his 'actual' birthday this morning to sing 'Happy Birthday'. We were really quiet so we didn't wake up the rest of the boys, and I couldn't stop smiling. We even took a couple of memorable pictures.

This is before we sang

During the singing

Right after the singing.

Happy Birthday Oscar, we love you very much. I still can't believe you are 11, you are growing up way to fast!!! I think you should still be 9, what do you think? Okay Okay I know you're 11, but if it count's I can still remember you as a little baby - so cute!

Oscar's 11th Birthday Party

We celebrated Oscar's birthday with his friends on Friday. His actual birthday is Monday the 7th. He wanted to do a runescape birthday, which is a computer game which I know nothing about. He had a great time. It was very loud and I am glad it was nice enough weather for playing outside.




This is a Cook's Quest or Cook's Assisant (lingo off the game). We made a scavenger hunt to collect ingredients. Once all the ingredients were collected they were led back to the house in the oven to discover what they had made - PIZZA!!!

This is the other game they played Castle Quest (more lingo), basically Capture the Flag. I didn't realise this game could be so long! They played for more than an hour and I'm not sure if they really did finish, but they had fun anyway.

Oscar receives his Arrow Of Light Award

Oscar received the highest award available in the Cub Scout Program this evening, the "Arrow of Light". It is the only badge they can wear on their Boy Scout Uniform. We are very proud of him.

These are the pictures from the ceremony at Pack Meeting. Congratulations Oscar!!

Target Practice

Since Oscar received his hunting license he was really excited to get out and do some shooting. Daddy took him out to the desert to shoot at some targets. They also brought along Neil Adams.




While they were out there the battery on the camera died, so he couldn't get to many pictures. He almost got an action shot when Oscar fired his shotgun he got for Christmas for the first time. Daddy forgot to tell him that the shotgun has a kick to it when firing, so Oscar didn't have his feet in the right position. When he fired he about fell backwards, but caught himself before he hit the ground. See it you can see the slight foot movement in these pictures.

Daddy was laughing so hard when they came home to tell me about it. Sounds like they all had a great time.

Easter Sunday

Oscar and Zachary were so excited for Easter Sunday that they were up at 7:00. A rule in our house is that everyone has to be awake first before they can dive into their stuff. So they both came to our room at 7 and I sent them back to their's until 7:30. They were back again this time with their blankets over their heads so they couldn't 'see' anything. :)

They played in our room for over an hour!! Mason woke up at 8:30 and Parker didn't wake up until close to 9. When I took him to our room Oscar and Zachary said 'Finally'!! Parker didn't like that too much and punched Oscar. Wow what a way to start Easter morning. Luckily Oscar just laughed it off, and Parker got distracted with the eggs.

They had a great time searching for the eggs, and kept begging all day to watch the 'Bee Movie'.

We had a nice easter dinner after church and we sat down and watched our movie. It was a cute show. We had a nice Easter together.

Easter With the Ward

We spent a great morning having a yummy breakfast, 'breakfast burritos' our favorite, with the ward. We sat with Neil and Sara Adams and their two beautiful girls Bethany and Julia. After breakfast the kids got to go on a 'hunt' for some candy filled eggs.

The Junior primary got to go first, so off Mason and Parker went.

Then the Senior primary went.

I think the youth did a great job hiding the eggs for the kids. For their thank you they got to collect what was left. I think some of them made out really well.

It's Official

We now have two licensed hunters in our family!!

Oscar completed his Hunter Safety course on Saturday, and he now has his official license. Mom is still having mixed emotions about this. I know he is growing up, but he still seems to be too small to be carrying a gun around hunting. I have already had the talk about how it is legal to shoot big game down in New Mexico at age 10. Well sorry charlie THAT is not going to happen!! Someone needs to get a little bit more experience first (I saw the target).

Oscar's last requirement was to attend a Fish and Game Field Day where he learned about gun safety, was required to shoot a gun, and complete an obstacle course with a fake gun in hand. Dad and Oscar had a good long day from 7:30 to 5:30.

I've Been Tagged (almost a month ago - oops)

So Sara tagged me about a month ago, and I have been so busy I haven't been blogging. So here is my attempt.

10 Years Ago:
1998. I’d been married for 3 1/2 years. I was a new mother and my baby was just getting ready to celebrate his first birthday, start walking, and celebrate Easter. I remember going to Boise State to watch my brother who was in High School participate in the State Track Meet. Oscar was just starting to walk and I was letting him walk to his uncle. He was on concrete and wouldn’t you know he went down face first and skinned his nose. So on the pictures for Birthday and Easter he has a skinned nose.

On My To Do List:
Update my blog, clean/organize office, de-clutter the house, have a yard sale, plant a garden, get caught up on food storage, read book, and catch up on my DVR movies. Whewww!!

5 Places that I’ve lived:
All have been in Idaho:
1. At home with my parents
2. A single wide trailer behind the Shell gas station on Garrity (when it wasn’t run down).
3. My house I’m in now for 8 years.

5 Jobs I’ve had:
Arctic Circle
Administrative Assistant at CH2M Hill – Engineering Department
Administrative Assistant at CSHQA – Architect Firm

What I would do if I became a billionaire:
???? I’m a fuddy duddy on this one. I would put money away for all of my kids missions, college funds, pay off all our debt, and probably take some great vacations. I would love to go over to “The Holy Land”, and walk where Jesus walked, and I would love to visit all the church history sites here in America. After that I don’t know, it’s too much of a reach for me.

Bad Habits:
Chewing fingernails
Reading my books when I should be taking care of my family
Not folding the socks, underware, and towels, I just leave them in the laundry basket (we have to search through the basket to find what is needed)

Things I enjoy:
Books, books, books
Date Night
Vacations both with family and just me and Oscar
Watching my family be happy and laughing
Summer mornings (best time of day for me)

Things people don’t know about me:
Some may know this about me, I was on the drill team/dance team all through Junior High and High School. But one thing I dared to try was cheerleading. I tried out one year because my sister wanted me to do it with her, yah I shouldn’t have bothered. Needless to say I stuck with dance and my sister did the cheerleading.

I tag April, Brandie, and Esther!

Wet Met the Author of Fablehaven!!!!

Brandon Mull is a first time author with his new Fantasy/Magical series Fablehaven. We even found out he is a New York Times Bestselling Author!!!

Oscar, Zachary and I have really loved these books, his third book in the series comes out April 21st!!!

Candy Shop Wars is his newest book, but not in the Fablehaven series.

He was in Pocatello on February 28th, Thursday. I was so excited when I found out, I new I was going to be there. I had my mom start making a few phone calls to find out where he would be and what time. He was going to be doing some school presentations during the day and a book signing later that evening at Desert Book.

I had Mrs. Morgan, Parkridge School Librian, looking into having Brandon come to Parkridge. There is a link on his website to request he come to your school. I thought that if it didn't work out here in Nampa, I at least wanted my boys to see his presentation. So bright and early on Thursday morning, 8:00am, I loaded up my boys and we headed to good ol Poky. He was going to be at Tendoy Elementary at 1:00pm and my mom had got permission from a friend there for us to come and see. We got there early enough that we were able to meet Brandon before all the students came in. He signed our two Fablehaven books, talked to the boys for a bit, and took some pictures with us!!! (Parker didn't want to take a picture with him, so he stood with Grandma Bullock)

Here are our autographed treasures!!

The presentation was great, he used a Power Point slide show which was brillant for kids! Brandon had all the kids attention the whole time. At first he told a little bit about himself, and talked about the questions he gets asked most. He really focused on how reading and creating can increase your imagination. He showed pictures of the people who inspired him as a writer like C.S. Lewis, J.R. Tolken, and J.K. Rowling. He even had some kids role play to come up with a story line to show how your imagination works.

Here is a picture of him doing this. I think somewhere in the story there was a big purple dinosaur named Barney, who was scary and stinky?!!

We left the presentation with smiles on our faces! Later that evening Oscar, Mason and I went down to Desert Book to the book signing. Zachary was not feeling well and Parker could care less (because it wasn't ninja turles). We bought a copy of The Candy Shop Wars to have him sign.

Here is Oscar waiting his turn.

Here is Brandon signing the book and some posters for Oscar and Zachary.

Here are some more of our autographed treasures.

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Brandon was also giving out stickers and bookmarks. The Candy Shop ones are scratch-n-stiff.

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Zachary put his stickers to good use already.

This was such a great experience I will never forget. I hope my boys will always remember too. I learned from the Manager at Desert Book that he tries to get these popular authors to come to Pocatello. I heard him mention Obert Skye, the author of the Leven Thumps books, I'll be watching for that too. Here is a link to the Fablehaven website. http://www.fablehaven.com/