Out of the frying pan and into the fire

Chapter 2 -- 12/16/09


If anything, you have to admit that we have had a really interesting life so far. This year is probably better termed as “stressful” than interesting though. You remember that day in July…we got that unusual email from the VP of HR at Covidien telling us to be available for a call that morning. Not good. It was exactly as I had feared; we were going to be laid off. It turned out that my entire division was getting dissolved.

I wrote this next part while on the plane ride back from Atlanta after interviewing with Kimberly Clark.

It is December 16th and today marks the end of a long – LONG run of interviewing. Here’s the quick recap of a really packed 5 months. This is going to seem like a make believe story and quite crazy. The writing style should, however match how wild this ride has been.

It started out with a hundred phone calls with companies and recruiters. The US Surgical Manager opportunity was one of the first. (Interviewing against my boss, Keith Williams—bad luck) Intuitive interviews in Portland, Washington, Tampa, 10 phone interviews, and then we cancelled the final interviews at corporate because there were 3 other interviews that landed on the SAME DAY! That was a mess. Montana or Oregon just weren’t in the cards for us I guess, much to your Dad and Rita’s dismay. That brought us back to interview one more time with US Surgical, the Monitoring and OR position at Covidien and the Energy Device Region manager spot in Colorado. I cancelled an interview with Navilyst in Colorado to work out these other spots. (And for our sanity) Then we had a phone interview with Interventional Oncology – Covidien. How can I forget the first trip out to Utah in August to interview with Salient Surgical and back to St Louis for another round. My second trip to Utah was for a job with the surgical implant division of Coloplast. When I think of that one I have to wonder, what was I thinking? (Given that selling penile implants just seems a bit odd.) You were encouraging though, despite the job. A phone interview with Smith and Nephew – still to this day the strangest interview I have ever had. Felt like I was getting interviewed by a teenage girl to work at the Gap.

Oh, there’s more: a second interview back in Utah with Gyrus. I went to Little Rock Arkansas to interview with Advanced tissue. Can you believe I went to Little Rock? Then I got started with Boston Scientific – great job, no real promise of an actual position though. So I interviewed there twice and did a field ride. As far as I know, they still think I am in the hunt for that job still. Keith offered us a job in Arizona or Nevada with Coloplast as a rep. That just didn’t feel right so we pushed on, but with a good feeling in the back of our mind that if it all went south we would have a job somewhere. Vince asked us to come back East to Ohio or Kentucky and work for him. That started a whole process of interviews at Kimberly-Clark. Then Coloplast came calling for us to enter the running for a region manager job in Atlanta! Are you kidding me? Why again were we considering a move to Atlanta? Oh ya, we like the idea of being closer to the beach. At the same time, we were really getting excited about the possible adventure of living in Kentucky or Ohio. You know, green acres, rolling hills, the picked white fence and the lab sitting on the front porch. I know that even as you read this you are thinking, “That sounds so great!” Well, we have to decide in the next 48 hours if we are going to make that move.

So I went to Minnesota last week and finished off in Ft Lauderdale in a beach resort hotel interviewing with Keith Johnson at Coloplast. We got a really good offer here! (Really far from home!) Then at the same time, US Surgical calls to offer the Salt Lake North job. After sensing my frustration with their first offer they came back this morning with a better offer. A way back to Utah! (I think) In the midst of all this I did another interview with Ohio Medical for their sales director position. We have created so many spreadsheets to help us make these decisions. Making the decision should be a breeze after all of that, right? I don’t even think I got it all yet….nope. I went swinging to create a position at my old division. I even made a business plan for them. Speaking of business plans, I have one written for our recruiting business now in case we ever go down that road.

At this point I just want for us to pray about these opportunities and make a decision we feel best about. We’ll pray that the Lord will help us along this path. By the time you read this we will have already made that decision. I hope it was a good one and that we feel good about it. Not repeating the back half of this year just seems like a good idea.

You and I have had SO MANY discussions about this. Exhausting! What a great lesson we have learned. Did I say lesson? I meant to say lessons. Numerous lessons! What a miracle this year has been! At the start of this year we had the strong feeling that we needed to prepare and sell the 4plex. Remember, I flew home in February to paint and gut a couple of the units? That was fun! Let’s see, how do we start this topic and do it any justice? We fire the Froerers for their complete failure of management. We hire Jer, who did a great job filling the two units that we fixed up. Then we hired Marty to sell it. Lucy announced her vacancy. How can I forget the boiler unit emergency at her place in the middle of the night that boiled the skin off of my fingers? As painful as that was, I still view it as a miracle that I was there to fix it and avoid flooding two apartments. Then the windows got broken by someone and the gutters clogged and drained down into the stairwell (which just happened to have a clogged drain) and nearly flooded the basement. Again, good thing Marty and Jer came to the rescue on that one. Amazing as this still sounds, someone gave an offer and was somehow able to qualify to get a loan in the midst of this impossible mortgage meltdown. I can still remember like it was two minutes ago that call that came to us at 1am. The guy next door was high and kicked in the back door to the 4 plex and got into the tenants apartment. That was it. We thought for sure that would destroy the deal. Another miracle, they still wanted the place! All of this just weeks before the announced layoff!

If you remember, the tenant at the Gateway had just told us that they were out in June. Did I mention that this was a really crazy year? So we sell the gateway and list our home. (Easy to write that in one sentence--a lot harder to do!) It would seem that the gateway was a smarter purchase than our home. (And our lot and 4 plex)

This chapter was not written to bring back all of the stresses of the past year; although, just writing them has been a bit humbling again. All this has been a good reminder that if we have faith we can weather through the tough times. We have fasted so many times through this process. In fact, the more we strived to draw closer to the Lord, the more we realized the areas that we could improve. You have been incredibly supportive through all of this. I can’t count all of the notes you left for me to cheer me on before and interview. There were more notes than interviews so that should tell you how many there were.

You know now that we rolled with the Kimberly Clark job. The story is so much more complicated as you remember all of the back and forth with these offers over the holiday. At the end of the day, it all came down to the feeling that we need to go back to Utah. So despite the offers outside of Utah, the ones that gave us that window made the most sense. From here on out I would say that we are pretty certain that we won’t be moving from Utah for another job. The only thing that could change that is if we felt really impressed to go that way. Who knows…?

One thing we do know, the adventure has barely just begun. We still have a move back to Utah and a new job to look forward to. You and I both know how fun that is. Like I said at the beginning, we’re just barely getting out of the frying pan. After being in there so long, this fire actually feels pretty comfortable. It seems that we have moved enough now. It would be nice to settle down, what do you think?

Magic of Christmas

K ADORES Christmas this year--and I'm not just talking about the whole Santa/toy part. He was positively giddy about decorating this year. He was very involved w/ decorating the tree and putting up all of the lights. Every morning, one of the first things he does is come downstairs and plug in the lights. Every night when it gets dark, he plugs the lights outside. Both boys love helping w/ the advent calendar.
I love Christmas traditions. A fellow blogger/friend wrote an entry that resonates with me. Every season as we open the Christmas boxes up to decorate, memories dance in my head. One of our traditions is to listen to the Forgotten Carols as we decorate. It brings me to my teenage years of doing the same thing. It takes me back to when Jas and I went to the Forgotten Carols while we were dating, the next year engaged and like 5 years in a row (until we moved here.) The music touches my soul.
While decorating, the ornaments sing out other memories. I don't have one of those gorgeously decorated themed tree. We have the memory tree because each decoration evokes sweet memories.
*the bitten ballerina--a decoration I made as a little girl and that my childhood dog, Toffy, got a hold of
*the candy cane horse--my Grandma Evie made this and every year we put in a new candy cane. It means a lot because she passed away when I was a little girl.
*K and little J's first Christmas ornaments--how Christmas means that much more when you get to share it with your children.
*Our honeymoon knitted beanie--J and I got this on our honeymoon in Jackson Hole.
*a few teacher ornaments--from my students when I taught 3rd grade.
*Our Wright Family ornament--so beautiful (thanks Cherilyn! K broke it and she made another one for us. It now is on the top of the tree!)
*My favorite ornament ever--J gave this to me on our first Christmas married. It's a heart shaped ornament w/ a lock and key and a pic of us on our wedding day. It says "true love is our love." I cried when he gave it to me.
I love the smells, the sounds and the sights of Christmas. I look forward to adding to our memory tree.

Those Small Moments

Here's a few moments that I've been meaning to record:
* A month or so ago K had a few rough nights and wet the bed again. One night I went in there and took him to the bathroom since he was wet. I asked him, "Why didn't you go in the potty?" His response, "I need a big potty in my room." "You have a potty in the bathroom next to your room. Why didn't you go there?" K's response, "I was busy." My response, "Busy doing what?" His, "I was busy sleeping." I had to laugh!
* In the last week or two K has become very independent. "I want to do it meself" is what he says. He now wants to get dressed by himself--big step kiddo!
* Little J can now officially say K's full name! I love to hear him say it over and over.
* J and I noticed something magical has happened in the last few days!! We are absolutely thrilled about it! Both the boys are playing so much better together. They are growing up so quickly--I can't believe it! Just yesterday morning, they went downstairs and played pretend.

Proud Sister

I've been meaning to blog about this--a few weeks ago I found out that my little bro just got accepted into PA school (physician assistant). I had this strong feeling flow through my body and I was overcome w/ joy for him and his cute wife. I am so proud of my little bro. This is such a wonderful thing! I feel I got just a taste of what our own parents must feel like when we succeed at something that we have been working so hard for. I've had a few moments of these w/ my little boys too. These are sweet moments and I look forward to many more.
You betcha--I am one proud big sis! Go Stevie!

Happy Thanksgiving!

To all you wonderful family and friends out there--Happy Thanksgiving! Know you are all loved. Wish we could be with all of you today. Enjoy the day and eat lots of turkey and pie! I'm thankful for all I have, which is SO much.

J is out playing football this morning, I am crossing my fingers that he doesn't break any bones this year....

Birthday Pics

The birthday boy got lots of phone calls from all of his sweet family !He was so excited to open his presents! Thanks to everyone for the fun gifts.

We celebrated all week--we went to the zoo and Daniel's Farm.Here is my favorite pic of the boys. I just want to eat them up--they look so dang cute!

Jonas LOVED playing with the corn. The boys had fun covering me up--much better than sand.
J & I at Daniel's Farm.

My boys.

The GIANT tire swing!

The boys hamming it up for the camera.

I love this pic--I have some handsome guys don't I?!

Little J and Big J riding the tractor.
Their favorite part of the zoo--the TRAIN! Thanks to our adoptive grandparents for the fun ride!

Litte J, we had a blast celebrating YOU! Can't wait 'till next year!

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

It's official--little J is now 2 years old! I can't even believe it! He is one amazing little one. He is quite the talker--his fav. phrase is I ____too Momma. K will say, "I love cars." J will then say, "I love cars too Momma." I am so impressed by his ability to pick up the English language--the words, patterns, pronouns etc.
The birthday boy has been singing the Happy Birthday song all day! It's been a week of celebrations (pics to come). Our family loves celebrating week long birthdays (me especially)!

Little J has a talent of melting all my stresses away. Both Big J and I are drawn to him when we do feel the pressures of the world. A big hug from him is therapeutic. This is a gift he gives us.

He adores his big bro. He follows him and wants to do/say exactly what K says. The other day they were Batman w/ their blankets (babies as little J calls them). Things he has learned from big bro--new happy phrase "Awesome Momma!" new mad phrase "Get out of here!" (Really should a just 2 year old be able to say that?!) He has also learned to climb WAY too many things, ride his tricycle way too fast down the driveway, and how to play hide and go seek.
Here's to your little one--you enrich our lives daily and bring us so much sunshine!

Summer Memories

Here are some highlights from the summer (thanks Jen for the idea!) The boys had so much fun doing the summer reading program (and so did their nerdy teacher/mom!) They got to go to the Rascals Game!
Here they are checking out the game! They didn't watch much. K was running around and J was obsessed with this lady who sat in front of us--she had a rose tattoo on her ankle. J kept running up to her and touching her tattoo--I'm serious, he did it like 10 times! Good thing the lady was so sweet about it!

My boys at Michaels--I KNOW how much you love that store Melynie! We do too. The boys doing what they like to do--play fighting!

4th of July proudly waving their flags.

The action shot.

Our kids LOVE petting zoos!

Our neighborhood had a parade for the kiddos. The boys were so excited to decorate their stroller and scooter.
We picked rasberries earlier in the summer. K was a great little helper. Little J not so much(: Sad to say that our rasberry jam is almost gone...until next year.

We spent many hours in our backyard--the two favorite activities--swinging and playing in the sandbox. It's amazing to me that my boys can play w/ sand for hours(if only they wouldn't chuck it in eachother's hair).

Swinging w/ Dadda. I adore this pic!

K's Bday!

K is now 4! He requested a Cardinal's cake, so I made him baseball cupcakes and sugar cookie baseball mitts.Think 2 active boys PLUS cookies, cupcakes, frosting and icecream=one crazy house!

We surprised him with what he had been asking/begging for--a rocket bike! J and I wrapped it all up with streamers and balloons and put it on the front porch. J set up the video camera,then rang the doorbell and hid behind the bushes. K got to answer it. He was so excited to see a surprise bday present! I was just as excited when he opened it up and said with 4 year-old-enthusiam "Yeah, a rocket bike!"

Little guy had a tough time w/ K's bday--he just didn't seem to understand why K was getting all these presents. While K was riding his bike for the first time, little J was throwing a MAJOR tantrum--crying, screaming, knocking down the garbage can...it'll be good footage to show him when he's older!! (;

K, we love you dearly!! You bring so much to our family--you have a talent of being so likeable, you are ALWAYS running and active, you have an amazing creative side with your paintings and bedtime stories. You have a zest for life that is contagious!! Happy 4th Bday!

The Split Second of Perfection

Calling all moms--do you remember premomhood (is that a word?!) where you pictured what life will be like as a mom--calm, peaceful, perfect? Then, you became a mom....not exactly calm, peaceful and perfect. When I do have those perfect moments I embrace them and write them down so I remember them in the crazy, not-so-perfect moments of mommyhood.
Here's one of 'em:
Last week I was with my boys in the kitchen. They both were coloring--working on their amazing art projects and I was sweeping the kitchen. Unprompted K started humming "Love at Home." I joined in. Then, my 21 month old semi-music genius started humming it too. Yes, here I am, the mother humming and sweeping in the kitchen w/ my two angels who were humming and creating works of art. Don't forget we were humming "LOVE AT HOME."

I actually started to laugh at how perfect it was--it lasted 2 min. tops--but it was still perfect.
One of the many reasons why I became a mother. Dreams do come true (I won't go into details about the screaming and unsharing of crayons that happened after...)

Utah Trip Pics

I so struggle posting our Utah trips---we do so much and see so many people, I never know where to start. This is just a snapshot into our trip--there is no rhyme or reason to the pics, other than they were wonderful memories and I love the pics!

At Nana's house--we had quite fun decorating eggs! The masterpieces--I have such an artistic family!

K's favorite pastime at Nana's. Being thrown into the air by his uncles! He is a "Springy Tingey!"

Football at Jason's parent's house--way to go Marty, even in a suit!

CuddleTime--Jonas w/ Aunt JoJo

K w/ his Uncle Jason and Aunt Kristina--one of my all time fav. pics!

My beautiful nieces at Jason's Gpa's Bday.

The cousins all trying to play the piano.

Happy Boy!

Jas w/ his little bro Jeremy. The first shot they acted all tough so I MADE them smile

It was wonderful to see many of our loved ones. More pics to come!

Jesus Has a Phone

You know how kids always want to have the deepest discussions when it's bedtime right? Keat follows that exactly. So oftentimes he gets to stay up another 5 minutes--he wins, but we do too. It's my favorite time of day w/ him--although, he often requests dad. (very often)

Tonight was one of those special moments. K said his prayer. He blessed for us to go to the gym again. He also asked that Jesus would not get hurt and that people would be nice to Him. My sweet boy.

After the prayer, he asked if he could talk to Jesus. I told Him that he could talk to Jesus and Heavenly Father anytime he wanted to by praying. He said, "No, Mom I want to call Jesus on the phone." Try explaining that to a 3 year old. He insisted, "Momma, Jesus has a phone. Jesus has a phone." It makes me smile just typing this (:

Salt Lake Temple

The Salt Lake Temple--beautiful isn't it?

Me and my boys--Keaters posing!

My three boys.


K and more posing --you'd never guess that I did this as a child too! (;




Where it all began--this temple on Dec. 28, 2001.

Our Grandpas

We were lucky enough to go to Utah in April. There we did many wonderful things--some of our highlights were celebrating our wonderful Grandpa's birthdays!
Grandpa Richards just turned 90 years old! It was a wonderful celebration--we love, love love him dearly. We love to hear his stories of his amazing life and K loves to sit in his lap. I love that he is so tender with us.

Grandpa Tingey just turned 85. He is one of the reasons the Tingey name means so much to me! His life of endless service continues every single day. This was a quick lunch because he was off to do more service!

We have been blessed with such amazing Grandparents. We love you all--those here on Earth and those in Heaven!

Oprah!

So, it has been a dream to go to the Oprah show. My Mom, little bro and his wife were coming to see us and then we were planning on heading up to Chicago to see my aunt. So, I tried to get the last minute Oprah tickets--well, I GOT THEM!! We were in her audience a week and a half ago! Can you believe it?! It was surreal--We drove there on a Wed. night, got up at like 4:30 in the morning to make a 5:30 train to Chicago. All the stories that I have to tell!

Just wanted you all to know that tomorrow (Thursday) was the show we went to. It's possible you might catch me or my fam in the audience!! Word of warning though, it was a rather boring show---all about the whole skype thing. So, no I didn't win anything free and no, it wasn't about some famous celebrity, but fun memories were made nonetheless. If you do happen to see me--wave and I might wave back (;

Cruise, Cruise Cruise!

We had a blast on a cruise that we took the last weekend of March (yes, I know--very late to post) with my brother Jas and his wife Kristina and my cousin Michelle and her hubby Dave. This is the only pic that I got with all of us--the last breakfast we had together...oh, to be there now!

Thanks to Michelle for taking this pic--a slice of heaven.

I love this pic--Jas is not such a big fan. Seeing as I'm writing this post, well, it made the cut(;

The girls getting their groove on! There was this white hot party and we danced the night away! Let's just say we were the crazy group on the floor--we brought back all kinds of dancing--the cherry picker, the sprinker AND we made up our own moves too--the dentist, the farmer....

Our men doing their thing!! Yes, we know they are handsome (so did a few male dancers--we saw them eyeing our men.)

Thanks to Jason's sweet parents for watching our boys. We made some fabulous (yes, Jason T FABULOUS) memories---eating, dancing, sunbathing, swimming, talking, more eating and more talking. AND we had the best company--I so love my family! Another cruise soon right?!

*My cousin is wonderful blogger--so to see her amazing pics and read her stories--check out her blog--see my favorites--Dave and Michelle--and go to her Spring Break Post in April!

My Vacuuming Boys

Jas caught this pic. This is what it's all about--the small, simple things like vacuuming with your boys. Sweet, sweet memories.

Our Attempt

This is our amusing attempt to get a family shot!