Blue and Gold Banquet

Isaiah had his first Blue and Gold Banquet tonight. All the cub scouts had to make their own cake. Isaiah wanted to do Sponge Bob. I think he did a pretty good job (with only a little help with brainstorming on how to put him together from his mom).
Isaiah walking in for the flag ceremony. He always has his hands in his pockets!

He received the "silliest cartoon character award."

All the boys with their awards and prizes.

There were some pretty cool and creative cakes.


The boys had learned a cub scout song they were performing for us. Isaiah always has to check with his friend Gavin to make sure it's "cool" for him to do the hand motions. It's funny to watch those two when they have to perform.

They had a fun craft activity as well.

The boys were trying to construct an archway using sugar cubes and frosting. Some worked, most did not. :)

Overall it was a nice and enjoyable night!

Happy Belated Valentine's....

.....From Mr. Brownie Man....


......and Isaiah....

....and Daniel and I!



Hope your Valentine's are as great as mine!

This post will be quite wordy and long. I usually don't post without pictures but I have a long story to tell. I have to admit that when I see blogs with long stories I usually scan through them and then move on to the next when so don't feel guilty if you do that with mine. :)

There have been a few changes around here in the Dewey home. I posted previously that my mom had recently retired from her Office Administrator job of 24 years. Well they offered me the promotion about a year ago. It came with quite a hefty raise but the catch was I would need to work in the office. They still promised to be flexible with my hours since I wanted to be at home when Isaiah left for school and came home. At this time Daniel was commuting to McMinnville which is about 15 minutes away from my work. Problem solved right. Just move to Forest Grove and Daniel's commute would be much shorter. Well it wasn't that easy. Daniel was supposed to be working on a site in Corvallis but it was delayed and the start up date was unknown at the time. Due to the economy they had to make some changes. So Hoffman put Daniel in McMinnville. We were sort of in limbo at the time because it could have gone either way. They could have kept him in McMinnville until the project was done (two or three years), or they would move him to Corvallis whenever or if ever the project got started. I decided at that time to turn down the offer because there were too many unknowns. I didn't want to take Isaiah out of school, start him in a new one, and then a few months later get word from Hoffman that they were moving Daniel to the Corvallis job. I stressed and stressed over what to do for months. When I finally made the decision I felt at peace so I know I made the right decision. It was still hard for me though because professionally it would have been a great opportunity to expand my skills and my knowledge, and I'm not going to lie, it was hard to turn down that raise. That offer came to me in May of 2009 and sure enough by September Hoffman moved Daniel to Corvallis to work on the site he is currently working on. Now let's fast forward to September 2010, two months away from my moms retirement. My boss called me again and asked if I would meet him for lunch. I was really nervous that he was going to tell me that I was going to be out of a job, basically I was almost sure he was firing me. Much to my surprise he again was offering me the office administrator position that would soon be opening up. The offer went up even higher and at this point we are getting closer to Daniel's job here being finished. Professionally I was very excited but we still had the uncertainty of where we would be next. There is a huge chance that Daniel could get put on a job starting in Hillsboro but there is just no way to know until that time gets closer. I told my boss I would think it over and talk to Daniel about it. Daniel's job here won't be finished until May or June and they wanted me up there as soon as possible. That would mean I would have to commute three hours each day (sorta ruled that one out right away), or Isaiah and I would have to move up there until Daniel could join us in May, that is IF Hoffman moved him to Hillsboro. The offer they gave me was almost too good to pass up and that was why I was having such a hard time making a decision. Daniel of course did not want us to be apart but he also didn't want to tell me that I shouldn't take it because he knew how badly I wanted to. I finally made my decision that I would take the job but that I couldn't be up there until May or June when Daniel was done here. I didn't feel it was right to be put in that position to choose between what's best for my family or advancing professionally. Since my mom's retirement they have been in complete chaos and were in need of someone right away. The guy they had hired a couple years ago to replace my mom couldn't do all the things she was doing. She was an amazing employee and they were lucky to have her there. Once I made my decision I knew they were going to have to hire someone else to at least come in and do the billing and other odds and ends. I figured that would hold them over until I could come in May or June. I even offered to drive up a couple days a week and help out. Well five days after I gave them my answer I got a call from my boss. He said that they had hired someone to do the billing, posting, and basically take over my mom's position. I didn't quite understand what he was saying because I do the posting along with other things he said the new employee would be doing. He basically told me that I had until the end of the month, (this was Jan.). I really couldn't believe what I was hearing. They had given me no reason to believe that if I didn't take this promotion I would lose my job. It just felt weird and wrong to one day be given a huge promotion and then the next be laid off. I went through a long series of emotions all in about five minutes. At first I was shocked, then I was mad, then I felt sad, and then I felt betrayed. After all those emotions passed I felt a big gushing of warmth go through my body. I felt relief and peace that this was what was supposed to happen. For days after this news I tried so hard to be mad at the way they went about letting me go, but I kept getting these feelings of peace. I knew if they would have told me ahead of time that if I didn't take the promotion I would lose my job, I would have done anything to make it work out of fear of not having a job. I have literally had a job my whole life. When I was younger my dad owned some apartment complexes and my sister's and I were in charge of mowing the lawns and cleaning out the units when tenants moved out, (worst job ever, but definitely fun with my sisters), Then my dad opened two Hogi Yogi's (sandwich and frozen yogurt shop) that I worked at all through high school again alongside my sister's. We had a blast. OK now I am getting off course due to reminiscing. Basically as of February 1st I have been unemployed. I can't stand that word. It's been a very humbling experience for me. I have worked for 12 years at that place and I honestly thought I was irreplaceable at the clinic. I've learned a lot already, mainly to trust in the Lord and what his plan is for me and my family. I don't know what is in store for me right now but I do know that losing my job was something that had to happen for whatever it is Heavenly Father has in store for me. I couldn't be happier. I've never experienced motherhood without a job and so far I am loving it. I know this was a long way of saying, "I got fired." but what can I say, it's the woman's version of a story. :) Stay tuned for another fun little story about another happening.

5 Years!

Wow five years gone by! I always love to look through my wedding pictures on my anniversary. It truly was one of my most favorite days I have ever had. So many friends and family came to celebrate with us and I was so happy to be marrying the man across from me at the alter. The best word I can come up with to describe how I felt on that day is "magical." I know that may sound silly but it's the truth. Since then Daniel and I have learned so much about ourselves and each other. It hasn't always been easy but I wouldn't change anything.
Due to a recent injury I had we were unable to do our normal activities which would involve physical activity of some kind followed by dinner and a movie. I told Daniel early on in our marriage that every five years is renegotiating time:) We decided to renegotiate at one of our favorite places to eat. It's at Nye Beach in Newport. It's only a 45 minute drive from our house and the drive was very pleasant with just the two of us. Our renegotiating really just involved reminiscing of the past and hopes for the future, he knows and I know that good or bad we are in this for the long haul.
We ate at The Chowder Bowl. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Newport Beach. You will not be disappointed.

I may look pregnant in this picture but sadly I am not. Since I am on crutches I carry everything in my sweatshirt pouch. I'm a Kangaroo.

Happy Anniversary Daniel and thank you mom for watching Isaiah so we could enjoy the evening together!

Retirement

I took a little blogging hiatus. There have been many things that have kept me away from the computer lately but I will tell about them in a later post. If there is anyone out there that still looks at my blog from time to time you may have to bear with me for a little while. I use my blog as part of my scrap booking and journal so I will be going back a little bit to get caught up. My wonderful mother was able to retire after 24 years of working full time. During those years she also raised 8 kids and those 8 kids produced 26 grandchildren. My sister's and I have been waiting for this day for a long time. We wanted to make this event as special as possible to her so we decided to surprise her with a weekend at a cabin in Hood River. The surprise was that all 8 of her daughters would be there. We had one fly in from Arizona, one from Idaho, and one from Colorado. We told my mom that we had all pitched in and were giving her and my dad this weekend away as our retirement present to her. Then we all made arrangements to be able to get away for the weekend and sneak up there to surprise her. My sisters and I are all kids at heart when we get together so the whole event was really a blast. We loved sneaking around Hood River waiting for my parents to get to the cabin and of course we loved sneaking into the cabin to surprise my mom. Below is some video I caught of the initial surprise. (Brace yourself. You are about to hear 9 women squealing in delight).

Right away we had to take a picture along the stairway. We have plenty of these shots from our younger years. Maybe they were Brady Bunch inspired??

A few of us ventured out into the snow for a play day. There was a long sled run right along the cabin. My sister Bridget and I were the first to try it out. Bridget won the craziest mom award. She had no fear.

Michele ventured out onto the deck with baby Isabelle to watch.


Debora also got in on the action. (Not pictured is my sister Lindsey who finally came out to play with us. She was the most scared which surprised us all because she is the toughest of us all. We decided that was okay this time since she had just had a baby less than a month prior).

The area around the cabin was beautiful so some of us decided to go for a walk.

We started off in the light and walked a long way up the mountain. It started to get dark and we all decided that maybe it wasn't the best idea to have walked so far into the mountain with just five women. We made it back safely though.

I have some really fun videos of us sledding but I can't get them to load onto this blog. :( We had such a good time and many of us have had the chance to spend more time with our mom since her retirement.

Happy Halloween and Thanksgiving!

In my attempt to get caught up on my posting I am combining Halloween and Thanksgiving. We have already had so much fun this holiday season! We have been able to spend a lot of time with family and friends.

We took Isaiah and his friend to the OSU Homecoming parade and bonfire. We had a lot of fun even though the bonfire took FOREVER to get going.
In between Halloween and Thanksgiving this little sweetheart was born. My older sister Lindsey had her 5th child Isabelle Dawn Ordyna. I happened to be in town so I got to see her in the hospital. My sister invited us to Thanksgiving at her house so we could help out since she had just had a baby.

The kids watching Swiss Family Robinson while the adults were busy cooking.

It was a feast. We had way too much food. We ate for three days straight. What a holiday!

Uncle Daniel at the kids table

After all our feasting Daniel and I took the kids on a walk to the duck pond. These boys love trying to catch things.

We had a great weekend and we were glad to spend it with the Ordyna's

CAUTION: Do not read if you have a weak stomach :)

The last few weeks have been exhausting. Just in time for the holidays:) I started coaching Isaiah's basketball team last week. I did this last year and must of forgot how much patience it takes because I volunteered again. I figured if I was going to be driving him back and forth I might as well just stay and coach, besides how hard can it be? These kids have the attention span of a blink. We had practice on Tuesday night. I decided with games coming up I should teach the kids different ways to get open. I first taught them the basic v-cut. This went ok. I then attempted to teach them how to set a screen. This was a disaster. What was I thinking? Way over their heads. After about ten minutes of explaining and having them practice one of the kids raised his hand and said, "I don't get it." I then asked, "How many of you don't understand what your doing?" All eight hands shot in the air. Needless to say we will be playing games and doing relays tonight.

I also organized freezer meals with my mom, sisters, and one of my sisters friend. My sister was pregnant with her fifth child and instead of having a baby shower we all got together and made 11 dinners for her to have on hand once the baby comes. Of course we all made dinners for our families as well so it was a win win situation. We couldn't have picked a better weekend to do it. My sister had a doctor's appointment on Friday where she found out they wanted to induce her on Sunday. I drove up on Friday and we started cooking at about 4:30pm and didn't finish until 2:00am! It was a loooong night but I am already enjoying the fruits of that labor this busy week. (side note:My sister delivered her beautiful baby girl Isabelle on Sunday night). The next day after the freezer meals I threw a baby shower for my little sister Monica. Her baby is due in January. I was a little tired but I love throwing parties so it was fun. I was looking forward to coming home and going back to my normal pace. Not so. My older sister Debora has an 18 month old that has been really sick for the last two months. He has been in and out of the hospital and every time we think is getting better, he has a relapse. Needless to say Debora is emotionally and physically exhausted and in need of as much help as she can get. My dad and mom have been taking turns driving over to Bend and helping for the last three weeks. My dad's mom lives with my parents so when my dad leaves he has to find someone to care for my grandmother. He usually asks my sisters that live up in Hillsboro but none were available so Nana came home with me on Monday. My grandmother has dementia and she is actually quite weak so it can be a little mentally and physically draining. I haven't taken care of her for about a year now and I am a little surprised at how weak she has become. She has a hard time just getting out of bed. Once I get her up and going it's fine, it's just the getting her up and going part that can be tiring. She came with Isaiah and I to our dentist appointments and basketball practice on Tuesday. I brought a comfortable chair into the gym for her to sit on during the hour long practice. I felt bad about how much she had to sit around and wait for us but with work and Daniel's new calling, he hasn't been home much in the evenings. I looked up about a half hour into practice and didn't see my Nana sitting in her chair. My heart jumped. Luckily she had only made it a few steps outside of the gym. I asked a parent to take over and I ran out to get her. She said she was looking for something to eat. I don't think she knew where she was or why she was there but she knew she was hungry and decided to try and do something about it. I purchased some chips from the vending machine and got her back in her chair.

Yesterday was EXHAUSTING! I scheduled her for a shampoo and style at the salon I go to. She likes to be pampered. I got her up, fed, and dressed in 45 minutes. I was pretty surprised because it usually takes longer than that. We pulled up to the salon with just enough time to slowly make our way to the door. Just as I turned off the car my Nana said she needed to go to the bathroom. She struggles with incontinence so I knew I needed to hurry. Too late. She started to go and she was mortified. I felt so bad because there was nothing I could do. I told her I was going to run in and let them know that we had to reschedule. I took her home and did what I thought was the impossible for me. I apologize if this grosses anyone out. I honestly did not think I would be able to clean up this mess. I have the weakest stomach when it comes to these things, but I guess when there is no other option, you do what you have to do. An hour later all was well. I was so tired when my head hit my pillow last night and continued to stay tired even when my feet hit the floor this morning.

I have a new appreciation for a young, working body. I just keep thinking about how life really does come full circle. We come into this life with people needing to care for us and we leave this life the same way.