Red Fish Lake Idaho we will be visiting you soon......

Ever since Debbie and I first met I have been hearing stories of Red Fish Idaho. Nearly every summer since Debbie was little her and her family spent vacations here and created memories that last a lifetime. Last summer, Debbie had a business trip to Sun Valley so Brock, Tay and I tagged along and I experienced Red Fish for the first time. I was awe struck at how beautiful it was and when I was finally able to jump into this crystal clear glacier water I learned how to swallow my nuts back down! I have never jumped into cold water like this especially in August!!! Here is a link of the stories and memories that were created on our last trip last summer.
Link to Last Years Blog

Nearly ALL of Debbies family will be there for their yearly reunion. I can not WAIT to get back there and spend a week with all of these great people and get to know them better. Debbie, Cassidi, Taylor, Brock and I will be loading up and heading out to create more memories. Debbie I love you and cant wait to get away from the world for a full week with my lil family. I wish more of our kids could come.

I learned how being that high up in elevation can create quite a thirst.... look at all the "Juice" that Debbie consumed last year to her left!! Yeah she was thirsty.

Empty Nest = restlessness!!!

Cassidi went with friends for a week and Brock went with his Dad for a week. Sam and I were all alone all week long. IT WAS THE STRANGEST THING EVER. I did not quite know what to do with myself. I now understand the entire "mid-life crisis". I kinda wanted to go buy a red sports car and go crazy..

No red sports cars and the kids are home. I feel better.

P.S. Winnie was the WORLDS WORST DOG while the kids were gone!!!

ABC 4 News Broadcast Interview

Hey Everyone..... never a dull moment!!!

ABC 4 news Christiana Brady found Debbie and I somehow through a random email telling her that we are an eHarmony couple. She saved the email knowing someday soon she was going to do a story about online dating and how its fastly becoming very popular and trusted.

So through several conversations with Christiana and eHarmony they interviewed us that same night. Monday night on the 20th our interview aired. We were so nervous, excited, anxious, happy before it aired. They did such a GREAT job with the entire broadcast that our anxiousness immediately went away.

Christiana thank you so much for a wonderful interview and for telling our story.

When to say WHOA!!!!

As you can tell we havnt been keeping up with the blog this summer. We obviously have been having a busy summer but has been a total blast.

I think Debbie and I are our worst enemies. We keep telling each other that we are NOT going to do anything tonight.... then end up doing something or going somewhere. We get a free night "lets go to Logan to see some friends" or we have a free Sunday with out kids we say "lets go swimming and hang out with some friends" and so we did. Even when we are home we are doing yard work, cleaning, laundry or fixing something up like our light fixtures.

Just this week we had my best friends from Sheridan drop by for a couple of days and that was way nice. It was our first visitors from Sheridan other than my daughters. That kept us busy for a couple of days..... no way am I complaining on this... we would like more visitors so please come.

So anyway.... anytime we see a gap in time we seem to easily fill it. With Debbies new job and my new promotion we are both incredibly busy with new careers. We are burned out and need a break. We need to know when to say when and do NOTHING. HOW CAN WE POSSIBLY DO THIS???? We apparently don't know how.

Luckily, we get to go to Red Fish Lake in Idaho for a week in August to go camping with the family. This will be a great break but we need help...... how can we slow down??????

Our Blogs First Anniversary

Exactly one year ago today, July 9th, and 10,500 website views earlier, Debbie created our blog and posted our first post. Here is a link if you want to read it - First Post

We have had so many stories to tell and had so much fun this past year I cant even begin to describe it all. Our family and friends are always commenting on our blog and say they read it all the time to keep up with us and how\what we are doing. I know we are sometimes spicy, dicey, opinionated and sarcastic at times but we are real people having real fun and living life.

What a great way to keep a history of our lives.... right at our fingertips.

I hope you all have enjoyed this as much as we have.

Before they hired me for my current job I had to do a sales assessment test. If I didn't pass I would not have gotten hired, so I knew I passed. After I was hired everyone in sales team that already worked here had to take the same test. WELL WELL WELL we got our results back today and its kinda an emotional roller coaster.. here is what mine "sums" me up as..

I THINK IT IS PRETTY SPOT ON... kinda scary!!

Words in black are word for word of sales assessment... (there are many many more pages I will post some here and there) Word in red... my two cents!!

Debbie becomes highly excited about selling something that she really likes. Being optimistic and enthusiastic, she is good at generating enthusiasm in others. Sometimes her enthusiasm is what sells her products or services, but sometimes other buyers may be offended. She has a tendency to use her fluent verbal skills (have they heard me talk, I am from Idaho and a little rednecky??)to paint detailed and vivid "word pictures" for her customers. She consistently meets the challenge of persuading peoples to her point of view. (This statement right here has gotten me and my friends in many many many bad situations... just like me to say.. "I think it is a great idea... and i convince everyone its a great idea and than..... look out.)

Some buyers may desire less talk and more facts. Socially and verbally aggressive, she loves to meet strangers and begin conversations. This is a great attribute when new territory is opened, or new accounts are dictated by business conditions. She prefers to sell a new client on HERSELF first rather than her product or service. This reflects her natural approach. When she buys, she also prefers to be sold in this manner (this is so so so true, I hate pushy sales people, I love a soft sell) . She maintains a very high trust level; that is, she trusts that people will make good on their promises. (Oh boy do I, I am WAY WAY WAY to trusting with people and get confused when people aren't as trusting as me)

Debbie experiences difficutly in telling a prospect that she doesn't have the answer to the prospect's objections. Her natural sales style attempts to answer the objections even if she lacks the proper data to do so.. (*laughing at this.. so true)She would rather take the risk than admit failure. She welcomes the objections that prospects raise. This provides an opportunity to meet a challenge and share more of her knowledge. She has probably been know to answer objections even if she has never heard the objection before. (I disagree with this, I can admit failure and I dare say.. I don't know) She will rely on her quick thinking and verbal skills to meet the challenge. She succeeds in projecting self-confidence in her sales presentations. This self-confidence evolves from her belief in herself and her products or services. Debbie may be rather careless in her sales preparation. She truly believes she can walk and talk her way through any presentattion at anytime, anyplace. (bull..bull..bull.. I over prepare...to the ninth degree) She frequently uses emotion and active body language in her sales presentation. (and everything else I do.. I use body language all the time)

Debbie can be seen as a good closer. However, she may postpone the close until giving the complete sales pitch. She should guard against excessive talking (this is me, I excessively like to talk) and close at the appropriate time. Debbie can be guilty of over servicing the accounts she feels are "personal friends". To her, friendship is important and she may overlook certain requests to maintain the friendship. Debbie may promise more than she can deliver to close a sale. However, Debbie DOES USUALLY deliver what she says she will, but she has difficulty finding the time to provide what she promises. Her optimism makes her believe she can deliver. She would rather make a social visit instead of a service visit. The social visit meets her need to be friendly and outgoing, while the service visit requires special effort if customers don't buy more products or service..

It's been a soul searching day reading this.. I will post more on different days.

Debbieisms.......

Debbieism is a term I use a lot in our home. I get asked what a Debbieism is? I have fun explaining it because there are so many stories to tell. Let me tell you a new one so your all aware of what Debbieisms are.
We went to the cabin this weekend for a night with the kids to goof off and have fun. Debbie and Taylor were in the cabin cleaning up or something and I was outside building a fire. I hear a scream "Sam... Sam hurry come here!!!" I thought Taylor had an asthma attack or something so I ran in the cabin at nearly a full sprint to find Debbie holding her hand in LOUD pain. I though " damn she cut her finger off" or something. NO.... she had a baby wipe container much like the picture below. It was a brand new dispenser so she had to push the towel through so it will dispense normally. Well.... she pushed it through and got her finger stuck!!!!! For the sake of this story I took a picture of my finger in a dispenser that actually has a safety collapse on it but wanted you to have the visual of what I saw when she held her hand up for help.

So... with her screaming in pain and my laughter between her screams trying to get her finger unstuck, I had to hold back on telling her to WAIT... I have GOT to get a picture of this for the blog haha... she would have killed me.

Anyway... I learned that these things are definitely a Chinese finger trap. So if you live with someone that has Debbieisms like I do, please buy the wipes that have the safety collapse on them. With Debbie, what is possible to happen probably will... haha

We had a good laugh after she got her finger out but it was definitely pinched bad.... pure humor though.

So much to "Celebrate"....

As I am looking at the long weekend in front of us and hearing everyone make “4th of July” plans I almost get giddy thinking about spending an extra day with my family.
Sam and I are not “rich” people. Yes we have a nice home, we have cars, we go on great trips, but we are not rich in the means of “money”. HOWEVER I believe I can’t possibly be more rich in the things that matter. In means of life or the things that really count. I wanted to share the things that I will celebrate this Independence Day..

• I live in a country of fearless men and woman that protect my freedom and sacrifice their own lives for the well being of mine and my neighbors and the generations to come. I truly wish I had that kind of courage.

• I live in a nation that since I have been alive I have watched it to start to transform into a more accepting nation. Every day we take down another brick in the wall that separate all of us. If it be.. Sexual preference, race, religion, demographics, financial class, or education. Each day I think we get a little bit closer to what I am sure our fore fathers had dreamed America would be and become. I know we have a long way to go but I am proud of the strides American’s have made in this fight.

• I have laundry that has to be washed, dishes that have to be done and floors that need to be vacuumed. I look at it in the way that I have all that stuff to do because I have a wonderful family that messes the house and their clothes up. I hurt for the mother that has lost their children and is wondering what to do with their time.

• I have a wonderful relationship with my husband that loves me UNCONDITIONALLY. I would not trade what I have with Sam for the biggest house on a remote beach in the South Pacific, or any tangible item. What Sam and I have will outlast any house, will weather any storm, and has made me truly the most blessed person on Earth. I hope all of you can find this kind of love at some point in your life.

• I have healthy kids and that right there is enough to be very humble!!!!! Not to say anything about them being wonderful and the other “3” loves of my life.
So as I go to this three day weekend hand and hand with Sam. I truly believe that even though my bank account balance does not have many zero’s on the end of it.. I truly am the “richest” person in America…

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY GUYS..

What are you guys celebrating this long weekend?

What an incredible June 2009

Farewell June 2009!!!! You have been very good to us.

You found Debbie an incredible new career that she is so excited about, you helped Sam get promoted into a bigger and better opportunity, you were able to convince eHarmony to choose us out of thousands of people to be the next national TV commercial, you helped Debbie and I celebrate our 1st year together on June 21st, 38 years ago on June 29th you brought the love of my life into this world and we celebrated her birth on Monday.

Yes June you have blessed us with your presence...... thank you for wonderful memories that will last a life time.

July?!?! Not sure you can top that but lets give it a shot!