Fun with Carter!

Hi everyone! Sorry we haven't posted lately. We haven't had any news about the job hunt. Hopefully after the first of the year, if not sooner, we'll get lots of offers. Anyway, I was going through some of our old pictures and videos and thought I'd share. Especially some of the videos I have gotten of the kiddos on our camera that you have not been able to see. I hope you enjoy this, it's one of my favorites! Carter was about 8 months in this. Sorry, it's kinda small. I'll put some more up later.

Call Me Clark Griswold, sort of!

For those of you who don't know, I like to refer to myself as Mr. Griswold when Christmas comes around even though I don't cover every inch of my home with lights like he does! I don't know exactly why or when I started becoming adamant about putting a good display outside our home every Christmas but I have and will continue to do so as long as I possibly can and have a home to do so. If there's a year I don't, then find out what's wrong. You can count on me adding more when we finally have a house. Enjoy our lights, I hope they bring a bit of joy to your day!

Yes, we have already started decorating!

While it's only a month away from Christmas, I am STILL wondering where summer went!?! Much too fast, if you ask me. It's been such a long time since I thought that. Anyway, I wanted to put something up here with pics of the kids. And since we got the decorations out early because I like to try to put up the outside lights early if it's nice weather and supposed to get colder. So Monday morning while the boys where at preschool I did that and was still freezing, but it's easier than trying to do it in the snow. I will put pics of those up after Thanksgiving, because even though I may put them up early doesn't mean I will light them. That has to wait until after turkey day. Besides I have two more things to maybe put up. We're still not done with our tree, I thought I had all the ornaments but I think they must be in one of the other boxes we didn't grab from Grandma and Grandpa's house. Happy tree decorating everyone!

Some renewed hope, not false!

Well, I just called Massage Envy, the company I interviewed with. I still hadn't heard anything and Dave said I may have a greater chance of getting it if I called and at least thanked them for the interview, etc. So that's exactly what I did along with asking if they had finished the process of hiring one or a couple new therapists, which they haven't. And since they haven't decided and Dave is still job hunting, I was sure to let the owner who interviewed me know that I can be much more available and flexible with my hours than what I originally told her, at least until Dave gets a job. This way I could make up for what we might be missing in income difference with Dave's unemployment check. Unfortunately, I don't know how they calculate what to send him each week, but I know based on what they already sent us for possible numbers that we will be very tight with what our bills are each month, possibly having to take B & C out of preschool for the time being. Thankfully that's the only thing we would have to eliminate, unless their teacher and her husband are willing to do even more trades than we currently do, which is a possibility.

Dave is going to be going to banks tomorrow to physically give them his resume, hopefully something comes of that.

So please keep your wonderful positive thoughts and prayers coming. We truly appreciate them and know that they make a world of difference!!!! Love, Lys, Dave, Brendan and Carter

Some news

Okay, so we found out yesterday morning about Dave's potential job, but I didn't want to post quite yet to see if I'd hear about mine. I haven't and didn't want to leave you hanging any longer so here it is. Dave got a sorry, we hired someone else letter in the mail this week which we found out Thursday morning. Unfortunate but I'm still hopeful for him! It's only been 2&1/2 weeks and there are record numbers of people in our position, which can be good and bad. So Dave has already applied to, I think, at least 10 more jobs just yesterday and today combined. He's certainly making his chances better. And I haven't heard anything about my job possibility, which is a bit dissappointing because you start to think it's a bad thing when it's been longer than what they told you but at the same time I still have hope. And then again if they decided no for me I would rather know sooner than later because I don't want to be hanging on to false hope if they've decided not to hire me. Man, people should also have psychiatrists at their disposal when job hunting, it sure can mess with your head. Oh well, we'll keep you updated. And we are still planning on Pueblo for Christmas time, probably me and the boys for about 5 days at the least, is what I would like. And since we'd have to pay a sub to take care of the papers, probably only 2 or 3 days for Dave to join us closer to Christmas. Of course we are playing this all by ear in terms of travel. But I am very Thankful (been thinking about that a LOT lately) that we can still get our parents and my brothers and sister presents! I've had that saved since the garage sale in October. Don't you dare tell us not to get you anything, because even through tough times in the past and present, even if it's small we would not do this if we truly couldn't. So thank goodness for the garage sale I sold a bunch of the boys old things at! We know that gifts are not what the Holidays are all about, but it's just a little way, and the one consistent time of year, that we can show you how much you mean to us by doing/getting something thoughtful and hopefully pleasant for you, which just makes us feel so happy to see that we've made you happy! Even though this holiday might possibly be a bit hard to get cheery, I am looking forward to it just as much if not more than I have in the past. Because we have an amazing family and bunch of friends who are so loving and supportive which is the biggest thing we have to be thankful for!

Thank you for being a part of our lives!
We Love You! Lys, Dave, Brendan and Carter

Just waiting as patiently as possible to hear what's next for us, or not.

Hi all,

Sorry we haven't posted for a bit, not since my tirade anyway. I think it really helped me to get that all out because I have not been dwelling on it the way I normally would have in the past. It could also possibly be that with age (I am not saying I'm old, I refuse to do that), I am maturing and starting to notice it in myself even more so now. I know that we cannot change the past or even do anything to try, I also realize that Dave was working in a more negative environment than I thought before this all happened. And I know that we are being steered by God, a Higher Power, Karma, The Angels, whoever you'd like to say, into, hopefully a much more positive situation that we can all learn and grow from. Not to say that we didn't learn anything from our current status because you can bet your butts that we have already learned some valuable things and probably still will into the future. That's what life is all about, learning and growing as human beings. Hopefully into the best beings we can be.

For now we're anxiously and as patiently as possible waiting to hear now about our job prospects! Dave and I both had interviews last Thursday; Dave with a company called TechniGraphics for a junior accounting position and myself with Massage Envy to get more steady massage work. Both places told us that, at the earliest, we would hear by Wed. the 19th, so now that it's after, I am starting to feel a little more anxious not knowing where our path will take us, but am confident that we will go where we need to in order to grow and learn what we need to. And I also have a strong faith that no matter what happens we will be taken care of by God and our Angels, because I strongly believe that this would not have happened if we didn't need it, could not handle it and could not be taken care of by them and ourselves! That is what keeps me positive for our future, whatever that may be. Not to mention, Dave is a very smart, good working person and ANYONE would be very fortunate to have him, so I have great faith in him as well! Besides, are these the faces of bitter, regretful people? I think not. Just a couple who is looking towards their still bright future and whatever it holds; bring it on! We took this pic this past weekend, messing with the camera. I told Dave we don't take enough pics of just the two of us, so this was the result.

We will let you all know as soon as we hear anything! Thank you so much for all your prayers, good thoughts and blessings, we know you are helping make things more possible and positive for us by just doing that. We appreciate it more than you know!

We love you! Lyssa and Dave

The invitation for our blog

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know that I apologize for the added steps to view our blog. But it was brought to my attention that in order to not hurt Dave's chances at any jobs he may apply for that I should probably make our blog by invitation only. Because with technology today, even with the settings I had it on and tracking our blog on sitemeter, a potential employer could probably do a search and see what I have written about our experience with Dave's last employer. Since, I of course do not want to hurt his chances, making it invitation only was the best option. So, thank you for going through the steps to keep checking out our blog, we really appreciate it.

Major Prayers and Positive Thoughts Needed!

Hi everyone

It's time for me to rant, rant, rant! Now I truly believe the President of NCYH has something against Dave and is NOT telling the whole story. Dave was fired from his job today. We both admit that what he did was not the best way to handle a situation but this is the only mistake he has ever made and I think that's exactly what Christina (the president) was waiting for so she could pounce on the opportunity to get Dave out of there (no idea why though).

Their reason for firing him is that he left the building open and unattended for about 1/2 hour more than once (Dave says it only happened once, just this last week). The reason for him leaving it unattended is because he had to open the building at 5:30am and had not finished his route yet. So, he went to open the building and then went to finish the paper route, which by the way he would not have had to do if Christina hadn't finagled the board into cutting his pay by 20% this September (as I wrote in a Sept post)! So, yes we understand that he should have called someone to tell them he couldn't make it in to open but I strongly believe that SHE is the reason he made that mistake. How many of us can say we are thinking straight that early in the morning, especially when you have to get up every morning at 3am to do a second job like the papers and you are only getting about 5-6 hours of sleep every night. It was an honest mistake and according to them if something had happened it could have been bad and cost them money. Thankfully, nothing did happen but does that mean Dave should have been fired for that one time? I can understand firing him if something actually did happen, but I do believe he was treated unfairly by not being given at least one chance or warning that if he did that again, then he would be terminated. They have given him no chance or warning whatsoever .

What else upsets me is that Colorado is an 'at will' state, meaning they can fire him for no specific reason, therefor we cannot sue them because we think he was improperly fired, so we hope and pray, even more so now, that Amendment 55 passes so that future people in Dave's situation aren't screwed over and have a chance to fight back if they were treated unfairly.

What we really need from you, our friends and family, is your prayers and thoughts that we will get through this and that for whatever reason this happened, it will be shown to us soon and also that Dave gets approved for unemployment, so that we have something to live on while he is looking for a new job. Thanks in advance for all your good thoughts! We love you!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! Here are some pictures from Halloween, the ones at the bottom are from preschool. Firefighters came and the kids got to sit in the truck and spray the hose if they wanted. Then the pics at the top are Brendan with Grandpa and Grandma McCall, Carter was coughing so he stayed home with me while Dave and Brendan had pizza with grandparents and went to just a few houses trick-or-treating. And I never got a pic of Carter in his Thomas costume, but it's big so he'll pry be that next year too. And B was his favorite Cars character, Lightning McQueen!

Vote Early for CHANGE Rally!

Top: As of Oct. 22nd, this person's sign speaks for me too!

Middle: Very good picture of Obama at the podium in the middle with white shirt and black coat, thanks to our camera's zoom and more zoom from editing on the computer.

Bottom: A picture of my view without using any zoom.

Hi everyone! Dave and I went to the Vote Early for Change Rally in Fort Collins today in The Oval at CSU. We walked and walked and walked to try to get to the end of the line which never happened, it was probably a couple miles long at least. It winded it's way throughout the campus, so we decided to go back to the oval to see if we could find a good spot outside of the perimeter to listen. We found an okay spot but we still had an hour and a half until Obama was scheduled to speak and I wanted to try the line one more time but Dave didn't, so we split up with the intention of me calling him if I got in line. I know this is not nice, but I did manage to cut in line with a guy I met while walking along the line trying to figure how I would get in the line. I saw an older lady do it pretty smoothly way before I got in, so I know I was not the only one. Anyway, even before I got in line I tried calling and texting Dave but my phone seems to have gone haywire because even now I'm still having trouble with it. So awhile after I got in line I asked my new friend Adam if I could borrow his phone to call Dave and success! However before I got in line I filled out some paper and got an X on my hand thinking that would guarantee me in, which I told Dave and so he didn't come find me in line. He did find a different spot at the time where he could hear Obama really good at least and where I was, I could barely see him for split seconds anyway without using the camera. We are both so glad we went and are so psyched for Nov. 5th to be here and the results to be in that we will have a smart president in the white house who will fight for regular people like us! Someone who understands what our great country needs, especially what Americans like our family need in terms of change for a better, brighter future for ourselves and our children!

Here are some pics and video I took!

And just a little P.S.... I am not the kind of person to push my beliefs and opinions on people and my intent in posting this is not to be pushy. My intent with our whole blog is for our friends and family to keep in touch with us and what we are up to as well as be able to have a medium in which we feel we can safely speak our minds whether anyone agrees with us or not. We still love and respect all of you dearly even if you have different opinions than ours, that is one of the BEST things about America in my opinion and why I'm proud to be American! So with that said, thank you for reading our blog and seeing how we're doing, we really appreciate it!

Pump It Up!

Here's what the boys and mommy did yesterday, and I am sore right in my armpits! I had to help Carter get through an obstacle course that I don't have a pic of and that was hard since his legs aren't quite long enough for him to do it well by himself. We had a lot of fun playing on the inflatable toys and it was nice to let them run around and get out some energy from being cooped up inside Tues and Wed. It took Carter only two times of me helping him get up the big slide and once he got the hang of that he just kept going!

Definitely the shortest job ever for me!

Well, one month ago today I started at a new part time job and just three days ago I officially quit that very job. There were both good and bad things about the job but the worst thing was the fact that, as a family, the four of us only got to spend one whole day together in that month. The extra fun/emergency money that job was going to be for us just isn't worth it. And that's okay because I do have two regular massage clients again and hopefully they will help spread the word and bring in some more to me. And depending on another project I've been working on for almost a year now, maybe I can also get my act together and do a healing arts fair, which was always a good way to get a little cash and another client or two. And I have great faith that what my mom and I have started to do together will be a great thing for both of our families! Well, I better git. I have a surprise for the boys, since they've been cooped up for the last two days in our house. I'm going to take them to Pump It Up for some special mommy and sons time so we can all get some pent up energy out. Have a good day!

Big weekend

Well, I had a busy weekend! For part of it we did get to have a little fun together as a family. We haven't had hardly any of that since I started my part time job almost a month ago which I am going to quit for that very reason. But what I wanted to show you was how our messing around dancing at home has paid off. We went to a wedding of some friends of ours and the boys had a blast dancing which I did not expect them to be dancing as much as they did. Here's a few pictures and just a snipet of some of their dancing on video. And Brendan also got a laugh from most of the guests right in the middle of Reed saying his vows to Laura, the place was totally silent for just a second or two and Brendan let out a tired sigh. It was certainly embarassing and funny at the same time, unfortunately I did not get that on video. Hope you enjoy!

Sickening comments

I feel the need to share this video link (CLICK THE TITLE TO SEE THE VIDEO) in the hopes that with what we teach our children we can change the hateful and hurtful remarks from people like this and someday become a country where EVERYONE applies the golden rule to their lives. WE EACH TREAT EACH OTHER THE WAY WE WOULD WANT SOMEONE ELSE TO TREAT US! That may sound cheesy but it's how I feel and it's something I have believed in strongly since elementary school and always do my best to implement in my own life, thanks to my favorite teacher Mrs. Veltri.

Let me say that I totally believe we all have the right to our own opinions, but when you just believe what rumors are being spread around and pull some comment out of nowhere (like one lady saying Obama said all white people are trash) you're only hurting your candidates campaign and more importantly fueling the fires of hate in a country that has been fighting for so long to extinquish those fires. It is so very sickening to me to hear how hateful and prejudice and ignorant people can still be and are, especially in a country that has fought and is still fighting so hard for the equality of EVERYONE. The main issue I have with all of this is that if these people were open minded and did their research they would find out the truth, Obama is Christian, the blacks will not take over, he's not related to nor does he support terroists. And, when did he say us white people are trash? I've never heard him say that. I'm white and I've only had a great, hopeful and positive impression of Obama, where as all the hateful people and remarks I have seen in news clips at McCain rallies are so negative, hateful and prejudice, it's scary to me and sad that we have so many people like that in our country and it shows that we still have a long way to go in fighting prejudices and treating each other the way we would want to be treated. It's just so sad to hear these people talk the way they are and I believe that if we all teach our children to be kind, open-minded, respectful people to ANYONE they meet in their lives no matter what their beliefs or differences are then we can make a significant difference in the way we all treat one another and move forward as a united country even still having differences of opinion. Isn't that one of the main things that makes this country so great? That we can all be different and still live together peacefully? Anyway, I just had to say something about this video as it really disturbed me and wanted to get it off my chest. Thanks for listening.

Rockies Outfits

So here's the boys in their rockies outfits we had them wear when we went to the baseball game, in August, without any charged batteries for the camera. Such cuties!

Update on jobs

Okay, so I'll try to make this short and sweet. I promised I'd update you all on our job situations and I'll try to do it without too much boring detail.
So, first I need to say that I did get one piece of information wrong. Which is the other general manager Dave shares his job with has not been getting paid what Dave was up until the middle of September, so now after they docked his annual pay by $10,000 they are both getting the same salary with the possibility of getting 'bonuses' if the organization has enough in the budget.

With that said I still think an injustice and manipulation has been done in terms of Dave's job. He still is the only person who had anything cut from income and most importantly they knew full well that Dave would not have accepted the full time position and quit his other part time job just to take a huge paycut and stress our budget to the point of falling behind in some bills. And since he sent out the letter with his side of the story the president has spoken with him again only to reiterate 'he did nothing wrong' but still has not indicated any sort of solution or even remorse, for what I believe she may have planned all along, knowing that he would not be able to outright quit if they roped him in and then almost a year later cut his feet out from beneath him. We have no idea what she told the board members in the meeting that they decided to do this as none of them have talked to Dave about the situation. So, in the meantime we are pursuing some options to see if we can right some wrongs even if he doesn't get his income back up. And Dave now has a paper route again for the third time in ten years to help make up what they cut and I did find a part time job with the purpose of getting some fun and emergency money for us, but unfortunately not quite in time to use it for fun yet. My first paycheck or two will help us catch up on our big monthly Home Owners fee that we didn't even pay in September. And thankfully after that we'll be back on track!

My new job that I've had for a week now is for a market research firm, we call customers to survey them on products or services they have or had so those companies know how they're doing in regards to their customer service as well as calling people for political surveys we're always hearing about in the news, especially this close to the election. I kind of have mixed feelings about it right now. In the first week I have had my good and bad days depending on the type of survey and how some of those customers have felt about their service with a company, so we'll see how it goes. The pay is based on a points system so if I do well I can get paid more than the base. Which is why in the meantime I am still going to search for something else with better pay in case I don't get better at getting a lot of surveys completed. I am thankful that I at least have a job at all and can contribute at least a little to our income while I also slowly build my massage business back up as well. Anyway, enough of my ranting. I hope you all have a great day!

Football with Mama!

The boys and I at a CSU Rammies game almost two weeks ago. Dave was there too but he was up in the media box in the background of the picture. Dave has been helping out with the stats for at least 5 years or so now, does it cause he likes it and his friend John used to be the one he helped. So we get a little benefit by getting to go to a game or two during the season. It's become Mom and son time and this was Carter's first game so now it's Mom and sons time. We all had fun but man were the boys and I tired after!

My Dancing Boys

Hi all,

I recorded this a few weeks ago, it's sooo cute I just had to share. I've never posted a video so we'll see if this works. Sorry you'll have to tilt your head for part of it though. Enjoy!

Finally back online

Well, sorry we haven't posted anything recently. Our computer crashed and we didn't have it for about 5 or 6 days. I have some pics to put up but will do that later. I got me a job and need to get ready soon so I'll catch you all up tonight on everything changing. Just wanted to let those of you who check our blog fairly regularly know that we're still around just haven't been in the computer world for a bit. Talk soon, take care!

Positive Thoughts, Prayers and Suggestions Needed!

Hi Everyone,

Our family has had a blow financially this week, not to mention emotionally. The organization Dave works for, Northern Colorado Youth Hockey has turned our world upside down by informing Dave a couple weeks ago that they might cut his annual salary by $10,000 (which goes into effect with the paycheck he receives today) saying he could possibly earn it back if they make their budget (which the new hire, Dave and hockey director have told her are not proper numbers to work with due to their purchase of a facility this last year and other factors). That doesn't help our family out since we are on a very tight budget as it is, and they knew this when they hired Dave to go full time and pay him the income they agreed upon. Dave is the only one they cut and he shares his job with someone else who gets the same pay as Dave did until today, which makes us think there is something else going on. This is unfair and ridiculous to only cut Dave and no one else. Why didn't they cut every paid employee's salary instead of just Dave if it's for budget reasons?

The president along with the board members decided to hire someone else part-time to take care of the finances, which has been part of Dave's job, therefore cutting his salary so they could pay the new person. He asked the president what she thought he was doing wrong or not doing, that they thought they needed to hire someone else to take care of it and she could give him no good reason. As a matter of fact Dave is still actually helping with the finances because this new hire is only part time and already overwhelmed with her job and can't finish everything. Go figure, they are actually wasting their money by additionally paying someone else and claiming that Dave could make the $10,000 as a bonus split in half every six months.

Dave is writing a letter to the president and board, giving everone copies to hopefully get them to repeal their decision. In the meantime I am calling around right now to find out if we have a case and get free legal help. We would love for Dave to be able to just quit but that is not an option for us at the moment with a family to take care of and no way to survive without work. I have already been looking for some part time work to help our family feel more comfortable and now it will be to just help us live. So, for now Dave is also going to get a paper route again until I can find a job to make up the differnce they are cutting from our livelihood.

If you have anysuggestions for us that we haven't considered yet, it would be very much appreciated as would your love, thoughts and prayers that everything will be alright!

Thank you and we love you all,
Lys, Dave, Brendan and Carter

Party Time!

Okay, I've been lazy this week but I've finally got the pictures up to show for the little BBQ we had last Friday to celebrate Carter's birthday. We had my friend Shannon, my Mom Mary and stepdad Vic, Dave's Mom Joyce and Dad Mel, his Aunt Cheri, Uncle Jim and cousin Jeff and our friends next door joined us as well, Carrie and Scott and Carrie's daughters Ragan and Reilly. We had a wonderful time, thank you all for helping us celebrate!


Birthday Boy Carter

Dave and Joyce
Dave, Jeff and Jim

Reilly, Brendan and Ragan

Yummy chocolate cake

He really is eating off a plate even though

it doesn't look that way. MMM, Yummy!

Shannon, Mary and Lys

Back: Jeff, Jim, Mel and Dave

Front: sisters Cheri and Joyce

Poor Cheri doesn't realize Jim's trying to mess her up.

We got our family to try a couple swings of Cowboy Golf

(We've played that often with Carrie and Scott)

Here's Carter on his new Strider Bike (has no peddles)

that he got from the grandparents and Mommy, Daddy and

brother, he LOVES it!

Happy Birthday Carter Rhys!

It's hard to believe my baby is two! Yesterday was Carter's birthday and Dave was able to get it off so the four of us went up to Rocky to spend some time together, go for a little hike or two, have a picnic and enjoy the beautiful weather. We had a great time!

We're having more of a little party for him with some of the grandparents next Friday, so no cake eating pictures til then. However, we did get each of the boys a treat at the chocolate factory for the occasion and went to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa when we got home. Today was also Carter's first day at preschool so we brought cupcakes for him to share with the class. Lots of treats for the birthday boy this week!

Sprinkler Fun

Yesterday I thought we might go up Poudre Canyon to picnic rock so we could play in the river, throw some rocks and have a picnic; then our plans changed. In running a couple errands before leaving town I had to check the truck engine light for the second time in two weeks, took it to a place that our oil changing place recommended to get an estimate on what's wrong, blah blah blah (it's all fixed now, thanks to Meineke who were not the ones to do the estimate!). So anyway, they brought the boys and I home while they kept the truck for a few hours to check it and then brought it back home for me. So, since I already had lunched packed we turned on our sprinkler hose and ran through that instead. After getting wet we ate our lunch out under a tree in our greenbelt out back. I had to hold Carter to get him to get wet, he liked sitting in the chair better. Brendan and I had fun running through though and he's great with his jumps!