Closing the Bakery

Last night we had a staff meeting with our employees to tell them that our bakery will be closing next month. We have been dreading this for the past six months or so. Our employees are like family to us, and we hate to leave them jobless in this bad economy where employment is so scarce. But for those who know the whole situation, of all the options we had, closing our business was the only logical one, and fortunately our employees were very understanding.

We're missing one employee in this picture.

Our last day open will be October 19th--exactly four weeks from today. The end of the October we will take a quick trip to Utah to visit family and to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. Then it's back to work. I will continue working as a leasing consultant here in Everett, and Chris has agreed to help a new Great Harvest owner open his store in Olympia which they are planning to open the beginning of November. Chris has agreed to a three month trial period managing this new store, and then we will decide whether to stay in Everett or move to Olympia.

We're full of mixed emotions. It'll be a huge relief to not have to stress about everything, but so sad to not see our regular customers and employees every day. I just keep telling myself that it is a new chapter in our life, and that we will enjoy new experiences and opportunities with this change.

What Can I Bring for Dinner?

Awhile back, we invited our friend Jesica over for Sunday dinner.

Jesica: Camilla, what can I bring over for dinner?

Sam jumping in before I could answer: A Super-Soaker!!

Well, we had Jesica over for dinner again sometime after Sam's birthday, and guess what she brought over...

She gave Sam this super-soaker for his birthday. Since we don't have a yard, he has mostly used it outside on our balcony or in the bathtub. The other day, Sam told a little fib to Chris saying he hadn't had a bath that morning like he usually does and said that he was very dirty and needed to get clean. I stopped by the apartment mid-afternoon for a quick break from work and found Sam taking another bath--he just wanted to play with the super-soaker again. Sneaky little boy!

Thank you, Jesica! Sam loves his present!

Sam Turns Four!

This post is only two months late! Better late than never, I guess.

We celebrated the morning of Sam's birthday in Electric City were we had been for our friend's wedding. He had been so excited for this day for months and months! We opened a couple of his presents in our little motel room, and then opened the rest when we got back home late that afternoon. He was so excited about his train set as well as his first bike--presents from both sets of grandparents. I think he had a good birthday! I just can't believe he's already four and that he'll be starting kindergarten in a year!

Our little Sam is such a sweet boy. He is the friendliest kid I know and wants to talk to everyone. He is far from shy. Because he spends so much time with us in the bakery, in his mind all strangers are customers, and he has to ask everyone how they're doing. He goes up to random people in grocery stores to say hello. At parks, he'll go up to random adults and sit down next to them to ask how their day is going. He makes friends incredibly quickly and will play with anyone who happens to be at the park or beach with him--it doesn't matter to him if they're two, 12, or 52!

His favorite foods are mac 'n cheese, hot dogs, corn dogs, and yogurt. He still has a hard time sitting still long enough for meals because he just wants to play. His favorite color is red. He loves to read stories and play Mario games on the Wii. His favorite toys are the millions of cars, trucks, and trains that he has collected. He can't really carry a tune yet, but we love it when he sings songs for us.

We are so happy Sam is part of our family and we love him more than we can express.