Hey Family of Ours, You've Been Added!

Just so you know, we've added your email addresses to our monthly newsletter for the bakery. We thought that way you'd know what's going on with us and the business! Don't worry, if you don't want to get the emails, you can unsubscribe and our feelings won't be hurt!


And for anyone else not in our families who would like to receive monthly emails about what's going on at Great Harvest, you can join our email group at our website.

I'm a Real Mom Now!

I guess we've hit another milestone. Sam woke up Thursday night/Friday morning sick and throwing up all over. Besides baby spit-up, he has never thrown up before. So he and I were up for a few hours cleaning up vomit, cuddling, and watching Bravo. He was cute and sad. He said that he burped and it got messy. Somehow I managed to clean it all up without throwing up myself! I don't know which I'd rather do--clean up vomit or kill spiders--but I guess both are a part of motherhood.

I was pretty tired the next day at work. It always seems to happen that the nights I decide to stay up a little later than usual, Sam decides to wake up at odd hours of the night. And now his hours are a little messed up, and this morning we've been up since 3:30am. After Christopher left for work, he walked into our room wide awake and wanting to play. I don't know how Christopher gets up that early every morning because it makes me so tired! At least work starts two hours later on Saturdays, so maybe I can take a quick snooze before I have to go.

I'm so Glad When Grandpa Comes Home (to our house to visit)

Grandpa Brett came to visit last weekend, and it was so much fun to have him here!

We visited Snoqualmie Falls. Dad, you guys will have to take the same drive we took to get there. We went on all the small highways through lots of small towns. Very scenic.We visited Pike Market Place. I don't know if you can see the fish hanging down very well, but it was a Monkfish...google it to see better pictures. It was being held by a string, and the people behind the counter pull on it to make it move to scare people. Sam and I basically jumped out of our skins! Ewww...I really don't know how people eat seafood!

We got a year pass to the Seattle Aquarium. Sam liked the jellyfish and the otters best. Some of the fish made him nervous.


Grandpa brought a few presents for Sam...

and he brought a couple Wii games for us.

By the end of the visit, we had all played hard, and crashed hard.

We love visitors! And we've been exploring more so we actually know more cool things to see and do! Come anytime!

P.S. We just cut Sam's hair after this visit. It looks so much better now! And he actually sat still for almost the whole thing!

Happy Mother's Day

This song is dedicated to Grandma Claudia and Grandma Valerie!

We love you a bushel and a peck!

Blog Designs by Dani

My friend Danielle is amazing and talented in so many areas. She has started a new blog with background designs, and I wanted to share it with everyone. Go here to check out her cute backgrounds and easy instructions!

Sunday Drive

Sunday we went for a little drive to explore the area. We drove out to Deception Pass, had a picnic, played by the ocean, and then took the ferry home from Whidby island back to Everett.



Sam's favorite parts were throwing rocks into the water, finding the bunny, and the ride home on the big boat. It was a fun afternoon!

Taiwan's Super Idol

I just realized that I keep blogging about all the American Idol copycats around the world, and I don't even watch the real American Idol (...very much. I just like to know who gets kicked off even though I don't watch them sing).

So this may only be interesting to a couple of my sisters or high school friends who actually know Benji. We went to a year of jr. high and all of high school together. I wouldn't say we were friends...mostly just friendly acquaintances. But now we are Facebook and blogging friends, and I enjoy watching his progress on Taiwan's Super Idol. Here's a clip of him on the show:



I don't understand most of what is being said (I do understand "thank you", but that's it), but it's fun watching him every week. He always posts a link to his performances on his Facebook page, so go be his friend if you want to follow along.

The Real Reason People Read this Blog

Most people read this blog for one reason: Sam. For our many friends and family who live far away, here are some pictures of our cute little man. He's growing up so fast!We were so sad the other day when he finally starting saying "alligator" instead of "evigator." We miss all the old ways he used to pronounce words, like these ones, for example:

• wan-gun-gun (motorcycle)
• kun (car)
• snuggin (snuggle)
• teet (tweet)
  

We like to tease him and ask, "Sam, will you snuggin with me?" And he always says, "No Mom, snuggle."

He is growing so fast. Many of his new clothes he got for Christmas are already getting sort of small on him. His fat little brick feet are too big for his sandals and church shoes. He's tall enough to climb onto the counters and get into cupboards, or to reach all the cookies and muffins at work.
He loves to play pretend. His favorite things to be are race cars (specifically Lightening McQueen), a dog, a baby fish(when he's in the bath, I have to go "fishing" to get Sam out of the tub), and a bird. Sometimes when I wake him up in the middle of the night to use the potty, half asleep in his little tired voice, he says "tweet tweet." He also likes to get under the covers on "the big bed" and pretend to fly an airplane. His favorite destinations are to Grandma's house, Dad's work, and Paris.

And speaking of Paris, it's been so fun teaching him bits of French. Our neighbor across the hall is from France, and it melts her heart when Sam says "bonjour" or "au revoir" to her. His counting is great! And when he sees snails, he calls them escargots. And especially when he doesn't want something he'll say "non merci." So fun!

Here are some of his favorite things:

• Food: hotdogs and cheerios
• Blanket: his green blanket that is falling apart. The blue one my mom got him as a spare for her house is in second place
• Book: Winnie the Pooh
• Toys: his 3 favorite cars: Lightening McQueen, Doc, and Mr. The King
• Song: The Wise Man and the Foolish Man
• Game: running away from the invisible alligators and baseball
  

About a week and a half ago, the fire alarm went off at our apartment complex. We had already put Sam to bed, so we had to get him up, put on some warm clothes, and go outside. The fire trucks and fire fighters came, and Sam thought it was the coolest thing ever. He still randomly jabbers off about that whole night. I think he dreams about it too because that'll be the first thing he talks about when he wakes up.

I love his prayers. We get him up twice each night to use the potty, and every time we put him back down, we have to say a prayer. He prays for Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, the missionaries, the other missionary (we think that's his Uncle Jordan he's talking about), Tigger, Piglet, McQueen, fire fighters, airplanes, birds, rocks, his blankets... Sundays we usually get to church a little early so I can prepare stuff I need for singing time in Primary. Sam likes to get up to the podium in the primary room and give talks. They always start out "Brothers and sisters..." and end "In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." After sacrament meeting he often runs up to the stand and gives some more talks. Maybe he'll be weird like me and actually enjoy public speaking.

We love our little man! He's such a sweet and happy boy. It's so fun to watch is little mind at work. What a joy it is to have him in our family!

Keep Pete in Your Prayers

This was my sister's husband. Please keep him in your prayers. And always remember to wear your helmet!

Keep em coming Susan

If you thought she was good in the last post, check out this one.

Britain's Got Talent

Click here for an amazing video. I think it speaks for itself!

Happy Easter!

Blogging in My Sleep

Hopefully I'm not the only one who does this--maybe I'm just crazy. When something interesting is going on in my life, I spend time thinking about how I will blog about it. I come up with a title, and then start thinking about exactly how I will explain my story. I eventually try to actually type it all out after I have it all outlined in my head, though many times it never gets written. I don't blog all that often compared to some people, but I sure do it a lot in my mind.

The other night I was dreaming about something exciting--I don't have a clue what it was about, but I do remember that it was exciting enough to be blog-worthy because I started outlining it in my mind in my sleep. I have been known to sleep talk and sleep walk on occasion; that would be really interesting to read how my sleep blogging would turn out.

No More Diapers!

Several weeks ago we were coming to the end of the package of Pull-Ups, and we had two options: buy a new package that we would likely only use a portion of, or just stop using them cold-turkey. We're on a pretty strict budget, so we decided that occasionally doing laundry was cheaper than paying for Pull-Ups. He's been staying dry during the day and during his naps for months; it was just going through the night that we were worried about. So we are waking Sam up once around 11pm, and then again when Chris goes to work at 3:45am, and we've only had a couple accidents! He's such a rockstar--a totally potty-trained rockstar!

We witnessed proof that Sam is listening to us! While watching one of our friends' kids the other day, Sam was getting after the little boy when he was doing things he wasn't supposed to be doing, like pushing the buttons on the TV, opening the fridge, and throwing the ball in the house. Now if Sam would just listen AND obey, that would be fantastic!

And speaking of Sam and pushing buttons, the other day Sam was pushing buttons on our remote and somehow ordered the movie Twilight from the On-Demand menu! He cost us $5.00! He is no longer allowed to touch the remote.

Happy Anniversary!

Be Loose, Have Fun, Give Generously to Others, Bake Phenomenal Bread, Run Fast to Help Customers

That is our motto at Great Harvest. We're working hard to meet each one of those points. We're trying to get creative with our marketing to help the community realize how yummy our food is and how good it is for your health. We just wish the economy would turn around already, but realize that it can't change overnight.

We broke down and finally fired one of our employees yesterday with whom we had been having issues since we hired her a couple months ago. We hope her performance didn't deter too many customers. In our time as owners, we have only had to fire one other person. We still have three employees who have been with the bakery since the previous owners, and two girls we hired who are doing great.

April 1st was our one year anniversary of owning our business. The time has flown by so quickly! We have learned so much, and are starting to feel like we actually know what we're doing. I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again: this has been such a huge learning experience!

This was the little gift our cute employees gave us for our 1 year anniversary.

Parade of Homes--Everett Style

I've been working as a leasing consultant at our apartment complex for about four months now. It's a good job, pays OK, and the best thing about it is once my workday is over, I don't have to think about it anymore (unlike teaching or owning a business which require constant thought and effort). I enjoy interacting with our residents and meeting new people.

A few weeks ago we did our annual all-apartment inspections to make sure there were no major maintenance issues that have gone unnoticed or unmentioned. I was excited to go inside each apartment and see how people have decided to decorate their little homes. It was going to be like the Parade of Homes, or something. Well, it didn't quite turn out the way I had imagined...and how really could it have been? We're just in small apartments where all the walls are white and the floor plans and appliances are basically the same. Yes, there were some with nice furniture, but I was surprised how sloppy and messy many people are! Also it was interesting to smell how different each apartment and each floor was. For a few I had to hold my breath because it either smelled like tobacco or alcohol, or even worse, cat litter. One apartment was so bad that we ended up kicking the guy out: there was poo from his cat, vomit in the bathroom, and junk and trash all over the apartment. In another, we could hardly walk because the counters and floors were piled up with trash with a narrow path throughout the apartment. We had to ask them to clean it up so we could come back and do the maintenance checks.

Something I have realized since working here is just how grateful I am that I haven't ever done anything stupid to screw up my life. We get so many people applying that have evictions, really bad credit, or criminal issues in their past that keep them from getting approved. Being dumb and irresponsible will follow you and limit your options for basically your whole life, and it's pretty much impossible to get stuff like that off your record. So everyone out there in blog-land, be smart and play it safe. Like the hymn says, "Keep the commandments, in this there is safety and peace."

One more thing I've realized since working at my job is that I have no self-control. OK, really I've known that for a long time, but it's still a problem I'm trying to overcome. I figured that since I would no longer be working at the bakery regularly that I would lose a few pounds since I wouldn't be surrounded by so many tasty treats. Well, now every time I drop Sam off at the bakery with Chris, I grab all my old favorite treats. And then I go to work, and there is a candy jar that sits on my desk, and a plate of cookies near the front door. I can't help myself! The candy isn't even my favorite stuff (until recently when our manager bought some of the Reese's Easter candies...I'm in big trouble!), and the cookies are dry and hard--nothing compared to our Great Harvest cookies! Yet I still eat them. If it's in front of me, I eat it. For dinner the other night we had tacos, and I accidentally put on way too much hot sauce. It was killing me, but I ate it all anyway because it was in front of me! I think the reason I've never in my life been offered drugs, alcohol, or tobacco is because if I tried it, I wouldn't be able to resist it. Ah jeeze, I have a problem!

So there you have it: a pretty random update about me and my job. Stay tuned to an update about our bakery!

Sixth Picture Tag

OK, I know most people have already done this, but I'm just a little slow. So here's my 6th picture from my 6th folder:I believe this was after Caleb's baptism, and a bunch of us went bowling. Eliza and I had the pregnant-lady-power and beat everyone else (if I remember right). Good times!

Open Invitation

Attention all friends of ours living in Washington!

Now that we have cable, it is much easier to watch General Conference (last time our internet connection wasn't very good and we missed a lot of it). So we invite anyone who wants a place to watch it to come on over! Kids are welcome to play with Sam in his room if they get bored. Just give us a call if you're interested.

My Thoughts on the Economy and the Lessons We've Learned

Becca sent Chris and I a link to this picture today. We thought it was pretty funny, but true. We've joked around with the idea of pulling on people's heartstrings by putting pictures of Sam around the bakery with signs that say, "buy our bread or this little boy will starve!"

It's a crazy time right now. A year ago Chris and I were getting our business started, and we were so excited about this adventure we were about to begin. We felt like we were guided to this opportunity and that it was the right move for our family. Little did we know how bad the economy was going to get. What a rotten time to take over a business, right?! We knew it would be hard, and that we would have a lot to learn.

At my other job at the apartment complex, I had my 90 day review where normally I would be offered a raise if I were doing well. Well, I received a really great review, but the wages and salaries for all employees in the whole company are frozen, so no one will be getting a raise for the time being. Instead, I got a $25 gift card for the movie theater for which I am grateful because Chris and I NEVER go out But still, a raise would have been nice too.

At work I talk to so many people who are out of jobs, can't pay their bills, can't find a place to live because they have lost their house or have declared bankruptcy. I hear friends and neighbors who work for Boeing who are at risk of losing their jobs while they are continually laying people off every month. I don't like to watch the news anymore because it is just so depressing.

So what are we doing here? We know we are where we are supposed to be. We felt inspired to take on this challenge. We are working hard to make things work. We figure if we can weather this storm, than we can make it; only the strong will make it.

In the meantime, we're asking God what we are supposed to be learning from these experiences; we're trying to understand what wisdom we can gain. Well, for one, our family has learned how to be frugal. We have realized that we can live on a whole lot less than we thought. There are so many little costs that we have managed to reduce or eliminate. We have learned to be better at making and keeping a budget. We've learned to enjoy playing the coupon game. If only we had been this frugal from day one of our marriage! We could have been rich!

We have learned how to run a business. We've learned about marketing, branding, bookkeeping, interacting with and training employees, customer service, hard work, and so much more. In addition to that, we have learned to work together--Chris and I make a good team. We're happy to announce that working together has only brought us closer. Being away from our families, we have learned to rely on each other and help each other out more than ever. Our little family of three is closer and stronger than ever before.

We have learned that debt is an ugly ugly thing, and it should be avoided at all costs. I never want to be in debt ever again!

One of the biggest lessons we have learned is just how much we are loved and supported, and how much people want to see us succeed. From that support, we have also learned the wonderful gift of generosity. We have received so many kind and generous acts--you know who you are. We hope to one day be in a position financially to help out other family members, friends, and strangers. The previous owners have taught us that money is just money, but what is the most important are the people you love and who love you. They are the most caring and generous people I have ever met, and I hope to be just like them one day.

Life has been throwing us big juicy lemons, but we are trying hard to make a delicious lemonade. We are looking for the good and trying to help others in any way possible. We realize we are not the only ones feeling the affects of this economic situation. There are a lot of people who are in a lot worse shape than we are. I think we can all learn a little from where we're at right now.

Snow Day in Everett

Monday morning I had some training for work down in downtown Seattle. On the way down, the radio started listing the school districts with late starts or school buses cancellations because of the snow. I thought it was so funny because it hadn't even started snowing yet! What wimps! (Before I move on with my story, can I just say how much I dislike driving to Seattle. I always get lost! I took my exit about 40 minutes before the training was supposed to start, somehow I ended back on the freeway, got off again, wandered around the Space Needle area, found the freeway again, and arrived at my meeting at 9am exactly. Grrr... Unfortunately I have to venture down there again next week. I'm hoping to catch a ride with someone) Anyway, on the way back to my meeting, the snow had still not started yet. I passed a sign that said Lynnwood 8 minutes, Everett 39 minutes--normally it takes about 10-15 minutes between the two. I figured the sign just hadn't been changed from the morning traffic. Boy was I wrong. As I was passing through Lynnwood, the snow started dumping which haulted freeway traffic to about 5 mph. It took me forever to get home.

Back in Everett, the snow was coming down like crazy. There were cars stuck off the side of the road, right on the road, everywhere. It was like going through a maze passing around all the stuck cars just trying to drive home. I generally don't mind the snow, but when it effects sales at the bakery when everyone is too scared to drive, I get really frustrated. It's also hard when our employees call in saying they can't get to work because of the snow. Since Mondays are our slowest day at the bakery and the snow wasn't helping, we decided to close the store early. I went back to work downstairs at the apartment complex, and Sam and Chris walked to the bakery to help close the store for the rest of the day. Chris sent everyone home, but then the sun came out, and the store started getting busy again, so he and Sam manned the store.

Chris was trying to help a customer when Sam started yelling, "Dad! Poop! I need to go poop!" So he had to ask the customer to wait a minute while he ran and sat Sam on the potty. Chris came back up to finish ringing the guy up when Sam waddled up to the front of the store with his pants and underwear around his ankles. Luckily the customer was a regular and just laughed. I would have been mortified if that was a new customer's first impression of our bakery! After that Chris called me and asked what we should do. I left work early so I could go help Chris wrangle Sam and help out at the bakery. Washingtonians aren't afraid of driving in a little bit of rain, but freak out in the snow! We're hoping that was the last snow day of the year.