The Mortensen Family

Last I left you I had just finished an interview that didn't look promising...well I didn't get it. A couple of weeks later I had two other interviews, one with Bonita School District and one with Etiwanda. I interviewed with both on a Wednesday and on Friday morning I got a phone call from a principal in Bonita and he offered me a job. It was teaching First Grade and sounded great. I asked if I could have the weekend to talk to my husband about it because it would mean moving and worrying about what to do with my kids. Some pretty big decisions. He was hesitant but said he'd call later that day after his meeting with HR. So I piled the kids in the car and we met Todd for lunch and were driving around looking at homes. At about 3:30 I got another phone call from the principal and he said he was rescinding his offer. It sounded like I had a lot going on and there were lots of other people chomping at the bit for this job. I explained that I was already looking at houses and could I have until the end of the day. He said no, it was too late. I finally replied, "Well, my family comes first." and proceeded to cry the rest of the night, thinking I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. A couple of days later I found out that I didn't get the other job either. So here I am back at square one, not a job prospect in sight, and collecting unemployment. Last night we went to the temple and did sealings. I realized that my family is sealed to me and that's the most important thing. A job is just a job.  It's amazing the perspective the temple gives you. I have applied to a charter school that services homeschoolers, something I could do from home, and Etiwanda said they might be hiring when school starts the beginning of August. So here's to hoping!

 Carson (age 9): 

What is your favorite TV show? Power Rangers Super Samurai

What is your favorite movie? Monster University

What is your favorite color? blue

What is your favorite food? homemade macaroni and cheese

What is your favorite thing to do with Mom? not going shopping

What is your favorite thing to do with Dad? Dad dates

What is your favorite thing to do with your brothers and sister? play legos

What do you want to be when you grow up? a pianist or a soldier

Who are your best friends? Keaton and JY

What is your favorite toy or thing? legos

What is your favorite book? Bone
What is your favorite animal? jaguar

What's hard to do? homework

What do you love to do? electronics

I don't have many, but every once in awhile a good idea comes out. Here are two recent good ideas I've had and thought I'd share.
 Our job chart is just taped onto the fridge and the jobs are on magnets that move each week. One magnet is for Saturday chores and the other one is for daily chores. Though my kids don't like this good idea, I love it!

This idea came from my sister-in-law. These are scripture sticks and they are kept in a cup on the counter. Each night someone chooses a stick for how we are to study the scriptures that night. It gives our scripture reading a bit of variety. Yhe kids love the pop quiz and I love reverence reading (we all read in our heads). Thanks, Kathy for this great idea!

Owen's conversation with me: "Daddy's the best. But you're the boom boom." I must say, I kind of like being the boom boom!

Wyatt bought these sunglasses the other day so he could look like Psy. He's a big fan of Gangham Style!

Side Note: In Kohl's the other day Owen saw a big cutout of Justin Beiber and begged me to take a picture of him with the cutout.

Day 1: Grand Canyon
We went on a short walk on the rim trail of the Grand Canyon. It was beautiful, but I was a bit nervous. The guard rails weren't very guardy and my kids are very adventurous! But we all made it out safely. We enjoyed the sunset on the canyon and feeding mules some "wheat" that Emma picked.
 




Day 2: Slide Rock/Walnut Canyon Indian Ruins
After finally finding a place to park we walked about a mile in to the park and enjoyed a couple of hours there.  Next time I would spend a lot longer hiking up the canyon. It was beautiful. The slides were fun, but very cold, or so the kids said (I sat this one out). They even had fun making a canoe out of an old log.




The Indian ruins were pretty cool.  After descending 250 steps you get to look at and go into some old cliff dwellings. About half way through Owen said he had to poop. So I piggybacked him up all 250 steps (threatening him not to poop on me). After we got to the top I was so winded a stranger offered me some of her water and Owen said "Whew, I so tired".


Day 3: Winslow
We went to visit Grandma Paula and Grandpa Ted. They had some friends that took us on a really cool ATV ride ending at Sonic for lunch.






Then we went to Clear Creek and did some cliff jumping...well more like jumping off of a small rock that was 3 feet out of the water!


Day 4: Painted Desert/Petrified Forest
The painted desert was...well...not so painty. 

But the Petrified Forest was definitely petrified. I was complaining along the road that I haven't even seen any petrified wood yet and we turned a corner and saw a whole field of it. It was really cool to see all the beautiful colors. It looked just like wood, but felt like a rock! The kids had a good time getting their Junior Ranger badges.

 


Day 5: Carlsbad Caverns
This was my favorite spot of the whole trip. It was amazing. We descended 750 feet into the cave (Wyatt was very nervous the rocks were going to fall in on him), all the while with the kids listening to their interactive headphones telling them about the different decorations. They loved it and it kept them very engaged. Once we got into the cave we went on a tour of Kings Palace and then toured the Big Room. We saw lots of decorations such as whale's mouth, the royal family, the guillotine, lion's tail and a 7 foot long soda straw, and rock of ages. The kids got another Junior Ranger badge here. Later that night we went back to see the bats come out of the cave and come out they did! We saw about a thousand bats come out, circle a couple of times, and then fly over our heads to the nearby river for their nightly feast.




Day 6: White Sands
This was an amazing sight to see. Driving in the desert you come to a field of white. It looked like a bunch of snow up ahead, but it was sand dunes. We had fun sledding down. Well, I should say the kids had fun. Apparently their is a weight limit to sledding and both Todd and I exceeded it. Too bad it was so hot or we could've spend all day there. And the kids got yet another Junior Ranger badge!






 Day 7: Phoenix
We ended our trip with a bang...well more of a stall. Our car started acting funny coming into Phoenix so Todd dropped us off at the hotel and took it to the dealership. It finally conked out as he coasted into the service department. We were so blessed that it happened there and not in the middle of nowhere (which was basically our whole trip until Phoenix). So we got a rental truck and decided to go to the children's museum. It was filled with really cool things to play and do!

Emma playing the part of an orphan.

Emma performed in the play Annie. She had so much fun and was great on stage. She was an orphan and came on stage 3 times.  Once to sing the song "It's a Hard Knock Life" (which Owen sings quite well adding "for Emma" at the end), the second time was the song "Smiles" (which always gets stuck in my head). Then she came on in a party dress for a Christmas scene. All in all it was a great experience.