The Perfect Saturday

We have about another month of Saturdays until swim meets start. It has been really nice to have a lot of free Saturdays.  Danny has usually worked on Saturdays and since he bought his new practice, we have had free Saturdays.  It is actually really nice!

We work hard during the week and it makes the weekend seem so nice and relaxing.  I have been working on our backyard a little bit.  I pulled out a couple of ugly bushes and it makes the backyard seem bigger.  I want to put compacted sand under the trampoline instead of dead grass and get a patio table for the concrete.  Clean and simple to maintain.  Danny has been really into buying fruit trees lately.

For a while we didn't know if we would end up in Brentwood or Walnut Creek and all of a sudden when Danny bought his Walnut Creek practice and I handed the decision over to the Lord to guide us I felt this incredible desire to stay in Brentwood.  I love my home.  The layout is perfect and the location is the BEST!!  With that said, there are minor things I want to change to make it easier to clean.  Wood floors instead of tile in the kitchen, new carpet upstairs, white cabinets in the kitchen to make it brighter and granite countertops.  I am not one to care much about the details of a home but there are a couple of things that I think will make it is easier to clean and make me happier.  My parents had white kitchen cabinets and they made me happy.  So those are the few things I want to do.  I kind of want to put in fake grass but I do love how real grass feels. I think if we had less of the grass, that will be my compromise.  I am all about simplicity.

Today we had a great Saturday.  Danny got up around 6am to help with the ward breakfast. The Elders Quorum did a great job and we had a lot of fun!

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We came home and cleaned up a little bit.  Then we decided to go to the Sacramento Temple.  The Oakland Temple is closed for about a year so we loaded up the kids and went for a last minute trip.  Tyler stayed home because he has been sick all week with a headache and off we went.  Danny and Scott were able to do baptisms and then I did initiatories after.  It was the perfect day.  Not too cold and not too hot.  The little kids had a great time exploring the temple grounds.  It is surrounded by nature and was a great day for them.

On the way home we needed gas and happened to be at a circle K so of course got hot cocoa and slurpees.  The kids got along, we got home around 5pm, grabbed some chinese and came home to Tyler feeling better.

It was a great day!  I am so grateful for the temple.  It is amazing how many blessings we have because of temples.  I love doing initiatories to be reminded of so many incredible blessings and the strength of our mind and body and what we are capable of.

The past couple of months I have been so inspired to reach a greater capacity.  I feel like the Lord has blessed me with health and strength and certain talents and really want to seek them out and do what He wants.  I have realized what makes me happy and what doesn't make me happy and so excited what the future has in store!

President Nelson blessed us with time to get to the temple and I saw that in action today.  I hope to get there once a month with our family.  It is amazing that Scott is old enough to do baptisms.  I know the more we incorporate Him into our lives, the happier we will be.

Danny's New Practice

Danny bought a second Walnut Creek practice Feb. 9th.  I can't believe it has been over 2 months now.  He worked at Steve's and always thought he would buy that one eventually but timing just wasn't right.  We saw the Lord's miraculous hand and timing in buying both of his practices.  It was so amazing to see.

When he bought his Brentwood practice about 4 years ago we were ready to sign a lease to build a practice.  I think we were signing it that week when out of nowhere a practice went up for sale just down the street from us and his former practice.  It was a MIRACLE.  It didn't have many patients but was way easier, cheaper and faster than building one from scratch.

Buying this practice was nothing short of another miracle.  Danny and I have felt for a while that he wanted to buy another practice.  While associating has its perks and is easy, Danny was more than ready to start building his own practice, not commute to Vacaville, etc.  He worked at a practice since graduating that he and the owner thought he would eventually buy.  The owner wanted him to work more days so he left his Vacaville job to just work in Walnut Creek.  Within about a month it turned out that the Walnut Creek practice couldn't financially sustain an associate.  This left Danny working at his own practice 3 days a week with no associateship.  The Walnut Creek doctor said it would just be temporary until his practice recouped from time off.  It was a great motivator to start looking for another practice.  We had looked at a practice in Walnut Creek for a couple of months but weren't willing to pay the price.  It seemed like the perfect fit to run alongside his Brentwood practice.

After a couple of months of having some downtime at home.  Time he got to spend with Hanna and the other kids was so nice.  He has pretty much worked 5-6 days since graduating.  After 3 or so months of working less days, lots of garage time and kid time, Danny was ready to work more.  The practice price negotiated to a price we felt comfortable with and we bought it.

There were so many doors that needed to close in order to be led to this amazing open door.  Another tender mercy was that he sold some stocks right before the market had a correction.  Like a day before to sell the practice.  Maybe a coincidence, but I look at it is an added little tender mercy.

It has been a great fit for him.  Of course his patients and the staff love him. Danny is really enjoying it. It is the perfect practice for his personality and to run alongside the brentwood office.  I am so proud of Danny.  It is amazing to see the calmness he has in running this practice. The things he worried about with his first practice are minimal with this practice.  He recognizes staff might adjust and that is ok.  He recognizes to look at the long term and to enjoy the journey.

Everyday I feel grateful that he has a profession he loves and is good at.  A profession that he can serve and provides for our family.  A profession that gives great balance with our family.  A profession that he is able to run how he pleases.  One of the greatest blessings in our life.  Excited about the future.

Now we need to get a website and social media presence going.

 

Poor Mister

Poor Mister was the victim of Blake shoving him off the tramp.  First I put on some ice and tried to close the wound with some steri-strips.  It was too big for that, and I considered putting in my own sutures.  But then I would have had to drive to the office, numb him up with one of my big long needles, and that would be hard since he'd thrash around.  So we took him to the Kaiser ER.

Heidi didn't want to sedate him but the doctor and I did.  I said, "It's hard hitting a moving target."  Eventually, they sedated him and the doctor put in six or so sutures.  I thought he'd do these nice under-the-skin ones to make for a better scar, but no.

Next time I'm going to do my own suturing. 

I remember Kim Rigby saying something to the effect of, "We haven't had a year without stitches or a broken bone."  She had four boys too. 

I was less upset at the accident and more upset at Blake for pushing him off.  I try to have conversations with the kids about how their bad reactions create real consequences for themselves and others.  I think Tyler felt bad about fighting with Blake to get Blake so upset. 

Mister was back on his bike later that night. 

Kira's baptism

Kira's baptism was nice.  She and Katelyn got baptized on 4/7/18 at the Antioch Stake Center.   Kira is a thoughtful, caring, athletic, good kid.  

Heather came with her family

This was our best attempt at at family photo.  Like I always say, a bad photo is better than no photo.  But whatev.  Next time. 

Grammy and Grampy came out from Utah

I don't think Dad was too impressed with the CB350, and that's fine.  It's not very powerful.  But you have to appreciate the work that went into the restore.

Rocky, the stray cat that's been hanging around our house, had babies behind the trash can! 

Grant and Shari came out to the bay area for a swim meet and made a trip up to us.  They joined us for din din.  Fortunately, I had made a huge roast in the crock pot.  It's always fun when they come.

Apparently doing this flower pattern with your tongue is a rare skill, one worthy of a post in Ripley's Believe it or Not. 

Heidi started working at Dana Hills this week.  It seems to be going well.  I like when she works but this year, with me working five full days, it seems like work is all I do.  But then when I had time off, I was going crazy.  I guess the grass is always greener.  Yesterday, even though I was feeling crummy, we had quite a productive day at work.  Lots of good cases with high profit margins. 

Okay, I gotta get breakfast going.  Bye.

The Success of the Journey

Scott lost the election to a 7th grade girl which wasn't a big deal.  He wasn't upset over it and I am so happy that he ran for office.  I hope all my children participate in school elections.  It is such a great experience to come up with a speech, campaign and help change the school for better in their message. Total success.  Scott is someone who would be happy with just 1 buddy. In kindergarten he had his 1 great friend, same through elementary school.  He hangs out in groups but is like Danny that he needs 1 good friend.  The election was an opportunity to reach out to different groups, different people and that is perhaps the greatest life lesson we can learn in life.  A lesson that can be hard for anyone, especially a middle schooler.  He can be overly competitive and all about the end result instead of the journey and I feel like this was all about the journey.  It came at an amazing time that our family was talking a lot about kindness and that was the focus of his campaign.  So proud of him, so proud of his growth.  One of the best things he has had the opportunities to do in 6th grade.  He already is talking about ideas he has for next years election.  Not sure if he will do student council or not for his elective. I think they have a meeting on Friday to go over electives but really wants to do jazz band which takes up 2 electives because you also have to do normal band so we shall see.

He is trying out for Jazz Band today and has been working hard on that.  Danny has been teaching him piano but it might be time to get a real teacher.  Scott has a hard time working through hard things.  Life generally comes pretty easy for him and when something is difficult he can get easily distracted or frustrated.  He would practice songs and then just play the parts that he got over and over and over again ignoring the parts he didn't get.  On the way to school today we talked about what he learned about himself as he learned the songs.  Recognizing how to get through difficult things was a point brought up.  Whatever the outcome I am proud of him for trying out.  I think he grew a lot as a pianist and person this past month.  He left a lot of it til last minute underestimating that it would be difficult which was a great life lesson. 

This is often the focus I take with swim parents.  So often they are focused on the end result of getting a certain time or certain place.  The placing is often out of the kids hands.  While it is good to learn to race, their success can't be measured on another's performance.  A certain time is often dependent on the journey so I think it is so important to not underestimate or applaud the journey, learn from the journey and grow from the journey.  He definitely grew from the journey of trying out which I hope he applies to life.  I think jazz band would be great for him so hope he makes it.  He needs something to help motivate and push him in piano.  If not this, hopefully we can find something else.  Maybe lessons or another group so we shall see. 

Hanna Ruth

Hanna is 6.5 months. I can't believe how fast the months have gone.  She is an absolute angel.  Sometimes people post that or say that about their baby, but she really is.  I have thought about what makes her the easiest baby.  Some of it is relativity.  A 6th baby everything is second nature.  You go to the store with a spare diaper in the car and the easiest thing is your baby.  Some of it might be I yearned for her and prayed for her and thought I would never have her.  She is a miracle.  Some of it might be that my last baby was born at a time when life was so physically and emotionally busy with being a caretaker for my mom and dad.  I think those things all attribute to the ease of her, however, she is just the best.  An absolute angel who I love being with and caring for all the time.  She sleeps though the night, rocks herself in her carseat, comes with me wherever I go and very rarely cries.  I am so grateful!  I love her so much!  She is just starting to try to army crawl to her destination which is usually a toy on the ground.  Not a baby toy, but something she can play with like a scooter wheel or nerf gun that a sibling left out.  She gives the biggest smiles.  Anyone who looks or smiles at her is sure to get a big grin back.  People just love it.  Strangers just look at her and are filled with her big grin.  It exuberates happiness.  I hope she has that in life.  I have thought about gifts and one thing that I am so grateful for is that I love being around people and generally love life.  Don't get me wrong in that I don't love the moments of kids fighting or piles of wash or cleaning my home for the millionth time.  Those moments unravel me but for the most part I am so grateful for life and the adventure of life.  I hope she has that.  For now, we are so filled by her.  Love her so much!  So grateful for our caboose.  Miracle from heaven.

Buying an Answering Machine

I have waisted countless hours (not exaggerating) of my life with both comcast and ATT.  Danny bought a second dental practice which needs the same carrier.  Unfortunately, one had ATT and the other Comcast.  After doing my homework and comparing the two companies we choose Comcast.  I was afraid they would cancel the ATT service before we switched the practice over to Comcast.  Everyone assures me that willn't happen.  I wanted to overlap the service for a week just in case they screwed up. Again, reassured that would never happen and isn't possible because the number has to be released from one to another.

Well, Danny went into the office and voicemail and call forwarding were cancelled.  Comcast couldn't set it up because their phone lines weren't in and ATT couldn't reinstate it because they had released the numbers.  I called one and they said I had to reach out to the other.  Neither could do anything.  A tech came to install Comcast and came too late to do anything.  He was rescheduled and didn't show.  The date was days away and when I tried to move it sooner, they couldn't do it because the other carrier would then push the date back a mandatory 5 more days.

It was CRAZY!  Nobody could help.  I was willing to pay.  I was willing to do whatever but they just blamed the other and said there was nothing they could do.

Well, I have had these crazy experiences lately that test my patience to the max.  Make me want to hit my head against the wall.  With people, with businesses, with doctors appts, with pool issues.  I step back and wonder if I am going crazy then I realize that I am praying for more patience and keenly aware I need to work on patience and recognize that these are indeed helping me gain patience amidst loosing my mind.

So after getting nowhere.  After managers managers want to help me but just can't because the account is frozen on both ends, I go online to look for an answering machine.  Office Depot has one but it isn't in the store.  In fact almost every company has them but only avaiable online unless I want a pretty expensive whole phone system.  After 5 simple minutes of looking Walmart can get it delivered to the store same day which was just a couple of hours left for less than $20...AMAZING!

Put in my credit card, they sent me a text and I just go pick it up at the desk.  So did I learn my lesson of patience?  Yes!  I learned that sometimes we have to think outside the box.  Instead of getting frustrated that there must be a solution, sometimes there is a much simpler solution down a different road.

So as much as my day was a total waste, spent on the phone with companies who were useless, I learned to not bang my head against the wall.  Not even loose my cool and just find a solution.  If only I thought of it right away, but then I guess I would have missed out on the important lesson of owning a business. Just get it done.  Think outside the box.  There is always a solution. Empowering I tell ya!