An attempt at improvment

Part of our Sunday is now to include time set aside to blog. This is to help me prove to my family that I indeed still care about them. However, writing and correspondence has never been one of my strong points. So there is definitely room for improvement.

The following will be life from my perspective, since Angela tends to have a different point of view.

Work is going well, but presents its challenges. There is a large learning curve for me at this point. I wish that I didn't have to ask so many questions, or make the mistakes that I do. Despite my imperfections and rookie status, I continue to make progress and get a bit more responsibility little by little. I do believe that they are pleased with my efforts and my production. I like being able to interact more personably with customers in the loan department rather than the impersonal phone calls that took place in customer service. I like that bank holidays apply to me, and I get a decent amount of 3 day weekends.

Here at the home front it is a battle of wills. First there is Alma. He has a plethora of personal problems that he is dealing with, along with trying to fill in the shoes of his father in the plumbing business. It is frustrating seeing a business that was built in 30 years through hard work and sweat struggle. I think that the company will take care of it's workers, as long as they take care of it. At this point it seems like Alma just wants the business to take care of him. There are still many hurdles to overcome, but there are signs that this time his resolve to straighten his life out may hold true.

Working out the kinks of international communication never stops. Angela has the organizational skills to handle issues that she can control. One would be quite foolish to believe they could control Brent and Connie or the banks or the cell phone companies. The Bank and Cell phone company have just been block headed about sticking to their rules after Brent and Connie are gone, but when it came to making sure things were set up for them before they left, we have found they were less than thorough.

My optimistic theory includes everything, plumbing and rentals, being fine tuned just in time for Brent and Connie to come back and have to learn everything over again.

My pesimistic theory includes the walls of Jerico falling in on us all.

Just kidding. Now and probably not for the last time, Faith is what's required and not my negativity. I know Brent and Connie need to be on their mission, and the Lord will make it possible both here and in Mexico.

Raif walks, runs, falls, cries, eats, plays, poops, and grows. Though seemingly impossible, he is always doing all of those things. He is really fun to watch grow and change. I like coming home and knowing he is excited to see me.

Fast Mail Is up again

Dennis has finally cleared out room on his fast mail so that he can recieve mail again. We heard about the celebration for Grandma and Grandpa and we can make it Dennis is going to sign up for some time off of work to go (but we need to make sure that the date is a definate) He also is going to be taking some time off in July (a week) and we will be going to Wyoming to visit everyone (detail will be coming later).

January brings birthdya smiles

Christmas was fun. Dennis has that week off so we were able to just sit and enjoy the holidays. the biggest thing we got for Christmas was a wii nitendo system. It has been really fun to play. Our arms were sore the next day but after that it's not so bad. I would recommend it to anyone. After Christmas I went down to California to visit with my sisters for the New Year. Raif had an ear infection while he was down there and didn't enjoy it as much as I did. It was really fun being able to hang out with my sisters.
On January 5th Raif had his 1st birthday. So he got to be striped naked and eat cake it was really fun to watch him. He got some books, bathtoys, and sleeping clothes for his birthday. The last few days he has been walking on his own without the aid of the couches. He still gets really giggly at night just before we put him to bed and loves when his Dad comes home from work. He can now look at Dennis and say Dada but he still says that at a lot of things.
After Raif birthday we celebrated our anniversary by getting a babysitter and going to a movie. We saw Night at the Museum and I loved it. We'll probably end up getting it when it comes out on DVD. We'll that's all for now Love ya!

Update

Hey everyone
Things have been busy with Christmas coming so here's a quick update. Dennis is doing well at the Jerome branch. He's even got a desk and phone!:) Raif is feeling better and exploring everything. He's also started repeating many sounds that he hears and loves babbling as he moves around the house. Pepper loves the farm but keeps finding skunks uuhhhh! We think that we might be safe now that the winter has come but you never know. I'm busy with the businesses I finally have all the rentals rented out and the plumbing biz has slowed to a dull roar for the holidays.

The Milestone- Clapping

Raif hit a developmental milestone today, drum roll please, moment of suspenseful silence, he clapped. Yes today for the first time in our house Raif has clapped. I had been taking some extra time lately to show him how clapping worked and today he decided to try it himself. Of course the Saturday basketball game may have brought his curiosity to a peak. The final result- clapping. He has been practicing it all day. He gladly showed the ladies at Dennis' bank that he could clap and happily clapped them a goodbye.
Of course he is not always successful in his endeavor to clap.
But after careful examination he is once again on track and clapping his way around the house.

And Heerrrreeee's Raif!

Every morning at 7 AM Dennis and I are awaken by the sturrings of our son Raif. To share the joy of what we see in the mornings Dennis took this picture. Shortly after it was taken Raif asked for the keys to the car. How could we resit? I'm sure as soon as his feet can touch the pedals we'll hardly see the car again.



To hassen the event he has been

practicing his walking and has even started to stand by himself for seconds at a time.
He has also taken to pursing his lips while doing various activies-eating, crawling, standing and we suspect sleeping. At this time we are not sure wheather he picked it up from that play group that's been hanging around the park or learned it on his own but he looks cute enough for our camera:) He looks looks so cute doing it that Dennis has taken it up as well. The bank thinks that it is so funny that they have just encouraged him. I just keep telling him that it may stay that way if he's not careful.

I also thought that I would take this chance to post a picture of the painting Mom and Dad got for us before they left. The hard part has been figuiring out where we want to put it.

Happy Birthday Jen

We would like to send out a BIG happy birthday to Jen. we hope that you got everything you ever wanted. (Dennis and I were going to send by something tall, dark and handsome but apparently he's booked several months in advance).
Everyone on our side is doing great. Raif is getting over his ear infection and moving, moving, moving. I'll post some pictures later.

The finger and standing

We got a shot of Raif with his finger poised and ready to touch or grab whatever he can get. Lately, he climbs up the side of various object in the house to see what is on top of them. Then he'll stretch his finger out to grab the edge of various things (pens, paper, stuffed animals, important documents) pulling them to the edge so that he could get a better look at them. I've started to place various objects on top of the chairs so that he can explore. He is also getting good at pointing at pictures in books while we name them off.


One morning Eric wanted to see if Raif could do a cheerleading stand. Raif was delighted to help and pose for the camera. Later that day Dennis came home and decided to give it a whirl as well . Raif is getting to be quite the acrobat. Just the other day I had to tell him to stop swinging on the sprial staircase because batman was NOT going to mistake him for robin and ask him to join the "gang". Come to think of it maybe we should cut back his TV watching as well. Hmmmmmm

Raif's not feeling well

I took Raif to the doctor today because he was running a high fever. They found that he had an ear infection so now he is on medicine for it. He's been really tired lately. I put him down next to the couch and when I had come back he was stand next to the couch asleep. I should have gotten a picture of it.
Mom and Dad have headed off to the MTC. They say that they have been kept busy so they haven't had a chance to miss us yet. I said that it was probably a good thing.
There was another girl that quit at Dennis' work so he will be staying longer. He had a pow wow with some of the big wigs and they said that they have been very pleased with his work. They wished that they could have moved him on but things weren't looking good for that. On the bright side they gave him a $2 raise and said they give him an additional raise at the end of this year. Well that's it for our update today. I hope things are going well for everyone else!

Quick Update

Hey, Thought I would drop a quick note to let everyone know how we were doing. Raif is a crawling monster now and climbs up whatever he can. Mom and Dad are finishing up visits to the family so they are gone this week. They have next week and then they go into the MTC on the 30th. Since they will only be here for a week, they moved out of the main house and will be staying where Dennis and I were for the summer. Now Dennis and I are working on moving in and finding places for our massive amount of stuff. Toothbrush? check. Mouthwash? check. Clothes in closet? check. Honey what do you want to do with the remaining 2 drawers and dresser? So Raif has a new dresser drawer where we put all of his earthly possessions. Diapers? check. Sleeper? check. Books? check. As for the remaining spaces? Well I guess the world is our oyster now.Speaking of worldly oysters- Dennis has finally found out where he will be heading next. Thursday his supervisor called to tell him that he will split the next two weeks between the loan secretaries and loan processors. Then they hope to switch him over to Jerome where he will train a bit as a teller then get a shared desk job as a loan officer. In march the Jerome bank manager will retire and Dennis will move up a bit and get his OWN desk. Any time he talks to the "higher ups" they say that they have the long term in mind for him and that is why they want to make sure that he gets a lot of cross training in. So things are looking good for us. The bank has got "plans" for Dennis and we've got unused spaces. We're gonna need shades:)

Soldier Head Twist

This guy can turn his head completely backwards and see what's behind him.

Work and Raif

I have just finished my probationary period at the bank. From when I talked with the bank president a few weeks ago he said that the plan was still to move me to Jerome. Before that can happen they want me to have some teller training, spend some time with the loan secretaries, and get my loan officer training. So there is a plan, but it still feels like the end of the commute is a long way off. If management lies in my future, then the training, which is more than any other loan officer has ever had at the bank, will prove to be quite valuable. All in all, they are very pleased with the work I'm doing.

Raif had his doctors appointment on Friday. According to the doctor, he is doing very well with his developmental stages. He weighs about 15.5 lbs, which is about 15th percentile. However, for height he is in the 50th percentile. Basically he is skinny and tall.

He is getting up on his hands and knees more and more, but he still doesn't want to crawl very much. What he likes to do is stand up. He is usually quite happy when he is doing so. I tricked Angela by helping him get up in his crib. She thought Raif had done it by him self, but nonetheless it was fun to watch him play in the crib.

For Angela and I at times, the task of getting everything in order seems monumental. Meaning the bookkeeping, apartment managing, and house stuff. Part of the frustration stems from the fact that some things will just have to wait till Brent and Connie leave on their mission. The good part is that it is coming together, but just at a slower rate we would desire.

Slower Days

We are on to slower days now. Yesterday, we went on a steamboat ride up and down the snake river. Some brothers built a steamboat look-a-like and they give two hour tours. The ride includes lunch (or dinner) and everyone had a great time. If anyone comes to visit we'll try to spend a day on the river. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera but Isabella got some shots with her camera that I'll try to post later. Not much else going on. Tomorrow Dennis is off and everyone else will be gone so we're not sure what we'll do for the holiday. My guess is catch up on sleep.

August is Almost Over

OK I know I haven't updated in a while BUT August is almost over. So what does this have to do with not writing you may say? Well it means the end of the 10 birthday's, Alma's wedding and all the planning and clean-up involved, Mom and Dad's farewell (attended by all but 3 of his sister's, considering that he has 13 in all that's alot), Quincy has finally moved out, Alma has gotten rid of most of his non-working cars and at the first of this next month Dennis will be off "probation" with the bank and become a full bank employee. They have actually already started the paperwork for this. Something tells me they don't expect him to mess up anytime soon.Dennis is doing well in his job. It seems like every other day he comes home with a story about how they are very happy with his work. He seems to really enjoy the work and it sounds like he will really like working for this bank.Raif is sitting up really well and has been trying out his hands and knees (he's still working on crawling forward). His next doctors appt. is next week and he'll get is next set of shots. It took us a while to find a doctor and make an appointment.Alma's wedding seemed to go well. We had a treasure hunt to keep the kids busy and Saturday night we rented a projector and made a huge "screen" out of bedsheets to create our own drive-in movie theatre. Everyone seemed to have a really good time. Now we spend our time cleaning things up and packing up the house for Mom and Dad. We hope everything is going well with everyone else. Happy Be-lated Birthday Katie your card is coming.

Raif College

I finally got around to making a collage out of pictures I had taken of Raif when he was about two months old. Thought I'd post it

OK OK so we'll update!

Well around July 4th we had the Buhler Reunion. I got to get my groove on down in California while Dennis spent the week free and easy (and worked). Alma will be getting married Aug. 25th and I have been working on helping him put together his wedding and reception. So far the big things have been taken care of it just getting the little things put together.
The rentals are coming along. I'm drafting a new lease that I will have the renters sign in the coming months. I'm also working on a new system to collect rent so that I will not have to visit each rental each month. The new system will work through the mail and I'm working on adding an incentive program for paying the rent on time.
The plumbing business is coming together and I think that I've gotten it down. At least until I hit tax time:)
Raif is growing like a weed. He's sitting up better each day but loves standing the most. Since he can roll over on his own he has started sleeping on his stomach. At first he would wake up mad because he was on his stomach. Now he has started to get used to it and will actually spend awake time happily on his stomach.
We also replaced our digital camera so we can finally start taking more picture. It has some neat features where I can pick a color and it will turn everything else in the picture to black and white. We'll post more pictures (yes we'll be in some) later. Dennis says that he'll try sitting down and updating everyone on his job within the next couple days.

DENNIS GOT THE JOB!

OK I know we haven't written in a while but Dennis did get the job with Farmer's National Bank and we have been busy getting our schedules worked out. He is working in the Twin Falls branch. They have two ladies that will be leaving on maternity leave and he will be taking over thier job's in the customer service department. Then they will move him over to the Jerome branch for a little bit. Basically he is cross training in several different departments until they find his perminant postion. So far he is enjoying working for them and says that this job is just what he was hoping that he would get.

Raif has found his toes and loves to try and pull his socks off. He is also working on rolling over. He gets to his side but stops himself when he sees that he may end up on tummy (which he hates). He is sleeping better. He still gets up around 5 but we give him his pacifier and he goes right back to sleep until 7. (Great, considering we put him to bed around 7:30-8 with a sleepy feeding at 11)

I've been working on planting some grape vines along the back fenceline and getting the irragation system working. So far I have successfully flooded the borrow pit and driveway twice in an attempt to water the front lawn. Luckly, I hear that brown is the new green for summer lawns so we should be safe for this summer's lawn fashion. Still working on getting the weeds down and the fences fixed but one project at a time. They have also called me to teach the sunbeams in primary. So far the lesson have been easy like- I can do many things and I have feelings. Both which I could relate to. Maybe that's why they called me. Hmmmmm.

Job Update

Well I thought that I would give a quick update on Dennis' job searching. He's been sitting on pins and needles waiting for THE phone call. Friday Farmer's National Bank had him take a drug test and fill out paperwork for a criminal background check. Friday afternoon they call to tell him that he had passed the drug test (yea we were sweating that one for a while). Monday they called to tell him that Wyoming is one of the few states that keeps criminal records by county instead of state. That means that they have to call each county and find him records. Luckly he has only stayed in two countys. Today Dennis waited by the phone and monitored all internet use (since we use dial-up). At one they called to say that they were still waiting. So we are left still waiting (Dennis in baited breath so I hope it doesn't take too long) for THE phone call.

Pictures of Raif's First Feeding

Raif got his first taste of "solid food" today. We gave him some watered down rice cereal. At first he rolled it around and most of it got on him instead of IN him. For a while it was a battle between the spoon and the "Price is Right" on TV. Finally he started paying attention and searching for the spoon. Toward the end we just gave him the spoon to naw on.
He's still working on the coordination for it.

Pepper the Wonder Dog

Here she is jumping on the trapoline with Dennis. He takes the soccer ball on the trapoline with him and she'll spend at least an hour (or as long as Dennis can last) playing tug-o-war and keepaway. We uploaded more photos onto the flickr account. Click on the right to follow the link.