I feel immensley blessed. The bank I used to work for just welcomed me back two weeks ago. I was offered a full-time position as a CSR at the branch in Hayden. I started at the bank as the courier/mail girl. Then I was promoted, (thankfully!) to the Customer Suppport/E-Banking department. I loved that job. It was fun and challenging and from there I was able to learn about all the other departments of the bank. Then I became the lead trainer for that department.


When Evalie was born I decided to be a stay at home mom. That was the best desicion I have ever made. Now that I've returned, I see the people who I trained and I hear about the promotions that they have gone on to earn. My friend (who also works at this bank) commented that if I hadn't stayed at home with Evie, that I'd be one of the "Top Dogs" right about now. She wondered if it bothered me to come back and practically start over again. And, the answer is NO! I can always go back to work and pursue my career. But, I could never go back and have those three years at home with my children.


I have accepted that life is ever-changing and evolving and I have learned to just roll with it. I am so excited about this new development because I don't look at this opportunity as just 'a job,' or 'a paycheck.' At MWB there are so many opportunities for me to continuously learn about banking and work my way up what I refer to as the, "Food Chain." If this is what Heavenly Father wants me to do long-term I'd like to be a bank manager. My goal is to do it by the time I'm thirty. (My current manager is 29, and he started out as MWB's mailboy and courier, too!)


Shawn is still pursuing his career in law-enforcement. This Tuesday he has an oral board test with the Kootenai County Sheriff's department. His Plan B is to go back to school this summer and finish his A.A. degree and continue to test for other police agencies. Our children are blessed by having their daddy stay at home with them. The best part about it is that Shawn admitts he now understands why I was so frazzled and exhausted by the end of the day. It's kinda fun to switch places and see things from one another's perspectives. Holy-Moley, that's been a growing experience!!!

Short n' Sweet

Get your own Family Sticker Maker & MySpace Layouts.

We call him, Mr. Clean

Evan thinks that it is O.K to wash the dishes in his birthday suit!!!

Little Pink Snow Bunny

Church and Toddlers...is it worth it?

The infamous question many (if not all) parents ask themselves, every Sunday as they roam the halls with their noisy creations: "is it worth it?"



We had one of those days, today. Evalie is our little bundle of joy, and exuberance and craziness and energy and curiosity and well, I'm sure you get my point. Her volume is set to one level: LOUD. Ironically when she promises, "Mommy, I will be reverent" this plead is on full blast. Any amount of shh hing falls on cute little deaf ears. Then there is my son, Evan Thomas... it's like they are each other's batteries. They feed and grow off each other's energy.



Sacrament meeting, it's always fun. ha ha. My son lost patience early on, and thankfully my sister was able to take him out. Shawn was busy passing the Sacrament and this turned out to be a huge distraction for Evalie. Try as I might, I couldn't pursued (or even threaten) her to sit reverently, or even sit at all. When Shawn was close by our pew she would say, "Hi Daddy!" and because she didn't receive any acknowledgement, she said again unbelievably louder, "Daddy!!!" I lost the battle, it was time to retreat to the Fourier.




Let the races begin!




Tom thought it was super fun to have his sissy join him in the hall. Great, two against one. I wish I could have taken a video of them playing together at church today. It really was hilarious. They know Mommy is trying to quiet them down, which of course makes their game more fun. And, how can I discipline my babies when they are being nice to each other, smiling and giggling?



Evalie is now a Sunbeam...Yay! Unfortunately, she doesn't understand that in Primary we don't have snack, water and run around the room breaks. She loves singing time, and did a great job sitting in her chair and participating. You can hear her singing over the other children's voices. She sings out of tune and the wrong words, but who cares?! I think it's adorable. However, as soon as the singing and games stopped, Evalie lost all patience. First it was, I'm hungry, then I'm thirsty, and finally "Mommy, I have to pee!" At this point, we abandoned the idea of making it to her Sunbeam class.



So, I know that I'm not the only parent dealing with this, thank goodness. I'm getting thru it by reciting in my head the well-used phrase, "This too shall pass." Eventually, my kids will make it thru church and I will someday be able to attend Sunday school class. Then I will probably miss chasing my babies in the hall and wrestling with them in Primary. Whenever I think about this one of my new favorite songs, by Trace Adkins pops into my head:




"You're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back, you're gonna wish these days didn't go by so fast, these are some good times, you may not know it now, but you're gonna miss this."




So True.

Happy New Year!

I'm so happy that I was able to stay home last night with my family. I was on call at work and after working Christmas Eve and Christmas, I really didn't want to miss out this time. I work for Beehive Homes, an assisted living facility and I really love what I do.

I work the swing shift, so I'm not around when it's dinner and bed time. That is why last night was a huge treat for us all. I made sure the house was clean and festive and prepared a nice home cooked meal. We actually sat at the dinner table, which generally doesn't happen 99% of the time. Shawn and the kids usually microwave something and sit on the couch to watch cartoons during dinner. Sometimes Grandma will feed them. (Thanks Mom!)

Our family was too exhausted to stay up and welcome in the new year. That was until Evan decided that he needed a bottle at exactly 12pm. Daddy was the only coherent one, and after retrieving the bottle, gave me a very nice New Year's celebratory kiss. Thanks son!

Today Shawn and I are working, but I have had all morning with my kids. Evalie decided that she wanted us to rock the same hair-do. She calls it the, "Barbie and the Diamond Castle Princess hair!" She's so adorable.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope that 2009 will bring much happiness and prosperity to you and your families!

Our Winter Wonderland

Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope you are healthy, happy and feeling the love from your family and friends today. I know I am!

(...and Kudos to my hubby, he did a great job this year. I love my Pearls, babe and I Love You!)

"That's Hot."

So, This is what is left of our four year investment. Melted plastic and charred insulation. Two weeks ago Shawn was at a customer's house, cleaning their carpet when the machine suddenly came to a stop. He went to investigate and found our cleaning van engulfed in flames. Shawn grabbed a garden hose and quickly put out the fire. Thankfully, there were no other casualties. It could have been catastrophic because the van was parked next to other vehicles and the customer's home! I felt numb when Shawn called and told me the news. The rest of the day we felt like we were walking around in a fog. Don't worry about us though, we have full coverage insurance and so far we have been given the impression that we will settle on a fair number.

I'm grateful that my husband wasn't hurt. I'm grateful that I had been able to secure a good job just one week before this incident. Especially when the economy is in the porta-potty and finding a job, (and a decent one) is so difficult. And, I'm grateful that I did most of my Christmas shopping through out the summer!

Tree Scouting

On the search for the perfect Christmas Tree...


Found IT!

Watch out girls, this is Man's work.

Check back soon for pictures of our decorated tree!!!

So Much Going On...

Girls Night Out

My sisters, like every other girl, are addicted to Twilight. My Mom has read all the books and seen the movie, but she won't admit she's addicted too. I went along with them to see the opening of the movie, at midnight. Jeez, ya think I love my sisters? I have just starting reading the first book, and of course, I love it.

We look as white as the vampires in this photo! Right after snapping this picture, (before the previews had even started) the mini-manager came over to threaten to take my camera away from me. What a Goober. She doesn't understand that I must feed my blogging addiction.

I promised Cabin updates, so here we go.

My project. I felt so HGTV-like when I fixed and re-used this chandelier from Habitat for Humanity.

My husband installed a slate entry way. A big thanks to my brother, Jake for donating the materials! (by the way, he does amazing stonework if anyone is interested). The tree came out so the new carpet could be installed. We were greatly blessed to have a friend with Copper Basin Construction. They gave us a smoking deal on the carpet. Thank you so much Linda and Robert!
Still to come...a new door, kitchen counter tops and we are thinking about sanding down and re-staining the cabinets. All materials of course will be scouted out at Habitat for Humanity. What a great find!

The Newest Dunkee...

Luke Patterson and my husband Shawn have been friends for about eight years. They met and worked together at 24 Hour Fitness, both as personal trainers. Luke was baptized on Saturday November 1. 2008, in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. When Shawn joined the church five years ago I remember him telling me that he was so excited to share the gospel and see his friends and family convert. So far, Luke is the first. (And, yes they are standing next to each other. Think...David and Goliath, only instead of a rock at his head, we just dunked him).

Evan's 1st Birthday!

Mowing down his Birthday Cake.

Most of you have heard by now that Evan severely burned his hands on a wood stove. So, as you can see they are wrapped up and protected by his winter gloves. I was so sad that I wouldn't be able to strip him down and give him a piece of cake to go to town on. But, my brave little man made the best of the situation. As I am sure you can imagine, the entire family cracked into hysterics when he used his birthday present to push his cake all around the living room. This game lasted until Grandpa realized that this could (OK, most likely) cause a big slimy chocolaty mess. Party Pooper!

My Favorite Pictures This Week!

Evalie and Tori...Best Friends Forever!
Beauty vrs. Beast, we know who won this wrestling match!

Evalie and Uncle Tanner during Family Home Evening. These guys are inseparable! For the duration of our family scripture time they were in their own little world, reading aloud to themselves. Of course, these scripture stories were of their own creation.

My KidLitts

I have such beautiful children and I am addicted to taking pictures. Can you blame me? So my camera card is full of adorable photos that I want to put on my blog and create a theme around, but that is SO much work and I'm crazy busy right now. So....here's a picture collage of some of my favorite days.

My Monkeys

Remember the phrase: "Take a picture, it will last longer." So True.

Cutest produce in town!

Future Mike Delfino? (Desperate Housewives!!)

Lovin' on the gramps.

Evalie and Grandma sewing her "pink puppy bone" pillow. This girl loves the fabric store.

"Thumbs up for my awesome mommy!"

"What can make me feel this way? My girl, talkin' bout my girl!"

Our Cozy Cabin

Our little cabin is located in Athol, Idaho and sits on five treed acres. Yes, friends we are moving back to Athol. Just when we thought we had escaped. I guess we are just destined to be "Athols". Sorry, I know its a bad joke. I couldn't resist. :-)

Shawn and I are having fun picking out carpeting, paint and lighting fixtures. Tomorrow we are going to stop by Habitat for Humanity and find an inexpensive dining room light chandelier. The large living/dining room is really cool. There is built in shelving. Two walls and the ceiling are rough blue pine. And, all the windows and door ways in the house are trimmed out in rough blue pine as well. In the open doorway you can see part of the kitchen/laundry room. Its small and missing a dishwasher. But, I'm optimistic and I have a plan. I will train my husband to wash, dry and put his dishes away right after using them! Is that even possible...or am I just dreaming? Shawn would tell you that it comes equipped with a "two-handed dish washer, called The Wife."

This is a log that shoots from floor to ceiling in the middle of the room. At first I thought: "OK, this is a decorative feature, but what the heck am I supposed to do about furniture placement?" After our second viewing, and pulling out my measuring tape I figured it out. Now I actually like the tree. It has three small shelves in between the V of the branches that I am going to place candles on.

I am so excited to recruit my husband to put up Christmas lights! Can you imagine how adorable this place will look surrounded by snow and decked out in blinking red and green lights?

Just for the record, this will be our third move in 2008! Crazy. Hopefully some day we will buy a home and put down some roots. Until that day comes, I am going to enjoy our rental adventures.

Date Night

Friday night was date night at O'Malleys! The deep fat fried food was disgusting, the pool table and shuffle board cheap, and free soft-drink refills. We had a blast!



"Woo-hoo!!! Who are those hot blonds?"

Me, Megan and Lauren

After playing with the girls, Shawn declared it was time for a real man's game. Which means no women/cheaters allowed. Sorry babe, how else am I supposed to win... or even finish a game?

Best Buds

Being a Mom is a full time job. It is a very rewarding position and provides the very best benefits available, moments like these...



Puppy (not shown) love and wonder
My Backyardigans!!!
The Next Ultimate Fighters! Yes, my kids watch that w/us and play along with what they see! Other kids will think twice before they mess with my kids on the playground.

"These are a Few of My Favorite Things!

"Bacon and

'matoes, I don't really like those.... Jerky from Deer parts...

and Red Vine mustaches...

Ice Cream at Grandma's with marshmallow cream, these are a few of my favorite things...

When my dad hunts, there' s moose sausage and I'm feeling great!

"I daily remember my favorite things...and then I just ask for more!!!!"