Visitors

Sam, Melissa, and Owen arrived to stay with us for a few weeks, while Sam is interviewing for residency. We will graduate medical school in May, and we are very excited to have the Blakes back in the Northwest. Vermont is way too far away, according to my point of view. We don't know exactly where they will end up yet, but wherever it is, it is will be closer, and that means I will get to spend more time with them. I can't wait. Until then, it will be great to have them in our home for a few weeks at least.

Capital Playoffs

David's football team, the Capital Cougars, are in the Washington state playoffs, and as we felt so bad about the Halloween game, we decided we should come and support him and his team on in the playoffs.  We came down early on Saturday and attended the Olympia gymnastics team practice.  Unfortunately, Dusty's work is currently short handed, and could not afford him the time to leave early to coach this year.  

He was feeling the itch to coach, and has been volunteering a little of his time to help coach at the evening practices in Lacey.  Surprisingly, it is only about 35 miles from us down the gym.  He is really loving the team, and feels like he can help them improve.  I always thought it would be fun to have my husband coaching with my mom.  They really do make a great team.

After practice, we had a little time to kill before the football game, so we went to Cabela's.  For those who are not aware, Cabela's is like the coolest hunting/fishing/anything outdoors store ever.  It is massive.  Dusty's company, Classic Accessories, makes covers for anything and everything outdoors, and they sell a bunch of their products to Cabela's.  Much of it is marketed under Cabela's brand, but they are actually produced by Classic Accessories, and Dusty helps with the packaging and marketing.  Here are some of their products on display at the store.

Boats made by Classic Accessories at Cabela's

The wild animal display.  This is the coolest display I have ever seen, they have animals from all over the Northwest, this is just a very small piece.

We then met up with Mom, and headed over the stadium for the game.  Capital played Meadowdale from Lynnwood, and it was a very exciting game.  At halftime, Meadowdale was up 7 - 0, and Capital had missed a number of 4th down attempts in the red zone.  Then in the second quarter, Capitol put it together and there defense did an awesome job of stopping Meadowdale, and then the offense stepped in and started scoring.  The game came down to the very last drive and the Cougars were able to stop the Mavericks and win the game.  Below are a few pictures from the game.  David is #13 on the sidelines.

Scoreboard showing a 14-10 victory.  Capital is off to Spokane next weekend for their next playoff game.  Good Luck Cougars!

The Votes are In

Boy, I will tell you, it is hard to be an elephant in a whole field of donkeys.  I am not sure the state of Washington has ever voted red in a presidential election.  It always find it amazing to watch the election results and know that the polls closed at 8:00pm, and that the state declared it's vote for Obama at 8:01.  I was not surprised, but disappointed as I felt like my vote wasn't even considered.  I knew however, that the local elections would be closer.  Unfortunately, I didn't win many of those either.  My wonderful state has voted to assist terminally ill people in committing suicide, and my county voted to increase the sales tax once again to over 10% to fund road improvements that we already voted on last election.  My state also voted in the same governor who spent all the money for the road improvements we already voted for 4 years ago on something else, along with all the other money in the state and more.  Obviously, more people in the state disagree with me because the things I voted for lost, but maybe this is my way of making my voice heard.

As far as the presidency goes, I may not have voted for him; however, he is now my president and I will respect him as the president.  Over the past 8 years, I was always frustrated with the people who bashed on Bush and disrespected him.  Now that the tables are turned, I vow to do my best to support him as the president even if I do not agree with all the decisions he may make.  We are fortunate to live in a country where we can and have the right to vote, and know that the results of the election are fair (for the most part.  At least we didn't have any recounts or hanging chads this year.)  I am glad that I voted, and even if the results didn't swing my way, my voice was heard.

Halloween and Visitors

Overall, our Halloween was a little bland; however, I did take the day off, and relax a bit.  We were planning to go down to Olympia, go to David's football game, and babysit David and Willie while Mom flew to Boston to pick up Sam, Lissy, and Owen; however, we changed our plans a little when David decided it was more fun to spend Halloween with his buddies after the football game than with his sister (I am so surprised!).  We instead stayed up here and met up with Mom and took her to the airport so she didn't have to ride the bus alone late at night.  

This also allowed us to pick them all up in the morning and avoided having to take large luggage, a car seat, and a tired 2 year old on a bus.  Overall it worked out really well; however, we did miss David's football game, which was disappointing as he got to play during the 3rd quarter, and all of the 4th quarter.  He made some great tackles, and we wished we could have seen him play. 

We did get to spend some time with the Blake family and enjoyed every minute, even when Owen woke up at 4:30am (time change from Eastern to Pacific time as well as day light savings was not a good combination).  We had fun playing cars, and catching up.  We attended church with Mom & Dad, and enjoyed a Sunday dinner, then the Blake's drove down to Corvallis to spend time with Sam's family, and we drove back up north.  We can't wait for them to come and stay with us during December.

WAMU Failure

On September 26th, I was privileged to switch banks to JP Morgan.  It is no secret that the financial banking industry was struggling, and Washington Mutual was no exception.  After a run on the bank the previous few days, the bank's assets were seized and immediately sold to JP Morgan Chase.  Not only are they my bank, but they are also a very large company in Seattle, and one of the largest clients of my company, Deloitte.

Typically, during a sale, an audit would continue through the end of the year, and that give the audit firm a chance to react to such a loss; however, due to the nature of this transaction, audit services through the end of the year, were not needed, and Deloitte needed to react sooner than they initially thought.  They announced to us in mid-October that they were trying to staff the other audit appropriately, and expedite some transfers to other offices, but eventually, they expected to separate about 8-10 people from the firm.

8-10 people in a firm of 135 or so is a big number, and I was preparing myself to be separated if need be.  Currently, the job market is not great, and is seems like a bunch of companies are laying off people left and right.  Overall, they decided to let 8 people go, and I was not included in those 8 people.  So for now, my job is secure, but I will miss those people whom I have previously worked with and hope the best for them.

Welcome to Primary

Out with the old and in with the new.  After spending about 2.5 years as the Young Women's Secretary, I have been released, and called to serve as a primary worker.  I have been assigned the 9 and 10 year old class.  It is a great class with about 8 kids who have lots of energy, and are excited to learn.  This year, we are studying the Book of Mormon.

I had forgotten how much of a foundation primary lays in teaching the gospel.  I have to remember that many of these kids are learning the stories for the first time, and beginning to understand the concepts.  The kids in my class are so smart, and ask as lot of questions out of curiosity (many that I can't even answer).  I am really enjoying the class, and Dusty gets to come with me to help with the kids.

General Conference

This weekend, we had the great opportunity to watch General Conference.  It is always great to hear the prophet and the apostles speak to us.  We watched the Saturday sessions, and Sunday Morning online, and then ventured over to Maple Valley to watch the Sunday afternoon session with the Sants.  Mom was also there with David, and Grandma and Grandpa also came over for a visit.  It was great to visit with them and share in the conference experience.