The summer went by at the perfect speed. I have felt rejuvenated since finishing school, and now I feel ready to jump into the next adventure: my career.
Two weekends ago Dallin’s cousin got married up in Boise. We drove up to join the Urness clan, and I had such a fun time getting to know the extended family better. It was 107 the day of the wedding, which no one expected, but Dallin and I agreed that we would love to live in the beautiful state of Idaho close to Dallin’s cousins. During the drive we listened to the entirety of Where the Crawdad Sings and got to meet with some of his old mission friends in Northern Utah on the way back.
This last week-and-a-half I have been busy with my new job as a school speech therapist. It’s been mostly trainings, but I’ve also had days in my new speech room getting ready for the kids to return to school this following Wednesday. The school mascot is the Vikings, and I already had a bunch of Scandinavian decor ideas saved online, so I got to work making the little classroom my own. I even designed and printed digital watercolor prints of the maps of some Scandinavian countries, and I made a poster saying “Welcome to Speech” in full Viking style.
Nannying has involved some rather unfortunate events such as:
- After getting paint in her hair, one child asked for privacy while she bathed. I agreed but said she needed to keep her older in the bath with her and keep the door cracked so I could hear them chatting and know they were safe. Well after a while they called my name to reheat the water, and low and behold they had colored the entire tub and themselves with Halloween face painting pastels. I had to cover the entire carpeted hall with towels, wrap them up and have them go downstairs to the basement shower to clean up. After 20 minutes in the shower they said they couldn’t get it off so I gave them several dish rags to scrub their skin with. Then I got to work cleaning the tub. A bottle of toilet bowl cleaner, some laundry bleach and a whole container of Comet later, it was finally clean. It took hours.
- This weekend I walked way too far with the kids to Winco so I could get the last ingredient for their dinner, only to find out Winco doesn’t accept credit cards. After watching me get frustrated at the ATM because I couldn’t manage to pull out cash, this really nice guy offered to buy the ingredient for me and wouldn’t let me Venmo the $3.30 back to him in return.
- After Winco I was cooking and distractedly poured water and rice into the family’s InstantPot without the pot, instead into the electricals.
- The next morning the two big dogs got into a fight and I was scared to death as I straddled the back of the aggressor trying to pull her by the collar as she latched onto the face of the other. It took a full five minutes before I was able to walk the two of them backwards while they kept fighting and push the aggressor out the door. I was pretty hysterical all day. Luckily the only thing that happened to me was a tear in my pants and some scratches and bruises on my leg, probably from their nails when I intervened. The mom of the family said she is going to rehome one of the dogs now.
- Funnier was when we were shopping and the younger girl saw the grape juice and exclaimed, “Yum! Blueberry milk!”
Other than that, summer has involved a lot of random fun things here and there. My sister Liv moved up here since returning from her mission in Croatia and Serbia. Together we have volunteered at a cat rescue lounge, been workout buddies, and made family dinners. Her lease for her summer apartment expired but she can’t move into her new place for a few weeks, so for now she is living with me. I picked up a $40 mattress from Facebook Marketplace and turned the office into a temporary bedroom.
I have also spent more time with my sister-in-law Kaeli! She is a gardening wizard, and yesterday she made a delicious but VERY spicy soup with the veggies from her garden. We went with Cooper and our friends Anna and Louis to attend Salem Days and got caught in a downpour during one of the most impressive firework displays I have ever seen. Earlier this summer she invited me to go to the reservoir to chill out on floaties, and we held ourselves onto the “No Wake Zone” buoy until we were red as tomatoes while we talked about life.
Of course, I have to share pictures of my cute kitties:
