Bees game

We all went to the Bees game tonight with our free radio won tickets. We got to see a lot of scoring, the game ended up 15-7 Bees. Lots of home runs, lots of hits.

Jenn and I didn't get to see much of the game, as Emery lost interest in sitting still after the 2nd inning or so. We stayed till the 7th inning stretch though, and the Bee came up into our section. Emery was really excited at first, but really freaked out when we tried to get a picture with him. We finally got a picture with all the kids and Jenn. I think a few of the kids were more excited about giving him a high five than the actual watching of the game.

The promotion tonight was free kids meals, so at least the kids got to eat something. In the 6th inning Jenn and I got really hungry, so we split a cheesesteak sandwich that was really good.

Anyways, we had a fun time, and we regret that we can't do stuff like that more often due to the financial situation we're in.

Good Times

I sent off my border patrol paperwork on Tuesday. I received it about a week late because it had to be rerouted to the Beebe's house due to our change of address. The paperwork was time sensitive, and needed to be in Minneapolis by May 11. I rushed through it and got it sent out as quickly as I could. I took it to the Post Office, paid the postage on the return envelope that they had sent me, and paid the bit extra for delivery confirmation. It was supposed to be there today. I tracked it, and it says it was missent. I called the border patrol people who serve applicants with last names that start with F, and asked for an extension. I now have until the 15th. I hope that they actually know where my paperwork is, and that it's not just lost.

Today, I was listening to the sports talk radio station that I usually listen to, and they had a contest on called "Are they or aren't they" which they do everyday at 2:30. There is always a topic, usually one that has to do with whatever happened during the day, like "Teams the Jazz have lost to in a round 1 series" They give you an answer, and you say yes or know. I usually get out to my car after class as it's going on, but today they were a little late getting started. I called, and got in immediately. Today's topic was Major or Minor leaguers who got suspended for drug use while on a roster. I was second in line to get a crack at it, they keep going til they get a winner. It takes 3 right answers to win. The first guy bombed right away, so I got my turn. I ended up winning. I got Miguel Tejada (I believe he is a user, but he never got suspended) said no. Then Darren Daulton, who played quite some time ago, before drug testing got serious, I said no again. Finally, they named some no-name guy I don't recall the name right now, but I remembered hearing that he had a suspension. I won 4 free Salt Lake Bees tickets. We'll go out and have a fun night at the ballpark next week. It's nice to have the kids excited about something again. The past few months have been really rough.

Border Patrol Exam Results

I just got back the results from the Border Patrol Exam that I took 3 weeks ago. I scored a 98, which I guess is a pretty decent score. It looks like I might have the option to be able to work soon, which I will be very grateful for.

I only wish that I hadn't delayed testing for the Corvallis and Oregon City police tests. I might have already been through the interviews. But, if my interview had already happened, I'd be needing to take my fitness test about now, and I am in absolutely no shape for that right now with what feels like a pulled muscle in my right lower back. Maybe things will turn out right by accident.

I changed my preference from the southern border to the northern border near Washington. I've looked up a few forums so far and it looks like there is about a months wait between results coming out and oral board interview. I'll update everyone when I can.

Payson Canyon

We tried to take an afternoon trip up Payson Canyon for FHE yesterday. We got up there and the roads were closed off. We walked around and took a few pictures. Addie was overly dramatic after getting a few stickers stuck in her shoe (which I removed thoroughly). She was limping and not putting any weight on her foot at all, and crying a river of tears. We had brought soda, and I told her she wasn't getting any if she didn't put a sock in it. She made a miraculous recovery.

House finally recorded

So, it took forever, but our house finally sold. Since it took them an extra week or so, we had to go in and throw more money away, but at least it's over.

Lehi city decided to dig up our front yard last week, and it's still kind of a mess, but I guess it's not our problem anymore.

I'm still waiting to hear from Idaho Falls FD. I finished #1 after the written test, I passed the agility test with plenty of time to spare, and I thought I did just fine in the interview. My concern is that I will not have my EMT cert until June, and they made it clear in the application that current EMTs would have a significant advantage.

I just applied to take the test in Houston, and I'm going to be applying for Oklahoma City as well.

Moving on

We just about got everything out of our house today. Tomorrow we will be picking up a few computer chairs and a desk.

We're all sad to have to leave. The house is looking its age, but it's super clean for probably the first time in 10 years (the people who lived in it before us were slobs {takes one to know one, and believe me, they were slobs} and we didn't have a chance to clean it up very good before moving in.) The swamp cooler is operational, which would have made this summer fairly bearable, and the front room is looking pretty snazzy with the addition of the new blinds I put up in the windows. We did get out of a summer's worth of weeds I guess.

I've been sick for the past week and a half which hasn't made moving an entire house very fun. All the kids had something over the past 3 weeks or so, and Emery was sick the entire time. She's still really fussy because she's not used to being well, but things are slowly getting better.

I took the border patrol test today, I'm sure I did just fine. I realized that I have forgotten more spanish than I retained, but I'm pretty sure that I scored high enough on it to prove that I had been fluent at one time. I heard that the EMTs on the border patrol make quite a bit of money from one of the guys who was at the test, so there's a nice possibility I guess. Supposedly, it takes about 9 months to go from the initial test until graduation from their academy. Some of the things they talked about that will be job responsibilities sounded like they'd be pretty fun.

I was also called today by the city of Roseburg, and they want me to interview for one of 3 open positions. They are interviewing 19 people. Those aren't particularly good odds, especially for someone who flunked out of an interview already, and didn't even get invited back for another after acing the written test, but we'll give it a go anyways. My interview is on the 30th of this month, and I'm hoping that I took some valuable lessons from failing my first interview.

Tomorrow I'm driving up to Idaho Falls to test for their fire department. I'm hoping to do well there, it's probably the best situation for our family, nice smaller community, temple very close by, and BYU Idaho within driving distance so Jennifer can finish school. We'd really like to find somewhere that we can settle down, and Idaho Falls seems to have everything we need.

I'm going to be calling up the electricians union here in Salt Lake and see if I can get an apprentice position. It would take a while, but making it to journeyman would probably be pretty lucrative.

Home selling blues

Today on our way back from Jennifer's birthday dinner, we got a call from our agent telling us that the people who are buying our home don't have enough of a down payment to qualify for a mortgage, and that they are applying for a 3000 dollar grant so that they can still go through with it.

They've asked us for a 2 week extension, and it's not like we have much of a choice. We started emptying the house out on Saturday into a storage unit that we are renting. We've already gotten rid of Bailey and Addie's bunkbeds (sold on craigslist) and I just loaded the queen bed they were sharing into storage.

I guess we're putting the house back up, which means we're going to be spending lots of time keeping it clean, and who knows where we're going to hide all the boxes.

On the bright side, this gives me at least 2 more weeks to find a job that will be good enough that we can at least get by here and not have to move. The house is in much better condition now than it was the past 2 years, and it might be a pleasant summer with a working swamp cooler.