LIFE CHANGES: milestones and passings

It has been a while since my last entry.  Why did I decide to resurrect my blog now? The reason is two-fold: first there have been some major changes in my life recently, and secondly, people that I love and adore (Dick and June Elder) have moved far away and it seems like the best way to share my daily life to keep them in the loop.

First major change: I have become a grandmother!! My oldest child Rachel had a little girl, "Evelyn Rose" on July 12.  I got to fly to Rigby Idaho and stay with her for 3 weeks after the baby was born.  It was too fun!!  My son-in-law Nate finished off a beautiful bedroom and bath downstairs in their house for me, so it was just like being at home. I got to play with Evie every day, meet all of Rachel and Nates friends, walk their dog Odie, decorate my bedroom/bath, do some gardening, feed the horses over the back fence, see a lot of Becca who lives in Rexburg, Idaho, ride a bike occasionally, and help entertain our whole family and Nates family who arrived for Evie's baby blessing- all the things I like to do!

Chuck and I celebrated our 25th anniversary by taking a cruise to Alaska.  It was a very fun trip, we saw lots of glaciers, whales and beautiful scenery.  We canoed up to the face of a glacier, we went 4 wheeling, we did a 22 mile bike ride on a tandem bike, lots of sightseeing, and shopping.  On board we did a lot of eating, working out in the ship's fitness center and went to shows nightly. But mostly, we just really enjoyed one anothers company.

Over the summer I was released as a seminary teacher after 5 years, which has been a major life change.  I no longer have to get up a 4:45am every day to shower and get dressed in Sunday clothes to be at church by 6am to meet a class full of teenagers. Nor, do I have to spend 2-4 hours a day preparing a lesson about the gospel to present.  I am enjoying sleeping in, and the extra time I have on my hands, but I have lost a sense of purpose and part of my identity.  I was given the new calling of Sunday School teacher for those same youth, which is a blessing- because the best part of the job is getting to know those kids. I just love teenagers and enjoy their company.

Sadly, one other major change in my life is the passing of my dog, Kobe.  He is pictured with me at the top of the blog.  He was my constant companion, my best friend for the past 10 years and my business partner for the past 4.  Two weeks ago I took him to the vet because he wasn't eating well and found out that he had lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes) and it had already spread to his blood stream and bones by the time we knew he had it.  We started on Chemotherapy within the week which was successful in shrinking his lymph tumors almost overnight.  But within a few days the bone involvement was such that he started getting microfractures in his bones that were so painful for him that we had to make the agonizing choice to have him put down.  2 weeks after his diagnosis he was dead. I am devastated.  There is a huge hole in my life and he is sorely missed by our whole family. I started my business because of Kobe and without him, it makes it very hard to continue.

I am also missing my mom and dad and best friends Dick and June Elder who have recently sold their house here in Bellevue and moved to Draper, Utah. They completed our family- they were there to share every trial and triumph, gave counsel, support and unconditional love.

Fortunately, through all of these significant life events I have had Becca home on break from college to support, encourage and entertain me. Somehow she keeps me sane. Soon she will be leaving to go back to Idaho for an internship in graphic design working at a hospital in Blackfoot until school starts up again in January. She is anxious to get back to her life and new challenges.

In contemplating the saying "when God closes a door, he opens a window", I have wondered what the recent losses in my life bode for the future.  What opportunities will open up because of, or in spite of recent events- a job change? spending more time in Idaho and Utah with my grandbaby and Dick and June?  Time will tell.

Back from the dead

It has been over 2 years since I have posted any thing new on this blog. So much has changed- for one thing Jared is now 16  and literally 2 feet taller.
 He has started dating and driving (both scary!).

Jared has obtained his Eagle rank in scouting!! We are so proud of him (and soooo glad it's finally done). He did a free electronics recycling event in our community and collected over 12,000 lbs of computers, monitors, TVS, etc. Jared is now a junior in high school.

BOYS RULE AND DOGS DROOL

Our household has been taken over by members of the male persuasion. With the girls gone I am living in a male dominated world. We have had a 12 year old boy named Ian Bowlin living with us for the past 3 months, which has helped increase the environment of XBox, computer games and airsoft in which I live.

Chuck and Jared have been training hard to participate in the "STP" (Seattle to Portland) 200 mile bike ride coming up in July. They both got new road bikes and have hit the trails every Saturday. They are up to riding 50 miles at a time. Of course they also have acquired all the cool clothes and shoes so that they look good doing it. They will be going to Orcas Island for 3 days over Memorial Day weekend to ride around the Island every day with a group of friends. I am boarding a number of dogs that weekend and need to stay home.

As of last Wednesday night, Jared is now a Life Scout and as such is on to working towards his Eagle. It would be nice if he can get it out of the way before he turns 16 and starts dating and driving, and has too many other things competing for his attention. He is looking for suggestions for a project. Jared is in the Teachers quorum presidency at church and on the committee to plan a "superactivity" for the young men in our ward.

Chuck is still traveling for business and usually gone 2 nights a week on the road-this week the "road" leads to Nebraska. Although I know the traveling is hard, and he rarely sleeps well in a hotel, he doesn't complain. He works to make the best use of his time at home doing fun things with the boys and giving me a much needed "date night" now and then. Since I have started my business he has also done a ton of dishes, laundry and cleaned toilets- my hero!!

STAYIN' ALIVE

I have been so busy, blogging has been put on the back burner. I don't know whether to try to catch everyone up on what has transpired over the last 4 months (which would be overwhelming), or just bag it and start from the here and now. Suffice it to say that life is good at the Escoto household.

We are all looking forward to the end of the school year- 5 weeks to go! I am also counting down the days left of seminary (14 to be exact). I love teaching seminary, but by this time of year I am starting to get burned out. Unfortunately just when seminary and the early morning hours really start to wear on me is just the time when I need to spend 3 weeks teaching Isaiah. It is a miracle that I survived it. Isaiah is hard to understand, and harder still to teach to 14 year olds, and hardest of all to keep their attention at 6am. One really has to come up with a dog and pony show every morning to keep the kids engaged, a regular sunday school type lesson just won't cut it with Isaiah. But now I am over the hump and on to the rest of the prophets (I taught Daniel this week) so I am getting my second wind.

My dog walking business has grown like crazy- I am averaging 10 dogs a day. The income is good and I have been able to purchase a computer and a van that holds a lot more dogs than my truck could. My next investment in my business will be to get a new fence for the side yard that will be more secure when I am boarding dogs. The existing fence was intended for a large, very lazy dog that neither jumped nor could ever dig a hole large enough to get his massive butt through. My clients don't all have those same characteristics unfortunately, and so some improvements are called for.

My entire business arose out of the fact that I was taking my own dog to the dog park daily, so I might as well bring along some doggy friends and get paid for the trip. Unfortunately Kobe blew out the ligament in his knee a month ago and as such his dog park days are over. He is taking it all very stoically, and doesn't even ask to go when I head out the door to do my dog route.

The dog business has been pretty hard on my body as well. So far I have sprained both of my thumbs, gotten tendonitis in my right elbow from throwing a million tennis balls a day, and have a piece of loose cartilage floating around in my knee from the dogs constantly running into my knees while they are wrestling with each other- I definitely see arthroscopy in my future!!

In spite of all the above, this is still the most fun thing I have ever done and look forward to going to work every day to see all my 4-legged friends. The off-leash dog park is like Disneyland for dogs- "the happiest place on earth" I am so blessed to get to share in their joy every day. I am constantly entertained and amused by their antics, and I spend my days with a big grin on my face.

No, these are not terrorist being hunted by Jack Bauer of 24 fame. This is our son Jared with several of his friends playing paint ball at a birthday party. It snowed the night before so they had lots of fun running around the snow covered field shooting each other with paint balls. Oh, and Jared is standing on the far left.

October Fun

October is always one of my favorite months of the year- I love the colors, the weather and the activities.

Jared, Nate and Rachel all have birthdays in October, Jared turned 14, Rachel turned 21 and Nate is 25. (Thus signaling that I am in fact getting very old). Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year, decorating has always involved planning a party and this year was no different, even though Rachel no longer celebrates her birthday at home. I have 3 birthdays to think about and the fun of packing up a party in a box and mailing off to Rexburg.

Jared had friends over to our house to go out trick or treating with him on Halloween. Now that Becca is working at the New York Cupcakes store in Bellevue Square Mall, she baked and decorated a dozen Halloween cupcakes for Jared's party. They were yummy!!

Becca is really enjoying her job doing the baking and decorating for the cupcake shop. She loves the creative aspect of cooking and design. She has always loved the culinary arts, and this has been a fun job to keep her busy as she waits to go off to college in January. She is also keeping busy by attending institute and the singles ward as well as our family ward.

Jared turning 14 means he got to go to his first church dance, he seemed to have a lot of fun and got invited to dance by lots of girls. He has become quite the expert at texting these days as well- and it is always girls (oh my! is it starting already?) In fact, his woefully out of date mother has had to learn to text just to get a hold of him half the time.

Chuck is enjoying his new responsibilities involved in his promotion, but with his traveling about 80% of the time, he knows it will get old soon. But when he is not on the road he works out of the house, so when he is in town we see more of him than before. Which is nice. It is fun to come home from seminary or my dog walking and have someone home to keep me company and eat lunch with.

My dog business is building up slowly and steadily, which is great- because I can't integrate more than one new dog into the pack at a time. Also, my business has been expanding in unforseen ways. I have had a lot of requests for boarding, which originally I thought I would not do, but has turned out to be very lucrative, in spite of the fact that I can only handle about 2 additional dogs at a time. Also I have a new client that travels a lot as a consultant and pays me to come let out his 3 large dogs for a few minutes in the morning and then again in the evening. The best part is that I am am meeting many new people that are animal oriented like I am and appreciate my ability to work successfully with their dogs.

Our family is looking forward to the Holidays, as Rachel and Nate will be here for Thanksgiving. Rachel and Becca will be fixing the Thanksgiving meal, as I have dogs to walk that day. Becca is already trying out recipes for the perfect dinner roll, and scouring the Bon Appetite magazines for elegant menus to use. I know we will have a fabulous meal (we did need a fire extinguisher the last time these girls cooked a turkey) and they have my complete confidence.

BACK TO THE ROUTINE

Fall in the Northwest is my favorite time of year. We actually turned the heater on for the first time in about 4 months. There is nothing like crisp cool air and autumn color to make you want to cozy up in front of a fire and snuffle with someone ( I actually meant snuggle, but then the fall usually brings head colds too!)

We are getting used to being back in a routine, school, seminary and Chuck traveling a lot for business. The only one who doesn't have a routine yet is Becca- she is still job hunting. Her summer nannying job ended when the kids went back to school.

My dog business has slowed way down- 3 of my dogs were summer clients only, so I have lost them, which leaves me with only one permanent client right now. Although I am doing some more fill-in work for other walkers. I am trying to use this slow time to focus on getting some advertising. I have 2 ads coming out in local neighborhood publications, and I got some custom decals with my business name and web-site to go on the back windows of the truck and Suburban. Since school has started I have gotten a lot more hits on my website, and more email inquiries, but none have gone anywhere.

This year in seminary I am teaching the freshmen instead of juniors. It is a very small class of 7 students with 2 autistic boys in it. I think they gave me that class because I am the only female teacher in the building. I really have to stretch to keep everybody engaged and with me on subject. It is a learning experience I am enjoying, but it certainly keeps me on my toes.

Jared just got his braces on yesterday, so he is eating a lot of yogurt and smoothies right now. He doesn't want to smile, but that phase should pass quickly. Soon he will forget that he is even wearing them.

As I mentioned, Chuck is doing a lot of traveling with his new position in the company. He was in Denver last week and New Jersey this week. I think his car is parked at the airport more than in the garage. It feels so good to have him home on weekends.