Stuck in the elevator all alone...

Ok, so yesterday wasn’t the best of days. I had a crazy work day, found out that I have to redesign my entire storm drain system because UDOT won’t allow for pressure flow (so freaking stupid), and when I was working late and falling asleep at my desk I decided to go home. That was the worst mistake of all. I proceeded to the elevators, pushed the down button, and then my day/late work night got even worse. The elevator did nothing. It didn’t move or open the door again when I pushed the open door button. It wouldn’t go to any other floors (I pushed every floor button). I had to push the call for help button. It routed me to some call center and I did reach a very nice man who helped me. He had to get help routed to me to get me out. All in all, I was stuck in the elevator for 45 minutes. It was not fun and topped off a not so good day. Here is a lovely picture of me waiting to be rescued. Please keep in mind that it was 9:30 at night and I was very tired and just wanted to go home.

Year in Review

Ok, so I know it has been a long time since I’ve written a blog update, so here goes… It has been a very eventful year. We lost more family members this year than the last decade combined, Emerson hit the big 3, and Brent and I hit the big 3-0. The economy tanked and we are grateful to have wonderful jobs. I’ve actually been quite busy lately working on a design build project in Utah. I’ve had to be out of town for the past few months in our Redding, CA office, but that should be over for at least a little while. It is hard being away from my hubby and our little man for so long. Emerson is growing up so fast and I don’t want to miss even a minute.

In January, I made the trip to Portland with Emerson and my parents in tow for the funeral of my great-grandmother, Iva Meacham. It was a beautiful service. She was a very spunky woman with so much character and life. She made my great-grandfather very happy and brought many smiles to the faces of all of those who surrounded her, including all her spoiled grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Emerson and I stayed with Tom and Cindy. Hunter and Lawson are so good at playing with Emerson. He talks about them all the time. This past weekend he was mad at Brent and I because we told him Portland was too far away for us to travel for the day so he could play with Hunter and Lawson.

February brought the superbowl and some more of Brent’s delicious hot wings. He has become quite the wing connoisseur.

Charlotte organized the annual Easter Egg Hunt in April. The kids all had fun finding tons of treasures in the grass, and the potluck dishes weren’t bad either.

I had surgery on my foot to correct a birth defect in May. I wrote an extensive blog about this earlier so I won’t repeat all the gory details again. I’ll just leave you with the following picture:

Brent and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary in June at Cool Hand Luke’s in Boise. We both had the prime rib and it was delicious! We were going to plan a “7 year itch picnic” in the park to celebrate with family and friends, but my grandfather’s death halted our plans. My parents had to go to Hawaii to take care of all of my grandfather’s affairs.

June was also the month I made Brent dress in a bikini in our backyard while gardening so I could enter him into a radio contest. It was called the “Baby Daddy Bikini” contest. Entries were dads dressed in swimming attire for a chance to win a rafting trip for 2 in the beautiful Idaho mountains. Since Brent was the only dad who actually dared wear a bikini, he won by a landslide. He had more votes than the rest of the entrants put together! He took a friend from work and the two of them had a great time.

In July we celebrated Independence Day by watching the parade. Emerson loves watching his granny play the pipes. We did our fair share of hooting and hollering for her. Then we went to the Robinson’s house and ate some fabulous ribs while the kids played together. Emerson was especially enamored with Grace’s bunny.

We took a much needed vacation in July to the Oregon Coast before ending our trip in Portland for my grandfather’s memorial. We found some crazy creatures on the beach, got sand in our toes, and ate Tillamook ice cream… YUM!!! The memorial for my grandfather was so wonderfully done. He would have been proud of all of his girls putting together quite the party for him. I learned so much about his very full life just by helping create a photo slide show to show at the memorial.

In August, we partook in Beer Fest with my mom, Luanne, and Jane, which was loads of fun. The food was great, and I’m told the beer was also. We even saw tons of people there we hadn’t seen in ages.

We also went camping in August with Mom and Dad Butterfield, Rob, and Jody… oh, and the two crazy dogs, Spike and Sadie. We went on a very steep hike and I couldn’t believe that Emerson walked the entire way up the mountain. He had to be carried down, but I was so proud of him.

The Western Idaho Fair also comes to Boise every August and we have gone for the past three years with the Solecki family. Steve was out of town so he couldn’t partake, but we had a great time with Andrea, Kylie, and Kierstin.

September was consumed with Emerson’s 3rd birthday plans and party. We had a pool party at Mom and Dad Dietz’s house. I made spaghetti since that is Emerson’s favorite and thankfully it was a big hit. Emerson loves trains so I made a train cake for him.

October brought Halloween and a very indecisive child who wouldn’t make a costume choice. After letting him stew over his decision for a few weeks, he told us one day after we picked him up from preschool that he wanted to be a red power ranger. We were totally shocked because he had never even watched the show (we don’t watch it at home and at preschool they aren’t allowed because it shows fighting). Apparently, a friend of his at preschool loves the show and told Emerson he was going to be a blue one so Emerson should be the red one. We were just happy he even picked at all!!!

In the fall every year they take school pictures at Emerson’s preschool. They turned out so well this year!

I started working on a project this winter that has helped me gain a whole new bundle of experiences. I had to travel to our office in Redding, CA for three weeks, then back for two more. This was my life for quite a while. I can finish it at home now, which makes me very happy.

Well, it has been quite the year and I hope I didn’t bore you all too much!

Rest in Peace:
Sean Butterfield (Brent’s cousin)
Iva Meacham (Elizabeth’s great-grandmother)
Jerry Dietz (Elizabeth’s grandfather)
Chuck Dietz (Elizabeth’s grandfather)
Richard Hall (Elizabeth’s uncle)

Missing my family

I was working along yesterday in the Redding office designing a storm drain system when I received an email from Emerson. I had to fight back the tears. I miss my little man.

Promotion

I am being promoted from an EP01 to an EP02. Don't ask me what that means, because I really couldn't answer you, but I am going up a position, so I'm very happy. I think I even get a little pay increase with it, but we shall see. Anyway, I just thought I'd share the news with anyone who actually reads all of my random thoughts on this blog.

One Ginormous Pumpkin!

We grew lots of veggies this year in our new raised garden Brent built for us. We also tried growing pumpkins for the first time along our fence. We only planted one seed and it took off! However, we did only get one pumpkin that survived, but oh did it survive. It is freaking huge! Emerson can't wait to cut it up for Halloween.

Brent and Emerson showing off the pumpkin

Emerson had to get a new winter jacket and he thought he was quite cute and funny in it

How could anyone possibly refuse that face?!

Weekend Update

We had a full, but fun weekend. The College of Idaho had a soccer player alumni weekend and my friend LauraLee ventured to town with her kids in tow. Unfortunately, Mandi couldn't come also, but we'll make a trip over to see her hopefully in the Spring. I don't know who picked the expensive restaurant Friday night, but they should re-think that next time. Emerson ate as much calamari he could get his hands on. It is always good to have a happy kid with you. Anyway, we met lots of ladies from previous C of I teams and the current coach of the women's team. It was a lot of fun, but we were sure pooped when we got home. All three of us crashed immediately.

On Saturday we had errands to run in the morning, I had a soccer game to coach, we had to fit Emerson's nap in there somewhere, a lovely, but cold, wedding in the afternoon, and then over to my parents' for turkey dinner. Saturday was quite full. Again, we were exhausted.

Emerson has been wrestling with a cold all weekend so Sunday we hung out at home so Emerson could get some rest from our already very hectic weekend until we went to Dick and Joyce's house for a birthday dinner for Bobby. Joyce made very delicious baked pork chops in a very yummy gravy with mashed potatoes, green beans, bread, and apple salad. Emerson hadn't eaten much the past few days because he didn't feel well, but he sure did like the oreo cake!

Overall it was a great weekend.

HAPPY BDAY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL COUSIN TRICIA!!!

Bathroom Conundrum

Ok, so they replaced the light switches in the bathrooms at work to those motion sensor thingies to save energy. I want to be just as environmentally conscious as the next person, but I have found one fatal flaw in the new system. I don’t have to worry about people turning the light out on me anymore and therefore taking care of business in the dark (been there, done that). I do, however, need to take an object into the bathroom with me to chuck out of the stall when the sensor no longer finds life in the bathroom, hence the light turns off on me. For here is the problem; the motion sensor is in the same location as the light switch was so once I am in the stall doing my business the powers that be don’t sense any movement and therefore the lights turn off. This brings me back to the object chucking. When I travel to and from the bathroom at work, please do not be alarmed that I am carrying inanimate objects not suitable for bathroom duty. I’m only using it to turn the lights back on by tossing it out of my stall.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!!!

A big happy birthday to my cousin Nick! I hope your birthday is fabulous!!!

Birthday Party!

Emerson had a most fabulous birthday full of lots of presents, some he opened prematurely when I wasn't looking. Here is a picture of the train cake I made. I couldn't even try to draw Thomas, so I just drew any old train. Oh well. A train is a train right? Anyway, I don't have any other pictures yet from his bday, but when I do I'll post those too. He had a great time and I think all the other kids did also.