Thanksgiving Weekend 2020

Thanksgiving Weekend 2020

by | Nov 27, 2020

In celebration of my 35th birthday falling on Thanksgiving here are 35 things I’ve been thankful for 2019 -2020

    Work

  1. I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to work for a big tech company. In the end, it wasn’t for me but I’m glad I got the opportunity to try it out.
  2. I’m grateful that I was able to land a remote gig with a well known WordPress company. I’ve enjoyed the job and have been treated very well.
  3. I’m grateful that Cheryl Montgomery gave me an in on some freelancing jobs this year. It was a great opportunity that I’m very thankful for.
  4. Working from home
  5. I’m grateful for the 16 inch MacBook Pro my work supplied for me
  6. I’m grateful for all the baby gear my work got for me.
  7. I’m grateful for maternity leave. It’s by no means a vacation but a must needed breather to adjust to a new life as a parent
  8. I’m grateful for Twitter and the connections I’ve been able to make with WordPress people around the globe

    9. Pregnancy & Birth

  9. I’m grateful that Alex and I were able to get pregnant pretty quickly. I thought it would take us six months or so…..nope 🙂
  10. I’m grateful my pregnancy with Sloane was relatively easy. I didn’t suffer from morning sickness, my feet didn’t grow in size, and I didn’t have to be on bed rest.
  11. I’m grateful I didn’t have gestational diabetes.
  12. I’m grateful for Dr. Jones. She was amazing.
  13. I’m grateful Sloane was able to breastfeed right from the start without any issues. The hardest part was waiting for my milk to come in
  14. The silver lining to Sloane being little jaundice and requiring antibiotics is that we had to stay in the hospital a few extra days which gave us the opportunity to have someone else watch Sloane.
  15. Kim and Dana, nurses at Alta View Hosptial
  16. I’m grateful for Alex for being my doula.

    17. Friends & Family

  17. I’m grateful for having good friends like Elisabeth Frost, Lindsay B, Helly Sotelo that I’ve been able to keep in touch with during the pandemic.
  18. A big thank you to Sharon Wheatley, Sarah Wheatley, and Jeannie Hansen for putting on my baby shower. Without you, there would not have been one. Seriously 🙂
  19. Big thanks to my brother-in-laws Isaac Hansen & Atticus Hansen for helping Alex Hansen put in the paved walkway in our backyard as well as cleaning out our rain gutters!
  20. I’m grateful for Ashton and Brook putting together Sloane’s nursery. Without them, we would have a boring no-frills, no mobile, no stain-glass room.
  21. I’m grateful for all the yard work Stanley Wheatley did for this year. Mowing the lawn & pruning the bushes helped us keep our little house up!
  22. I’m grateful for our renters! Jennifer Cook, Carter & Jessica. They have made the landlord life so easy. Thank you, Jessica, for taking out Quinn when she was a puppy. Thank you, Jennifer, Jessica & Carter for shoveling our walks while I was pregnant. Thank you to Carter for helping us with the paver project. Without you, it wouldn’t have
  23. I’m grateful for Country and Daylnn. They have helped me feel apart of our ward during COVID
  24. I’m grateful for Julie my Relief Society President for checking up on us and sending us a delicious meal.
  25. I’m grateful for everyone who made us meals or brought us food. It’s literally the best thing you can do 🙂
  26. Best part of the pandemic is having Alex home with me every day. Yes, we wish we had breaks and space but overall I’ve liked having him around
  27. I’m grateful for our Banbury Cross Angels
  28. I’m thankful that I have so many great people in my life that love and support me in all the ways I need.

    29. Fun & Random

  29. I’m grateful Alex and I decided to go big and buy the Locals Pass for the Sundance Film Festival. One of the best parts was not having to rush to the theaters and wait in line. If you have the means…I highly highly recommend it.
  30. The best part of the pandemic for me has been ordering things off Amazon, click & pick for the grocery store, and having Alex Hansen be my errand runner 🙂
  31. iPhone 11 Pro. It’s been awesome to have a bigger screen, better camera, and faster phone
  32. Quinn officially becoming potty trained. She can even close the door when she comes back in 😉
  33. Grateful for HSA bucks
  34. I’m grateful that Alex and I are in a position where he can try his hand at Real Estate full-time
  35. I’m grateful for the Netflix show Big Mouth. Finally, the validation and understanding of what it was like to go through puberty 😉
Baby in Turkey Onesie

Thanksgiving-Turkey

Thanksgiving – Food Share – Supplies

Making Potatoes

Wheatley Family II

This picture captures everyone’s personality to a ‘T’!

Wheatley Family

When there is love at home and COVID-19 in the air, we gather in the backyard.

Grandpa Stan and Sloane

Grandpa Stan not following COVID-19 Protocol lol

Grandpa Stan, Chloe and Sloane

Sarah and Sloane II

Sarah and Sloane

Notice how Sloane is winking in this picture. She knows her Aunt is grateful for her this Thanksgiving.

Quinn the Schnauzer

Yes Quinn, you are on the American Kennel Club Dog Show.

Summer 2017

Summer 2017

by | Aug 19, 2017

In this edition, I thought I would share with you what I have been up to the last couple of months. Not just because I have blogger’s guilt but because I have been up to many exciting things.  The summer of 2017 has been a busy one.  Read on to see what I’ve been up to:

Pokemon Go

Once again my husband and I got sucked into playing Pokemon Go.  We have spent more nights and weekends than I would like to admit fighting gyms and slaving away catching Pokemon just to collect that oh so precious stardust. The Fire and Ice Festival is really what revived our interest. It brought a renewed sense of hope and vigor to our hearts that we may finally attain a Charizard. I was beyond thrilled. I would finally be able to collect enough Charmanders to be able to evolve them into a Charizard.  Up until that point, Charmander was my Pokemon Go buddy and I had walked many kilometers only to collect a few Charmander candies. Now with the festival,  I would be able to catch enough Charmanders to hopefully evolve them into a Charizard. Game on!.  My husband on the other hand became obsessed with collecting Quilava along with Charmander.  Anytime we saw a Quilava the pressure was on.  We didn’t know if Quilava would be around after the festival so we had to collect as many as we possibly could, thanks to the law of scarcity.  As soon as  I would get home from work we would venture out to our nearest park or neighborhood catching as many fire-type Pokemon as we could.  I literally spent so much time catching Pokemon during this festival that it was like having a part-time job.  The good news is that by end of the Fire and Ice Festival I caught enough Charmanders to evolve them into a Charizard so all that hard work paid off.

Raids, Legendaries, and Pokemon Fest

After the Fire and Ice Festival, we were burnt out!  Yet a few weeks later we were back at it again during the Pokemon Go Fest.  This time the goal was to play as much as you could because Pokemon candies, stardust, and XP points were all doubled.  The game makers had just introduced raid battles and had released the first legendary Pokemon Lugia and Articuno. Unbeknownst to me, my husband had a friend who enjoyed playing Pokemon GO with his wife.  We ended up teaming up with them and 15 other people to catch Lugia.  It took us quite a few tries and my womanly wisdom before we were able to catch him. I had read somewhere that you were able to get more XP if you threw curveballs so I thought why not?  I will give it a shot,  and on my last attempt, I threw a curveball and captured Lugia.  I advised my husband to do the same thing and Botta bing botta boom we both had Lugias.  After we had our Lugia’s we went to test them out at a gym battle and we were pleasantly surprised.  One Lugia was equal to three or four Pokemon.  We were now on our way to becoming the ultimate Pokemon masters.  Slack had also become a very revolutionary tool for Pokemon Go players.  Our friends who were a part of the Slack group didn’t even know what it was. I was excited.  Now we would be able to meet up with other Pokemon Go players and take on the raids with success.

 

OpenWest 

This was the second year that I attended OpenWest but the first year I attended as a speaker. How does someone get to speak at OpenWest?  They submit a speaker proposal on a topic(s) they want to speak on and then these topics are voted on through “blind voting.”  Since this “blind voting” is open to anyone I told my boss about it at work and he was very supportive.  He voted for my talks and got others to vote for me too.  I also promoted my talks on Twitter and Facebook getting anyone who I thought might be interested to vote and voila I got accepted.   OpenWest was from July 12 through July 15th.  I presented two talks.  One talk was on Flexbox.  Which is a talk that I have given at a few meetups so I figured hey, why not.  The second talk I gave was on WordPress and why you should consider it as an entrepreneurial web developer.   As a WordPress Consultant, I spent my week talking to newbs about how to debug, build, and market their WordPress sites.  It’s a great gig with the exception of back to back calls 40 hours a week, day in and day out.  So like any unhappy Millennial I started looking around for other “potential” possibilities.  After about a month of scavenging the job boards, I had found what I was looking for.  I met with the employer and we decided to try things out on a temporary basis. So along with my WordPress Consultant gig, I began consulting.  I was pulling about 50 + hour weeks