Hope for Maggie

I took this information verbatim from my friend Camille's website.  But she worded it perfectly: 

Some of you may remember Maggie. She is a 2 year old girl that lives in my neighborhood. She has been featured on the news several times about her mysterious illness that continues to elude doctors. Last summer our community pulled together and did a yard sale that raised thousands to help with the medical bills and help the family get back east to doctors that might have some answers.

The update on Maggie isn't what we hoped and things are not looking good. Maggie is continuing to lose weight and her health is suffering greatly. We are once more going to try to help Maggie, but for a different purpose. We hope to raise money for her and her family to do something that will create a great memory for them.

On September 18th we will be having a Boutique/Bake Sale/Games/Etc.... to help raise money.  If you can donate anything, please let me know.  I will be handling the games, so specifically, if you have something that will work, I would be VERY grateful.

Since the last time we spoke...

Well, I'm back!  I's been almost 8 months since I've blogged.   I actually think I have the time to keep it up again.  And... I've been looking for jobs.  Many are asking me to provide my blog as a sample of my work!  How bizarre. I guess that shows I'm good at social media.  What happened to good old fashioned samples of my writing?  I tried a short lived stint doing a pop culture blog, but that I REALLY didn't have time for.  Sooo, you can look forward to the return of my Thursday Pop Culture Dish!

As the title suggest, I should fill you in on what we've been up to since January.  Here's the Reader's Digest version:

• January - May was a big blur.  It was really devoted to my dad and writing John's grandma's personal history.  They were both at CareSource Hospice Center together and I would go there almost every day to visit.  My sweet dad passed away on May 20th and Faye followed on May 29th.  It was a highly draining and emotional, but spiritual time for our family.   These are experiences I couldn't possibly even try to describe in a blog.
• In January, my friend April threw some freelance work my way for the Dental Assisting School of Utah where she works as Marketing Director.  John and I converted their website and made updates, set-up a CRM system, and I did some web content and admin stuff.  I still help them out when needed.
• In March, I started freelancing for a New Jersey based company getinterviews.com that my friend Liz referred me to.  I write and edit resumes for them.  I never thought I'd like it, but it's kind of a fun gig.  When it's busy, I can spend 15 hours a week doing that.
• I've started a personal history business: Remember Your Story.  I'm working on my mom's right now to add to my portfolio and John and I are doing the website.
• I'm working on a children's book and a novel -- both are going VERY slowly.
• I'm interviewing for another part-time editor job that is flexible and/or work-from-home, so I can continue doing my freelance stuff.
• John is still Sales & Marketing Director at Aquaveo (a water modeling software company).  But, he's been working a lot in Provo.  In August, they merged the South Jordan and Provo offices, so starting next week, he will be commuting every day to Provo.  Ugh.  John went to BYU, but never lived in Provo.  He took SL Center classes and commuted when he needed to.  He says he's used to it and it will be fine.  I say that it's been 11 years since he graduated and he was single most of that time.  It's going to be TOTALLY different now that he's married, has a kid, and is busy with church.  But, we're not in a position to move right now, so we're just going to try and make it work.
• We've pretty much stayed put with all that's gone on, but we did get to go to Idaho and Jackson Hole in July, which was a total blast!  We spent a couple of weekends in Heber at John's mom and step-dad's cabin.
• In June, I put on a Stake Carnival (I'm Stake Cultural Arts Director).  It was one of the hardest things I've done for a church calling.  Mainly because of my dad's health and his death, I didn't plan well at all and didn't delegate much.  Most of it ended up on my plate; a lesson I learned the hard way and will NEVER do again.  But... it was a huge hit, so that's good!
• In July, John got to travel to Shanghai, China for work!  I really wanted to go, but we just couldn't pull it off.  Fortunately, I've been to Beijing, so at least he didn't go somewhere that I was dying to visit.  He  was gone 10 days for a conference... and he even ate Chinese food!  That's a big deal for him since he's uber-picky.
• Katie is doing great.  Started 4th grade!!!  We had a low-key summer.  No camps, no lessons.  It was actually really nice.  We did compete in the South Jordan Chalk Art festival with our neighbors Linda and Maddie.  We won first place in the Family Category!  Katie finally lost some teeth, so that was the great achievement of the summer!
• I'm an aunt again to cute baby Scarlett: Jimmy and Libby's daughter.  I'm a great-aunt again x 2.  My nephew Sparky and his wife Holly had their cute baby Austin in February.  Liz and Marshall had cute Drake in August.  
• Been helping out my mom a lot.  She's doing well considering everything.  We (her fam) have been remodeling her bedroom -- something that wasn't done in probably 30 years.  It's really good for her to have a new room after all the years it was like a hospital wing.
• Just when I think we've made progress with our house, something else happens.  Our back fence fell down (John's in the process of replacing it now) and we have to do some plumbing work downstairs.  The garage is tilting and the back is rotted.  Arson sounds like a good option right now.
• I met my birth father's family in August.  He was killed in a car accident at the age of 28 in 1979.  I met my grandparents, two aunts, and an uncle.  It was a really good experience and so great to get some answers.
• Katie and I are 90% complete in Harry Potter Lego Wii.  We did get a Wii Fit in April, so we're not complete couch potatoes.  I've actually lost 22 - 25 lbs. (depends on the day; it fluctuates), which I'm crediting Weight Watchers, the Wii Fit, and walking Bailey, but...
• ... on the bad side, I got sciatica after going on a school field trip up Red Butte in April.  It was snowing really bad and we hiked 2 miles.  On the way down the mountain, I totally strained my left leg.  I've been trying to "fix it" myself for 4 months, but it is KILLING me.  I started physical therapy last week.
• Then there's Bailey... the dog who lived!  Still love him!

Who needs to blog everyday?  Take 20 minutes and just recap the last few months of your life and you're set.  Those are the highlight/lowlights I can think of.  Anyway, please come back, so I'm not totally lonely on here!