Ryan is currently working at Apache Junction Fire and has been there for over a year now. He is on Engine 262 (C-Shift). He is working toward his paramedic certification, is rank 1 in his class and should be done with school around late November/early December. Hospital clinical rotations have taken up most of his time as of late. He works approx 72 hours a week (3 24-hour shifts), goes to class once a week (8 hours), then puts in approx 36 hours of volunteer/mandatory hospital clinical rotations at hospitals throughout the valley. Fortunately, he'll be finished with clinical rotations after the first week of August. This last year has been very hard for him because he's been away from his family so much due to school. It will be worth it in the end.
Rebecca is currently working at Desert Ridge High School in the Gilbert Public School District. This will be her last year as a Spanish teacher. Rebecca has decided to apply her wonderful interpersonal communication skills and sense of caring of others and become a nurse. She wants to be a labor and delivery nurse so that she can help women have as wonderful and amazing experience that she had. She started classes during this summer and will be working full-time and taking classes full-time this next year. She is currently rank 1 in her classes and should have no problem getting accepted into Arizona State's prestigious nursing program. She's had a great time staying home with the kids this summer and realized that this new career path will allow her to be home with the kids more, make more money and will make it so that she will enjoy going to work. She's found it hard this past year at her current position with Desert Ridge because she just didn't receive the support that she needed from co-workers and especially parents. The frustration outweighed the benefit and it is time to move on.
Ethan just turned 4 on the 14th of July, 2008. He LOVES his little brother Declan and they are best friends. They are constantly playing together and having fun. Ethan loves to read books with his Tag learning pen he got for his birthday. He also loves reading books with his parents and they're currently reading 'The Tale of Despereaux".
Declan is almost two and he's actively using signs to tell his mom and dad what his needs are. He loves pushing buttons on his parents' computer or anything with buttons for that matter. Declan has taken to being a big brother very well. Any time his baby sister Ari cries, he immediately runs over to pick up the toy that she dropped or help her stop crying. He always gives her a kiss on her head before he leaves her side. So adorable.
Ari is quite possibly the best baby ever born. She's a great sleeper, very mild tempered and smiles at everyone. She's six months now and she's rolling over and trying to crawl. She's so happy and we're so glad she's here.
Unfortunately I do have some bad news to report. On May 24th at about 1:30 am, on our way up to Colorado to visit Rebecca's brother Russell, we were caught up in a horrendous snow storm, hit a patch of black ice on the road, slid around 180 degrees and went down a cliff backwards about 50 feet down. Fortunately, no one was hurt. All the kids were asleep and they didn't even wake up until I had to roll my window down so I could climb out into the snow and hike up the hill to flag someone down. Of course it happened on a stretch of road that there were no businesses for miles both ways. However, there was a lodge just across the road and down the embankment. I have a 4x4 Toyota Tacoma so I tried to just drive up and out because I didn't think that our situation was beyond it's capability. However, there was a tree stump that had high-centered the front end so I couldn't get traction. The tower pulled me out, I evaluated the damage and came to the realization that the damage was strictly cosmetic and none of the undercarriage had been damaged. I LOVE my truck! The entire passenger side was severely damaged (Both doors, truck bed and front fender). Rebecca thought I was trying to kill her. We said a little prayer and continued on our way. We were able to finish our road trip and see our niece Chloe get baptized. Since then, the truck has been fixed and looks like new. When everything was said and done, Rebecca and I had the same thought, "We didn't think to pray." We had set out on our road trip with our small children and didn't say a prayer before we left. We both felt like we should have known better because we know the power of prayer and know that our Heavenly Father was watching out for us that day.
I hope to maintain this blog a lot better than I have been, so if you notice me slacking, feel free to email me and whip me into shape. Take care.
