Gotta document Luke's birthday from July!

 The big 31. We had our new friends, the Ballif's, surprise us with a chocolate chip cookie pie and a musical card. Gracie and Katie dressed in their dancing skirts and decorated the house with balloons while he took a Sunday nap. I made a cheesecake - that was all his... and he got a slip and slide, cheetos, and a portable grill which we took back cause we will save for a real one. Happy birthday Luke. We love you.

Where we live...

We love Panama City Beach! And we are glad to be back. Our ward and old friends were so fun to come back to. We only live 1 mile from one of the prettiest beaches in the world. The sand is like walking on sugar with no ouchy grittiness or rocks. Just deep sink-inniness with every step and its so fine the sand falls right off of you. The water is turquoise and clear so you can see seashells and life beneath the surface. You can pick up tons of shells on the beach. And one of the best parts - it's warm from May to October! You can see the County Pier in the first pic and the tall highrise luxury condos further down. You should see if you could visit while we are here. Perhaps by the time you make plans and get your funds ready - we will be in a larger house so it will be more comfortable for you to stay a while. We miss family and friends but love the warm weather and the beach. Why can't we have both???

*KATIE STORY: Katie was not a big fan of the sand and water when we first moved here. She would cry when she had to walk on it and I think she was afraid of the waves. But now she is crazy in love with it! We went on a Sunday night, last month, for a walk in our clothes and Katie could not resist. Every time she got to a little sinkhole/bay area up on the sand, she had to bend over and dunk her head in it. Then she would stand back up with water and sand dripping down her face, and laugh, and do it again. The longer you walk on the beach, the more wet your kids are going to get. Needless to say, I let them ride home in their birthday suits because their clothes were just soaked and sandy. They thought that was pretty crazy and couldn't get over the fact that they were riding home with just their buckles on naked. I won't forget that night full of spinning my kids around in the sand till we're both dizzy and falling down, the girls dipping their heads in the water, and people watching the fun we had in our church clothes and no booze. 

Pictures from today... a good Sunday!

 I had time to curl the girl's hair today. And they were wearing their new boots and matching sweater dresses. My friend gave us some clothes for Gracie and it just so happens she bought the pink version for her daughter when I bought the brown version for Gracie a few years ago from Target. So now they can be twinners. Love it when it works out that way. 

The Fall weather is so nice here in Fl. But so nice that it still melts my candy corn wreath when the sun shines on my door for that certain hour of the day I haven't caught yet. Yeah I was stupid and put it out at the beginning of October just to find candy dripping down my door and melted into puddles on the step. Then I fixed it back up and put it out again last week. It was cold... Well it got warm again, so we opened the door yesterday morning to find nice melty candy liquid on my door and step (3 times because I kept forgetting to clean it up)! Hello I can be smart but I can be a real blonde sometimes. Hence no wreath on my wreath hanger in the picture. :)

 Gracie tried to take a pic of us but the sun was on the camera so she couldn't see. :( But I post it here anyway because I was so excited at how clever I was with my wardrobe today. My "dress" is a loose flowy shirt and a long stretchy skirt that looked cute together when I put it on but just really really flowy. I was trying to figure out how much to roll my waist band or put it over my belly to get the skirt the right proportion for my shirt length (past my bum) and my belly when I decided to pull it over my shirt all the way up to my chest. Over-poofiness gone immediately and it was not too tight and still flowy that it was comfortable and looked nice hanging down over the bump. I also put on a wide black belt and a skinny belt where they meet which both looked nice but chose to go without for comfort. You can only stand a belt constricting your bump for so long and since I am temporarily standing in as primary chorister for the primary program I thought I had enough to handle without adjusting a belt. Should have got a picture of it though. I can't wait to see if I can do the same thing when I am not prego and what others skirts I can do it with. Let me know if you try it and it works for you. I thought I was so clever today!! And to top it off I got the skirt free from a clothing swap because the waistband needed to be sewn. Can't beat free, clever, comfortable maternity clothes!!

I think it would be so fun to be on that TV show where they come and look at your clothes and show you new ways to wear them and new combinations. And "what not to wear" for your body type. Changing fashion sense and creative fashion is something I have to look at and study to see what I can do with my clothes. It doesn't come as naturally for me as to some of you talented people.

P.S. We got to church an hour early because our clock didn't change like Luke says it is supposed to for daylight savings time. Did anyone else do that? We went back home and then we were just barely late when we went back. :( Sad!

Side money... my income!

I just wanted to quickly document here the fun I had doing some extra stuff on top of working for Connections Academy (virtual public school) in SC and what I am doing now in PCB.

Swimming Lessons - I met these sweet black girls about 12 and 14 at the YMCA one day when I was teaching Gracie to swim. They were so interested in learning to swim but so scared to even put their head under the water. Well - their mom asked if I would teach them to swim and I jumped at the chance too. I love helping people better their life and I think swimming is one of those things that does. I have taught swimming lessons once before and in Special Olympics so I knew I could do it. Destiny and Gabrielle were so fun to teach, but scaredy cats. That is the oldest children I have ever seen so scared to try something new. It was definitely a challenge - which I like! And they made great progress. So sad I had to leave them before we met our goal. Cost for future reference was $25/45 min. 

Piano Lessons - I was already to begin teaching piano lessons for a family in our ward and then we moved before we got started. I was a little intimated by this one because everyone knows I am not that good at the piano. But they just wanted me to get them from brand new beginner to where I was at and I could do that. I just didn't know the logistics and lesson planning for teaching piano. I can sight read well and so that has been my crutch - so I didn't practice and then I haven't had a piano for 8 years either. :( I have a personal goal to improve my skills now that I have one. That goal is not going very well. When can I play the piano when the kids aren't sleeping?? Cost for future reference was $15/30 min.

Private Online Therapy - Yeah! I started seeing a son of a friend in FL for his /s,z/ sounds after he got his teeth back in. I started using anymeeting because skype was horrible and I wasn't allowed to use LiveLesson from my virtual school. It worked pretty well, but then he changed from lispy /s/ to whistly /s/ and I couldn't hear that high of a frequency sound over the webcam so we couldn't do it anymore if I couldn't hear it to correct it. Then it just so happened we moved back to FL so now he rides his bike to my house once a week. And he is almost done. I am so excited for him. He just has to get it consistently in his conversational speech all day everyday when I am not there and he will be set. I love doing speech therapy!!! I love the progress the students make! I give them a friend discount! :)

Preschool - I started doing preschool/babysitting 2 days a week in August for my friend's daughter who is the same age as Katie. We have Skye for 2.5 hours twice/week while Gracie is in school so her mom can work. Katie and Skye get along pretty well. They have some rough times but mostly they like to play with each other and we have fun going to the park and the dock on the lake to say "hi" to the fishies. And mid October, she started swapping a day with me so now Katie goes over to their house on Wednesdays and they pick Gracie up from school so I can have a few hours to work on our business and do some private therapy.

Private Therapy in FL - I currently have 4 students who come to my house. The previous online one, another little guy in our ward who is Gracie's age and has quite a few speech errors but is so cute regardless. And then I picked up two children from Gracie's preschool so they are her age as well, that were referred to me by her teacher. (Gracie's teacher really wants us to open a private practice :) And I am offering free initial evaluations). The one has a ton of phonological processes and stutters (ooh you know I like that- stuttering is my favorite) and the other guy has some low sensory issues, definitely, oral because he drools and has a few speech errors and a very fast rate so he is hard to understand. His oral motor structure and function are intact so I am pretty sure, it is just a low sensory input problem. Hopefully we can teach him a few strategies for saliva control and have him articulate better and he will be done in a few sessions. They come to our "office" which is where Luke and I built a wall in our garage and carpeted it so it is a nice extra room off of our living room. We really need more space still, but this helps a ton. Well worth the $200 and labor we spent building the wall. We still have space for garage storage on the other side which is awesome too. Current charge for PCB is $45/30 min. I am excited to get this well established and the kinks worked out for a protocol to follow so I can start hiring online therapists to do therapy online with students all over the world through Home Speech Home. We have waiting lists for both therapist and clients seeking therapy online, but I just haven't been ready to get it started and manage it yet. I am excited about this prospect, but in the meantime I love working with my clients and helping them improve. It gives me a little break from being a mom too.  

Seamstress - I have had two sewing jobs already. One was fixing a king size duvet cover that was ripped in several places on pleated satin fabric for a luxury condo rental company and the other I just finished altering and hemming a bridesmaid dress with 3 layers of chiffon and crepe full skirt. I totally underestimated the time it would take me to do that one, so I am giving her a discount - besides she is a friend of a friend who is introducing her to the church and so I don't mind giving her a good impression of Mormons. It totally took me an hour just to cut all the layers evenly to get them ready to sew. I don't know why but they were not even. You couldn't just measure 6.5" up and cut it off and sew. Next time I am going to see the item before giving an estimate. :( Cost for sewing $20/hr. I am considering raising it just because I could do therapy for a lot more. So glad my mom taught me to sew. Thanks mom. 

Our 1st Growth Charts were finished and printed in April!

 Before we moved to SC, we hired our designer friend Jason to design these growth charts for us. (We love the animal numbers!) They are your typical growth chart for measuring height but with all the speech and language milestones information that I compiled a year before that for a our online speech and language screeners. I always thought it would be cool to have the info in a large printed format for quick reference for SLPs and for communication growth tracking for parents. A dream!

 

Well after many many hours of editing and proofing, we finally were ready to print. We got a good printing deal with Luke's sister's sign shop in Boise and they arrived in SC the day before we were supposed to load up and move out. And we had already sold 1 and had about 10 promotional ones to send out as well for people who agreed to promote them for us. So amidst the packing and no surfaces to cut on except the floor or bed, I had to figure out how to cut and pack and ship these asap. I ran out of time, and ended up shipping them from Hilton Head which is where Luke's temporary "live out of a hotel" SLP job was. It was crazy but fun to get our first printed products and first purchase that was not an e-product, but it was super stressful during the move too. I had to fill several orders by myself without Luke there or a car to go ship them. :). Well after a few months we had sold a few more but then there were orders for the style we were out of so we had to order our second batch. $500 bucks a pop - kinda scary. Now looking back I wish I would have got some real feedback from someone unbiased in the field before I ordered the second batch (I got some recently from Gracie's pk teacher when I tried to give her one for "FREE" and she had some reasons why she didn't take it - I was a little hurt at first but I am so glad for the RAW EVALUATION).

 

When we make a sell on these, it takes me about 10 minutes to cut one and then we pack it in a tube and run to the post office. After cost, it equals about $40/hr. Not bad, but Luke likes selling the e-products (my e-books) a lot better because we don't have to do any work for it. He wants more of that kind. So after receiving honest feedback, on my next version, I will try to scale it down so they aren't as big, and less text (even though the milestones are what I like) and more traditional, cutesy, kidsy artwork. Modern typography is not for everyone and certainly not what everyone is used to buying in the SLP field. I thought it would be fun to make it young and modern, but I forgot who the majority of my audience would be. Older, traditional SLPs. And we need first thought to be "oh cute growth chart... I think I will read it" and not "whoah that is awesome but a lot to read and figure out... I don't think I will."

Anyway, to try to end this, I will give you an update that our business, Home Speech Home is now a PLLC (professional limited liability corporation) so we can start doing contracts with other people. We are making enough passive money/month that we need to report it and probably pay taxes. We are super excited about our current projects which are 2 apps for the ipad and iphone. The "Phonological Process Finder" (being programmed right now) and the "Report Buddy", both tools for SLPs to use to make their jobs easier. We have high hopes so we are working hard on those right now. We got some laminate flooring on a good deal to replace our horribly stained carpet, but Luke says I can't start laying until I get the Report Buddy app finished. Boring! But he knows what will motivate me. And to answer your other question of "why" are we doing this? Well Luke is glad he has a job to take care of us, but is still hoping and working on other methods to change his career or work from home. That is why. We are hoping that Home Speech Home will take us there. It is doing pretty good, considering we only started 2 years ago, put it on the back burner a lot, and didn't know what we were doing. I just hope that Luke can find a little more balance and patience with his current job, and just say that our site is going to take as long as it's going to take while we do what we can to work on it but still enjoy our current life and situation in the meantime and find the good things in his job right now. It would make it easier and more fun to work on if there wasn't as much pressure and anxiety placed on it for it to eventually make enough to live on. I believe in it whole-heartedly, and will do my part and what I can to grow it and make more products/apps/etc. but I just don't know how long it will take to make how much, so in the meantime I am going to do other things to enjoy life right now, even though it isn't what we hoped for!!!  

Before we left South Carolina...

I learned A LOT during this young women's calling. And I learned different lessons than I learned in my YW's calling in Vegas. Both wards had very different dynamics as far as leaders and girls go. There are things I won't forget from both. I loved these girls though for the short time I got to know them. It is very different growing up as the only LDS young woman for like 30 miles around you and then there are only 3 or 4 of you at church. Very different than how I grew up. And yet challenges that come with both. I will not forget a lot of hard times I had in YW in my large ward which made it difficult to go to camp some years and even go to church for a while - although I never stopped going. No matter your circumstances, though, I think what matters is that true conversion and testimony, and the blessings received from those, requires independent prayer, study, seeking, and experimenting on your faith and with gospel principles. And you will make it out of that tricky age with bumps and bruises - yes, but with the power to withstand the shafts in the whirlwinds that come your way in life as long as you continue to do the things you have learned and strive to meet the goals you have set.

 

One of the major things I got to help with was the Camp fundraiser. Here are a few pictures of what we did (can't find them all). It was major undertaking to make over 500 chocolate suckers, oreo pops, and fruit lollies. I think my kitchen had melting chocolate and sucker mess in it for about 2 weeks. The YW sold the suckers for $1.00 each for the Easter holiday to the ward and their friends and neighbors. I learned valuable lessons in fundraising and had tons of fun creating the posters, order forms, and marketing stuff etc.

 

The girls learned about chocolate and candy making. And we all learned how after you make something 500 times, it is as fun anymore. I also perfected my chocolate skills which was fun. We did yellow ducks/chicks, chocolate/white bunnies and sprinkle oreo pops with peanut butter oreos, original, and mint. All were very delicious. And it was my first time doing solid chocolate suckers in molds which were super easy and learned how you use a knife to trim off the spill over. We also added rice krispies to some of those for a "krackle" bar effect.

 We did pretzel rods with the left over chocolate which I think would have sold well too. They looked so cute in a plastic bag wrapper and tied with Easter fabric strips I made with fabric I had. It was supported well and we had very little cost in them so profit was big - if you don't count the leaders' time. :) Anyway good memories with good women!

What? I am actually posting again?

Well, yes in fact. It has not been because I haven't wanted to post. (Well in the beginning it was, because you don't really want to write and remember bad/hard times especially when you are going through them and you don't know how they will resolve- we have had some of those lately which I will try to sum up later - just for the reason that I won't pretend that we have this perfect marriage and we never have our ups and downs- which everyone does, and for the reason to learn from our experiences, hopefully to never repeat again, empathize with others, and be better for them.)

But for now I will share these pictures and play catch up later... (never let it go as long as I did, it is overwhelming to try to catch up). 

Gracie is starting to read. Katie turned 2. Luke is being a good man and taking care of us. And I have 2 months left. I'm 30 weeks. And in case you didn't know - it's a girl!!!  I hope to be back on here again soon. Happy Halloween!