Hi Ho, Hi Ho

It's back to work I go...

Four and a half months of a break from work is nice.

Nice enough for me to want to get back in the game.

Back at the beginning of April I started poking around online and sent a few resumes out. I saw a posting one morning and sent my resume to a company that was looking for a receptionist from 1-5pm daily. I thought to myself "a marketing company- perfect (my degree) and part time work. Maybe I can answer phones and they can give me small marketing projects to work on at the same time. Part time will be great because I can still do the things like go to the gym, cook dinner, work on other things and have a good balance with work."

After my initial interview with HR, they had something different in mind for me.

Full time. And not being a receptionist.

Okay, its not that bad. But after I left KLAS back in December, I doubted that I would want to work full time again. It all has to do with that balance act of work and other things in life.

Four interviews and several phone calls later, I accepted an offer to work at One on One Marketing (an online marketing firm).

Full time. And not as a receptionist.

Actually they agreed to let me work from 10am-5pm (which I've learned is still considered full time since it's over 30 hours a week and I will be eligible for full time benefits). It's more than part time, but I think those extra hours in the morning will make a HUGE difference. And if 'full time' doesn't work out, they're flexible with me being moved to part time down the road.

I think this will be a good thing and it seems to be a good company- in fact, much like KLAS. It's young (the president is in his early 30's) and under 70 employees. They've got a half basketball court built into their office along with ping pong tournaments. And they are understanding of other family and obligations in life. In other words- work isn't everything to them either.

So, looking back on the past four and a half months of being a stay at home wife, here's some thoughts from back in December with what I wanted to do with my time while not working and what I now have to show for it:

-Learn my camera better and take more photos
I read through my camera manual, but didn't really ever take more photos

-Learn some photo editing software
I picked up tips on photo editing software, but have yet to purchase it.

-Invest in a sewing maching and make some cool stuff
Got one for Christmas, attended a quilting class and have made 2 (small) blankets. Kept a collection of e-newsletters for ideas on future projects.

-Learn how to play the piano
I had my first piano lesson today! Bartering piano lessons for babysitting is awesome!

-Make jam
Check! Three batches of it!

-Do some cooking and be more domestic
Double check! I've done more cooking in the past 4 months than in my entire life combined.

-Travel with Brant more on his trips
I'll miss the freedom of being able to do this the most

-Be a gym rat, including enrolling in a fitness bootcamp
Check! Loved bootcamp and still going strong on my own at the gym!

-Watch lots of Good Things Utah
Check! And bummed that we didn't get to sit in the live studio audience this week like we planned.

-Read lots of books
Yikes! I've only read one. And I'm not even all the way done! (Linsey, you put me to shame!)

-Organize my mission photos
They've organized by transfer... Shannon, are you going to help me on the rest?

-Figure out if I want to go to Grad school
Still in the works and definately still a thought in my mind. Actually, my thought was that going back to work will open more doors if I decide to do this.

All in all, I think it's been a productive 4.5 months.

And on this upcoming Monday- it's back to work I go!

Hi-ho!!

How my in-laws entertain their children

Since Brant had an unusual 4 day weekend with Monday and Tuesday off this week, we took off after church on Sunday and headed to Texas to visit Ma (Nancy) and Pa (Pops) Harrison. This morning Pops even let us ride The Red Streak (aka his newest toy or lil' red).

Maybe I was a little nervous driving lil' red; it went much faster than I expected! (notice that goofy grin on my face!)

Brant was a natural. He just needs a cowboy hat now.

I had some leftover fabric from the baby quilt I had made for a friend the other month that I brought down with me and that Nancy helped me with (good thing Pops knew how to troubleshoot the bobbin I was struggling with...)

It was nice to visit with you guys again (and I call dibs on mowing the neighbors lawn with lil' red next time).

Over the Weekend

We visited BYU's museum of art. One of the current exhibitions features the photographer Walter Wick titled Games, Gizmos, and Toys in the Attic. It was fun to see - and if I still worked at KLAS, I'd suggest it for a team activity.

Happy Earth Day

I like to think that I'm doing my part to save the earth by being diligent in using my reusable grocery bags at the store. I also try set my laptop into hypernation whenever I walk away from it and keep the lights off in our apt that we aren't using.

And in celebration of earth day today, I'll be picking up a free roll of 100% recycled reynolds wrap foil (go here if you like rebates and want to do the same. only good for today and quantities are limited)

I'm a fan

of Miss California Carrie Prejean. Speculation is that her answer (though maybe not the most eloquent... and FYI that they have edited out the booing in this video from the audience) may have cost her the Miss USA crown on Sunday night (more reason for me to be a bigger Miss America fan), but the fact that her integrity and honest answer was more important to her speaks volumes about her character.

It's been a little bit

of a quiet couple days this past weekend. A trip to the temple, a night at Chili's finishing off our coupons for free entree's, watching Pride & Prejudice (the much more condensed Provo version), visiting grandparents, and making cheddar potato soup.

Brant's Second Love

Is his garden. And is the first thing he checks on when he comes home after a trip. Over the past couple months, he has spent hours over this garden - going to a gardening class, planning, plotting, planting, researching the best types of seeds, etc.

In fact, one of the reasons we chose the place where we live now is because the owners have three gardening box spaces in their backyard that they don't garden with anymore and loves when their tenants use the space to garden.

I tell him that patience is the number one ingredient for growing a graden, but still- there are times when Brant agonizes over his garden because it doesn't grow fast enough or because its not raining enough (apparently rain water is better than water from the faucet?) I seriously even caught him reading in Jacob 5 (what more can I do for my vineyard?) the other day. hahaha.

He's on a trip right now, but can rest assured- that with the FIVE OR SIX INCHES of snow that we've gotten over the past 24 hours (in this lovely spring month of April), that his garden is getting PLENTY of water.

He's missing the snow AND his garden is getting watered.

What a lucky guy.

Georgia Easter Weekend Highlights

Friday evening: After hearing that there would be thunderstorms and heavy rain during the Braves opening game that night, Lacy instead rounded us all up for dinner in Atlanta at Noche's. Living in Utah these days, I often get comments about not having a southern accent...all four of these girls had such strong southern twangs that it put a smile on my face all night long.

Friday night: Picked up Brant from the ATL airport after his long work week.

Saturday afternoon: After visiting Falcon Field in Peachtree City, we got 5 sibs/ spouses piled into the car and headed over to the local ball fields for some sweet hitting practice.

Saturday night: My mom wanted to reminence of her BYU Old Testmant class days and for a cultural learning experience for us, put together a Passover Seder that one of her professors had done. She made sure that it was complete by leaving an extra chair for Elijah and keeping the front door open a few inches.

Sunday: An updated family photo after church (including Nathan's 'non-homecomming' talk) and Easter dinner with the entire Kimble extended fam.

Sunday's Fun dicovery: A few weeks ago, Brant and I were sitting in church and I noticed that on the back of the program (where they list all the missionaries that are serving from the ward and their addresses) that one of the missionaries was serving in the Atlanta mission. It so happens- that for easter dinner my mom also invited the missionaries over- and Elder Roberts was that same missionary! The missionary from our ward in Utah is serving in my mom's ward in Georgia! What are the chances?! We made sure to take a couple photos to bring back for his family here.

Sunday evening: back to Salt Lake and some cool conversation with a guy from South Africa on the plane.

Welcome Home Elder Wilson

We'll be spending the rest of the week acclimating my bro Nathan back to the real world. That means lots of bowling, softball playing, movie watching, and whatever else we can think of.

And not to mention- eating the sweet 30 German candy bars he brought back with him.

F.G.T.

Since yesterday afternoon, I've been down south in my hometown of Fayetteville, Georgia - and tonight had some lovely fried green tomatoes.

Which reminded me of this movie-

which was also partly filmed in my hometown (well, back when the Winn Dixie grocery store still existed. Think of the scene where the woman hits the teenagers car repeatedly in the grocery store parking lot).

Provo City 5K

(the court jester cheering the runners on)

Besides watching conference over the weekend, we got up Saturday morning to run the Provo City 5K. We didn't improve much on our time (only 7 seconds)- we'll try again. Next stop: Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure on May 9 (we'll be at your wedding that evening too, Linsey!)

Overnight in San Francisco

Brant has been on a 3 day trip and yesterday arrived in San Fran at noon for a 22 hour layover (how boring to be in a hotel by yourself for that long...) So, I headed out there to keep him company.

While I was waiting in the SLC airport for the flight out there, I realized that one of my mission companions, Kelly, is not far from the San Francisco area going to grad school. So I called her up- and I was in luck! She had the day off and could come meet us to go galaventing.

(When Brant and I were dating, we discovered that he actually knew Kelly's sister from BYU. Small world.)

(Isn't pink precious?)

After settling in at the hotel, Kelly came and picked us up- we headed to a Mexican resturant for lunch, hit up Mickey D's for an ice cream cone, then headed back to the hotel so she could meet with her study group.

Back at the hotel, we caught 'cocktail hour' for the free chips and nacho cheese (sweet) then utilized the hotel's work out facilities (gotta prepare for tomorrow's 'grueling' 5K). After the study group, Kelly came back to the hotel while Brant hit the hay and we hit up the pool.

After breakfast this morning, Brant went back to work, and I came back to Salt Lake.

Good times.