Trip to Utah

I'm trying this new way to post pics; within the text. Let me know if you like it or hate it or just leave a comment for fun.
Well alot has happened but not alot to write about. We flew to Utah last Friday and stayed till Friday the 29th. We visited with Mom and Dad Tidwell, Grandparents, brothers and sisters (on both sides) and old friends from school. It was pretty cold down there. When we arrived there was almost two feet of snow on the ground. It was sunny most of the time we were there although it was not very warm. The kids had a blast, and got very little sleep and got colds too. :) oh well! I enjoyed seeing my old professors and friends from school . Two of them took jobs with the University. Seeing my bother and sister was a high point. I am trying to get them to move to WA. [Audrey, you know you want to be up here, think of all the hiking... :) ] On Thursday we went to a cool park and had a great time. It had some toys that were even fun for adults. It was sunny and peaceful.
Well church was nice today, I bore testimony in front of the congregation to the fact that God knows each of us and is aware of our sufferings and blesses us, usually through the kindness of other people. Like the song says "I have no hands but yours".
I start my new job tomorrow. I am very excited, yet very nervous at the same time. I will have a lot of responsibility, more than I have ever had, and while I know I can do it, it still makes me nervous. Life is going well. In addition to this great new job, we cannot describe the happiness that we feel for the blessing that it is stay in our lovely house and in our great ward. I put up a new light fixture in my kitchen and it transformed it. It completes the 'Retro' look that I was going for. It also adds more depth to the room while improving the lighting. I get so excited about aesthetics; inside, outside, home, garden, or auto. I am turned on by enhancing things. This house has been alot of fun.

Hurray!!

Yep, You guessed it. I am now gainfully employed. I had a job interview last Saturday with a company in Snoqualmie, and I received a job offer on Tuesday. The name of the company is American Pro-scapes. The owner I found out in the interview is Mormon! I had several questions for the owner so I meet with him yesterday[Thursday] and got them figured out. I feel really good about this position. Today I called him and accepted his offer.
I will start March 3rd as a Sales Project Manager. This position will have alot of design, but more project management. I will have the luxury of overseeing the installation of my designs, which is something that very few designers actually get. The position pays considerably more than the previous and I will also have a company truck which will eliminate commuting costs. The best news to us is that we can stay in our house and near our wonderful friends. I was very sad at the thought of having to leave my shady hammock trees behind :( and my garden too!
Thank you to everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, I know that the Lord watches out over us and will never leave us stranded. It might appear that way but we just need to have faith that there is a master plan that we fit into.
Well there is not much more to write about so, until next time...

Rough start - Fun finish

Well this past week went as stated in the title. On Monday I received a call from the organic farm in Alaska and they said my job history was too risky for them. The manager a the design firm that I was interested in showed a marked reduction in interest in me, telling me to "call back sometime" ! And the Planner position in Moses Lake never did call back even though he said he would call me within a few days. (14 days ago) Now 2 of these jobs I didn't want, but it is disappointing to be rejected from them anyhow. Monday thru Wednesday were spent being depressed but still trying to find stuff. Wed afternoon I noticed that Henry had been very moody all week and I realized that he was mirroring my stress. So we decided to take Thursday and use one of our coupons to go to the Seattle Aquarium.
We took the 545 bus to downtown and then walked down to the Aquarium which is on the waterfront. It is a smaller aquarium, but is well appointed and has several unique features. The had a birds section, where we got to see birds swimming under water. One bird spent well over a minute underwater. They had exhibits of Sea and River Otters and different Seals. We had the luck of being there during feeding time and got to watch the Sea Otters breaking open clams and eating them up. There was also neat domed underwater room where you could just sit and watch the fish swim by. (see pics) They also had some well thought out tide pool areas in which you could pet the Starfish and Anemones. that night Henry had a bad dram about Starfish trying to get him, I'm not quite sure how that dram played out, I mean Starfish aren't exactly agile...!?
After the aquarium Ferny was in her backpack carrier asleep, so we decided to just walk around the city. We saw some neat things, and before we knew it we found ourselves at he entrance to the underground bus tunnel, so we hopped on an made our way to Chinatown. There is a really interesting oriental store called Uwajimaya. We had a coupon for buy 1/get 1 free. at the noodle bar, so that is where we had dinner. It was so fun. We spent over and hour eating. then we went shopping and purchased some weird and fun Asian groceries, including my favorite Banana Sauce. We then went to the bus tunnel only to find that it closes at 7pm. It was now 7:30pm so we had to hike all the way back into town. It was a bit chilly (40) but Seattle is such a scenic city that we didn't mind at all. We all went to bed happy that night.
Since then we have all been much happier. Henry and Fern have been my best little friends.
Saturday we had a lot of errands to do, so we decided to do them all together as a family. We went shopping for groceries, and went to the pet store to find a light for the kids fish tank. It wasn't anything special, but it was just fun to be together.
Well that's about it for now. We are all doing well. Fern is doing well at learning how to go to sleep on her own. (instead of having to be held every single second) I am finding new job postings and trust that it won't be too much longer till I find something. Well, till next time something cool happens... Adios!
{edit} About the pics: Tuesday Lyn went to a lot of trouble to make phad thai and right before dinner discovered that he mix she used had gone bad. Dinner was late as it was so we took advantage of the local pizza places "half price Tuesday. Henry loves pizza and it is one of the only was to get him to eat veggies. In the pic you can see just how much he loves it.
Wednesday Lyn had to go grocery shopping so I watched fern. We played some games and read some books. Then I decided to give her a Horsey-back ride. I went down the hall and back and around the ottoman, then as I passed in front of the Hutch I noticed hat she had fallen asleep. Since I was on all fours and she was on my back, there was nothing that I cold do except lay down and read the National Geographic and wait for Lyn to get back. When She walked in I'm sure it was quite the funny sight. {/edit}

Finally a tidbit

I really don't know what to write about my trip to Guatemala. I had a fantastic time. I logged 40 +/- hours on Chicken Buses. I got to hike to a active volcano and throw rocks in the lava. I got to go body surfing at sunset in El Salvador. I spent 2 weeks with my best friend and got to see many old friends from the mission. --- Whoa a bird just flew into our window, so I went out to see him and he (or she) allowed me to pick him up and hold him. My mom-in-law (the bird professional) said he was probably just in shock so we left him outside but I did get to allow Henry as close up view of a bird (mom: probably a Warbler) I hope he recovers. Henry says "Maybe he'll come back and visit us." --- I don't exactly know what to write about. I could write a travel log, but that is not why I went down there, it was just a nice side-effect. I had many spiritual experiences, but those are kinda for me. I guess what everyone probably want to know is "Is Caleb feeling better?" The answer is definitely YES! Many things have changed: my ability to see Gods hand in my life, my perspective on work and on what exactly one needs to live. (when you see how people live in Central America you cant help but realize that you don't NEED most of what you think.) My outlook on Designing has improved. I have worked so hard for it I cannot give up so easily. Friday I went to turn in an application and some of my design work and after looking at it they brought me in for an interview immediately. They want me to return on Monday for a follow up. I also have a possibility to work in organic farming in Skagway Alaska but I think that the pay is a bit too low. And there is a positive response from the city of Moses Lake to be a city planner, but if you have ever seen Moses Lake it is flat dry and about as dull as watching Supreme Court sessions on CNN. (i.e. Very Dull) but at any rate there are starting to become available several good jobs now that the new year is under way.
Things are going much better and the future looks brighter every day. If you would like to know more of the travel side of my trip let me know and I'll share it with you. But don't forget to scroll down on this page and you can see many pics of my adventure.
Till Feb. Love Caleb

Christmas quikie

I am leaving tomorrow for Guatemala. I just thought that I would post up some Christmas pics. (this site is STILL uploading them small. ..stupid thing!) We had a fabulous Christmas. It is sooo much fun being a parent during this time. I loved watching my twerps open up their gifts and I especially loved seeing Henry believe in Santa. Santa wrote Henry a letter and told him that he should eat more variety of food (read: fruits & veggies) and sure enough! He did! For Henry he got 12 die-cast cars characters from the self-same titled movie. Fern got some aprons and bracelets and dresses which has made her very happy. She is a clothes girl for sure. She saw a new purple dress and took it to Lyn and was all ugghh uggghhh. [put this on me!] We opened our presents in 3 different waves due to hunger or tiredness. We have had so much fun playing with all the toys to. One of the best things about Christmas was that we had a white Christmas just like the ones I used to know, where the tree tops glisten, and children lis... What? wait! oh, yeah it was snowing really good it just never stuck. But if you just looked just at the sky it was fantastic. We have received so many blessings and surprise gifts that we truly feel that God is watching out for us. We have had 2 different Doorbell Ditches done on us only to find generous gifts waiting for us on the step. whomever you are...thank you.

Well a happy New Year to all of you. I will be thinking about you when I am in the 90 degree tropical weather sipping a coconut milk under the shade of a palm tree and... I 'm just rubbin it in.... Sorry.
I love you all.

Edit: To all my friends near and far, in my self-pity I stated that I had only 1 friend, when in fact I have many. I was trying to point out that my very best friend lives in Guatemala.
Postforoosh: I'll still take you up on the mtn. trip though. :)

Henry's Birthday

Well here is a little update about our life in the last few days. Dec 16th was Henry's 4th birthday. We celebrated it on Dec 17th when Mom and Dad Nelson, Kaynie, Riley, and Micah came over from the other side of the state. It was a nice time, and we got to do some good catching up. Especially with Aunt Kaynie whom we haven't seen in 7 months. Henry wanted a "Blue Angel" cake. The Blue Angels are the Navy's elite acrobatic flying group. They fly in F/A 18's I believe. (for anyone who cares...) Any how if you go down to the pics you can see how the cake turned out. Henry was so excited to be 4, He kept saying "this day is my birthday". He was very cute. I have always enjoyed the excitement Henry has for the world as he opened gifts he would almost jump with excitement. Then to my extreme pleasure he would say thank you to everyone. He was also overwhelmed by attention during the Birthday Song, and he put his hands over his eyes. He is a sweet, quiet little guy. Thank you to everyone who gave him something and/or were thinking about him. I was a great day.

Lyn and I got to go Christmas shopping the other day and had so much fun. We discovered that it could be very easy to spoil a child with too many gifts. It seemed as if around every corner we found something that Henry would like. Fern is not quite to the age where things would be very interesting for her. I think next year dolls and the like will hold much more interest for her. We spent way more than we wanted to on Henry ($60 yikes [Thanks to a certain family that has been very generous to us and shown us much love]) But we found some things that will be memorable to him. We also got him mostly educational / artistic things. I am so excited for Christmas. I remember last year I could hardly sleep on Christmas eve. I think that it will be the same this year. I LOVE being a dad, so sweet.

As you know times have been hard for us lately. I have been going thru some difficult times personally. So that you can understand, I feel like my whole life is a mystery to me right now. For the past eight years I have been working toward being a Landscape designer. It was (is?) what I thought God wanted me to do. But the last 1.5 years has been miserable and after getting to my goal of being a designer, I failed after 2 months. You might be saying "what a loser!, only 2 months! He's been fired twice in a single year?!" That's what I'm thinking about myself at any rate. My employer said as she fired me that it seemed to her that I was "trying to be something that I'm not." So now after such a dismal professional failure, I wonder, "what am I supposed to be?" "Who am I?" "Why did I ever feel God wanted me to do this?"
I feel completely lost. I don't now what to do with my career wreckage, I'm afraid that it is not salvageable. I wonder where God lies in the planning and furthering of ones career. Does he even care, or is that something that is up to you?
Anyhow I have alot to think about. I have no real friends, just some acquaintances. Beside my wife, my only true friend is Hector who lives in Guatemala. Despite not having seen him for 8 years we are still tight.
Thursday Dec. 27th I will be taking my backpack and flying (buddyPass) to Guatemala. There I will be able to spend 14 days with my best friend. We will be taking a chicken bus to El Salvador, and we will be visiting our old mission area where we served together for 6 months. I hope to reconnect with people from my mission. I will have lots of time to talk with my friend. The time in my life when things made the most sense was when I was on my mission. Perhaps returning will spark some sense back into my life. Since I have a BuddyPass and don't have to ask for time off, I feel that this would be a good thing for me. (Beats sitting around at home watching the rain and getting depressed.) I also talked to my Bishop, He thinks this would be good for me too. He said "Don't just make this a trip, make it a spiritual journey" So that's what I am going to do.
I am not asking for anyones permission (except Lyn's) I just would like to, at least avoid any bitterness/Ill thoughts, and at most receive some support from the ones I love.

Merry Christmas to all.