this is what happens when you attempt to take family pictures with a self timed camera, a one year old and a puppy

Jen: "Whatever happens, just keep smiling at the camera peeps and no one will know any different.."
Deek: " BAD DOG."
Reese: "He wouldn't ever do that to me right?"
Kita: "SQUIRREL!"

And then you try again, but your puppy looks like the spawn of Satan himself.  Or that she's about to take flight.  I keep waiting for flames to start flying from her ears and mouth.

Finally you give up the 'having our dog in the family picture' idea so you throw a stick as far as you can, yell "FETCH!!!," And pray it takes her longer than the 15 seconds to retrieve. What you can't see is Kita hurtling toward us just a few feet out of this next frame.

That was our one and only shot with everyone even remotely looking at the camera. Deek thinks he looks like he's squeezing me to death, and I think I look like I'm straight out of the class of 2016. It didn't help that our camera died right after we took that last one (Whose the bad mom who forgot to charge the camera beforehand?. Cripes.)

But I guess that's what happens when you're poor and can't afford professional photographers. Never mind the fact that photographers tend to live by other people. I guess it's just the thing to do. Scoff.

And since our town's permanent population is 3, a photographer (heck even anyone with some hands) was a little hard to come by. And so we did the self timed thing with a tripod and got slightly fuzzy pictures with some, shall we say.... personality. And some pretty funny memories.

But we did actually have one picture that I would consider a complete success. Before we attempted to take the family pics Deek snapped this one of me and me gal.

sigh.

She's getting so big....

and such is the the lament of every mother.

Love her.

 Anyway, so that's what happens when you attempt something you probably shouldn't. Maybe we'll try for round two this next week?

Pray for us...


SQUIRREL!!!

i'm living where and doing what? q&a about the new job

Q:Where in the heck are you? 

Deek and I are now the live-in managers at a cabin resort located in the High Uintas of Utah. It's pretty fantastic. He does everything from regular maintenance to ATV/snowmobile rentals to customer check in to handling crazy naked customers who insist they don't need any pants. I help out with some stuff too (discussed in a question below). We live at 8500 ft above sea level. And we always wear pants. You're welcome.

Q: Hey! You never said exactly the name of the resort you're living at?

A: That, my friend, was on purpose. I never divulge the names of the companies that I work for, for several reasons. The primary one being that if I ever have any work related stories to tell on this here blog, all members of  said stories can remain completely anonymous. That way, I can't get into any unnecessary trouble for divulging my innermost work secrets. Yes, thank you. I have innermost work secrets. The second reason is because I have a very active imagination. Leave me alone for too long, and I'll have imagined all sorts of Texas Chainsaw attacks and Crazy One-Eyed Harry episodes. (Who is Crazy One-Eyed-Harry, you ask? Shhh... I don't divulge such secrets. But I'm sure he exists. Just ask my imagination.)

Q: Tell me more about your job duties..

As of now, I haven't been doing much. And by much, I mean nothing. But next week I start training to be the on-call reservations gal. I'll probably help out a few evenings a week for a couple hours from my home. I'll also start training to be the Head Housekeeper when our current one retires. Yes, I'm just important like that. I'll even get to help out with a little marketing and promotional type of stuff.

Q: What are you doing with your current town home?

Well, let's be honest here. We took a huge hit on the value of our home from this rockin' economy, so we decided to rent it out. We found some great renters the day we posted it in the classifieds. Boo ya.

Q: Ummm hello? You have a daughter. What exactly are you going to do with her?

After much deep thought and contemplation we decided it would be best to keep her. She is, after all, our offspring. We can't have her living with the wolves can we? Ok ok.... in all seriousness of course she's coming with us! What a lucky girl to have the mountains as her proverbial playground! She's going to be the best 1 year old snowmobiler you've ever seen.

Q: Is it a seasonal or year round job? Is there a certain amount of time you've committed to?

365 days a year, we're here. And thank goodness. I love seeing the mountains in all four of their seasonal glory. And we haven't committed to any set amount of time. It's here as long as we want it. Or we get kicked out. Whichever comes first.

Q:You say it's in the middle of nowhere. Are you joking or is it just near the middle of nowhere?

A: Well, you tell me. The nearest gas station is 30 miles away and it's endearingly named 'Last Chance.' Not kidding. When we have UPS or fed ex packages delivered we have to specify the mile marker and that we're 30 miles away from the nearest city. Again, not kidding.

Q: Really? You're living in a double wide?

Yeah baby. Complete with forest green carpet and purple floral wall paper. It's located on site and is just a stone's throw from the cabins. According to the owners, "it hasn't  been lived in for quite a while." You're telling me. the good news is that there are 4 walls and this snazzy contraption called a door. I know, I know. You're all jealous. The better news is that they're replacing most of the carpet for us and letting us paint the entire place. I have high hopes that we'll be able to make it all nice and homey. The best news is that we've definitely lived in worse (Hello my Hawaii--used-to-be-a-one-car-garage-but-was-turned-into-a-studio-apartment home.)

Q: Are you sure about this? I think you're kind of crazy...

Thank you! That means we're living life to it's fullest right? Deek and I feel like this was a divinely inspired life change. It's always been Deek's dream to do something like this and it sort of fell into our lives at the exact, perfect-o moment. 

Yes, it's a little different than the typical suburbia 9-5 job lifestyle. Most people probably wouldn't love living smack dab in Timbuktu in a glorified trailer. But here we are following our dreams and doing our best to live the hours we've been blessed with to the max. And besides, what's the worst that can happen (other than being eaten by a bear)? Fail? So what. If we fail then it's just another penny in the adventure piggy bank of life. And who wants an empty piggy bank?

Feel free to follow our new blog to keep up on all of our crazy adventures. I plan to update it regularly. Enjoy!!! And, if you have any other questions about the new job, home, life, or why that old spice commercial is so addicting to watch just leave a comment and let me know.

Love,

Jen.

PO Box In the Wilderness.

my autumn morning stroll

...was breathtaking. I had a surreal moment this morning as I was meandering down the road, onward to one of my favorite places to explore with my girl in the stroller and my dog at my side. I was surrounded by shimmering golden quakies and deep saturated blue sky. High Uintah peaks formed my horizon. The near perfect 70 degree Indian Summer didn't hurt either.

I live here.

I live here!! Holy smokes, folks.  

This is my life.

How in tarnations did we get here? Who does something like this?

This is my home now.

 I couldn't be more ecstatic. Wouldn't you be if you woke up every morning to this?

 Yes, please. Pass me some more of that.