So, here goes:
This is the first time EVER I will work a job year-round for 12 consecutive months. Usually I have summers "off"--at least off from whatever my typical gig is. This has literally been the case SINCE I WAS BORN. Maybe that's why I feel like I am NOT cut out for this 12 month job business. I NEED A BREAK!!! Geez.
Anyway, I was originally hired to work a 10-month contract, August 1-May 31, which followed in my typical pattern of having the summers to go on trips and have a summer job and play. However, toward the end of May, my job decided they wanted to change my contract and make it be a 12-month, year-round deal. (You can probably tell I have mixed feelings about this change of events.) It's nice for my wallet, not quite as nice for my sanity and vacationing needs. So at the end of May, my boss and I had a chat that went something like this:
Boss: So, Jen, starting July 1, you're now a full-time, 12-month employee. That means you'll be running Vacation Bible School.
Jen: So, you're saying you want me to run this giant program with about four days to plan it.
Boss: (clearly confused) Uhhhhhh.....What do you mean 4 days?
Jen: Well, VBS is scheduled for the second week of July, and I don't work here in June.
Boss: You don't work here in June?
Jen: Nope. My contract is up at the end of May.
Boss: Are you sure?
Jen: Yep. August through May. 10 months. So you're not paying me to work here in June.
Boss: Ummm....huh. Well....let me work on that.
After a crazy series of conversations, it was decided that I WOULD work there in June, but for some reason they "can't justify" hiring me to work full-time this month (but they can next year? Huh.), so I'm working 30 hours per week. BUT the good part about this change is that they told me I could stack those hours however I wanted, so I could take some time off. So basically I worked like crazy for two weeks, then took a week off, and have been just taking it easy ever since. (Does all this seem crazy to anyone else?) So the moral of the story: VACATION!!
My mom just had her first knee replacement surgery (second knee coming in August--and she's doing FABULOUSLY, by the way--only a week and a half later and she's already walking around the house WITHOUT crutches! CRAZY!), and she really wanted me to come home. Since I didn't think I'd be working at my job in June, I had told her it might be a possibility, but then it got a little trickier when the job sitch changed. I was also a little wary because we hadn't quite figured out when Erik would be moving, and I didn't really want to spend his last week here with me a plane-ride away. It all worked out, though, and I'm SO glad, because it was FUN!!
My sister is in Physical Therapy school in Denver, and she just happened to have a few days off, so logistically and financially speaking, it was actually a lot better for everyone for me to fly into Denver, then drive to Utah, so that's what we did. It was 95 degrees in Denver!!!!!! When I lived in Utah, 95 degrees was nothing to sing about--that's HOT!! But when you come from Portland where the sun is a rare occurance and we never saw spring, let alone summer, the sunshine is GLORIOUS!!! So I was basking in it's glow all week. Anyway...
You guys, my dad got this new job a couple years ago, working for a private company instead of for the BLM, and boy does he have connections!!! Thanks to my baseball-loving boyfriend and his extreme patience in explaining the game to me, I have become quite a fan of baseball, so my sister and I made plans to go see a Rockies game. Unbeknownst to us, my dad called his boss (who happens to live in Denver), and next thing we knew we had FREE tickets in the TENTH ROW!!!! It was AMAZING!!! If you ever have a chance to see a baseball game at Coors Field, DO IT!!! It's like a giant party--sooooooo much fun!
The next day we fiddled around in Denver for awhile, then hit the road. My sister and brother-in-law (Sterling) drive to Vernal quite a bit, but they've never followed Highway 40 all the way from Denver on home. Amy casually mentioned that sometime she'd like to take that route, so I said, "Let's do it!" And it was BEAUTIFUL!!! And really, it didn't take us any longer than the other way, which is supposedly sooooo much faster. It was totally worth it to go that way. There is NOTHING quite like driving through the middle of the Rocky Mountains.
We got to Vernal just a few minutes after my folks rolled in from SLC, chatted with them for a little bit (by the way...people on major narcotics are HILARIOUS!), and headed to bed. Thursday was mostly a "take care of mom" day (which largely fell to Amy, since my mom decided Amy's physical therapy student status meant she was clearly the most qualified to help her out--okay. Sorry you had to do all that, Meem!). But, when my dad got home, Amy and I went horseback riding!!!
To be continued in the next post....
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