Father's Day

I wanted to make sure that I was home this Father’s Day, especially since it would be the last time I would get to see my family before their big trip. It was such an awesome weekend filled with hiking and talking and walking and just hanging out. I love hiking with my family and as we have all aged it has become more fun. We walked and took pictures and visited and just enjoyed each other’s company. I got to see what a communal metat would have looked like and saw a real life cowboy. We got to teach Mikkel what a rattlesnake looked like after a cowboy so graciously shot it up for us and that was an eye opening experience. I hadn’t ever seen a rattlesnake in person and I am not sure I ever want to again. But it was an awesome trip.

The whole weekend was very relaxed and easy going and yet we did so much. I love going home to visit my family and I am so grateful that we live as close to them as we do. I am so grateful for such a wonderful Father and am grateful that I got to spend that time with him. Words cannot describe what that man means to me or how much he means to me and so I won’t even try to come up with them. Dad, just know that I love you so much and you will always be my hero and I don’t know what I would do without you! You always have the greatest advice and wisdom to share and I always treasure the things that you have taught me. Happy Father’s Day!!!

Dangers of Work

I would have never thought that a Library would be a dangerous place to work but after Friday I am not so sure that is true. We have these awesome spatula-looking things that remove stickers for us and they are my best friend. The problem is that they are deceiving in how they look because they don’t look very sharp but after I slipped and took off a HUGE chunk in my pointer finger I am here to attest that they are in fact very sharp. We are looking forward to my finger healing and there not being a divot anymore. Thankfully it has stopped being super sensitive to touch because for awhile there it was almost completely useless!

Killing the Gopher

On our way to take Mikkel back home, our trip started out with a tragedy. We weren’t more than 10 miles from the house when I ran over a gopher. The silly thing ran out in front of the car and there was no time to miss him. I am hoping he died instantly as the car ran right over him and he at least didn’t suffer. This is the biggest thing I have killed so far and every time I kill something it really messes with me emotionally. I hate the idea that I just killed it and try to figure out what I could have done differently. I called Marc to get the love and empathy that I needed and we pulled up to a stop light. While sitting at the stop light Mikkel notices that there are gophers popping out of the ground on the corner. Now I sit at this stoplight every day on my way to work and I have NEVER seen a gopher but that day Mikkel sees three pop out of the ground. I start to freak out that they are haunting me because I killed their friend and Marc is trying to convince me that they are cheering me on because none of them could stand that gopher. But I figured I should warn everyone else that regardless of the reasoning, if you kill one gopher more will follow you. You have now been warned.

Sexy Last Names

So when Mikkel was up visiting we decided to go see the newest Pirates movie. We enjoyed sneaking in our cheap candy and had fun watching it together. By the time the movie was over it was late and I was tired and this can lead to a dangerous combination. As we watched the credits role I decided that I was going to find a sexier last name for Marc and myself. I tried to get Marc into but he insisted that he would keep his current last name and kept reminding me how much I hated the process of changing my name in the first place. Regardless, I have picked out some sexier names for us and here are some of my top choices.

Chrissy Vasconcellos
Marc Margson
Chrissy O’shaunessey
Marc Montemayor
Chrissy Skotchdopole

Which one do you like?

Saving the Shumate

Sadly in my job, one of the things I get to see a lot is bad parenting. We have a lot of parents who come in to use the computer and forget that their children even exist. I help children find their “missing” mommy all the time and even have moms ignore us as we walk around looking for them because their computer time isn’t up yet. It really is such a sad, sad thing. On a side note we do have good parents in our library too.

One day at work I was putting away the new magazines that had just come in. I was walking towards the children’s area and heard a little one having quite the meltdown. I went over to see what was going on and realized that we had a missing mom. This little one was so upset that some other moms were coming over to see if everything was okay or if one of their children had hurt her in any way. I assured everyone that she was just fine and that all would taken care of. This little one also had a sister nearby that was as carefree as could be and this was upsetting the little one because not only was her mom missing but her sister didn’t care! She kept insisting that she needed to see if the car was there. I took her hand and started to walk her to a window that she could look out of. We almost got to the window when the little sister decided she would rather play in the kid’s area then go on our little walk and so she quickly turned around and walked back. The little one again start to freak out and started running after and calling for her little sister. It was at this point that I realized who this little girl was and who the missing mom was as well.

As I had been checking in the magazines I had sworn that I had seen my old Achievement Day leader from my hometown and had confirmed this by finding her two oldest kids in the library. I had only ever known her two oldest children but did know that she had several others. As the little girl was crying out for her little sister she called her a very unique name and the only person I had ever heard of with this name belonged to my Achievement Day leader’s daughter. I ran up to the little one and asked her if she was her daughter and she told me that she was. Luckily at this point I could tell the little one that all was okay and Mom hadn’t left but was out in the car feeding the newborn baby. This calmed the little one down and after getting some coloring pages and showing her the other two children were still in the library she started to relax.

What amazed me about this story was all of the little pieces. If I hadn’t seen the mom walk out with the baby, I wouldn’t have ever been able to place this child. Or if she hadn’t called out to her sister, I wouldn’t have been able to place this child. Or if the Spirit had helped me solve the puzzle and find a way to comfort her, I wouldn’t have been able to place this child. Or if another staff member had found this little girl, they wouldn’t have been able to place this child. This scenario, once again, confirmed to me that our Heavenly Father knows us personally and loves and takes care of us. He was aware of this little child in her time of distress and sent someone to her that could comfort her in her time of need. How grateful I am for that knowledge and for a loving Heavenly Father. I was so grateful that I could be in the right place at the right time and was able to be an instrument in his hands.

Mikkel's Visit

Marc and I were so lucky to have Mikkel come and visit us for a few days. We love having Mikkel around and thankfully he doesn’t mind putting up with us…. too much at least. Mikkel got to come to work with me and see me in action, hang out with Marc at home, go see the newest Pirates movie with us, help us set up a tent in our living room, and so much more. Mikkel is always such a help and is such a huge help when ever he is around. I love how thoughtful and considerate he is of everyone around him. He seemed to enjoy his time here and I know we really enjoyed our time with him. We can’t wait until he gets to come back after their big trip over seas and is able to come visit us again. We love having him around!!!

Marc's Hair

Marc and I have had a deal since before we were married, if I cut his hair then he wouldn’t go get it buzzed but if I sent him to a barber then he would come back with super short hair. I am not the biggest fan of super short hair and so I grudgingly agreed. After the last 15+ months of marriage I have learned how to cut his hair and have faithfully done it.

So one night I made Marc a deal, he would help me dye my hair and I would cut his for him. He agreed and my hair dyeing began. I then started to cut his hair but we half broke the clippers last time. Marc got the clippers back together and handed them to me. I started them up again but it wasn’t cutting his hair. I told Marc that they weren’t working and I should just cut it with scissors. Marc doesn’t like it when I cut it with scissors because the scissors are a little dull and it ends up pulling his hair rather than cutting his hair. So he was working with the clippers again. At this point Marc takes the guard off of the clippers and I don’t notice. I ask for the clippers back again and he hands them to me. I try to cut his hair again and this time the clippers work. To my horror, I have just buzzed a nice long strip on the back of Marc’s hair. Marc bursts into laughter and thinks that this is a grand thing because now he gets short hair and things it is so funny. I am so embarrassed and furious that the tears start. I leave because it is time to wash the dye out and go cry in the bathroom. Marc continues to buzz his hair. I come back and help him out because he has missed some spots on the back of his head and the tears still continue to fall. Marc assures me that it is fine and is a good thing and it’s not a big deal. How grateful I am that I have a husband that can find the positive in anything and is so loving when his wife totally butchers his hair cut! So now we both will have short hair for a while. Check out the new look: