10 Reasons I love my job

Being off of work for two weeks has got me thinking about my employment. I've come to the conclusion that I really do love my job. Yes, there are parts of it I don't like, and, in fact, dread. But, for the most part, I am very happy to have it. I don't mean to brag, I am just feeling grateful for my job. So, here is my list of reasons why.

10. The fact that I am employed at all. After having nothing to watch but judge shows, I see how my life could be as an unemployed drunk who has lost total control of my life who blames everything wrong with my life on other people.

9. Challenges. I don't just go to work, do my work, and go home (okay, I do some days). But I get to challenge myself and learn new things on a regular basis.

8. I get to meet new people all the time. While a lot of the time when I actually get to talk to customers, they're complaining about something. But then there are those people who are really interesting and really fun to help.

7. Flexibility. I don't like to have to ask for things that aren't a part of my normal job, but I love that when I do, that I normally can have it. Like if I need to leave early one day of the week... it's not a problem. Or if I unexpectedly have to take a week off of work... it's not a problem. They're willing to cover.

6. Get to sit. Yes, I am lazy, but I am happy I don't have to be on my feet all day.

5. The person factor. I don't work for a faceless corporation who doesn't care about it's employees. I know all my bosses by first name, and they know mine. I also know where most of them live.... so don't cross me /shakes fists!!

4. Free Tuition for Chad. Really, you can't beat that if you're trying to get your husband through school.

3. I get too much vacation time. Too much vacation time? you ask. Yes, I know that's a strange concept, but listen to this. I get 5 hours per pay period of vacation, which equals up to 10 hours per month, which will equal out to 120 hours per year. Divide it by 40 hours (a week) and I have 3 weeks a year. It's actually hard to find time to take it all. Plus I have 2 days of personal time and sick time on top of all of that.

2. Insurance. Oh, how I am grateful for insurance. I know when I have gone to doctors appointments I have always been happy that I have it, but after having a $7000 surgery which was accompanied by some complications that could have cost us thousands more, I am very grateful for the insurance that we have.

1. The people. I love the people I work with... not all of them, but most of them. I consider most of the people I work with as friends and often see them outside of work.

Thanks

I just wanted to put up quick note and thank everyone who sent me well wishes and visited me after my ACL surgery.

I am doing very well. The physical therapist has been impressed with my recovery. I am bending my knee well, can walk without a limp and can walk without my crutches (as long as I'm not on uneven ground). I will start on my stationary bike soon.

I am posting some pictures of my knee, mostly because I think it's cool. If you get squeemish at all, don't look at the pictures.

This is my knee the day after surgery







This is today

It's too bad, just some bruising.

Oh Memories/Embarrassing Pictures

Sometimes I forget how cool I was when I was younger... now I or you will never forget.

This is my mom and I one Christmas. Note the awesome glasses and the super awesome coat.


Not sure if this is the same Christmas, but this was an awesome toy. I had a great perm.

This was my wall as a teenager. As you may have figured out, I loved Blink 182, No Doubt, and Freddie Prinze Jr.
This was my first dance. Can I just tell you how awkward that was when the photographer wanted us to hold hands.


This is my friend Traci... I most put this in here because I miss being skinny.


We all worked together. Adrianne is the one trying to put her arm around me. Aileen is the one checking the time. My hair is red.


This is me and Laura Cannon. This is our trip up to see No Doubt in Idaho. It was fun.


BONUS!!!

Can anyone guess who this awesome cheerleader is? Clue: If you have only known me for a couple of years, you have a good chance of knowing who she is.

New Post

Not too much new has been happening here at the Bott household. But we thought we'd throw up a new post just for kicks.

I (Stephy) have torn my ACL... again. So probably around mid-September I'll be getting knee surgery. I have an appointment with one of the Jackson brothers on Tuesday to make sure it's torn, but there is a pretty good chance it is. I tore it playing ultimate frisbee (which is how I tore it originally) and I tore it on the same field we played on before. It's pretty awesome.

Chad is getting ready for his last semester at school, yeah! I think we're both really ready for him to be done.

Alaska

We just got home from Alaska this afternoon. We're exhausted because we haven't slept for 36 hours, but we had so much fun.

Our group consisted of Stephanie (me), Chad, and Erin Fleming, my friend from work. Erin knows a lady who lives in Homer and Halibut Cove Alaska in the Summer. She owns two homes and has plenty of room in there, and she let us come up and stay.

We flew out of Utah on Sunday the 13th, and we were supposed to arrive early Monday morning and pick up our rental car. Well, the plane was delayed 3 hours, and the rental place closed at 2:30 am and opened back up at 5:30 am. Our plane arrived at 3:30. So we slept in the car rental terminal until 5:30. We then rented our car and started our 5 hour drive to Homer.

We started out by visiting the Anchorage Temple. Being from Utah, I had never seen a temple so small. Chad said that they only have one endowment room. It is a beautiful temple.

Along the way we picked up some Geocaches. Chad spent 2 years in Alaska on his mission and spent 8 months of that time in Homer. He knows the area very well. One of the reasons we wanted to go Geocaching was to find some places we wouldn't have otherwise found.
A stream that was flowing into a small lake.

Chad going through some trees to get to the geocache

Chad finding a Geocache.


There is a big glacier near by. You can't tell be the photo, but the water is very light blue. There are icebergs in this water. If you look at the top left corner, you can make out a glacier in the background.

Stephy and Erin.


A lake near the ocean.

When we finally made it down to Homer, we were amazed by the house. We didn't take any pictures of the house, but the view of the ocean was breath taking:

It was so weird to see the mountains and the ocean together like that.

Once the lady that we were staying in came, we got packed up to go to Halibut Cover, which is about a 15 minute boat ride from the docks. When she came we found out that she had some of her friends visiting as well, a couple who had 8 kids. This is when we started to get worried. We kept saying that we would stay at the Homer house so that there would be enough room for everyone. They told us not to worry about the space, that there was plenty. Besides that the water hadn't been delivered to the Homer home yet, so we had to go to the Halibut Cove house.

We started our journy towards Halibut Cove, still a little unsure of how we were all going to fit in there.On our boat ride to Halibut Cove. We didn't see the sun until the Saturday that we left.

Stephanie with one of the many children.


Chad is so cute.

Coming into Halibut Cove


This is what I was expecting to see.

But, what was around the corner was amazing:
Yep, this is where the jealousy comes in on your part.
As it turns out, there was plenty of room. Their "house" consisted of the big house and 4 cabins. Chad and I had our own cabin. There were two more girls that came later who took that last cabin. They were pretty full at that point.

While at Halibut Cove there was much to do. We went Sea Kayaking, Water Biking, shell collecting, star fish hunting, and hiking, where we found a little beach


Chad didn't catch these, we didn't actually get to do any fishing. But he's still cute.
Here is the little beach we found while out hiking



. Unfortunately, it rained for a day and a half out of the 3 days we were there. They had some fun indoor toys as well. We played Pool and Ping Pong while the kids played on the Wii. In our cabin there was also a 32" flat screen TV that came out of the foot of the bed that we watched movies on while we were hoping the rain would stop.

After the 3 days of staying there, we went back into Homer and stayed in the Homer house. We went out on the Homer Spit to do a little Geocaching, again.
Out on the side of the Spit, by the beach.


We were able to see some good friends from Chad's mission, the Pendeltons. They were really fun to get to know. They run a little B&B in Homer and are the Ward Mission Leaders, so all the missionaries love them.


We did some suvenier shopping and went to many a seafood resteraunts. I never got any seafood, but I always tried Chad's... it wasn't horrible.

On Saturday, the 19th Chad and I spent our 5th wedding anniversary by driving back up the Anchorage to the airport. It was a beautiful drive and we did some more geocaching on the way up. We saw the most breathtaking views, some wildlife, and yes, even some bears.



It was a great trip, and we were so glad and grateful to be able to come out to Alaska.

Girl's Camp

Stephy just got back from a few days of girls camp. We went up to the Heber Valley Campground. Nice spacious cabins, close bathrooms, warm water, privacy for wards... I don't really know if I still clasify it as camping though.

The picture above is Stephy on the ropes course. You may notice the beautiful tie-dye shirt. Look closey and you may see some pretty tie-dyes right over the boobies. That's thanks to the girls because I didn't come to the activity.

I had a ton of fun up there. We had a lot of good laughs.

We're about to head off to Alaska. We'll post tons about that.

Home Insector

Chad just finished his work, and is now a certified Home Inspector.

He got his certification through UVSC Continuing Education. It was independent study, so he worked on it when he had free time.

We're thinking about started up a small business for him to do this on the side.

Good Job Chad!