Thanksgiving and a new house

 So we ended up getting out of one of the houses and we moved into our new home that was going to be a rental.  It's probably for the best because this will allow us to get out of all debt and make it our own.  I am a little sad about not having as much land as we did in Draper.  It really gets to me when we can't even park our RV at our house. Oh and when I moved all my saddles to a small little shed that wasn't fun.

We had Thanksgiving this year at Flynn's house. It was great to have everyone there and see everyone.  They got some pre-smoked turkeys and then reheated them on a smoker. It was delicious!

Ok, now for the story that got me to want to post.  Yesterday I was putting up our lights outside for Christmas. It was just me and Clara and I was letting her climb up the ladder to "check for bugs". She even came on the roof with me to adjust some lights.

This is her happy as can be sitting at the top of our roof!

Well as we went to the side of the house our neighbor has some rocks and a window well, cover over his basement windows.  I was on the ladder and she kicked the rocks like she likes to do. I told her, probably a little too sternly, not to do that and to stop kicking rocks.  She then said she was just going to come up the ladder with me to do her checks.  Previously, I had let her go up by herself or would help her climb higher by following behind her.  I didn't want to step on her fingers so I told her that she couldn't come up right now.

She climbed down and said she was just going to go in the house. I asked her why and she said, "Because you are mad at me!" I told her I wasn't mad I was just trying to keep her safe. She then said, "You ruin everything Dad!" This broke my heart a little and I climbed down after her and went inside to find her. I sat down with her and told her I loved her and that I was sorry for getting mad. Later we watched a movie together and ate popcorn. I think she's doing alright and knows that I love her.

Anyways, here' kind of the final picture of what we got so far. The single strand of lights across the top goes up and down both sides of the house.  I'm sure Tamisha will have us put more up soon.

2020 Updates

 I'm bad at doing this!  A LOT has changed so for a quick update.

We've moved! Or at least we are in the process of moving.  Our house sold earlier this year commercially.  We've been to 19 states since then! We've been quarantined and dealt with the Coronavirus(Covid-19). We bought a new 5th wheel and are currently living in it. We have two houses that we are waiting for the two close. Oh and I almost forgot, I'm starting a new job in a week! 12 1/2 years at Solutionreach and it's been a great run.  I'm sad to leave all my co-workers and a cause that I truly believe in.

I'll try to gather some picture in case anyone still reads this blog.

Brain Balance

So we have started to do a program called Brain Balance.  It has some interesting theories.  I started it with our 11 year old because we don't know what else to do with her.  We've had her in counseling, we've had her on ADHD meds, we've took her out of a charter school, we've taken her out of public school to do home schooling and nothing has seemed to help.  She's just all over the place all the time. She doesn't listen, doesn't know do anything about personal hygiene and she leaves little trails all over everywhere she goes.  Maybe some of this has to be with just being a kid but it's not just that.  There's something more that we've needed to do.

Our 11 year old has made comments about wanting to die or wanting to kill herself more specifically.  After having worked with proctor kids and getting training with those programs we knew we needed to do something.  That's when counseling and started and she meet with a therapist about once a week or so.  The therapist prescribed medication to help her focus and help her with anxiety.  That did seem to help but I've never loved the idea of medicating long term.  I know there are times when that is important and essential but I feel like some of the behavior medication takes a part of the person's personality with it.  When my nephew lived with us he was on some of the same medications and some others as well.  He would get up to go to school and talk my ear off.  Then he would take his morning meds and by the time he needed to leave to catch the bus he was just sitting there in a daze.  No longer interacting with me just there.  I felt some of the same things with our 11 year old.

After she had progressed through the therapists sessions they sent her on her way with several prescriptions for the medications they thought would help her. This went on for several months during which time we moved her from the charter school right down the street to a public school.  This might seem backwards to some but the rigidity of the charter school was difficult for her and she had a hard time with the homework.  Not actually the IQ side of homework but getting her to do it and then sending her with it to turn in was problematic.  Public school seemed to help.  She didn't have as much homework and she got out more frequently throughout the day for recess.  After a year and a half or so we would meet with teachers and they all loved her but it did require them to go to extra efforts to help her.  We felt like that was unfair to the other students and the teachers too.  We began home school.  This was very difficult with me working and my wife going to school herself and with a baby there too.  She would do some of her work but it was a fight for most of the time.  Again, it's not that she couldn't do the work it's just that she would rather be doing more "fun" things.

We didn't know what to do.  Her attitude was getting worse and the more she matured the more we got worried about how she handled her body.  Things like showering or wiping after using the bathroom were issues.  Cleaning up after herself was nonexistent. And she is very large for her age and doesn't know the placement and movement of her body so sometimes she would knock over our other children.  Somewhere I had heard about Brain Balance, probably on the radio.  We had her assessed and it came back as a right brain underdeveloped diagnostic.

A bit on Brian Balance.  The theory behind it is at some point during normal development the brain get's off rhythm. This leads to one side of the brain developing while the other side lags behind.  Eventually the strong side started to compensate for the lagging brain.  This leads to more and more unbalancing.  If the program works it will help the side of the brain that is behind to catch up.  This balancing leads to the solution to several of the issues that one might observe like those I've mentioned above.

So we are a month and a half into our 6 month session.  I really like some aspects of the program and others leave me very skeptical.  I do think some things have improved with our 11 year old.  The things that make me skeptical are the at home exercises are the same for left or right brain deficient kids.  Diet is another huge change as we've been trying to go to a sugar free, gluten free, lactose free diet.

The skeptic side of me says that any kid will improve when the work out 30 minutes a day with a parent there spending time with them.  I've also heard a lot of things about how diet changes can help kids feel better and thus act better. 

We will keep to it and hope for things to continue in the right direction.  If nothing else it helps us spend time with her and helps her do some basic conditioning.  When it warms up we will be doing more outside to help too.  I'm not going to promise more reviews but if it comes up maybe I'll post a link or something in case someone actually reads my posts.

New Baby!

Last year we were blessed with adding a sixth child to our family!  Introducing Clara Mace Schetselaar!

  

More to come...

I feel the need to be more consistent with this Blog.  I am going to try to give more frequent updates and to provide more meaningful musings.

Quick Update

So I was told I need to update my blog sub-title, and it's true.  So I did!  I have been happily married for the last three and a half years. (I hope you might have noticed based on the fact I spent my anniversary at the Grand America).

I do want to update this more often.  My wife recently started a blog for one of her classes.  Everyone should check it out!  It's at http://www.strengtheningfamilieslds.com/

She's written a few times and will continue to update it.  It's more about her beliefs and feelings and how to help strengthen our families.  I think it's something every family can learn from.  Our families in America have really been under attack and it makes sense to do some fortification!  Perhaps this is why in the Book of Mormon we learn about the Nephites fortifying their cities against attack!

Anyway, that's all for now.  I'm glad I could update everyone and update my sub-heading!

The Grand America Hotel

So a lot has happened since my last post, met a girl, got married, had 4 kids (step kids), became a proctor parent, had several proctor kids.  But this is about my recent anniversary.


I recently stayed at the Grand America (www.grandamerica.com) for my anniversary and after the experience question why it is rated as a 5 star hotel.

I booked my stay on 10/31/2014 for 11/1/2014 through 11/2/2014 with a company card as this was a nice treat my company offered me.  I ordered the Honeymoon/Anniversary package so my wife and I could have something to remember our special time there.  Included in the package is a single rose, two robes, two slippers and chocolate truffles.

When we showed up and checked in I was informed how inconvenient it would be to use my company card, even though I used it to make the reservation.  I would have to fill out a form and then get a picture of the front and back of the card and send that in.  I decided to use my own.

When we got to the room none of the promised package items were there, just a relatively nice hotel room.  I went back to the front desk to ask.  They said since I made the reservation so recently they didn't know what time we were showing up.  Not a big deal, but it would have been nice to surprise my wife when we first walked in. We went to dinner that night and they told me everything would be taken care of while we were gone.

When we came back we had rose pedals on our bed in the shape of a heart with nothing else.  While this was nice, it was not what we ordered.  I called down and asked about the robes, sippers and truffles.  They asked for a size for the robes and I told them an XL and a medium.  A few minutes later I received a call from the on call manager apologizing for things and verified that we wanted a Large and a medium.  I corrected her and said an XL and Medium. 30 minutes later (?!) a knock on the door from Housekeeping.  She brought a Large...wtf...a medium and truffles.  I explained I needed an XL and asked about the slippers.  She asked if I had looked under the sink (that has no knobs or any other indication that there was stuff under there).  She found the slippers, handed me the medium robe and truffles and headed back down to get an XL.  20 minutes later she returned with the correct robe.

The next morning we grabbed some breakfast and decided to use out $100 credit at the shops.  We headed towards the Sunday Brunch and we we got there they said they were just serving menu items as it was only 9:00 am and brunch started at 10.  We decided to walk around a bit and see the hotel and wait for brunch.  After 20 minutes of walking around (turns out everything starts or opens at 10) we returned and said we just wanted to order something off the menu.  They told us they were no longer seating and were getting ready for brunch.

So we went to our room thinking we would order room service.  We found out there that brunch was $50 per person and there was a huge room service fee for something we could get down at the lobby.  So we headed to the lobby for out $4 bagels and $4 small orange juice and $4 for a cup of hot chocolate!  If you get rated 5 stars by charging 5+ times more then what things are worth than the Grand America is a 5 star hotel!

After eating we went to a few shops to spend our $100 hotel credit.  After our purchase we went back to our room to pack up and check out.  My wife tried on her rob and it was too big.  I called down and asked if I could switch out the robe for a small.  They said that would be fine and would try to get it up to us but checkout was in 30 minutes so they said that if they didn't make it up to us they would leave it at the front desk for us to pick up.  It didn't make it up to us so we headed downstairs to check out.

When we went to check out I joked with the ladies there as they were the same from the night before.  They handed me a paper to sign and it was for the wrong Guest.  I would have loved to only pay $193 for my room but I informed them of the mistake.  They got me the correct one.  I looked it over and asked about the $100 Dinner room service charge.  They looked it up and said that was for the turn-down service (rose pedal heart on the bed).  I didn't order the turn-down service but before I could say anything they remembered what happened with things not being ready and told me they would waive this.  I would have said that was the first real show of Customer Care had I ordered that service. Since I didn't, I really shouldn't have been charged anyways!

I asked if the small robe was at the front desk.  She asked, "Oh, you want to purchase a robe?"  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  I guess their employees don't know what packages they sell there.  I told her what package I got and that I thought they were included.  She made a call and told me they would be down in a few minutes.  She asked if I had used my $100 credit.  I informed her we had about an hour earlier.  Of course it wasn't added in yet so I pulled out the receipts I had and they added that in.  We waited a few minutes for the Small robe to show up and then we left.

I'm not sure I will ever stay at the Grand again.  I expect better service from a 2 star hotel and this is suppose to be the best Salt Lake has to offer?  I have already told my story to a few co-workers and they were amazed after the first half and couldn't believe there was more.  I felt like it was the infomercial of poor customer service!  Maybe my expectations were too high or I have higher standards working in the Customer Support industry.

Thanks you for reading.

Kiva.org

I know that I've talked about this before but I still think it's pretty cool.  Kiva.org is a Micro Loan site that allows you to help out people that are less fortunate then us.  Right now Kiva is giving away $25 to start lending!  If you're not a member yet you can get a free $25 (once it's repaid) or re-loan it once it's paid back!  Here's the link:

http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/matthew56816687

Happy Loaning!

Pictures of the new place!

Another view of the front

A view of the back

The basement kitchen

The hay barn

My house!

So I haven't updated this in awhile. That's because the bank came back and accepted my offer and it's been crazy ever since!
I've been running around trying to get everything in order. I'll post a full story on my house buying experience one day.
In the mean time, I am hoping I'll close in the next 24 hours! I can't believe we are already here! I'll post more pictures soon!

Housing update

The bank's automatic processing unit came back with the same overpriced price on my house but now we are in a human review of my offer.  I should know one way or the other by the end of this week or next.
I'll write more then!

Some milestones!

I just wanted to share a few milestones that I've passed this week.

1. 2000 page views! Here's a shout out to all you loyal readers!

2. My first triple digit country outside the U.S. Way to go all you Russian readers, sitting at 102 right now! (Netherlands is close at 91)

3. My 10th loan over on Kiva! You can loan too, just $25 each loan and you get that back! Here's a link to check it out: Kiva loans!

4. Today was my 46th day in a row working out! It feels oh so good.

5. Today is my first day I've taken off work for no reason! Usually I have plans of some sort but since I still have 5 1/2 days to take off before the end of the year or I lose them I'm starting to be more free with them!


I'll keep it at 5 since that's a nice round number(figuratively!).

The Housing Hunt

Some might know that I am currently house hunting.  Luckily for me house hunting is not like elk hunting where I don't ever see anything that I'm hunting for!
I've looked at a lot of houses and have put in offers on a few.  One I almost had but the other side kept coming back unwilling to play the give and take game.  All for the best though, I now have an offer that I'm excited about and that I think will go through.  So in danger of being a bit premature I'm going to share some pictures!

This is the view from the street.

This is the downstairs living room and kitchen in the background.

This is the upstairs living room.

This is the upstairs Kitchen and dinning room.

And one of the best things about this house is the land it comes with!  Just over an acre! 

I should know one way or the other in a week or so.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed and I might be giving myself a house for Christmas!  Merry Christmas to me!

My outside run

So me and this guy at work (Steve, check out his blog!) have a competition.  We are trying to see who will miss a day of working out first!  It started with a bunch of people but really it's down to me and him.  Today is day 40!  Here's the day the power was out at the gym and I had to run outside in 25 degree weather!



I highly recommend the imapmyrun app if you have a smart phone (it's on iPhone, not sure what else)
It can tell you your time, speed, distance and a bunch of other things all at intervals of your choosing!

Kiva.org

I just made my seventh loan to people in third world countries! It makes me feel good! :) You can too! It's only $25 a loan! Click here to check it out!

New job and stuff

Ha ha, I found this as a draft, I thought I finished this and posted it...oops!

So since the last time I posted on here I got promoted! I'm now the Co-Director of Customer Support. It's a pretty cool upgrade. The "not cool" part is that it seams like I'm working a lot more! I'm usually there until 5:30 or 6:00.

One of the good parts of the new job is not having to clock in and out! I got to sneak out a few minutes early last week to go horse riding. It was awesome! I haven't had too much time to go as of late. It was in the 60's and I went with a good friend. Nothing like getting a slight sunburn on April fools day!

My new position is going pretty good now. It took about a month for things to sift out and to get back to normal. Now I feel like I'm doing a good job.

In April, I took a motorcycle safety class with my brother. It was a ton of fun and way cool to get on a bike and start cruising. Now I've bought a 2008 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic LT. It's an awesome ride! I've had it for about a month and it's finally getting warm enough to ride almost every day. I'll get some picture posted for those who haven't seen it. I also give free rides for any interested!

Pass of all Passes

So I bought this KSL deal. It's called the Pass of all Passes! It's unlimited 7 Peaks Water park pass plus a ticket to all these different games and stuff. I get to go to 4 Real Salt Lake Games, 4 Utah Grizzlies games, all of the Utah Blaze games and 6 Races at Rocky Mountain Raceway! All for $40!

Here's a calendar of all the activities:

Click here for my Google Calender I created.

I've already been to one Real Game this last Tuesday and we had great seats!

Real actually won too! 4-1 I think was the final score.

There was a penalty kick during the stoppage play and Real just kicked it in and game over! It was pretty sweet even for me who's not a huge fan of watching soccer.

Last night was the first Grizzlies game. When it was time to find out who was going everyone decided that they had other plans. I'll admit that I was a little bugged. I'm pretty sure the majority said they were coming on Friday and then when Friday rolls along they all have plans. It makes me want to just go buy a ticket before hand and take a date. That way I would have plans too! We will see. It ended up just being me and one other person and was pretty fun. We got seats on Row 7! It was my first ever live hockey game.

I'll keep the pictures coming of all the games and stuff we do.

Back in the Dating Scene!

So my nieces stayed with us this last weekend and I have to recount a conversation I had with Tara on Sunday morning. Keep in mind that Tara is 7!

Tara's looking at me funny and says,

"I just can't figure it out."

"Figure what out?"

"Why you aren't married!"

I was surprised and taken back a little so I said,

"I'm just waiting for you to get older so we can get married!"

She looks at me in a disapproving way and says,

"We can't get married, we're family!"

I put out my bottom lip and acted like I was starting to cry.

"What? I've been waiting this whole time for you!" and then I walked down the hall to the bathroom. She followed me down to make sure I was ok and said to me in a calm and sympathetic voice,

"We can't get married cause we are already family."

It was hilarious! I don't know if my Sister-in-Law put her up to it or something but I guess this means that I have to start looking for someone to marry since I can't marry my 7 year old niece!

First Blog of the New Year!

Wow! Two months go by quick!

Here's what you missed:

Christmas was good. I didn't get anything until the week after Christmas but it's still a great time of the year and I had fun!

I found out that I will be getting an office at work. We just have to wait until we hire a few more people. Work is great! Crazy but going really well.

I sprained my ankle the week that I was starting to train for a half marathon! It always happens like that. That was two weeks ago and I'm finally starting to be able to do stuff more then just walk! Here's a pic:

Two days after that I was waiting for a pump to get some gas and someone backed into me!

The bad news is I wasn't too concerned about my car because my ankle still hurt so I just had the guy write down his info and didn't look at it. When I did he had put his name, his policy number and a phone number. I tried to call the phone number and whomever it was said that it wasn't the guy I was looking for. So the next person that hits me better watch out. I'm taking all your info and calling the phone on the spot and taking a picture of your licence plate!

That pretty much catches you up with what's going on. I'm thinking about writing something about Valentines day but I might have to pass on that since it will be yet another V-day without a "special someone". I think this will make 31 consecutive years. Not something I'm too proud of.

Which brings me to my last subject. My boss who is also a Bishop, told me I should try something different when it comes to dating since everything I've tried hasn't worked out too well. He also said to ask people what I can improve about myself. So here goes nothing...If you do have something you think I could improve or do differently then please comment. My one request is you have to give me two ways to change. You can't just say I suck at blogging, but you also have to add two suggestions of how to improve that like have a day that you blog every week and set a reminder in your phones calendar so you can remember to blog. Also you can't post anonymously, at least put your name at the end!

Well till next time. Have a great day/week/Valentine's day!

ksl.com - Mormon Church joins other faiths in signing letter on marriage

Just thought I would repost this as I fully agree with this letter!

Mormon Church joins other faiths in signing letter on marriage