Just us!

It's been a week since I last blogged and I keep telling myself that I need to be better at this because it is basically my journal.

Richard is still going strong in school. He has a semi hard semester and is trying his hardest to stay strong. I need to be more supportive and help any way I can. I do find myself getting frustrated with him when he doesn't use his time wisely (or at least like I think he should). I will work on that.

Jackson is getting so big. He is so smart. He is using complete sentences now. Just today he said "I will put this away by myself", I just love him even though he sometimes whines and throws himself on the floor. :) WE have been potty training for 2 weeks now. He is getting better every day. I need to be better at making him go to the potty and not in his pants. But overall we are headed in the right direction.

Madison is so determined. She is me completely. OH NO!!! She is still our little girl. She is 14 months old and can still wear some 9 month clothes but mostly 12 month. I love it. I hope she stays dainty. She is taking more and more steps every day. I am sure she will be walking by next week. She is always so proud of herself when she walks.

I am living each day. I am at a constant battle with myself to be super mom. I have a short fuse and poor jackson gets it more than anyone. I have talked to Richard and we need to make a valiant effort in giving Jackson one on one time. He needs to know that we love him and he is important. I am still working at the Olive Garden. I am striving to be more positive at work, even if that means just keeping my mouth shut and keeping to myself. Whatever helps.

My visiting teachers came over yesterday. They are sweet girls. I am sure we will grow close to each other, as they seem like very loving sisters.

I love my family and my ward. I pray Heavenly Father is pleased with me.

The Olive Garden

Why do I still work there? I ask myself that question every time I go to work. It's not because of the management team (well some of them anyway). Its not because of the money (tips suck in provo). It's not because of the people (I am not best friends with anyone there). So what is it? It's comfortable. It's mundane. It's easy.

I have a really hard time getting up and going to work. I hate all the drama that ensues in the restaurant and all the back stabbing that goes on. I work with mostly 21-24 year olds so it has its immaturity parts. I find myself falling into the gossip realm and talking just as much as some others. I don't like myself when I am there and especially when I return home.

Our new General Manager is a joke. She micro-manages and doesn't really have any faith in her employees. There are about 20 CTs in the restaurant which in any other Olive Garden would be a respectable position but in ours it is a laughing matter. We are not respected and taken seriously. We have monthly meetings but nothing is ever accomplished from them. Our GM never follows through on our assignments and ideas.

Some of the bartenders and take-out specialists are just rude. They think they own the place and take it upon themselves to tell all of us why we suck as employees and what we are doing wrong.

Some of the hosts are lazy and don't really care about there job.

Some servers are lazy and don't care about there job. However the servers aren't really taken seriously either. We are the closest to the action yet the managers never take our ideas or opinions in consideration.

The kitchen staff is mostly hispanic (and although I am not racist) and seem to not really care about the front of house staff. The kitchen crashes way to often and it seems they do it on purpose sometimes. The servers aren't very nice to them either, so until we resolve this issue, our kitchen/server relationship is just going to get worse.

There is favoritism that is blatanly obvious. I admit I am one of those favorites but I earn my keep. I do my best and I feel I have a ton of knowledge about the company that I can hold my own.

The overall morale of the restaurant is very low. WE do not feel united. It breaks my heart to go to work. Having worked for the company on and off for 10 years, it saddens me to see how different it is now compared to then. We have taken away ownership and responsibility. We are expecting the staff to work more with less.

So why do I stay? Because I am too stubborn to find a new job. Because a part of me still believes it will change, and a big part of me feels like the mama that has to take care of all the newbies and employees that aren't CTs or the favorites and don't really have a "say" in anything. Maybe I am in denial and it will never change but I have to hope, RIGHT?

Jackson

Jackson is my little bug. He is such a sweetheart and a helper. These two pictures peg him perfectly. He loves to sit by himself and try to figure things out, but does get frustrated easily. And then he loves to be involved and help however he can. He absolutely loved decorating those cookies.
He is my big 3 year old. He is tall and is growing so much. His shorts actually hit his knees instead of the middle of his calf. He can count to 10 and knows the colors orange, yellow, red, green, blue, purple and white. He can recognize squares, circles, rectangles, ovals and triangles. He loves, loves Thomas and Friends and watches them more than he probably should. He sleeps with the thomas train. He loves cars and owns about 135 hotwheels. He can even name them all when he sees the real life version on the street. He loves to help in any way, whether it be dusting with me, vacuuming, getting sisters diapers, putting away laundry, cleaning up toys, making cookies, taking out trash, he is such a big boy. Sometimes I wish he would just be a kid though and not worry about helping so much. He is definitely my cuddle bug. WE still have some bad nights where he will sleep with us or in Grandma's room. We really need to break that habit.

We are truly blessed to be parents to both of our children. They are definitely angels from our Heavenly Father and it is a priviledge to be their parents.

Madison

These are just a few of the things that Madison loves to do. She is definitely my stubborn independent girl. ( I have no idea where she gets it from) lol. She is now officially a year old, well actually 13 months old but whatever. She is standing but not walking, she loves to be read to. She never gives up and will fight me to get what she wants even if she shouldn't have it. She is starting to sing to music and loves it. She loves her sleep, and sleeps about 10 hours a night. She loves her stuffed animals and can have at least 3 in her bed when she is sleeping. She can climb up and down off the couch. She has 10 teeth with 2 more molars coming in. She gets her feelings hurt easily and has already started telling us all the mean things Jackson does to her (in baby talk of course). She is the more outgoing of my two children. She is very smiley and loves to laugh. I look forward to her growth and can't wait to see her personality shine more.

I love my family!

Happy Valentines Day 2012. I am not a huge fan of this holiday only because I hate how much it is commercialized but I do enjoy decorating the house. I tell Richard that I want our house to be remembered by our children and grandchildren that it was the warm, inviting decorated house no matter the holiday. So with little resources that I had, I cut hearts out of card stock and hung them on a string and hung them from the wall. I pulled out our red lights and draped them around the window. I then put out candy dishes and used only red dishes for dinner that night. That was enough to get the feel.

Richard has class on Tuesdays from 8 in the morning until 10 at night so we celebrated on Sunday. We had some friends over for a southern dinner (fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collared greens, rolls and cupcakes as dessert). I found a really cute goodie idea of off Pinterest and decided to see if I could do it. It turned out really cute. I passed them out to everyone who seemed to appreciate it. Overall it was a wonderful day filled with love, food and friendship.

Richard did surprise me on his way home on Tuesday (the actual valentines day) with a dozen roses and a ton of Reese's Cups. That made my week.

I may not like the holiday very much but I do love that it reminds me to love my family that much more and be grateful for them.