Got jokes?

So Chloe (or as we call her, Moe) was listening to some silly thing on the internet that had a monkey that was a ventriliquist that told jokes. She kept telling these jokes all day yesterday and today. She was hilarious even if the jokes were so so. She really cracks me up.
An example : Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9.

Also, yesterday she and I went to Costco. In the last couple weeks, they had done a chocolate sales fundraiser and as a prize she had chosen a huge rubbery centipede, which (as with all her pets) she named. This one was CoCo. She had it draped over her arm the whole trip which brought many stares. She struck up conversations with people about CoCo, telling them it could fly (which is technically true, seeing as you can stretch it like an elastic and shoot it across the room. This does lead to screams and sudden urges to wet one's pants, but is mildly entertaining). She is one funny kid.
Gotta love kids. Wish I could laugh with and at mine more often. I think I am too serious some times.

Stress : Just like riding a bike?

For those that don't know, I work at Ancestry.com. When I started there, I worked in the call centre and spent about a year doing that. It was not a bad spot to be in, especially in this economy where so many people have been losing their jobs. But as far as challenges go, about the only challenge it presented was whether I could continue to enjoy coming to work.
I applied for quite a few other positions inside the company both in Member Services as well as other spots. I just wanted a change and an opportunity to stretch myself a bit and feel like I was progressing. Last September I finally got that chance. I moved out of Member Services and into Document Preservation Services. I really had no clue what they did exactly but it sounded interesting and was a chance to stay with the company and do something new.
I am in Assembly. For those who don't know (which is most people - even ones who work at A.com) in Assembly, we are one of the last steps in the preparation of new records being placed on the website. It goes through Imaging(where the records are scanned), then Indexing (where the data is gathered or keyed from the images) and then it comes to us. We take the data and clean it up, normalize it and get it all prepped for the Content Engineering department to get it on the site.
When I first started I spent lots of time doing the editing. It was a nice change and was interesting. But honestly, it was a job where at the end of the day, I went home and didn't think much about work until the next day. Very low stress. Nice.
About 6 weeks ago, I started a new position. I became a Project Lead or Project Supervisor. My job is now to be assigned a project, given project instructions and a deadline for it to be completed. I have to decide how to best complete the project as per the guidelines and then get it done. I have to prep it for the editors and revierwers to work on the augmentation and normalization. It is pretty cool. There are a ton of new things to learn, tools and programs to learn about, heck, even have to learn new words, etc(I just completed a project that was mostly in Swedish).
Thing is, there is a fair bit of stress involved. I haven't had much work related stress for awhile. It is funny that as I am put back into a stressful situation how I react. I never really thought about that dealing with it is something that you get used to but if you are away from that for awhile, you lose something.
With a couple projets due in the next couple days, it has been interesting to see myself and how I am managing. Normally I saw myself as someone who would handle the stress pretty well.
But I am out of practice. I keep noticing that I am stressed. I have to take a moment and step back so that I calm down. I am sure that it will get better and that work stress will just become a part of everything again and I will get into a managable groove. But for now, I feel kinda stressed. Weird. Never figured it would happen.

Curiousity and the Cat

So there is that old saying that "curiousity killed the cat", right? This is in reference to the thought that sometimes if we are too curious, we can cause problems. So is that true? Is it bad to ask questions and want to know? I know that there are certainly times when it is a bit much. Alex is famous for asking a billion questions. I can remember one trip where our friend Sarah put a rule in place where he could ask 6 questions and then he had to do something else for an hour or something like that. It worked for that time.
So does asking questions really cause problems? I have always said (in job interviews, etc) that if I don't know I will ask. I am not afraid to ask questions (maybe that is where Alex gets it from?) and have always felt that my acceptance of what I know and what I don't know is a strength.
Today, however, I experienced something where it seemed to be a problem that I wanted to know or understand something. I wanted to know how to do something. I found out but wanted to find out how I could have figured it out on my own. This sparked a pretty awkward situation at work where the person who knew and the person who was trying to help me figure out how to avoid this in the future. I felt bad and responsible since I had been the one with the answer and yet had still wanted to pursue it further. My intentions had been to avoid future questions and I have found that talking through the steps helps me.
So did curiousity cause this? Should I have just been content with the answer that I had been given or was it a big deal to take it further?
Sure caused a weird situation. Guess if I knew everything it wouldn't have been an issue. Not that I will be attaining that any time soon.

Sunday Afternoon Naps

Why is it that a Sunday afternoon nap is so sought after? What is it that makes it so much better than any other nap? If I took an hour or more nap any other day of the week I would be up until all hours of the night not being able to sleep. But somehow, Sunday afternoons are different.
Is it because Sunday is a "day of rest"? And therefore, do our bodies know that a little shut down time would be welcomed? Or am I just tired?
Our home teachers are over and I am listening (or so I thought) and then I get an elbow from Heidi letting me know that I had been snoring. Oops. Hope that they didn't hear.
Guess a little power nap will get me through the rest of the day.

Heidi's birthday 2010

In the past couple years, it seems that Heidi and I go out of our way to out do each other when it comes to birthdays. When Heidi had a "significant" birthday a few years ago, I managed to finally keep a secret (first time ever) and we threw her a surprise birthday party (Heidi's half-way to 70 Seventies party) as well as covered the lawn with pink flamingos. The next year she managed to pull off a surprise party after having led me to believe that no one had remembered my birthday (and had even let me bake my own cake for our family party). This year, with the help of an insider at work (my friend Brad), she was able to plant a large pink and white balloon bouquet with a large Happy Birthday Princess balloon on top of my desk. She also had Brad drape a Happy Birthday Princess banner across my desk which has led to many people around the office still calling me Princess
Of course, retaliation was most certainly in order. I plotted to have the kids help out. We decided that it would be fun to fill the van with balloons and write messages all over the outside so that the world would know that our favorite lady was having a special day. We blew up about 90 balloons and waited until she was in bed. Then I loaded them into the van's front seat.




I also used some window crayons to write some messages on the van as a surprise for when she left early the next morning.



The most fun was that she really had no clue and I got to lay in bed listening to her try to get into the van and then try and figure out what to do with the balloons. I could hear her outside amid the occasional popping balloon, trying to get into the van. Hilarious.
That evening we invited a few friends out for dinner and had a nice time at dinner where I had Heidi wear a Birthday Girl head band and thoroughly enjoyed watching her on the Texas Roadhouse birthday saddle. We were really glad that Amy, Matt and Julie, Jarom and Isabelle, Brad and Chelsa, Scott and Amy, and Brooke and Reed were nice enough to come out with us. Good times were hopefully had by all.(I will probably post all the pics from that night if I can figure out how)



So even though I am a pain in the neck and we both seem to enjoy one-upping each other, I think that it was an enjoyable birthday and the plotting will begin anew for next year. Happy Birthday, Heidi. Love you

Updates

For those that might not know or might not be up to date with things, the Spencer Clan is made up of Chris, Heidi, Alex, Alysse and Chloe. We currently live in Orem, Utah where we have been a total of 4 years although Chris had visa issues getting to the US and therefore has only been here 3 years. We bought our own house about 2 years ago which is a source of many projects. We don't have any pets to add to the family (the 4 frogs that we were given by some friends don't count, especially because all they contribute to the family is an unwillingness to die and be disposed of. We appreciate their toughness but that is about it)
To start things off for the Spencer Family blog, maybe a little family update might be in order.

Lets begin with the kids. Alex, is now 12 1/2 and in junior high school in grade 7 (or 7th grade depending where you are from). He is a fairly quiet kid who seems to be enjoying where he is at. He has had a very eventful year. He miraculously survived a car/pedestrian accident and has bounced back very well. He is playing soccer and hopes to give football a try this year. He continues to grow like a weed and both his parents are pretty much resigned that he will be taller than us both in the not too distant future. He is in Scouts (with Dad as one of his leaders) and has been able to go on a few campouts this past year. He likes to read and also to play video games. But he will get involved in most things that he is asked. He jumps at the chance to serve at church and hasn't hesitated once when asked to visit homebounds or things like that. He is the family babysitter although how much he enjoys that is debatable.



Alysse (AKA Peanut to many of us still) is now 11 and in grade 5. She continues to be very interested in art and drawing. She loves music and has a knack for memorizing the lyrics to songs from movies or ones that she listens to. She is a good student and seems to enjoy school. She also likes to try and cook whenever given the opportunity. She got back into soccer this past season which was great for her and she seemed to enjoy it. She might give softball a try this year but we will see. She loves her cousins and is constantly trying to carry them around. She is a typical (so her dad is told) pre-teen which presents its own challenges.

Chloe (AKA Mo) is 7 and in grade 1. She loves school and is really coming along with her reading and other skills. She continues to love animals and when she is not begging her Mom and Dad for a pet, she is carting any number of stuffed animals around, each with its own name and personality traits. She has lost a lot of teeth this year and many are slow in growing back so the gaps in the front of her mouth have been there so long that they seem to always have been there. She plays soccer and just loves to be around others. She still loves to cuddle with Mom and Dad which probably won't last forever but for now, we'll take it.



Heidi is a busy lady. She works full time for Intel Micron Flash Technologies where she loves her job. She has been there about 3 years. When she is not working, she is the glue that holds the family together. She tries to scrapbook and craft but it always depends on what else is going on. She is a primary teacher at church for 3 year olds which she loves. She recently switched to that after working with cub scouts for the last year and a half. She is just generally a great person that does alot more for us than we do for her.
Chris is into a few things. He has changed positions at work a few times the past few months. He is now a Project Supervisor in the Document Preservation Services department at Ancestry.com. It is a new challenge and has been interesting. Most of all he enjoys going to work because of the job and the people he works with. He misses coaching football but hopes that he can get back into it again, starting with a trip back up to Canada to coach in Can Am Bowl XIV this summer. His church calling is in Scouts which is interesting and allows him to do some things with Alex which is nice. Otherwise, he is mostly the soccer mom and occasional cook of the family. He has been playing softball for the past couple years which is fun. He has been starting lots of projects around the house and the yard and hopes to finish them all some day. :)
All in all, the Spencers are mildly interesting and about as busy as any other family. We have great friends and family that love and supports us. We don't always see everyone as much as we want but we hope to change that or at least keep in touch more.

Blog attempt #2

Seems to me that some things come and go. Like interest in starting and maintaining a blog. But it seems like a good idea as it might be a good way to stay on top and take account of what we as a family are up to as well as to help our family and friends stay up to speed as well. I seem to falter when it comes to sending out New Year's or Christmas letters but do check my email and facebook alot. So maybe I can keep on top of a blog.
But of course, only time will tell. We'll see what we can get done and maintain. I am hoping that perhaps we can have some pictures as a part of this and this will lead to us taking more pictures. Who knows? But worth the effort.