Mighty May

Three syllables, baby...I-kee-uh. IKEA! A few of you may know that Rick and I are die-hard IKEA fans, but our love and committment waned in comparison to the soon to be shoppers lining up and camping out in their TENTS! a day or two prior to the store's May 23rd opening. (Now, perhaps if we didn't have small children...hmmm. :) It was crowded, to say the least, but it was a fun 'walk through the catalog' experience for us and then some; there was so much to see. We were able to have lunch at the restaurant and finally dine on those silly little Swedish meatballs we have seen pictures of for years! They were yummy! One of the great things about IKEA is that they let your kids (and you) 'test out' the furniture eliminating the constant mantra of us parents, "Get off that!", "Don't touch that!" It's heaven. And funny enough, I was wondering where the restrooms were, so I turned around and picked the nearest person(s) clad in bright 'IKEA yellow" to ask the infamous question. Come to find out the person answering back was none other than Pernille Lopez, the President of IKEA North America! Rick wondered at the time if it was her. I heard an accent and thought she must be somebody from somewhere in this European company (yes..i'm very bright...sheesh!) She was very nice and helpful :) Anyway, after almost three and a half hours of perusing we headed to the self service warehouse to pick up a few more dining room chairs and also to pay for a wee size mirror for our bathroom. You would think we would have gone crazy, but we were financially victorious! However, since the store is here in Draper...we'll be back. We're just waiting until we don't have to park in the dirt!!!



May 23rd also was a mighty day for us, Carice turned 10 months old. She was such a trooper a few weeks prior...she caught her first cold. As you know, I hate it when my children are under the weather, but I felt pretty fortunate that we made it this far without her ever being sick! (minus that darn ear infection from last month). This cold was a yucky one, though, lasting about 2 weeks! But thankfully, she made it through. And now our household saying is: "What are we going to do with a crawling baby?!" Yep, it's official, she's crawling. Of course this means a vigilant watch. I wish the 'pincer grasp' and the crawling milestones weren't so close together if you know what I mean! We are grateful she has found an open mind about new pureed foods because for awhile, it seemed she only wanted the sweet tastiness of fruits, but now she likes to put just about anything in that cute little mounth of hers! It is rather astonishing, though, when she comes over to you when you are eating something and wants you to share! She's pretty adventureous and doing pretty darn good with 'real people food', too. And to think she only has one and a half teeth! She is starting to 'talk'. Mostly everything is in the form of 'Buh!" But I swear she changes it up to say the word 'ball'! She knows what one is and so we are counting this as her first word :) It's exciting to see her learn and it's always fun to watch her play.



Cali loved playing at the LDS Church Museum They have a fun exhibit, "I am a Child of God". It starts out with a video of our heavenly home and then to hands on fun of playing with baby dolls in a 'hospital nursery' (our first journey to our earthly homes) and other fun things for kids to do. This was pretty much right up her ally, as she loves playing at home with her baby, Caresha. She also has Miss Muffett and Avaclelly. She has a great imagination and still makes up fun words (ie: her little sister is known as 'Tilkly Trills!"). It probably was a helpful thing for the hygienist to tell her the saliva ejector was "Mr. Thirsty!" Yes, Cali had her first dentist visit this month. She was nervous and made me go first. She did alot better with the polisher than I thought, because that silly thing can give a weird buzz to ya! But, all in all she had a good experience, so I'm thinking the next time will be okay. And in the same week, she had her last vision therapy visit until her next check up at 6 weeks. She really struggled getting her eye into place for about 2 weeks there near the end of the month. It seems to be worse when she is stressed. We chose to not have her play with the little neighbor kid (his family was moving soon). When they left and she played out back again with some other kids, she seemed to have better control over it. It's hard to say that a 4 year old can experience stress, but unfortunately, I think it happens! But as we get her stress in check, we are happy to announce a huge stress reduction for another Moore4. In true Church-like fashion, I now turn the time over to Rick.

I have worked in publishing for nine and a half years. It has been a good job with great people and excellent benefits. The work itself, however, has been anything but rewarding. That’s not to say I haven’t gotten anything from it. Quite the opposite, rather; I have learned a lot about design processes, printing limitations, effective advertising principles, the importance of timeliness and accuracy, and how to take care of customers. The part of the job that has left me wanting is the ability to exercise that creative gene that followed me into this world.

Let me put it this way: I am so bored.

When you can do your job in your sleep, it’s time to look for other opportunities. And that is what I have been doing for close to eight years. I have been freelancing for close to twelve years now, but the last eight have been the most important. It is this last span where I have been working hard to develop skills that would lead me to a better job and a more rewarding career. I have done logos, collateral, advertising, Flash work, web sites, icon design, and a host of other design work. The last year, though, has turned out to be the best for me.
I became interested in a new and growing design discipline last year after freelancing for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. At the time, I was told that I wasn’t ready for full time work with the group, but to work on my portfolio and try again later. To be honest, I was a little disheartened at first, but the interest in this new field really sparked something in me. I became determined to learn all I could to see if this was something I really wanted to pursue.
I read several books to educate myself and tried to find some client work that would allow me to get some good real world experience. Within a few months I secured my first client and began designing my first real web application. So far it has been a great learning experience (it is still in process) and a lot more complex than I initially expected. Luckily, in the middle of this project, I received another freelance opportunity with the Church. The app I worked on this time gave me so much insight and experience and really changed the way I was going about application design. I went back to my app with a fresh perspective and new ideas. I also began work on another app idea that I’d had in my head for a year or so.
After my freelance stint wrapped up, my friend at the Church invited me in for another portfolio review and subsequently requested I come in for an all day interview. My experience was really similar to that of another recent hire, so I won’t go into that too much here. Needless to say, it was a grueling but extremely fulfulling experience. I felt like I’d run a 10 miler.
Monday rolled around and I accepted an offer to work as an Interaction Designer for the Church as of June 4th, 2007. I can’t even begin to express my excitement and my thanks to the Lord for providing this opportunity. I am so looking forward to the spiritual and professional experiences that this job will afford. I am also looking forward to new challenges and opportunities to multiply my talents. This is a great group to be working with and I can’t wait to see what the future holds in store. That is all.

Congratulations, Huzbind (and Daddy!) :) We are so happy and excited for you! You deserve this! And we love you.

And finally, we end this month by the Mommy receiving a new calling at church. Our ward bounderies were redrawn and there was a new ward made; we are a part of that new ward. I am serving in the Primary as the music chorister. I was mortified. You see...I have done this once before in the ward I attended when I first got married, and it was hard for me. I like music, I can read music, but I don't sing that well! I couldn't believe here I was again. Well, I accepted the job, but said I needed to pray about it. I guess I am to learn to do this calling without complaining this time around, I joked. Ugg! I was looking so forward to this new ward! If you have even a sliver of time and room in your prayers for me, I would be forever grateful. Now what did I say about the asparagus' of life? Pass the butter. Pass the salt, please.


Carice - "We are soo busted." Cali - "Y'got that right!"