The Job Hunt

Well it has been a while since my wife or I have taken the time to post information about what is happening here in Coalville, UT. So I will run down some of the highlights for you. It appears that this is becoming more of an annual thing for the Scadden Family so let me see if I can give you the run down of what has happened thus far.

I began working for Columbia Sportswear in October of 2010 and have been there since. I am still a volunteer with North Summit Fire Department (more on what they have done for me in a moment). I am enrolled as a senior at Utah Valley University in their Emergency Services Management program (more on this as well to come in a moment). And I have begun the task of beginning to test with different fire departments in Utah, Montana and Idaho for employment as a firefighter.

So starting with North Summit Fire Department, since we moved here in April of 2010 (almost two years now) I have volunteered a portion of my time and abilities to the North Summit Fire District who have been kind enough to me to provide me with training for my career. I began a Firefighter I class as soon as we moved in, and was able to complete that level during the same year. Over the next two years I gained both experience in Fire and Emergency Response as well as more training as a Hazardous Materials Responder at the Awareness level as well as the HAZMAT Ops qualified First Responder. Since the beginning of the year I have been taking the Firefighter II classes and recently took the written and practical exams and hope that all went well as I continue to wait for my results from those tests.

During the past year or so I have begun my degree in Emergency Services Management at Utah Valley University. This was a choice that was in part inspired by my father who for as long as I can remember has encouraged me to receive a degree in any field of my choosing but to earn the degree. For those of you who know of my high school education achievements you will know that I was never the amazing student. I blame my inability to dedicate myself to something that I do not enjoy. This idea is reinforced by the fact that as I study Emergency Services Management (something that I enjoy learning about) I have maintained a 3.71 GPA and have made the Dean's List at the college. This is an honor that I was not expecting but I have worked hard and have a wonderful wife who is supporting me every step of the way. I am currently a senior as I stated and have the summer semester left before I graduate (hopefully with honors or high honors).

This all comes at a time when I am making my first attempts to break into the field of full-time firefighting. I began this journey last Saturday April 7, 2012 by testing with Boise Fire Department. I took the written exam and felt that it was one of the easiest tests that I have taken in a long time. I hope the test there is indicative of what I can expect as I test with Salt Lake City Fire Department on May 19th and then with the Montana Fire Testing Consortium which is comprised of eight departments in western Montana June 4-7. With applying with these departments I am working to achieve a minimum of 13 departments this year. I need three more departments to reach this goal. The reason for thirteen departments is based on the average number of departments a firefighter must test with before he receives employment as a firefighter. On average you have to test with at least thirteen departments. If Ogden, UT opens their exam this year I will test there and will have made it to eleven for the year. I hope that the certifications I have will aid me in this process and hope that all will go well so that I might be employed by the end of 2o12 by a full time department. This is my New Years Resolution that is a top priority for my family this year.

Abram is growing like a weed and is beginning to talk but we sometimes wonder if he has his own language that we just don't fully understand yet. He is a wonderful big brother to our beautiful daughter Penny Luella who was born on Christmas day 2011 (more on her in a moment). We are excited to have two children in our home and are hoping to find a job so as to afford a place of our own before to much longer. Abram is infatuated with "Cars" the movie by Pixar as well as "Thomas the Train." He loves to watch them and this gives Sarah Jane a reprieve from chasing him around our tiny home and lets her take care of Penny Lu as well as do the house work.

Penny Luella (Penny Lu) for short, is our daughter and after two weeks had her daddy wrapped around her little finger. She is a beautiful little girl and a much loved portion of our family. She was born on Christmas Day and has been a joy and a blessing to our family ever since. She is one of the happiest babies we have ever seen and with her dimples in her cheeks makes our hearts melt whenever she smiles (which is quite often). Penny Lu's smile really makes her daddy's day better even after he has had to deal with what can be a less than desirable job. She sleeps through the night now and shares a bedroom with Abram (because we only have two bedrooms total in our house).

All in all things are going well for us and we are excited for what the future brings, as well as hopeful for a job this year with a department. We have other contingency plans that we will reveal if they are needed but as for now, we want you to know that we love you and hope that all goes well for you and yours. As was written in the poem Invictus, "I am the master of my fate, I am the commander of my Soul." Apply this to your life and you will go far.

With love,
The Scadden Family

Drama

These last week or so seems to have been nothing but stressful. First off, my wallet was stolen while we were at the Park City Walmart last wednesday. I thought Mike had grabbed it out of the shopping cart, but apparently he didn't. When we went back for it, it was gone. Mike went back after he got off work to see if it had turned up yet. While he was there, one of the cashiers mentioned a couple who had come through the store attempting to make a $1500 purchase. They tried three different cards (I happened to have three cards in my wallet) and each one was declined (I had called and canceled my cards as soon as we realized the wallet was missing). When the cards didn't work the cashier asked for ID the couple said "never mind" and left. Whether or not this couple had my wallet, there own, or some other poor soul's, I don't know. But it makes me sick that someone would just take a wallet they found rather than taking them to the lost and found or even the police (we did file a police report thingy too). I have consequently deemed Walmart the portal to hell where all the evil people come to prey on innocent, poor mothers/house wives like me. I have since promised never to shop there again. Mike thinks I am just being ridiculous, but I am being serious. To make the whole stolen-wallet thing worse, my social security card was in my wallet. So I had to go all the way to Provo to the SS administration building to order a new one and get the information I needed to set up a fraud alert. I'm am still afraid someone is going to sell my card to some illegal who is going to ruin my life. It has just been a huge headache.

A few days after the wallet incident I found out that my eldest brother and his wife are splitting up. I wasn't terribly surprised to hear this, but it still came as a significant shock. They have been married for something like 10 years and things have gotten to a point where he wanted to call it quits. Its a sad thing. I just hope that everything turns out okay for them both. We all love them and wish the best for them.

These two dramas have been rather stressful, but we were able to relieve some at our monthly game night with some of my cousins. All of us are about the same age and the same stage of life. one family has a six month old, another is expecting their first in September, and the other is looking to adopt and are now just waiting. I love being able to spend time with people like me. As much as I love being a graduate and living in a normal ward with my family close by and all, I do miss being around other young new families. It makes me feel normal, something I don't get to often among my everyday surroundings.

Abram has become a semi-independent baby since he has started crawling and cruising, leaving me with a bit more spare time to work with in my day. I have taken the opportunity to practice my sewing a bit. I have made a hooded jacket and I think I am going to make a shirt next.

Though drama will always be a part of life, there will always be opportunities to relieve it. And thank goodness for that.

New calling and a growing baby

More than a month without a single posting... pretty sad attempt at my new-year's resolution. But, let's not dwell on the negative. This last month has been pretty busy. I have been called to the group-formerly-know-as-the-enrichment-board and have been busy trying to plan monthly activities and studying up on Relief Society History to teach my fellow sisters. I must admit, I feel a bit out of my element on this job. I have planned church activities before but they have all been for young women and single adults. I have no idea what sort of activities to plan for mothers with several children and some grandchildren. Mike and I are the only newlyweds in our ward, and although we love the ward and enjoy the company of the other members, we do miss being around people our own age at times. Luckily, I have cousins close by who are all at the same stage in life as us.
Speaking of cousins - After a long drought my family seems to be getting a flood of new babies. This last year there were three great-grand children born (including Abram), and this year there will be at least two (one from my brother Eben and another from my cousin Meghan). It has been an absolute blast seeing people I have known since I was an infant have babies of their own. Though I maintain my terribly biased opinion that my baby is the cutest.

So Abram has become a pretty good crawler in the last month. He still army crawls, but he is so fast at it that I doubt he will give real crawling much of an effort. On top of becoming a crawling master he has learned to pull himself up on the furniture and walk holding on to it. It is great until he reaches the end of the couch and wants to keep going that direction but does not have anything within reach to get him there. I have, up till now, thought that Abram was a really easy and well disposed baby, but lately he has developed a bit of a temper. He has suffered from separation anxiety for two or three months, but now he has a fit when ever he does not get what he wants. I am hoping that this is just a phase. Most of the time he is really very happy and hilarious to watch. He had out grown his old car seat and is now in a forward facing one. I don't think he liked it at first, but now I think he prefers being able to see out the front of the car. Abram is growing so fast it scares me sometimes, but it is so exciting too.

New Year's Resolutions

Among my new years resolutions this year, I have vowed to actually get involved in this blogging thing. I am terrible when it comes to keeping a journal and am hoping that I will do better at this family version. I hope to do better at this resolution then ones in the past (my track record is rather pathetic). One of my problems seems to be that I make too many resolutions. This year I think I have limited myself to reasonable list.
1. blog
2. Re-read the entire Book of Mormon with Mike. We have been married for over a year and a half and haven't read even one chapter of it together, which I find rather sad.
2. Read Northanger Abby, the only Jane Austin novel I have yet to read.
3. Get caught up on Abram's baby book. I hate scrap booking, but I think I can endure the torture to create a keep-sake for my son.
4. Have a daily family prayer. Mike and I have been sort of hit and miss on this and could use some improvement.
All in all I thought I did pretty well on my resolutions, now I just need to fulfill them. So here is my first attempt at number 1.

We had a generally beautiful Christmas up in Idaho with the Scaddens. There was delicious food, good conversation, and two ever doting grandparents. Abram received a ludicrous number of gifts, but his favorite things were the boxes the gifts came in. (I really don't see the point in getting toys for children under the age of 1, but I admit I fell victim to the commercial tempter myself and bought him a couple toys.)



The best present I got Abram was a pair of super warm teddy bear pajamas. He looks like the kid from A Christmas Story in them (but less pink and miserable). I must admit, part of me can't wait till he is older and dating girls just so I can show off this adorable picture.






For New Year's Eve, Mike and I had a little party with a couple of my cousins and there spouses. We ate tons of food and played "Settlers" which nobody other than Mike and I had played (neither of us won by the way). My cousin Kelli brought her daughter (the one I tend on week days) with her. She was all decked out with a "Happy New Year" head band but fell missed out on the chance to put it real use. (she and Abram had zonked off well before midnight).



After New Years Mike decided to "surprise" me with a new look. I nearly threw-up when I saw him. I know it is silly of me but he just looked so much like his dad it freaked me out. As much as I like his dad, I really don't want to be married to him. I begged him to shave, but he seemed pretty proud of himself. He decided to take a ask around and see what people thought of the "new him." The response must not have been too positive because he shaved it off that same day (that might have been just because of my terrible looks and constant nagging though).


All in all it has been an okay start to the year (or at least it is proving to be entertaining). With luck I will keep up on my new years resolution and be able to share this years entertainment with you.

Dominus mei sum fati, Dux mei sum animi

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

There comes a time in every man's life that he finds that he has been subject to circumstance, that he has sat idly by as his fate is shaped by the world around him. And every man will at some point find that he has a choice to make, to stand up for his fate and become the master of his own destiny or allow the world to continue as the captain of his soul. The weak do nothing but sit and in their mind enjoy the way the world thrashes them about as they allow the ship of their soul to remain without a pilot.

For far to long I have been subject to the rule of what fate others would inflict upon me. After watching Invictus last night I realize that only I can change my destiny. It is time for me to shake of the shackles that have bound me to this life and stretch forth to new heights. No longer will fear and doubt cloud my judgment, no more will I walk with my head bowed in shame. I will raise my bloodied head and look my tormentors in the eye, remove the club from their grip and with it I will shape a new future. I will step forward into the darkness not knowing what lies ahead but I will not fear for I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE, I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL.

Plans

Well our plans didn't go nearly as we had hoped. I was declined a position with North Summit EMS and so that makes things a little interesting for us. Abram is growing like a weed and we are very excited. Sarah Jane wasn't able to get a job for this fall either so we are kind of at a stand still as what to do next. We have some options we are trying to decide on and we trust that it will all work out for the best. Hopefully I will still be able to get the experience that I need to get into the Paramedic program. or to atleast get my paramedicine certification.

Abram

Well it finally happened Abram Michael Scadden was born on May 12, 2010. It was awesome to watch him come into our lives and we were so amazed to finally get to see him. He is now 3 weeks old and has quite a set of pipes on him, (he could even beat out his Grandpa Scadden in a shouting match I bet).



My wife is still seeking a position as an English teacher in a High School or Middle School/ Jr High. We hope she gets a position soon. EMT life is wonderful, I am getting alot of great feedback from my supervisors and I am grateful for every comment that the give. Last Sunday was Abram's baby blessing and it was wonderful, even though I found out later that I had missed a roll-over call on the freeway (a great opportunity lost, but a better experience gained). This opportinity came less than a week after we worked on extrication in Fire Class.

Driving over Parley's Summit will soon end as the offices move to Layton and so I will be able to use Weber Canyon to drive to work. I do hope that all goes well for my wife and that she will soon get a job. School starts this fall for me again and I will be attending Weber State, where I will hopefully be able to obtain a space in the Paramedic Program there and gain a degree as a Paramedic.