Sunday, October 3, 2010

2 year anniversary

10/3/10 5:48 PM

As usual, I need to apologize for not writing in many months. I’m hoping to blog more when school is done. So there is a ton to update you on so I’ll get started.

Last time I wrote, we were possibly getting another dog. It happened. We adopted Yo Yo (now Ollie) from a place out of California who rescued him from an elementary school in Taiwan. He is such a good dog. He and Lola were instant BFF’s. Ollie loves other doggies and is really timid around me for some reason. He loves Lesley and will only listen to her. I’m assuming he had a bad experience with men over in his homeland. He has adjusted well and is now starting to understand commands in English. He and Lola run each other till they are exhausted. It has been good having two dogs.

I started my MBA the same month as I graduated my bachelors. I will graduate in November of 2011. So far the classes have been intense. I am learning a lot and liking school. I will also like to be done!

Lesley has finished her school and clinic requirements. She is a licensed Radiation Therapist. She worked really hard and spent a ton of time. She was offered a position before she even graduated. She got a job at a clinic in Poulsbo, WA. It is located about an hour and a half from Renton where we used to live. Yes, we moved again—for the 2nd time in two years. It is located across the Puget Sound from Seattle. We moved to Poulsbo, which is a really cool old Scandinavian town. This also happens to be where Lesley grew up. I will be commuting and going to school at the same place—University of Phoenix. It is an hour and 15-minute drive or a couple hours if I take the ferry. We plan to live here for a year and then hopefully buy a house somewhere. Lesley really likes her work. Since moving, we have obviously been released from our callings in the EQ and YW’s. We await new callings here.

During the summer we were able to go to Utah and stay with my family. It was so fun to see them and my friends. We drove down there and took our dogs. They loved being around my parent’s dogs. It was a bit of a mad house with the gang of dogs running around. I’m sorry to report that my parent’s dog Cooper got really sick and passed away a week after we were there. It came quickly and unexpectedly. He was only one to two years old. He was buried where he was most happy, at the cabin.

Lesley and I played on a co-ed softball team with one of Lesley’s friends at school. We played double headers every Thursday night. We had a good season. We went on to win the championship. It was awesome.

We went surfing a few times. We went camping twice.

We just celebrated our two-year anniversary on Sept 12th. We went on a western Caribbean cruise for a week. We stopped in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Roatan, and Belize. We did excursions at each of the stops. We went to Stingray City in Grand Cayman, Mayan ruins and beach in Cozumel, Beach in Roatan, and cave tubing in Belize. It was a beautiful trip and we had so much fun. I’m still peeling from my sunburns. When I rub my hand along my shoulders, it literally looks like it’s snowing from all my dead skin.

Rather than copy all our pics into the blog, I’m including the link to my facebook page that you can go see them.

Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=528153&id=720885537&l=b85b57f93b

Love,

Parker

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Hot off the press!

5/4/10 6:16 AM

Hawaii seemed so long ago. It was a great trip! We were there for a week. We spent a lot of time on the beach and eating great food. We were able to do some surfing and stand up paddle surfing. We went whale watching, drove the road to Hana, and watched the sunrise from the highest mountain on Maui. It was really hard to come home. I’m ready for another vacation.

Lesley and I have barely seen each other over the last one and a half months. We have been so busy with our church callings and school. Lesley is the Young Women’s President and I am the 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum. Our callings involve lots of meetings and activities. School has also been crazy for us. Lesley continues to do well in class and is commuting to Olympia three days per week. Olympia is past Tacoma. It works out to an hour of driving each way. I’ll be glad when she’s a little closer to home. We don’t know yet where she’ll be assigned for her summer clinical.

I have been doubling up on classes at school. Typically at the University of Phoenix students take only one class at a time. Students will go to class one night a week. Instructors will give enough homework to keep them busy throughout the week. I, however, just got done completing two classes at the same time. It nearly killed me and was a huge source of stress. Long assignments and fast approaching deadlines plagued my life over the past five weeks. I’m glad it is over. These were the last classes required for my Bachelors in Business Management. I am trying to start my MBA with an emphasis in Healthcare Management later this month.

Lesley and I celebrated our birthdays in April. She got me a really cool HD Flip video camera. I can now take video and upload it to the blog so you can watch all of our fun weekend trips and see how beautiful it is up here in Seattle. You will most likely see more videos of Lola because she is so fun and crazy to watch.

Speaking of Lola, we could possibly be adopting another doggy. My mom had sent me an email with a cute little dog in California that needed to be adopted. The dog’s name is Yo Yo and he is 7 months old. He is a Yellow Lab Whippet mix. He is the cutest little dog. We have filled out the application to get him. Our application has been accepted. We are now waiting to hear from the “foster” owner and I guess somebody needs to come check out our apartment to make sure it is suitable for dogs. The people at the shelter said that it is necessary to have another dog in the house if they are going to let us have him. Lola will love to have a playmate and somebody to cuddle with when she’s not cuddling with me. Hopefully the adoption works out and we can get the dog soon. We will have the dog flown here from Los Angeles.

Other than that, we had a great surf trip last weekend. The weather and the waves were perfect. It was the best day of surfing I have ever had. Lola got to run around on the beach and swim in the cold ocean. I think she accidentally ran into the waves and got tumbled a little bit.

The days are getting long with light and the weather is getting warm. Camping season is upon us. We plan on taking as many weekend trips as possible. If anybody wants to go camping with us, let us know and we’ll make some plans.

Well, that’s all for now! It is now time for me to go home and get ready for work. I have been here at the church since 5am this morning doing “seminary security.” For those of you who live in Utah, early morning seminary is when high school students take seminary at 5:30 and 6:00am throughout the week. I’m very grateful to have been able to live in Utah and go to seminary during the day. The challenge with Utah seminary was not sleeping in, but taking an extra long lunch.

To see our pictures from our recent surf trip, visit: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=416316&id=720885537&l=1f6c51a6d8

Much love,

Parker

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Sorry no new pictures

2/17/10 7:05 PM

I’m sorry for not posting anything to the blog in recent months. I have been in transition for the past month. Not only have I got a new job, but today I started class up again. Lesley is also back in school and working hard at that and in the clinic. Lola has been her energetic self as always. We gave Lola a haircut. Besides looking really cute, she gets cold at night. She will burrow under the bed covers and sprawl out between Lesley and I. I’m so glad she does not shed! In the next couple of weeks we are going to invest in a king size bed. A king size will help Lesley avoid my flailing elbows and I can avoid Lesley’s crazy kicking legs.

As I had said earlier, I have changed jobs. It has been a great change in my life. Working at Paychex was terrible since I transferred to the Seattle branch. I really couldn’t stand the management. My direct supervisor was x-military and treated us like his little soldiers. He was direct, abrupt, rude, and crude. He lacked compassion and people skills. He is not a leader. He is a drill instructor. I moved desks and got another supervisor. She spoke to everybody as if they were 4 years old and it was their first day on the job. The branch manager was invisible to the branch and made everybody uncomfortable when he did interact with them. He is the manager that nobody dared joke with. The problem with the branch was the personnel crisis. The management was so concerned with client satisfaction that they completely forgot about employee satisfaction. There was a huge amount of employee turnover because most employees 1. Can’t stand management style. 2. Are 25 to 40 clients over budget. 3. Are covering terminated employees clients while management refused to fill vacancies.

I knew I had to change jobs when I noticed that I was consistently coming home from work in a bad mood. I would have a short temper with Lesley and the dog. It is hard for me to have a bad day because I try to maintain a happy and optimistic view of everything. I always try to create a healthy work environment. I had to get out of the company before I went bald from stress or it negatively impacted my personal life.

During the fall of 2009, I had been interviewing for sales positions at a few different companies but nothing felt right. My goal was to work for University of Phoenix. So I got on their website and searched for local jobs on a weekly basis. I submitted my resume like crazy. One day I finally got contacted them and got going on the interview process. The interview process went throughout December. I finally accepted a job offer to start on January 19th. I wrote a nice letter to Paychex management giving my two weeks notice. I thanked them for giving me many growth opportunities, etc. When I informed my direct supervisor, she didn’t even look at the letter. She criticized my job performance and then asked me if there was anything they could do to keep me. Hmmmm.

The next day, the branch manager finally made time to meet with me. He also didn’t read my letter. He just started by insulting my character calling me dishonest for going behind his back to look for another job. He told me I wasn’t a leader because I was leaving the company during the busiest time of the year. He also said that I was making a huge mistake in my career.

Once he had burned the bridge, I told him what I think about him and his management team. I confronted him when he insulted my character. I defended myself honestly and bluntly. I told him this would probably be the best career decision that I will make. I was surprised how I was treated especially when I had given 4 years of quality work to the company. I took nothing he said personally or seriously.

Working at the University of Phoenix has been great so far. I’m an enrollment advisor. I work with potential students and help them get financial aid and started in their desired degree program. It is more or less a sales job. I love the competition and results driven environment. Some days can be hard when you don’t have people progressing towards activity. (the same as it was in missionary work.) I am really excited to work at U of P because it includes great benefits. I get my tuition waived. This is a huge blessing, especially as I’m starting my masters program in 5 to 6 months.

To change subjects, Lesley and I are going to Maui for a week. We fly out this Saturday the 20th and will be returning the following Saturday the 27th. We are going with Lesley’s parents and siblings and their spouses. It is going to be an awesome trip. Lesley and I deserve a nice vacation. We have been working hard at work and school and are ready to relax. I’ll take lots of pictures.

Well, I just took a break and forgot what else I was going to write about. So I’ll end it by saying happy birthday to my pops on the 24th of February. Also, I need to congratulate Lesley for accepting a call to serve as the Young Women President in our ward! You go girl! I got your back. I’ll support you all the way. I gotta get working on homework so I don’t have to do any while I’m in Hawaii.

Much love,

Parker

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!


(Awkward smile....get me out of here!)


(My nephew Carson being a Pilgrim)

11/29/09 10:03 AM

I think this is a record! I have never updated the blog this quickly. It’s going to be a short one because not too much has happened. I’m happy to announce that I have CLEP’d (tested) out of 6 credits worth of Spanish. I was only six correct answers away from getting the full 12 credits. I was so mad at myself. I had taken hours worth of practice tests (which were supposed to mirror the actual test), but the actual test question structure was completely different. The practice test did not prepare me for the level of difficulty that I was about to experience. I need 12.33 general ed credits to complete my degree. All of my upper division classes are done. Once my degree is done, then I will get ready for the GMAT and hopefully get into a good school to get my Masters.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! The night before Thanksgiving, Lesley and I drove around the water to her parent’s house. Steve and I went and saw “Old Dogs,” while Lesley and Debbie went to “New Moon.” There were many laughs in the show I saw, but it isn’t a movie I would buy. My movie got out before Lesley’s, so Steve and I went in and watched the last 20 minutes of New Moon. We were probably the only two guys in the theater. As for the movie, it looked good from what I saw—really dramatic. Lesley made the comment as we were driving away from the theater, “You should work out more so you can look like Jacob.” Then she smiled and batted her pretty little eyes. It made me laugh. She’s lucky she’s a girl and she can get away with that.

For Thanksgiving, we went to the Payne’s for dinner. The Payne family is a really close family friend with the Miles’. After a yummy and filling dinner, we watched a movie called “The Family Stone.” I slept through a lot of it. After that movie was over, the men watched “The Magnificent 7.” It is a classic Western with Steve McQueen and others. Lesley slept through this movie. The next day neither Lesley nor I went shopping on black Friday.

Well, I gotta go get some breakfast, prepare my lesson, and go to church. Bye.

Here's some pics...





(Lola's new bed!)







Saturday, November 7, 2009



11/7/09 9:32 AM

Hello everybody! It has been a really long time since I updated the Sadler Family blog. I feel bad because I had a lot of family members and even clients at work who were telling me to update the blog. I think that you all just wanted to see new pictures of Lola. As I speak, she is chewing on a bone underneath my chair. Lesley is getting her beauty rest on this cloudy and gloomy Saturday morning. Recently God decided to turn on the water over Seattle and it hasn’t stopped for a few days now. I was telling my mom the other day that this Winter I’m going to hibernate in my house huddled next to one of those lights that give off real light. That way I’ll get my vitamin D and feel alive and happy. I’ll wait until May-ish until God decides to turn on the lights outside and turn off the water. I am glad He waters a lot because I sure love the beauty of the Northwest. I’ve never seen anything like it.

I am going to have to take a break from writing because I am going to the quarterly primary activity. Today we are practicing for the primary program that will take place tomorrow. Dan Shaw and I team-teach the Valiant 10 aged kids. These kids can get crazy sometimes………….I’m back.




(Cooper Camping)




So what’s been happening in our lives since I last updated the blog? Hopefully I can remember everything. I’m going to have to look through our pictures to refresh my memory. The summer was filled with many vacations—long and short. The highlight of the summer was going to Utah. I was able to spend a week down there with my family before Lesley and her parents arrived and we all went down to Lake Powell. My family and I went camping. Sara and Carson were also able to come. It was hard for me because Carson hadn’t seen me for almost a year and he was rather shy. While in Utah everything worked out to where I could be there when my brother Chanse (whom I call Marcus) got to open his mission call. He was called to the Argentina Salta mission. I can’t believe he is old enough to go on a mission! I was also able to see all my grandparents and stand in the circle while my homie Mitch blessed his baby Ryder. Throughout the rest of the week my family and I went on bike rides at the Jordan River Parkway and went karaokeing (spelling?) with my bro and his friends at Applebees with half-off appetizers.







Lesley packed up Lola and drove down to Utah with her parents and aunt. Lola was going to stay at my parents for the week that we were gone to Powell. Lola got to play with my parent’s big puppy lab named Cooper (Coop) all week. I felt bad for my parents and am grateful they watched our “Welsh Terror” the whole week. Lesley and I were able to go to Lunch with her friend Erin, see my Mission President and his wife (the Fillmores), go to a BBQ at Copperton Park, and go to a Bees baseball game and watch the fireworks afterwards. We also got to go through the Oquirrh Mtn. Utah Temple, which was amazingly beautiful.

Powell was a blast this year. There were more people on the houseboat this year, which meant less wakeboarding for me. We played lots of games, watched movies, got rained on, had a bat fly into the houseboat, ate great food, and got to spend time with some of Lesley’s siblings and their kids. I didn’t get a very long lasting tan at Lake Powell. When we arrived back in Washington, I immediately turned white again. Bummer.

About a week after returning from Powell, we packed up again and went to McCall, Idaho with friends from the ward—The Deru’s, McClain’s, and Dennison’s. We stayed at the Deru’s parent’s cabin on the lake. (If I remember right, McCall is about 8 or so hours away from where we live.) We wakeboarded, skied, wakesurfed, and dock jumped. We went to hot springs and just hung out and had a great time. I introduced them to the wrath of stinky Parker.







Lesley and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on Sept. 12th. We stayed at a timeshare in Blaine, Wa., which is literally on the Canada border. Lesley and I went surfing as much as we could this summer. I finished my classes at University of Phoenix and now I’m studying to test out of the remaining credits for my Bachelors in Business Administration. Lesley recently underwent wrist surgery to re-route some tendons and file down a painful bone spur. She has had a bum wrist for the last month or so. Lesley also started school again at the end of September. She is in her final year of her Radiation Therapy program at Bellevue College. She is working very hard on homework and working in Valley Medical Center across the street from our apartment complex. We moved into a two-bedroom apartment at the end of September. Lola would have her own room if she didn’t like sleeping on mommy and daddy’s bed. So it has been very busy and I will use that as an excuse why I have not updated our blog.







One last thing I wanted to talk about before I post this……I was able to fly down to Utah for a long weekend. My brother’s farewell was Sept. 27th. He went to the MTC on Oct. 14th. I’m glad that I was able to attend this and see him one last time before he left. He did a great job in his talk. He spoke with power and with humor. I’m proud of him for always being such a good person and outstanding swimmer. I have enjoyed my friendship with him over the years.





Halloween was a lot of fun. Lesley and I dressed up as a Bavarian couple from Germany. I wore my lederhosen and Lesley wore an authentic German dress. She called us Hanzel and Grettle. We went to a party at the Dennison’s with a bunch of other couples from the ward.



Well, I successfully rambled on and on. Now its time for me to go to the gym and work on my six pack so Lesley can do our laundry on my washboard abs. (yeah right!) After the gym I need to run to the store and get some ice cream to cancel out my workout.

Adios!