Halloween

Kim came to celebrate Halloween with us. We had so much fun! We went to the pumpkin patch and picked one out. Emie helped us carve it and of course she dressed up as Tinkerbell for Halloween. One of her lovely souvenirs from Disneyland the week before :)

Disneyland

About a week before Halloween, Mike surprised me with a weekend trip to California ... which was actually a surprise trip to Disneyland :) The happiest place on earth .... We had a blast ... enjoy the photos!

Birthdays, Verizon, Swimming & CORE graduation

I'm sorry it has been so long since my last post. A lot has been going on this last month. We celebrated Mike's birthday, Princess loved helping him blow out the candles. She especially loved the cake. It was a nice get together with some of Mike's closest friends. Brett, JC, Christa, Reese, Lonnie, Eddie, Katchie all came over enjoyed some BBQ and cake of course. Enjoy the photo of Princess helping daddy blow out his cake. Next time, we're going for the number candles instead of individual :)

Verizon, Verizon, Verizon... So my cell phone officially decided to die on me. It wouldn't charge anymore. I would literally have to place something heavy on the charger while it was charging (usually my stapler) to help it along. Even then ... not so much. I finally called Verizon about my options. They mentioned that my phone was still under warranty (just bought it in January this year) so they could send me a replacement. I was thrilled and thanked the representative. This was a Thursday. We missed FEDEX on Friday, but I picked it up from the FEDEX office on Saturday. I was so excited!!! I got all the way home, opened it up and it was the wrong phone! I called Verizon and asked what happened. My phone is the NOKIA 6205 and somehow they sent me the NOKIA 2605. No battery or back of the phone - so obviously no way for me to use it. I sent it back on Monday. While I spoke to the rep on Saturday, he apologized for the inconvenience, explained what happened and sent me out the correct phone. However, since it was the weekend ... I would not receive it til Monday. No phone Monday, no phone Tuesday ... Wednesday, I call to check the status and they confirm that it should arrive this day. Missed the FEDEX truck on Wednesday (by the time Mike got to the door - they were already driving away) ... I leave FEDEX a note to leave the phone... so Thursday night when I get home from school - I have a lovely package from Verizon waiting for me .... OH IT GETS BETTER!!!

I open it up and guess what??? It's the wrong phone again!!! The exact same mistake happened twice!!! I try to call Verizon and they are closed for the night. Obviously I was very upset. Friday, we were headed to St George to help Mom & Dad move into their new house (more on this later) I call Verizon on the drive, speak to a manager and he was one of the rudest people I've ever spoken to. I'm going to stop right here because I'm sure you can imagine how upset I was as the customer and for him to be rude ... I seriously considered paying the huge fee just to cut my relationship with Verizon. In the end, I went to a Verizon location the following Monday - to make sure I was ordering THE CORRECT PHONE ... and when I activated the phone - which I received Thursday (2 weeks after I originally placed the order) ... the rep gave me some credit and apologized profusely... Now I have a working phone.

The weekend in St. George was AMAZING! Mom & Dad sold their home in Anchorage and bought a lovely house in St. George (only a few hours drive from our place). It is beautiful, has a heated pool but most of all its close enough to visit, even with short notice. We enjoyed the weekend, Mike & Dad put together the BBQ grill and we had ribs ... (yes I ate messy ribs with my fingers! Aren't you proud?) Princess learned to swim! She really amazes me ... Mike & Dad were swimming with her, teaching her to blow bubbles and spit the water out when it went in her mouth ... then she was just paddling away all by herself. She had so much fun! The photo below is from the drive back home... Princess was EXHAUSTED!

Princess writing on the sidewalk with chalk...

Princess enjoying the last bit of summer with an ice cream cone ...

This photo was of her just the other day. Aunt Jessica gave her a hippo that you pull around on a string ... lately she can't get enough of it. She always wants to give her hippo love! Isn't this adorable!

I graduated from CORE last Thursday!!! It was so much fun ... I passed my written test with 94% and I passed my floor test with a perfect score :) I am now in Protege and soon will be on the clinic floor. I'll keep you updated with all of the fun stories and discoveries I make. Below is a photo of Shalane, Lauren & Me... the day we graduated CORE.

Cherie, Me & Holly :)

This last weekend, Princess and I had so much fun playing together. We watched Christmas cartoons (Mickey & friends) and even watched sleeping beauty! It was great ... she cuddled next to me on the couch and watched them with me for over an hour. She laughed so hard at Chip & Dale ... when they played tricks on Donald :) She kept taking her pretend camera and snapping photos ... then she found my Fedora and I had to take this one of her!!!

I'm waiting for some photos from Stephany at school. More to come on my fabulous experience with Linda Yodice :)

Little Miss Blondie ...

So a couple of weeks ago, Princess & I went to Brett's birthday "murder mystery dinner" and of course we all dressed the part. Betsy had the part of a beauty queen and wore this short curly blonde wig ... Princess made friends with her VERY quickly. She made sure to tell Betsy that kitty's say "meow" and cow's say "moo" and of course duck's say "duck"... She had a blast and after the dinner and game was over ... she took Betsy's wig and had a blast hamming it up for the camera! She kept dancing around and she just LOVED all the attention. I thought she looked hilarious!

She's adding more and more to her vocabulary every day. She says "night night", "pizza", "blanky", "love you", "where d' go" ... this one is especially funny when she hides things and asks you where d' go??? then she starts laughing shows it to you and says "there it is". She really loves her babies. Always tucking them in, saying night night and giving them kisses. Tonight at Tami's ... Justin was chasing her around and she just kept screaming and running, then falling into Tami's lap ... it was very cute and Tami didn't complain one bit.

Mike mentioned the other day that Princess figured out how to blow raspberries. REALLY BLOW them! Not just blow but actually make the sound. I was holding her in my lap - she was basically hugging me ... when all of a sudden she blew raspberries on my neck & shoulder! I couldn't stop laughing because it tickled ... and so she would giggle and do it again. Moments like these make EVERYTHING worth it. I love her so much and I have no idea what I did before her!

Steven Robertson

I want to introduce you to one of the learning leaders at PMTS-SLC. First, you should know that Steven is absolutely brilliant. Below are the links to his website (you can take a look at his portfolio and his bio) and his blog (provides technical advice about hairdressing and info about his team).

www.stevenrobertsonhair.com
www.stevenrobertson.wordpress.com

I hope you enjoy taking a look at some of his amazing work. I'm looking forward to all that I can learn from him and I will keep you posted on my lessons :)

Cellen

The only person that can hold me back ... is me

Have you ever felt like the whole world was in your hands? As if, for the first time in your life you were doing exactly what you were meant to do?

I've been told by most of my family and friends that I give the best hugs and I have the biggest heart. I was always "mama" and the friend that everyone turned to if they needed ANYTHING. Many times I feel like I was walked all over and taken advantage of but I don't regret any of it. That's me ... take it or leave it. I love helping and taking care of others. My heart is big and I always have room for more people. I do believe that sometimes friendships can last a long time and some can be very short but there was a reason people entered your life. There have been many times that people say I am too nice. I always brush it off and deep inside I don't think its a bad thing. Sure, sometimes people take advantage of that but I love being nice and I don't ever want to change.

In business, I feel like there is a very competitive world and many times people will do anything to move their way up to the top. It's almost as if they will even cut your throat to get to the top. Even though there are "business values" that state teamwork and talent management and best practice sharing ... I still feel like its a "me or you" mentality.

Since I've been at Paul Mitchell The School ... I feel as though its more about how to help others. I seriously LOVE it. I feel like I'm surrounded by peers and leaders that want to help others. Its so amazing to be apart of a company and a group of people that I feel like I fit in with. I feel like "being nice" is more the norm here than in any other place in my life. Crazy huh? I now completely know that I never would've been happy going to another school. It only took me over 6 years to return to school ... but there was a reason for it.

This is my time and the sky is the limit.

Vote for your favorite

Hey everyone ...

I just got some photos done and would love if you could vote for your favorites.

1. Go to Smilesfoto.com
2. click on the kids
3. scroll to the bottom and click on online viewing
4. then find Kaitlyn Lee and click on her name :)

Leave a comment and let me know which were your favorites!!! Thanks for your help :)