Change in the Friedli home!!

SOOO many things are happening and changing these days it seems sometimes a bit overwhelming but exciting at the same time!!

Obviously being pregnant and planning for a new little angel to come into our home is the biggest!!! Luckily you get 9 months to prepare! I will spare you the details of the changes to my body this post…since Zach was SO embarrassed that I posted about one of them! ;) (My brother in law Riley texted me too that he now knows TMI about some things! ;))

The second biggest change is Zach started a NEW j-o-b!!! As I have mentioned before he has been wanting to get out of landscaping since it is a lot more stressful being blind and he realizes his body won’t be able to last his WHOLE life digging in the dirt! He already has major back pains from it! His chiropractor told him his abs are on backwards cuz he has a six pack on his lower back from all the digging! ;) I’m a lucky girl! ;)
Anyways, he has been looking and knew a couple people that LOVED their sales job at a place called Trace Minerals. After talking with them more about it he found out they had a part time job opening. Since he normally doesn’t do anything in the winter anyways, he thought it would be a perfect time to start to see if it is something he enjoyed and could do. He interviewed and got the job! Since it is a sales job, the pay doesn’t start out great because it is all commission, but the more you are there and the more clientele you build it can be a great job in the future…which obviously he is looking for something long term.

The people there are SOOOO nice and accommodating to him. The first day of work they had a 32 inch T.V. screen for his computer monitor to help him see better. He is assigned a region in the U.S. and sells directly to stores. Trace Minerals makes vitamins and supplements…there biggest uniqueness is that they get a lot of their minerals from the Great Salt Lake...which is the best place to get them I have learned! :) It has been fun to see Zach get all interested in health stuff and get excited about it. Not that he wasn’t a healthy person but I have always been more into that stuff then him! ;)

After 2 weeks of being there they offered him full time starting in December which is way sooner then they had told him up front. So…obviously that is awesome! He may still try and keep landscaping going on the side until he starts to build a better salary…but we will wait and see.

The weirdest thing is seeing him in polos and slacks every day now instead of holy jeans and stained shirts! ;) I kind of enjoy the change…except I have to iron now! ;) The hardest part for him is learning and becoming proficient at all the computer stuff and learning all the products. He has been studying and studying when at home and all the computer stuff will just come with time. He is obviously at a disadvantage that it takes him a little bit longer then others cuz he can’t see as well but I think the more he does it the easier it will become!

The job is in West Haven and is a 20 minute recruit! Luckily we have an AMAZING friend Mr. Nate Davis that gives Zach a ride down on his way to work and we started a little family/friend rotation on picking him up every day!! We are so blessed to have such a great support that will help us out!!!

One sad change is that we are selling the Ranger TODAY!!! :( We started taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University classes a couple months ago and have learned SOOO much!!! I seriously think EVERY person should HAVE to take his classes in high school. They are SO good for ANY person and especially married couples. Anyways…after learning all that we have from these classes, we realized that we have some big goals…like building a custom home for Dakota man to make life easier for him and us. We had to suck it up and realize that we could get closer to that important goal if we sold the Ranger and put that money somewhere better that could be building us interest instead of losing interest each year. We aren’t anywhere close enough to start that home, although I wish we were, but we have definitely learned some valuable stuff that could help get us closer to achieving that goal sooner then later. Seriously…if you haven’t ever learned his program…DO IT!!! It will change your life and your marriage! It helps you as a couple have a plan! For your money and for your future! Dave Ramsey is all about building wealth to GIVE to others and that is another thing I LOVE about him!!! The feeling you get when you can help someone else is indescribable and unexplainable. I LOVE it!! And I want to be able to do that ALL of the time!! Anyways…I’ll quite my preaching! ;)

So goodbye Ranger! We will miss you! You have brought us a LOT of joy and fun times to our family during our hardest of times when there was NOTHING we could really do with Dakota. Now that Dakota has progressed so much we don’t feel like the Ranger is our only outlet of fun with him. We get to do more and more with him so selling it is easier now. And eventually…when we get to our more important goals in life…we will get another one! ;)

Another change is Zach turned 29 and FINALLY caught up to his old lady…not long before I turn the big 3-0!!!

I am lame and didn’t capture ANY pictures on his actual birthday…except on our Ranger ride! He had a good one though! He slept in…Dakota and I made him some yummy stuffed French Toast. We went on our last Ranger ride in Mantua. Then Zach and I went to his FAVORITE restaurant Carlos & Harleys in Eden and finished the night with our trusty Dave Ramsey class! ;)



 
This smile is the only thing that broke my heart about selling this thing. But luckily he will smile at other things too now! ;)




So grateful to celebrate another year older with this handsome, talented, hard-working, amazing husband of mine!!! Sure love him!!!!

Not too much has changed with Dakota man but he is sure LOVING school!!!


He especially loves gym time where he gets to ride on scooters and bikes! He has the BEST nurses and teachers that involve him in EVERYTHING!!!

The coolest thing is today at school they had a guy from South Jordan come in who is an expert with the Eagle Eyes communication device. It is a device that allows a child to communicate with just the tracking of the eyes. I went to the school to watch and it was SOOOO cool!!!

They hook these little detectors around his eyes on his eye muscles that allows him to control the mouse with his eyes. They start out with simple cause and effect things because he has to learn that HE is controlling the mouse. When he would look at the object that was on 1 spot on the screen it would start a little silly video of a song. He started off slow and needed a lot of guidance to look at the target. But by the end of the 20 minutes he was starting the video over right after it stopped. It was SO cool!!!


All hooked up and ready to rock and roll!!!


He loved this song where the alien danced! ;)

Here is a little video of him doing it to show you how it works. This is still when he was a little slow at it.

Eventually once kids learn that they are in control you can begin to have pictures that are choices and it can get more and more complex the more they learn. I am SOOOO excited to see where this could go because I KNOW Dakota knows what is going on and would LOVE to tell us more then we can understand from our basic communication that we have learned so far!!!

I am SOOO grateful for his wonderful teacher and the communication team that is making this happen!!