"So...what do you actually do?"

Since I've started my job, I've heard that quite a bit.  I usually just say, "Oh, I play with dirt all day" or something along those lines.  Well, for whoever's interested...here's what I actually "do".

I work in an analytical chemistry lab for a mining company.  My department performs tests on blasthole samples for different company minesites.  We also perform similar testing on core samples for the company's various exploration ventures.  My company mines copper, molybdenum, and recovers gold as a byproduct of the copper refining (SX/EW) process.  In addition, I test the Sulfuric acid samples from the Safford Acid Plant to ensure quality and consistency in their process.  I can hear it now...huh?  Let me break it down a little:

When a company mines copper (or any material really), they must move a lot of dirt and ground.  We like to say, we move mountains.  In order to do this, specialized equipment is used that can move extremely large amounts of rock from one area of the mine to another.

Our haul trucks are rated to carry 300 tons (600,000 pounds!) of rock at one time.

When the pit is expanded, the area is blasted to break up the rock.  After a blast, a 30-50 pound sample of rock is bagged up and sent to the lab for analysis.  When the sample arrives at the lab, another department dries and mills this sample, and sends an envelope containing approximately 100 grams of sample for analysis.  When we receive the sample for analysis, it has been milled to the consistency of face powder.  Pretty cool, eh?  We then analyze the sample to determine the total amount of copper, how much of it is able to be leached (taken out of the ground using acid), and the amounts of Molybdenum and a few other minerals.  On our end, the process is similar for core samples.  Really, the only difference between the two types of samples is how the information gained is used.  After a blasthole is analyzed, the results determine whether or how we will use the rock in that area, or whether it is sent to the reject pile.  After a core (or exploration) sample is analyzed, the company uses that information to determine whether it would be profitable to expand operations into that area.  Our blasthole samples come from North America.

Core samples may come from anywhere the company is engaging in exploration.  I've processed samples from as far away as Africa and Indonesia.

Now you know a little more about my super exciting job :)

And now.... for your reading pleasure, I'm revisiting my 2011 goals and setting new ones:  Hopefully the old ones and my comments will be in different colors.  Here goes:

1. Finish losing weight and move on to maintaining the loss.
Since we moved, I've gained back about 20 pounds of my loss.  This year I want to get back on track and start losing again!  I want to "re-lose" my 20 and lose another 20. 

2. Read one "classic" novel per month, or 12 total. I have read quite a few, but I need to read more of the classics.
Hahaha!  I failed miserably on this one.  This year, I want to shoot for 5 classics.

3. Read to the girls more often. The boys read well, so they would rather read a book themselves, but the girls enjoy listening to me read to them.
This one was hit and miss, especially after I started working again.  Caitlyn is learning to read, so I think she will really benefit from me trying this one again.  Also, Caleigh really enjoys this special time, so I need to focus on this with her, too.  To make this goal more quantifiable, I am going to try to read one book to each girl at least 4 nights per week.  Should be easy peasy, right?

4. Work on patience.
Did well on this one, but could definitely continue to improve.  Overall this one was a relative success :)

5. Quit, or at least minimize, the yelling in our house. In high school, I was reading the definition of "temple" in the bible dictionary, and it is, "A temple is literally a house of the Lord, a holy sanctuary in which sacred ceremonies and ordinances of the gospel are performed by and for the living and also in behalf of the dead. A place where the Lord may come, it is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth. Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness." -from the LDS Bible Dictionary, bolding and emphasis is mine. I want to focus on treating our home with the sacredness and dignity is deserves.
Overall, we're doing well on this one.  But it never hurt to try and do a little better.

6. Along with number 5, I want to keep the house in better order. So far this year, I am failing miserably, but once I get moving for the day that will change...I'm just sure of it!
This one is going well because my mom is saving my butt when I work!  Overall, I'm doing better, too, but she's doing all the heavy lifting on this one.  Gonna keep on trucking on this one, too!

7. Make birthdays fun and meaningful. Make sure to celebrate everyone's birthday and to make them feel special.
We did good on this one this year.  I want to keep it up, though!  Our birthdays will be great this year :)

8. Treat my husband with more kindness. 
I'm doing MUCH better on this one.  We both are.  We're both still a little snarky here and there, but we're more respectful, too.  Good job, me!  hehehe!

9. Blog at least weekly. My memory is really horrible, so if I don't write it down, I WILL forget it!
Not even close.  Fail!  Let's shoot for bi-weekly this year.

10. Get more sleep. 
Ha!  I'll sleep when I'm dead.  I'm gonna focus on living life to the fullest!

My 2012 Goals are:

Personal:

1.  Lose 40 Pounds

2.  Read 5 classics

3.  Better Photography skills

Family

1.  Read to the girls 1 book 4 times per week.

2.  Make everyone's birthdays special.

3.  Take the kids to Disneyland and to the beach.

4.  Blog every other week.

Professional

1.  Earn my N4 (Promotion)

2.  Thoroughly learn 2 more areas of the lab.

3.  Get a Chemist position (if one opens up!)

Let's see how this year goes!

Here goes another update on our extremely exciting lives:

John is now working for the same company as I am.  He's primarily based out of a lab, but also visits the mine-sites to complete audits on the leach fields.  He has an awesome schedule- straight days, either working 5 eight hour shifts (0600 to 1430) M-F with weekends off, or working 4 ten hour shifts (0600 to 1630) with a day off during the week and weekends off.  He also gets a paid day off for all federal holidays.  It's a pretty sweet gig.

I'm still working at the lab.  I am now the senior technician in my area on my crew.  Basically, all that means is when we mess up, I get to take the heat for it...pretty cool, huh?  Good thing we rarely screw up ;-)  I have a good partner, and we are hoping to poach another tech from another crew soon.  I still enjoy my work, and am looking forward to learning other parts of the lab so I can move up into a more research-based position.  For now, however, I am able to keep learning different tests and processes.  This keeps me relatively sane.

Collin is still enjoying school.  He was able to participate in the Spelling Bee this year.  His goal was to make it to nationals and be on ESPN.  He made it to district, and did very well.  He was upset when he was eliminated because he thought he had ruined his chances of ever making it to Nationals.  After we explained to him that he will continue to compete until 8th grade, he calmed down.  He's studying for next year.  He's hoping to make it another level each year.  He did well in soccer this year.  His team wasn't the best, but they were scrappy and competitive.  They were fun to watch.

Cameron really likes school this year, too.  He is making good grades and reading lots of books.  He fractured his radius about 6 weeks ago, and got the wonderful opportunity of wearing a cast for 4 weeks.  He chose a blue one.  When he originally had is put on, we were told it was water-proof....well, after 2 weeks, we decided to have it replaced because it was STINKY!!!  A word to the wise....even if you are assured a cast is water-proof...keep it dry.  They still stink!

Caitlyn is having fun with the social aspect of school this year.  She is struggling a bit with the larger class sizes (as are all the kids, actually).  Thatcher schools is cheap and/or underfunded (?), and does not believe in hiring enough teachers to assure small class sizes, so all of my children have around 25 students in their class.  I don't like it, but hopefully she will adapt.  She is making so many new friends.  It seems like we are taking her to a new friend's birthday party every week.  She is 7 going on 17, and loves clothes shopping and making her hair cute.  I'm clueless on all this girly stuff, but as long as I agree to swipe my debit card she's ok with my inept self :)

Caleigh is loving pre-school!  I got to attend a Thanksgiving celebration at her school, and it was sooo much fun!  She is talking a lot more and really working hard on her language skills!  She has really bonded with Uncle Justin (my big little brother).  It's so cute to see them together.  When he comes by to visit, she gets so excited and drags him around everywhere.

I am really looking forward to Christmas this year.  I think I'm done with my Christmas shopping.  Let's just say this isn't going to be one of those "wrap some new underoos and buy 'em a new toothbrush" kind of Christmases.  I may have gone a bit overboard, but we'll survive...  John's sisters and dad are coming to visit, so we are REALLY excited to see all of them!!!  They'll start trickling into town Friday/Saturday...woohoo!!!!

I'm on seven days off right now, so I promise I will update with pictures :)

My Monthly Update

Here's what we've been up to:

Caitlyn was a mini-cheerleader and got her picture taken with a rabid eagle fan!

She's all about all things cheer-leading these days :)  She's counting down the soccer games, so she can start gymnastics!

John's busy being cool :-)

Caitlyn's in the front with the pink shorts.

Caleigh started pre-school at Brighter Day in Pima.  She really likes it!

Here she is on her first day before class started.

Here she is getting settled in :)

Here she is waiting for the "dus".  She picks flowers before school every day.  And please note...she's wearing PANTS!  Amazing!  I had to take a picture to remember this day ;-)

Caleigh and her "fwawahs"

And here's her "dus"!  She gets so excited to see it!  She LOVES school so far!

The monster trucks came to town, so of course we had to go!  It was a really fun show.

Collin was the only one who would let me take his picture.

I sneaked this one in of everyone.

Caitlyn really wanted a pink and white checkered flag.  I was a bad mom and didn't buy one :(

Cameron's been earning money for his bike by chopping weeds in the back yard.  We have a patch that grows like crazy, so it keeps him busy and me broke!

And here's me and Caleigh.  She's so precious :)

The End

See you next month!

Labor Day Wrap-up

John and I both ended up being off on Labor Day this year, so we decided to take the kids on the mountain to fish and barbeque. We've been suffering through 150 degree weather with no a/c (ok, maybe it's not *that* hot, but you know what I mean!) so a trip up the mountain was just what the doctor ordered. When we got to the top, it was 59 degrees....niiiice!

This was Caleigh's first fishing trip, and she was REALLY excited! Somehow she ended up with the largest rod. John started rigging it up, and I told him just to leave it without a hook. It's not like she would really care anyway, right? So, he put a weight on the end and gave it to her. She loved it! She kept saying "fishing" and yelling "a bite!". The people next to us kept looking over to see what she was catching. It was really cute :)

At one point, I took several of the (noisy) kids to the bathroom. While we were gone, John just happened to catch a fish. We couldn't quite figure out why the fish weren't biting when all the kids were there ;-)

Since we were there on Monday, most of the people who went up to camp had already headed down, so we basically had the entire mountain to ourselves. After we had our fill of fishing, we headed down to one of our favorite camping areas, Soldier Creek and grilled some hot dogs and roasted marshmallows.

Caleigh the fisherwoman!

Caitlyn with her catch of the day!

Caitlyn and her little snail pet.

Caleigh with her purse and jacket.  She still refuses to wear pants, just "pretties".

 Caleigh and her pretty thistle flower.

 Cameron baiting his hook.

 Caleigh trying to reel in a big one!

John with his catch of the day :)

Let's have a little update...a'ight?

I guess it's time for another update...

We are moving into our new house. We've been here almost a month, but are still living out of boxes because *someone* keeps picking up overtime... I will post pictures when we get everything situated. I promise!

John is working part time and being a soccer dad. He's awesome! He's getting the hang of doing all the little things that make a home run smoothly, and he's doing a really good job with it.

I'm working as a lab tech for a mining company here in southeastern AZ. My lab processes production samples from different company mine sites all over North America and exploration samples from North America and abroad. I'm really enjoying my work and am learning a lot about the company and about all the practical applications of the things I studied in college. I'm looking forward to learning more and to moving up within the company.

Collin is enjoying 4th grade at my hometown elementary school. Several of his teachers were my teachers when I was in 4th grade, and they were old back then....sooooo, that means they are dinosaurs now! He is playing soccer and saving his money for a fancy, schmancy bmx bike.

Cameron is in 3rd grade at the same school as Collin. He seems to be enjoying it so far. He's also playing soccer. He didn't want to, but John put his foot down and told me to force him to play. I'm glad I listened to him because playing has really helped Cammy's confidence. He's also saving for a bmx bike. He's also slimming down and growing again. When I bought his soccer cleats, they were size 6. He's barely 8. Holy cow, he's going to be a big boy!

Caitlyn just started 1st grade. She really likes it, but is concerned that none of her classmates have manners. Apparently, they all start eating lunch before everyone has been served, and nobody says yes ma'am/ no ma'am when addressing the teacher. She has a bit of twang in her voice still. I didn't really notice it when we lived in Texas, but now that we're here, I do. It's cute :-)

Caleigh is doing some testing for pre-school Monday. If she gets in, she'll go TWTh from 8-10. She's really excited! The best part (for her anyway) is she'll get to ride the "dus". The pre-school she will go to is a special needs pre-school. They will help her with her speech since she has a pretty significant delay.

I guess that's us in a nutshell! Hopefully I will update sooner next time. Maybe the next one will even include pictures!