Friday, March 27, 2009

Life at the Widemarks


Where I do I begin? Life for the past four months has been busy - with the birth of Taylor, opening of Crop Girls, everyday happenings and such.

The birth of Taylor on December 2nd was a joyous occasion. Alexis had a pretty easy labor especially after her epidural. Four pushes and Taylor was born. She is a beautiful and easy going baby. Michael missed the birth, he had gone deer hunting with his dad and grandpa.

December 8th - Crop Girls sign our lease with Arrowhead Properties and started our remodel. Donna's husband, David, did the majority of our build-out. He removed a wall, built us a small office, painted, hung slate wall and fixed the carpet. Did I say we were doing this on very little budget? Of course, John and Erich helped with computer stuff, and Sue (MIL) helped with the POS (point of Sale) decision.

The next few weeks were spent preparing our store, purchasing fixtures, decorating and purchasing product. We went to Anaheim for the largest trade show for the crafting industry, CHA, we purchased product for the store and saw the latest new products. A great girls week end. We had our grand opening just a couple of days after our return from CHA on January 30th and 31st.

The grand opening was fabulous! We had so many ladies come in to check us out, the store was packed for hours at a time. Sales since the grand opening have been better than expected. We thank every one for your support!

The family....
Zach decided after Christmas break he was not going back to high school. He finished his management training class with McDonald's and is working full-time. He is studying for his GED and is talking of starting at Glendale community college in the Fall. He and his friend, Ben, started an acoustic band and have played many concerts, they write their own music, have had their picture in the newspaper and have a CD. To hear their music go to: www.myspace.com/stencils2

Alexis went back to school and work after Christmas break. She is taking three classes at school - auto shop, human anatomy and physiology and an internship with a veternary clinic. Along with two online classes. Her grades have remained A's and B's. She has recently been promoted to cashier at Sprout's Farmers Market. She is doing a great job at juggling motherhood, school and work. We help out were we can and Michael helps when we can't. She bought herself a new truck (new to her) a 1997 Ford F150 with an extended cab, she gave Erich he little red Ford Ranger.

Kassidy turned 13 in February. She is turning into a beautiful young woman. She has her friends and hangs out with them every chance she gets. She loves her neice and babysits when is asked. She does well in school and becasue of that she was asked to help with Field Day for the lower grades.

Samantha is adjusting to not being the baby in the house any longer. She loves to help at the store whenever I let her. She can ring up a customer, puts away stock and bags purchases. She takes something to work on when we are slow like a scrapbook or cards for hospice patients. She has started scrapbooking pictures from our Cedar Point trip last summer.

Erich is still working a West Valley Pain Management and the University of Phoenix.

I am enjoying owning a store and am very happy to have three other partners to share some of the work load. We each work about four days a week in the store or 30 hours a week. Trying to keep up on ordering product, creating samples and classes has proven to be challenging. We enjoy our afternoons at the store when they are slow so we can catch up on some of those things.

Little Miss Taylor is a hit at the store (she goes to work with me for a couple of hours when Alexis is in school). Customers always ask where she is when she's not there. She is growing quickly, she's trying to roll over, has started giggling and talks up a storm.