Suspension of 401(k) matching by IHC

So on Facebook I was looking at this group of "IHC & the missing 401k funds". IHC decided to suspend all of the 401(k) matching for next year. I know that in my department people are furious. I love my work because of the people that I work with, and the kind of work that I do, but, I'll throw this out on the table and say (and not be ashamed of it): IHC is not a great company to work for. We get the worst pay of all the hospital chains around the state. I honestly believe we give the greatest care to our patients, compared to other hospitals, but upper management does not treat their employees well enough. They got rid of our summer gifts. When I first started with them, we got gift cards for a night at the movies and $25 for Olive Garden. Our Christmas bonus was $400- now it's going to be $250. We probably won't get much of a raise either. What's up with that?! Someone on that group on Facebook couldn't have put it better:
Get rid of the fancy, multi-colored benefits brochure designed to convince me that my mediocre benefits are really, really, cool. Get rid of the fancy, multi-colored year-end State of IHC mailing. Get rid of the television & radio ads. (If a 14 story, new and shiny building on State St ain't enough then just forget it. Get rid of all the bells and whistles that make upper management feel like they're doing a marvelous job. $$$ is where the rubber meets the road. Give me back my 401K match. Give me more that "a modest" raise. Give me cheaper, better insurance. Give me a break.
IHC's insurance program is a joke. I pay more than one of my friends that has the exact same benefits from Select Health, and she gets the benefits from her husband's work. Are you kidding me?!?!?! Next year I'll be paying $220/month on insurance. This is insane!!!! we should be getting a discount on their insurance because we work for them, not the other way around! I know a lot of people are quitting, and I don't blame them. Instead of focusing so much on advertising and doing all this fancy crap, they need to focus on keeping their employees happy.
I'm sorry that was a bit of a venting blog, but seriously, I'm not happy!!!!

Successful meal!

So Thanksgiving was held at our place this year. It was really fun to prepare for it, and since I was doing the cooking, I began preparations one month ago (literally!). I was so nervous... but as soon as I faced the naked turkey (without the wrapping, I mean), I got REAL scared. Then it was time to stuff the thing... because washing it wasn't enough. Oh yuck. I thought I was going to puke. It was so sick!

Grandpa Beach came over, along with Susan and Roy (Elijah's mom and step-dad), and my mom. My brother James came over for a little while but he left before we ate. It was great to have the family together to enjoy a good meal!
Everything turned out great, but it wouldn't be a "made by Silvia" meal if there wasn't something burned. So I managed to burn the marshmallows on top of the home made sweet potatoes. I was bummed. But oh well, it gave a nice crispiness to the dish. And somehow I didn't like the stuffing I made either; it was too salty, but everyone else said it tasted just fine. Maybe I got a portion that wasn't mixed well?! Who knows.

All in all it was a successful Thanksgiving. I hope you all had a great day with your families, and that you stuffed yourselves full!

-Silvia

Mormon synchronized swimming

I just about peed my pants from laughing so hard... all these muscular guys doing the cute little feminine synchronized swimming. It's priceless. Hope you all get a good laugh!

Tagged again!

Thanks Shauna!

1. Did you date someone from your school? Well, I went out on one date with someone from my school. I didn't actually date him. Does that count?
2. What kind of car did you drive?A 1986 Toyota truck, rusty thing until it died during my senior year, then I got a 1996 Suzuki X-90. My pregnant roller skate!
3. Did you pass your driver's license test your first try? Heck yeah!
4. Were you a party animal? No way... I was such a dork. I made my own curfew, can you believe that?!
5. Were you considered a flirt?No, I couldn't even look guys in the eyes!
6. Were you in band, orchestra or choir?I was in mixed choir in 9th grade (some schools that's still in Jr. High, some are in High School)
7. Were you a nerd? Oh yeah. The biggest one there was.
8. Were you on any varsity teams? No, I wasn't gifted in sports.
9. Did you ever get suspended/expelled? No, that thought sent chills down my spine.
10. Can you still sing the fight song?I didn't know what the fight song was!
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mr. Wagstaff- "It's the rise *clap clap*, over the run *clap clap*" Most awesome teacher EVER!!!!!!!
12. Where did you sit for lunch?I can't remember? It varied from year to year. Mainly in the cafeteria area.
13. What is your school's full name? Cottonwood High School
14. What is your school's mascot and colors? Go COLTS! Black, white, and gold. Yeah baby!!!!
15. Did you go to Homecoming and with who? Maybe, I'm not sure.
16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? I actually would not re-do my sophomore year, but definitely junior and senior.
17. What do you remember most about graduation? I spoke at graduation!!! To over 3000 people! I was a nervous wreck, but it was so awesome!
18. Where did you go Senior Skip Day? I dont remember ever having that, I know we'd have days where we didn't have to go until late, and about 75% of the time I'd forget and go to school early. I know, dorkiness!
19. Were you in any clubs? NHS and something else...
20. Have you gained some weight since then? Yes, but just recently lost it all, baby!
21. Who was your prom date? I didn't go, because a certain husband decided not to ask me....
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion?You better believe it, I'm already there!
23. Did you have a job in high school?I worked as a CNA at Wasatch Valley Rehab, and before that I spent 4 miserable shifts at KFC on State and I-80, I quit real quick... hated it!
24. Were you an Honor Student? Yes, sir! 3.8 GPA- still is, I seem to not let go of those two numbers for some reason....
25. Did you take seminary? You bet I did! It was fun, met lots of fun people! And Sis. Harline was my favorite seminary teacher EVER! I wonder what she's up to these days...
26. What would you consider your most fun times in High school? Dunno, probably the social life I guess!
27. Were you considered shy or outgoing? I was shy around people I didn't know, but way outgoing around my friends... it was more so as the years went by. I thinkas a Senior I was just outgoing period.
28. Any last memories you'd like to share? I got an allergic reaction to a medicine I had begun taking one morning while I was sitting in Seminary and Sis. Harline had to come look for me because I was sitting in the secretary's office while she was calling my mom to come get me... eventually I did go into the ER. But I was so embarrassed I disrupted class, and it was just a bad day!!!!

Now, I want everyone else to complete this! :)

Hubby tag

What's your husband’s name? Elijah Paul Caswell

How long have you guys been married? 3 yrs, 8 months

How long did you date? 2 years, 10 months (with a 2 month break somewhere in between)
How old is he? 23
Who eats more sweets? I do. I love chocolate, but he does have a bad habit of eating Pixi sticks and shoving the wrappers underneath the matress hahaha (that was when he was little ehehe)
Who is the better singer? I am, he does have a good voice, but not good enough to do a solo I guess!
Who is smarter? We both have our subjects that we're good at; he's good at writing and keeping up with every single stat for every college football team and player.

Who does the laundry? I do! I attempted to write directions to how to do laundry and they still managed to not get done the way they should've, so I do them now (I even had to do laundry the day I got home from the hospital from having Jacen... I'd have to be on my death bed before I let him do laundry again. Sorry honey!)
Who pays the bills? I do, he's not good with numbers.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? depends- do you mean looking at the bed? or looking from the bed?! looking at the bed, I sleep on the right side.
Who mows the lawn? we both can't mow the lawn- we're both allergic to grass. He's allergic by smell, and I'm allergic by touch. Weird, huh?
Who cooks dinner? Unfortunately, I've been having to do it the majority of the time. I HATE cooking. Elijah, on the other hand, is an amazing cook!

Who drives? Whoever drives the car. If he's in my car, I drive it, if I'm in his car, he drives it.

Who is the first to say they are wrong? Elijah, he's really good at it. I refuse to say I'm wrong!

Who kissed who first? We thought of it at the same time, so both!

Who asked who out first? Elijah did.

Who wears the pants? I do. (at least I think I do!)

I TAG: Christine, Julie, Heidi, Meggan, Rachel, Lisa C., Lisa H., Lisa B., Jenn H., Jenn L., Sadie, Elsha, Karly, Ashley, Natalie

7 month update

He's growing so fast. He's now 7 months old and lots of things have happened in the last month. We took him in for his 6 month appointment with the Pediatrician, and he weighed 20 lbs 7 oz, and measured 28 inches. He told us we needed to get him a new carseat, since he was about to outgrow his infant carseat. Those darn things are so expensive! So we switched him to a convertible carseat, which then required us to carry him in our arms from then on. Thank goodness it was around the same time he began sitting pretty good, so now when I have to go to the grocery store, I just put him on the seat in the shopping cart. He still sort of leans to the side a little, but I'm sure he'll be able to strengthen his back muscles soon, so he can sit in the cart and not fall over.
He also started to eat table foods and little cereal puffs. He loves table food, especially mashed potatoes! As far as the puffs, he still can't pick them up with his index finger and thumb, so I still have to put them in his mouth for him, but it's something the doctor said he'll be able to do pretty soon.
I'm getting anxious for him to start crawling (I know I shouldn't be, but I can't help but looking forward to him achieving another milestone!). He's not anywhere near achieving it, however . He hates being on his tummy, but loves to sit and look around, and play with his toys. The doctor said he wouldn't worry if he did skip the whole crawling thing and went straight to walking, but I'd love to see him crawling around! I am worried, however, that because of our hardwood floors, he may not crawl like he should, and use his feet instead of his knees. But we'll see how he does.
He's still sleeping real good through the night, which is amazing. He sleeps a whole 12 hours, and gets about 3 hours of sleep during the day. I live for his naps, because that's how I sleep when I get home from work in the mornings...
Today I'm taking him to the Pediatrician again to get his 2nd round of the flu shot, so I'm guessing he weighs around 21 lbs, and we measured him yesterday and he's 28.5 inches long! He's a heavy little dude!
-Silvia

Prop.8- It's hitting Utah...

This is ridiculous. This is truly a sign of the last days. I'm reading the third book of a series on the last days, and what's happening right now in California is the beginning of the Church being harrassed for years, according to the book. They're written by Jessica Draper, and they're called, in order, "The Seventh Seal", "Rising Storm", and "The Final Hour". (I'm on the last one right now, and they're so good!).
Along with the harrassment, the books also mention how the police doesn't do much about the vandalism in churches and Temples. There are violent threats popping up on blogs all across the country, along with violence and harrassment, and the police is not doing a whole lot to prevent any of it. I just read on a news article saying if the harrassment and the threats were happening to Jews, people would be getting arrested. There are people that were asked to sleep in stake houses in California to protect the churches from being burned to the ground. That's what happens in the books as well. The devil is out there having a hayday!
The gay community just needs to get over it. Prop 8 has passed. End of story. DEAL WITH IT!
I just hope and pray that I can raise Jacen in a decent world... if there is one.

-Silvia

The Art of Splashing

Jacen just found out how fun it is to splash in the water. We were only able to capture just a little bit of what he was doing; right before we pulled out the camera, he was just going to town, splashing away! But of course, like any other kid, will stop what they are doing as soon as the camera comes out. It was frustrating, but really funny!
And how in the world do you get ducks to sit up? His ducks look like they're dead!!!! Floating around the water....
-Silvia