About Me ~ Part Two

I started working when I was 12 in a restaurant washing dishes. Moved on to hostessing, busing tables, and eventually becoming a waitress. I came from a home where work was important, my parents worked very hard. My dad drove truck several places from in the oil fields to hauling fruit to driving cement truck. I never remember him missing a day of work, even for being sick! My mom worked a lot, waitressed in various restaurants, she usually held 2 jobs and worked 80+ hour weeks at times. So we were definitely ushered into the work world early on. When I was 18 I became a CNA and worked at a nursing home for a while, I loved the elderly people, however I really hated the institutional environment of where I worked. They definitely only have budget and function in mind, for most of those places. I could think of a few changes I would like to make, that's for sure!!



Shortly after that, my mom and I made plans to open a restaurant. It had been a dream of hers for quite some time and sounded like fun to me. It did prove to be fun, challenging and .... hard work! We got to do a lot of the remodel ourselves, we painted, tore up carpet, laid tile, designed.... Kind of felt like a "jack of all trades". My mom named it "Take A Break Cafe". We worked all day 6 days a week for quite a while but that got tiring to say the least. We changed that and were open from breakfast and lunch the rest of the time. I learned so many things working there, one of them was how to bake, I made a lot of pies and some other desserts. It was fun to be able to be so creative with things. Such a fun and wonderful experience!! Toward the end of our restaurant adventure, I worked at Old Navy for a while and that was really fun, met some wonderful people!

I met my husband Brian when I was 18 waitressing in a restaurant, kind of floating, not really knowing what I wanted out of life yet. He found out that I babysat his niece and nephew, and that I knew his family, however not yet him. He had grown up right down the road from my Aunt and Uncle. He was really good friends with my cousins. My Aunt and his mom were best friends and I had known his mom since I was young. I knew his brother and a little of his sister, but never knew about him. This may have been a good thing though because we are 10 years apart and he would have remembered me in my awkward adolescent phase. :) So he called up my cousin Jon and asked about me. Jon told him that he thought he should ask me out and thought I was 22 or so... well, I had just turned 18, he was 27.... Anyway, so Jon's wife called me and told me I should go out with him because he was really nice etc.. I had been asked out by another
Brian at work who I didn't really see in that way, I thought she was talking about him... So I reluctantly said "ok".... come to find out it wasn't the Brian I was thinking of.......

Our first date was to a John Mellancamp concert at the Gorge in George with his John Candy look-a-like friend Scotty. We had a nice time. I was a little nervous, he got to bring his rather large best friend -who told me to be good to him or he would snap me in half -(no just kidding!) But it WAS 2 against 1. We saw each other thereafter, almost didn't get past the age difference when he found out how old I really was....but we did. We fell in love and 2 and a half years later, got married and bought a nice house in Cashmere.

Now, going on 8 years of marriage, we have 2 wonderful children. Mykla our daughter is 3 and a half and Finnlan our son, is 1 and a half. We are very, very blessed. After I had my daughter I worked part time at an assisted living place here in town which I really loved! I then got pregnant again and now get to be a stay at home mom, which I love! I babysit other children for a little income.

I definitely have big dreams though. Dreams of becoming a massage therapist who also does nutritional consulting, who maybe eventually becomes a Naturopathic Physician, who also is a skilled artisan on the side, making handmade creations for others to enjoy. None of these dreams however comes before my children, who I love so much, and couldn't imagine being away from them. In NO way does this mean I look down on people who choose to or have to work while they are also parents. We each have to make the decisions for our home that make it the healthy, happy place it needs to be! I'm trying to be all that I can for my family first and just keep an open mind to what my be .............in the future!!

Peace and Light,
Jayme