My kids don't believe me when I say, "I did that for a job once." So I figured I'd write down all my jobs and they can read through it when they're older. That is the main reason that I write my blog, as a record anyways.
When I was little, my parents taught me to work at home and didn't care if we mowed lawns or cleaned bathrooms as long as what needed to be done got done. I never remember my parents saying we were too young to do something either... I remember helping my dad with his summer jobs for years... I've helped him build and stain decks, fences, basement remodels, re-roof houses, mud, drywall, landscape, and even helped a tiny bit with the sprinklers at our own house. In fact, it's because of my dad inviting me along to do these summer jobs that I got my job as a chemist assistant.
When I was 12, I started babysitting. I enjoyed that most of the time, but one little boy was too much for me. I imagine he might have been too much for many people actually. One summer I babysat the Moon kids for much of the summer while their mom worked.
When I was 15, Janelle, Melissa Moulton, Eduardo Montero and I (all neighbors) got a job working together at Kara Chocolate Factory in the packaging department. We'd drive over after school and would work until about 6. (I think it was minimum wage... I can't remember if it was $4.15 or $4.75/hour)
When I was 17, I worked in a place called Kids IQ. It was a retail store for educational supplies and also a homeschooling training and resource store. I was the only employee, and after about a year I was pushed off to make room for the owner's new daughter in law. I didn't mind too much because I wasn't sure how to start BYU while I worked there.
When I started BYU at 18, I started a job that I absolutely didn't want. A job as a janitor. That was too debase and "unworthy" for me. My parents told me I should take it and be grateful for it. And after a year into it, I was very grateful for it. It was a quiet job and gave me time to think while keeping my hands busy. I cleaned the printing building on the north side of BYU campus.
This is about the same time that I started taking pictures for money. I've been doing it on and off ever since. I mostly did engagements and a few weddings... as my friends have matured and grown, I've gone from engagements to newborns and family sittings. I love that I got to do most of these on film, before digital was a big things. It gave me a chance to get to know it and love it before moving on.
I also got a job working BYU events. I did ushering at basketball games, football games and devotionals. I also did some 'security' at a couple football games. Really I was just a body that they could use to try to keep people from rushing the field after the game. It never worked. My favorite one was the time that I worked the Stadium of Fire. I helped keep people out of the fall out area around the stadium... but that put me right under the fireworks.
About a year later, my sister Janelle had found a non-profit that needed teachers in Kenya. So we went. It was an amazing experience that has changed a lot of things with the way I deal with people in my life. I was lucky to get to go with my sister.
For a short while I did Spanish and English testing for Pre-K students at Mountainlands all over the county. They had several preschools all over and I would go assess their readiness to be placed in English speaking Kindergartens.
When we got back from Africa I got a job cleaning the married housing on BYU campus and a summer temp job at Neways. And added on top of that was a job cleaning the Young Living building with my sister Sharon. And on Saturdays, Sharon and I would clean a day care and some rich people's homes. I was working 16 hours a day all summer long so that I could pay for the next two semesters of college.
Somewhere in here, I spent a few months helping my Aunt Cheryl clean a bank in Provo. It was fun to have the code for the bank alarm system.
Off and on during these jobs my mom would ask if I could help one of her patients. Once I was hired to sit with a sweet woman with dementia, feed her lunch, and help her to the bathroom. Once I was asked to help a beautiful woman with a colostomy bag and cancer. I'd help her shower, clean her bathroom and bring her books.
The next job I had was another janitorial job, this time on the south end of campus. I LOVED this one. I stayed at this one for 2 years, cleaning 4 different buildings including the KBYU building and the Museum of Ancient Peoples. I could work and get homework done on breaks. Seth joined me on this one, stripping and waxing the tile floors. We used to joke that he was a stripper at BYU.
During the summer I got a job working at a bakery... they trained me and then took me to their new store in a gas station on 500 W in Provo.
At the same time, I met a Dr who had hired my dad and his brother to refinish her deck. I went along and was offered a job as her assistant. So I worked with her and her staff, cleaning their equipment, grinding up things for them to analyze. I enjoyed it and loved the people I worked with. When I left for my mission, I recommended my friend Meshelle for my position.
Next was my mission. I served happily in Ecuador and when I gave a talk with the High Council member speaking around the Stake I was asked by a lady in our Stake if I needed a job. I did, and she asked me to take care of her parents (her mom was recovering from a bout with cancer) while I was looking for something a little more stable. They were Cuban and only spoke Spanish with me. They called me Angelita and I called her Mamita and him Papillo. I cleaned house, cooked their meals, did their laundry, helped him with his physical therapy, kept them busy and made sure that his IV didn't get kinked. I was so lucky. They let me come to their sealing in the temple. What a neat experience.
I had 2 years left in school because of the time I took off to go to Africa. I really wanted something that made a little more money because I was going to be living out of my parents house. A new factory, QuicKutz, was opening up and needed people. I was the very first one that they hired. I helped them develop their process and trained the first few people. I worked there for 2 years, again with my brother Seth and then my brother McKay. They built from a 2 person crew to a good 20 people per shift. I was the Clean Room lead for the day shift. I had to switch to the night shift when I couldn't get classes that worked around it. I was made the night shift Lead and was asked to write the manuals on how to use and care for the equipment (most of the stuff they had was bought at auction and modified for their use).
I did an internship at Mormon Art and Bronze during my last year at BYU. I was the first sculpture intern that they had had in many years. I helped Dee Jay Bawden doing the patina finishes on the statues that he sells through Deseret Book, Seagull book, etc... I also helped do some of the texturing on the large sculpture of Joseph Smith holding the axe.
After I graduated, I wanted to be away from the chemicals of QuicKutz and Mormon Art and Bronze so that I could get pregnant and be in a safe environment. So instead of staying with them like I wanted, I quit and got a job at McCoys selling carpet, tile, laminate and vinyl flooring. I worked there for about a year. I found out that Jer and I might not have any pregnancies at all and I was so unhappy with my boss that I went back to QuicKutz.
That's when I started teaching piano lessons too.
In 2007 I was pregnant, yay! But that made it so that I had to leave QuicKutz again. While I was pregnant, my dad and his brothers started an online company and hired me on as their office. I did the customer support, shipping, accounting, etc... It was a very good job for me while I had my babies. I worked with them for 4 1/2 years. I left when three kids was a little hard for me to work from home with... and a few months after I left, they donated their company to BYU. This is when I stopped teaching piano lessons too.
About 2011 I got into teaching the mini-fencers. That's been fun and has at least taught my kids how to work towards a goal. I'm still doing it.
A couple years ago, my sister started plans to open her own business, a fabric store. (Julie's Fabric Stash) She asked me to help her with finances. We worked on finances for about 6 months before opening the store, and I helped her with the store for about a year. I left it in hers and my mom's hands when baby Seth was born.
I've done a lot of different things. None of them prestigious or glamorous. I love that I was able to get through college and come out the other side with money in my savings instead of in debt. It was a pretty amazing feeling. I don't feel like I have to work and we're pretty lucky that Jer can provide enough, but I enjoy it when it comes. Maybe when my babies are all big enough to not need me constantly I'll find a job in a foundry working with sculpture. Maybe not.
