Patterson Orthodontics

So Patterson Orthodontics has been nearly consuming my life lately. But it's a good thing. I want to help Rob get it started quickly and help him have it ready by Jan 4. I mean...the sooner he can have patients coming in, the sooner he gets paid for those treatments, the sooner we can have a real salary, the sooner we can get out of debt...or just be able to pay it...so you get my drift. Me helping him really equals me helping our family situation.

Mainly, I'm his administrative assistant. So when he says...look this up for me. Or find out about this for me. I do it (like I should be looking into business banking options right now...but I'm blogging:) ). But I'm also getting the marketing going...all for those referrals and patients that we want. One of those marketing tools is a.....blog. Patt Ortho will have a website...but it's likely not to be up and running until late Feb or early March (we're still in the process of logo design...the previous idea just didn't work...so we're back to square one). So I thought a blog would be a great way to communicate with anyone and dentists and their office staff about how the practice is coming along and such.

Since most of the people who read this blog are friends and family, I thought you might be interested in the blog, too. So...you've been waiting for this....




drum roll.....



Patterson Orthodontics



Did I make you scroll to get to it? Cool.

Anyway, enjoy! Make a comment. Put it on your RSS reader...check back frequently (yeah, I'm begging for it to have traffic so it shows up higher on search engines...) and don't be afraid to leave comments...even if you don't live in Prescott Valley nor do you ever intend to!! Just help us look popular!

And if you do these things, I'll love you forever. And I'll forever keep your blog on my Google Reader and in my bookmarks (even if I don't link it here...).

Happy Halloween!!

I cannot find my camera, so this is the best we could do tonight. The kids had so much fun trick-or-treating. Here, they're expected to tell a joke before they get their candy (our native St Louisan friends are surprised that no where else does this tradition). Here's the joke, the first time I heard them tell it to someone...

Colden: What's a sleeping dinosaur?
Dylan: (immediately) A Stega-snore-us!!
Person: haha. So cute!! What a good one! You guys are so cute.

After 3 houses, it ended up like this (Dylan was ready to tell the joke and get the full spotlight).
Ding-dong. As soon as the person opens the door...
Dylan: What do you call a sleeping dinosaur? A stega-snore-us!!

After 3 houses like that, I could tell Colden was frustrated that he wasn't getting his turn, so I made them take turns after that. But it sure was cute!! Evelynn just enjoyed following them, picking up candy from the people, and putting them into her bucket. Halloween is Colden's favorite holiday. I think it just became Evelynn's, too. Right before bed time, Rob and the kids were wrestling on the floor, and Evelynn was thoroughly enjoying being on the bottom of the doggy-pile. For several minutes after I put her to bed, I could just hear her squealing in delight in her bedroom...and she didn't even eat any candy tonight. Colden and Dylan just love getting all this candy from other people. They think it's heaven. And they love seeing all the other kids in their costumes and handing out candy to them when we're at home.

The ward party last night was also amazing. It 3 years ago, the ward Halloween party was basically a flop. This year, it was comparable to a county fair/festival. So organized, so many prizes and treats, and of course, time to spend with good friends.

What a great holiday.

Pretty Good

Tonight, we tested BBQ apples. They turned out pretty good on their own, but they are a whole lot better cut up with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on them, a few scoops of ice cream, and hot caramel topping.

How we BBQed them:
Wrap the apples with foil and place them on the grill in indirect heat for about 35-45 minutes. Rob put them on the grill around the edges at the same time he put on the pork chops and hot dogs. The chops and dogs were done quickly so the apples stayed on while we ate dinner...perfect timing for dessert!

Next time, I want to try doing it without the foil...I wonder if smokey apples taste any good.

Random Thoughts

1. I just looked at the title of my blog and thought...

my life is SO not Small & Simple right now. It's Crazy & Complicated.

2. I really like the alliteration on those phrases...it's almost poetic (the sss is a soothing and simple sound, the C is a hard, staccato sound).

3. I'm still wearing my coat. Last night, someone said it was going to be sunny and "warmer" today. So I went to Colden's soccer game with only a light coat on. That hour, the sky was overcast and there was a chilly breeze (one that I didn't feel from outside of my house). I wished I could have played soccer with the kids instead of freeze at the sidelines. And I wish I was like the other parents who suffered in silence...I was very vocal about my dislike of the weather today.

4. I'm learning important lessons on how to be a wise spectator mom...blankets, mittens, hats, all of it.

5. I wish we could rent a beautiful home for $1200...instead, reality is prompting me to rent an average home for $850. Welcome to the real world of an average salary, not a 3 times per year student loan installment where you can splurge some months and cut back on others.

6. Things don't just get done on their own...no matter how much you wish it to get done. Most good things in life require work...and a lot of it.

7. There are some really great things about St Louis that I'm going to miss. The parks, the museums, the zoo, the animals...but especially, all of our wonderful friends here. All of you. We will miss the many family friends that we have here...and there are several families who we love and who we will miss.

8. Sometimes when you pray to help someone else, you find that you're the recipient of a great service, and you became the object of someone else's loving service. And either way, you feel that God loves His children and smiles when we help each other.

Right Now...

I figured it was a good time to re-visit the post I made a couple of months ago and see how we've come along.

We made our goal by putting our house on the market by Labor Day weekend. And just over a week ago, it was put under contract!! Now we just have to get through the inspections and hope that the buyers' financing goes through. In the contract, we asked if we could rent-back the house for a month so we could stay here through Rob's graduation (we close on Nov 6, Rob graduates on Dec 4). They're okay with that! So that's a little answer to my prayers! (And a huge stress reliever about not having to figure out interim housing here or there or anywhere.) And I don't have to worry about packing, just yet, anyway.

The Interior Designer is done with her part, the plans were submitted and have been approved by Prescott Valley city...so the General Contractor is moving forward with the buildout of Rob's office.

A month ago, I plunged into homeschooling...all the way...and realized that was an all-consuming endeavor...and I do not have time for that right now. So I backed out of the plunge into my original plan of just planning on HSing for this year and not deciding on the long-term decisions until I have had a chance to check out the local schools in Prescott and Prescott Valley. I'm doing "classes" every day (Pre-K and K) with the boys. It's actually quite fun and not too stressful...usually. We've done some fun things like moon walking, a night with the symphony, letter books, Tots of Fun at the library and homeschoolers at the library, museums, zoo, math games, magnet experiments. I also bought some books to help me teach Colden how to read--he really seems ready. He also gets upset if we don't do a class every day. Such a good student!

I've started some of the marketing strategies (aka, contacting dentist offices to verify address for the family Christmas photo-card we will be mailing them to introduce ourselves...sorry to family and friends who will be reading this, you may or may not get Christmas cards this year...priorities...$$$$ comes first, ahem, I mean business).

We have also actually enjoyed ourselves, somewhat. We finally went camping as a family at a wonderful place we loved the first time we saw it...Marshall Farm. We will miss that place.



We also went to another Cardinal's Baseball game...and this time we went as a whole family. The kids loved it! And the Cards played really well that night. It was a fun game to watch.

Rob turned 32. He didn't get any real presents, just money to go towards the Big Green Egg BBQ grill he really, really wants. But this is a picture of him on his birthday.

I also just took the kids to Texas to visit my aunt and uncle in Dallas for a couple of nights and Rob's sister and her family in Houston for several days. The cousins had a lot of fun with each other...Evelynn loved their dogs (almost too much)...and I had some great conversations with Maren.


Rob got a lonely vacation from his family so he could stay at school as long as he needed to work on his research for his thesis. His research is done...now he's working on the paper.

Anyway, gotta go enjoy an episode of the Office with Rob now. ciao

My Hot Date

I love going on dates with Rob. It's his birthday next week, so earlier this week I asked him if he wanted to do a Friday night date or a Saturday afternoon date. He chose Saturday afternoon. I'm so glad! We played Disc Golf (golfing with Frisbees that you throw into an above-ground basket...very fun) at a local park. It had just rained so I brought a change of clothes to play in so I could keep my date clothes nice.

Then we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Wow. Their steak and ribs were just awesome. And they were just so smart when they decided to give everyone peanuts in their shells and just let everyone drop the shells on the ground. What a great gimmick to set them apart from other steakhouses (yeah, we're very aware of marketing strategies right now...in all businesses).

After the date, Rob dropped me off at the other Stake Center (church) for a Relief Society broadcast (where the leaders of the Church talk to all the women of the Church throughout the world). It was great to be reminded that I'm a daughter of God and that He loves all of us (it's great to have that reminder when your prayers aren't getting answered in the ways you are hoping...my keys are still lost and no one has looked at our house in over a week, but at least I know God loves me). I was grateful to hear the messages about service and charity, too. Hopefully, I'll be able to do some small things during this busy time that help and lift others, and help them feel God's love for them, too.

Anyway, I love afternoon dates...it's fun doing sporty things without the kids slowing us down (although they enjoy Disc Golf, too). And we pay the babysitter to actually watch the kids, instead of just being here while they sleep.

Logo Design

We're working on a logo design concept for Patterson Orthodontics. Our favorite idea is layering Patterson in a script font over ORTHODONTICS in a block font...very similar to the vinyl lettering stuff many of us have in our homes.

Now I need some comments, suggestions, advice.

Mainly, it will be used on printed signs, business cards, letterhead, new patient folders, invoices, etc. So, I'm assuming that as long as it's in a JPEG format, it should work with any of that stuff.

Now the questions...

Is that a good idea for a logo?

I've been looking around town at logos while I drive around, and I've never seen that kind of logo. So, does it work? Would it work? Is it too trendy or too much of a fad (definitely don't want a logo to be outdated in 2 years)? Is it professional enough? Is it cutting edge and modern?

Please let me know your thoughts about something like that.