Our Jobs

I wanted to do a post about the different ways we all earn money each day. I'll start with the biggest money maker. Mike has been doing retirement plan administration for almost 21 years. In Mesa he worked for a company for over 8 years, then started his own company -called Jensen Consulting when we moved to Logan 12 years ago. He has an office right now with a CPA firm and just rents out his room. He has about 140 clients- mostly doctors and dentists. He has several killer deadlines throughout the year which cause him to have to work an insane amount of hours, but the past 2 years he's had Kylee working for him 6-10 hours a week, and that has helped a lot to relieve some stress and extra long hours. This year for the October 15 deadline, for the first time in 21 years, he hasn't worked one Saturday! That has been very nice.












This is the desk where Kylee works, so it's good that they like each other- otherwise it could be too close for comfort!














This is one of the shelves with files of his many clients. I'm proud
of Mike for how hard he works to support us at a sometimes not too fun job.
















This is my third year to work as an aide at Mount Logan Middle School with the ESL (english second language) kids. I go in every day from 12:30-3 and help with grading papers, helping the kids with assignments, making copies- running errands for the teacher. When she doesn't have anything for me to do, I just sit quietly at my desk and write in my journal or read! I enjoy being there with the boys (jake my first year, both boys my second year, and now just Cam this year). Cam and friends like getting a ride home with me at the end of the day. I love having some extra spending money each month for the many misc items that come up all the time in the family, and always save half of what I make in our vacations savings envelope.

























If you know Jessica very well, you'll know she has her dream job working at a preschool/daycare 24 hours a week. She's with the 2 year olds, and absolutely loves it. Even changing dirty diapers doesn't bother her. When she was interviewing for the job this summer, I asked her how much they paid. She said she didn't ask- didn't care really. I told her it might only be minimum wage, and she still didn't care. She truly loves kids and is also enjoying the classes she has for her major at USU- early childhood education. I'm glad that Jess is spending her time at a job that will benefit her in the future.



Cam started a paper-route in our neighborhood in July '07. He's done a great job of getting up every morning (unless he needs to call one of his trusty subs- me or Mike) without complaining. He throws to about 55 houses, and it takes him an hour from start to finish. He prefers walking to biking, but does bike to throw about 10 papers which are a little farther away. He earns between $160-200 a month depending on tips. He has some real faithful tippers, and some that do occasionally. It's a great job for boys busy with friends and sports after school, or who are too young to get any other type of job. Cam's a great saver of his money. He has probably 8 or 9 hundred saved right now.




Jake started helping Jessica with a route in our neighborhood three years ago after Kylee decided she didn't want to anymore. Then, the summer of '07 when Jess had had enough, he took it all on his own. He too does a great job of getting it done w/o complaining- as long as I'm willing to fill in for him occasionally and give him a sleep in morning. He prefers biking to walking- even on cold snowy mornings. Both boys have biffed it when it's been extra cold and icy. It always makes for a funny story later, and almost always there's no one around to have witnessed the fall. Getting tips is what helps a lot, and he has several regular tippers. One older couple on our street gives him $10 a month just for putting it in a box by their front door. If you are a newspaper subscriber, please tip your carriers! It makes a huge difference. Jake has about the same number of customers as Cam, and makes about the same per month. We make them save 20% each month for savings, and all their tip money goes in an envelope to pay for half of a cruise we're planning in the coming year (s). Between the two boys, every house in our ward except three is on one of their routes, plus about 17 on Jakes from another ward. I'm proud of both the boys for sticking with it- esp. during the cold, dark months of winter.