Family Business...With Kids

Working in a family business is challenging enough most days, but when you add in the fact that it's a trucking business, well, that raises the challenges to a whole new level.  Ya see, the thing about trucks is that they are always coming and going to haul you what you need.  Want Gatorade for your ball game?  We haul it.  Your kid wants a LunchMaker for a snack?  We haul it.  You want strawberries, lettuce, bacon, even beer or wine?  We haul it.  With 14 trucks coming and going days, nights, weekends, holidays - that doesn't give the dispatchers/mechanic/bookkeepers much time off - especially when it's all handled in-house by Scott and his parents, Glenn and Mary.

Add to that for the past 5 years Scott has also been the Transportation Manager for one of our local farmer cooperatives, WFS.  WFS is based out of Truman, MN, about 20 minutes from St. James.  Scott is responsible for hiring, firing, dispatching and managing 22 grain trucks. Of course he doesn't leave it as that and is involved in everything from purchasing to maintenance.

It is probably a good thing that this is the only life I've known with Scott as it's not the easiest, but it has become OUR life.  Scott and I have been together since we were 17 - that's A LONG TIME AGO!  When we started dating he was learning his way around the shop.  During college Scott was a grain hauler - often leaving late at night to sleep in line to be one of the first to dump his load in the morning so he could get in the most loads possible each day.  After we completed college at SCC in Mankato he started hauling livestock.  Livestock haulers don't have an easy gig - they have to deal with a live load - and the smell of it and smelling LIKE it!  Not to mention often loading and driving through the night or early morning hours to provide the livestock with the safest, most comfortable ride possible - and having to continue on even if the weather gets nasty, as their load is exposed to the elements and can't wait.  When we were newlyweds cellphones were still up and coming.  We started out using prepaid phone cards on pay phones!  Boy would I wait for that call to come at night!  There wasn't really time off when our kids were born, either.  Scott was back at work 48 hours after Keeley was born - although she was induced at 10 days overdue, she was an easy baby... for Mom at least...

Anyhow, here we are almost 13 years of marriage and 3 kids later and this is what happens when Grandpa and Grandma take a few well-deserved days off of work...  Although I am a stay-at-home mom, I'm also a work-at-home mom.  I take care of the paperwork for the WFS drivers, among miscellaneous things.  When Scott is alone at the shop he gets desperate enough to call in the back up - ME - to answer phones and take messages!  The kids are almost 11, 8, and 5, but still too young to spend the whole day home alone - so we bring them to work with us as we have done, when needed, since they were born...

They were lucky it was National Donut Day and started their morning with Schmidt's Bakery!  Feeling pretty BOSS with milk in their coffee cups!

Keeley - the dog walker when she visits the shop - above is Buster and below is Sophie...she was distracted by picking clover at the moment!

For lunch we took the easy road and ordered Jake's Pizza!

While the girls spent some time on "technology" as we call it at our house, Jake went out to do his job - mowing all the flat land at the shop.  He doesn't enjoy it at all ;)!

The kids do their best to "self entertain"...

Keeley's "Welcome" for the day!

After 5 o'clock we spent a little time on target practice with BB guns.

Dad found it to be a good stress reliever before heading to his shop work.

Mom didn't do too shabby...always enjoyed shooting guns!

Win-win when even Keeley enjoys it!

My boys!

Added bonus to their patience for the day - Mom finally cashed in all our Pampers Rewards points we've been accumulating for 10 years and we got a free Plasma Car that arrived on Friday!