I Knew It

Six months ago I would have been feeling overwhelming joy at the thought of leaving Utah. I had come to a place in my life where I was "done" with Utah. Or in particular, Utah County. Don't get me wrong, it had it's moments. I met my husband there, my babies were born there, I had great friends there and many other wonderful memories from my college days. It's just that I had out grown it in a sense. Provo is the youngest city in the US and with me being the 30 something that I am I felt like an old woman. There is a certain sense of immaturity that goes along with the young age base there as well and that was what annoyed me the most. Yes, I would have thrown a party six months ago, danced in the streets and shouted for joy from my roof top had we gotten this job then.

I knew though that the Lord wanted to teach me to love Utah. I knew he would wait until I would be sad to leave before he would let me leave. He would wait for me to not want to leave and then He would make me leave. That is exactly what has happened. When we moved to Grantsville 6 months ago I came kicking and screaming. I did not want to move here, nope, not one bit. I wanted what I wanted and that was a great job in some great place far a way from Utah. Instead I was getting Grantsville. I didn't understand it at the time but now I do. There were reasons I had to come to this place. Things I had to learn and relationships I had to develop. My children needed to get to know their cousins and my husband and I needed all the free babysitting they provided. We all needed this place. So now, yes, I am sad to leave. I have made great friends, been in a great ward with a wonderful bishop and grown to love my dear sweet sister even more. I had to learn all the things I was taught in our "Monday" group and I had to learn to love myself again.

Turns out that I am indeed grateful I came to this place. I hate to go. I hate to leave the wonderful friends I've made here. I am sad that I have to leave Utah. I feel though that all of my time here was for an even greater purpose. I feel I was being prepared to go out into the world to be an influence for good. Perhaps I was learning what I have learned so I can teach my sisters in Wisconsin. Who knows, but I do know that the Lord knows best. He sees the big picture and he is in control. I know that he pours out blessings on us even when we don't recognize them as such. How blessed I feel that He saw fit to have us wait so long for that "dream" job because in all that time He was teaching and preparing us and blessing us immensely. And in the end He did give us just was we wanted. Perhaps even more.

The Decision

Well, I'm sure most of you know by now that we have decided to move to Wisconsin. The decision did not come easy. Nope, not in the least. Here we had an offer sitting on the table for 3 weeks. We actually accepted that offer even though we knew we had things on the horizon still. We figured that the first offer would be our last anyway so we went ahead and took it. After much council with friends and family members we were advised that even if we took the offer, we weren't bound to anything until they gave us money. So, when Trek bicycles wanted to fly Ivan out for an interview we were all over it.

How could we turn it down? It just sounded cool and Wisconsin seems a much more desirable place to live than Kansas. After his interview Ivan called me to tell me it went terrible. I couldn't believe it. I felt bad for him. I asked him what went wrong and he told me that it was so bad that they offered him a job before he left. WHAT? His plan in all of this was just to go to the interview, network and get to know some people and be headed off to his new job in Wichita. He figured Trek would take a couple of weeks to get back to him anyway and that by that time we'd be on our way to living in Kansas. So things didn't go as planned. The next day we received the official offer and the day after that another offer from a company in Texas. Three good job offers sitting in front of us. Wow. We would have never dreamed of it. Deciding was a difficult task but we finally felt best about going to Trek. I am so glad that Wisconsin was the answer. I would have accepted it if Kansas or Texas was the answer but truth be told, Wisconsin was at the top of my list for where I would most like to live. Ivan had a really hard time turning down our first offer though. He felt like he was going back on his word and burning bridges. Hopefully they will forgive us.

So now things are happening fast and we'll be leaving in 11 days. I am excited for the new adventure that awaits us and am really excited to live where it is green. I am sad though to leave Utah. Funny thing is that 6 months ago I would have been jumping for joy at the thought of leaving this state but I have grown to love it here. OK, I've grown to love Grantsville and the people here, I still have my issues with UT county. It may have taken us 18 months but we finally did it. We got a real job. I feel so blessed.

What would you do?

First of all I have to say HALLELUJAH! A long awaited job offer has finally arrived and we are ecstatic to say the least. It's been a grueling 16 months of emotional turmoil. So many almosts and so much disappointment. Yes, finally, the day has arrived! However, there is one small problem.

Don't get me wrong, the offer we got was good, better than expected, definitely a step up for us but they want to know what our answer is right away. That would be fine and good but "I" is scheduled to fly out to another interview next week. We're not sure what we would prefer as far as job is concerned but as far as location, the yet to be interview place wins out hands down. We also have no idea what kind of offer this other place would give us or if they will give us one period. So what would you do? I know nothing would be set in stone yet but would you say yest to the first offer or wait to see what is behind door number 2? If you say yes and then get a better offer from company #2 and decided to go there instead would it totally burn bridges and be a bad move career wise? Keep in mind that company #1 wants an answer uh....by tomorrow. We really don't know what to do. We don't want to burn bridges in either direction.

Feeling a bit sad

I've been feeling a little depressed lately. I've been trying not to dwell on it but I just keep being reminded of why I'm depressed. Why was that...oh yeah, because I am so baby hungry. Seriously folks, I want a baby so bad right now and every time I turn around I find out someone else is pregnant. It seems everyone I know is pregnant or has already passed me up in the baby category. I am happy for all of you but I am sad for me. I wish it were as easy for me to decide.."ok, let's have a baby" and wa la I can go ahead and get pregnant. Not so easy for me. I won't go into details but it's just not so easy for me to get pregnant. There are a lot of factors involved. Unfortunately I've been so busy taking care of the kids I do have that I haven't taken care of myself the way I should and that means no baby right now. We also have other issues such as our current living situation, no insurance etc...that are factoring into the baby equation.

I just want all of you who are my friends who are with child (so that would be just about everyone I know)to never take for granted what you have. Be grateful for the sickness, be grateful for exhaustion. Be grateful for a big belly and all the comments that come along with it. Be grateful for the pain that is to come and the sleepless nights that are inevitable. I would give anything for any of that right now.

Archie's #1

I just couldn't resist putting a link to David Archuleta's new single on my blog. I love this kid and his first single does not disappoint.

Nostalgia

I took a walk down memory lane last Friday while on a trip to Idaho for my niece's graduation. I love Rexburg. I am so glad that my niece decided to go to school there just so I could have the excuse of visiting and reliving my glory days. Even though in my time it was just the 2 year Ricks College and now it is a blossoming University campus the spirit of Ricks still lives on. In my day we used to say that BYU was the church's university but that Ricks was the Lord's school. I still think that statement rings true. BYU has its great quailities but it will never outdo BYU-I where feeling the spirit is concerned. I think that is the biggest reason that I have such deep feelings for my Alma Mater.

Ricks was the place where I essentially "grew up". Where I learned about the ups and downs of life and how to handle them. Not only was my education secular but it was an education in life. It was where I learned how to study the scriptures and where I gained a true testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was where I learned how to deal with terrible room mates and how to nurture lasting friendships that I still hold dear. I will forever look back at my time there with great fondness.

I don't remember much of the Commencement address because I was too busy thinking about all the wonderful times I had spent in the Hart Auditorium. All the devotionals , firesides and performances I had attended and participated in. Same goes for the Barrus concert hall where the Convocation was held. That is a special place for me and I couldn't help but remember all the times I had been on that very stage performing. My very last concert at Ricks was held there and that in itself is one of the most cherished memories of my life.

So to my Alma Mater I say thank you. Thanks for all the wonderful memories and all the knowledge I gained. Thank you for all the wonderful friendships I made and all the life lessons I learned. I will always think of that time in my life as the most important because it is essentially the time that shaped me into who I am today. I only hope that one day my own children will have the opportunity to experience what I did (well, the good stuff anyway) and attend that great university.

And the Stars Aligned

There are few times in life (at least my life) when the stars align and things work out more perfect than you could have imagined. Monday night was one of those nights for me. It may not seem like much to most but for my honey and I it was marvelous.

Two months ago I bought a single ticket to the American Idols concert. (You all know how much I LOVE AI!) The main reason for the single ticket was my husbands selflessness in wanting me to have a great seat and at $68 a pop that meant we could only afford one ticket. Even though he himself is a fan of the show, he was willing to let me go by myself and have a great seat.

So Monday night the plan was this: meet at Chili's by the E-Center for a birthday dinner for Lili (don't worry, her birthday was the next day, I would never skip out on my baby's birthday to go to a concert)after picking my dad up from the airport and then "I" would take the girls and my dad home and I would head off to the concert. Lucky for us we had my ever friendly father with us who struck up a conversation with some lady who just happened to have 2 extra tickets...and....she wanted to GIVE them to us. FREE! OK...so what to do...Again, my dad stepped up to the plate offering to take the girls with him to my sister's house so that we could go to the concert.

I was so excited that my honey was going to get to come with me only, I was not so willing to give up my very good seat to go sit in the back corner with him. (I know, I'm so selfish aren't I?) So again with the star alignment thing, it just so happens that whoever was supposed to sit next to me didn't show up so by the time Carly sang Ivan was able to come sit by me and there he stayed. It was so fun to have such a wonderful time with my honey there with me. We haven't been on a date in so long and to get to go to a concert together, well, pretty much unheard of. It was a wonderful night and we both had a great time. My favorite part was when David A cried because he was so moved by all the love he felt from the crowd (seriously, it was crazy loud for him).

So here are a few pics from the concert. I may upload a video later but it takes so long and I am very tired so it will have to wait.