And the final decision is....

We are moving! Yep that's right we are moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

It all started this past fall when rumors and talk were floating around Logan and USU of budget cuts and layoffs and all sorts of awful things. Well Aaron and I are not the type of people to wait around and see what happens, so we took action the only way we knew how. And that was to start looking for jobs. At first we were a little over zealous in dreaming of moving to Hawaii or some other place where it does not snow (keep in mind it was the dead of winter). But soon realized that we couldn't afford to move to such paradises. While we were in ABQ for Christmas Aaron went to the University of New Mexico campus and just happen to wander into the HR office. Once inside he spoke with a nice lady telling her that he was looking to relocate to ABQ to be closer to family. She replied by saying that it was perfect timing for him to come in, as their programmer just announced that he had a job interview in San Francisco and would probably be leaving and that there would be an open position to fill. They exchanged contact info and Aaron along with the rest of our family spent the rest of Christmas break in excitement for Aaron's wonderful contact. Now you may think that this was just a wonderfully lovely coincidence, we were not so convinced.

Once back to Logan and back to life, more terrible news about budget cuts came and even a furlough was announced. Feeling more and more anxious about the unknown and possible job loss, Aaron emailed the nice lady he meet that day in December to find that as soon as he sent his email there was an email from her waiting for him. Another coincidence, hmm... I wonder. She was notifying Aaron to let him know that the position that they had discussed was being posted within the week and that she would really like him to apply. Aaron applied and he also applied to a few other positions that had been posted that he felt he was qualified for. A few weeks by and then he got a call to schedule an interview. With the furlough on the horizon, Aaron and I decided to take the whole family to ABQ for the interviews, that's right he ended up getting two interviews.

The first interview was on Monday and it turned that the position they were hiring was for a part time position. Which would be nice, who wouldn't want to work part time? But it wouldn't cut it for us. The next interview was on Tuesday at 8:30am. This is the one that everything has been leading up to. The one associated with all of those coincidences. Aaron came back and felt that he knocked the interview out of the park! He felt that there was nothing better he could have done. Well we left the house to run some errands because it was also our Princess's birthday that day. In fact it was her first birthday. First we went to get lunch and meet up with my dad, where Aaron's phone kept ringing. It was his references calling Aaron to tell him that UNM had just called and that they seemed to really like him. After lunch we headed to Toys R Us. Just before pulling into the parking lot at about 12:30pm Aaron's phone rang again. This time it was that nice lady from Aaron's December visit. She was calling to offer Aaron the job. I was in shock, my mom was in shock. "But it has only been four hours since your interview, the start of your interview," I exclaimed.

The rest of time in ABQ was spent searching and looking for a place to live, in case we did decide to live there. We came to realization that we weren't in Logan anymore. With the population not being mostly LDS we had to take smoking into account when looking for a place to live. Do the people below smoke or the people above? Have pets been allowed inside? Did the pet's owners allow the pet to relieve itself whereever? Those are the questions just regarding the inside. Many more were generated concerning the neighbors, local grocery store, the park down the street, and the neighbor kids. So many questions and so unsure, we headed back to Logan even more unclear of what the right path was for our family.

Lots of numbers crunched, lots of concerns addressed and a decision was made and it was to go to ABQ. But what the story doesn't end there. Oh no I am afraird it goes on a little longer, but don't worry there is a happy ending, well for some and in some ways.

Before the offical offer letter even came, Aaron started to raise speculation and doubt. More concerns were addressed and numbers crunched again. The decision this time....to stay in Logan. Ok, now that a decision is made I felt that I could move on and live with that choice and make the best of it. I kept saying along the way was that I wanted someone to decide for us and I would make that choice work. Wait, there's more, because remember the very first sentance says we are moving.

The offical offer letter came and then we started to have doubts about our decision, because it felt that he meet the nice lady for a reason and everything so far seemed to fall into place. Aaron was quickly approching the deadline to apply for voluntery severence package (part of all of those scary bugdet cuts). It was a Thursday night and we were still undecided. So we decided that we would take the weekend to decide. Aaron applied for the severence package the next day, in case we chose to leave Logan. I guess it didn't matter that we left applying for the package until the last posible day, because USU was never going to accept it. Yep that's right it was denied, within minutes of application. Ouch, that really hurt. I guess it could be looked at, as a compliment, meaning that USU does not want to see Aaron go. Either way it still hurt and was very disappointing. Over the weekend concerns were addressed and numbers crunched yet again. The decision was clear. We are moving to ABQ. On Monday Aaron was prepared to fax back the signed offer letter when USU talked about making a counter offer. "Noooooooooo" Its all I could think. We already made this decision and we are sticking to it. But the prospect of more money did seem nice, so we humored them and Aaron waited until 4pm Wednesday to fax in the offer letter. 4 o'clock came no counter offer from USU, so Aaron signed the offer and faxed in the offer letter stating that he will start his new job on April 13th 2009! 13 is our number! I think that USU is a little shocked that it is coming so soon but hey it has been weeks since the offer, so UNM is so ready for Aaron to be there, we couldn't hold them off any longer.

Some of our friends may be thinking, where's the happy ending. Well I did say for some and in some ways there is a happy ending. It is a happy ending that we get to move closer to family and for Aaron to have some amazing opportunities with his career. There are many more happy endings in this decision, however this post is already super long, so I won't go into all of the details. I will admit that there are some unhappy endings and the biggest one is that we are moving to ABQ and all of our friends are not. We will miss everyone so much. I have lived in Logan for 8 years and it is going to be hard to live. Its going to be so hard, that I can't even think about the unhappy ending to this decision, because I just start crying. Then Jack asks me what is wrong mom? I tell him that I am sad to leave all of our good friends. Then he tells me that I need to be a happy grill (that is how Jack says girl). Well I am a happy grill, I am happy that I have had the opportunity to make such wonderful friends, some who don't even live in Logan anymore. I am happy that all of these friends are either on facebook or have blogs, so that I can keep in touch with them.

I am sure that I will shed more tears before we pack our last box and drive through Sardine Canyon one more time. Albuquerque here we come!

I GOT IN!!!!!!!!

Nike, in conjunction with Team in Training (the fund raising arm for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) has sponsored a full and half marathon in San Franscisco geared toward women for the past 5 years. I have been able to participate twice. Well this year, along with last year, they decided to hold a random drawing. Last year I was not randomly selected, but this year..... I was! I am so super excited. I think the difference is that this year I registered for the full marathon instead of the half.

My mom who is a legacy runner (participated all five years) was a shoe in and got in before they did the random drawing. My sister and I were left to wait and hope for the past two weeks. Well my sister and I both made it. So here we come San Francisco for a girl's weekend of running/walking, eating and shopping!

Now I have got to train!!!

Our newest nephew is here!

Aaron's sister had their first baby on Saturday March 14th at 10:24am.
He weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and was 18.5 inches long.
Mom and baby are doing well!
Congratulations Jessica and Charlie!

The ABQ Zoo

What is a trip to a place with warm weather without visiting the Zoo? It was so nice while we were in ABQ. While we were gone, Logan got 24 inches or so of snow! Makes me glad that we decided to leave. Since it was a work day, we pretty much had the zoo to ourselves, which is always nice. Not all of the animals were out and active, I guess it is still a little too chilly for them! The kids really enjoyed being able to be outside without all of the layers of clothing to keep them warm. (we are so ready for spring/summer)

Jack looking into the Chimpanzee cage. There was a mom chimp who was nursing her baby while we were there. I don't think Jack noticed, but Aaron and I sure did!

Paige is telling us something, just not sure what!

Jack looking at the polar bear.

The polar bear.

My little family

So regal!

We took a ride on the train through the zoo. Jack really enjoyed it and Paige screamed the whole time. Fortunately there was only one other group on the train so she wasn't screaming into anyone's ears except ours. The train took us past a new salt water crocodile exhibit that they are building and the expansion for the elephants. Other than Paige exercising her lungs it was a nice train ride.

Paige is ONE!!! (march 10th was the happy day)

Paige turned 1! I can't believe it! Since we decided at the last minute to go to Albuquerque for the furlough, Paige was able to celebrate her birthday with Noni and Papa. I was feeling like she didn't have any toys of her own so we are on the road to fixing that. She got a tea set, a purse and a little people mini van! She was so tired and humored us with opening presents and eating cupcakes.


Even though she was tired she still enjoyed her cupcake. I tired to make her cupcakes look like those on the cover of this magazine:Here is how mine turned out! Aaron helped a lot, in fact he did all of the flowers. I tried and I was not happy with the outcome of mine.
Paige playing with her toys and she was kind enough to share with Jack, since he wasn't going to have it any other way.

Paige has some crazy hair. It is especially crazy after she wakes up. This is a picture of a particular crazy hairdo after a nap.

I really can't believe that Paige is one. She is much more compact than Jack was at this age and also not as chatty. She is pretty quiet unless she has a need. Usually her need is immediate and believe me she lets you know. She has this ear splitting scream that makes it feel like your ears should start bleeding! However Paige is so very lovable and gives good hugs. She really loves being able to do anything that Jack can do. Since she started crawling around Christmas/New Years, she is now able to follow Jack and do what little sisters do best! Paige is pulling herself up and starting to walk along the furniture. She is growing up so fast and will sometimes (when she feels like it) sign to us to let us know what she wants. Signing is way better than the screaming! Here's to another great year with our Paigers!