Born and Raised

I have always loved living in Utah. Born and raised, as the title says. My family was a very active family that does all sorts of sports year round. I grew up skiing every Saturday in the winter and going for family bike rides a lot in the summer with everything in between. I loved having 4 seasons. 

When I moved up to Logan, people would tell me all the time how cold it was up here. To which I would respond that I loved the winter and the cold. And I did. I loved that first winter up here. I got a season pass to Beaver and skipped my fair share of class to get on those slopes. I played in the snow all the time with friends. 

Fast forward 2 1/2 years to when I went to San Diego on spring break. I was in heaven. It was so beautiful and right by the ocean which I have alway loved. You know the phrase, "I left my heart in (insert place)." Well, I totally understand it now. I absolutely left my heart in San Diego. I went on my honeymoon there and then again when my cousin married his sweetheart who is from there. Whenever I think about vacation, my mind goes straight to San Diego. 

When Joe and I both graduated with our Bachelor Degrees, he was looking for jobs and I was getting excited about getting out of Utah. But plans changed and we stayed for another two years for Joe to get his Master's degree. 

In our recent decision to move to Arizona for a job, I have been super excited because of how nice the weather will be. But, true to human nature, I have started noticing how beautiful Cache Valley is. (Not to mention, it has been uncommonly beautiful weather for May.) Leave it to me to appreciate something when it's about to be gone. Nevertheless, I have decided to enjoy what I have while I have it. So, some pictures for you to see the beauty of Cache Valley.

The rainy days of Logan

The beautiful Wellsville mountains that I see every day on my way to work. 

(P.s. Is this font better? I just can't stand the other boring fonts!!)

And the winner is...

Joe spent this past semester searching for jobs. (And writing his thesis...let's not forget that.) He had several interviews with several companies and we felt very blessed. He started applying to jobs in January but didn't hear anything for about a month and a half. Then he started hearing from everyone at once. In the process, he had first and second interviews with Geotechnical Engineering Firms all around the country. He was first offered (unofficially) a job in Grand Junction but we decided against it due to all the traveling he would do. (10 days on the job site, 4 days off for the first year and basically traveling each week the rest of his career.) He was then officially offered his first job in Oklahoma City, OK. We were really excited because Oklahoma City is only 3 hours from Fort Worth, TX where my sister, Rachel, and her family lives! The job seemed pretty awesome - a Manager in training type position where he would move up to management in less than 2 years. We were waffling on this one when he then got another job offer at a company in Iowa. This was more of a technical position where he would be doing more actual engineering work instead of training for management. Since his next goal is to become a PE (Professional Engineer) he decided the technical position would be the better choice. So we turned down the Oklahoma City offer. It was during this time that we headed down to Arizona to hang out with my sister, Marielle, and her family for our spring break. He had been contacted by a company in Phoenix the week before we were going there and, since he had two offers on his plate at the time, doubted if anything would come of it. But he told them he would be in Phoenix the next week and would be able to interview then if they were interested. So they set up an interview and we headed down to Phoenix. The day before he had to accept or reject the Iowa company's offer, this company in Phoenix called and offered him a job. We were so excited and surprised! It all happened so quickly with the Phoenix company - less than 3 weeks, while the others took over a month to go through all the interviews and fly him to their locations, etc. There were pros and cons for the Arizona and Iowa job and it was a hard decision but in the end, the decision was...wait for it...

Arizona!

That's right, we're moving to Arizona. While we were there for spring break, I felt very strongly that Phoenix was where we needed to be. But he had just interviewed and it seemed like a long shot. So I didn't let myself get too attached to my decision and those feelings I had. When Joe got the offer, he was still wavering. But as he was sitting in the engineering computer lab one night (a very noisy and busy place) he said he felt very peaceful about accepting the Arizona job. This was undeniable for him because it was such a peaceful, quiet feeling in such a busy place. We knew then that Arizona was the job we would take. While it would require more traveling and probably longer hours (they start super early - 5 am - in the summers to try to avoid the hottest part of the day when working outside), it would be closer (read: same city) to my sister and her family! We are really excited about our decision and know that Arizona will be a great future home for us. Hoorah!

Here he is signing his official contract. We got the idea from a friend of ours. Cheesy, but fun.

Also, don't mind my man voice. Ugh. Who else hates hearing their own voice? So weird.