Thursday, March 29, 2007
Not so sunny California
All we have been hearing about for the last 3 weeks is how warm and sunny it has been in California. Yet, now that we are here it is cold, rainy and windy. Just my luck. Oh, well it is still nice to be home. Austin has adjusted well and is being really good. He already has two teeth on the bottom and is currently working on the two top ones so he is a little cranky today and running a low fever. Not a whole lot has been going on. We have just been hanging out, working on Grandpa Anderson's history and going to softball games. With it being spring and all the Easter sales going on we have taken the little girls out shopping to get some new cloths. Has any one else noticed how amazingly MODEST everything is? Right now the style is Dresses with sleeves and to the knee. Shorts (not capris but shorts) to the knee, long loose shirts. It is amazing! We would go into stores and everything is Modest! I couldn't believe it. When I was in high school we would shop for 2 weeks just to find a skirt that went to the knee and anytime we bought a top we would also have to either get one to go over it or under it to make it modest. Not anymore!(at least for the time being) I just think that it is great that there are some modest clothes out there that are cute and reasonably priced. That is about it for now, we will be here until Tuesday the 3rd, then back to Idaho.
Traveling
It was Monday morning and my flight left at noon on Tuesday from Salt Lake. I had so much to do and not enough time to do it in. I wanted to leave around 3:00 so that I could make it to G&G Martinez's house before dark. HA! Fat chance. I had to unpack almost everything and then repack (it was going to be colder in Canada and warm in California I needed to change Austin and my outfits) I needed to clean the house that we had torn apart looking for the birth certificate, I needed to go shopping so that Devon had food while we were gone. I needed to make a couple of dinners and put them in the freezer for him plus a million other little things that had to get done. Devon and I were planning on going out for a late lunch before I left so that we could have a few minutes together that weren't total chaos before we were apart for two weeks, but by the time I was ready to leave it was 5:30 and I had to get on the road. I do not do well driving in the dark. I have a really hard time seeing, even when I am wearing my glasses. So, sadly, no dinner for us but Austin had just eaten and we were ready to hit the road. He was so good. He played in his car seat for a little over an hour and then I gave him his pacifier and covered him with a blanket and he went right to sleep without a peep and stayed that way until we arrived at Grandmas. Once we got in I fed him, then he played a little with G&G, Aunt Kim and Kirsti (Sp?) and Jordan. Then went right to sleep and slept on the floor without a peep until 7:30 the next morning. Our flight left at 12:05 and took us to Las Vegas, where we had a half an hour lay over before going on to Sac. Going through airport security and everything was great. Austin was so good it went really smoothly. On the airplane he was perfect. I fed him before we boarded and then we played and then once we were in the air I put him to sleep. It was a miracle. I couldn't believe it. He went right to sleep with not even one peep. Little did I know that he would soon make up for it. Once we changed planes in Las Vegas and boarded the next flight he was ready to eat again. So I fed him and we played for a while, then he was getting sleepy so it was time for a nap...but we weren't so lucky. He totally freaked out and I don't know why. He ended up SCREAMING (he is really mild mannered so even when he cries it's not usually that bad but this was the worst I had ever seen him!) for twenty minutes. Nothing would calm him down. I had everyone who was within ten rows of me, who had ever had or even though of having children trying to give me advice. It was totally stressing me out which wasn't helping the situation. I finally got him to sleep and we were starting to get ready to land. By the time we go to the airport we were both wiped out. He was tired of being held and I was tired of holding him. We were both tired and cranky but we made it.
Canada
I just want to start by saying sorry for not writing in a long time. I have had several people comment on it so today is the day to get back on track.
Things for me have been kind of busy for the last little while. As many of you know I was supposed to go up to Canada to visit Laura. I was planning on leaving on Saturday the 17th, well to make a long story short it didn't happen. As I started packing my things we finally received Austins birth certificate in the mail. I was so relieved that I wasn't going to have that problem at the boarder. So I went to go get mine and put them both in the car and alas, it was NO WHERE TO BE FOUND! I looked EVERYWHERE. I tore the house apart looking in, around, and under everything. Once I decided that it wasn't in the house then I went to our storage unit. I went through every box in the storage unit. (on the positive side I found like 4 pair of jeans that I had put away because they were too tight, and now they are too big! Yeah, back into storage they go.) Which wasn't an easy task since Austin wasn't too happy sitting in his car seat in the car while I searched high and low. While I was doing all this Devon was in California for a job interview. (which I will talk more about later) When he got back we both went to the storage unit together. We went through EVERYTHING! I didn't realize that we had so much stuff, especially books and binders from school still. So after we finally decided that it is no where to be found (not only my birth certificate but also Devon's passport and our marriage license) we decided we needed to let Laura know. She already knew that we were looking for it, but it was time to face the music that I wasn't going to be able to come up. So on Sunday night we got on msn and I broke the news. It was hard, we were both looking forward to it but there was nothing we could do about it. Well, to make matters worse, when I got of the computer with her Devon turned to me and said "well, now what? You can't stay here! I have so much to do and am going to be so stressed out getting ready for ALCA and finals I really need you gone." Well great, don't I feel just so loved. LOL So I called mom up and asked if it was okay to come a week early and stay for two weeks instead of one. She said that was fine so we changed our flight to Tuesday the 20th. CRAZY.
Things for me have been kind of busy for the last little while. As many of you know I was supposed to go up to Canada to visit Laura. I was planning on leaving on Saturday the 17th, well to make a long story short it didn't happen. As I started packing my things we finally received Austins birth certificate in the mail. I was so relieved that I wasn't going to have that problem at the boarder. So I went to go get mine and put them both in the car and alas, it was NO WHERE TO BE FOUND! I looked EVERYWHERE. I tore the house apart looking in, around, and under everything. Once I decided that it wasn't in the house then I went to our storage unit. I went through every box in the storage unit. (on the positive side I found like 4 pair of jeans that I had put away because they were too tight, and now they are too big! Yeah, back into storage they go.) Which wasn't an easy task since Austin wasn't too happy sitting in his car seat in the car while I searched high and low. While I was doing all this Devon was in California for a job interview. (which I will talk more about later) When he got back we both went to the storage unit together. We went through EVERYTHING! I didn't realize that we had so much stuff, especially books and binders from school still. So after we finally decided that it is no where to be found (not only my birth certificate but also Devon's passport and our marriage license) we decided we needed to let Laura know. She already knew that we were looking for it, but it was time to face the music that I wasn't going to be able to come up. So on Sunday night we got on msn and I broke the news. It was hard, we were both looking forward to it but there was nothing we could do about it. Well, to make matters worse, when I got of the computer with her Devon turned to me and said "well, now what? You can't stay here! I have so much to do and am going to be so stressed out getting ready for ALCA and finals I really need you gone." Well great, don't I feel just so loved. LOL So I called mom up and asked if it was okay to come a week early and stay for two weeks instead of one. She said that was fine so we changed our flight to Tuesday the 20th. CRAZY.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Jobs
So I know that it has been a few days since I have written but things have been a little crazy. On Friday we received some great news. A little over 2 weeks ago Devon interviewed with a man named Bob Jackson from Baltimore, Maryland.
A little background for Bob Jackson: Bob started his own business in 1973, and now revenues more than 4 million annually. He is one of Washington's leading design/build firms and has Elite clientele. He specializes is large-scale residential design and installation, but does do residential and commercial maintenance. He has received more than 50 regional and national awards for design and contracting and has been featured in many landscaping magazines.
Well, Bob came to BYU-Idaho because he knows that they have a great Horticulture program and did a couple of presentations and then had a sign up list so that anyone who wanted to could interview with him. Devon was one of many who decided to take him up on his offer. While Devon interviewed he gave him his resume and a CD with his portfolio on it. Devon felt that the interview went really well but was realistic in his hopes for the job. He knew that not only were there a lot of other students interviewing for the job, but that over the years Bob has only hired 2 students from BYU. One from BYU and one from BYU-I. Another reason that we weren't too hopeful for the job is because a lot of times in landscaping you, like a lot of other jobs, have to put your time in at the bottom before you do what you actually want. We were totally prepared to find a job doing installations and maintenance in hopes that in a few year he could move up to a designer. Bob was looking for an actual designer. So although things went well in the interview, we really weren't too hopeful.
Devon had been talking to some other students and heard that a lot of them had been calling Bob to follow up on jobs and internships. Devon had sent a email to thank him for coming but hadn't called to follow up on any thing. So on Friday Devon called Bob and was going to ask if he has had time to look at Devon's portfolio, and see if it was okay to send him some more hand drawn designs (I guess Bob really likes the hand drawn designs and Devon's portfolio had mostly computer sketches). When Devon called he got his answering machine and so just left him a message. Well, a couple hours later Devon checked his phone and had a message. When he checked it he almost drove off the road! The message went something like this "Devon it's great to hear from you. It's funny that you called we must have gotten our lines crossed. I sent you an email earlier today offering you a job. Why don't you look it over and then give me a call back if you have any questions."
As soon as Devon got home he just handed me the phone and told me to listen to the messages. I didn't think anything about it until about 10 sec. into the conversation. I couldn't believe it! We quickly went and checked Devon's email and sure enough, there it was. A job offer from Bob Jackson. When we looked at it we were even more surprised to see that Bob wants Devon to be an actual Designer, not just an installer! We are so excited! Since Friday we have been trying to figure things out. We have been looking at apartments, checking on moving vans, trying to decide if we are going to move both of our cars or sell one. There are a million different things that we have been trying to figure out. Bob wants him to start early to mid May so we have a lot to do in not a lot of time.
The company is actually located in Owings Mills which is about 20 min NW of Baltimore. We have already figured out that we will be in the Washington DC temple district so we are about an hour from the temple and 20 minutes to the Baltimore airport. We are really excited and really just can't believe that this is happening to us. To make things even better, if Christopher and Lauren live in Virginia we will be only a couple of hours away! It will be nice to have some family close.
A little background for Bob Jackson: Bob started his own business in 1973, and now revenues more than 4 million annually. He is one of Washington's leading design/build firms and has Elite clientele. He specializes is large-scale residential design and installation, but does do residential and commercial maintenance. He has received more than 50 regional and national awards for design and contracting and has been featured in many landscaping magazines.
Well, Bob came to BYU-Idaho because he knows that they have a great Horticulture program and did a couple of presentations and then had a sign up list so that anyone who wanted to could interview with him. Devon was one of many who decided to take him up on his offer. While Devon interviewed he gave him his resume and a CD with his portfolio on it. Devon felt that the interview went really well but was realistic in his hopes for the job. He knew that not only were there a lot of other students interviewing for the job, but that over the years Bob has only hired 2 students from BYU. One from BYU and one from BYU-I. Another reason that we weren't too hopeful for the job is because a lot of times in landscaping you, like a lot of other jobs, have to put your time in at the bottom before you do what you actually want. We were totally prepared to find a job doing installations and maintenance in hopes that in a few year he could move up to a designer. Bob was looking for an actual designer. So although things went well in the interview, we really weren't too hopeful.
Devon had been talking to some other students and heard that a lot of them had been calling Bob to follow up on jobs and internships. Devon had sent a email to thank him for coming but hadn't called to follow up on any thing. So on Friday Devon called Bob and was going to ask if he has had time to look at Devon's portfolio, and see if it was okay to send him some more hand drawn designs (I guess Bob really likes the hand drawn designs and Devon's portfolio had mostly computer sketches). When Devon called he got his answering machine and so just left him a message. Well, a couple hours later Devon checked his phone and had a message. When he checked it he almost drove off the road! The message went something like this "Devon it's great to hear from you. It's funny that you called we must have gotten our lines crossed. I sent you an email earlier today offering you a job. Why don't you look it over and then give me a call back if you have any questions."
As soon as Devon got home he just handed me the phone and told me to listen to the messages. I didn't think anything about it until about 10 sec. into the conversation. I couldn't believe it! We quickly went and checked Devon's email and sure enough, there it was. A job offer from Bob Jackson. When we looked at it we were even more surprised to see that Bob wants Devon to be an actual Designer, not just an installer! We are so excited! Since Friday we have been trying to figure things out. We have been looking at apartments, checking on moving vans, trying to decide if we are going to move both of our cars or sell one. There are a million different things that we have been trying to figure out. Bob wants him to start early to mid May so we have a lot to do in not a lot of time.
The company is actually located in Owings Mills which is about 20 min NW of Baltimore. We have already figured out that we will be in the Washington DC temple district so we are about an hour from the temple and 20 minutes to the Baltimore airport. We are really excited and really just can't believe that this is happening to us. To make things even better, if Christopher and Lauren live in Virginia we will be only a couple of hours away! It will be nice to have some family close.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
the unknown
Oh, the unknown. Sometimes it is exciting and other times it is just annoying. It's really fun to think that in a month we could be packing up everything and moving to a new place. Yet, it's really annoying knowing that we are done in a month and have no idea where we are going. We don't know if we are going to stay here or move across the country. It just drives me crazy playing the "what if" game. There are so many fun things that come with moving. I love being somewhere new, exploring the new town, going to a new ward, getting a new calling, making new friends, and maybe the most exciting of all, starting a new job. What I hate is the actually moving part. I hate packing more than anything in the world. Especially because it seems like I always have to do it alone. Devon is always really busy working or doing finals or any other excuse he can think of so that he doesn't have to help. While I am always stuck with packing and unpacking. I don't know, maybe the thought of packing everything and moving would be more exciting if we knew where we were going. As for now we just get to sit in the dark and wait for another couple weeks.
Some exciting news though, Austin and I are planning to go to Canada later on this month to give Devon a little time alone to study for finals and get ready for ALCA. We are leaving on the 19th and then coming back the 24th. We will be home for 2 days and then leave Monday afternoon for Utah so we can fly to California on Tuesday. We are planning to spend a week in California while Devon is back in Michigan at ALCA. When we get back we will have 4 days until Devon graduates. Hopefully by then we will know where we are going. It's nice because it means that this, what could be long and stressful month, will fly by. I can't wait!
Some exciting news though, Austin and I are planning to go to Canada later on this month to give Devon a little time alone to study for finals and get ready for ALCA. We are leaving on the 19th and then coming back the 24th. We will be home for 2 days and then leave Monday afternoon for Utah so we can fly to California on Tuesday. We are planning to spend a week in California while Devon is back in Michigan at ALCA. When we get back we will have 4 days until Devon graduates. Hopefully by then we will know where we are going. It's nice because it means that this, what could be long and stressful month, will fly by. I can't wait!
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