What a Rollercoaster of Weeks!

The past few weeks have been CRAZY! Here's a summary:

Monday, Feb. 1: Ben found out that he was accepted into the full-time MBA program at the University of Utah. Not only was he accepted, but he earned a resident tuition scholarship as well as $20,000 additional scholarships. I was SO proud of him and we were SO excited! The kids and I made him a sign, bought balloons, and drank Martinelli's to celebrate. We planned to take out student loans, move into student housing in August, and do school full-time for two years.

Wednesday, Feb. 3: Ben was offered a job by his former employer, Blade HQ, to come back and be their marketing manager. The position is a huge promotion for him and after some salary negotiation (which Ben rocked and I was so proud of him for), we felt like we had two great options in front of us.

Celebrating Ben's acceptance!

We spent that weekend thinking, deliberating, and praying like crazy. By Sunday night we both felt like the right decision was to take the position at Blade HQ and do the Professional MBA (night program) at the UofU next year- once we can get residency tuition.

Monday, Feb. 8: Ben accepted the position at Blade HQ. Our thoughts then naturally turned to the question of where we would live... and we realized that we could buy a house! Woo hoo! A dream that we had had for years was one step closer to being a reality. I began to furiously look at houses, but found very little on the market that was within our price range. Many of the houses were old and needed a lot of work. It really wasn't too promising. I spoke with two realtors that told me that the good houses in that price point were going in a matter of days. Being so far away, I felt so out of control. It began to stress me out to the max, in an almost unhealthy way.

Wednesday, Feb. 10: Ben sat me down and told me that he couldn't live with me so stressed (he was totally justified in this, by the way) and so we agreed not to buy a house until we were in Utah. We decided to move into my parents basement until we could find a house. In fact, Ben quoted the scripture to me, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10) which I really needed to hear and has since become my mantra.

Thursday, Feb. 11: A boy I attended high school with posted on Facebook that he and his wife were selling their house in American Fork, just a mile from Ben's work. It had just gone on the market that day. It was adorable, in a great location, and within our price range. I completely forgot Ben's and my agreement from the night before and called my sister Laura to ask if she could look at the house the next day.

Friday, Feb. 12: Laura went to see two houses for me in the morning. The first wasn't great but the second, my friend's, she loved. She called me as she walked in and talked me through it aka "Here's the kitchen... oooh it's got a nice sized pantry..." By the end of the conversation, we were both sold on the house. I called the realtor and told him that I'd need to talk to Ben before we put an offer in, thinking Ben would need time to think about it, but when I called to tell him about it at lunch, he was all for it. So we put an offer in a bit below asking price and waited.

Saturday, Feb. 13: My brother Mark came into town to watch a basketball tournament my niece Makayla was playing in, so we went to watch her play in a game. All I could think about was the house. Would they take the offer? Wouldn't they? By that night we had found that there was another offer and that there was a possibility of a bidding war. To make a long story short, Ben and I made a final offer that night but I went to sleep tossing and turning. I wanted the house so badly, but I didn't want to pay too much for it. It was a long night.

Sunday, Feb. 14: Valentine's Day, but that was the last thing on my mind because I was a tormented soul. I knew that the final offer that Ben and I had made on the house wasn't strong enough, but I didn't know how to increase it without getting into a bidding war. My dad happened to call and offered a solution we hadn't thought of- offer to pay full price for the house and pay closing costs. It made perfect sense and didn't increase our overall cost too much. So I texted my realtor, apologized profusely for making him work on Sunday, and asked if he could submit one last offer from us. After that I felt peace and knew it was in the Lord's hands.

Monday, Feb. 15: We found out our offer had been accepted!!!! I cried I was so excited and even Ben was thrilled. Honestly, the Lord dropped that house in our laps. We were so lucky to get it, really we were.

We also realize that the sale can still fall through, but as of now let's get excited because, we're under contract to buy a house!!! We look forward to having a yard, planting a garden, painting walls, building shelves, and all that stuff that home owners do. Yes, I know it will be a lot of work but it's work that we are excited about and looking forward to.

Now we are in the midst of moving tasks such as packing, scheduling moving trucks, collecting boxes, as well as house items like home inspections, financing, and appraisals. Among the day to day work though, we can't help but marvel that our dreams seem to be coming true in ways we couldn't have forseen. Our goal for so long was to go back to school and now we have other amazing options without having to throw school completely to the side. We will have less debt, a better place to live, and a great professional stepping stone for Ben in the meantime. The Lord is so creative and wonderful- it seems he's given us our cake and is going to let us eat it too. Our cup runneth over.

The Oregonian Life

On Monday, July 29 we bid farewell to Mark's house in Boise and drove the last leg of the trip to Wilsonville, Oregon (about 20 miles south of Portland). The drive took about eight hours. Surprisingly, eastern Oregon was just like the plains of Wyoming- dry with not much to look at. However once we got to the Columbia River it was beautiful to look down and see Washington state across the water.

My dad ended up driving the whole way and I was so grateful to have him there. Nayeli hates her carseat, is difficult to entertain with movies, and was a little rattled from the move so it was great to get to give her one on one attention.

We pulled into our apartment complex at 3pm, waited for Ben to arrive with the truck, checked into our apartment, then began moving things in.

 Somewhere during the time we were moving in Nayeli face planted off a curb. 

She carried the scabs for a couple days after. It was a rough few days adjusting.

We had already notified the Elder's Quorum of our future ward that we were coming so we crossed our fingers that people would shop up. They did, and even Ben's boss came down to help move boxes. Everything was unpacked within an hour.

I have to mention that I had a huge shock when we first entered the apartment. Everything was nice and in good condition but it was soooooo much smaller than I had anticipated (I'll need to remember that photos online make everything look bigger). The square footage was listed as 881 and for the first time I realized that that actually isn't very big. When I walked into our bedroom I almost cried because I was sure our king sized bed wasn't going to fit.

Luckily, it did fit, and while unpacking I've been purging like crazy. With a kitchen with only 2.5 drawers and a bathroom with none I've had to. I've given a few boxes to Goodwill and it's felt great. I've also invested in about $100 worth of tupperwares, storage containers, and shelves. I've used these as makeshift drawers. In all honesty, I think our house is more organized here than it was in Provo.

And now that everything is unpacked it feels good. It's working. We can't live here forever, but it's a great apartment and we got a great price on it. 

For those who are interested, here's a little tour. Keep in mind that there's still work to be done:

Our front door and entry. On the right is the partition for our porch.

The view from the sliding door. I'm in love with having a porch. We sit out here frequently and Nayeli loves to bring her toys out. It's blocked off on all sides so I don't have to worry about her wandering off.  On the left is a good-sized storage closet that I didn't get a picture of. 

We keep Ben's bike and our camping stuff in there. 

 The dining area. Check out our retro mirrored shelves and gold chandelier. 

If I owned this apartment, the mirrored shelf would be the first thing I would tear out. Then I would spray paint the chandelier silver. Oh well (sigh). There are worse things in life :)

Wood burning fireplace and mantel

The Living Room needs the most work. I'm going to recover a few of my pillows and I still have to figure out what to hang above the couch. I have some ideas but it's a huge wall to deal with.

I'm so glad I sold our entertainment center before we came. There's no way it would have fit (don't mind Ben taking his Sunday nap).

The kitchen is really really small. But it works and I'm grateful to have it. Some things are on display only because there is no room in the cupboards for them (note the platter and pitchers on top of the cabinets).

Another view of the kitchen. It didn't come with a microwave so we had to buy one. Then the problem was that we had no where to put it. So it's home has become the bar. I'm going to make a bulletin board to cover up the back that can be seen in the living room.

Our drawer-less bathroom. On the bright side, we are LOVING having two sinks. Major plus.

Laundry / storage area. We brought the shelf on the left from Provo and it fit perfectly. I keep extra food on the bottom and miscellaneous supplies on top.

Our bedroom with a small walk in closet. We were able to get a dresser to fit along the wall on the left and a bookcase at the end of the bed. It's the tightest room by far but it works.

The nursery / den. I got the desk by the window at my first garage sale here for $10. 

It's in great shape and fit perfectly. A complete tender mercy.

It's a total modge-podge of decor and furniture because anything that doesn't work in other places in the house goes in here. So ignore the color scheme :) It's functional until one day when I can separate the den and nursery.

Well, there you have it. The grand tour. I know I talked a lot about how small the apartment is but there are so many reasons that I'm glad we moved here. But I'll have to cover those in another post. I'll just end by saying it's worth living in a smaller apartment to live in a fantastic neighborhood.

Moving Madness

It's unbelievable to think that just two months ago we were in the thick of the madness of moving. It went something like this:

5 weeks before move: Ben was offered the job! Since I didn't want to pay to fly to Portland and rent a car, I began furiously looking online for places to live. I made a spreadsheet of possible apartments, then prayed my heart out. In the end we threw all logic out the window in order to go where the Lord made it very clear we should go. Wilsonville, Oregon, a town unbeknownst to us only weeks before, would be our new home.

4 weeks before move: We took a trip down to Goblin Valley with David, Laura, Julia and their families. It had some disastrous moments but was also a great time with everyone.

 Playing in the Muddy River

It turned disastrous when we got Laura's 12 passenger van stuck in the Muddy River. It was 111 degrees that day and we were outside for four hours. Eventually we called a tow-truck.
Needless to say, it was a long day.


Goblin Valley

Hiking around in the Goblins

3 weeks before move: We celebrated July 4th in Provo. 

 Ben had to work so we went to the parade with Christina and Stuart and their family.
I love the old lady photo-bombing this picture.

I may have shed a tear when the Provo City float went by. 

Lame, I know, but it's my city and I'll love it forever.

I also had my 10 year high school reunion. It was really great to see old friends. Some of us even stayed at the school until midnight talking. I went to high school with really great people.

                                                 

 Timpview High School Class of 2003

Old Student Government friends

We had a family gathering at a park the next day. So much fun to see everyone's kids.

2 weeks before move:

A new dishwasher arrived and Ben promptly made Nayeli a house out of the box. I'm so glad I married someone who has more imagination than I do. I was about to recycle it.

We also went with Ben's mom's side of the family to Lake Powell. It was great to get to meet Gary's family and spend time all together. We had such a good time. Lake Powell is like heaven on earth.

Falling asleep on the boat

 Tubing with dad

 This picture sums up Nayeli's personality just perfectly. She is such a character. I can't get enough of her.

Family photo shoot that Nayeli was not happy about

 Ben's brother Sammy drove with us to Lake Powell. It's been so fun to hang out with him in Provo since he got home from his mission. This picture describes Ben and his relationship perfectly.

1 week before: Ben went to Coyote Gulch for four days with the Young Men in our ward while I furiously packed. Thank heavens for my sisters and mom who came and helped. 

                                           

As I packed I pulled out crayons and let Nayeli draw on all the boxes. It kept her mildly entertained.

Most of my time was spent meeting up with friends and trying to see as many people as I could before we left. 

My high school girls. We five also lived together for a summer during college. They are awesome.

Lunch with my mom and sisters Laura and Christina. We got lunch together then went to my apartment and packed. They helped me a ton. I love them so much.

My old ER coworkers. I love these girls so much.

I will miss my friend Jessie so much and Nayeli will miss Nathan. Jessie and I started to get together once a week soon after we had our babies. It was just a get-out-of-the-house type of get together but we became such good friends. We later served in the Primary together.

 She was a lifesaver when I needed one. I'm really going to miss her.

Game Day (Saturday, July 27):

Loading the 26 foot Penske truck. It was way too big but it was all they had. We had so many family and friends come help that the truck was loaded in 45 minutes.

 We lived in this apartment three and a half years. It was our first home after we married. Bittersweet.

 

Ben pulled our CR-V behind the Penske while my dad drove with me and Nayeli in the Corolla behind. It was such a blessing to have him come. I don't know if Nayeli and I would have survived the drive by ourselves.

 

We stayed Saturday and Sunday with my brother Mark in Boise. 

It was so nice to take a break from the drive and spend time with Mark, Malinda and the kids.

Hanging out with Opa.

Monday morning we woke up early and headed to Portland. It was a long 8 hours but we made it. Thank heavens. To be continued...

Portland Bound

As a couple, Ben and I have lived in Provo for over three years now. For a long time  we've compared ourselves to a sailboat on a still ocean. Our sail has been set and we've just been waiting for the wind to pick up. Where would it take us and when? Who knew? But we kept the sail open because we knew the wind would come sooner or later.

Then just last week we finally felt the breeze begin to pick up. Ben was offered and accepted a Digital Marketing position with Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT). It's a great opportunity for him professionally and quite frankly, a miracle. How often do people with no marketing schooling get a marketing position at a successful company? Luckily, he had marketing experience in the knife and tool industry, he networked, and he's incredibly talented (no bias here) so those things were his in. Either way, we feel it to be a major blessing that he was offered the job and know we'd be fools not to take it.

The company is located in Tualatin, Oregon, just outside of Portland. Thus, come the end of July, the wind will be pushing us northwest. Since the interview process was rather long (one month, four interviews) I've had time to look at apartments and the area. We finally decided to live in Wilsonville. It's about 25 minutes south of Portland just off the freeway and only 10 miles from Ben's work. I think we're going to like living a little further from the city.


View Larger Map

So here's to the adventure of moving away from both our families and going to a city that, as of last week, neither of us had heard of. We're ready for the thrill. And in the meantime, if the wind seems to stop blowing our boat, I'm going to grab the oars and start rowing. Because it just feels right and... have you seen how beautiful Oregon is?

Visiting my wonderful friend Olivia in Portland in 2007. 

 Who knew six years later I'd be moving there myself?

 Multnomah Falls

 Cannon beach. So excited to go back with Ben and Nayeli! It's like a dream come true.