We're Moving!

When we moved to New Mexico last year we knew it was just a stepping stone. His boss had said we'd probably be here 3 years. After a few months Ryan got a different boss. He has really impressed her and grown his area. She told him not to plan on being here next Christmas. In December she said there was an open GM (General Manager) position for Colorado that she wanted him to apply for; however, Hertz had just bought Dollar Thrifty so she wanted him to wait until all of that got settled. We were on hold until March. Right before we went to AZ for the Spring Training games she called him and told him that she wanted him to apply for the GM position in AZ now, instead of CO. This came as a huge shock because Phoenix is a top 10 airport and his off-airport fleet would be 10 times as big. For some perspective, right now as an Area Manager Ryan has 10 branches, Arizona has 52. Oh, and did I mention she wants him over NM still too? As a GM he would be over all the Area managers. He was very humbled because AZ is a huge market and he's only been with the company for 3.5 years. He was the only one applying for the position and his boss said he's the one she wanted for the job and she wouldn't let him fail. She interviewed him on March 29th. He was in Chicago for work that next week before our cruise and interviewed with Sean Bromfield (RVP) and Dan Kress (Zone VP) while there. 3 Weeks later while in San Antonio he interviewed with John Holt (Sr VP) and Scott Sider (COO) as well. He was expecting to get put through the ringer and drilled but they didn't even mention his financials or talk much about work at all. It was more like a meet and greet, get to know you relaxed interview. They're really focusing on employee improvement and building morale and Ryan is perfect for that. He's very personable and can strike up a conversation and find common interests with anyone. He's very much a people person and that's partly why he's been so successful. He got the official job offer on April 30. He's in AZ working right now. I'm so proud of him. All his hard work and long hours is paying off. I'm grateful that he supports us and that I can stay home with Hannah. We found a house yesterday in Gilbert and we'll hopefully be all moved and join him in two weeks. I decided not to fly down to help him house hunt. With Hannah it would be hard and I didn't want to leave her home. I found places online and Ryan was happy to go see them for me. We will miss Albuquerque and the great friends we've made here. We are excited for this new adventure. Hopefully we'll be there for a few years. We have some family and friends there to make us feel more at home.

Los Alamos Summerfest

Our second weekend in Los Alamos was a lot of fun. We pitched the tent at Summerfest then stayed with it for awhile because we thought it might blow away! For lunch we walked down the street. I got a Masala Indian dish. It was basically a pancake filled with potatoes and veggies with lentils and a yogurt sauce. It was pretty good. Ryan got a hamburger ;) They had a live band playing lots of rock 'n' roll and booths everywhere. It's fun to be there because we don't feel like the minority. Most people are white and there are not many Hispanics, unlike Albuquerque. It was a nice change for once. There were dogs everywhere. Most visitors had one tagging along.

We got to drive this baby up from ABQ. 

The top down only lasted for a minute. It was too windy and hot. We would've gotten fried.

On the way home we stopped off the freeway at the Mormon Battalion monument.  It's located halfway between ABQ and Santa Fe.

The original 20-foot monument was built in 1940 by church members in New Mexico and was rededicated in 1996.

That night we had a date night since Ryan would be gone all next week to scout camp. We went to El Modelo, a place we've been referred to from numerous people. It's Mexican take-out, although they do have an outdoor patio. We ordered a bunch of food and it was delicious! Ryan got the Mexican Plate which is a Tamale, Taco, Enchilada, Rice, Refried Beans, Red Chile Chorizo, Spare Rib, Chips and 2 Sopaipillas. I got the stuffed Sopaipilla and we ordered a 1/2 lb Chicharrones. That's real Mexican food folks!    

Our Garden

We finally got around to planting the seeds Ryan's mom gave me for my birthday. I do not have a green thumb and have no experience gardening. Honestly, I put it off so long because I was so nervous and had no idea where to even start. After running to Home Depot and feeling overwhelmed by all the choices I called Debbie and she helped me know what to get. We used her coconut briques and soil and planted the little seeds. We planted cucumber, zucchini and green beans. Last week when I went out to water I was so surprised to see little plants growing. I called to Ryan and he came out to see. We were so excited, it was funny. Now that we know we can do it we're motivated to plant more! We still have herbs, flowers, and watermelon to plant and I want to plant strawberries too.  New Mexico has a long growing season, from about February to November, so it's a great place to have a garden.  That means that there are a ton of produce in season almost all year long. We get to enjoy cherries in early June as apposed to early July, like in Utah. Just another reason we love it here! We want to visit a farmer's market one of these Saturday mornings that we're not busy and we can't wait until green chili season is here this Fall.

Los Alamos Nukes

Yesterday we headed up to Los Alamos (100 miles North of Albuquerque) to support the club Rugby team. Ryan has a branch there and they sponsor this team. They were holding a car wash to raise money for tournaments. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and gave away raffle tickets to win a free Camero rental. This is my second time there. We drove up to visit before moving here as well. The city is situated on a plateau at 7500 feet elevation. There are about 12,000 residents.  It's a cute little town. I had a good time meeting some of the people who live there. We're heading up there again next week for Chamberfest weekend. While we were driving home the temp reached 100, welcome summer!

Two weeks in New Mexico

We've been in New Mexico two weeks now. We're finally all unpacked and "settled in." We took  all of our boxes to the recycling bin last night and feel very much less cluttered now. The weather has been decent, but very windy and it snowed (a light dusting) last night. Ryan's been hard at work visiting the branches, answering emails and getting things done. He's been without a laptop, which hopefully he'll have Tuesday, so he hasn't been able to do his full work, but has been getting by from his phone. His new schedule is great. He just mosies out the door in the morning when he pleases. He doesn't have an office and does most stuff from his phone. His schedule is super flexible so he can meet me for appointments during the day if necessary and come home early, which I'm not used to.  Since his boss is in Colorado, he really doesn't have anyone to report to, which is nice. Since we have no friends here we just hang out together and that's been great. This weekend we've been married 5 1/2 years. So very lucky to have him! I started looking for a job this week. Now that we're all unpacked I'm super bored. There's not much to do with 3 cats.

Moves are stressful (I pulled out a gray hair this morning) and expensive. There are so many little things we had and still have to do that I didn't even realize. We still don't have any mail, I guess it takes 7-10 business days to forward. Registering our car has been a huge headache. I don't even want to think about getting a new driver's license when mine expires next month.

Went grocery shopping at Albertson's, which was a breath of fresh air. Wal-Mart is closer, but I hate shopping at Wal-Mart and now I'm so glad I don't have to go there every week for groceries.

Before we left Utah we got to see a lot of our friends and family and say goodbye. I was doing ok until I walked into my parent's house and my mom started crying. My sister is now the only sibling living in Utah still. We got together with friends Saturday morning for breakfast then went back to our place to clean. My mom, sister and Ryan's brother Devin came and helped. We went to lunch afterwards then to my parent's with Syd to spend one last evening with them.

Dinner with our YW

Breakfast with friends from the ward

Goodbye to Syd

My parents 

Peggy &

Paul (our gamers)

"my dog" lucky

Ryan helping with cleaning our empty home after the movers came

This was our trial run with the cats. We had them in their carriers when the movers came and when the carpet was getting cleaned. They did great and we made sure they could see each other. HAHA

This is where they hid while we were cleaning

Lunch with my sister, Toni

The drive...

The cats did great. They cried until about Spanish Fork canyon, then only for a few minutes at a time every hour or so after that. Once it got dark we didn't hear from them until we got to our hotel. Our vet  suggested we use Children's benadryl to "knock them out." We tried it a few days before but they just spit it up and it ended up foaming out of their mouths, so we opted not to use it, and they did great!

We stayed at La Quinta Inn with our cats for 4 nights before our stuff got to our house. Thanks to my sister's recommendation. The cats loved it and really lounged around, like they knew they were on vacation. They were in heaven. 

We found out they have a Rudy's BBQ here. Of course we went! If you've ever lived in Texas you know how good this place is.

We also tried another recommendation, Quarters BBQ. Yummy as well.

While exploring our city Ryan stumbled upon this and took me later to show me. That's a rattlesnake folks, made of stone, in the middle of the road. Crazy. It was huge, and rather creepy.

Wal-Mart. Packed. That's the checkout line. That day, swore I'd never go back.

First home-made meal in our new house. After eating out for nearly 12 days straight. Yuck.

The cats love our new place. They like to lay upstairs in the sun.

We're enjoying it here so far. Our neighborhood is quiet, and our ward seems great.  We'll keep you updated.

We're moving!

Here are the details:

At the beginning of the year Ryan's boss told him there was an area manager position open in New Mexico and they'd like him to apply. When Ryan came home and told me this we both just kind of laughed and thought "that's nice of them to offer, but they know you're leaving to California for school next month." We brushed if off. A few days later Ryan told me he had a really strong feeling to look into it a little more and to not dismiss it. He talked to a bunch of people got all the stats about salary, bonuses the area etc.When he told me he was looking into it I got really upset. I'm the kind of person that likes a plan. Since we've been married Ryan's changed his mind about what he wants to be when he "grows up." It's been frustrating to see him jump from job to job with no degree just wondering what our future will hold. When he decided to do Air Traffic Control we put all our efforts there. He went back to school and we saved all our money for him to live in California to finish. That was the plan. Seeing that that plan could change was hard for me. I cried for days.

We decided to list the pros and cons of each career. Ryan talked to a bunch of different Air Traffic Controller's  about the job market and to get their take about their job what they like and don't like etc. What he found it really surprised us and our friend even told Ryan if he were in his shoes he'd take the job in New Mexico. There was still no guarantee Ryan would become an ATC because he still had to finish school, pass the FAA exam and find a job. He knows people that have been waiting for a job to open up for 18 months. The starting salary is low and they have a salary cap. Our friend has been working as an ATC for a few years and his schedule is still really bad. He works some nights some days, weekends and Holidays and bids for shifts. It's hard for him to hold a calling because he can hardly ever make it to church. That was his biggest complaint about the job. It's also hard to get time off and it's really strict as you could imagine. Ryan talked to my Dad and from his point of view thought that Ryan would get bored as an ATC. With the new position he would be traveling, each day would be different and the opportunities were huge.

After weighing everything for a few weeks we asked our families to fast and pray for us and we went to the Temple. The experience there was incredible. We read a few scriptures that really helped and we knew that New Mexico is where the Lord wanted us.

Ryan interviewed for the job on January 24th with the West Central Region General Manager for Off Airport and then had a second interview on January 30th with the VP of Off Airport for North America. They both loved him (of course) and told him the job was his. He had to take a 6 hour assessment that evaluated his skills and would let them know what areas he needs to work on. He did extremely well on it and impressed everyone. He doesn't really need to improve in any area. He got the official job offer on Feb 8th.

Ryan is so smart and does well in everything. He was able to get the job without a degree and has only been with the company for a little over two years. He has turned his branch around and won numerous contests and his name is well known. He's going to do great things. I'm truly blessed to have him and so grateful for his hard work.

We met with some friends that just moved back from Albuquerque and got their take on the city. They gave us a lot of good advice and told us the good areas to live. We flew down to ABQ last weekend and found a house that we'll sign the lease on today. (details about our trip forthcoming)

We put our house up for rent the first week of February and the tenant signed the lease Monday. We feel really good about them and feel so blessed to have this taken care of. I was stressing about it the most.

My last day of work is Feb 24th and we leave for New Mexico that next week. We've been spending as much time as possible with family and friends. We're really excited to move although I've been putting off packing. I've always wanted to live outside of Utah and now I get to! It will be hard to be away from our families but we're not that far. We're ready for this new adventure!