Lady A Concert

Ryan surprised me with tickets to the sold out Lady A Concert for Valentine's. We took his sister and her friend as well, this was her first concert. Ryan's such a good sport for coming because he doesn't like country music. Thompson Square and Darius Rucker performed as well. I saw Thompson Square over the summer here too. They all put on a great concert. Darius Rucker sounds really good live, his voice is amazing. Lady A had just won some Grammy's the Sunday before too. I love their music.

New Mexico Visit

We flew to Albuquerque on Feb 9th.

(love his face)

(rio grande)

Once we landed we visited a property management company that we had been in communication with and went to see a house we saw online. It was right on the golf course and we loved it. We weren't sure about the pet policy and the property manager said she would check with the owner and get back with us. We looked at 14 houses in 2 days. The last 3 houses we looked at on Friday we loved. We still hadn't heard back on the first house, but we had to make a choice, so we chose another one we loved just as much. We submitted the application and deposit and turned in all the paperwork we could while we were there.

(our house)

On Saturday we spent the day driving around to each of Ryan's branches. We also drove up to Santa Fe, Espanola, and Taos.



When we got to the airport on Sunday the flight was overbooked. We had the chance to take a voucher but I just wanted to go home. After waiting a few minutes I decided it would be ok to take another flight but it was too late. Oh well.

We got some great recommendations from friends about places to eat. We had some very good food. The city has wonderful food. We're excited about that. We ate at Garcia's Kitchen, Standard Diner (Food Network), Blake's Lotaburger and Dion's.

(squash with quinoa)

Funny note: there are so many Walgreens and CVS there. Literally they are both at every intersection. I wonder if people use it to grocery shop.

(cute little houses)

We really enjoyed our time there. It was sunny and warm and we got to drive around and see a lot of the state. The temple is beautiful.

We had heard Rio Rancho was a nice city so originally we looked there for a house, but we found that it was so far away from everything. Once we started looking in Albuquerque we found our home, so I'm glad we did some more searching. Albuquerque is basically split into quadrants. NW, NE, SW, SE. I-25 runs North and South and I-40 runs East and West.

Albuquerque is one of the oldest cities in America. Land wise, Albuquerque is a little bigger than SLC and has about 1200 more people. It's definitely a desert, most people have no grass, just rocks or dirt. The homes and neighborhoods remind me a little of Las Vegas or St George. All the houses are neutral colors and they're all stucco. No brick or siding anywhere. Albuquerque has a higher elevation than SLC so even though it's farther South, it still get's snow. They had to de-ice our airplane Sunday before we left because it was starting to snow.

We only saw one LDS Chapel as we were driving around but that's only because we knew where it was. Our chapel is just a few blocks from our home. There are only about 11 chapels in the whole city. VERY different from Utah. Lots of work to be done!

*We arrived in ABQ last night. I have lots more to post soon*

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!

A very kind goodbye

Ryan recently got released as the Young Men's President. The next Wednesday he got an unexpected knock at the door and a nice surprise from the Young Men. They all signed a card for him and made him those signs. He got hot dogs and buns, ketchup and mustard, candy, Listerine and a very creative letter.

They also taped little baseballs all over his car with hand written notes on them.

He felt very loved and was overwhelmed by the gesture. He has really enjoyed working with the Young Men and will miss them! 

Jared's birthday

We went up to the Everett's on Jan 28 to celebrate Ryan's brother, Jared's birthday. The whole family was there minus Brianna. We even had some extra guests, some foreign exchange students from Brazil.

Sampling the snacks

Janessa putting her cosmetology classes to good use

She sprayed so much water on Ryan's hair that it was running off his face. We all thought it was funny, him? not so much.

Family pic

You can barely see it but the flame on the candles was colored

Ryan actually volunteered to hold Kyler, that's a first folks! Baby steps.

What's Happening Wednesday

01. Ryan went snowmobiling with guys from work on Saturday and had a blast. No injuries, thank goodness
02. Watched the Superbowl with some friends. Ryan was cheering for the Patriots and was pretty upset when they lost.
03. We were invited by another ward to their new beginnings since we don't have any new Beehives. They had a great program.
04. Jason Wu for Target line is out and I've been wanting to check out some of the pieces but haven't yet.
05. Finished the 2nd book in the "Matched" series. It was a faster read and definitely left ya hangin. The 3rd book comes out this year.
06. I took our cat, Hairy to the vet yesterday for an exam. His gums are really red so we scheduled a cleaning for next week.
07. Big Budah rented from Ryan's branch so he snapped a picture as proof. Ryan knows so many people and has met a lot of famous people but no one believes him (including me) because he never get's pictures.
08. Went to the dentist today. No cavities! Yea.
09. Had breakfast at Black Bear Diner with some co-workers this morning. It was delicious. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, but I don't get a good one very often.
10. Ryan got tickets to see Lady A in concert next week. I'm so excited to go!