The End of an Era

Today marks the end of an era for Matt especially, but also for the rest of our little family.  Ten years ago in September of 2002, Matt, just two months home from his LDS mission, and two months from marrying me, began working for a small computer selling company named Bridge Technologies.  His job was to deliver computers all over Utah and Salt Lake counties, and to do odd little jobs that no one else was interested in doing i.e. fixing the swamp cooler, cleaning out the attic, sweeping floors, you get the picture.  Because of his remarkable way with all things technological, Matt moved from delivery boy to technician fairly quickly.  

During this time, we'd gotten married, gotten pregnant (a few times) and had quite the family.  Matt had been spared being laid off a few times with the ups and downs of the business and was working his hardest to get a college degree in criminal justice.

He graduated in the spring of 2008, just a year after our third child was born.  In anticipation of graduation, Matt had applied for a position with the county jail as they had plans to expand. He made it through the background check, the polygraph, the physical tests, the written tests all with flying colors.  The county had offered him a position, ordered his uniforms and got him registered for police academy. 

At the same time, an outside sales rep at Bridge was leaving.  Barry- the owner of Bridge offered Matt that position and it was an offer that was far better than anything that the County was offering.  After much prayer, fasting and even a blessing, Matt chose to stay with Bridge.  

Things were better for us financially then they had been our entire married life, we had a pretty good year.  We bought a home in a nice neighborhood and thought things were going to be great.  Then, with the downfall in the economy, Bridge found itself on the verge of bankruptcy.  The company downsized and tried to make it with just a small percentage of the once thriving business.  VLCM (pronounced Valcom) a Salt Lake City based business decided to essentially buy Bridge out and assimilate their employees to make an Orem based office.  Matt, no longer an outside sales rep found himself working for another company, and another position without ever having left Bridge.  Matt took a pay cut to stay with VLCM and looked at changing jobs several times with no luck.

Here we are, three stressful years later.  We've had another child-our last. We've been through some trying situations that really have shaken us to the core. And we're getting ready to face one of the biggest changes of our married lives besides having children.  Matt has once again been moved up to be an outside sales rep, this time in Colorado as you well know.   He's worked with Barry for the last 10 years, and now, no more.  Beginning July 1, Matt will be commuting to the SLC office so he can begin his training for his position in Colorado.  

Barry has done a lot for us, and Matt is going to miss working with him, but it's time for a change, time to move up from beneath Barry so Matt can spread his wings.  It, like a lot things right now, is bittersweet.  Barry, thanks for everything.  Thanks for giving Matt a chance and for keeping in on when you could have let him go.   Thanks for the last ten years. 

Denver Update

You may or may not have heard that we got our official offer to work in Denver.  Funny that I always say "we" when I really just mean Matt.  Matt got his official offer from VLCM to work in Denver.  Initially we thought that we'd be moving before school started in the fall so we wouldn't have to switch schools in the middle of the school year (again the "we" thing, of course I really mean so the kids wouldn't have to switch schools), but VLCM would like us to move by Jan. 1, 2013.  For the time being, we've taken that to mean that we'll be moving the weekend after Christmas.
What a time to be moving across the Rockies into Colorado.  I'm hoping that we'll have a mild December and the roads won't be too bad.  Driving makes me nervous, let alone over icy, snowy mountain passes.  But as far as school goes, it's a good time to switch with the long holiday break I guess.

Moving to another state has me scared for a lot of reasons.  I LOVE being so close to my family and to Matt's family.  My ward here has been wonderful and I've got some really great friends.  I was talking with Matt's uncle and mentioned that I was scared.  He asked what I was most scared of.  Reluctantly, I told him I was afraid no one would like me.  I am terrified I won't fit in and I'll be so homesick.  I'm not worried about my kids, they are so affable and friendly.  They keep talking about finding and making new friends.  I'm not worried about Matt either.  He has to go out and meet people; that's his job.  What am I going to do with myself?  I know that things can work out, I'm just nervous about it all.  It's a lot more real now.  But, I've got 6 more months to enjoy what I have here.

Wreck This Journal

According to my own page numbering system in my Wreck this Journal, on page 214 it says to Ask a friend to do something destructive to this page. Don't Look.  Well, I took the idea a bit further and asked Matt to run over it with the van.  I looked though. Just as he go to where the front wheel was right on top of the journal, he turned the wheels.  My poor book.

Broken Book

We went to Hobby Lobby to see if they had any fun duct tape that I could cover the spine of my book with.  Of course they did.  I picked this bright pink zebra print.  It's not something I'd normally pick out, but it looked fun.

Fun new binding

Not MY coffee, but my splatters. 

Another day, I was at the East Bay Golf Course.  My dad and brother run a catering business from there and every Wednesday during the school year, I go in and make brownies for two Challenger schools that they provide lunch for.  One of the days, as the brownies were cooling, Brady (my brother) asked if I'd clean the coffee pot.  Yay!  I was excited to clean out the coffee because I needed to splatter some coffee on this page, but I don't ever drink it.  I was happy with how the splatters turned out, and I really like the color. 

Katie's Napkin

One night, we had Matt's sister Katie and her family over for some BBQ and hot wings.  Katie asked if there was a page in my book she could have fun with.  Sure enough, there was a page with the dedicated use as a napkin.  She make good use of it, getting BBQ sauce and soda all over it.  It's a pretty nasty page, and I don't like to touch it.  But I love it because it literally had KT written all over it.