Vancouver--It's Coming.

One week from right now we will be getting the keys to our new apartment in Vancouver, WA. 

Happy and sad feelings.

What I will miss:

Family.

Friends.

Zumba with Adriane. 

I don't know if Zumba will be the same without Tanya, either.

All the wonderful friends I've made through my photography.

Snow. 

(But no snow can be nice, too, depending on the season.)

Free rent.

BYU. 

(Hopefully we'll still be able to watch football games.)

The sun.

Zupas.

My primary kids.

The young women in my ward.

Mountains.

Our huge pantry. Where will be put our food storage!?

Did I mention my FAMILY!?

What I'm Looking Forward To:

The adventure.

A much younger ward.

No state income tax.

No sales tax across the border in Portland.

Starting fresh with my photography. New Pricing. New clients. New locations.

Milder summers and milder winters.

Fresh start with the design of our home. 

I liked what I did to our place in Orem, but a lot of my tastes have changed. Plus it's always fun to try something different. :)

A salaried job.

Cheaper health insurance.

All the greenery.

Getting to know Kirby's family better.

No preconceived notions about who we are, or what we're like.

Half of the people in our ward right now knew me and my family when I was born and growing up. 

So a lot of them think they know me really well, even though they haven't actually spoken to me in 10+ years...

Our apartment is at least half packed already. We successfully sold both of our office desks. The corner of the kitchen where Kirby's desk used to be is now piled high with boxes. Food storage is packed. Emily's room is packed. All our books are packed. Journals, photo albums, board games--all packed. I'm typing from a makeshift desk in the corner. All the photos and artwork is off the walls. Curtains are down. It looks so sterile in here. 

But I am so thankful right now to have a husband who loves to pack. Seriously. I have zero motivation to do anything productive, and yet half our house is packed brilliantly. I'm sure I'll be much more helpful when it comes time to unpack. :)

Vancouver, WA

 A week ago today, Kirby and I went to the temple with nLight in mind. That's the company located in Vancouver, WA. We were heavily leaning towards them, and felt really good about it overall. We did sealings and then asked to be taken to the Celestial room. We sat down, and before I'd even started my prayer an incredible feeling of peace and joy flooded through my body. It was SO powerful. I said a prayer anyways, even though I knew I'd already received an answer, and got hit with another wave of emotion. Kirby had a similar experience.

Vancouver, here we come.

I couldn't actually find any full-city pictures of Vancouver. Only pictures of people's homes that are (or were) on the market. Oh yeah. And a bunch of a skate park. Cool.

But here's Portland. We'll be just across the Willamette river from it, and will spend lots of time there, I'm sure. It will be really nice living close to Oregon, because we can make big purchases there and not have to pay sales tax. :)

We'll be packing the moving van on the 28th of this month, and we are planning to take off as soon as that's done. We'll be making the trip in 2 days. 

And then our new life begins. 

SO. CRAZY.

Vancouver

Kirby has a 6 hour interview today with a company in Vancouver, WA. 

Technically Portland, but the offices are in Vancouver (just over the Oregon/Washington border)? Don't worry. I don't really get it, either. 

 

A cold front has hit the area hard--our flight was delayed a couple hours last night because the pilots of our plane got caught in a storm in Denver on one of their earlier flights, which made them late late late. 

I just got a severe weather warning text. Apparently Utah is going to be hit hard later today with extreme cold, snow, and wind. I wonder if it's the same storm that passed through here? It's funny to me how scared people are of snow here. It snowed last night, and one of the head guys at the company here in Vancouver called Kirby to let him know that there was a possibility that they would be closed if the weather continued to be "this bad." :) To be fair, the roads were CRAZY slick last night, but I still giggle inside.

 

We didn't get to our hotel until about 2:30am, after which Kirby ran (well, drove, technically--the company rented a brand new Corolla for us. Pretty awesome.) to the nearest 24 hour grocery store to get some baby oatmeal (the one thing we forgot to pack.) 

 

What? Our child needs to EAT!?

Meanwhile, I was with Emily in our hotel room trying to soothe her and keep her from waking up the entire lodge while setting up a pack 'n' play with one hand. 

All things considered, Emily did GREAT. She loved ripping up the in-flight magazine, and was surprisingly pleasant three hours past her bedtime. Thank heavens for goldfish. She actually slept through most of the second leg (we had a stop in Vegas... BOOOO...), which allowed Kirby and I to sleep for most of that flight, too!

Now I'm just chilling in our cozy lodge hotel room, taking a break from straightening my hair. Emily is sleeping right next to me. I've got some sweet tunes playing.

Life is good.

Our main purpose in the Great Northwest is to celebrate Thanksgiving with Kirby's family. All of Kirby's siblings will be there, so we are really excited. 

There is about a 60% chance we'll be moving out of Utah in January. Kirby is in final round interviews with some companies, and waiting on offers from a couple others. Looks like our options will be:

 

(Drumroll please...)

Portland, OR

If all goes well today, of course...

Madison, WI

Have official offer...

Salt Lake City, UT

They've told us they want him. Should have official offer in about a week.

Orem, UT

Kirby needs to send in a sample of his technical writing before the interviewing process is considered complete.

Dallas, TX

Kirby's wanted. Offer is in the works.

I'm pretty sure I did a fabulicious jig when we got the official offer from the company in Wisconsin. 

I mean, it's an OFFICIAL OFFER.

With details and salary and health benefits and everything. 

I don't feel grown up enough for this! 

But I am crazy excited.

We should have offers/rejections (let's me optimistic, though, shall we???) by the end of the month, and we've told the company in Wisconsin that we'd let them know by December 6th, so our decision will have to be made by then!

It seriously blows my mind every time I think about it.

Aaaand, that's all I have to say right now.

I need to finish my hair...