I know it's taken me a while to get caught up on blog posts, but life has been a bit crazy. One huge contributor to the crazy is that on August 15th we moved from Magna to St. George. It all happened a bit fast. Why did we move? Well, I'll do my best to explain.
Nate has been applying for management positions everywhere from Oregon to Arizona since the beginning of the year and nothing has come through. Positions in the Salt Lake valley were hard to come by and there was a huge list of other reps vying for the ones that did come up. A few months ago, Nate applied for a management position at the store in St George. After his phone interview, he was told that he did a great job and that he was "perfect for the position", but he didn't get it. When he asked for feedback about what he could do to be a better candidate, the only thing that they said was holding them back was the fact that they hadn't worked with him before and they wanted to hire someone that they "knew". Weird, I know, but this seems to be a trend in the company. The higher ups don't want to "take a risk" on someone they don't "know". Anyway....Nate asked what he could do to be seriously considered for a future management opening and they said he should come down to St. George and work at their store so they can get to know him.
Recently, they had some openings for sales reps, so Nate put in for it. They hired him 20 minutes after his phone interview because they remembered him from his management interview and were very impressed. So we moved to work toward better advancement opportunities. It's also no secret that Magna wasn't our favorite place to live. We met some wonderful people there and made great friends, but overall, we just never felt that it was where we were meant to be. We also hated the house we lived in. We had a great landlord, but the house was small and a bit outdated and we had a recurring problem with mold in the basement.
Nate was hired around the third week of July. I was hoping we'd have until September to get moved, but we were quickly informed that Nate's last day in West Jordan would be the 15th and they wanted him to start here on the 17th. Nate and I did a day trip to St George to look for a place to live and found a nice little townhouse in a good area. Then, after a whirlwind three weeks (which included Jayne's hospital stay, swim lessons, selling things and packing things, the camping trip that I posted about and finishing my last semester of school), here we are. Nate took a few paid vacation days to get us moved and we were grateful to have help from friends and family. The kids were also great helpers with the move.
So far, we're really enjoying it here in St George. It's been hot, but we're looking forward to the nice, mild winter. The kids have been enjoying the swimming pool at least 4 times a week and Jayne and I have explored a few parks. Jonah and Lilly started school the Monday after we arrived. They both really like their teachers and made friends quickly. Jayne will start preschool this Tuesday and is really excited about it.
Nate says that work is about the same. The store here is a bit more laid back than he is used to. He's starting to get to know his co-workers and he really loves the heat here. The poor guy was raised in Las Vegas and has spent the last 10 years in Utah with lots of cold and snow. The climate here is heaven for him!
Our ward is really nice and both of us have already been given church callings. I was asked to be the pianist for Relief Society and Nate was just asked to serve as a Gospel Doctrine teacher. There are a lot of other families with young children here in our complex and we even have a neighbor who is pregnant and due just 4 days before I am.
I'm loving the air conditioning, a much bigger and nicer kitchen, having more than one bathroom, having a door on my bedroom (yeah, I haven't had that in 5 years), and being able to walk all the way around our kitchen table. If you were ever in our old, tiny kitchen you know what I'm talking about.
So, to sum up....we've moved. It's hot. We like it here. We're all doing well. Anytime you're in St George, let us know. =)
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