Tuesday, March 13, 2018

February


Whoosh! We got home last night from our trip to New York. And even though I know we tidied up before leaving, looking around the house, I could see evidence all around of the kind of full February we had :) Here are some highlights to remember:

All the job things:

No problem, I've got this.
 (Not necessarily how Jordan felt :)

Interviewing

Jordan spent a week in NYC and San Francisco with 5 days of onsite interviews (where he'd go into the office (or do this remotely)  and have a day or half day of back-to-back interviews with several different people at each company). He also spent that week wrapping up other interviews and juggling all of this around his regular working schedule! He did get to spend a little time with Kathie and Winslow while he was in California, and he really enjoyed that too.

Offers!

After a month of reaching out, job searching, applications,  emails and follow ups, phone screens and interviews, Jordan ended up with offers from 6 really great companies! (Two years ago when we went through the same process, he had just two offers - one from Microsoft which would have required us to move, and Wonderbly. So, we felt very surprised and grateful for so many great choices this time!) With how all the timing worked, he came home from his interview trip on a Wednesday night and needed a decision by that Friday. (Our friends offered to watch our kids on Thursday so we could have some time to think and talk and we were so grateful!)

Our next adventure

After some tough decision making time, Jordan was excited to accept a position at Teachers Pay Teachers!  And in kind of a silent conversation of nods in the middle of his negotiation conversations (or something like that!) we decided he'd take a week off before he started and we'd take a spur-of-the-moment trip to all go visit NYC as a family.  Jordan's first day was yesterday and he's really excited about this new opportunity!

All of this job-related stuff felt like a huge part of our lives for a while, but we also had all the regular parts of life continuing on too :)

Basketball




Landon and Owen both played basketball this season again and had a fun time. (And I loved watching their games too!) Landon had weekly practices and then each Saturday both boys had games.



Tumbling



Porter got to take a tumbling class for January-February. I think it was pretty fun for him... I don't know if we'll do it again though. This (above) is how Isaac and I spent our time while Porter tumbled :)

Science Fair

(I took this before Ellie's partner arrived, but they were a great duo!)


Ellie and her friend Aria participated in the Science Fair with a project on baking muffins (how would different amounts of baking powder affect the outcome?) Aria's mom helped the girls do the project and they did a great job.

Valentine's Day


The kids all had fun making Valelentine's for their classes (and bringing home Valentine's from their friends too :)

Funeral

We went to Utah County for a weekend to attend my Gramps' funeral. I didn't ever really know him very well, so what struck me most were all of the stories and comments from my cousins/aunts/uncles of how dearly they knew and loved him. I felt like I got to learn a lot more about him and that was really neat.

Dar Williams




I got to see my very favorite musician Dar Williams perform! I sat in the back row and nearly cried through the whole show as she sang all these songs that have been like a soundtrack to so many moments of my life, with so many sweet and tender memories! I've wanted to see her perform for a really long time, so I was just super excited that I got to see her, even right here in Logan!

(Just me and my good friend Dar ;)

Reading


At New Year's time as I was thinking ahead to the year and what I wanted to work on, etc. one thing that I was really excited about was teaching Porter to read! And just in the last month or so, he's been learning to put sounds together into words and I think it is just so fun and exciting. I love it so much!