Remember when?

Hey Travis, yeah, I'm talking to you. 

Remember when we were just friends?

Our relationship was strictly platonic:)

Remember our dating days? 

Remember when we were the best Halloween costume ever!

Remember when I went to California to meet your family, and on the drive back we stopped in Vegas and your parents made us take these weird and awkward pictures?

Remember how we loved the outdoors!

Remember how we almost died doing Slick Rock

Remember how we would hang out every day no matter what?

Remember when you proposed... impromptuly. I wouldn't have had it any other way

Remember when we went to Mexico when we were engaged, with my parents? Good thing you stunk, because that may have been a tempting trip!

Remember when we got all pretty to take our engagements, and then it snowed and our photographer rescheduled it for another day?

Remember when we got married? And how you were late, and I was getting real nervous?

Seriously, who loses track of time on their wedding day?

Remember how they sent us home 2 days early from our honeymoon because our cruise ship burned down?

You were my hero that day

Remember when we lived in the tiny duplex in SoJo for the first 5 months of our marriage? 

 

That is where I went jogging and had to come home early because I pooped my pants. TMI? Sorry, but that is my most memorable moment living there.

Remember our first Easter?

Remember how we packed up everything we owned and drove to Kansas City without a place to live?

Remember when you started medical school?

Our lives calmed down a bit

Remember the Chiefs game we went to?

I saw a side I had never seen of you that day

Remember all the games we would go to?

Royals

 BYU bowl game

That Tulsa game was sure awesome

Remember how you used to LOVE other people's kids

And then we had our own...

Remember our camping trips to Table Rock Lake?

 Remember that one time I let you grow your hair out?

I hope you cherished that moment

Remember when we got a web cam?

Weren't you supposed to be studying?

Remember when we would go on dates to downtown KC and not really know what the heck we were doing?

Remember my first marathon

You were there at the end waiting for me

Remember our St. Patties day run?

Remember when it was just the two of us and we could do whatever we wanted to do?

Remember how this was your last known picture before you entered the infinite job of fatherhood?

I just wanted to tell you that the past 7 years have been a whirlwind. I hear this is the year when we are supposed to get the "itch." I'm pretty sure that if I haven't left you by now, we will be good :) I love you and can't wait for the rest of our lives! Happy Anniversary (3 weeks late).

Staying Sane

The day before we got home from Arizona, it dumped on Missouri. We have had 1 or 2 more storms since. I'm all about snow... in the WINTER (snow is acceptable from December 1st to February 18th in my book*). I'm for sure not a homebody, and my kids are the wiggliest creatures, so these are the following things we have been doing to stay sane:

1) Snow

Even though it snowed after the acceptable date*, we still partook of it. We had some good times.

Travis even got to miss some work

Avery was an all star in the snow... Brooklyn well... she looked cute in her snow clothes?

2) Picking out our own outfits

Alright, some outfits were downright hideous, but to be honest, some worked. I think Avery has some talent in the fashion world. She is very concerned about what she wears, but not so much if her hair is done. In fact, she prefers that it is not done. Maybe that will be the new fad in 10 years. I tell you, she knows.

3) Bathing

Its not only an act of hygiene, but also an event

Its fun to do on the side of the tub

Or even in the sink

4) Lounging around

No description needed

5) Venturing out

Brooklyn is training for the 2026 summer Olympics.... and she likes cone hats

Avery is training to be a fire woman

She is getting really good

 This is her backup plan

And Brooklyn just starts at the top, naturally

If it doesn't work out, Avery can always fall back to what she knows best

We dream big

Sometimes we go to Walmart and pretend all the toys are ours

I'm pretty sure Brooklyn things they really are ours

6) And finally, when there was ever the slightest nice day, we would take full advantage and go out.

We are going to miss the KC zoo! Oh and the Romney's, but we will save this speech for another post!

I don't want to get my hopes up, but I think Spring is here and it might be staying.... WELCOME FRIEND!

Mostly business, some pleasure

Its that time duh duh dum... to get a job, a real job!

We have been so confused on where to actually look. We finally narrowed it down to Arizona, California and Utah.

Why you ask?

 Well after living around absolutely no family for 7 years, we decided that family is pretty important.

But we also decided that money is important as well, so we are looking for a place that will supply both.

Travis was lucky enough to land 2 interviews in Arizona.

Since my whole family was going to be there anyways for a soccer tournament,  the girls and I decided to join Travis in this endeavor.

I'm going to lay it out, I took about 4 pictures this whole trip. I didn't have it in me, so this post is going to be mostly words. There is your heads up.

The business part

Job interview #1 Kearny/Superior Arizona

When we found out about this job, I was sold right off the bat. The location is commutable from Gilbert, the salary is great, they also qualify for tuition reimbursement and its a 40 hour work week, all outpatient (which is what Travis wants). But then Travis was informed that if we don't actually live in the area, than we wouldn't qualify for loan repayment.... which is huge for us! My heart was crushed a little. So on Sunday, my dad, Travis and I decided to go and check out Kearny AZ. We saw the "entering Kearny" sign, and  I was really excited to see the little town... then we saw the "exiting Kearny" sign. We literally had to do a u turn because we totally didn't even see the city. It was so so so tiny. I went through a major country/cowgirl phase in high school, and I always thought I had the small town girl in me. But after seeing where we could possibly live, I decided that that cowgirl was dead. And this is when the anxiety started.

And Superior was not any better.

The next day was the actual interview and it was in Globe, Arizona, where the hospital and company is located. We talked to the CEO for awhile, he gave us a lot of good info. He also said that Globe is in the qualified service area, and we could live in Globe, which was still very small, but so much better!

We went on a 3 hour tour. We learned everything about the town and surrounding areas. So that helped ease some of my anxieties. We ate at a Mexican family owned restaurant that was fantastic. Lets face it, the Midwest is amazing at BBQ, but we lack in the Mexican food world. We met a lot of really nice people, and I left with an open mind.
Travis went back the next day and interviewed more and went and saw the clinics, etc.

Job interview #2, Casa Grande, Arizona

We arrived, and there was an actual city there, fully equipped with a huge mall, tons of stores, and about 8 beautiful subdivisions. This place was a great deal larger than the Globe area. I went on a 3 hour tour with a real estate agent, while Travis met everyone and interviewed. I don't know if it was because I had just been in the Globe area, or what, but I was really excited about Casa Grande. It would only be 45 minutes away from my sister, and it was enough suburbia for me.

But then the punch in the gut happened and the guy told us that its not a guarantee for loan repayments, and the base pay would be significantly lower than the Globe job. 

You just can't have your cake and eat it too.

So that is where we are at right now, weighing the pros and cons and also looking at other options.

We really want to get out of lame medical school loan debt, but we also want to be happy. So if you have a solution, I am open to suggestions!

Now for the pleasure part of this post.... don't get too excited, this is a family blog. Travis had to go back to work, but I didn't so the girls and I hung out with my sis and her family for an extra 6 days. 

Like I said, I took hardly any pictures. We were just so happy to be in the warm sun, that we didn't really plan anything. We went to the park a bajillion times. And then it got cold and hailed.

What the what?

We had an amazing game of kick soccer, where I took my 10 year old nephew out. We celebrated that 10 year olds ten years on his birthday. We played my little pony, and when I say we, I mean us girls and one Jack Jolley, he likes ponies and he is proud of it OK. We went to Bahama Bucks and slurped up the most delicious drinks.

We met up with some old friends.

And of course spent some quality time with this guy 

And then just like that, we were home!

And I survived the plane ride by myself, which I was so dreading!

I'm so glad we payed $200 for this seat

It didn't get sat on the whole time; we were in this position the whole 3 hours

We got home to the aftermath of the biggest snow storm the midwest has ever seen... well that I've ever seen in the midwest, I should say.

And look what this little dear did for us

He loves us 

And we love him

Thank you to my beautiful sister for having us, small kids are hard to handle, but she smothered them the whole time. Also thank you to my sweet parents who I hardly even saw the short 4 days they were there. They watched our kids a ton while we were gone interviewing! 

Well, that is the scoop, lots of praying and decision making for us in the next couple of months!