A year in Review… WOW... I know, I know what you are thinking… really she is going to update her blog now after almost a year of not posting hardly anything. Well I am trying to find the time so hold on, because this is going to be a long post of a ride… and 3 hours later this is what I have come up with!
We started out the 2010 year in Riverside where Mark was working for ATK and I was going to school at Utah State University. For those of you who do not know ATK has had (and is still having) major layoff’s and job stability has been something that has been pretty much nonexistent for those working there. This was very frustrating for Mark and we really wanted to move on with our lives, buy a house, settle in, and plant our roots somewhere. We spent many hours driving around, looking at lots/houses, but never really felt 100% sure that we should move forward with anything. There was a reason for that, as there always is! We were very fortunate and Mark was never laid off, but we felt that it was time to look for something that was more stable. We would have liked to stay in the area we were at, we made many great friends (who we miss very much now) and loved living in a small town, but we felt that we were not moving forward and found this to be very frustrating.
After a few months of applying for jobs Mark accepted a position with Intermountain Healthcare as a Supply Chain Analyst. (For those of you that do not know what a supply chain analyst is.. it is right up Mark’s ally. He looks at different aspects of the company to see where they can cut back to save money.) This was not an easy decision for either of us and he actually denied the position at first. There were pro’s and con’s for both situations, but after a drive to St. George talking about what was best for our family, a Grandma’s advice, and a trip to the temple we decided to take the position and move to the busy and hectic Salt Lake Valley.
When we were in St. George we went on a drive with Grandma Olson through Zion's National Park. We also went through this really little tunnel and were scared for our lives coming out of it because the snow was so deep on the road!
This was not the end of Northern Utah for me, I still had a month or so of the semester left until graduation. This posed a problem for me, any of those that know me, know that I do not stay home alone at night. We went back and forth or whether or not to get rid of the apartment, but I was really just too nervous about being up their by myself. I had a few offers from people, including my great boss’s in the psychology department at Utah State. Luckily for me the semester before I met an AWESOME friend, that was kind enough to let me crash at her and her hubby’s house. We had a ton of fun and I still miss having her as a roomie! Shout out to you Heidi Llewellyn-say it with me, thanks again! Oh, oh and shout out to me, I did graduate with my Bachelors degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentration area’s in Psychology and Family and Consumer Studies. I did not walk in the graduation ceremony, instead I walked in the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure with my entire family and a bazillion other people!
So all the while when I was still up north, Mark was living with my parents and searching for a place for us to live (and yes my Husband and my Mother both survived this time, without any fighting!). Like I said before we were so ready for a house, so Mark was searching and searching while I was going to school. When I would come home for the weekend we would drive around and look at houses. While Mark wanted to live closer to work, I was pushing to live by family and friends. We are happy we made the choice we did and are now living in Riverton.
Mark has admitted to liking living here, not for the lack of people, but he has been rescued by both my parents two different times! He rides the bus into downtown and one day on his way home got himself into a pickle when he road past his bus stop (because he was dead asleep) up to Herriman where the bus driver woke him up. My mom came to the rescue so he did not have to walk so far to get home and he now sets an alarm to ensure he wakes up! My dad came to the rescue when Mark got stuck on the roof. Mark was working away cutting down a big ugly, taking over willow tree that is in our backyard. When all of the sudden he realized that the tree limb was going to break something on the roof. He climbed up on the roof so fast, not realizing that he had tipped the ladder over while doing so. He said he sat up on the roof debating whether to jump off or call the cable guy with the ladder over from the neighbor’s house. He finally decided that he would call my dad and now says that it is not so bad living so close to the in-laws!
Shortly after moving into our house we finally got the calling that we had been dreading to receive with each new ward we moved into. We are serving as the nursery leaders. While some days we want to pull out our hair or the children’s we have made it through! It has actually been really fun to have time each week with the kids and we love playing and having snacks at church. It still grosses me out and gives Mark the shivers to wipe boogers, but it is giving us good practice and I am developing more skills in patience!
For the past 7 months I have been working for the University of Phoenix as an Academic Counselor, where I get to call students and remind them about their classes and re-arrange their class schedules when they have conflicts. I do not love it when I get yelled at for things that are usually out of my control, but I am thankful to have found a job where I love the girls I work with and have an excellent time. I have also started working on a Master’s in Business Administration with an emphasis in Human Resource Management. I do not always love it and gripe when I am writing paper, but I am thankful to be continuing my education for free. Mark has also started a Master’s of Business Administration with Western Governor’s University, we try to keep one another motivated because at times we both struggle with keeping our motivation going. This is currently what takes up the majority of our time!
In the summer we were able to enjoy working in our yard and for the first month we were in our house argued about who got to mow the lawn. This was not what you are thinking, we actually had to take turns for each line of the lawn because we both wanted a turn. This faded quickly and Mark took over the majority of the time, which I am thankful for. We were able to go to many different family parties and have a good time with everyone. We also were able to take a camping trip up Ephraim canyon with our good friends/cousins, Kyle, Ashlie, Alisha, and my Brother Justin. We were able to hit a couple of good concerts, Tim McGraw with Lady A and Diamond Rio with our other good friends/cousins Clay and Telli.
Yes I guess this is the only kind of pictures we take at concerts, are of me by myself... smiling like an idiot! :)
Grandma Olson was honored in the Ephraim parade as the Grand Marshall. She does not like to be in the spotlight much, but this was an awesome event for the entire family to see.
Mid-year was a tough time for Mark’s family, but ended up happy in the end. Grandma Olson fell and had a hip replacement and spent a few months in a rehabilitation home in Orem, where we should have visited more, but we did not. Mark’s youngest brother Alex was supposed to leave on a mission to Fiji, but unfortunately ran into some trouble and was not able to go out. We have had the opportunity to have him live with us for the past 5 months he is going to school, working at Cabela’s, and working on getting out on a mission. This has helped me to see the real power of the Atonement and Jesus Christ’s love for me and all of Heavenly Fathers children. While this has not been the easiest task I have had to take because I am worried about a teenager and when he is going to be home I feel blessed to be able to help in this little way and hopefully get him back out on a mission.
As the summer ended hunting season began! This was my first year of having a deer tag. I felt like there was a lot of pressure on me. I grew up with my brothers and dad doing this my entire life and then married in to a family of hunters and almost all were all going to be there while searching for the deer or looking at them on the farm! We went up on the mountain and looked and searched I was taught at this time to walk quietly, who knew how loud I was before this day! I had the sniffles and was asked to sniff quietly and handed a glove with the advice to let it run down and then just wipe it off with the glove. It was a good time that I spent with my husband and family members. There were not any “shootable” deer that we could see. We headed to the farm to get me my guaranteed first deer, Mark and a few of his brothers were with us. We spotted them and drove up the field where Mark told me to get out of the truck and go. So I got out of the truck and I put up my gun, I then told him that I was too scared to do it alone, he told me he could not get out of the truck because he would spook the deer. I started to freak out, so he got out of the truck to help. He got the deer in the site and then had me come over. I put the gun up and was ready to shoot and then I looked at it, the deer that is. I started crying and Mark started laughing and comforting me. He was very nice and told me that it was okay if I didn’t shoot it. I am not so sure that I am fit to be a hunter, but I am very happy I have an understanding husband that loves me. (Dang it… No one was successful this year!) We also enjoyed watching many BYU football games (after the first portion of the season!) with our friends and family.
The end of the year has consisted of school work, a few BYU basketball games, one snowboarding trip, hanging out with family, and we are thankful to have all of them in our lives.
This pretty much wraps up what our past year has looked like and I hope to have another great one in 2011!
