An Offer

Well, it happened! That job offer that has been alluding us all this
time finally came in. And ya know what- 5 other companies jumped on board
and started moving their hiring process along. I just thought the
last 3 months have been stressful! Matt will have 5 different fly-outs in 10 days!

The first company to give him an offer gave us until Friday to decide.
He's flown to Grand Rapids, MI, Orange County, CA, Neenah WI. He got
home an hour ago and leaves in 11 hours for Plano, TX. He'll spend 3 hours in
the SFO airport waiting for his flight to Topeka, KS on Wednesday
and be back home late Thursday night.

Friday will be a long day... *hopefully* sorting through different offers
and figuring out where will be the best fit for him and our family.

We have been so blessed and are ecstatic to see a light at the end of the tunnel!
Just not quite sure where that tunnel leads to just yet. But
only a few more days and then we will!

Thanks your all your prayers and support! Especially to our families who have
been such a support. And to Matt's parent's for putting up with us (and
Brayden and Taylor's 5:45 wake up calls!)

Beach Day

We love being so close to the beach- now if the fog would go away so we can go again!

The boys favorite game is 'get out of jail.' We dig a pit for them to stand in the cover their legs and see who can get out of jail first. It's a lot of digging for us for the 5-second escape but they LOVE it!

As we were leaving we saw this:

The poor guy thought it was a small puddle and was going to drive right through it to get out of the beach parking lot. Woops! There's got to be some gospel analogy I can use here...:)

Obstacle Course 6.30

One afternoon we were trying to think of something to get some energy out so we built an obstacle course. We started off with just a balance beam but then it grew and grew. The boys would start on the left, run and jump over the balance beam, weave in and out of 8 screwdrivers stuck in the ground then cross the balance beam. We had 7 large bolts lying on the ground they would jump over then run up the 'ramp' (all two inches of incline) and cross the finish line.

Taylor ran the course probably 20 times in a row, trying to beat his previous time and get faster. Then he rode in circles around us on his big wheel grandma Lara bought him.

Matt's surgery

I've mentioned that Matt had surgery and is on crutches but here is a post devoted to it. He rolled his ankle on the first day of the MWC Basketball tournament, just 1 hour before BYU was to play (I remember, we couldn't watch it because I had taken him to get x-rays at urgent care) back in February. He went through some physical therapy but it wasn't helping so he went to see an surgeon and they decided surgery was necessary. He 'went under the knife' (and saw!) on May 29th. They tightened and reattached the ligament he stretched and scoped out all the scar tissue and then they cut his heel bone and shifted it over 6mm and screwed it back in place. You can see the 'screw mark' in the pictures below.

He was in a cast for 2 weeks then got a walking boot. He was on crutches for 6 weeks but was approved to walk in his walking boot this past week. YEA!

His poor little calf looks so weak. By then 2nd week of crutches he was so sick of them
so he just started hopping everywhere and not using them. So not only was his one calf
not used, his left calf got the workout of it's life EVERDAY! He got so good he was
jumping up our stairs two-at-a-time.

Stress

I have discovered the amount of stress I am under can be calculated on the scale. In the last month I've been under about 8 pounds of stress... and the seams in the 2 pairs of jeans I brought with me can't take much more! Thank goodness I'm nursing- I'd be in serious trouble.

Matt had a total of 11 interviews this week (6 just today!) and flys to Michigan on Sunday, hoefully the job hunt stress will be over soon!

Life Update

(*** kinda long and boring and there's no pictures but I just need to write it all down)

So the last two months have been crazy for us. Matt graduated, we had a baby, Matt had ankle surgery and then we packed up our place- moved it into a storage unit and drove the 12 hours to California to stay with Matt's parents in the gorgeous Half Moon Bay. (how's that for a run-on sentence)

Matt is still interviewing like crazy and job searching to find the perfect job for our post-MBA life. He's been on crutches for 6 weeks and finally got the ok to walk just a few days ago. It's been so nice to have another pair of hands around! (crutches made it hard for him to carry anything meaning LOTS of extra trips when trying to get everyone in the car)

Half Moon Bay was always our back-plan. My thinking is that if I'm prepared for a bad situation, then I won't have to use it... well, not the case here. There's something big out there for our family, we're just having to wait a little longer for it. A lot of prayers, fasting, patience and humility have gotten me to a place where I can even talk about this. Why this is happening to me/us goes through my head daily but the boys are really loving getting to hang out with their grandparents and it's been a huge blessing to have family that can help support us in times of need. I'm searching for the blessings in this situation and can find the Lord's hand in our life- just not the way I had it planned out. Isn't that the way it always goes?

Things are still up in the air. One thing for sure that I know is that my little brother comes home from a mission in Argentina on Aug 17th and we will be there with signs and balloons at the Denver airport to welcome him home after two years of devoted service to the Lord. Until then-we'll just keep chugging along, trying to do what's right.

Matt has two fly-outs for two different companies coming up in the next few weeks to Grand Rapids, MI which would put us in close proximity with multiple couples from the MBA program which would be SO fun. We need a job, and Matt wants to support his family doing something he loves- brand marketing. I know we're being watched over and blessed by the Lord, I mean look at these kids- they're the proof of that for sure! Keep your fingers crossed and say an extra prayer for us!

Austin {2 months} 6.25.11

It's been another great month to be alive! Austin is doing great and has started some really fun new tricks.

This month:

• started smiling
• drove from Utah to California (has now been in 4 states!)
• eating like a champ
• weighed 12 lb 10 oz, 24" tall at 1 mo 19 day
• waking up only 1/night
• at the end of the month he started sleeping 8 hours at a time
• still in size one diapers
• wearing 3-6 month clothing

We sure love you Austin and you're such a good baby!

Tummy Time, 6.22

Having people to talk to makes the 'tummy time' fly right by!

Taylor the Second's Release, 6.14

Before we left Provo we had a big release party for our fish (yea- he's been alive and well for almost on year now!!! go us!) It was a pretty sad day for Taylor and Brayden but we let them know that Taylor II will make some friends and be able to play with new fish at the pond. I hope that's true but I have my doubts!

Thanks Taylor II for being resilient! You withstood the light feeding days (I would ALWAYS forget), and the heavy feeding days (half a bottle of food- thanks Bray!) You would sleep with your light on every night I forgot to turn it off and most importantly you didn't die on us! We hope you're enjoying your new home.

Family Night, 6.10

Our last week in Provo a local realtor put on a family night in the park near our place. They cooked dinner for us and had face painters, a balloon artist and bouncy houses. The boys loved it!

After dinner they set up a movie, Tangled, outside so we went to that as well. It didn't start until dark (9:15!!!) but the we had a lot of fun. Even Austin seemed to enjoy it.