Keeping my fingers crossed...

This is our forecast for the upcoming week in Salt Lake City...not the greatest by a LONG shot, but I suppose it could be worse. I ran in 42 degree weather last week in the rain, so I should survive on Wednesday running 8 miles outside. The weekend was my bigger concern and for now the weather is looking a bit more promising for what will be the longest run in my training...12 miles! I will be saying my prayers that the weather stays good for Saturday!

Rain, Rain Go Away...Or Stay??

So the weather here the last few days has been disappointing to say the least. Last week we were in the high 60s and 70s all week. Travis and I even wore shorts and t-shirts last Saturday when the thermometer in my car got up to 76! The cold front got here Saturday night..and since then the thermometer hasn't gone past 48 degrees. A couple of mornings we have even woken up to snow and we haven't seen the sun since Saturday, so needless to say it has really gotten the best of me...until this afternoon.

I had been planning all day to run the 6 miles that was on my training schedule for today on the treadmill thanks to the crappy weather. I was NOT looking forward to spending close to an hour running in place. After I finished grocery shopping this afternoon the skies were overcast, but it hadn't started raining TOO bad (more or less a mist) so I decided I was going to stick it to the weather man and go running outside.

About half way into my run I felt like my pace was faster than it had been in the past. Then I realized that maybe I was feeling this way because there had been rain drops pelting my face the entire time. I refused to look at my watch before I finished because I didn't want to curse my time.

When I got to the finish and stopped my clock I was TOTALLY euphoric...I ran my 6 miles in 56 minutes!! That breaks down to 9:16 per mile...a personal best!! Maybe the rain is my lucky charm after all?! :)

"Families are like fudge...mostly sweet with a few nuts!"

Travis and I are very lucky to be a part of our families. They each are a never ending support system in all that we do. I love that whenever something happens with one of us, big or small, I can dial anyone of them and get at least one person on the other end to just listen to what I have to say. With my parents in Iowa and us in Utah, you would think that I would get home sick more often, but I talk to them nearly every day and so it's like I don't even miss a beat!

Matthew, Jana, Dad, Mom, Me, Trav

Salt Lake City, November 2008

Trav, Me, Keith, Heidi L, Mom, Parker, Dad, Heidi A., Ben

Old Faithful Lodge, July 2008

Often times, I hear stories of families that don't get along, or don't speak or see each other more than on the big holidays. I can't imagine what that would be like since I have always been extremely close to not only my immediate family, but also my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I am glad that our families get along. I hope that each and every one of them knows how much we truly appreciate and love them. Our lives wouldn't be the same without all the memories and love that we share with all of you!

One less thing to stress about...

YAY! Today I was offered the job that I interviewd for this past friday. I am super excited about the position and still can't believe that I found a job so quickly (I mailed all my resumes out on March 1). I will do a 3 hour telephone orientation on June 15 (the corporate offices are in Illinois and that is going to be one of the longest phone conversations of my life!) and my official start date at the facility is June 22. If our home is not finished by then Travis and I will have to decide if I will commute every day or live in a hotel up there during the week. Finding a job was one of the big things that I was worried about and so I feel a HUGE weight off of my shoulders! Now we just need to keep our fingers crossed for good weather in Logan so that our home can stay on schedule with the building process. I would also love to figure out a way to get all the ones that we love to be closer once we move :)

It's Progress!

Yesterday I had my interview up in Logan. It went really well and sounds promising. The staff seemed friendly, the facility well maintained and clean, benefits/salary right along the lines of what I was hoping for... It truely was all I had hoped it would be. The last thing that the rehab manager said to me before I left was "I am very interested in having you join us"...That's good right?! I will keep my fingers crossed for a job offer in the next few days.

One of my BFF's, Angela, used some of her vacation time to ride along with me up to Logan. She was such a good sport about the 1.5 hours that she had to wait for me during my interview. (especially since I had told her I was sure it wouldn't last more than 45 minutes! oops!) After I was finished I drove her around Logan to show her where Travis would be going to school and such.

Of course I was super excited to go see (and show Angela) the progress on our townhouse. We had found out earlier in the week that they had started framing so I was anxious to see our new home taking shape. I was pleasantly surprised at how much had been done already! When Travis and I were in Logan at the end of January they had just leveled out the dirt and poured the footings. It is a little hard to tell, but the red arrow is pointing at what will be our front door:


I have gotten a couple more leads in my job search so hopefully we will be going up again in the next couple of weeks for interviews and to take more pictures of the progress of our new home!

It'll be here before we know it!

As the weeks keep on flying by, Logan seems more and more real. We have been planning on this move for over a year and now it is only a few months away! Yesterday morning I sent 22 cover letters with resumes to various PT places in the Cache Valley hoping for a potential job interview. This afternoon, a little more than 24 hours later I got a phone call from one of the places (that was probably in my top 5 that I was hoping to hear from) YAY!! I spoke with the rehab director for a few minutes and got off the phone with plans to go interview with him next Friday! Wooo Hooo! They are looking to hire a PTA for full time. Next week, it will be Friday the 13th and since I am not superstitious I am feeling lucky ;) Just from the few minutes that I spoke with the director it all sounds very promising. This particular place offers out-patient, skilled rehab, and assisted living settings already and in May they are hoping to launch a home health division. PERFECT! So much variety sounds super appealing to me because it makes it that much harder to get burnt out. Hopefully it isn't too good to be true...

Also today, we got a letter in the mail from Utah State saying that Travis was officially accepted into the university. It didn't come as a surprise to me, I knew he would get in no problem. It just makes it that much more real that we are really going to do this! Now we will wait until after he finishes up this last semester at SLCC to contact his advisor and get a schedule figured out for the fall.

On another note, I am very excited for this weekend. We are going to the Home Show on Friday night which I can't wait for and then Sunday we are going up to Heber City to hang out with Travis' family. We haven't seen anyone for a month and it's always fun going up there to hang out with everyone...plus I have two prego sister in laws so I am always anxious to see their growing bellies! :)

We haven't heard anything new on our house this week, but hopefully framing has started, or will start in the next few days so there is something for me to see when I am up there next week! :)