Chris first. (cause he's older).
Katie and I have always had a secret secret love affair with the State of Colorado. We are not sure exactly where the infatuation came from, I think that came from that one time when I was five and that guy gave me a swig of his Coors. That sweet taste of the Rockies, funny the things we pick up on when we are little kids.
Anyway, love affair, Colorado. So about three years ago Katie and I decided that if we ever moved out of state it would be Colorado. And there the thought was planted and lay dormant for another 2 and half years. November 2007 we took a trip to Colorado Springs (a city south of Denver, and Denver is in Colorado). We liked the city and the idea of moving, but the timing just didn't seem right. Fast forward to January 2009 one boy and second house later. The Rocky Mountain fever started to set in again. I applied for a job in Denver. I passed the written interview, phone interview, and then they flew me up for the face to face. No dice. But it was a secret blessing cause about week later Ash got really really sick and spent a week in the hospital and we had to get new renters.
Over the next few months we resigned to the idea of staying in Mesa for a while longer. We got my sister to move into a house around the corner and we started to make some good friends in the ward. Then I went and messed it all up. I was chatting with an old boss, Brent up in Fort Collins (Ft Collins is north of Denver, and remember Denver is in Colorado, this will all be on the test, I sure hope you are taking notes, slacker). Anyway, chatting, old boss, here we go. So we were chatting and I asked him if he would let me know next time he was hiring. He said he would and then said that he is. He asked what Katie thought about moving, I told him it was her idea. Well Kate and I went back and forth about the idea. We ended up deciding not to apply.
Then something interesting happened. I stated thinking. Me thinking can be interesting by its self, but in this case it was what I was thinking, that was interesting. I started to think what is keeping us in one place, what is holding us back, and maybe who is holding us back, from doing what we want to do. I started thinking that I will only live once and I didn’t want my one go at life to be filled with regrets. Not the regrets of something I did, but the kind that creep up when you didn’t do something and you never know what might have happened if you had just took that step into the unknown. The clinical term is Self-Determined, it is the need to be in control of your own life and Kate and I didn’t feel in control. Not that anyone was holding a gun to our temples, but that expectations and the fear of the unknown was keeping us back.
I could feel who I am, changing. Growing. I look at things just a little different now. Life is something not to be squandered. If you don’t like the view, change it. And we were tired of the same old daisies. So I tossed in my resume and put the rest into the hands of more capable people. Before I did this, Katie and I had been doing some serious consultaion with our Father in Heaven. We fasted, prayed, and sought inspiration at the Temple. We were blessed with confirmation that the time was right. Not only were we blessed with a sure knowledge but with inspiration on how to make it all work.
I had the phone interview on a Monday morning two weeks ago. I think it went rather well. I saw that now cause I gots the job, but a second after I hung up the phone a millon thoughts ran through my head of what I said wrong or what I forgot to say. Oh well. He told me that it would take a couple of days to a couple of weeks for the back ground check and appliciaon to be processed. After the interview Katie and I decided that if we were going to do this we needed to do it all the way. And by all the way I mean put our house up for sale before we knew if we had the job. We wanted to give the ol’ faith and works thing a go. And it worked cause the day after I got the call, our realtor got a call and an offer on the house.
After I got the call I checked with NASA and they confimed that due to Saturns norther axis rotation alinign with Earths Moon, that time actuly slowed for about a week and half. Totally weired cause that is the same amount of time it took for Brent to get back to me about if I got the job or not. Space stuff is cool.
A lot of really cool things have happened to Katie and I on Thursdays. Katie being born, getting engaged and married, we found out we were moving. It was about 4 PM and I heard my phone buzz, it was Brent, from Colorado (Colorado is a State, a State in the Union, and for Katie and I, now a state of mind). Anyway, phone, buzzing, here we go. I had been checking my phone every ten to fifteen mins everyday since the phone interview. When I was not checking my phone I was checking my email. This kept me pretty busy.
When I answered the phone it was Brent, just like the caller ID said. We small chatted for about a min and then he told me I got the job. I had to go outside I was so excited. But even outside I couldn’t scream and yell and push people to the ground and tell them I got the job. So I was content with a big stupid grin and squeeling while I covered the mouth piece. We chatted about moving and job stuff and scheduled some time to talk again on Monday.
I love to call Katie at random times throughout the day during what we call now “The Waiting” just to hear her voice crack in anticipation only for me to tell her I hadn’t heard back. During all of this I told her that I could be strong enough not to tell her over the phone when I got the Colorado call. She didn’t have faith in me, I saw this as a challenge and I like to win challenges. And I did. Cause I survived two phone calls with her after I found out and made it all the way home. This was big as news goes and I wanted to see her face, to scream with her, and to hug her when she found out. So I gets home run into the bedroom for my welcome home hug. I get close to her left ear and whisper that I got a call from Colorado and they want me to work for them. I think I blacked out after that cause all I can remember after that is waking up on the roof with a toga on, and a goat tied to the chimney.
And that is the story in 1200 words or less (actually a bit more). And the best part about it is its only the beginning. Crap did I just say that how freaking cliché.
My turn! Same story just my version of it.
Since February Chris and I have been going back and forth about actually applying and moving to Colorado. Thank goodness he didn't get the job the first time around. (Renter issues, Asher in the hospital, the timing just wasn't going to work out.) We decided to keep rocking with plan A that we'll move once we graduate. Then a few weeks ago the discussions started up again. Chris's amazing boss from his Online days had transferred to the Ft.Collins campus, so Chris was chatting with him on a Monday three weeks ago and said "Hey, will you let me know when you're hiring up there" and Brent the boss said "I'm hiring now."
By that night we decided not to do it, the timing wasn't going to work out and the stress of renting two houses would be too hard from 1000 miles away. Tuesday Chris was at work and again started talking about it. By Wednesday afternoon he submitted his resume and there was no going back. The following Monday Chris had a phone interview and Brent the boss said "once your background check comes back we'll make our decision" We patiently waited for him to call.
Chris and I had this heated debate about whether he would call me while at work once he got the call whether he got the job or not. I said he wouldn't be able to handle it and would have to call me ASAP. He then took that as a challenge that he could wait till he got home from work to tell me if he got the job or not. "We'll see" I said.
Thursday was a crazy day, I was out shopping forever and had left my phone at home. Chris had called me around 4pm and so I called Chris when I got home at 4:30pm we chatted about my crazy afternoon getting ready for the ranch blah blah blah... ok I'm busy I'll see you when you get home.
When Chris came home he came and found me getting ready for the family surprise dinner extravaganza, we went to hug each other and I went in for a kiss and he went in to whisper something in my ear ending up in some awkward cheek-kiss-thing. I could feel him shaking and then whisper "Brent called me..." and I freaked, and he freaked and then I had a heart attack and then ran around the house trying to remember what I needed to do and then I called my mom, and some moving companies.
If you have made it to this part of the blog congrats you get a hug.
We're moving September 26, so be on the lookout for a invitation to our goodbye party!
