Changes

I suppose I should update this blogarooni and mention some things that have been going on in our lives. First of all, because of James' unemployment, we decided it would be best if I looked for a job as well. It has been a grueling process for James and he still remains without a job, but super easy for me. I literally applied to 4, maybe 5 jobs and got offered two of them. While James has probably applied to over 200 jobs and is still searching. It makes absolutely no sense to me. He's the smarter one, he has a bachelors degree and I don't, but yet so many employers aren't giving him the time of day. We just don't get it, but I have to believe that it's because the right things hasn't come along. Whatever that right thing may be.

I started out working for a marketing company, before I got offered a job with Vivint and didn't really like it too much. So when I got the call to interview for Vivint, I jumped on it because we have some friends in our ward that work there and have said nothing but good things about it. I wanted to work somewhere that had a good rapport. Then when I heard how much money you could make, I was definitely in. Luckily, I was offered the job on the spot and quit the marketing company. It actually all ended up being good timing because after a few weeks of searching and debating, we finally found an apartment to move to so I needed the extra time until training started at Vivint to do that, while finishing up summer semester.

We had decided a long time ago that we would move out of our place come August, but went back and forth about where we would move, what we wanted to spend, how big it would be, etc. It's really hard to make a decision about those types of things before one of us was employed. But as soon as I got offered the job at Vivint, it was easier to narrow down our searching parameters and find a place we could grow into over the next 2 or 3 years. The place we ended up getting is just a few blocks south and a couple blocks to the east of our last place, but it is soooo much bigger. I believe our last place was a little under 700 sqft and we were seriously busting at the seams and because Janen is getting older, more independent and brave (along with clumsy) I wanted to live somewhere with a little bit more of an open floor plan. Now granted, the new place isn't as open as I would like, the size is ideal for a great price. It's just a little under 1400 sqft. It's a big apartment and I love it.

The management company gave us permission to paint it. They would pay for the paint if we painted it. So we spent several days painting. The livingroom is a beautiful color called silverlight. It's a blueish color with a silver undertone. I LOVE it! The rest of the house is just a beige color. The catch was that if we painted the walls a color that a new tenant didn't like after that, we would have to reinburse them for the paint. So we decided to stick to a more neutral color everywhere else if for some reason someone didn't like the blue. But how could you not?

Anyway, we felt fortunate to find this place. It's 3 bed 2 full baths with a laundry room. We were able to get a great deal on a washer (or rather my sister in law Emily did). A brand new washer for $180 that was normally around $400 and a free dryer that was found on the side of the road that Emily and Shawn let us have. Really, we've been blessed so much despite James' job search being so unsuccessful. We are hoping this is a place we can grow into over the next 2 or 3 years and (gasp) quite possibly have another baby while living here. There is definitely room for another little human being now.

On a completely different note: Janen has graduated to a toddler bed. She is doing good for the most part, but the last few days in her new bed has confirmed to me that she is a sleep walker. I always find her in different parts of the room when I come to get her in the morning. I slept walk to as a child and apparently it can get passed down to your children. Janen is also speaking in sentences and learning how to sing long and short sounds. She can count to ten in english and we are working on counting to ten in french. Her favorite number in french is quatre (four). Janen has sort of lost an interest in books (although she will let us read her a story for bedtime) but she loves to be told animated stories. So I've recently started retelling her classics while laying in our bed and she always asks for more. She is a great audience and laughs and squeals at all the right parts. I seriously love her guts!

All in all, we are doing good. I have high hopes for my new job and hope that we will be able to build some savings back up, start paying off student loans and be able to have all of our needs met. I hope that James gets a job or internship soon. We have been praying and fasting (with family and friends help) that James be blessed with a job, but particularly an internship opportunity that opened up in Salt Lake. The application deadline isn't for another week and half so we are hoping to hear something by the end of the month. It's hard for James not to get discouraged even though I have a job and we will be OK, but really I think he just needs to be out of the house doing his own thing. We don't care if we never have a big home or new cars, we just want to have our needs met, to make sure our children are taken care of, and to stay busy.

Well, I think that's about all for updating. This is what happens when life gets crazy, there is just too much to catch up on. Hopefully, next month, I can get a new camera and start taking regular videos and pictures of Janen again. Cause really she just says and does the cutest things.

Until then...