For the most part, I have always been a person who gets bored fairly easily and likes to change things up every so often. After the last couple of months, I'm not so sure I'm excited for any more changes any time soon! At the beginning of February, we were shocked to find out that the Platinum was shutting down and that Bubba no longer had a job there. Platinum has been like a family to us for the last 5 years and we are so glad that we took that job opportunity back then because Bubba's job there was a huge blessing for our family and we really enjoyed all of the opportunities he had while he was there. The first few days after that news, I was in a little bit of a shock and a little bit panicked too. A few months earlier, we had already decided to sell our home and move closer to Savannah's school and Bubba's job. We got an offer the first day our home was on the market and we knew the closing deadline was the 27th of February. We had already been looking for a rental home for weeks prior and had been really frustrated because everything we looked kept falling through or taking longer than we hoped and we actually had finally found a home we liked and finally received the rental contract the same day that we heard the news about Platinum. Luckily, we hadn't signed the contract or paid any money because with no job, that option was no longer an option! Platinum had already booked their company cruise and it happened to take place several days after their announcement. I wasn't going this year because I am still nursing Camden and didn't want to stop just for the trip so Bubba was going by himself and decided to still go so that he could find out what everyone else was planning on doing.
Shortly after the cruise, he signed up to work with Vivint and although it was nice to have employment (income), we weren't thrilled that this meant Bubba would have to be a Lead Tech again for the summer, meaning that he would have to go run a summer office in New York. Due to the kids being in school, and us being in a rental home that I couldn't just leave vacant for several months, I was planning on staying in Utah with the kids all summer so that he could go run the office. It was a good opportunity financially though, so we decided to move forward with those plans and we found another home in Provo that worked out as far as time frame/size/quality/price and moved in on February 25.
We decided to have movers come help with the big stuff and they were supposed to show up at 2:00 on the Saturday that we moved. They didn't show up but kept calling us to tell us they were running a bit behind and then finally at about 6 pm, they told us they just couldn't make it. Needless to say, I was irate and very strongly told them that that was not an option and they said they could come at 7 am the next morning. We really were against the whole idea of moving on Sunday but at that point, we really didn't have any other options so we agreed. They were supposed to send 3-4 men to move us, and at 8:30 Sunday morning they finally showed up with one man and one small woman. I about lost it but once again, had no other options so we just let them do their job and then paid them about half what they were planning on charging us. I will admit that the woman was pretty buff though and they got all the big stuff loaded and moved.
Our new home is nice, the neighborhood is nice and the kids have already made lots of friends and we are mostly settled in, although I have a lot of boxes and a garage full of stuff to sort through still. Interesting how everything takes so much longer with 4 little ones!
Right after Bubba had started working with Vivint, we saw an ad on KSL for a Burglar Alarm Qualifying Agent position, which is something that Bubba had just barely gotten qualified for while still working for Platinum. We sent his resume in to this company in Park City and never really heard back from them, even though Bubba called several times to follow up with the company. We kind of gave up on them after a couple of weeks and didn't think much about them. Bubba got another job offer from another company in the meantime and although there were things about it that were tempting, we just didn't feel right about it and kept going with Vivint. Out of the blue, the company in Park City contacted Bubba about coming in for an interview and they offered him the position immediately. We went back and forth and had an extremely difficult time making this decision, but finally decided that the Park City option was the best one for our family. The company (Lifestyle Electronics) is one that mostly does home theaters, etc. in high-end homes but wants to start offering security systems to their customers instead of just outsourcing it which is what they have done in the past. They hired Bubba to develop, oversee and manage the security part of their company and although he has been a little overwhelmed by the job and all of the "newness," it could really end up being a great opportunity long term, and short term, he does not have to move away for the summer! The commute is a little rough but it is the first time in our marriage that Bubba has a 9-5 job where he can really leave his work at home so I think overall we will end up having more time together as a family even though he spends a couple hours each day driving! The other night we took the kids to a park and both of us commented on the fact that it was so weird that we were there for an hour and Bubba didn't have to talk on the phone or answer text messages....it is so strange to not have him constantly on the phone! I think part of him really misses that, but it is also a huge relief to not be on call all the time and I think we will get used to it and enjoy that immensely!
The home we are in is much closer to Savannah's school than our Payson home was, but it is still about a 15 minute drive. Now that Bubba works in Park City, if we were to move to Orem/North Provo, not only would we be super close to Savannah's school, but Bubba would be about 15-20 minutes closer to work too so it looks like we will be moving again in the fairly near future. The thought of moving again gives me nightmares, but it will be really nice if we can find a place closer to work/school. Our lease isn't up until February so we will probably stick it out until then unless we decide to try to move sooner.
The last couple of months have been extremely stressful and have brought a lot of change for our family, but it has amazed me how everything has been working out. So many seemingly small details have worked/not worked together to make everything else work out and it really has amazed me how everything does work out! The day after Bubba heard the news about Platinum, it was amazing to me how quickly/drastically my perspective on everything changed. I think we have realized a lot of things through this experience, but mostly we have learned to be grateful for everything that we do have, and we have realized that as long as our family is together and doing well, all the rest doesn't matter quite so much. We are so lucky to have 4 beautiful, healthy, happy (except for Madison who is constantly throwing fits these days ;)) children and we have each other and that is the most important thing. We have really tried to make our family the priority in making all of these decisions and I believe that everything will work out if that is truly our top priority. Here's to hoping that the rest of 2012 is not quite so eventful as the first few months have been!
