New hire training

This past Tuesday and Wednesday we were in Utah for another training. This wives were included for this one. :]

Our flight left at 6am so we were up by 4 and on our way by 4:45. We had a lay over in Vegas and when we got there I was really hungry. I saw a Wendys and told Jarom "I'm so hungry let's get some lunch." He looked at me and said "Tayler it's 7:30 in the morning." That's when I knew it was going to be a very long day and it was. But good.

We arrived in Utah and a shuttle picked us up and took us to "The Plaza" hotel right across from Temple Square. We got checked in and then headed over to the church office building for lunch and meetings. It was raining and so I wanted to have the hotel drop us off closer to the building but Jarom wanted the adventure of walking. By the time we got to the church office building I was wet and freezing cold. My hair was soaked and somehow my hair spray soaked up the water and my hair wouldn't dry so it looked wet and greasy for 3 hours. Fun. But we got there and had lunch with 12 other couples who had just gone through a training that we'd go through after lunch. They were awesome people. It was kinda sad to meet all these amazing couples but then not see them again because we're all in different states. Actually there were about 25 couples who were hired this year. One was going to Mesa Arizona, about 6 were in Idaho with one on the border of Idaho and Organ, we were the only ones in California and the rest were all over Utah. The rest were Seminary instructors; Jarom was the only institute director.

After lunch we went to the meeting to have Jarom learn more about the laptop they were giving him and met with HR to finalize everything. I was exhausted! Plus I had worn heals and we were walking everywhere so my feet hurt like mad and I wore a dress that was to short and I was so consciences of it all day. I threw it away when we got home. But after the meeting with Bro. Valenga (who was our HR rep that day) we went up a few stories and saw Rahn. It was nice to just set in the office and relax for a little bit. Then we walked back over to the hotel, changed, and had dinner with the rest of Jaroms family.

This is the view from our room. It was so beautiful looking at the conference center and capital building all lit up.

The next day we got a ride over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where we had some morning meetings, then lunch, and then an afternoon conference with Chad Webb the CES administrator. He's at the top. He meets every 2 weeks with the church education board (Pres. Monson, Pres. Eyring, Pres. Utchdorf, Elder Nelson, Elder Ballard, Elder Oaks, Elder Snow, Sister Dalton, and Sister Beck) to discuss everything. He talked to us for about an hour and a half and it was amazing! When we left there we were even more excited about what we were doing and what our future has in store for us.

BUT before I close I have to tell you about lunch. I can have such a fascination with food. Haha I'm pretty sure it runs in my family. Anyway lunch was AMAZING!! I had to take some pics and talk about it briefly. :]

First was this salad. Spinach, strawberries, bacon, candied nuts, and red bell pepper with a strawberry vinaigrette dressing. I know those foods may sound weird together but it was delicious.

Second: Chicken Teriyaki. The teriyaki sauce was to die for. It was thicker then most teriyaki sauces because it had some honey in it. They also served rice and perfectly steamed veggies. Bell peppers (my fav), carrots, broccoli, onions (which were perfectly flavored and didn't overpower the rest of the food at all or leave you with stinky onion breath) and snow peas (which were good but I'm not to big on those). There was also some fruit but I though it was more of a garnish and didn't think it tasted good since it was warm from the plate.

Last Course: Dessert. It wasn't fudge but it wasn't a brownie either. It was like a combo and it was chocolate with a mint topping, vanilla ice cream, and a strawberry. Everything was amazing!!!!

What I learned from my lunch... the church likes us to have healthy delicious satisfying meals. After that I really wanted to be a better cook and make healthy dinners for Jarom and I. Plus the portion sizes weren't that big but extremely filling!

It was a great 2 days!

(If you're reading this and there are no pics I thought they would be posted soon but as you'll see in a few posts I washed Jaroms iPhone before he downloaded everything. :[ But I don't want to go back and re-write the whole thing.)

Tay & J's REALLY new adventure :]

I don't even know where to start. :] I guess the first thing is Jarom got hired. We are so excited and a little stressed... but more excited! :D When Bro. Valenga came in January to give us an interview we had talked about where we were going to live. By the end of the interview we had decided (due to health and wanting to have a baby) that the 2 places we could live were Utah or San Diego. We really wanted to be close to family when I had a baby so they could help. SOOOOOO when they called us to Rancho Cucamonga we were very surprised. When Jarom told me I started shaking I was so happy. I couldn't believe we got hired. We had dreamt and prayed for this for so long and it was finally happening. This is Jaroms dream career and we feel so blessed.

So after this wonderful excitement then everything started setting in. Feeling overwhelmed and scrambled. Not knowing what we needed to do or where to start. Then I thought how I wouldn't see Grant all the time and see all the new things he was doing and saying and I started crying. Not that Rancho Cucamonga is that far but about 2 hours. So I can't just pop down to S.D when I want but at least it's not a day away.

We also found out that Jarom is going to be the Director of the Institute which is also a little overwhelming. He thought maybe he'd start out as an instructor and go slowly but we're just jumping right in. Jarom was feeling like he didn't have a lot to offer. The Director he's replacing is amazing. Bro Hal Haywood. Jarom felt like the institute was going to go downhill once he got there (I mean just at first until he gets the hang of everything :]) but we went and saw the institute a couple Tuesdays ago (actually on the way to the Avi for a few days for spring break) and we felt so excited. All of a sudden we couldn't wait to get up there. We also realized that the institute was built in the 70ies and still kind of looked like it was in the 70ies. We had impressions that we needed to make it brighter and update it. Really make it a place were students will want to come and hang out and if they're not members to come check it out. I just can't wait to see what my budget is. :] Haha!

Anyway we got back from the Avi on Friday and Saturday (a week after we saw the institute) we went apartment shopping. We probably saw 7 or 8. By the end of the day we were burnt out! In fact after about 5 we weren't finding anything and we were feeling very frustrated. Then I saw a couple that looked nice so we decided to check them out and we really liked them. Carmel and Jamboree. We like the lay out of Jamboree better but it was more expensive. We had just about decided to go with Jamboree when we found their ratings. They weren't that good. 50% said yes and about 50% said no. Carmel got much higher ratings (about 80% yes and 20% no) so we decided to write them and see if they had anything available. That was yesterday and we're still waiting for a response. Hopefully we'll find out soon though because we're suppose to move May 21st!!!

Yeah I thought we'd have more time also. When we were first going through this process I thought that it would be around the 1st of June. I was worried that they'd hire us to go to Utah and we'd have a month to rent out our condo and move. Then when we actually got hired we thought we'd have until August (since College doesn't start until September). So we've been taking our time. Well we have been feeling like we need to be up there soon which is good because we just found out a couple days ago that Jarom must be up there by June 9th for his first summer session. So now we're frantically trying to find a renter and get up there. The only weird thing is we still don't know where we're moving or who is moving in but we know we're leaving May 21st. :] We feel like everything is going to work out though. In fact when we first found out that we were moving up to Rancho Cucamonga Bro. Bishop (who's "over" Jarom) told us that he and Bro. Kinnect and the men in Utah had a video conference and they all felt really good about having us move up there. When I heard that I knew it was the right thing also.

The only bad thing is that I keep getting all these negative feelings. I got them before I was married to. I felt so good about marrying Jarom but then the 4 months leading up to it I was so depressed and frustrated. I felt so down and I rarely ever felt good about anything and it really inhibited my being able to feel the spirit and make other decisions! The same thing is happening all over again. I feel like when anything good is about to happen Satan works really hard on me. It's not until after the big moment (getting married or moving) that I feel a weight lifted off of me and I know I made the right decision. Maybe that's part of the reason I feel this urgency to move.

Anyway I just want to get up there. Of course it would be nice to have renters first but I guess I can't wish for everything. :] Ultimately we're both very excited to be starting this next adventure in our lives. Next... a baby! Hopefully! That is if I can get through 9 months of frustrated negative feelings. :]