Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

The year has come and gone quickly and we have had some rather large accomplishments! I survived my first year teaching, John graduated from BYU undergrad, and Samson is still alive!! (That last one is probably the biggest surprise taking into account his puppy diet of electronics and corn cobs.) SO now for the changes!

We have made our final cross country journey from Utah to Maryland. This time we left nothing in storage. We sold many of our belongings (like my favorite couch!) because we had planned on attending NYU and we knew you can't get much of an apartment for what we could afford. We packed up whatever was left and John drove all 37 hours with this puppy attached to his hip/the back of our car!

Ask me how many hours I drove...the answer is zero. I have the best hubby! Oh and just while we are on the subject... look what he made for my drama club play. The kids LOVED it! (Special thanks to Michael for his artistic skills for the shield!)

So we are officially done with Utah!! HOORAY! Bring on the East Coast! We are living with the Harding's this summer in Bethesda, Maryland. John's going to be working at Calleva, an outdoor summer adventure camp, with his brothers Dave and Michael. This is a dream job compared to the last 2 summers of internships, commuting, and suits. He gets to play all day on the island, in the water, and on the ropes course. Pretty much be a big kid. I will probably be doing some babysitting or whatever else that can make me a little mula. Samson was so happy to be reunited with his best pal Bryant. They play outside all day and bring in double the dirty paw prints inside!

We have only been home for a week but have loved every second we have gotten to spend with our family! Just this week we've been to crawfish boils, lots of family dinners, game night, shopping trips, and even kidnapped Shayne from school all day on his birthday!


It's so nice to be close to home, probably what I missed the most in my five years of Utah. That's why it was so important for us to pick a law school close to home. Many of people knew we had decided on NYU, but looks like the tides have turned. Live is full of surprises and it certainly threw one at us last week. UVA called (John's dreamschool) and offered John acceptance if he would defer for one year. That means instead of going to school right away, he would have to wait for the 2011-2012 school year to begin. It was a difficult decision for us to make, especially since NYU is a very prestigious and highly ranked school. In the end after lots of prayer and discussion we decided that UVA, the University of Virginia, was just a better fit for us. So its not exactly New York City, but it will be a different kind of adventure for us! Now we are just trying to figure out what we will be doing in our year "off." Will we live on the Virginia or Maryland side of the river? John would like to get a job with a law firm, maybe as a paralegal for a little more experience with the law. Hopefully I can get a great teaching job! Whatever happens, we know the Lord is guiding us and we are truely blessed! Bring on the changes!