It's been a bit of a limbo stage to be honest - driving us crazy - especially since we haven't felt any huge confirmation that any one job was what we should be going for. Steve applied for a few other jobs and one opened up in Oregon that I was excited about until we realized it was pretty much the same job we have now. There was another offer in Colorado - they loved Stephen in his phone interview and wanted to fly us both out to see the place, give us a rental car, and a B&B to stay in. This place is in south east Colorado - where you would never travel through on purpose - pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but we decided if they would give us the offer we asked for that we would do it for at least a few years.
SO - we flew out there for the weekend - in to Colorado Springs and then drove the three hours to Springfield - population 1,500 - all part of a major trucking route that goes in to Texas.
We flew in pretty late and got our car by about 11PM. Steve and I are NOT night drivers - we just get way too drowsy, so we were doing crazy things to stay awake - everything got pretty hilarious too when it was that late.
First hilarious thing:
 |
| I guess people in Colorado love big macs - they're trying to limit you of only 5 per customer - watch out! ;) |
 |
| When it's late at night - this name for a gas station - CHAIN gas stations by the way - are hilarious. We also passed a Tank and Tummy gas station. Who comes up with these names? |
 |
| If you look close enough at the liquor sign on the roof - it lets you know it's a drive thru liquor store - drinking and driving going hand in hand - there are multiples of these by the way! |
 | |
| The lonely mountain as Steve called it. This area of Colorado is pretty much the Great Plains - FLAT FLAT FLAT with a lot of BROWN BROWN BROWN. The clouds looked pretty gorgeous though as they'd pass by. Steve would sing this song from The Hobbit every time we drove by it: |
Fifth hilarious thing:
 |
| Political signs made out of particle board and barbed rods - very unique! |
Everyone who showed us around was incredibly nice and generous. Steve and I have both grown up in a small town - but it was immediately connected to larger ones. Springfield is about 45 minutes away from any other town in any other direction. We found that Lamar is the closest church and as we visited it, felt if this was the right move for us, we'd live in Lamar while Steve commuted to Springfield. Springfield was sweet and everyone so nice, but I think I might go crazy with how small and far away it is from everything - not to mention the grocery store that closes at 7 every night. I liked the idea of living closer to the church as well.
After a nice tour of the hospital Steve would work at, the school they had there, and a bit of house hunting, we left and checked out Lamar and met the brother of PT that Steve worked with here in Utah. They were super nice and informative and connected us the next day with a bunch of the church members who gave us great tips on house hunting, activities, etc. there. I seriously couldn't believe how nice everyone was. That evening we even went to dinner with a couple we had just met that morning at a soccer game - a delicious Thai place.
 |
| There were a TON of windmills on the drive from Springfield to Lamar - 108 to be exact. Pretty cool |
During the day we had a realtor take us around to some houses for rent and others for sale to get a feel for what's available there. To be honest - most of the homes are old, but some were pretty updated. Steve and I felt a bit like deer in the headlights with our first experience actually house hunting. It was kind of fun at the same time.
Steve met with the director of the hospital to discuss an offer and terms of working there and came back shocked that they actually offered him more than what he was asking to work there...we were both shocked actually - there wasn't even any bartering involved. Financially it was a no brainer, but we needed some time to make sure we felt good about all the conditions of moving to this job. I am a social person who also likes having things handy when I want them - things would not be so handy here - as well as the way I would like to have this third baby delivered. It's tricky when you got to smaller places to get all the kind of care you may need in high risk circumstances. I want to have another VBAC with this baby and the only way that's an option is if I commuted to Colorado Springs to do it - which - I finally decided I could do.
I still didn't feel 100% about it and wondered why I had such a huge confirmation in my heart that we were supposed to go to Oregon for graduate school, but felt like I was getting nothing on this end of getting a job. We came home and decided to go to the temple about it and ponder and pray more to get a feel of what we should do. In the end, we decided to take the leap and have felt good about it more and more as time has gone on. SO - we're going to boony town and having ourselves another adventure! We'll have to get a bit more creative in our recreational life, but it's a challenge we'll take.
It's funny - we're going from GREEN GREEN Oregon, to BROWN BROWN Colorado, but there are surprises everywhere and you never know what friends you're going to make or interesting things you'll encounter. Like tarantula migration...did you know that actually happens? Right across the highway tarantulas are crossing like the game Frogger apparently trying to get where they need to be for the winter season. They say there that when you start seeing the tarantulas migrate the first snowfall will be in six weeks. I guess we'll have to start celebrating Tarantula Day now along with Groundhog Day!
We'll be heading there around the end of October and starting yet another chapter of our lives - crazy crazy crazy.
Here's a lovely song to welcome in Colorado - though minus the Rockies in our case. ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment