Viva Las Vegas!

There we were standing in the middle of the busy Fashion Place mall when my life changed (and no, not because our new H&M is a major let down compared to all the other H&Ms in this world- but it totally is, don't ya think?!). Where else would someone like me have an "aha" life changing moment besides the mall of all malls. It's the one place I turn to in my happiest of times and my dreariest of times, so it's fitting that right there by JCrew is when I started seeing life a little differently. I guess I put my gratitude glasses on.

The mall was busy with the holiday rush and Chris had just got done talking to a couple of his classmates from pharmacy school.  The things they said in those few short minutes might have changed my life. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic but they did change at least the next year or so of my life.

Not many of Chris' classmates have received jobs yet. They've all worked so hard these last few years and invested so much of their lives into their schooling. Now they are near the end and things aren't looking that positive for them.  Heck, when Chris started pharmacy school companies were handing out huge sign-on bonuses to any pharmacist that looked their way, but now the slow economy has taken over and jobs are scarce. In my head I calculate their (Chris included) humongous student loans as they talked. I'm sure it is enough to feed the entire continent of Africa for years. I tell people that the amount of money we owe can’t be an amount of money to me, it has to just be a number. If I think of it as money it makes me ill.

Anyway, the economy sucks and jobs are hard to come by and we were lucky enough in November to have been offered a really amazing job in Las Vegas. At first I hoped something else would come along. Anything else. Little old me never thought of leaving the comforts of her small town. I was Utah or bust. Then I put my gratitude glasses on realized this is such an opportunity many of Chris' classmates would love to have.

So we're going to Las Vegas in the end of March. As long as my family and friends promise to come and visit often and as long as we are together as a little family, we'll definitely make it work. Sure, it will be hard and I'll be the first one to admit I don't do very well with being alone (especially in a foreign state and ESPECIALLY because we don't have a house down there yet), but maybe that's just what we need to stretch and grow. We plan on staying for a year or so and then reevaluating our situation. Cross your fingers for us because this will be a crazy crazy ride! 


I already miss my family and friends. Is that weird? I'm sure Hayes is going to have a hard time too because he is so close to everyone up here. 
Here's a tribute to all the fun times Hayes has had the last two summers with some of his favorite people in the world. We are blessed to have them!