New Employee and Temporary Minister

Big week this week! Jaden started his first day at his new job at Invite Networks. Still can't believe that we are back in Utah and back working at Invite. Jaden's emotions have swirled between excitement and nervousness. Imposter syndrome is so real but the older I get the more I realize that each and every one of us experience it. None of us feel 100% confident in what we are doing 100% of the time. What matters is the way we push through it and as cliché as it sounds keep "faking it til you make it."

A quick summary of Invite Networks as far as I understand it, which isn't great and could quite possibly be wrong: Invite Networks is an IT consulting company that is effectively the middle man between technology and software providers and small to medium sized businesses. Jaden always throws out the term "managed service provider" and I always watch people's eyes glaze over when he says that. I found this definition from techtarget.com to be very helpful, "A managed service provider (MSP) is a third-party company that remotely manages a customer's information technology (IT) infrastructure and end-user systems. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), nonprofits and government agencies hire MSPs to perform a defined set of day-to-day management services."

Invite is a local business and has clients all along the Wasatch front. It's been a relief to know that travel won't be near as crazy as it would have been at EY and it's been exciting to watch Jaden begin to interact with businesses we grew up around including tech giants, credit unions, hospitals and our very own Browning Arms Co.  

I'm so proud of Jaden and the diligence he possesses that has gotten us to this point. Being back home and seeing Eleanor a few weeks back has brought back so many memories of being newly married and living in Bountiful. The fact that Jaden had a 7:30 class that first Spring Semester that we were married and regularly donated plasma blows my mind. That's the beautiful part about looking back you get to be in awe of the mountains you have summitted and feel so much gratitude for where you are now. 

I usually only make breakfast for Jaden on weekends and special occasions and this definitely was a special occasion complete with the special plate and his absolute favorite Simply Apple apple juice. His first week ended up going really well. He did say to me "I wish you could start a job 6 months in when you are used to the swing and routine of things." Don't we all wish we could bypass the discomfort and adjustment of a new event? It's times like these when I love to be the supportive spouse, telling him all of the comforting things and cheering him on knowing he's done the same for me time and time again. 

You might think that was the biggest life event of the week but you'd be wrong. There were two others that were just as impactful: new housing & a friends wedding.

I believe I mentioned before that we have applied and signed a lease for a brand new, very nice, updated apartment in Farmington. Well I kid you not, two days after we signed the lease we were across the street visiting the neighbors I used to nanny for and they said to us, "we wondered if you wanted to house sit for us while we went down and lived in Arizona for a year?" We were FLOORED and also like "I wish we would have had this conversation two days ago before we signed a lease! We said we'd talk about it and call the rental company to see if we could get out of our lease. We talked with both of our parents and felt really good about making the switch IF we could get out of our lease. Jaden sent an initial email requesting a call with the girl we did the apartment tour with. After a day and a half we didn't receive a response and I was tasked with calling her since Jaden was in full fledged onboarding and swamped with starting work. I was SO nervous! 

It took a few tries but I finally got a hold of the girl who hadn't received our email so I explained that we "had the opportunity to get into a house" which is pretty much true and she was completely understanding and was able to null the lease and we only had to pay the admin and application fee which we would have done no matter what. I was shocked that we didn't have to pay any other fees. At the same time though Utah is expanding so rapidly and I feel like everywhere you look there are apartments and townhomes springing up so I really don't think they'll have a hard time filling our lease. We are so grateful for the way everything worked out and cannot wait to move the long distance of across the street from my parents. I guess it makes sense that I was called into Young Women's I'll be here for another year!

The other monumental occasion for the week was celebrating our best friends Landon and Mady's wedding. Our group of friends went to Valter's in Salt Lake to celebrate and oh my gosh it truly never disappoints. It is one of the bougiest places I've ever been to but literally every dish melts in your mouth and is so fresh, flavorful and absolutely delicious. Especially the lemon gelato dessert. It has rave reviews for good reason, it is so dang good! 

Last fall Landon and Mady called us and asked Jaden if he would do the honor of marrying them at their wedding the following summer. It was so sweet and we both were emotional that they wanted him to be the one to officiate the ceremony. I didn't realize this but in Utah when you get your marriage license you can fill out a form to grant someone of your choosing the authority to marry you and your spouse for just that ceremony on just that day. So even though I thought it would be awesome for him to use getordained.com we opted for the form route and he was able to perform their ceremony.

The wedding took place at the Monarch venue space in Ogden. It is a really pretty open industrial space with reclaimed wood and brick and exposed vaulted ceilings. Mady's flowers were absolutely beautiful I could not get over how fun and whimsical the colorful wildflower look was. She looked stunning and both of them were just beaming with excitement. Also thought it was so sweet Landon was wearing the hat they had made when we were all up in Park City in January. 

And I know I am biased but I thought Jaden did a fantastic job officiating. I had helped him draft his outline and we practiced it out loud me doing all of the vows and ring exchange over and over again before the big day. I wanted to include a portion of what he shared with Landon and Mady because I loved it so much, "I want to share my perspective on what makes a truly happy marriage. I have been married for four years now which by no means makes me an expert, and my wife will attest to that, but those four years have taught me a valuable lesson... That is in marriage the little things are the big things. The little big things, what we'll call them, are different for everyone. My sweet wife for example will leave short handwritten notes around our apartment. Sometimes I will stumble upon them these surprises weeks later and they serve as a simple and sweet reminder of her love for me. My grandparents were the masters of embracing the little big things. My grandparents loved watching the sunsets together. Despite his countless number of responsibilities on their family farm, my grandpa would find the time to return home and to watch sunsets with his special girl. In the twilight years of their life this was a big thing still to them. You are embarking on this journey together and undoubtedly life will present its complexities in children, new jobs and challenges that come with living in this world. This unavoidable aspects will demand your time and attention. So my advice to you is this: embrace the power of the little big things. Make them a focal point in your daily lives and be intentional about nurturing them. Celebrate the quirks the inside jokes and shared interest that make your bond unique. Cherish the small moments because they have the potential to create lasting memories and deepen your connection in ways you don't even realize."

I am so grateful for a husband who recognizes the power of little big things. Our marriage isn't perfect but our understanding of how to put each other first and celebrate the little things gets better every passing year. I am so incredibly grateful for an amazing support network and just genuinely good good people that we get to surround ourselves with in both our families and our friends. As Jack Sparrow would say, "A wedding, I love a wedding, drinks all around." Cheers to Landon and Mady!!!

Peaches

• Took family pictures up in Huntsville near Pine View and the scenery was absolutely GORGEOUS. It really is so good to be back in our Utah mountains. Clearly Jaden is excited, he kept running around singing "the hills are alive with the sound of muuuuusic"

• I love snapping a few pics of the adults trying to get kids to smile. 8 kids under the age of 8 is a wild time on any day but especially picture day. We had one nosebleed and two toddlers falling asleep on the drive up making for some grumpy moods but I think we were able to get plenty of good pictures by the end. Dempsey would not smile for the longest time which made me laugh, he was stone cold killer until we shot him with tibey-man (Spiderman) webs and jumped up and down out of the tall grass

• My new makeup from Seint came in time for pictures. Still trying to get a hang of the dot and blend makeup method
• Being back in the world of Bohme and buying a whole new outfit for pictures. 
• Getting out of our lease agreement
• Made one of our favorite Half Baked Harvest recipes for dinner

• Jaden starting his new job
• Jaden recently discovered one of my favorite A.A. Milne quotes so I had to send it to him on his first day

• Valter's dinner and lemon gelato
• Landon and Mady's wedding
• Watching Jaden officiate a wedding

Pits

• The uncertainty of not knowing if we could get out of our apartment lease
• My mom received news that one of her best friends was diagnosed with breast cancer