Working for Clearfield City

After the whirlwind of the move I started work on the morning of March 4th. I met Pat, my boss, who the proceeded to introduce me to practically every person in the whole city building. Can you say 'overwhelming'. I had to settle in pretty quickly because Pat had me doing sport schedules starting day one. Things progressed with Basketball then onto the most difficult Softball and soccer. In between all this I was learning about our software, how to register people and learning about rules of sports. I was writing P.O.'s and learning to score keep. It has been non-stop since I started. Here are some highlights from working at the city so far. 

Brand new planner!

Ginger and I with matching Hawaiian polo's. 

My awesome, giant desk

Softball tournament

Tiny Tot Soccer

Girls Fastpitch Softball Tournament

Thank you Gift Basket!

Riding the bus to awesome adventures 

I'm a real employee!

Moving back to Utah

While finishing up my two weeks at CCAC, I prepared for my journey (yes, a journey because it took two days) back to Utah. I got up and left early on a Thursday morning, driving through Dallas morning traffic and into west Texas. I saw my FIRST armadillo, although it was dead, and piles of snow in Amarillo, TX. I also saw the google maps car. Pretty cool .

Day one I made it all the way to Albuquerque. It reminded me a lot of Utah. A desert oasis in a mountain valley. I slept in the worst bed of my life at a really sketchy $20 a night hostel. I ate dinner at a place recommended by a co-worker. It was pretty good and it was near campus, so that was cool. My hostel roommate was probably 65 and I was scared for my bike the whole night. I got up bright and early... around 4:45 so I was on the road by 5 a.m. 

Day two started in the dark and by the time I was good and on the road I was running out of gas. I pulled up my gas station app, went about 15 miles out of the way looking for a station that had been closed. I turned around and headed back, praying my car would make it to a casino I'd seen a while back, in the middle of the desert. Luckily I made it, barely. After that I was on the road again without a hitch.  As I entered Colorado, I became delirious and nearly lost my voice from singing so loudly. 

Entering New Mexico

Frontier Restaurant in Albuquerque 

A rock in the middle of either New Mexico or somewhere in Colorado.

I finally made it to Ogden, where I met with my property management agency and rented a house! I met up with my parent, rode home and slept in Orem, packed up my stuff and moved into my apartment on Jefferson and 21st street! 

Front room. 

Front room

Bedroom

HUGE kitchen

More HUGE Kitchen

Skinny Bathroom.

Austin, TX - The State Capitol

Before I moved back to Utah I made it a point to get to Austin to visit the famous city and see my friend Laura. 

Josh and I planned an excursion to Austin for my final days there and for his 26th birthday. Our drive to Austin was pretty easy and we got to the city park on a Sunday afternoon. Everyone and their dogs (literally all the dogs in the city) were there. We checked out the pools and the park and then met up with  Laura and headed to trivia at a local co-op restaurant!

Hanging out at the park

The next morning we headed to Magnolia Cafe for breakfast. 

After Magnolia Cafe we walked up and down South Congress street checking out the sites. 

A famous Coffee shop on South Congres

We spent an hour or more in "Uncommon Objects" browsing all the uncommon objects!

On South Congress we went into Uncommon Objects and to a really cool costume shop. There were lots of cool vintage and boutique shops to browse.

The iconic 'Greetings from Austin' wall. 

After South Congress we headed to the State Capitol for a tour. The building was really cool and had all kinds of history that went with it.

I'm a child in interactive museums..

Waiting for our Capitol Tour

One of my favorite things about the Capitol building was the 8lb hinges made especially for the building.

In the afternoon we visited University of Texas and to end Josh's birthday we ate some Thai food.

The next day we tried to go swimming, but the pools were closed so we made our way to the Green Mesquite for some great bar-be-que. 

Delicious Texas bar-be-que and beer!

Add some sauce!

Thanks Laura for a great visit to Austin!

On the way back to Anna we stopped at these really cool caves that went miles underneath the interstate and I faced my fears. I think that Austin is about the only place in Texas worth visiting and would recommend it to anyone looking for a unique and creative place to visit. 

CCAC and Getting a Job Offer

After my interview with Clearfield City and a couple other places, I was going along with life, just doing my thing and working at Collin County Adventure Camp. I received a phone call, they left a message and it said to call them back. I tried calling for a couple days and finally I spoke to someone in HR. They offered me a job! I was finally offered my big girl job, after nearly 2 years of applications! Clearfield City was offering me a job to be a recreation programmer, starting asap. 

After hanging up with HR, I called my mom sobbing and then went and told Josh. I was in tears. It was the end of a long search. So, I put in my two weeks notice and started making arrangements to move back to Utah and start wrapping things up in Texas. 

Winter in Texas

Final days at camp - learning Texas History.

In two weeks my car was packed, my new apartment had been chosen and the drug test had been taken. I was ready to be out of Texas and back to Utah! 

College Station with Bill

I was browsing Facebook on Sunday afternoon and saw that my friend Bill was going to be in Texas. I called him and we made plans to meet up at his Alma Mater - Texas A&M. I drove down to College Station on Monday and met up with Bill and his JBS co-workers. They had a promotional/recruiting dinner and after that we went 'out on the town'. Basically we visited all the sweet college town bars and pubs! 

Bill is such a great friend! I loved seeing him in TX

Dill Pickle shots at the Tipsy Turtle! 

Shot bar

After our great night out in College Station we had to stop at Whataburger. A Texas Treasure. 

The next morning I visited the Chi Omega house and had a tour, saw Kyle Field and said audios to Bill and friends. Before I left, I got a call from Pat at Clearfield City saying that I needed to get in touch and send some information to complete an interview....

Murder Mystery Dinner

My parents organized a Murder Mystery Dinner. Each of my family members was invited to play a movie star character. We were given clues each round and were supposed to try and guess who the murderer was. There were twists and turns and side stories that made the evening fun. We had dinner, dessert, dancing, poker, black jack and music. It was a really fun time and I loved getting to dress up and play a character. 

My aunt and uncle

Grandma and Gary

Kalli and Luke; the killer!

Jose and Mariah

Chalay and Russell aka Britney Spears and K-Fed

Josh and I

Michelle, Les and Zoey

The Hosts, my Mom and Dad!

Enjoying some fine Chicken cordon Bleu

Josh and I serving dinner

Right after the murder!