Yep! We're alive...

So. I've decided that going too long without blogging becomes a little like going too long without talking to an old friend. The longer I go, the more guilty I feel, which makes it that much harder to pick up the phone (sit down at the computer) and say hi. Plus, the longer I go, the more there is to talk about and I start to put off the conversation because I know how long it will take us to catch up. Eventually, though, my desire to talk to my old friend outweighs the guilt and overcomes the procrastination. So here we are.

Our little family has been through quite a few changes in the past five months (five!) since I last blogged. A lot of these events deserve at least one, if not more, posts of their own...but if I try to write a post for everything that has happened, I'll get so overwhelmed that I'll never blog ever again! So, instead, here is the reader's digest version of the past few months:

At the end of April, Jason lost his job. It was a contracted position that we hoped would be made permanent, but it wasn't. Along with losing income, we also lost our amazing government insurance plan. We joined the ranks of the uninsured and the unemployed.

Despite applying to well over 100 positions, Jason did not get one single interview - a testament to the dire state of employment in the state of Oregon. So he started applying outside of the state.

In May, we flew to Phoenix, AZ for a job interview with a national pool supply company. They offered him a position as a manager in training. The starting salary is painfully low, but the growth potential is fantastic. So, despite my strong hate of the heat and my love for rainy, gray, fall Portland days, we made the decision to pack up and leave our beloved Portland for Arizona.

Kind of...


The training program would only last three to six months, and then Jason could be relocated anywhere in the country. The thought of finding an apartment and unpacking all of our stuff just in time to pack it all back up and move again pretty much made me want to cry. I hate packing even more than I hate heat! Plus, that painfully low starting salary was in fact too low to support our family. So we made a crazy decision. We packed all of our stuff into a UHaul and all headed east. At Salt Lake, Jason, the UHaul and the cat headed south to Phoenix and moved in temporarily with Jason's saintly brother and sister-in-law. Cyrus, the minivan, Jager and I continued east to Denver, CO and moved in with my saintly parents.

In addition to saving money on rent and other related expenses, the separation gave me the opportunity to work with my mom for my uncle's business three days a week while my step-dad babysat.

The goal was for us to reunite with Jason at the end of September...then the end of October...and now our reunion has been further postponed until Jason actually acquires his own store, hopefully sometime mid-November.  At this point, Phoenix is looking highly likely, but nothing is 100%.

The good news is that, in the meantime, we have paid off our credit card and have actually started saving money - both of which we have been trying to do for about three years!

While all of that was going on, Cyrus celebrated his first birthday and somehow turned into a little boy overnight, and we said goodbye to Jason's amazing Grandma Hazel.

Ahh, that feels better. All three of you who read my blog are now officially updated! Now perhaps I can get back to some more regular blogging!

Note:  Pictures would probably make this rather boring narrative a little more interesting.  However, all of our pictures are on the computer, which is in Jason's possession.  Rather than further postpone this long over due post, I just decided to bite the bullet and write it without the pictures.  Maybe I'll post some in the next few days...