Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Some Pictures

I promised some pictures and here they are...

Sarah's new preschool and her posing in front


The dinosaur museum and our first hike into the mountain range

Some random pictures - Lauren before some mischief and silliness at the preschool


Once I find all my cords I'll upload some more sights from Utah!

Monday, August 24, 2009

Week #1

The family has been together out here for a solid week now. My mom returned to the Virginia flat-lands on Saturday and we will miss all the help! It is, however, nice to be together again as a family.

There is so much to do around here that it's hard to narrow down the activity list for a day. Friday afternoon we visited the Dinosaur museum near our house. The politically correct name is 'Museum of Ancient Life' and it has the world's largest display of mounted dinosaur bones. The highlight of the trip was the sand pit where the girls got to use tools to unearth hidden dinosaurs. I promise to get some pictures added soon but, in the meantime, here is a link to check out the place: VIDEO!

We made a Costco run and visited Cabella's on Sunday. Cabella's is a huge store dedicated to outdoorsy stuff. The displays are really cool and we enjoyed seeing the local wild-life up close without having to worry about being its lunch. Not to worry - there are mostly deer and elk in the area with the occasional moose. Some of the national parks to the east have had bear sightings but it is rare. I've spotted a few lizards when hiking and I see a lot of hummingbirds. Other than that it's the same bunch of insects.

Saturday was actually the hottest day on record here in SLC in quite awhile. It got to 101 degrees and for the first time felt really hot. We stayed indoors in the afternoon because the breeze vanished too. There was a bike race on the road behind our house in the morning and afternoon. The first part was an open series and the second professional. I'm still in awe how people ride their bikes up this mountain, especially in that kind of heat!

For me personally, I'm really enjoying Utah so far. I got involved in a fantasy football league (and the winner's wife gets a spa gift certificate!), going to play on the company softball team, and started a new eating plan this week. I'm not calling it a diet - it's more of a plan to eat healthy. If I make progress I'll let you in on the secret. If it fails I will go back and edit this post...

I promised some items soon and they are coming! In the meantime, here is a picture of the cool shower-head in our guest bathroom. If this doesn't encourage visitors I don't know what will...

Friday, August 21, 2009

New Stuff and Old Stuff

Here is a quick timeline of the last month:
  • New job
  • Sold House (5 days on the market!)
  • New company relocated our stuff
  • John and dog (Madison) drove 2200 miles
  • John started new job and stressed about unpacking the house
  • Becky, Sarah, Lauren and my Mom arrived on August 16th
  • Sarah started pre-school on the 17th

I could fill a few paragraphs under each of those bullet points. Needless to say but it has been a whirl-wind of activity over the last month. Although I must confess, in some ways it has been easier moving to Utah than from one side of town to the other in Virginia...

New Stuff
  • The weather is amazing. Even 100 degrees feels like about 80 in VA.
  • The altitude is tough to get used to. We are at 6200 feet above sea level at the house. A mile hike into the mountain range behind us gets to 8000 pretty quick. It's like having 3 people sit on you while breathing through a straw.
  • Traffic is non-existent except on the main highway...
  • I wasn't sure I'd like the time zone difference but no problems so far.
  • DMV is a whole new world in Utah. No lines, plenty of people behind the counter, and everyone is nice.

Old Stuff
  • Costco is the same
  • Target is the same
  • Sarah and Lauren both have a cold
Mom is heading back to Virginia Saturday and we have some picnics scheduled over the next few weekends (some friends of mine - my new company).

By the way, I'm working at a company called DECHO, which is part of EMC. DECHO was formed from two companies called PI and MOZY. I am at the office and working mostly on the MOZY stuff. If you follow any of those links, everything that says MozyPro is what I work on.

Coming Soon...
  • Pictures
  • Sarah will be doing a guest posting about her first week of PreSchool.
  • Becky will post her 10 steps to re-organizing a house after a husband tries
  • Mom will send in some of her thoughts about Utah

Have a good weekend!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Welcome!

First Post!

We have arrived in Utah. I promise to try and update this as much as possible.
For now we are getting settled in and enjoying the non-humid weather.