Dog Park and New Work

6/9/15

Since I wrote last...

Sunday we went to the Lyon's Gate ward and it was great! We met a few fun people and felt very welcome. I am really hoping to get involved in the ward even though we may not be here for very long. They had a sign-up to do splits with the sister missionaries and I signed up. Then I talked to the mission leader (Teresa) and told her that I wanted to go soon (I've been pretty bored at home lol--some how it seems that there is so much more time to fill now, not sure what I kept myself occupied with before--probably more going outside/walks). Anyway so she signed me up to go with them next Wednesday!

Even though it's 90-100 degrees every day I've been trying to figure out some times and things to do when it's not too hot. The sun rises at about 5:30am and so I've started to go running at that time. It's still warm, but not nearly as deadly ;) I've also been taking Mae on walks at about 8am. Maybe that's why the days seem so much longer! At church the relief society had a paper with a bunch of summertime ideas. So hopefully we can find some fun things to do from that too.

I took Mae to a park across the street yesterday. I thought it was cool that it is called Cosmo Park (a little reminder of Provo). We had walked past it (Chris and I) a few days ago and so I thought, that would be great to take Mae to a park and let her crawl around on the grass. Well...not so. Come to find out it is a dog park :/.  So all the grass and toys/stairs are made for dogs to play on. So we continued in the stroller. I think she likes chilling in that stroller better anyway. Ha.

She loves the new umbrella stroller!

Playing with Kira just outside the house.

Yesterday was Chris' first day of work at GM and it went really well! He learned all about the benefits that we get. They provide health and dental insurance as well as a retirement plan that all seem pretty good! They do offer a discount on GM cars, but it has to be a brand new one. Chris seemed to think it was a pretty good deal, but I'd have to see some real numbers to be convinced. Brand new cars lose so much value the minute you take them off the lot...so we'll see if that ends of being an option for us. We will probably need a new car in the next year or so.
They also gave him a laptop and are going to get him a cell phone to use for work. It does make me a little nervous that they hired so many people at the same time (about 100 started on the same day as Chris). But Chris seems to be confident that they will keep them all around for at least the next 3 years. I'm just hoping they don't decide to downsize in the next year or so. Besides that worry, I think GM is going to be a great place for him. They seem to treat their employees very well (they get all holidays off PLUS 15 days off per year!) So it looks like it will be a great thing for our family.

Apparently, if you park close to the building it has to be a GM car :) Makes sense, I guess.

We went and visited it on Sunday, the day before he started.

Last thing, is just a comment about some of my thoughts concerning my desire to get involved in the fitness community down here. Teresa (the mission leader) is also an instructor for Zumba. So I asked her about where she works and she says they are hiring, but not sure if they are hiring for personal trainers. I just think it would be fun to teach/train like 2x a week. Something that gets me out of the house, helps me build my skills and maybe gives a little play money ;). But we will see. I may just end up getting involved as a participant until I figure out what I'd like to do.  Teresa invited me to come to her aqua zumba class at our community pool in Lyon's Gate, so I think I'll start there. :)

Oh! We also made an offer on another house in Mesa yesterday. They were supposed to get back to us by 8pm tonight, but I haven't seen anything yet from our realtor. So I guess we'll find out tomorrow!