Amberlee's Bath

Amberlee used to love baths. This time, not so much. And, she used to fit in the sink better. Now, not very well.

Chapter 2

Well, in case you didn't get the memo, we are now in Pennsylvania. Wow, what a move. Considering all things, it has gone rather well. Except for our car, which is still somewhere between PA and ID, from which we have heard that the moving truck "broke down" and will be even later then thought. The original date was Dec 29th. The new date is Feb 3rd.

The kids seem to be adapting alright. We all went to church last weekend as a family for the first time in a month. Ethan made instant friends, of course. Chrissa was treated well in Young Women's. Michelle seemed to be surrounded by the Relief Society women. They are all very friendly people. They had their Christmas program last Sunday, which showed how musically talented the people are. Our family brings a shot of reality to a ward that all seem to sing like they belong in the Tabernacle Choir.

Here is the odd news: there are 2 families from Idaho Falls. One girl is from Blackfoot and her husband is from Provo. There is another lady from Firth (just south of Idaho Falls). And, another girl knew a guy from Burley that I graduated High School with. They were good friends in college.

Anyway, posted on the blog are photos of my trip across the country with stops in Martin's Cove, Winter Quarters, and Nauvoo. We also ventured out last weekend to Wheeling West Virginia to see the Oglebay Resort Winter Lights Festival. It was supposed to be the 2nd "best light show in the country". Well, we didn't see what all the hubbub was. It was alright, nothing spectacular. But, it was really nice to get out of the house, especially for the kids and Michelle who have been couped up in the house do to a lack of van...

Countdown...

The countdown is on. Less then 1 week, and I'll be on the road to PA. I'll be leaving IF with a few things in my truck next Saturday morning.

I've decided to make a trip out of it (not just a drive). So, with parents in tow, I'll stop in Martin's Cove near Cheyenne the first day and take the tour. The first night will be in Cheyenne. Then, from there we'll go to Omaha and see the sights at Winter Quarters and Council Bluffs. Night #2 will be in Des Moines, IA. Next day, we'll travel to Nauvoo and Carthage, IL where we will spend most of the day. Night #3 will be in Davenport, IL. Day #4 will be spent driving across Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and arriving in Cranberry PA (hopefully) that night. We plan to take a trip to Kirtland OH sometime later in the week.

Michelle has now arranged for the moving company to come and get our stuff on Dec 9. I guess we have enough crap to keep them busy for about 4 days. Glad I'm not doing any of the packing. I'll fly back on the 12th, and then we'll all fly out on the 14th.

Our tickets out of IF were $500 a piece! Good thing those are being paid for.

As you can see, there will be about 2 weeks where I'll be a loner in PA without my family and most of my things. I figure it will be a return to the days of college... eating off my lap, no table, little bed, etc. So, if anyone gets to thinking about me during this time, please call me at 208-390-0901.

We have not had much success on the house. The viewings on Realtor.com broke records, though... something like 10,000 viewings the first 2 weeks. We have had 4 showings, but no offers. I suppose all this means we will be paying for this place while living in PA. That should be interesting.

Michelle and I had been wondering why all of this happened at the worst possible time in years... new baby, poor economy, etc. Well, just a couple weeks ago, the company I worked for announced that 20% of the workforce will be laid off by March. We figured that this, at least in part, accounts for the timing. With all the drama surrounding my interest in being a project manager out there, and their refusal to give me any chances of doing that (along with a few words we had in the process), I had made more enemies in management then friends. Oh well. I also finally told my boss this past week that I was leaving. Overall, the response has been very positive. A few managers, however, have completely ignored me, which is OK since they were also the same ones telling me that I had no future as a project manager with the company (and were the reason I left in the first place). Wednesday of this week is my last day.

So, we are down to the nuts and bolts of this whole process. Cant say for sure which emotion rules... fear, excitement, anxiety, stress, etc. All of them are mixed in equal portions, so its a potpourri, really. I'll be without a computer till Michelle flies back and our belonging catch up to us, so this blog entry will be the last until we are in PA.

Wish us luck!

Her First Photo

Here she is! Stay tuned for more photos (once we get some sleep)...

And Now, There Are Six

She is finally here! Amberlee was born this afternoon, Sunday, Nov 2nd, at 1PM. She is doing very well. Michelle did a great job, too. She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches long. Lots of fat, some black hair... everything seems really well. She is really cute, too. Of course, that comes from me, so no one should be surprised to hear that.

I'll post some photos soon...

What A Month Will Do

It has been nearly a month since I wrote. What has happened with us? Well, first, our house is now listed with a realtor. I cant believe they charge 6%! Ouch. But, we were not having much success selling by ourselves. So, we picked the #1 realtor in the area and got it listed. So far, we have had a great turnout. It is listed on realtor.com and also remax.com, and many others, and between them all, we had a few thousand hits the first weekend! Compare that with about 150 hits on forsalebyowner.com. We had one showing today, and another this weekend. That is about 4 official showings in the past couple of weeks. No offers yet, but its a good sign anyways.

Michelle is still pregnant. Actually, about 2AM this past Sunday, she thougth she was going into labor, so off to the emergency room we went (we waited until about 11AM before we went, just to be sure). We get there, her contractions are regular and getting worse... then, nothing. It all comes to a stop. We watch Food Network, and the nurses send us home around 5PM. So, I guess the little thing wanted to bake some more.

We have decided on a name: Amberlee Teresa Jensen, assuming the doctor was right and it is actually a girl. If its a boy, we plan to just tag him. We've run out of boy names in this family.

Our plans for PA: I think I'll drive out there first, then Michelle and the family will follow. Maybe sometime in December. We dont know. But, we'll see how it goes. The kids can finish up school, I can get back there and get things established (as best I can), and then we'll all go back right around Christmas.

That's about all for now...

Limbo

The countdown is now less then 2 months. Wow! We have been very busy trying to finish up all those little odd things around the house. Isnt it funny that you can live without all those things for so long, but they absolutely have to be finished in time for the next buyer? Anyway, we have been busy doing painting, finishing some molding, repairing things, cleaning out junk, etc. We havent seen a whole lot of movement on the house, though. We did get a realtor stop by and go through it, and we have had a couple of calls, but aside from the flyers that seem to be going and the response to our website, there hasnt been any real hits yet.

My work has been very interesting, too. I have never felt as big of a push to get me out of there as what is happening right now. I dont know why. I think it has to with me not being ex-Navy, like everyone else, which means I shouldnt be able to work my way up the ladder in their minds. But, it is a very real push anyway. Just being very clear that there is no future for me there. They do not yet know that I have another job yet, so I have to keep it that way for another month.

So, we are in limbo right now. Working on the house, getting things cleaned out and fixed, and waiting.

Move Date

It looks like my first day of work at Westinghouse will be December 1st. It is about a month earlier then I wanted, but I guess you have to go when the boss wants you there.

We are nervous. So far, we have had 2 phone calls on our house, and we've had it listed for one week. The house is also listed on www.forsalebyowner.com, and that has had 18 hits in about 5 days. Good? Bad? Dont know. All I know is our timeframe is really short. We are trying to sell it ourselves in the hopes that we can keep all the money we can, but this may not be possible.

So, keep us in your prayers. We need all the help we can get.

I imagine that since I'll likely start work on December 1st, we'll be flying out around the 22nd or 23rd of Nov. We'll try to beat the Thanksgiving rush somehow. We dont yet have a place to go to, but we'll have something lined out by then, I'm sure.

It Is Done

Well, we are off to Pennsylvania...

I finalized the details of the offer today, and accepted the job this afternoon. I do not yet know when we'll be leaving, but my guess is it will be a couple months, at least, but before Christmas.

I know that, for many of you, this will be a hard adjustment. But, please know that it is going to be harder for us. We dont know anyone there. We dont know where we are going to live (yet). We will have a new job, new home, new baby. We have to sell our home... the home we worked so hard on these past 2 years. We are anxious, nervous, scared, sad, and excited all at the same time.

We really hope that those closest to us understand that we believe this is where we need to go. With my current job being so unsure, we feel we have to go in order to provide for our children. It took us a lot of time, hard work, and patience to get there. And, with the events falling into place like they did, we just cannot help but believe that this has been set aside for us to take advantage of.

While Pennsylvania is a long ways away, we are only a phone call away in reality. The flight is about 4 hours. We have email, this blog, Facebook, and (soon) instant webcam. It would be a much different story if all we had were handwritten letters.

Our plan is to do all we can to continue making visits and helping others come to visit us.

I'll let you all know when we have set a move date.

What We Would Have Looked Like in 1830

We went to West Yellowstone, Ennis Montana, and Virginia City/Nevada City Montana over the weekend and had a great time. We hadn't done one of these old photos in a while so we paid the $35 and got a new one done. Preston was a bear... absolutely refused to put on his costume, until I showed him the play guns. Once I told him he could hold it if he put on his coat and scarf, he cooperated. Must run in the genes. Michelle and Chrissa make natural saloon girls (must have been some in their former lives), and Ethan is a natural cowboy. But, I just did not make a very good "gentleman". I should have been an outlaw. I thought the bottle of whiskey would toughen my look, but I dont think it helped...

The Interview

The interview is over. My trip to Pennsylvania lasted 39 hours from take off in Idaho Falls to touch down in Idaho Falls.

And the results of the interview really surprised me. But, before I get into that, it is important to say what happened in the week or two before the interview.

When I first found out they wanted to fly me in, Michelle and I took a good amount of time researching the amount of money they would have to pay us to move back. It took us a while, but we came up with a number, and added some on top of that. It was the "cake and ice cream" salary. We prayed about that number feeling it was an honest assessment.

The Westinghouse headquarters is huge. The drive up to the building reminded me of a college campus... trees and hills on both sides of the "driveway", which was about a mile long. The building is black glass. Huge foyer and waiting area. Everyone dressed really nice.

I was asked 5 questions in the interview. Surprised? I was. They weren't questions, really... more like "tell us of an experience where you did...." kind of questions. It took 45 minutes. Then I asked about 15 minutes worth of questions, and they booted me out of the conference room for a few minutes.

When I was called back in, I was surprised to hear them offer me the job, right there. Not only that, but the salary offer was... get this... EXACTLY the number Michelle and I came up with earlier and had been praying about.

To add to that is a nice signing bonus, money to help with the transition, and relocation money. And, a realtor to help in the buying/selling of the homes (we aren't sure at this point if that applies to our house in Idaho yet).

So, now we are in a dilemma. Great company, great salary, excellent opportunity and future... but, 1800 miles away, no one there we know, lots of crap and kids to move, etc. We are comfortable if we stay, but miserable in my job.

My title would be a Project Manager helping Westinghouse refurbish nuclear power plants across the US. I would be a protege for the first year, then manage my own projects after that. The growth of the company is on the rise... in fact, they are moving their headquarters from Monroeville (which I didnt care for) to Cranberry, PA, just north of Pittsburgh out in the country. That, I would like. I would join a team of about 20 right now.

Decisions, decisions...

New Move?

So, I have a job interview in western Pennsylvania on August 27th. The job is for a project manager position with Westinghouse Nuclear. They came to Idaho Falls on a recruiting mission, so I stopped in and talked with a couple of guys, and they called me 2 days later wanting to set up a telephone interview. Turns out the interviewer worked about a hundred yards away from my previous job... in fact, his boss at the time was my former boss. So, the inteview went well on the telephone, and now they are flying me out to Monroeville PA, which is east of Pittsburgh. We have mixed feelings about it. The opportunity for something new is exciting, but can you imagine moving a whole family and a house full of crap that far? Yikes. Good and bad about it, I suppose. But, nothing is set yet... will see what happens during the interview and, more importantly, what happens after.

Wish us luck!

Michelle's Home Designs

Michelle sold 2 homes the past couple of months! The most recent is a home in Idaho Falls. She did a great job on it, and it sold for about $520,000. Photos of her work are see in the slideshow. This was a spec home, so she had to keep most of the walls and things bare because there wasnt the budget to include all the things she would normally put into a home.

Basically, she took over designing of this house about a month or so into construction. So, the layhout was already established. She had a few people interested in buying, even in today's tough market.

I helped, too! See the photo of the stamped tin ceiling? I installed it! It looks really great, I must say.

The second house (we dont have photos of it yet) sold for about $425,000 in the same neighborhood. This house was really awesome! In fact, she did such a nice job that the buyers want her to come back and offer some designing consultation for them. We'll get photos of it then.

My Latest Creation

So, Michelle wanted to buy the kids a play house... the one at Sam's Club that is something like $1200. I about choked!

"I can do it cheaper then that", I said.

"Oh yeah? Then, lets see you do it", was her response.

In the end (nearly... you can see that the roof on the backside isnt on yet, and forget about the weeds underneath), this is what was built. Cost: $350.

This one comes complete with a pair of pirate binoculars and a telescope (to spy on the neighbors), and will also soon have its own sandbox. Like the pirate flag? Michelle got it on eBay... it was only supposed to be 12" X 18"... its more like 3' X 4'. The neighbor kids dig it!

My next job is to clear the weeds.

Just a little bit of braggin' rights....

Our latest news...

We finally bucked the trend! After 13 boys, the Jensen family finally gets a girl! We had kept up the record for 16.5 years, but eventually it had to end...

So, Chrissa finally gets a sister, and Grandma Jensen finally gets a baby granddaughter.

Your assignment, anyone out there who is reading this, is to submit names. Luckily, the field of girl names is wide open. If it had been a boy, we'd be in trouble.

We want something that isnt too freaky, but isnt common, either. We'll need lots of entries because Michelle and I usually take a while to agree on one.

Her middle name will be Teresa... we figured we'd better give grandma the luxury since this will probably be her only one.

Her due date is Nov 10th... but we cut a deal with the doctor that if the baby isnt here by Nov 1st, we'll get her here. Michelle is 0 for 3 on "good deliveries", which means she has had to deliver naturally because the doctor didnt show up on time, or the medication wore off to quickly, etc.

DONE!

After 4 months of hard studying and reading through the study books about 5 times, I finally took my PMP test on May 31st. This test is the one that would certify me as a project manager... the test every project manager takes if they want to be recognized in the industry.

The test was not what I expected. My first thought after the test was over was that I passed, but barely. Kinda disappointing to study as much as I did and not feel that I did very well.

I got my scores 6 days later, and wa-laa--- I passed.

So, I am now able to add letters after my name. My dad thought "PMP" stood for "pimp". And, now that the test is over, I can get back to life. I dont know what a life is, but I've heard stories that it can be fun!

Our Trip to North Carolina

So, Michelle and I got away for a few days and went to North Carolina. Every time I tell people this, their response is, "What is there to do in North Carolina?" Well, not much. But, that was the point. We are wierd (amazing, I know) in that we like trips, sometimes, that are laid-back. Not much to do other then relax. Plus, western North Carolina is the Furniture Capital of the U.S. (tax break), so Michelle got to do some work.


We landed in Charlotte on Tuesday of this past week. Its a beautiful city. I was picturing something dirty, but it wasnt. We got some things to eat and then left towards Asheville. Asheville was the main point of our trip... tucked away in the Great Smoky Mountains. It was beautiful, too.


The main attraction in Asheville is the Biltmore Estate. We have seen photos of this place, saw the little paint swatches that Lowe's sells (the Biltmore colors are one of the options you can pick in their paint dept), etc, so what the heck... we thought we'd see what all the hub-bub was about.

The place was amazing.... see photo. By the way, the smudges in the photo (and all photos, I found out) are from the guy we asked to take this first photo. We didnt realize he had touched the lens of our camera until I downloaded the photos.




The home was once the home of George Vanderbilt, the youngest son of the richest family in America (at the time). It was amazing to learn that, if they were still alive today, they would still be the richest people in America... in the world, for that matter. Anyway, the house is about 175,000 square feet (making it the largest in America) and sits on 8,000 acres (which used to be about 90,000 acres). Wow. We toured the house and got to see the 63 rooms out of the 200+ it has. You get to take a set of headphones that tells you all about the rooms you are seeing, what they did, etc. We then toured the property... all the gardens, out-buildings, farms, winery, stables, etc. They have turned some of it into restaurants and things, but much of it is still working.


Anyway, we spent a good amount of time there, then did the local thing... found the best Carolina BBQ joints, saw the town, drove through the Smoky Mountains, etc.


We then went to Hickory, which has a large furniture mart. The place is a huge building that houses about 100 manufacturers and/or stores selling their own furniture. I understand this town got the whole American home furnishing industry going, which is why we spent a day there (plus, it allowed us to write off the trip on our tax returns!). The city was very nice... probably the nicest of the bunch we saw.


Then, back home.


Check out the slideshow to see the rest of our photos.


Cade