Thursday, Oct. 16th, Matt flew out for Peru.  He had to be in Lehi at 4:15am.  My sweet sister-in-law, Kayla, came over around 3:15am and stayed at our house in case Henlie woke up (and also, so we didn't have to wake Henlie up and put her in the car).  We got Matt to his co-worker's house 10 minutes early.  Due to some construction in the area, I had a little bit of a hard time getting back to the freeway, but I did fine.  I drove home.  No big deal.

HOWEVER, that afternoon, I had someone coming to look at Matt's car.  I thought, I have no idea how much gas is in it.  Perhaps I should check and go fill it up, just in case.  Yes, it's stick shift, but I should be able to manage to get a few blocks to the gas station at 5am with no one on the roads!

I checked Matt's car.  1/4 tank.  Okay, I'll take it out to the gas station.  Start car, put in reverse.  WHERE THE CRAP IS THE BRAKE PEDAL?!? Oh s***. 

Yeah, I backed into another car in the parking lot.  

Took me awhile to get the stupid car started again so I could pull it back into the parking spot.  Inspect both cars.  Scuffed bumpers.  Matt's is popped off on the side that I hit it.  Go upstairs and get paper and pen.  Write note.  Take it outside.  Remember I should put my phone number on said note.  Go back inside and add that.  Go put note in their windshield.  Kayla suggests I take pictures.  Go downstairs and take pictures.  Fortunately, phone has a flash :)  Inspect cars a little more closely.  Call Matt.  It didn't bother him nearly as much as it bothered me.  Kayla goes home to get some more sleep.  I lay awake for a couple of hours, first searching how to buff scratches out of the car.  Then trying to find a mobile car repair service in the area. (Side note, the only mobile service I found was for dents.  Only dents.)  Finally go to sleep for a few hours.

Wake up, talk to Matt some more.  Inspect the car.  Continue freaking out and feeling horrible.  Clean out Matt's car since guy is still coming to look at it in the afternoon.  Ask Facebook if anyone can drive a stick and help me out.  My cousin, Zach, comes over and drives it to a shop in town for me.  Estimate to replace bumper and valence = $1,055.  Fortunately, our deductible is only $250.  Take the car home and wait until the guy checks it out first.

Eventually put Henlie down for a nap.  (She didn't nap.)  Go downstairs with the dog to take some extra pictures for the insurance claim.  By habit, lock the doorknob.  Only have Matt's car keys on me.  Locked out.  Kayla is in Orem.  Payson Lock and Key will be 30 minutes before they can come over.  Fortunately, my neighbor, Leah, has been locked out of her house by her children lots and has learned how to card the door open.  She gets me inside.  

Later, the guy comes to look at the car.  They check it out.  I tell them about the bumper and let them know the options (we fix or they fix, and just pay us less money) if they end up being interested in the car.  They take it for a test drive and for a courtesy check at a mechanic.  They like car.  They buy car for $3,500.  I don't have to fix car.  Huge weight = lifted.

Finish paperwork.  Take off license plate (which I nearly forgot to do!).  Call insurance and close the claim.  It will still cover the other car if they choose to make a claim.  Cancel the insurance since we no longer own a car.  Doesn't affect the claim still.

Mailed the DMV letter to let them know we sold the car.  Mail postcards to my cousin, Elisabeth.  Not all of them fit in the envelope I had (I wasn't going to mail each individually!), so I drop the rest off at her mom's house.  First, stop at the bank.  Got a new debit card and set things up to move to Peru.  Deposit car money.  Go to Sip-N Spot for a much needed and deserved Oreo.  Share a smoothie with Henlie because she wanted a "juice."  Got a Lion's Roar (mango Mountain Dew) for my aunt, Caleen.  Pick up some pizzas and crazy bread for her family as well.  Drop them off (eventually.  Silly boys don't open the door!)  Chatted for awhile.  Drove past the Payson temple since she lives on that street.  After being lit for like 2 weeks, it wasn't lit up.  Oh well.  Still pretty.  Drive home.  Put baby to bed.  End my day on a better note than it started.  Still, I wouldn't want to relive it!

I did it.

I quit my job.

The same job I've had forever. (Okay, a year in high school, but then went back after high school and have been with them for 10 years since!)

I quit Western Wats/Opinionology/SSI.

I did it.

Granted, it took moving to freaking PERU to make this happen.  (In all fairness, I may have gotten to quit after this cycle anyway with the second job Matt had picked up before he got this job instead...)

It has been a good little job for me.  I worked nearly a year in 2003 at the old Spanish Fork phone center.  I started in January and they closed it down that December.  I helped them tear down the PC (phone center) and load stuff into the trailer.  

After that, I half-heartedly searched for jobs.  I refused to do fast food or retail.  That puts a damper on what you can work as a high school student.  Eventually, I ended up at the old Orem PC of Western Wats.  I started right before I started college, since I was going to school in Orem anyway :)  So August 2004.

After, I don't know how long, I moved downstairs to editing.  I worked on banking editing and eventually learned action items (don't worry, it isn't important that you actually know what that means :)).  Not too long after, the company decided to consolidate editing at the corporate office, and they did not take me with them.  I was pissed.  I blogged about it.  I found out they have a "googler" and my post was found.  I was kindly warned by my then manager, Sam, to watch what I write.  However, I wasn't required to take it down, so that was good I guess?

Not too long after that, Jan needed some help editing.  I already knew how to do some of it, so I was a good choice to be a "yo-yo."  It sucked.  I also made less editing than I did dialing at the phone center. (Sam let me keep my pay when they stole my work lol)  Eventually, Jan just hired me and I worked in editing again. 

Near the end of my college career, I started working full time.  I worked full time from nights to days and back to nights until I had Henlie.  Okay, sort of true.  The year I had Henlie, I helped in our temporary PC in Draper for the 2012 election cycle.  I got to be Assistant Manager ;)  Then I had Henlie on the Sunday before election day, so I took my maternity leave a little earlier than anticipated.  When I came back in January, I came back to editing and went part-time.

This has been a good little job for me.  The hours are flexible.  The people have been fun to work with.  And Jan has taken good care of me :)  It was a little bittersweet to leave. (Also, I felt bad quitting when I did (Oct. 10th) because we've been super busy with election work!)  However, I'm kind of excited I won't be retiring from Wats.  It was a fear of mine lol.

I've been working Monday, Wednesday, Fridays mostly since I had Henlie.  My last Wednesday, Jan bought us all dinner from Magleby's Fresh.  I got a stuffed breadstick sandwich.  It was so yummy!

On my very last day, Friday, the 10th, Jan ordered treats and pies from Kneaders and invited the building down.  I mostly hung out for an hour socializing lol.  Also, I met a girl whose cousin Matt pseudo worked with and has been talking to because they were also moving to Peru.  They just moved down when I quit.  Small world, eh?

My co-workers were sweet.  Justin gave me a card.  Karina gave me a little note with some helpful tips from a Peruvian friend of hers, along with an RSL coloring book for Henlie :)  Jason came in, even though it was his day off.  Melissa stopped in and brought me her yummy chocolate covered popcorn.  And Jan gave me a little witch figurine to remember her, the Wicked Witch of Western Wats, by :)


We took some pictures.  Jan walked me out and the end of the night.  We hugged.  She cried. (I maybe nearly cried.)  And that was that.  My 10/11 years at the same company (under three different names) came to an end.

I'll let you know how being a stay at home mom is later, when we get settled in Peru.  Right now, I'm still just trying to pack my house up!

After a small reprieve, it was time to head up Hobble Creek Canyon for Kim and Zach's wedding.  Even though the weather was rainy and cold, the wedding was outside in this lovely pavilion.  We helped with some setup and just chatted for a bit waiting for the wedding to start.

I was looking forward to this wedding.  They had a gothic theme, and I wanted to see what they did with it :)

After the ceremony, we set up for the reception.  We had yummy food and got to chat more with family.  We totally wore pants and coats, even in the pictures :)  Kim said she didn't blame us ;)


Congratulations, Kim and Zach!  And an official welcome to the family, Zach :) Love you both!

Last on our Utah Bucket List was the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium.  We hadn't yet been to the aquarium since it moved to its new building, so we definitely had to check it out.  I was glad that we had chosen the aquarium for the activity for the 27th because it was super rainy.  

Even though they had lots of people there, most of it wasn't too crowded thanks to all of the added space.  First on our agenda was the penguins.  But we had to stop and look at some things along the way.



Next, some photo ops before heading upstairs.  We ended up coming top down to South America.

The Journey to South America was fun because it also had birds.  (We're weird.  We go to the aquarium for birds, not fish ;))  They had little guys free-flighted in the trees.  One of them ended up on a pipe or something near us, just squawking away :)  Just think, soon we'll live in South America!  But we're not going to see these creatures because that involves visiting the Amazon.  I have no desire to go there.  I've seen the bugs they have!

After going through Journey to South America and Discover Utah, we headed over to the ocean and the sharks :)

We stopped and looked through the gift shop on our way out.  When we left, it was still very wet.  In fact, the drainage was so poor that some areas of the parking lot were flooding.  It was a fun adventure.  We stopped at Costa Vida in Spanish Fork (drive-through!) on the way home to get some lunch before it was time to get ready to go to Kim and Zach's wedding :)


Despite the cold, we had a fun time at the aquarium.  Any time we get to spend time together as a family doing something fun is a win :)

I'd been having an awfully hard time with all of the stress of moving, so on Sept. 18th, Henlie helped me take a bit of a break from it.

Later that day, we picked up the mail.  Her passport had arrived!  Guess she gets to go with us to Peru after all :)


The 18th actually turned out to be a pretty busy day for us.  We went to visit Granny and Grumpy.  Koreen took us out to the chickens (I spooked one of them, and they all fluttered about.  It startled Henlie and she ended up on her bum lol) and helped Henlie pick apples.




After munching on our apples, we stopped at Great Grandma and Grandpa Erdmann's house to visit too.


Since Daddy was in surgery up in Logan and wouldn't be home until late, we also stopped by Great Grandma Christiansen's for a visit.  It is nice that three sets of grandparents all live near each other :)

After playing with Great Grandma Christiansen, it was time to go home and go to bed :)