The past few weeks in review...

It's been a few since I last "blogged." The past couple of weeks have been really busy. On Sunday, Feb. 25th I was flown out to Orange County, California. I was flown out there in order to be interviewed by a healthcare company called the Ensign Group. The company acquires and operates full time nursing facilities and assisted livings (old folks homes). It was a wonderful opportunity to fly out to John Wayne Airport and to stay nearby in the Crown Plaza Hotel. On Monday, I went to their "service center" where the interviews were going to be conducted. The service center is their name for their corporate headquarters. The day was filled with a series of seven interviews, 45 minutes a piece. Yeah, it was pretty intense. After the first three interviews, we had lunch. On my fourth interview I was informed that the first three people that interviewed me were the original founders of the Ensign Group. I was surprised because not once throughout our interviews did they mention that they were the originators of the organization. Never once did they say, "I did___, I accomplished___, Look where we are now because of me, etc." They were focused on providing quality care to people that needed it. They were "we" oriented, not "I" oriented.

Needless to say, the interviews went okay. I would like to say that they went great but honestly, you never know. I have had interviews that I thought went excellent. But the next week I would get rejected through email or by letter. It was also interesting because everyone that was there to interview left that Monday. However, I got to stay an extra day (Tuesday) and tour a couple of facilities. The truth is that I was impressed with the amount of responsibility that would follow this position. If I was to get an offer to be the administrator of one of these facilities, I would be very excited and humbled. It is a lot of work and a lot of responsibility. Nevertheless, I believe I could do it.

I was told that they would get back with me last Friday (3/2/07). I have still not heard anything yet. So I don't know exactly what to think. I'll keep you posted when I hear something.

I also had an interview with Knight Transportation. I interviewed with a man named Marc Rogers. He was a great guy. The interview was real casual - he was dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. A little after the interview he emailed me informing me that he wanted to fly me out to Tulare, California. The facility out there is the biggest in the country for Knight. The job is a management training position. I would work in Tulare (right below Fresno) for a couple of years and then hopefully transfer to Utah as an upper level manager. This opportunity seems exciting as well because Knight is a great company and it has seen steady growth over the years. I'm excited to fly out next week because I will get a rental car. Marc also said he wants to show me some of the nice communities in Tulare and the nearby city of Visalia. I'll also keep you posted with the latest on this.

On Monday (3/5/07) I drove up to SLC for my second round of interviews with Enterprise Rental car. I met with a guy named Bill and we had a great talk. I noticed on his wall that he had a lot of fly fishing pictures and paintings. When he asked me the question, "Where do you see yourself in 10 to 15 years," I had to answer, "Well, besides fishing, I want to..." He then asked if I was a fly fisherman. I replied with the answer, "Is there any other kind of fishing?" I got a chuckle out of him and the interview changed into a fishing discussion. After turning the interview into an hour appointment instead of a half hour one, he finished by offering a job. He says that he can see me moving up real quick in the organization. He said the ball was in my court to decide if I wanted to work there.

It's really nice to have an "arrow in my quiver," just in case I don't find anything else. The more offers I get, the more I can evaluate where I want to be and what I want to be doing. I'm just so grateful to be in this stage in my life. It's definitely humbling do job search. I pretty much have to put things in the Lord's hands and do my best. I just want to make the Man Upstairs happy and provide for my wonderful little family.

Speaking of family, we had Brielle's birthday last week on Thursday (3/1/07). Her first birthday was definitely a fun one. She is so flippin' cute. We had a little shin-dig here at the house in Provo. Like Wyatt, she burned her finger on the candle. After shaking that off, she dove into her cake and had a blast. I will attach some of those pictures below.

We also had a party for her up in Ogden on Friday (3/2/07). We invited all of her cousins over and had them tear apart Steve and Sandie's house. Brielle was able to get into her second cake in just two days. Everyone else had fun gabbing and eating some good ice cream. The cousins all had a blast playing with each other and running around the house. Of course, Wyatt was trying to steal toys and Jonas let him have it a few times. Those two are so funny together. Jonas sure does put Wyatt in his place. Wyatt thinks he's pretty hot stuff when he's at home and he pushes Brielle around. But when he's with Jonas, he gets a good rough up even though Jonas is smaller.