We're Moving!

Finally, I can announce it!  Phil and I are moving to Arizona! We've known for a while now, but have just been telling people on a kind of "need-to-know" basis.  We aren't moving until the beginning of August and I guess we felt like we didn't want people to write us off too quickly.  Anyway, we've told enough people now (including Phil's boss) so its not really a secret anymore and I wanted to blog about it.  I'm obviously excited, for lots of reasons.

One:  We are moving because Phil has been accepted to Thunderbird School of Global Management.  Its a private school in Glendale (just west of Phoenix) and is ranked #1 in the world for MBA's in International Business!  Its a great opportunity for Phil and I am just so happy for him!

Two:  I like to go places.  Ever since I graduated high school I have moved about every 18 months if not more.  I first left New Mexico to go to Ephraim, Utah and attend Snow College.  Then, I graduated Snow a semester early (its just a two year school, and I finished in 3 semesters) and went off to St. Petersburg, Russia to teach English.  After 5 months in Russia I moved back to Utah, but this time to Bountiful with my grandparents.  After about 9 months in Bountiful I left for Madrid, Spain on my mission of (you got it) 18 months.  Now I am back in Utah, but this time in Salt Lake City.  We have now been here for about 15 months, so I'm sure you can imagine that I am feeling an itch to move again.  I don't think I will always want to move around, but while we are young and yet to own a home, I love it.

Three:  The weather!  I LOVE the sun.  Having grown up in New Mexico, I always had the sun on my face, even in the winter.  I miss it when it's cloudy for too many days in a row.  Honestly, I think I may have seasonal depression because I thought I was going to die in St. Petersburg when it was so dark and gloomy and the sun didn't come out until May.  Salt Lake is OK in the summer, but it gets pretty cloudy and snowy and cold in the winter, plus there is a terrible inversion from living in the valley and I miss my sunshine. I know it gets to be like 120 degrees in the summer in Phoenix, but I would so much rather be hot than cold.  I'm so excited.

It will of course be very hard to leave our friends and family.  We love our Ward--I don't think we will ever find another as wonderful as the 11th--and have been very happy here.  Except for his mission, which falls into a different category, Phil has never lived outside Utah, so I think it will be an even bigger change for him.  But, we are looking forward to starting this new adventure together and I'm sure we'll love it.