10 Years! (Time for Tin)

November 23, 2001

Ten years ago today, Mark and I were married in the Los Angeles Temple.  

I remember sitting in the Celestial room with Mark before our sealing and watching family and friends quietly walk past into the sealing room.  They would smile and give a little wave, and I was overwhelmed with love and happiness.  The Sealer came to talk to us and noticed tears in my eyes.  "You're a little nervous," he suggested.

"No!" I answered firmly, "not nervous, only filled with joy."

Marrying Mark was a great choice.  I think back on the girl I was then and sometimes wonder what he saw in me!  I know, without a doubt, that I am a better woman now as a result of Mark's influence.  

Throughout the years, I've lost count of how many people have taken the time to tell me what a wonderful man I married.  I heartily agree!  

Happy 10th Anniversary to us!  

It's Not Rocket Science

Big News!  Soon we'll be moving from the "Sunshine State" to the "What is Sunshine? State."

Last night Mark officially accepted a job offer from Boeing in Seattle (more specifically, in Tukwila).  We don't yet have a start date, but should know in the next few days.  Mark's glad he'll be working for Boeing and is even more glad to be done with the job hunt.  We're both excited to be moving to the West Coast and be (at least a little) closer to family. 

After Boeing made the job offer I asked Bryce, "do you want Daddy to work on airplanes?!"  "Yes!" he answered, but then he frowned and changed his mind. "No, I want Daddy to work on helicopters!"

What did we do to celebrate?  Went to Disney World, of course.  And, of course, I forgot my camera (I seem to be good at not documenting Thane's "first" activities). 

Shameless Brag

I'm sure Mark will be less than thrilled about this post, but too bad!

This morning Mark's manager called a group meeting, the purpose of which was to announce that Mark was receiving a special award - the Space Flight Awareness award. From what I understand, this is one of the highest awards NASA offers to it's contractors. With the award he gets: to attend an awards banquet, a VIP tour of Kennedy Space Center, VIP tickets to next week's shuttle launch, and a VIP tour of Johnson Space Center (in Houston!). He also gets to take one guest with him to each of these events. Pretty neat, eh? Mark is such a great employee and I am so, so, SO proud of him! The only downside to all of this is that most of these events are scheduled to occur within the next 2-4 weeks. Anyone want to guess what else is scheduled to occur in the next 2-4 weeks???

Change is on the Horizon

With the changes Pres. Obama has proposed regarding NASA and the future of space travel, there will be significant repercussions at the Kennedy Space Center. The one that most directs us is that the company for which Mark works, United Space Alliance, will no longer be a company once the shuttles finish their scheduled flights. All the employees have recently been informed that when the shuttle manifest is complete (supposedly in Sept. or Oct. of this year), everyone will be laid off. There will also be a (mostly voluntary) lay off in May.
So, it looks like by the end of the year Mark will need to find a new job and we probably won't be living in Florida any longer. This isn't necessarily a completely bad thing for us. We never planned on staying in Florida long term and had even suggested 2010 as a good time to transition. Now the decision has been made for us!
Right now we're thinking that we'll probably wait until the "end" of the company in Sept./Oct., rather than taking the May layoff because that's when our baby is due. However, if a truly fabulous, can't-turn-down job offer came along, we'd make it work.
So, if anyone knows of a good job or has a job lead or any job-related suggestions for a Materials Scientist/Chemical Engineer, please let us know! Also, if anyone would like to buy a house (for significantly more than it's worth), let us know as well. ;)
Thanks!

Let the Birthday Season Begin!

It's been a busy and fun week. There's way too much to blog about all at once, so I'll start with the most important part - Mark had a birthday on Thursday and he is now 29! Twenty-nine must be a pretty great age since I know a lot of people who seem like they've been that age for a while. How did we celebrate? Well, the kids and I went to pack meeting and Mark did his typical Thursday night Elder's Quorum visits/meetings/phone calls (which he loves so much). I did make him a cake, but things were so hectic that night and the next few days that we didn't get around to eating it until this morning and by then it didn't taste quite right so I threw it out. How pathetic! It's not all bad though; Friday night we got a baby sitter for Aubree and went out to dinner. We did have to take Bryce, but it was Bryce's half birthday (more about that later!) so I figured he qualified for a night out as well.

For his gift, I got Mark an iPod. In general, we're a number of years behind the curve when it comes to technology. Seeing as this is Mark's last year being hip and young (because we all know thirty is so old - just ask my younger siblings), I figured he should at least be semi-up-to-date with the 21st century (we also got new cell phones earlier in the month). He's been secretly wanting an iPod for some time, and it's perfect for a guy who loves music as much as Mark does. Once he got it, I half expected him to disappear into music-land for awhile but he's shown remarkable restraint. I'm not a big music fan, but Mark started telling me about podcasts and those sound very enticing. Maybe someday I'll get an iPod too.
So, Happy Birthday to Mark!! Thanks for being such a wonderful, hard-working, and devoted husband and father. We love you!