Hittin' the Road

We are finally getting on the road, for real this time, tomorrow morning!! We will be leaving my parent's house to go to about the Kansas/Colorado border for day 1, and the weather should be good so let's hope for a great trip! The truck pulled out on Tuesday, so we've been on a nice little Christmas holiday with just the basics...I think we will beat the truck though, even with our break:) Stay tuned....

Holiday Travels

Well as the holiday season is upon us we, like so many others around the country have begun to travel. On top of the usual holiday travels we are also moving from Utah to Washington D.C. So just in case you were wondering, here is our holiday travel route.

Provo, Utah - Montrose, Colorado
Montrose, Colorado - Burlington, Colorado
Burlington, Colorado - Independence, Missouri
Independence, Missouri - Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana - Falls Church, Virginia

All told it will be over 2000 miles of car time and living out our suitcases for about a 1 and a half weeks. If you happen to live along the route we have mapped out and would like us to stop in to see you, let us know and we will try to make arrangements. We hope that the weather holds out and that we have good roads all along the way and maybe just as importantly that our little passengers don't mind spending 30 hours in the car. :) I know we must be crazy to plan a trip like this this in the dead of winter, but 'tis the season for holiday travel . Wish us luck.

Questions

As many of you know by now Noah has accepted a job to become a Foreign Service officer. What we have realized in talking to friends, family and co-workers is that there are a lot of questions that people have about what that means for our family. The purpose of this post will be to help answer the most frequently asked questions and clear up any confusion that may be out there about the new job.


What exactly is the Foreign Service?
The Foreign Service is a branch of the U.S. Department of State that represents the United States’ interests abroad. A Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is a diplomat. FSOs work in U.S. embassies around the world.


Will you have to move and if so where are you going?
One of the conditions of becoming an FSO is that you agree to be worldwide available. This means that you can go to anywhere in the world where the US has diplomatic relations. (certain countries like Iran and North Korea and number of others are not on the list, because currently there are no US embassies there)


Initially we will be moving to Washington D.C. where Noah will be attending training on exactly what will be required of him in his role as a US diplomat. His training begins on January 4th and will go for a little over a month. At that point we will find out where we are going and how long he will be required to attend additional training for his select post. It is possible that we could be in D.C. for over a year if he has to learn a new language. While we are in D.C. any and all visitors are welcome.


Once we actually move to our assigned post we will most likely spend 2 years in that country. After that we will go through the process of choosing our next country of service. Once again visitors are welcome wherever we go.


What about the kids? Where will they go to school?
Our kids are actually pretty excited to move. As you know we like to travel and ever since they have been born they have been globe hopping. Porter has said that he doesn't want to go to Africa, because he says that he is afraid of lions. We have assured him that he will not have to get near any lions and he is now excited about the possibility of seeing zebras and giraffes.


As far as schools are concerned there are international schools, and in many countries american schools which offer very high levels of education. The cost of these schools is covered as part of the compensation and benefits package we will receive.


Will you ever come home or will you always live overseas?
One great part about the Foreign Service is that you get to come home every year. The length of the trip might vary, as Kendra may choose to come home several weeks before Noah, but all in all should be a pretty decent vacation for us! While you are home you are encouraged to catch up with friends and family as well as taking care of any other personal matter that can be done while overseas.


Not only will we be coming home once a year, but it is expected that at some point during a Foreign Service Officer career your post will be in the Washington D.C. area. This usually occurs between years 4-15 of your career and we are both excited to live there. We have always talked about how cool it would be to live in D.C. and this will be our chance.


I know by now you either think this sounds like the craziest thing in the world or you want to know what you need to do to get a job like this, so the next question is:


How did you guys get this job?
While there is no specific set of qualifications that make you eligible for this job the screening process is quite long and it can be rather difficult.


Here is a condensed version of the process we’ve just been through. It’s a simple 8 step process: :)

Submit Resume-type information to register to take a written exam.
If selected, take the written exam.
If you pass, you submit concise essays in response to Personal Narrative Questions.
If you’re selected through a review panel you’re invited to an Oral assessment.
Those who are successful at the Oral need to submit documentation to obtain Security and Medical Clearances.
A Final Review panel then determines the candidate’s suitability for the Foreign Service.
The Candidate is placed on the Register (a list of people eligible for hire) ordered based on their score in the Oral Assessment.
As training classes are formed candidates are offered a job from the top of the list down.
This whole process took as about a year from start to finish. We have been told by others however that it can take up to 3 years and at any step along the way you can not be asked to move to the next step. So if you couldn't already tell we feel very lucky to have made it through this process and be where we are now.
WOW. When I started this post I thought it would be a quick Q&A, but several pages later you can see there are a lot of questions. If I didn't happen to answer an question which you had please feel free to drop me a line or give me a call and I will do my best to answer.


Keep any eye on our blog in the coming weeks and months and we will keep you updated on our adventures.

Winding Down

Well the time is getting near for Noah and I to move our little family to Washington D.C. so that Noah can start his new job with the US Department of State. Although we are extremely excited to start this new chapter in our lives we are also a bit sad to leave our current situation. Noah has loved his job at Tahitian Noni International and they have been such a good company. Noah' s last day will be this Friday and we will truly miss it. They have taken such good care of us with their great summer and Christmas parties. Noah has played softball, basketball, volleyball and soccer through work and all along the way made great friends. We will miss all of them and hope that where ever we go they come to visit. We just wanted to let all those people who have been part of our Noni family know how much we appreciate you. Craig and Kristi, Greg and Whitney, Fab and Lindy, Claudio and Olivia, and all of the others great people which we have had the opportunity to get to know. We hope that we are lucky enough to make the kind of friends that we have made when we move on to our new job. We will miss you all and make sure to stay in touch and come visit.

The Rest of the Festivities

(3rd Update)

The rest of the month of October was filled with oodles of festivities. We celebrated Daddy's 31st Birthday!! Woohoo!! Went to the pumpkin patch with Grandma, Aunt Katie and the cousins; decorated pumkins; had a little halloween party (here at our house); and of course trick or treated our hearts out on Halloween night! The following are a brief representation of the events. Hope you enjoy!

Red Velvet/Cake Batter confetti cake from Cold Stone YUMMY!

So proud of their creations-yes we took Ronan right back inside:)

It was unseasonably warm however!

On the hayride out to the pumkin patch!

I tried to make the cinnamon/sugar/white chocolate/caramel apples-they weren't quite as perfect as the professional ones, but still pretty tasty!

Dr. Grant, making the homemade rootbeer potion! He and Aubrye were the dentist and tooth fairy. Super cute:) I am however missing some pictures or all the guests costumes:( They are on another memory card that I can't get to load...

Yes, my wig is a MESS! I just grabbed it out of the bin from being squished in there for like 4 years! So sorry, me-not so cute! Noah, was Morgan from "Chuck" though. He costume was AWESOME though if I do say so myself:)

Our darling little sock monkey!

And such a tough Optimus Prime! I gave up on trying to make one for Porter this year. Too much going on, and plus this costume was pretty cute!

Reunion Time!

(2nd update this week)

I've been behind, but I am really trying to get caught up with all of our adventures so that we can be all squared away for new posts of our new adventure in a couple of WEEKS!! I can't believe that it is coming so quickly! So anyway, mostly for us and journaling sake I am going to put up these posts, hopefully getting us caught up in just a few! So yes, back around the beginning of October we were able to have a couple of really great reunions with some friends. We had Noah's mission reunion, which was so great. Even though it was like 10 years ago, they had a super tight mission. There are tons of people who aren't in the area anymore, but still the ones who are can sometimes make it! They were some of the very first missionaries in Madagascar. The mission opened in 1998, and Noah went in the spring of 1999. I think they are all pretty close because of all the circumstances. There were only missionaries in the capital city at the time, so they all saw each other a lot! Such a fun group, and even as a spouse I feel like I have gotten to know so many of them. They really like to go all out, and even have a cool sign! Maybe all of my boys could go there one day! Who knows!

A group of the guys (and Sister Miles)

Us with Pres. and Sister Hill

Our cute boys!

Us with Bro. and Sis. Miles (they were in the office with Noah for a long time, got super close)

This is a pic of the new building! The biggest one in all of southeast Africa area! hmmm....looking good for them to get a temple by 2014, which is their goal!!

We were also able to get in a visit with some great friends that we had in Michigan! The Tiltons were in town and we were able to get together for dinner and a great night of catching up! We love these guys and have missed them so much. Porter and Ellie were just a couple of months apart, and so are Jack and Ronan! We had a great time seeing them again!

Our little families!!

Good Friends, Good Times (Traverse Edition)

We had an AMAZING trip to Traverse City a little while back! Yes, I am behind...but I'm getting caught up now. We had such a wonderful time with our amazing friends! Noah and Tim had been there before, but none of the rest of us. It was SO gorgeous, such an awesome place to visit, and one of our definite favorites! We WILL be going back for a repeat. We rented a sweet condo with our friends Tim and Ash for the weekend (it was cheaper thanks to the "off-season" price...great tip) that was right on the beach and had so much fun living it up! We were also able to attend some of our other cute friend's wedding (to each other, by the way...love it when that happens another awesome couple!) and last but not least, we were able to visit Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes! They were INCREDIBLE! Next time though, we'll bring much more water and probably skip the first set of dunes we tried to climb....they kept going, and going, and going!! We later found the drive that took you to another giant dune; but it was at least right at Lake Michigan instead of 3 miles away! Such an amazing view, we love us some Lake Michigan!

Good Friends, Good Times (part 1)

So in a belated attempt to document our last couple of months I am going to do a series of posts, starting with this... in my defense, I did try and upload pictures to do this blog several times over the last few weeks...it kept kicking me out for some reason though. I was to lazy to try to figure it out until now! We were able to spend a super fun time with some of our favorite peeps in September when we returned to MI for a little visit and a wedding. We actually spent most of our time up in Traverse City (another post to follow) which was an amazing and much needed vacation for all... but did get in a little good quality time in East Lansing before we headed up north. For those of you in the know...yes, we did hit the Twist (several times) and notice the NEW TABLES! So fancy huh! So here's a couple of pics of us enjoying our favorite ice cream, and Noah with his "jimmies". We were also able to squeeze in a trip to the MSU Children's Garden as well, one of our other favorite spots! This time we actually had children with us who were old enough to actually enjoy it! So fun, the kiddos had a great time...but still are working on posing for a picture all together! Such best buddies! The train was the biggest hit along with the stomping chime thing...(don't really know what it would be called). We had such a great time, wished we could have seen even more people and things... but we'll be back again sometime soon to visit again I promise! We LOVED our time in MI and has so many great memories for us. Loves and misses to all you out there who know the feeling:)

Diplomat

Well as many of you may be aware Noah has been working towards becoming a Foreign Service Officer for almost a year now. He has passed all the tests and completed all the paperwork and as of Friday he received his official offer to attend Junior Officer training. We will be moving to Washington D.C. in early January and we will be spending anywhere from 3 to 12 months there while he learns the in and outs of what his job will be. We are super excited and can't wait for all of the wonderful experiences that will come from being an FSO. I will post more details in the days to come and keep you all up to date on our adventures. I am so proud of my future "Diplomat".

Summer Catch Up

We ended up being pretty busy in August and September, and as much as I had good intentions...I didn't get anything blogged about until now. I wanted to get Roni's birthday events up soon for the grandparents, but now I can catch up on the other fun events that have happened to us recently! So aside from birthday stuff, all new post will be in the correct order:) At the end of August we were lucky enough to have some of our very best friends, Tim, Ashley and Xavier come to visit us for a week!! We have missed them so much, not being able to live close... and we loved every minute of it! The boys all had a blast playing together, and we got in tons of good time with our peeps:) We got to go to Temple Square (where we both got married) together and have a fun time with our little families. We also had a great time at the pool here in town and figured out who the daredevils in the families are:) Ronan and Xavier both went down the water slide over and over again with the daddies...Porter, not so much! We ate tons of yummy food, and had plenty of hanging out! We had such a blast, and pray every night that we get to live close to each other again someday!


They were snuggling watching cartoons-it was so cute, I tried to get a picture. Xavier is awesome at grinning for pics, Porter just rolled to the side to keep watching his show. Silly boys!