So since our last blog in March, we have moved into a brand new townhome in Sunnyvale that Matt and I are both in love with. Matt found the townhome by posting on a housing list at Google and I had to do most of the packing myself during my 3 days off between leaving SVCF and starting at AHA because Matt was on a work trip in Vegas. Yeah most people get time off to relax but not me and I was not happy about it.
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| Our new complex |
Thanks to help from friends and family, somehow we were able to pull the move off but I must say we were both exhausted before moving day even began. We had our core movers of my parents and our faithful friend, Tom Abbott, and then we had help from our previous ward and our new ward. And again we moved during General Conference weekend for the second year in a row.
No one was thrilled about the fact that our new place has three different levels but somehow we moved quickly and Matt and I have been slowly trying to put our home back together again while also getting acclimated to our new jobs. We hope we don't have to move again for several years.
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| Another view of our townhomes |
During the move we finally got rid of the couch and love seat I bought on Craigslist when I moved back to Utah in 2008. Their time had come, so we ended up buying a fabulous grey sectional from some wholesalers in Hollister. We feel so adult now having our grown-up couch! :)
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| A photo of our new couch (except we did not get the matching ottoman) |
Matt is LOVING his job at Google and fitting in well there. Besides his usual work, he plays on a volleyball, basketball, ultimate frisbee, laser tag, and flag football team around campus. Several of his coworkers call him coach because of his hard work in putting together and managing several of these teams and his knack for teaching others. Matt even made a little coach Android guy to go on his nameplate. He also recently got to hear 49er Head Coach Jim Harbaugh speak at Google.
In May, Google had a Parent's Day and Matt's dad was kind enough to fly up here to attend. Matt had a blast showing Lane the Google campus and Lane asked repeatedly how anyone got any work done but I think during Parent's Day, they did a pretty good job answering that question.
We are loving getting to try out new Google products and help do studies for new projects. Right now I'm typing this blog on a Google Chromebook Matt borrowed for the weekend for me to try out since my laptop's motherboard recently died.
As for my work at the American Heart Association, I feel like I never left and have enjoyed picking up where I left off. Fundraising in the Silicon Valley is much more exciting and easier than fundraising in Utah. I am having fun getting to know my new co-workers while still regularly getting together with my former SVCF friends for karaoke, country dancing or dinner. I have also recruited several as logistics volunteers to plan the Heart Walk. Learning to be a manager has been a bit of surprise to me and has been more challenging than expected. I am certainly more appreciative of those who have had to manage me.
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| Me at the Silicon Valley Heart Ball (held at the private estate of the CEO of Citrix) |
The health of KerMatt has not been 100% in the past few months which is probably our only complaint. Since leaving SVCF, I have been experiencing horrible headaches daily and have been unable to wear my contacts on a regular basis due to my eyes being inflamed most likely from allergies/sinus infections. I have been seeing an allergist and my eye doctor on an almost weekly basis because of these and have been frustrated at the lack of solutions or answers for these ailments. I have tested negative for the regular allergy tests but the doctor is not willing to rule them out. I've been on several different medications including almost a month of antibiotics and had a sinus CT scan to no avail. We are also trying some migraine medicine and I'm having a second set of allergy testing this week. I'm hopeful we'll find a solution soon because I'm so tired of being grumpy. :) The allergist also wants me to start doing an elimination diet to make sure I don't have a food allergy but naturally I've been dragging my feet on that one.
Matt finally had a much-needed visit with the Endocrinologist who switched his regular Thyroid prescription and did an ultrasound of his thyroid and found a large nodule growing on it. The new prescription only made him more tired so Matt is switching back. The doctor also did a biopsy of the nodule to make sure it wasn't cancerous, and it was not thankfully. Matt also saw a Gastroenterologist and found he had another recurrence of the small intestine bacterial overgrowth which was causing him severe stomach pain. So after another round of antibiotics for him, Matt's stomach is finally feeling much better.
All in all, we have much to be thankful for and are able to function fine regardless of this silliness. We recently got callings in our new ward - Matt to be the ward moving coordinator (probably due to his awesome moving coordination emails) and I was called to teach the 4-year-olds in Primary. I am thrilled as I have enjoyed teaching the Sunbeams and the 4-year-olds should be more used to Primary. After being in Primary for the past couple years, I have had such a difficult time this past month sitting through Sunday school and Relief Society. Seriously I think I inherited the attention span of the Sunbeams. :)
Since our last blog, Matt and I both turned 32 and we celebrated our 4 year anniversary! We also recently helped put on a family reunion for my mother's side of the family (that will be it's own blog).
Love you all and hope you all know how much we wish the best for you!
KerMatt