Thursday, January 10, 2013

New Years

Needless to say 2012 was quite the eventful month for us.

January through April- Evan traveled about 3 weeks of every month while I figured out being a single person again.
April- We owed the IRS money
May- Celebrated my birthday, had a surprise at the Grand America for the night
June- Ragnar, broke my foot
July- Attended numerous RSL games with our season tickets
August- Had weddings to attend and Lake Powell.  Hike Mt. Timp
September- Headed to Mexico
October- Celebrated the big 27 for Evan's birthday
November- Evan started traveling for literally the whole month
I ran Vegas Ragnar
Went to Oregon for Thanksgiving with my family
December- RAMP exploded in sales and production
Christmas and New Years

On paper, it doesn't look that busy.  But I swear every weekend we were out doing something.  2012 treated us very well.  We learned to save and pay off debt.  I can finally say we are down to one car loan and that is all the debt we owe (well besides our house).  But being 26 and only having one car loan, and no credit cards I'm pretty proud of ourselves.  We are looking forward to this year of being able to move into a single family home, not being attached to neighbors, and having a yard and garage. It even sounds dreamy.  I haven't had a garage ever since I started driving.  I'm not familiar with the feeling of getting up into a WARM car.  I think the day that happens I might cry tears of happiness.  RAMP everyday is getting bigger and bigger.  Since I handle all the customer service I talk to people constantly about ordering our skis and having them stocked in various businesses.  It's a very exciting time to be in a start up watching your hard work pay off.  Also having such an incredible boss.  Working here is like a little family, we all support each other and it's so nice to have such an amazing boss like Mike.  He said he was paying for our anniversary dinner as a gift.  Now who can say their boss does that for them?!?!?!  Like I said our boss is hands down AMAZING.

With the New Year, I do like to set resolutions.  Unfortunately I'm TERRIBLE at keeping them.  As Evan put it I go in phases of things I'm passionate about.  It's never new things, they just go in phases.  Like running, I haven't been in a month and a half (Kerry I'm slacking), and that's nuts!  Just seeing that written down has floored me.  So I do need to keep up on that.  I was going to try to eat less meat.  We unfortunately watched a documentary on being vegan, and the way they treat animals in slaughter houses just breaks my heart.  Evan and I are those people trying to pick up the stray animals (we literally did do this, after a movie we were running around after this little kitty that was so little and cold, but after half an hour we did give up.  It clearly didn't want to be caught).  I hate seeing bad treatment of animals.  So knowing the food I'm eating this is how the animals are being treated just digusts me.  Maybe I'll be vegetarian or maybe I will opt for organic/kosher meat the environments and treatment are better on those.  It is a huge issue for me, and eating too much meat honestly isn't good for you.  There is a reason the US is the most unhealthy.  Also exercising our dogs more.  They are kept inside all day, which I think they prefer, but Torre is an Australian Shepherd and they are the most active dogs out there.  That is high on my list of resolutions as well.  Overall I think resolutions are hard to keep, because it is a lifestyle change.  But hopefully these stick!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

3 Years

Three years ago today, Rachel and I got married in a beautiful Italian restaurant called Tuscany. To say it was a perfect day would be an understatement. The venue was beautiful. The bride was beautiful and the food was incredible. The groom wasn't too bad looking either. This won't be a typical anniversary post to gain points in the bedroom later. It's a true explanation of how Rachel has changed my life from the day we met to three years after we said "I do". Before Rachel and I met I was going to school at the University of Utah. All I was doing was showing up to each class and waiting to cross it off the list of ones I HAD to take. I had no direction and wasn't even sure my major was what I wanted. School was just a habit at this point so I kept going. I worked at TKJ in a job I loved because I was helping others. I could also drink every night, and I had mornings off to ski every morning. It was the best job for me at the time because it gave me the ability to do whatever I wanted and enjoy life. After Rachel and I met I instantly began to figure things out. I found interest in social work and started to actually enjoy some of the classes I was taking. I wanted to learn more, and the more I learned the more curious I got. I applied for a job with Valley Mental Health and loved working at CORE. I felt like I directly impacted people's lives and pulled people out of some of the darkest times in their life. After a few years I started to get a little worn out. I was around sadness 4 days a week and the 5 day something great would happen that would make me enjoy my job again. Rachel noticed what I was going through and told me I had to find something that made me happy. Something that I could bloom in and experience a career rather then just a job. That's when we took a gamble with Ramp. I now do something I love and look forward to on Monday morning. Rachel and I have traveled to some of the most amazing places in the world and finally feel like I have found things I want to do for the rest of my life. Like I said before, to say Rachel has changed my life would be an understatement. Anyone can see that Rachel will dedicate herself to something and wont stop until she knows she has excelled or improved. Watching her at work I have now seen how she does it. She will see a problem and find a way to fix it optimize it and have it continue to run at peak performance. Just like She did with me when we first met. Now I understand I was just another project in her life.

Evan