Changes....

So, things are a-changing in our house lately.  The result of this is that we've been super-busy...even busier than normal.

We took a trip to Yellowstone the beginning of September which was fabulous!  We had a wonderful time, then the next weekend we went out camping...so we had basically three weekends in a row where we were gone.  You can see all of the awesome Yellowstone pictures here.  Start with day one and work your way out from there :-)

The second to last day at Yellowstone I got a call from 3M.  They wanted me to come in for an interview!  Most of the people who know me know that I had been very unhappy at my job for the last year or so.  My job hit an all time low in July where I had a horrible manufacturing run that ended with much emotional upset; I almost quite my job on the spot.

I had to step back and take a few deep breaths (like a million of them) and I decided to try and hold out until I had another job.  But it was definitely time to start looking for a new job.  When you dread going to work every morning something is not right.

Things actually were getting better in August/September.  My manager was removed from the project and the team lead left; the people that replaced them were doing an excellent job of trying to straighten out the whole mess.

Still the call from 3M was like a god-send for me.  I meet with the people at 3M the Wednesday after I got back from Yellowstone.  I had a great time at the interview, I liked the people and they were looking for someone to do exactly the type of work I love to do.  About five hours after the interview they called to offer me the job, a few hours later I had a formal offer.  They meet my pay and vacation requirements no problem.  It was a bit of a whirlwind but I was sooo excited.

Needless to say I was incredibly busy trying to get things finished up at my old work and get all the legal/drug check stuff done for 3M.  I just finished my first week there and it was wonderful.  The people are easy to work with, they love what they are working on, and they all seem to truly love the company.  The stuff I am working on is incredibly interesting (although a bit overwhelming...there is so much I need to learn) and the resources to do that work are amazing.

The first thing the lab manager told me was that the company is structured so that we can all succeed and do our jobs well....I was like what?  Coming from a company that does forced ranking and seems to set its employees up for failure this is a big deal.  Getting support from your company and having it make your life easier is a foreign concept to me at this point.  The benefits 3M offer are fantastic and definitely set up to make your life easier.

So I've been pretty excited.  Then things got even more exciting.  Lyle got a job offer for a permanent full time position at SureScripts; he will make nearly as much as he did contracting and he gets full benefits and 4 weeks of vacation!  So, needless to say he accepted the position.  He starts on the 31st of this month.

A lot of changes.  All of them have been good ones.  Still it's been tumultuous, it's hard to leave your old work and jump into something completely new...I think it will really pay off in the end though.  Keegan has heard more about benefits and pay then any four year old should ever have to deal with in the last couple weeks but he's been sweet about it all.

My first day Keegan was worried that I wouldn't know anybody and that I would be sad.  I explained that I would meet new people and make new friends and that it was great to get a chance to do that.  Then when I saw him that night the first thing he did was ask me how everything went.  He is such a thoughtful boy at times :-)

I never thought things could get even better for us.  We have been so lucky to have steady jobs and a healthy family.  Then suddenly things are getting even better.  It is so wonderful to be working on something exciting again...of course this is the Honeymoon period of my job...so we will see how I feel about it in a few months :-)

Hope all is well with you guys too!