A Day With The Graffs: February 2018

To quote Kacey Musgraves, "On this broken Merry Go Round, Round and round and round we go, where it stops no body knows. And it ain't slowing down, this merry go round." Some parts of that song are very true, but to be clear I'm only quoting that part. (haha that song gets a little emo)
Anyway, we're Merry-Go-Round Movers because....

We're Moving Back to Utah!

So yeah, we've only been here in Arizona for 2 years and we're already going back. But Dallin got such a good opportunity with work so it would be irresponsible to say no. It's exciting and hard at the same time because we love our jobs, the people, our house, and the weather.

Dallin's new job will be in the insurance department of his company, and it starts much sooner than the school year gets out. Because of that, he is moving up early and then me and the J's will move up there in June.

Touring the Mystery Castle of Phoenix

We wanted to explore Arizona (especially knowing we have 4 months left here). So we went to see the mystery castle that a man made way back in 1914 out of things he found. It's really big, lots of rooms, and everything in there is something that he was given or found. Railroad ties, parts of his car, rocks, etc. It was really interesting. They have so many historically significant things there and the tour guide tells you so much about the family. (Lots of funny stories)

It was really cool, we loved it!

Beautiful Arizona

The weather is sooooooo nice here. It's been in the 70's and 80s and it's February! We hang out outside all the time.

The sunsets here are to die for.

I swear the backyard with the dogs and Dallin- that's my happy place.

Clear link Dinner!

We went to Pappadeaux which is cuisine inspired by Louisiana. It was fun getting to talk to Josh, Aaron, and Spencer. Plus the food was awesome!

The kids

They got a doggie cold but it only lasted a couple days. They're the cutest.

Work

I love my coworkers and department. Seriously, how do math teachers entertain themselves? Every day's a party in the athletic department! lol

We've been going to lunch a lot lately, and this day Soon took off running in the drive through because he suddenly wanted a different restaurant. lol so then I was just chelsea's driver

The students are learning the foxtrot right now. Just finished the Tango

My 2 weights classes are different. I think we all do our best and the students seem to be okay with how things are going. In Dance 1 I just taught a little unit on musical theater so we did jazz squares and cheese stuff to fun songs from hairspray and high school musical. It was really fun and I loved teaching again.

This was chelsea's combo she taught in the contemporary unit

Soon had me substitute his PE class when they did a soccer tournament and it was really fun to be back in PE for a day.

All the faculty had to do student feedback and to be honest with you it was REALLY hard for me. I got a few bad reviews on a Friday and all weekend long I had nightmares that everybody hated me, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I cried, obsessed, thought about solutions, was mad, sad, etc. I have never gotten anything negative before so it hit me like a semi truck. I felt like I was sacrificing a lot to be there for these students. I could have jumped ship and moved to be with my husband but I stayed back for them, and they didn't seem to be grateful. After talking to a few coworkers, students and my AD I realized that with teaching poor feedback is inevitable. Although it might be inaccurate, it's a perception, and I can do something about it, even if it doesn't make any sense to me. I can't let them do anything they want, but I can make sure they know that my heart is in the right place. Long story short, the AD told me that they read all of them, and if a teacher has all good ones and no bad ones, they know something's up. The ones I have that were bad were "she's rude" and stuff like that, which I know were students who I am consistently having to hold them accountable. So anyway, that was a lesson learned I guess.

TRACK SEASON STARTED! I am a tad overwhelmed, but still, I think it will be really good. I'm glad to be back with my xc folks and meet new ones too.

The 5 man pushup :)

Long Distance = Back to College Lifestyle

Dallin hates the scent of this candle with a passion so the good news about him being gone is that I get to burn that candle. But everything else about the long distance thing is hard.

This picture was from when he went up the first time just for a few days to get everything started about this new job and department. He said he was meeting with the presidents and people really high up in all three companies that are coordinating with this and he was really nervous. He said they all have phd's and he felt so competent and blessed to be meeting with them. I'm so proud of how far he's come, how smart he is, and how hard he works.

Anyway, he came back so excited and it helped us know that we made the right decision to move up there because it will be so good for his career.

Now that we're both apart, it's back to eating ramen noodles and hanging out with friends a lot. We both joke that we're back in college again. There are positives to this: it's easier for me to eat clean when he's not here tempting me with all the fattening food he eats, and I don't have to clean as much since I'm not cooking or anything. So that's good. And it's good for both of us that we're both happy in our jobs and lives and stuff. It would be impossible to do this if I hated my job.

Gettin' Ma Side Hustle On

So I signed up to do doggie babysitting on rover. It's been a really good side hustle because you can charge up to 45 bucks a night and it's super easy because dogs don't require much (especially when you have a dog door.). It's been an awesome way to make extra money, and Jake loves all the play mates he meets!

Reading & Nails

Look how crazy my veins are in that last pic! haha
Anyway I've been really enjoying "The Specials" book I'm reading now. I'm almost done and next I'll move on to the "extras".

Goodbye Poker Night

Jake went to the Mayne's with us for the last poker night before dallin moved. He got to meet Ellie and play for a while with Olivia and Addison.

Look how tired they were after! haha

Tempe Town Lake

We got to go to Tempe Town Lake together, and it was so fun. We spent lots of time together the few weeks leading up to him leaving so it was really nice. We just went for a walk with the dogs. After the kids had their first Puppocino from starbucks, and we took them to mattress firm to buy new pillows.

Projects

Since track started I haven't gone to orange theory, and I should. I'm worried about how busy I'll be, but I'm still going to try and keep my membership there. The toothpaste from new skin that dallin got me for christmas works so well!

Still plugging away on my painting!

Journey to Utah

I took 2 days off and spent a long weekend in Utah to move dallin up there officially. I was really carsick on the way up so Dallin let me drive and I felt better. (We fight over driving because he thinks I hit stuff and because we both get carsick.) lol

The whole time we were there, we were focusing on visiting home builders because we were 4 months out, so it didn't make sense to fall in love with a house when we couldn't move yet. So we explored that option in every city, and with every builder. It was so nice to have my mom there the whole time because she helped make it less confusing and calmed us down when we got overwhelmed. It was really fun to kindof fantasize about our dream house and neighborhood with a custom builder, but after we figured out all the prices, we decided we probably shouldn't build.

We were able to the other Graff fam in Draper! It was super fun!

It came to an end, but we handled the goodbye much better than expected. I thought I would be a wreck, and I thought that I would be dealing with the separation worse than I am. I think that I decided to do this based on what made the most financial sense, and so now I'm in my "follow-through" mode. I know that what we're doing is the smartest choice, so it makes me feel good about it and I am sort of deciding to make it work and not be all dramatic about it. I lost my drivers license so we were kindof worried they'd let me on the flight, but I had my passport so it was all good.

Meanwhile, Lexi was a sweetheart and watched the kids for us.

hahaha she had an audience going to the bathroom.

She said it was kindof wild with them all together so I think she's a saint for dealing with it so that we could go house hunting.

Saying Goodbye to Scottsdale (From Dallin's perspective)

Dallin-

"It's crazy to think we are moving back to Utah. When I left Utah 2 years ago I thought there was almost no chance I'd ever be back but here we are lol. I am going to miss so much about Arizona. Having the opportunity to move down to open up the new site in Scottsdale was the scariest/most exciting/biggest opportunity that I had had in my short career and I could not pass it up. I think I learned more in the past 2 years about how to Lead, how to inspire others, and how to hold myself and others accountable from my Arizona family than I had in my previous 14 years of working. I was surrounded by incredible people. I will miss the 70 degree sunny weather in January and the hot summer days floating down the Salt River, but mostly I'm going to miss my friends at work. I feel like I'm in 5th grade again, being all emotional when we moved from Illinois to Virginia because 'I'm gonna miss my friends'. But its true.

Now we are headed back to Utah for another career adventure. I've been in sales and now sales management for my entire career and I've become very comfortable with it. So I should continue with that career path and try to make the jump from Sales Manager to Sales Director in Utah right?...Wrong. I should switch it up all together and go manage a new Service and Claims team for an insurance company(still within Clearlink though, I'll never leave. I love this place too much). This one is definitely into uncharted waters. There was a big opportunity to go be a part of and lead a new team in Salt Lake and I couldn't pass it up. I'll be running a team of service agents and also a separate team to handle claims. I'm new to this industry but I'm excited to learn another part of the business and become more well rounded as a leader.

What's crazy to me about this situation is how quickly life changes and how doors open at interesting times. I get asked sometimes 'what's my 3 or 5 year plan' or 'where do you see yourself in 10 years' and the more thought I put to it and especially the more experiences I have in life, the more I feel like that 'planning for a specific future' isn't always relevant. Two years ago I would not have told you that I would have had an incredible opportunity to move to Arizona and be a part of the launch of our company there. Three months ago I would have told you you're crazy if you told me that I would move back to Utah. But here we are. I guess what I'm saying is I'm a fan of living in the moment and striving to be the best human being in that moment as possible and when you do, good things happen. My incredible friend/boss/mentor Jordan calls it being the best version of yourself and I think its incredibly true. I do believe that we are in control of our lives but its the NOW that we are really in control of. And right NOW I'm on my laptop at midnight, sitting in my bedroom at my in-laws in Utah, missing my wife and puppies who are still in Arizona, feeling incredibly anxious but excited for the new job, determined to make the most of this incredible life.

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." --Buddha"

What's the female version of a "bro-mance"? A "sis-manse"?

Me & Chelsea are inseparable now and we co-teach so well. It's been really cohesive and fun. Her best friend mariah or "Riah" seems to always been helping us out, taking us to lunch, and hanging out at the school. So with the 3 of us together, its always a party. We have so much fun messing around,talking and laughing. They're the best and we're definitely in a "sis-mance."

This was when we were waiting around during Parent teacher conferences... impromptu photo shoot.

I loved how I got the be the girl in the prom photo.

So, a few weeks ago we wanted to see how far and how fast we could make a rumor go through the school. So we told a few people we were sisters. And bam- the whole school knew within 2 days. Ever since we've kept going with this lie, and you know that it's getting out of hand when we tried to create a family photo mixing me and my dad with her and her mom and grandma. hahaha it ended up so stupid we did not show it to the students or they would have seen right through us hahah

Valentines day at school

The adventures of my Cowlick

My cowlick is going places. It refuses to be held down. It is always true to itself. It strives for higher and higher goals. Fill in any other cliches that apply here. ___________________

lol

This day was extra fun because instead of a unicorn it was more like a little 'fro over there. It always likes to surprise me. Love that thing.

National Champs

ROLL TIDE! (my dad hates me right now for saying that) The game was so good! It was pretty crazy to watch. It was up and down, and it seemed to always be up when he was holding Josie. So he started clutching Josie frantically and yelling at the Tv. He was standing up and slowly inching closer and closer to the Tv, and Josie thought he was losing it. But hey it must have worked because they won!

Speaking of football, against all odds the underdogs won the Super Bowl. We didn't think that would happen, so we lost 300 bucks over it. lol but oh well.