surprise! josh is going to ucla. absolutely, positively, the final decision is finally made. not ONCE (since we've made this decision a few times by now) but definitely for ALL. that's right, we're leaving utah on friday, august 21st, to arrive in our new home in los angeles on saturday the 22nd. (the photos are of ucla's campus, from march when josh went out to visit and interview at ucla...)
some of you are imagining we're heading to duke and north carolina next month. yes, that was plan A. then, ucla complicated things by offering josh a sweet scholarship. so we thought about it and decided that it was already a close decision before, now the scales tipped in favor of the west coast. then, to complicate things FURTHER, we thought we'd wait and see if duke would pony up. of course, neither of us thought they would. these mba programs have about 20% acceptance rates, and given that they still admit about 400 students a year...well, they obviously don't exactly need to pay people to get them to show up. and competition is fierce for any funding they do offer. so we just threw that in for entertainment's sake. lo and behold, duke came back with lots of $$! i should have known better than to underestimate my hard-working 4.0/780-on-the-GMAT/Goldman Sachs-loves-him smarty-pants. of course they're willing to pay to get him there! unfortunately, they were willing to pay almost exactly what ucla was (despite having no idea of his other offer). that put us back to square one. good thing is by now we have housing and schools for the kids set up in both places. we've been in touch with people in josh's program and their spouses and people from church. etc. so we would be set either way...
so why ucla? who knows! honestly, it's one of those decisions between two great things you just have to make. we have no doubt both places would have been awesome and love so many things about each of them. one thing we did learn is that josh can get in-state tuition in california. random, since for the past 12 years he's lived in hawaii, mongolia, and utah. but since he went to all four years of high school in orange county, CA and graduated from fountain valley high--he still qualifies. so that will still save us $15k over the 2 years. not exactly petty cash. other bonuses: relative proximity to family and friends; perfect weather; close to beach (josh is a major warm weather/beach nut and already has our 6 year old joshua convinced that he needs to learn to surf ASAP); another HUGE factor is that we think california may be a good place for us long term. lots of job opportunities for josh, lots of great phd programs for me, etc. so it simply makes sense to network and build contacts there. of course we're also aware of the high cost of living and the crazy congestion...but i'm planning on winning the lottery, so we're not going to worry about the first one too much. and the second, well, lots of people also means lots of opportunities. and from living in salt lake (granted, a tiny fraction of the size of LA) we've learned that it doesn't matter if you're in a city, in fact we LOVE it, as long as you have your neighborhood, a reasonable commute, and have some escape to the outdoors (and we'll be super close to the beach and pretty close to mountains--sweet!) so that's the call. 
i feel unbelievably happy lately. i think part of that is that i'm getting sleep. the other part of that is that i've got the greatest family ever. we were sitting around playing cars with the boys on sunday and i felt like everything i need is right there. so happy. josh is amazing, and joshua and jacob are so much fun! really. i love being with them--they make me very happy. i am a lucky woman. 
here's the big fam. my mom and frank-o were here for thanksgiving which made ALMOST a full crew. we still missed my bro john. i like this picture though--all those kids! and what is better is that they all LOVE each other! they get crazy and noisy together and we love to see it. their cousins are their best buddies, and i am quite attached to my niece and nephews as well. what a great family!
look at these beautiful women! my mom is the best, and i love my sisters. there is so much in them to admire, and i often feel woefully inadequate compared to them. it was great spending thanksgiving with them all, some christmas time, and a hilarious new years. i haven't laughed that hard in a long time! it is such a gift to be by family, and we are appreciating it extra as we know we may be leaving soon.
my sister lorri, josh and i went to see jason mraz at the e-center. it was AMAZING. it's been too long since i've been to a good concert, but this one was well worth the wait. i love his music, his voice is incredible live, he's a super fun performer, and i loved having a serious dance party with lors! and yes, great seats. i took that photo, nice huh? there's something so incredible about live music so loud you can't even hear yourself singing along at the top of your lungs. the energy is just intoxicating.
anyone who knows this adorable little guy will be sad to learn he needed 3 stitches on his eyebrow, but not at all surprised that he tripped at the playground and bonked his head. we've been anticipating this, and know it will not be our last trip to the ER. our pediatrician was AMAZED at how great the stitches look--and you probably are too because you can't even really tell they're there. bruise on the bridge of his nose, puffy left eye, three stitches on the end of his left eyebrow. when the accident happened i was pretty calm, despite blood everywhere, but i lost it when the stitches were put in and my sweet, happy little guy screamed and cried his head off. "hold me mommy! hold me!" rips your heart right out. after probably 5-10 minutes of screaming at the top of his lungs, he gave up and just said "i'm sad!" and sobbed his sweet little heart out. i was right there with him...
