Never Say Never

When Tyler and I got engaged, I made him promise me 3 things:

1) We will NEVER live in married student housing.

2) I will NEVER drive a minivan.

3) We will NEVER live in California.

Well, we got married in August and by October, we moved into Wymount... BYU's married student housing complex. We loved it. Met great people. Made some amazing friends. Lived about 25 feet away from the temple. So I was wrong on that first promise. Married student housing worked out wonderfully for us.

July 1, 2004 - we packed up our things and drove west to California. Knowing that living in California was only temporary, I put vow #3 on hold. I could tolerate living in California while Tyler was in dental school. Well, sometime during dental school I started liking northern California. So I had to edit that third promise to say, "I will NEVER live in SOUTHERN California." There. That was better.

April 2007 - expecting a 3rd baby and having only one Honda Civic between the two of us, Tyler and I discover that the most reasonable/logical/affordable option for our family of small kids is to take the plunge and get a minivan. It has proved to be a super investment for us. Whoever thought up sliding doors was brilliant! And now there are automatic sliding doors?! Double brilliant. So much for promise #2.

As we've been in residency here in northern California, I've grown to love so many things about this place. My mom claims that I've "drunk the Kool-Aid," because all reasonable Texans know that California is not the promised land. In fact, she told me this joke the other day: 

Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks his dog.

#1. Governor starts to intervene, reflects upon the movie "Bambi" and then realizes he should stop; the coyote is only doing what is natural.
#2. He calls animal control. Animal control captures coyote and spends $200 testing it for diseases and $500 upon relocating it. 

#3. He calls veterinarian. Vet collects dead dog and spends $200 testing it for diseases.
#4. Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting bite wound bandaged.
#5. Running trail gets shut down for 6 months while wildlife services conduct a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is clear of dangerous animals.
#6. Governor spends $50,000 of state funds implementing a "coyote awareness" program for residents of the area.
#7. State legislature spends $2 million investigating how to better handle rabies and how to possibly eradicate the disease.
#8. Governor's security agent is fired for not stopping the attack and for letting the Governor intervene.
#9. Cost: $75,000 to train new security agent.
#10. PETA protests the coyote relocation and files $5 million law suit against the state.

Texas :
#1. Governor shoots coyote and keeps jogging. Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge.
#2. Buzzards eat dead coyote.

Any wonder why California is broke????

[If you hadn’t heard –  Texas Gov. Perry DID shoot & kill a threatening coyote while out jogging with his dog.]

Ha ha ha.... the differences between the two states are striking. And I totally got off the topic. The point of me telling all this is.........

I'm saying good-bye to my 3rd "I will NEVER... promise." We will be moving to So Cal this summer. Tyler recently signed a one-year contract to work with his uncle who is an oral surgeon down there. We'll see how it works out, and if it's a fit, then we may be long-term Californians. Crazy, huh?! I'm not going to post the city where we'll be, but if you want any more details, drop me a line and I'll email you back.

We're excited for Tyler to be done with residency and to start this new chapter in our lives--living like real grown-ups! Tyler's last day of work at his hospital will be June 30th, so we're outta here in July. Wish us luck! :)