My, How Quickly Life Changes

Well, a lot has changed since Easter. In fact, Easter seems like a long time ago now. But before I just jump over Mother's Day, however, I do want to acknowledge my wonderful mother and mother-in-law. They both both treat me as their daughters and I'm grateful for their loving care and support. I hope to one day be a mother as wise and loving and caring as they are.

My father and father-in-law also both had significant birthdays in the last couples weeks as well. I love both of them too and I hope they both had wonderful birthdays.

One of the biggest changes for us in the last couple of weeks has been the fact that Jason quit his job and decided to go back to school. Although the actual day he quit surprised me, the fact that he quite did not surprise me at all. Jason is not a salesman and we both knew that he wouldn't be happy selling for very long. He hadn't been very happy for a while now with all the pressure, etc. so I'm glad it all came to a head a couple weeks ago and he was able to stop working at Qualtrics with just enough time to apply, get accepted, and register for classes at UVU for the summer term.

Jason's new career plan involves becoming an actuary, or someone who uses complex mathematical formulas to calculate risk for companies, such as life insurance, pension plans, business consulting, etc. Jason is actually really good at math, so we both wonder why he didn't take any math at BYU. Well, he actually took one stats class which he really enjoyed, but that's it. Since he doesn't have a college math background, he has some work ahead of him. He took a math placement test on Monday and tested into Calculus, so as soon as he can get in (probably in the Fall) he'll start taking some advanced math classes. In the meantime he's trying to get other educational experience needed to be an actuary, such as accounting, economics, finance, etc. To actually become an actuary you have to pass a series of tests. It will take somewhere between 1-2 years before he'll be prepared to take the first test, and as soon as he passes at least one test, he'll be pretty marketable to get a job. We're both excited to have this new plan and more direction for the future. Interestingly enough, a lot of the jobs for actuaries are on the east coast, so we may find ourselves living out there in a few years.

What we're both excited for though, is a vacation! We're looking forward to our upcoming trip to New York to visit Jason's brother and his family as well as my sister and her family. We're glad we timed it just right though, because my sister's husband Neal just got accepted to teach at BYU-I and so they're moving to Idaho in a few months. We're really excited for their good news and are very happy to have them closer to the rest of the family.