This is how we do it

Big Changes

Happy Birthday Blog! One year ago today, Jodee posted her first blog entry. I must admit that I (Ronnie) was a little unsure about it at first and thought that it was just a passing fancy that would be out of her system in short order. But over 60 entries later and I now realize that the blog has truly become a big deal for our family both as an online journal and a great way to keep in touch with the important people in our lives who check it out on a regular basis. We've even been able to reconnect with some old friends we lost touch with do to this online diversion. So all in all it has been a smashing success. May year two be even bigger and brighter.

Since us Chapmans like to go BIG, we thought we would detail some big changes going on in our family. The first change is that I (Ronnie) am writing this entry. I was actually assigned to do it by Jodee and my procrastination and lack of Jodee-like "ontheballness" has made it be close to two weeks between posts. Sorry, I'll try to make this one worth it.

This won't just be your typical October for the Chapman clan. And I am responsible for most of it. In a matter of weeks we will be moving from the Bay Area and migrating up the coast to beautiful Seattle, Washington! We are very excited for the move and the numerous developments it will mean for our family.

As you can probably guess, the move is work related. We originally moved to the Bay Area from Utah so I could attend Cal Berkeley's MBA program. Soon after we arrived, I also began working for a small four person investment firm in San Francisco. I continued with the same firm full time after I was through with school and have enjoyed the entrepreneurial aspect of working in an intimate environment. In an organization that small my contribution definitely has had an impact and that is something I have found very rewarding. Amazingly enough, the firm I will be joining in Seattle is even smaller; in fact, I will be the founder's first full time employee. Though it may sound like a start up, the firm has actually been around for close to 20 years and its three funds have done quite well. The work load has simply grown to be too much for one person and that's where I come in. I am a little bit nervous as one would expect in any new work situation, but on the whole I am very excited about this new opportunity.

The job is actually in the town of Redmond, which is most well known for being the headquarters of Microsoft. Happily we will be able to trade in our two bedroom two bath apartment for a home that will actually have a yard and parks near by for the kids to run around in. The house we are planning to rent is in Issaquah (about 20 minutes east of Seattle and 15 minutes south of my office) in a newer housing development.

The move will be bittersweet on many levels. We have been in the Bay Area for 3 1/2 years now, which is by far the longest we have lived in any one place in our 8 years of marriage. We have made many great friends here that will be hard to leave behind. It has also been great to live close to Jodee's only sister, Kellee and her boyfriend Robb and my cousin Kent and his wife Becca and their kids. Our family grew by one here with the birth of Beckham and would have grown by two if we could just convince our friend Rosa to let us adopt her. Fortunately we'll have a good support system for us up there with a combination of close friends and family scattered in the Pacific Northwest.

Other notable events that have taken place in the last two weeks include:

Hosting a pool/football party the night of the BYU/New Mexico game. Fortunately BYU won, so everyone was in good spirits. We had over 20 people in our cramped little two bedroom apartment at one point. When you're watching a game with good friends, it's almost as good as being there in person.

My buddy from business school (Greg Ise) taking time out of his busy schedule to fly up from San Diego to see us before we make the move.

Farewell party for our good friends the Taylors. They lived half a block from us and Jay was the Young Men's President while I was the Priest's Quorum Advisor. We spent many a late night molding our young men through lots of memorable X-Box and dodge ball games.

Jodee and kids getting in several play dates in the remaining few days we have here in Nor Cal.

An Office and Grey's Anatomy (I'm a supportive husband) party with Rosa.

Oh, and one last thing- a perfect announcement to make on this first birthday of the blog...another blog recruit! Our good friends the Novaks just started a blog thanks to Jodee's "encouragement". Peter, Liz, and Max are great friends that we are really going to miss. We are glad they joined the blogging bandwagon so we can keep tabs on their family.