One Year Ago Today.....

.....my life changed forever.  

I'm living in New Mexico, in a 5th wheel.  My days are consumed with Facebook, Pinterest and what I'm making for dinner.....

Here is a little back story for you all.  I remember the first time I met Brandon.  We went for a walk around Tubbs Hill and he told me he had just finished Avista Lineman school and he was going to go away for awhile for his apprenticeship.  He said he was going to be a lineman and it would require a lot of sacrifice but it would be worth it because he loved it so much.  I responded with life is too short to not do what you love, go for it.  In the back of my mind I was bummed though, I had just met this great guy that I wanted to get to know but I certainly didn't want to do a long distance relationship.  I thought well maybe we can hang out until he leaves and see what happens.  Just so happens the economy went down the tubes, worked stopped and older lineman stayed working instead of retiring.  No one was hiring apprentices and line schools were still putting out tens of thousands of apprentices through their schools each year.  This meant trying to get into this trade was some serious competition.  As Brandon and I started dating I wanted to learn more about his passions so I would stay up late at night and read everything I could about the trade, IBEW, apprenticeships, steps, hours, ect.  I spent countless hours on powerlineman.com going through the forum trying to find ANY piece of advice I could pass on to Brandon.  I sent in application after application for him for jobs all over the country and some in canada.  I would get my hopes up only to be let down when we would receive yet another "thank you for your application" letter in the mail.  I would drive with him to interviews in Seattle and Portland, wait for him while he took tests.  He got a 90%, testing with 500 other guys only to find out they were only taking 95% and higher for in person interviews, for ONE position.  It was the biggest roller coaster I have ever experienced and even harder for him. Our whole life (and relationship) was consumed with applications, questionnaires, interviews, faxing drivers license and birth certificates.  Brandon interviewed for NW JATC and ranked 26 out of 300 guys, ranked 30 with Mountain States out of 300 guys, but the lists were not moving.  A year and a half later I remember getting my hopes up about this job on the coast in Washington.  I found the job posting on a whim, it was for a utility and Brandon was perfectly qualified.  I sent in his application as soon as I saw it and called the next day to follow up.  They said they had received it and was looking at it right now.  They said they were very impressed with his resume and they would be calling later that week for interviews.  We felt like "this is it, everything happens for a reason, none of those other calls came because this is the one he was supposed to get."  I remember Thursday coming and going and no call, I got a terrible feeling in my stomach.  I called from work to check and see how their interview process was coming.  They said "Ms. Williams I am so sorry but we have already booked all our interviews, we had to fill this position faster than we thought and had hundreds of applications.  We will keep Brandon's application on file."  My heart sank, I was so bummed.  In the meantime,  Brandon was ranked #1 with NW on October 12th 2010 and did not get called out, worked slowed and stopped.  That was something, to be so close, yet so far away.  By the time work picked back up, Brandon had been bumped up to 50 something. 

Brandon had taken a Powerline Clearance Apprenticeship with NW JATC.  He thought, "I cant get much closer to line work related than this, this will get me an apprenticeship on line side."  He went to seattle and interviewed and felt really good.  We thought, "this is it, this is the summer you are going to get on with NW and everything is going to be perfect.  You ranked 26 before with just having line school experience, I bet you'll rank top 10 with the powerline clearance experience!"   We were thrilled, life was great, we were just enjoying the time we had together because we KNEW he was going to get called out to NW this summer, there was no way he wouldn't.  I got home from work and checked the mail and there was a letter from NW and we knew it would have his rank on it.  I waited for him to get home and we sat on the back porch and opened it, so excited to see the good news.  I will never forget the heartbreak I felt when I saw number 86.  Brandon called NW and said there must be some kind of mistake, you gave me the wrong rank and they said "no, we want you to finish the powerline clearance program first, so we ranked you really high" I have never been so mad and so let down in my life.  Here we did something that we thought would HELP him, not PREVENT him from getting the call.    Believe it or not, Brandon still made it down to the top ten that summer on NW rank list.  

Few times in our relationship I watched my future husband be broken and lost.  It broke my heart to watch him put is head in his hands and say "maybe I'm just not supposed to do this, maybe I'm just not good enough"  "Why don't they want me, what do THOSE guys have that I don't?"  It took 3 of the longest years but Brandon got the call.  He interviewed with Mountain States and ranked really well.  He got down to number 1 and we thought, "oh maybe you will get called out this summer" We didn't have much faith after what had happened with NW, in fact we didn't even have a trailer bought for him yet.  We decided we better buy him a trailer, "Its september and there is still a lot of work so I will probably get called out" so we bought him a 23 ft trailer in spokane.  Two days later he got the call.  He called me Monday at work and said "I have to be in Denver Wednesday morning, its going to be a 22 hour drive so I have to leave tonight" It was the happiest and saddest moment.  I was thrilled, the stress, the searching, the applications, the worry, the doubt was OVER.  Now it was just a matter of time, 3 short years and he would be done with his apprenticeship and back home.  I was on top of this world!! I was also devastated because I had no idea when I would see him again.  I had just started a new job 3 weeks before with great pay and great career opportunities, so I knew I wouldn't be going with him.  I remember going home and packing him up to leave.  Folding his laundry and tears just streaming down my face.  I remember packing him up to move away, not just for the week or a month, for 3 years.  I couldn't contain my emotions, I was so sad.  The love of my life, my best friend was moving away and I didn't know when I would see him again.  I watched as his tail lights pulled out of the driveway and he pumped the brakes to say goodbye.  I just sobbed.  It ended up being about 10 weeks before we saw each other again, the longest time we had ever been apart.  It was really hard on both of us.  

This last year has been so full of ups and downs, emotions and lessons learned. Brandon has worked in 3 different states on 5 different crews and still counting.  I moved to be with him after we got married in August and I am learning something new every day about life and some of the hard things that come with it.  I am also learning about being a wife.  I am so proud of my husband.  I have never seen a man more dedicated, passionate, honest, committed and proud about what he does.  He is also a committed Husband.  Being a newlywed is hard, being a newlywed, living in a 5th wheel (300 sq feet) 2000 miles away from friends and family and working 15 hour days is even harder.  Brandon makes sure to ask me how my day was every day after work even though I know all he wants to do is go to sleep. I have never been more in love with him than I am today.  He is the love of my life, my best friend and my wood walker.

Carlsbad, NM

Today marks a week we have been in Carlsbad, NM.  It is a little different than I had thought it would be.  When Brandon tells me we are moving the first thing I do is get on google maps and see where we are going. The second thing I do is see what kind of stores and shopping there is :) I googled Carlsbad and it didn't seem too bad, it had a Walmart, target, little mom and pop shops, I thought I would be able to handle it and make the best of it.  What I didn't expect when the address for our RV park says "Carlsbad, nm" It really meant 21 miles outside of Carlsbad.  I am smack dab in the middle of two tiny towns that are over populated.  20 miles to the nearest town.  Being in Brandon's truck I don't like to make a habit of driving 40+ miles in a day so I have decided to only go to town once a week for groceries.  Planning a weeks worth of meals is something I have never done but I am getting the hang of it.  I have been preparing different meals I find on the internet, some turned out great and some went right into the trash, thats how the first year of marriage is supposed to go right? haha.  I have been having fun with it though, I have made a few pork dishes and I hadn't really fixed much pork in the past.   I think cooking and trying new things is fun.  I have been baking away as well with my kitchen aid mixer and love it!! Every girl needs one in her kitchen, it is simply amazing!
I started another 8 week challenge yesterday, I just love these challenges, nothing has kept me more motivated than these, I think it is because we are doing it with a group and everyone is going through the same things.  I started doing Body-rock as well. Its a channel I found on youtube of all living-room based workouts and they are FREE.  They are so good too, I could barely get out of bed this morning!! The internet here, while it is free, is crappy.  I have to let the workouts load the day before so I can do them the next day.  Its not fun to be in the groove of working out and then the video has to "buffer", kinda  kills my motivation! I have been running again too, I love running and I am so thankful I can do it again.  I found this dirt road right off the back of our RV park that goes to the edge of Brantley Lake, its kinda dried up now but its still a body of water.  The road goes through tweeds and can be a little creepy.  I packed my pepper spray on one hip and my iPod shuffle on the other, with one ear bud out so I could still hear what was going on around me.  I told myself  yesterday I had to be tough, there is nothing out there that is  going to get me.  I did pretty well, I ran for 30 minutes and didn't see anything but the dirt road, peaceful quite fields and a couple of HUGE bugs, but they kept to themselves.  Today was a different story....I was running along, I went on a different path that goes off the road, I was about 19 minutes into my run and I see the biggest snake I have EVER seen in my whole life.  It was so big and had like a cream colored tip so I think it may have been a rattle snake I don't know, I screamed and turned around so fast I am sure I sprayed it with my dirt and dust as I ran away....needless to say I ran back in 6 minutes and my heart rate monitor was beeping at me because my heart rate was 195 the whole way back.  ahhh I was so creeped out, I am still creeped out just typing this.  I may take a day off from running tomorrow....

Brandon is working 6 days a week and has a 1 1/2 hour drive each way to show up.  It pretty much makes for 14-15 hour days for him.  I feel so bad for him, he is just exhausted and then on his only day off he has to do homework :(  I just keep telling him it wont be like this forever and try to help as much as I can.  I have a lot of free time to myself so I have been reading a lot and I am going to get some supplies to get some crafty stuff done next time I go to the store.  I want to get this place decorated, get some stuff on our walls and make it a home!

Salt Lake City

Bandon had a couple days off last week so we filled them with buying a new 5th wheel and moving in.  He worked Thursday and Friday and he called me Friday and said "hey its 99% positive we're going to Texas".  Texas, what the heck, how does that even work?? For those of you that don't know Mtn States covers Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Southern Idaho and Colorado.  So I was a little confused about how Texas fit in there :) I had meet one of his friends that said they had done work in Texas before and we know some friends that have gone to North Dakota so I knew the possibility was there to go out of jurisdiction but it was still surprising.
I busied myself with getting piper set up and making cookies for our Labor day weekend guests! Amanda, Cody and the boys came down to stay with us and it was the funnest weekend ever!! It was so awesome having the boys running around and wrestling in our living room.  Brandon and I both gave each other the look "this is awesome!" Since Brandon had been so busy with work, class and moving into our new 5th wheel, labor day weekend was our first weekend we got to actually spend together and in Salt Lake.  It was such a blast having Amanda and Cody with us, I am glad they were there because honestly we might not have done everything if it were just Brandon and I :)
First thing we did was go to temple square....like they say when in "salt lake...do as the mormons do".   We heard about a tour you could take at temple square with a sister so we decided, hey why not! We wanted to learn about it since we were there.  We went on the tour for over an hour...might have been closer to two! It was actually really fun! I learned a lot and really enjoyed it.  I like the idea of taking certain things from different religions and practicing them in my life and family.  Here are my favorite points from what we learned on our tour:

• Take care of your body.  This is why mormons do not drink caffeine, they do not want to put anything into their body that is addictive, i.e. caffeine, junk food, tattoos. Salt Lake is the 3rd longest life expectancy and One of the lowest heart disease and cancer rates in the country.  I think this has to do with them taking care of themselves. I like the idea of taking care of my body and making it number one.  
• "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreation. "
• One of the sisters said to me " Jesus was pretty successful so if we follow in his path and trust he is with us, we will be successful as well" Loved that, totally stuck with me!

I have been curious about religion and have attend Lake City Community Church with Brandon in the past but I want to use some of my free time to really get more educated about various religions and become more connected with God.  

By 1pm the boys ( all 4 of them!) were starting to melt down because they were hungry so we headed straight to In and Out for some Double Doubles.  It was Cody's first time and he loved it!! 

Saturday night we went to a drive in movie and it was a blast!! I wish we could turn part of our property at home into a drive it, it was the funnest movie experience ever, even though we fell asleep 10 minutes into the second movie, haha! We took Brandons truck and we parked in the front row, everyone else was parked in the 2nd or 3rd row, we still don't know why people didn't park in the front, we had a great time! Next time we go we need to bring a boom box because it was difficult to hear the sound and Brandons truck was dead by the end of the night :( We saw "Hit and Run" and "The Dark Knight.  I remember looking over at ry ry and he was still awake so I had to fight to stay awake, I can't let a 2 year old stay up later than me! :) 

Sunday we decided to go to The Great Salt Lake and see what it was all about.  I read that it is 8 times saltier than the ocean and 27% salt! It is so salty because there are no outlets in the lake.  Its so salty that you can just float in the water! We thought "we have go to see this lake!" Well with that much salt also comes brine shrimp.  Salt lake is harvested for their brine shrimp to make fish food and its the largest supply of brine shrimp in the world! With that much shrimp comes THE MOST disgusting smell in the world! They wash up on the shores and die, it is so gross! Getting into that water was by far the most disgusting thing I have ever done!! I am still not so sure the experience was worth the smell!  we floated around for a few minutes and then got the hell out of there.  As we were driving home the salt started to dry on our skin and you could see it on us, it was crazy and gross!! 

Monday night we went to a concert series downtown Salt Lake.  We heard Love & Theft and Gloriana were playing so we were excited to go.  It was a first annual Labor day music festival and It was the weirdest thing I have ever been to.  It was a rock fest with a couple country bands as well.  I've never seen so many bikers and goth people listening to country music! I'm surprised a fight didn't break out.  Not really sure why they tried to combine the two genres but it was strange.  The shows were great though!! 

Tuesday we got up at 3:30 am and hit the road to NM.  17 hours later, we got in a little after 8:30 and we were completely set up ( I was all unpacked from the move) and brandon was showered by 9:10!! It was crazy! We love piper so much!