The Spirit of Adventure

I suppose that everyone has their own definition of  what constitutes an adventure-

The good ol' dictionary says: "an adventure is an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. Adventures may be activities with some potential for physical danger such as skydiving, mountain climbing or participating in extreme sports. The term also broadly refers to any enterprise that is potentially fraught with physical, financial or psychological risk, such as a business venture, or other major life undertakings."

Well, according to that definition- Tyler and I are embarking on some sort of adventure...we're just not sure exactly what kind it will be! :)

We have made the "bold" and "risky" decision to take on: THE REAL WORLD! Tyler and I graduated in April and thus, it seems, everything has an outcome that is uncertain to us! I suppose the only "physical danger" we are currently in is crossing the railroad tracks every day and Tyler taking the high-speed commuter train up to Salt Lake City (nope, no skydiving for us at this point).

Tyler started a job at VMI Nutrition the end of July as an account manager. It is a company that "specializes in the formulation, blending, packaging and testing of powder nutritional consumer goods." (Yeah, he's in the 'white powder' business :) They make things like protein shakes and pre-workout mixes for other companies to sell and Tyler is in charge of working with the companies and coordinating their products and orders. Right now he's doing a lot of the company reports (he's getting really proficient in Excel spreadsheets!) We moved to a two-bedroom condo in south Provo the middle of July that is just a few blocks from the Provo Frontrunner station, so that is what Tyler has been taking up to work each day. It's about an hour ride and then he drives from the Salt Lake station about 5 miles to his work. (I suppose that's another "risky undertaking" as the station is not located in the best neighborhood in Salt Lake- so we just pray that our dying car is still there each day and makes the short drive :) Tyler hopes this job will give him good "business" work experience so he can apply to business school in a few years for his MBA degree.

As far as our "financial or psychological risks"- I will be starting my Master's program in the Speech-Language Pathology program at BYU in just a few short days and I'm not sure what my psychological state will be within a few weeks!! I have the opportunity to work with a professor doing some research while also participating in a LEND training program. This is a program that is grant funded by the Maternal Child Health Care Bureau as an interdisciplinary Leadership Education of Neurodevelopmental Disorders- so focusing on how to improve the care given to children who have severe disabilities by all the professionals that would be involved- from doctors, special educators and speech pathologists, to therapists and psychologists. I am excited about the program, but between that, graduate school and research work, and, oh yeah- - OUR BABY BOY (expected to come early January 2014)- there will be plenty to do! (Hence, the uncertainty of my future psychological state!) And once again, we fall in the "poor college student" category...saving our pennies and counting it a blessing each month when we can pay rent and our little car keeps running- but that's what this time of our lives is about, right?!

I think we would both agree that the most exciting adventure and "major life undertaking" we are about to begin is: PARENTHOOD! We couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to become parents!! With many other "ventures" underway, we have wondered how it will all work out, but, hey, "uncertain outcomes" are all part of the adventure! We just are going forward with faith that "everything will work out" and we'll find out how along with everyone else! :) Sure there are a LOT of things that we'll both have to learn and I'm sure we'll have even more moments to look back on and laugh at how naive we were- but we are thrilled to have a little boy joining our family and can't wait for what adventures he'll bring! :)