Our Big Announcement!!!

Well...

We are excited to announce:


We're

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to move!! :)





So- we were pretty excited about Tyler's offer with the University of Utah. But then he heard back from the University of Wisconsin...and they had a VERY NICE offer!
I am SO proud of Tyler and just have to share this portion of his acceptance letter because he was so highly commended for his achievements:

To recognize your outstanding qualifications, we are pleased to offer you a merit aid package. Your
merit package includes a Project Assistantship which is detailed later in this letter. This generous award includes the following:
• Full tuition remission - you will not pay tuition during the term(s) of your appointment.
• Stipend - you will receive a stipend during the term(s) of your appointment. See the merit package
details for more information on your stipend.
• Low cost health insurance - you and your dependents are eligible to receive a high coverage, low cost health insurance plan.

(BYU had said he needed more experience and didn't have a very "competitive" resume- yet Tyler's qualifications were definitely recognized elsewhere!)

SO- we had a big decision to make. We weren't sure that we were really ready to leave UT yet-- for lots of reasons (mountains, hiking, friends, finishing my program, proximity to a lot of family, still getting some life out of our cars while they're running, not wanting to move AGAIN...to name a few!) But- there were some big advantages to WI as well: most programs had said that Tyler wouldn't be able to work his first year, and for them to be providing a stipend in ADDITION to covering tuition-- that was HUGE! And Tyler was told there is a very good chance of being awarded a similar assistanship for his second year-- which changed how we were looking at tuition costs COMPLETELY!

Even though Madison is in my home state, it's not really "home" to me-- yes, 2 hours away from my parents is better than 24, but the area would still be very NEW for both of us. And have I ever mentioned before how much I HATE MOVING?!!?

I won't get into the personal details about how we came to our decision-- but a lot of pondering and prayer and fasting, etc. went into it... And it was not easy. However, over and over, from the different angles we tried approaching the matter, we kept coming to the same answer...

WISCONSIN...HERE WE COME! 

**It was going to be hard either way-- Utah and WI are both red!! :) But no worries-- our Cougar Blue will always be in our blood! 

***Tyler had also said we could base our decision off of who went further in the NCAA basketball tournament :) Not that that WAS what we based our decision off of...we were definitely rooting for WI to go all the way...Tyler would have LOVED to say he would be attending a NCAA Championship school! :) So close...

We are excited about the opportunities available with the Wisconsin MBA program and are both sad and anxious to be making this big move/change. 

There are a LOT of unknowns ahead of us-- so these next few months will be interesting as we try making preparations and I'm sure it will continue to be as busy as ever! 

I am still planning on going to WI for my 2nd internship- but we've been playing with the idea of me not starting until the middle of July so Tyler could drive Jordy and me out to WI, spend a week there (maybe look for a place to live while there and say "hi" to my brother, Lance --who will be home from his mission!!!) Then Tyler will be able to come back to UT to work for another month and work on packing before he comes out to WI for good (he has orientation the end of August). If I needed motivation before to work on my thesis-- well, here it is! Now I really do need to GET TO WORK! We've already accepted the fact that I'll need to come back for a short weekend/week to wrap that up and defend it sometime this fall (but that's not so bad--a nice excuse to see some good friends/family again!!) 

UGH! Being a "grown-up" is hard sometimes! :) More details will come as we know what we're doing...right now though, we just know we're headed to the land of the cheese and frozen tundra! :) (Oh gosh...WI winters...I think these mild Utah winters have made me into a big wimp!!)