Arizonans!

It is official, we are Arizonians! We both finally got our licenses and license plates for AZ.

It has been about two months now since we have uprooted our family and relocated to Arizona, and we have acclimated quite well. As much as we miss Washington, family and friends, we know Arizona continues to offer opportunity that we must seize.

Traci has continuing success at her job with Chase Bank, as she has passed her training program to obtain her Series 6 and Series 63 and has transfered her Life Insurance certification from our Farmers Insurance business in Washington to Arizona. With all this she is now able to help customers with opening accounts, helping with investments such as mutual funds, and many other services. Chase Bank sets up their employees to succeed, Traci has been there for two months and has been training since day one. She just got back from a three day training in Phoenix as well. Soon she will have another visit to Phoenix for training, for anther three days. At times training and not helping customers can become mundane, and Traci can't wait to help, and once she does she will start to make commission and have her own desk (she has been "floating" and standing a lot). Overall she is enjoying her job as it continues to challenge her, and she is ready to take off running and keep the momentum as she achieves her goals.

As for Pino he has been working for about one month now with Performance Automotive Group (PAG) in Chino Valley a neighboring town about 20 minutes away, where he sells suspension lift systems, body lifts, and off road accessories for trucks and SUV's. He was told about the job from his old boss in Washington. His old boss and new boss talked at a trade show at Pino's old job and the subject of hiring Pino came up. A week or two later Pino started at his new job. He continues to excel and grow, especially since he has been selling PAG for over a year in Washington.

Penelope! Well Penelope has been busy growing and learning new things. Since we have been here Penelope learned how to laugh and now she smiles and laughs nonstop. Penelope is a very happy baby. She is now 4 1/2 months old, 12.5 pounds, and 24 inches long. Penelope stays home with our neighbor and good family friend Sheryl. Sheryl has a grandbaby that is 10 months old so she does a lot of research of what is good for babies and so on. She doesn't get to see her grandbaby but once every couple months so she really enjoys spending time with Penelope. Penelope has also learned how to roll over. The first time she did it we were so excited we kept trying to get her to do it again. It was about 2 weeks before she did it again and now she does it all the time! The only problem is she hates to be on her stomach so once she rolls over she throws a fit. She'll learn to like it over time, but for now it is cute to watch.

Beyond work and Penelope we have been quite busy! The first week here Traci's Sister Christy and her husband Shawn came to visit. They just adore Penelope. After that sometime we went to Lake Havasu City to visit Traci's grandmother. Just this last week Traci's Aunt Sonja and Uncle Richard drove in from Illinois. In times when family isn't visiting we hang out with Traci's old friends Kathy and Andrew. They are our saving grace when we need to get out of the house. Living with mom and dad again has been great but has taken some adjusting!

Adjusting

It's taken some time to adjust to living with Traci's parents, we still haven't quite fully figured out where to put our things, but it is slowly coming together. We do enjoy being close to Traci's family, they are a blessing and are a great help to us.

We have been adjusting to living in Prescott Valley well. Being a smaller town we have navigated it rather easy, found entertainment like bowling, movies, and putt putt. Traci connected with old friends and we've been able to get together on occasion. We have been attending a new church named The Heights in the next town over, and enjoy the good energy there.

As some of you may know Pino's Blazer went down with a bad transmission about three or four months ago. After relocating here, we found help in our neighbor who is skilled in vehicle repair and Pino and him removed and replace the transm

ission. It still is getting broken in but it is very nice for Pino to have a vehicle to drive, especially with him being home with Penelope.

Our wonderful daughter Penelope is doing great! She has found her hands and is learning to connect what she feels to what she sees. She is "talking" a lot (making noises) and started to giggle as well. We are so proud of her, it's so little but so big at the same time. We haven't found a new pediatrician yet as we just got signed up for benefits on the 1st of March. When we do find one she is due for a check up in her fourth month, and we will have weight and length and give an update.

Traci is doing well in training with Chase Ban

k, they really set up their employees to succeed. She should be taking her "series 6" test next week. Once that is behind her she then will study for her "series 63" and together with her Life Insurance License she will then be ready to work with customers. A long process but again Chase wants their employees to be successful.

Even though we'd prefer Pino staying home with Penelope, it may not be what we can afford at this time, so he has stared to look for jobs. We have talked and believe Pino should find a "fun" part time job. He'd like to work at the local golf course, movie theater, sports arena/ice rink, something that he will enjoy and get fun perks. Working part time would help so he could take care of Penelope during the day and work in the evenings, that way he could provide and not take away from the family. Next week he has an interview with Trailmaster Suspension for a full time position. Pino used to sell their product with his last employer, and with a referral from his last supervisor and product knowledge he has a foot in the door. We still will have to weight that option after the interview, as full time could take away from our family and that is the most important thing right now. Either way he'll find a job and God will bless us.

Another Chapter

After three days and 1500 miles we have reached our destination. We have moved in with Traci's parents for the time being in Prescott Valley AZ. The trip took a toll on our family, Penelope probably thought she was stuck in the car seat for the rest of her life, overall she slept but when awake very cranky. Pino drove the Budget truck with the Blazer on the trailer behind him, with a full load the hills really slowed the trip. We made the first day from Olympia (we spent the night with Pino's mom in Olympia) to southeast Oregon and stayed in the city of Baker City a very humble town. After six hours of sleep we headed out and made it to southern Utah to the town of Beaver and after about four to five hours of sleep there we continued on to our destination. We reached PV around 5 p.m. and we were able to take a deep breath. We've made the trip in 24 hours in the past without a child and trading off driving. If we every had to do it again we would fly Penelope and drive on our own, but it was a trip to remember.

We have been here for one week now, had a few days to unpack until Traci's older sister came to visit. Monday Traci traveled to Phoenix for orientation and now is working the local branch. Life seems to be a little slower here compared to our live in Tacoma. Commuting is down from 30-40 minutes, to 7-10 minutes, we no longer eat dinner at 8 p.m. we now eat around 5 p.m. PV is a smaller town where everything you need is here and if not you just need it, whereas in Tacoma we lived in Pierce County and commuted one county north for work and one county south for friends and family. It is just more "big city" in Washington and more small town in Arizona.

It will take some time to adjust but we know living here is in our family's best interest. God has watched over our family and answered our prayers. For some reading this we move away and for some we move closer we love you all and thank you for sticking with us through these times of change.

New Chapter in the book of Life

The baby is here, out wonderful little Penelope Rose Lira, she was born 5 pounds 0.6 ounces. Very small but big in spirit. She was two weeks early due to some high blood pressure, born on November 20th at 106 p.m. Penelope has been the light of our life, we could never imagine life without her. She is growing day by day so much we almost can't keep up. She is 11 weeks old today and such a little person of her own, with a great big personality. Gods gift from heaven.

Having Penelope here is great but we have had to tak

e some risks and the out come is good but challenging. We are moving to Prescott Valley, Arizona (one and a half hours north of Phoenix) which is Traci's home town. She has landed a job there with Chase Bank and we foresee a lot of opportunity with the company and the location as well. It is just to0 perfect (a blessing from god) for us to turn down. It does mean that we must quit our jobs in a down economy take the risk and hope for high reward, but with faith all will prevail. We also leave behind many fri

ends and family, which is probably the hardest thing deal with over all, but we will continue to update our blog and post lots of pictures.

We leave Monday the 9th with the truck packed and the road ahead of us. It will be an adventure and a growing experience, we look forward to sharing more as life rolls on.