This past week has been a real blur. The past two weekends, I have gone back home to my roots in Pocatello. The first weekend because it was my birthday, and the latter because of my cousin Abbey's wedding. She was married Friday in the Logan Temple and she asked that I play the piano at her reception. After much hesitation, I agreed and spent most of the night Friday playing slow, romantic, movie-themed love songs... which have been stuck in my head all week, yuck! Apart from that, the wedding, reception and everything else I did over the weekend was great. On Sunday night, I drove back down to Provo to spend my last five days, before moving home to Idaho for the remainder of the summer. My initial plan was to spend the entire summer in Provo working full-time 8-5 at Synergy Worldwide. I thought it was so set in stone that I even signed a summer contract for my apartment. But as all of us know, things don't always work out the way they are planned.

It all started when I decided to go on vacation to Mexico. My boss explained that I would get those 8 days off of work, but that I couldn't take any more days off the rest of the summer since it is one of our busiest times of the year. At the time, I felt that I wouldn't need anymore time off... however that feeling soon changed as different plans were taking shape the rest of the summer. About two months ago, I received a phone call from the EFY counselor's office. They explained that they were looking for male counselors over the summer and wondered if I wanted to come in for an interview. I thought, well that would be amazing! I have always wanted to be an EFY counselor, and this was my chance. I went to the interview and later found out that I had been hired for different sessions throughout the summer (which would require me to take different weeks off work). Then, I got the news that Heidi and Mike would be getting married in August and that Dallen and Kally and the boys would be coming up two weeks before to spend some much-needed family time before the big day (that also required another couple weeks off work). Finally, it was confirmed that we would be traveling back to Palmyra and New York City in July with my parents and Heidi (which would require another 9 days off work).

So after much thought, I realized that I had two choices. 1... stay in Provo at my current job and not be an EFY counselor, not spend time with my family before the wedding, and not vacation back east or 2... resign from my employment, sell my contract, move home and enjoy the rest of the summer. Of course, I chose the latter option. It feels right and everything seems to have worked out flawlessly. The hardest part was definetely explaining to my work that I would be quitting. I gave them my two-weeks notice two weeks ago, and it was anything but easy. They wanted me to continue and stay but understood my situation. They gave me an option of returning in the fall with the same pay that I am receiving now... which is a huge blessing! It is double what they pay on BYU campus, in Idaho and in Provo so I am leaving Synergy happy; knowing that I can return to the same great boss, co-workers and atmosphere. I love my job and will miss it. Tomorrow is my last day until I return at the end of August. I also was fortunate enough to sell my housing contract to a genius MIT student who was looking for a place for the summer term here at BYU while he does research with some BYU professor. He will be paying me the money for the rent and will move out just in time for me to get my apartment back for fall semester.

This definetely wasn't what I had in mind a month and a half ago when I came home from Mexico. My plans have changed drastically, but I know it is for the best. The next two months will be very occupied and time will fly. In two weeks we leave for New York, then EFY starts, and then Dallen and Kally come for Heidi's wedding. My summer has already been exciting, and I can hardly wait for what lies ahead...bring it on!