Sooooo... Tulsa.

Evidently we are moving to Tulsa.

(What? Tulsa? Yes. Tulsa.)

So, it looks like Tulsa will be Chapter 3 of the forthcoming book, Tim and Jean’s Bizarre Habit of Randomly Hopping around These United States. (That’s following Chapter 1: “From Pennsylvania to Utah: Three Years at BYU,” and Chapter 2: “From Utah to California: Three and a Half Years at Art Center.”)

Here is the extent of my knowledge of Tulsa, as of two weeks ago:

-It’s somewhere in Oklahoma.
-(crickets chirping)

Here is the extent of my knowledge of Oklahoma, as of two weeks ago:

-It’s north of Texas.
-There was a horrific bombing there.
-It’s a state AND a musical.
-Its postal abbreviation is “OK.”
-My friend Megan lives there.

Yep, that’s pretty much it. So, here’s the background story of how all this went down:

-Ever since Tim’s post-graduation job offer disappeared along with the rest of that studio, we’ve been in a mad dash to find something else. We’ve contacted literally hundreds of studios around the country and around the world, inquiring about both full-time and freelance work opportunities. For a while, the pickings were slim and the Despair-O-Meter was high. But eventually, all our constant-contacting-people-all-the-time started to pay off, and Tim found some freelance gigs. Along the way, there were also a few tiny, hopeful job leads that never materialized (here in LA, San Francisco, Albany, Montreal, and even Slovenia, haha!).

-One of the places for which Tim did some freelance work was a video game studio called 2015. He did a few pieces for them, they paid him, and we thought that was the end of it. Then, while I was searching job sites online, I happened to see an opening at that same studio for a 2D Artist. I told Tim, “Hey, it looks like that place has a job opening. You should look into that!”

-So, he contacted them. And they thanked him. And then they called him for a phone interview. And they liked him. And then they flew him out for an onsite interview. And they continued to like him (apparently), because they made him an official offer. We ironed out some of the details, and then this afternoon we said “OK!” (Haha… get it? Hahahahaha.)

So anyway, we’ve done a lot of research about Tulsa since then. Apparently it’s in the northeastern quadrant of Oklahoma. For its part, Oklahoma is just south of right-smack-in-the-middle of the country:


So, naturally (…Tulsa?), I’ve had mixed feelings about this.

Positives:
-We’ll have health insurance again. (For the past four months, I’ve been pleading with God for our safety every time one of us has stepped out of the house.)
-Tulsa is a very affordable area, especially compared to LA. (In other words, maybe someday if our student loans don’t kill us, we’ll actually be able to buy a HOUSE like all our other grown-up friends do.)
-Ten to 15-minute commute times sound so fabulous that I almost don’t believe it.
-Oklahoma kind of reminds me of Ohio… and I LOVE Ohio. (You can’t go wrong with the “O” states… well, I'm hoping.)
-In some mystical way, I feel like we’re circling around the country on our way back towards Pennsylvania.
-They’ve got Chick-Fil-A, Krispy Kreme, Carl’s Jr. (wow, we are SO healthy), and lots of ginormous superstores.

Hesitations:
-Tulsa spelled backwards is “a slut.”
-Tornado Alley!! (Whether with earthquakes or tornadoes, the earth is trying to kill us.)
-Once again we are moving to a town where we have NO family members or personal connections (except for friends-of-friends and what not). Why do we keep embarking on these journeys to completely new places? Maybe someday we’ll move to a place that I’m actually familiar with.
-It’s really hot in the summer. Like, really, REALLY hot. No, I mean REALLY HOT.
-There is no Ikea, Trader Joe’s, Costco, or Café Rio.
-THERE IS NO DISNEYLAND.

Anyway, we’ll be leaving sometime in May… we still have to get the specific scheduling figured out. And thus begins the “Go Everywhere, Eat Everywhere, and Do Everything That We Love in this Area ASAP Before We Leave” operation. We just went to Disneyland yesterday, and it was very sad to realize that now our visits are numbered (especially since our annual passes don’t expire until August).

Also, another huge negative is saying goodbye to friends here. All of you. I love you all. The other night as I was thinking about things, I realized that I’d actually have to say goodbye to my friends, and that felt like a punch to the gut. I hate that part. At least there are blogs… that’s the only consolation.

But on a positive note, I just want to publicly say again that God’s love for us is wondrous and immeasurable. I am amazed at how many wonderful things have happened during the moments of our despair these past few months. Wow… every time I think about it, it hits me again. God is great.

Sooooo… I have to click “Publish” now, and I really don’t want to, because then all this will be very real. And I apologize for not telling you all in person about this. We’ve only told our families, our landlord, and the Stake YW President so far (because of my calling obligations). Anyway, now everyone finds out at the same time, I guess. Surprise! Team Anderson is taking Tulsa!

We Went Observing

Last Saturday, Tim and I found ourselves in the mood for observing, so naturally we went to the one place that exists just for that purpose: the Observatory! (And did I mention that it's free? That's right, you can go observing for FREE!)

We've actually visited the Griffith Observatory once before, when Weston was just five months old. That was back when I was an extremely over-eager, hyperactive new mom who felt the need to expose Weston to a wide variety of enriching, intellectually stimulating opportunities looooooooong before he would get ANYTHING out of them. Hahaha! Anyway, these days I'm trying to retrace our steps a little bit, seeing as Weston is at the age now where he might actually be slightly enriched and/or intellectually stimulated (or so I tell myself).

Surprisingly, learning about our solar system is much less entertaining to a toddler than running amuck and occasionally stopping to look at sparkly things. So, this is basically what transpired during our visit:

First, some awkward forced smiles (we try so hard to make our photo album look jolly):

Then some spastic running:
Then some elusive hummingbird chasing:

Then some crouching and jumping:

And finally, some blatant intrusions on another family's fun. (Seriously. Weston saw this Asian family playing together, and he immediately bolted towards them to join in. No hesitation whatsoever. Where is Weston in this picture, you might ask? He's RIGHT behind the dad, looking eagerly up at him. The little girl on the left is staring at Weston.)

Apparently Weston is hard-up for family playtime these days. Haha! But maybe he's on to something; in the future we'll probably just attach ourselves to other families during outings like this, and see how long it goes (and how many of their sandwiches we can eat) before they call security.

Anyway, eventually we moved our observing inside, and we saw this lovely ceiling of the central dome:

We looked something like this:

Beneath the dome was a huge pendulum that was swinging back and forth, and supposedly it had something to do with the earth's axis or rotation or something. I don't know. (Do you think I actually read any placards when I'm at a museum with my hyper-hypo two-year-old? Heh heh. Nope.)

Then we proceeded to look at various sciency thingies:

"Weston, here's a picture of the sun! Weston! The SUN! Like in the sky! Weston?! Where'd you go?"

Thirty seconds later, we made our way downstairs to the exhibits about meteorites and the planets (pretty cool-looking, huh?):

I've always got to be quick about cute pictures, and fortunately I managed to get this one:

One thing that was especially neat was this size-comparison of the planets in our solar system. You can see how miniscule the first four planets are, compared to giant Jupiter. (I wonder if Jupiter is self-conscious. Don't worry, Jupiter, you're beautiful and attractive, too.)

Next we moved to the outdoor balcony for some relaxation and refreshment, and I got a picture of Tim as he pondered the vastness of the universe (or thought about whether or not he wanted a cereal bar):

Then I attempted to take a picture of the Hollywood sign in the distance, except that someone's giant Jupiter head got in the way (I mean, someone's beautiful, attractive head):

That beautiful, attractive someone got a picture of me and the kiddo, too. Just look at the delight on his precious little face:

Overall (and as usual), Weston had the most fun playing with the stupid crap in the gift shop:

Here, he's eagerly awaiting a demonstration of one of those semi-sphere bouncy things. Tim told him that he was going to make it bounce off the floor, and Weston took that to mean that he should sit on the floor to watch. So, he sat on the floor in the middle of the gift shop:

Haha! To science!!

That Wacky Weston

Tim's busy doing freelance work/baking cookies/playing Splinter Cell: Conviction these days, while I'm busy mothering/going to Disneyland/looking hot. But, we're still managing to find time to capture some of Weston's wacky antics.

For instance, one day Weston decided to transform an otherwise typical dad-in-the-living-room into a fine art display:

Here, he is carefully balancing the final piece (a yellow Megablock) on top of Tim:
I never got a straight answer, but I believe the exhibit was entitled, "Father, Living Roomed." Tim is a trooper:
Tim took this picture, and I love it, because it perfectly captures my life right now. I spend so much time sitting on the floor in Weston's room, reading books on demand or playing trains or having a "play food picnic." Like I mentioned before, sometimes playtime can feel really repetitive, but I know I'm going to miss these times later in life:
And finally... the Poser was at it again the other day. I swear he does this all on his own. We walked into the living room to find him like this:
He got a little shy for a second...
... and then ran to the doorway and struck a follow-up pose:

I don't know. I just don't know.

But that one sure makes us smile. :-)

He's Such a Poser

Earlier this week, Weston and I were playing in his room when suddenly he stood up, walked to the doorway, turned around, and looked at me like this:

HAHAHA!!!

(I cracked up, and then begged him to stay there while I ran to get the camera. It was just so adorable, and so very spontaneous.)

Will It Be YOU??

You may have noticed that my Site Meter count is slowly rising towards 20,000 visitors. Yes, 20,000. That's, like, practically a million!! (when you add 980,000).

In honor of this momentous occasion, I've spent the last eight and a half hours creating a beautiful, glorious artistic depiction of the many rewards that await that lucky person who will be #20,000 on this blog. Will it be YOU??

(If it is you, please click on the beautiful, glorious artistic depiction below, print it out, frame it, and hang it above your computer as an eternal monument to your blog-reading greatness.)