I guess I will talk about the big thing going on in our lives right now, and that is that we are moving! This isn't any small move either we are moving to Los Angeles, California. Yep, it will be a big change from our small, laid back Louisville, CO, but we are excited. You are probably like wait, what? Yeah I kind of feel like that too, but let me explain. Sit back this is a little long haha.
So ever since Nathan and I first got married we have been trying to figure out what direction Nathan's career should take. Nathan has always known that he doesn't want to forever stay a software developer. Though it makes good money, it has never felt like a perfect long lasting fit for us. We have considered other options like going to business school, or law school. We have tried to start our own business. We have tried to hire employees and start a developing firm. We have considered Nathan becoming a CTO (Chief Technical Officer) of a start up. We have considered technical consulting. We have considered many different routes for him to take with his talent in the technical field and we just weren't finding something that felt right.
Every now and then in the process of praying and trying to figure out what to do we would feel prompted to consider comedy as a career (Nathan did stand-up and improv comedy in college). Each time we would think about it for a little bit, but then shrug it off and be like, "No that's crazy and unstable, we cant possibly pursue something like that with a family." So we would assume that we just needed to make sure Nathan was pursuing it as a hobby. Then Nathan started writing comics and we figured that was enough. Then about a year down the road from when we first shot it down we both had promptings at the temple to think about comedy. Again we thought hobby, and Nathan started looking in to maybe performing at open mics like he did in college.
Then more time passed and we were considering where to go next with Nathan's career, again. We had tried to do a startup that wasn't really working out, and we had turned down an offer for Nathan to be a CTO. We weren't really sure what to do, and in the midst of this we decided to go to Peru for two months. While in Peru we thought we had it figured out that we would do. We thought we would try to have Nathan find a startup to be a technical co-founder for. It still didn't feel right and while we were discussing I decided to bring up comedy. I asked Nathan if we should be considering that as a career. Then for the first time after getting this prompting we decided to really consider it. We prayed about it, really being willing to pursue it, and finally something felt reassuringly right.
We have been a little terrified about this decision despite the overwhelming reassurance that this is what we need to do. It is a completely different path than what we were thinking. It isn't as secure, Nathan isn't as confident in his abilities, and frankly if I hadn't felt the promptings and confirmations associated with decision I would think we were crazy.
When we got home from Peru we immediately started getting to comedic work. Nathan started going to open mics and improv classes. He started writing scripts and sketches, and we bought a nice camera to start making videos for you tube. We also hired a comic artist to work on the comics he had been writing. We weren't really sure what path to take with comedy so we were shooting a shotgun shot in the dark and hoping something would hit. We did this for a few months, and I asked Nathan if we should move a little closer to Denver since he was going there multiple nights a week. Then the moving bug was in our brain, and we thought if we were willing to consider moving closer to Denver why not move to a place with a better comedy scene like New York or LA?
After more prayer and thought we decided to move to LA over New York because Nathan loves sitcoms and that is where all the comedy writers for shows are. Then we had to decide when to move. There were a lot of factors, but we initially had decided on October in order to enjoy one last summer in beautiful Colorado. This lasted until about a week ago when we just kind of felt like we were wasting time and needed to get out to LA sooner. Then after looking at contracts, figuring out how much time we needed, and looking at how to work around my family reunion in July we decided to move to LA July 7th.
Yep only 20 days away! The wonderful thing about our move, and why we were able to move it up so easily, is that we have a place to stay while we look for a place in LA. Nathans parents who live in Orange County are awesome, and are letting us stay with them a couple months while we find the perfect place for our family. We are really excited to start our new adventure in the big city, and try to understand the path that the Lord is guiding us on.
Nathan is still planning on programming while we figure this all out. I am really grateful that he has this job that can support us, while we explore comedy; it makes this all a little easier.
So now that you are caught up on why we are moving, and when, let me feel you in on the fun little details of our last few months!
The start of April We celebrated Easter. Conference was a wonderful addition to our Easter Sunday, and dinner was pretty good too.
Wrenn has grown a lot. He turned a year old the end of April, and is now starting to walk around. It is so much fun seeing him grow and beginning to see his personality. He loves puzzles of trying to get shapes into things, or stacking cans, or organizing shoes. He is a lot of fun, although kind of a pain to feed. Why are one year olds so picky? Thankfully he likes smoothies so I can get him some veggies along with his PB&J's and burritos.
This was Wrenn at his birthday party that the Tates threw for him when we went down to Las Vegas the end of April for Gigi's baby blessing. We had a lot of fun and Wrenn really liked his cake, especially the icing.
Haha this is my failure of a cake. Better luck next time right?
This is Gigi isn't she adorable?
He's like, "I'm not too sure about this mom."
"I guess this isn't too bad."
"Yeah, I like it."
A fun tube from Ikea that Wrenn got for his birthday from Aunt Jen & Uncle Jared. He loves it!
We got to add another temple to our temple wall. Yay, Las Vegas!
This is Wrenn stacking cans; he looks so grumpy about it haha.
This is Wrenn on his actual birthday. The best picture I could get, oh well.
The start of May my parents came out to visit. It was a lot of fun and really good to see them. Wrenn was happy to see them too, and he thought my Dad was hilarious. We thought it might have something to do with his beard and being bald, but who knows.
For Mother's day Brandon and Bethany came out to look at places to live in the Denver area. It was fun to see them and Gigi; who like I said is adorable. For Mother's day Nathan made me breakfast in bed, and at church somebody taught my class for me, then Nathan made me dinner, so it was a pretty good day.
For our Mom's we wanted to give them a picture of Wrenn so we did a little photo shoot.
Also in May Wrenn finally started to show some interest in walking. It took awhile to for him to let us help him walk with his hands. I think it helped that he hates crawling in the grass.
Wrenn also recently loves climbing into things...
Also in May was Nathan & I's three year anniversary. We went out to eat and got some awesome steak, and had our first night away from baby, we went and stayed at a bed and breakfast. It was fun getting away but also a little weird to be away from baby that long.
At the end of May I turned 23! We had Olive garden for dinner and then invited some friends over for cake and ice cream and to play some games. Zombicide to be exact. We are a little obsessed.
June has been fun and laid back despite moving next month. We have been playing with baby and seeing him grow and learn.
I just thought it was funny :P
We are having fun at the Tate household and despite the craziness of figuring out our careers and when to move we have still made time to...
hang out with cousins,
make art,
and go hiking as a family.
Well that's about it for us! We now are just getting ready to move, and surviving the craziness that comes with it. We are enjoying the adventures life is throwing at us, and are excited for the many more that are to come. Life is good. Colorado has been awesome and I'm sure LA will be too. We love you all!
