The Harris Family: January 2014

Winter:
It continues to snow and the inversion is hanging around for what seems for FOREVER. Connor and I enjoy watching the snow fall, but we stay around the house most days. Now that Logan has the car during the day, to drive to Midvale, even when we want to go outside we can't go too far. One day the big snow storm pushed out the inversion and I thought it would be fun to go outside in play in it, but Connor did not feel the same. I placed him down on the ground and immediately he began to scream. As long as I held his hand he tolerated it, but I needed my hands to do anything fun in the snow. We walked around for a little while, but we returned home very soon.

Watching the snow fall from the window

A few days later when most of the snow had melted I decided to brave the cold and walked a mile to the park to play at the playground. I thought I didn't like the cold but Connor dislikes it more than I do. He had fun playing for a little while but his hands were freezing ( he will not keep gloves on) and he was shivering. On our way back home he decided he had, had enough of the cold and cried the entire way back. I guess we are warm weathered babies.

I gave him my hoodie to help keep him warm.

poor thing :(

Ice Castles:

My classmate from my photography class invited me join him and his wife out to do some photography at the Ice Castles. The Ice Castles are hand built by steel contraptions with water sprinklers attached, forming icicles. I was super excited and maybe a little desperate to get out of the house. Connor and I dropped Logan off at work and drove an hour to Midway, UT to have some fun. My classmate got special privilege to take pictures before the ice castles opened to the public, so we had the whole place to ourselves. I brought Connor's backpack carrier and held him on my back while I shot some pictures. At one point I wanted a picture of just Connor next to the Ice Castles. I took him out of the carrier and put him down and he started immediately screaming. I forgot that Connor hates the snow, after that he was pretty much down with the Ice Castles. I'm glad that he behaved long enough for me to have some fun. At night, they turn on different colored lights that illuminate for the inside of the ice. We plan on going back with Logan to view see the Ice Castle at night.

Kimberly & Sam

Connor & Me

The Interview:
I loved working at Zions Bank and my co-workers were the most enjoyable to work with. Unfortunately, Zions didn't have the career growth I was ready to advance in to. So, I started looking for an advancement elsewhere.

I was put in touch with LegacyTexas Bank, in Dallas, TX. After having a very successful first-round, phone interview on a Monday, I was invited to meet face-to-face. My interviewer, Jeremy, asked me to look in to the soonest time I would be able to get out there. Naturally, I sat down with Hanna and looked in to plane tickets, rental cars, and hotels near the bank's headquarters. This was going to be an expensive investment if I wanted to fly out there. About that time Hanna posed the idea of making a road trip out of it. I had the vacation time and by bringing Connor along we weren't leaving any responsibilities behind; so, Why Not!? We looked at it the distances, just over 1,200 miles. We looked at the time, just over 19 hours (nonstop). On top of that, we could be out there by that Friday! Not too bad. The price was what clinched it though. Gas, food, hotel, etc. came out to be 1/3 the cost of just the plane ticket for the same interview date. By that afternoon I was in touch with Jeremy informing him that we could be out by that Friday. He and all the other Big Wigs were absolutely shocked that I was able to be out there so quickly and that I was going to drive! By doing that, I definitely set myself apart from the other candidates!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to confirm a definite interview for that Friday because Jeremy's supervisor and LegacyTexas Bank's Senior Credit Officer, Audrey, couldn't button down a time. However, Jeremy told me to "tentatively" plan for that Friday morning and he would confirm for sure by that Thursday morning. It's kind of hard to "tentatively" plan for morning interview you're driving to, 19+ hours away! Hanna and I made the decision that it would be best to just take the necessary time off and be on the road heading to Texas as if the interview was going down that Friday.

We embarked on our first family road trip early the Thursday morning before my tentative interview. We were about an hour past Moab, UT, when Jeremy informed me that the tentative interview for the next day needed to be pushed to the Friday of the next week, for sure this time. Unenthusiastically, we turned around and headed home.

Trying to stay positive, however, we decided to learn from this initial road trip. We had a week to be better prepared for our definite trip out to Texas. The second time was smoother than our previous attempt. We left really early that next Thursday, and arrived at our hotel at 3am the Friday of my interview. Luckily, my appointment didn't start till 11:00am. My interview consisted of a department meet-and-greet, lunch with all the other analysts, a case study and the interview with the department manager (Jeremy) and SCO (Audrey).

After meeting everyone, I quickly realized I was not only the oldest out of the bunch, excluding the manager, and I was the only one married with a family. Needless to say, I felt a little old. Overall, however, I felt like I fit in with the group while we had a good time at lunch. Next was the case study. Cake! Thanks to Heavenly Father and the extensive on-the-job-training I received at Zions Bank, I ROCKED that portion of the interview. Lastly, the actual interview. I've never really had a problem selling, especially when it comes to selling myself. That being said, I was extremely nervous going into this portion of the interview because I had a lot riding on its success.

In no way am I exaggerating or trying to brag in what I'm about to write, I truly know I had divine help through this interview. Take a moment and think of the most ideal interview possible. That, seriously, was how this interview went down! The closest experience I can compare this interview to is being on the mission and answering investigators questions/concerns with words that were truly not my own and totally inspired. I know that Heavenly Father was helping me through the Holy Ghost that day! Every question they posed, every scenario they brought up I was able to flawlessly answer. It got to the point that the SCO was literally saying "Wow!" after each of my answers/explanations. Over the course of the interview, she ended up complimenting my maturity, professionalism, credit knowledge, scholastic record, and initiative. I was/am so thankful for the Heavenly Father's help through this interview.

After the interview concluded, and before getting back to the hotel which was less that 2 miles away, I received an email from Jeremy saying they were going to take my candidacy to the next step; the contingent criminal background check required before making an official offer. Ha! That was pretty much the offer right there since I've never had a criminal history! Hanna and I were very excited and deeply thankful for Heavenly Father's help in making this interview a success.For the remainder of the evening we hung around Plano, TX; resting before our long journey home the following day. What took one day to drive before the interview, was broken up in to two days the day after the interview. We left late in the morning on Saturday and only made it to Colorado. We completed the trip home the following day.

As anticipated, the offer came a few days later. The offer included a promotion from my current responsibilities/title, increased salary, and better benefits. We've prayerfully made the decision to accept the offer. We'll be starting our new family adventure towards the middle of February, with me starting in my new position the beginning of March! Very, very exciting.