Garth and Sandy Rule the World: Catching up since leaving Tonga

It's been almost three years since we left Tonga and returned back to the United States. I was sure there was nothing we did after returning home that could compare with our experiences in Tonga. So, I decided to quit writing my blog. Boy, was I wrong!

When we left Tonga the end of June 2015 we were not sure what the future held for us. We bought a condo in Rexburg fully expecting to live and build a house there. Garth didn't have a job, and we didn't know how long it would take him to get a job, so we expected we'd be in Rexburg for some time.

Well, just about month after returning home Garth received a phone call from Quorum Health, the company he had worked for in Alaska, and they asked if he was ready to return to work. Getting a job so quickly was an answer to prayer. They told Garth they had a job for him in southern California. Without even hesitating Garth told them no. When asked why, he said, "It's southern California!" They were persistent, however, and explained that the job was at a little acute care hospital in Big Bear, up in the San Bernardino mountains, at almost 7000 feet elevation. On August 10 Garth arrived in Big Bear to become the interim CFO while I remained in Rexburg awaiting our household goods which were still in transit from Alaska. I was able to join Garth in Big Bear the end of October. Garth likes to say that Big Bear isn't really California, but "you can drive to California from Big Bear."

Big Bear is really three small communities surrounding Big Bear Lake: Big Bear Lake, Big Bear City, and Fawnskin, with a total population of about 5000 residents. The population can swell, however, to over 100,000 on a holiday weekend as tourists flood Big Bear to enjoy skiing in winter, boating, hiking and mountain biking in the summer.

In August of 2016 Garth accepted the permanent position of CFO, and we bought a house! It was back to Rexburg for me so I could go through our things, and decide what should go to Big Bear, and what should stay in Rexburg. I still often forget what is where. Some things we ended up buying two of, so we could have one in each location - like a VitaMix! I suppose you can never have enough VitaMixes.

The people in Big Bear are friendly and welcoming. We love our little ward here, but find we are often out of town on weekends, so don't attend as much as we'd like.

We have been having so many fun adventures and making wonderful memories that I don't want to forget, that I've decided to start up my blog again. We are enjoying our time in California and are exploring a part of the United States that we have never visited. Driving five or six hours after Garth gets off work on a Friday to some new exciting destination for the weekend has become our new normal.

I hope you enjoy tagging along on our adventures with us as I post about them.

Here are some pictures of Big Bear.