New Job and Working Life!!!

Hey guys! Sorry for keeping you in the dark a little bit about my job hunting search but guess what?!?! I GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so incredibly thrilled to share that I have a job after 4 months of searching! I work at Shaw Industries as an Operations Management Trainee Engineer as part of the innovation group! I am so incredibly proud of myself, my new company, and more specifically my plant! I love the people, and what i'm doing, and everything about it! I work wonderful hours, everyone is so nice, and it is so incredible to finally see my hard work in school finally pay off! 

I didn't want to mention anything until it was official and now it is!! I had fun finding work clothes and learning about the safely gear I will have to wear every day, and was nervous out of my mind for my first day on February 20th but really had nothing to worry about! The Operations Management Trainee program works by us trainees finding our niche in the company after many area rotations and after 3-9 months, applying to hire on with that specific position we find that we like! I think that is genius!

*Now just a little disclaimer for the near future, I like to keep my work life and home life completely separate and I will hardly ever mention or discuss anything about my job from here on out, so that is why I wanted to dedicate a whole blog post about my new job now so you are informed also! :)

My first day! I was so proud of my badge!

Every day to work for my safety, I have to wear ear protection, my hair up (and hair nets sometimes), safety glasses, a visibility vest above, steel toed boots, no jewelry whatsoever (no not even my wedding rings 😭😭😭 but that's ok, I'll get over it) and long pants. 

I also got a Shaw hot chocolate mug which I am going to use every day since it has gotten so cold in the recent weeks! I was given the mug with candy and a Shaw fortune cookie dipped in white chocolate and blue sprinkles as shown below! I am proud of my mug!

I also got a beautiful pink Shaw hat (sorry for the mirror image backward letters) that I will wear so so much since I am a big hat person!

The other day Shaw celebrated their 50th anniversary of their company and I feel so lucky to be hired in on their 50th! The company celebrated it's employees in the Dalton convention center with games, key note speakers, virtual reality tours, door prizes, and gift shops! It was good experience for me to be in Dalton because I will be traveling a little bit all over Georgia in these next few months of being an OMT. 

The weekend leading up to my first day of work, me, Cody, mom, Morgan, Edgar, and Nana all went to the UT family weekend basketball game which we won!!! And got to see an amazing half time show of the North Dakota acrobats team!

After the game to celebrate my new job, I got to pick our dinner restaurant and I chose a very fitting place, Calhoun's on the river, where Cody and I had our rehearsal dinner! It was very special and sentimental to us and just perfect! (if you know me, I love sentimental!) We also got seated at a table with an awesome view of the river!

Working Life: 

So adjusting to working life has surprisingly been fairly easy! I was very surprised how well I adjusted to waking up 5 hours earlier than I was used! I had to learn how to balancing relax time with the hours given after work before bed time. I also had to learn how to balancing errands and chores on the weekend along with working in vital Cody time such as hiking, working out, doing fun stuff together! Between feeding the cows (for Cody's dad while he is recovering from knee surgery), to our volunteer hours, doctors/dentist visits, church events, bible studies, working long hours, Cody's football, and visiting family, Cody and I are NEVER home. We are there to sleep and eat and that's pretty much it and we are loving it! But with that being said, we are learning to prioritize and spend as much time together as we can!

So to implement our priorities ("us" time) we schedule to always workout together especially on Saturday night because that is our favorite thing in the world! We have so much fun together doing box jumps or free weights and we also love doing our marriage Sunday school class bible studies together during our workout breaks at the gym! No one is there and it very peaceful and special! It is a time to strengthen us physically and spiritually while we continue to grow closer together. I love spending time with my Cody!! The picture above is me climbing their monkey bar structure. I love climbing things and can't help it being an ex-gymnast! Fun fact: I was a gymnast for 8 years!

On Friday nights Cody and I get dressed up and go on a date night! This ensures that we spend quality time away from the house together at least once a week! This past Friday we went to dinner and saw the new movie Logan!

On Sunday's we like to hike or go on a walk! It is one of our favorite things to do together!! We love to talk and catch up on each other's lives even more during this peaceful time! ( I would have a picture of Cody but like i've mentioned before, he doesn't care for pictures lol)

Learning what my new normal is and balancing work life and family life has been extremely fun and I am just so blessed beyond belief to have been given this wonderful opportunity to grow and learn, and can now help provide for our little family! I can't wait to find my purpose in work and do great things! I am so excited!!

Love,

Kayla Raborn!

3-6-17