2009 - Part 1

From Vegas to Idaho, city to town, millions to hundreds, lights to stars and from single to married, from no kids to one on the way, 2009 was a very busy year for Tyler and Trudi Matlock. Join us for this year in review.

January 2009 - The year started off with a boom. Trudi and I had been engaged for over two months and were more than excited to get married. Trudi was caught up in all the planning and preparing for the wedding and I was not. Trudi says she didn't turn into Bridezilla. I agree with that to a certain extent. I mean, I'm sure that there were way worse bridezillas than Trudi. However, I'm just glad that I survived the whole experience. Funny story. We were in Alamo the Wednesday before our Friday wedding decorating. I was being the ever attentive fiance that I should have been and was on top of a ladder 40 feet in the air hanging strings of lights and doily stuff. As I was working, I worked up an appetite as I tend to do. Well, Trudi's mom Dolores came in and said she had a big batch of curry made just for us. The only problem was that it was at her house. Well, I proceeded to volunteer my services and go get the curry and bring it to the church. I no sooner had volunteered my time for the betterment of my colleagues by getting dinner than Trudi jumped down my throat and told me how I didn't care about the wedding and the reception and how she wasn't going to put up with it. The people in the cultural hall got quite the show. In fact, one lady who was especially helpful tried to calm the situation by telling everyone that it would be all right. I ended up getting the curry and made Trudi a plate and all ended well. The cultural hall ended up being very beatiful and made for a very wonderful reception. Trudi was a BEAUTIFUL bride and I know that all who have seen the pictures can attest to that. She continues to be beautiful this day!! In fact, she's the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Anyway, enough of that romantic stuff!! Getting married was the most amazing event of my life! Good stuff.

February 2009 - February was a fun month. It was a month of adjustment as Trudi got used to living with a smelly man. And as I adjusted to a bathroom full of hair dryers, hair straighteners, hair this, hair that and all of that kind of stuff. Trudi was working at an athletic clothing company. I thought she had a pretty sweet gig at first because I took a tour of the place and they gave me a free pair of college football shorts that were being shipped to the college that week. But as it turns out the work environment was horrible and Trudi ended up very miserable. It was about this time that we were realizing that she needed to get out of there. I was working for an electrical contractor as a parts runner. My job was to drive electrical parts from the supply house to the job sites. I did other things but mainly that. Real tough gig, I know. We would meet up at this gas station a couple blocks from her office and a couple blocks from one of my supply houses for lunch on most days. It was right next to the penthouse strip club. Cool right? Anyway, that gas station had a worker named "Laura". "Laura" looked like a man and probably was. Trudi and I still joke to this day about stopping by and seeing "Laura".

March 2009 - In March our married life adjustments continued. I learned that wedding pictures are very important to Trudi and that I need to go with her to get them developed even if she says I don't have to!! I have since learned that this lesson applies to any task, not just wedding pictures. :-) Trudi continued work at the athletic clothing company and I with the electrical contractor. Trudi started looking in earnest for another job. Searching for a job in Las Vegas at this time was like searching for a needle in a haystack. You heard everyday on the radio or the news that there were thousands of people out of work and looking. Well, Trudi being the amazing worker that she is got a job for a marketing company as an Executive Assistant. She was pretty much running that company by the time she left. Seriously, they still call her to ask questions! While she got the new job, she continued working at the other job as they had cut her hours at the other job and the new one was only supposed to be part time. Around this time, we said SEE YA to the job at the athletic clothing company because Trudi was miserable there. She would call me as she got off just drained of energy and in a horrible mood because of what she was put through at work.

April 2009 - This was a pretty uneventful month for us in that everything was steady and relatively stress free. Our biggest stress was the fear that we could lose our jobs at anytime. With Trudi at a marketing company and I in the construction industry, we realized that our positions could be eliminated quite easily. We both did our best to work hard and make ourselves valuable to our employers.

May 2009 - May was a very big month for us because we decided that we were going to pursue a teaching job for me. If you don't know already, I graduated from BYU-I with a degree in History Education in December 2008. The school district in Vegas was not hiring or even accepting applications for history teachers so we decided to apply out of state. So this month consisted of both of us scouring the internets looking for school districts in Idaho that were hiring history teachers. Why Idaho? Because my certificate is in Idaho and that would increase my odds of getting hired. Well, I ended up getting a call from some school in Oakley, Idaho asking if I could come up for an interview. I tried to conceal my excitement in my voice as I said yes. I called Trudi and told her. That night we looked up Oakley and found out what a small town it was. I was so excited to have an interview that I would go anywhere. I felt the interview went very well. Trudi asked me every question imaginable about how I felt the interview went. The principal I interviewed with said she would be in contact with me the next week to inform me on her decision. An hour later, as I was stepping out of the men's room at the Flying J in Snowville, Utah my cell phone rang. It was the principal from Oakley High School telling me that she wanted to offer me the job! I told her I would call her back after talking with my wife. I just wanted to double check everything with Trudi and make sure this is what we wanted to do. She was very excited to hear the news. I quickly called back and said I would take the job! That's why were are now in Idaho. This month was also big for us because we decided that we wanted to have a baby. I mean, we always knew we wanted to have children but it was in May that we decided to get started for real. I will talk MUCH more about the BABY in the coming months.




This concludes part 1 of my 2009 year in review for the Matlocks. I had no idea it would take this much time. I will be posting part 2 in the coming days.