Goodbye Leavitt Group

After fifteen years with The Leavitt Group, we finally say, goodbye.  I thought I'd post a little history for posterity's sake. 

WARNING!!  This could be boring to most people, so feel free to skip this post.

I was hired by The Leavitt Group when I was 19 to be Eric Leavitt's personal assistant, and to work with the Employee Benefits Division.  I loved this job!  Eric is such and easy going, caring, funny guy...perfect employer.  He gave me a ton of autonomy that really helped my confidence.  Except when he would tell me I looked like the mom on Wonder Years????  I didn't like that!

(do you like that big fat computer, and rolodex??  Man, I'm getting old!  Frank gave me the stereo on the shelf as a "congratulations on the new job" gift, and Jim Matheson used to always change my station to heavy metal when I left my desk)

They also found out that I sang and hired me to do a 45 minute show at the annual conferences.  I did shows in Coeur D'alene, ID, San Diego, CA, and Park City, UT with a live band (Franks friends from Zions Bank).  When I think about it now, I can't believe I had the nerve!

I was only dating Frank when I started the job.  He would come over with flowers and all sorts of goodies while we were dating.  That of course ended once we got married!  Shortly after we were married, Frank got a job at one of the Leavitt Offices (King-Leavitt) as a bookkeeper while he was finishing up his degree at U of U.  He wasn't in my physical office, but still working for the same company.  We only had one car, so we would carpool everywhere, school, work, home.  I was really flexible, so it worked out great!  If I remember right, we were living at his parents house in West Jordan at the time.

Anyway, Frank finished school while I was pregnant and got a job as a Controller in my office.  I was so happy to have him join the gang.  A small group of about 8 of us!  All sorts of trouble ;)  We also moved out of the folks place, and bought a condo in Salt Lake.  At about the same time, I talked Eric into lettting me work with Melissa in a job share position running the Benefits Division.  This allowed me to go part time. 

Shortly after he started his full-time posistion (I think only a week or so), they asked him to go on the Leavitt private plane to a small office in Idaho.  He was nervous since he had never flown on such small aircraft, but he and a few other people took the flight.  As they were nearing their final destination, a huge crane (bird) flew into the wing, and they had to make an emergency landing.  When they assessed the damage, the whole bird was still stuck in the wing....all the way through.  I wish I could get my hands on the picture.  It was pretty awesome. 

My water broke on my last day of work before maternity leave (I was being induced the next day)!  Frank being in the same office came in quite handy.  My mornings were free to be with my new baby, and my sister Julie babysat in the afternoon.  It was the perfect setup.  When Logan was 9 months old, Leavitt asked Frank to move to Boise, Idaho to be the controller over that region (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington).  They allowed me to set up an office at home for me to work from so we kept that income.

OUR FIRST HOUSE

We both liked it in Boise.  It was a constant juggle for me though.  Work, and spending time with my kids.  I felt like if I was giving 100% to my job, my family was being neglected, and vice versa.  Anytime I got close to quitting, they'd sweeten the deal, so it never made sense for me to make that move.  I finally got the courage, and decided I would "retire" when I had Carly.  Surprisingly, we made the transition just fine.  Since Frank still was with The Leavitt Group, I felt "in the loop", went to the conferences, and still kept in touch with everyone.

When Carly was 9 months old, they asked us to move BACK to Utah.  So, we did.  The environment at The Leavitt Group is such a positive one.  He was lucky again to be in an awesome office.  He's been a Controller all these years, and while employed at The Leavitt Group, he completed his Bachelor's in Accounting, his Masters in Business Administration, and his CPA.  Last year, he felt that he wanted something a little more challenging with more responsibility.  With The Leavitt Group, promotion was limited unless we moved to Cedar City. 

About a month ago, we said "goodbye Leavitt Group", and "hello Buckner Company".  We feel so lucky to have been a part of the Leavitt family for so long, and will miss all of the fabulous people there!