Where I've Been

Blogging has been dead last on my list of priorities lately. Here is where I've been since I last blogged before Going West:

Siesta Beach

AMAZING. White sand, gentle waves, partly cloudy sky, warm ocean breeze. It was paradise. I am seriously experiencing Florida withdrawls.

Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Illonois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah.

Luckily, the trip went smoothly. Joshua was an angel and handled the road trip just fine. We did manage to run out of gas about 50 yards from a gas station in Atlanta in the rain. We pushed the car the rest of the way and gassed up for $3.99/gallon. A few days later we drove past $2.79/gallon in Missouri! And that was weeks ago! It must be close to $2.00/gallon now. We also memorized the alphabet backwards (we can say it fast!), got pulled over for taillights that didn't work (we had no idea) and luckily just got a warning, my cell phone died and never came back to life, listened to the worst thriller novel ever that we picked up at a truck stop, and otherwise had a great time being cramped up together in a loaded-down Jetta for 3 days.

Apartment hunting

Blah. I hate apartment hunting. This time it was slightly more discouraging... the state of the economy has a lot more people looking to rent, so we found ourselves having to compete with a lot of other potential renters for all the good rental properties. After our top 3 choices got snatched away from us, we finally found a cute little duplex to rent from a young married couple. They have made a lot of improvements on it (new carpet, cabinets, floors, vanity, toilet, etc.), so even though it's a tad small for what we wanted it will be a great place to live. Now we just have to move in on Saturday. Yikes. Send all the able-bodied men our way!!!

David's Garage

At the beginning of the year, Jake's brother David got a piano for free from KSL. They stuck it in their garage with the intent of refinishing it. David's wife, Michelle, was pregnant at the time, and she told me, "If I don't have the piano refinished by the time this baby is born, you can have it." So, I patiently waited for her to have the baby, secretly hoping that she would not have time to do anything to it. Sure enough, the piano was forgotten with the hubbub of baby #4 and moving to a new home. They left the piano in their garage for me to have!!! Jake and I decided to fix it up since we have some time before we move and before work and school pick up in a few months. Not having the slightest clue of what to do, we headed to Home Depot, determined to transform the neglected piano into a work of art. 3 days, 13 hours of labor and $175 later, the piano is almost finished! It is now a beautiful black color and all that remains is to fix the legs and a wood panel on top and to get it tuned and I will have a piano!!! I studied classical piano for 12 years and I can't wait to brush up on my musical abilites again.

Driving, Working, Driving

Alas, we have but one car these days. Since we live in P-town and Jake works in the other P-town and I work in AF, all we do is drive all over Utah county. We wake up, I drop Jake and Josh off in P-town, then I drive to AF for work, then I pick them up in P-town and then we drive back to the other P-town. So, about 100 miles a day. Yeesh. DOES ANYONE HAVE AN EXTRA CAR THEY WANT TO GIVE AWAY??? I'm completely serious. We desperately need a second car. It's only going to get crazier.

Celebrating

Life, with all its craziness, is wonderful. Joshua is now 1 year old and walking all over the place. He says "mama" and is learning all kinds of things every day. We are again surrounded by friends and family here in Utah, and we've enjoyed catching up with everyone. We love each other and can't wait to see what this new phase of life will bring. Rock on.