Trip to Idaho

Yesterday we drove up to see Mike & Alicia. We left around 3:30pm and got there just before 6. We took the Kia on her first road trip and she did well! We had dinner and talked till late. This morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and then drove to Logan. It was a beautiful day - lots of sunshine and excellent company. It was fun to watch Eric interact with Mike - they are two peas in a pod. Alicia and I get along and I really enjoy hanging out with her. They have a 2 year old, Lexi, who is one of the cutest kids I know. She made us laugh and kept us entertained.

The trip was short but perfect. It was nice to get out of Salt Lake and of course, it was nice to come back!

Oh yeah, one of the highlights was stopping at the Pepperidge Farms factory and getting some tasty treats!

A new start

Eric & I are loving our new home. It's so much bigger and brighter than our last home. We only have one complaint: the shower head is so low! It's even at an uncomfortable height for me! Poor Eric! We bought an "extender" that allows us to adjust the height of the shower head, but it reduces the water pressure so much that it's annoying. We just can't win! Other than that small annoyance, we have no complaints. All of our neighbors are quiet and the few we've met are really nice.

We love our new ward! It is such a difference from our last ward and we're happy. We have felt so welcome and accepted. The Elder's Quorum President and two other men from the ward helped us move in. They were such a blessing - we got everything moved in in about an hour. Last week the RS Presidency stopped by for a visit, and my new visiting teachers called to set up an appointment. We've been in the ward a week! Wow! We're so excited to get involved and make new friends.

We've enjoyed meals at home with our new kitchen table, and also our new pots & pans and a few other kitchen appliances we couldn't use at our other place. Last night I made my first loaf of homemade bread! Before anyone gets too excited, I did use a bread mix in the bread machine. But, it's a start! Today we had salmon - and Eric LOVED it! Hooray!

For Valentine's day, we celebrated on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday since we were moving all day Saturday. Monday night we went to dinner at Red Lobster. It was nice to get out since I'd been home all day cleaning and unpacking. And I love spending time with Eric! Then on Tuesday I gave Eric his gift: 2 6" cookies and a box of "chippers" (small cookies) from Paradise Bakery. On the big cookies I had a saying written on them and he loved them! On Wednesday Eric gave me my gift: chocolate dipped bananas & pineapple from Eddibles. They were SO good! I thought it was a very creative gift. He was excited to give that to me, since it was sweet and "healthy".

Next weekend we're heading up to Idaho for a visit with Eric's best friend Mike. Unless Mike's wife has an early delivery (she's pregnant with their 2nd), we'll enjoy a nice weekend in Preston Idaho!

While I have a minute...

Every moment of free time we have has been spent searching for a new place, and once we found it, the time has been and will be spent preparing for the move. But we have done a few other things that have been fun.

The evening of Thursday the 28th was spent on a "triple-date". Eric & I went bowling with his sister Laura and her husband Jared, and Eric's other sister Malinda, and her date Aldo. We had a good time teasing each other about how "good" we are at bowling. I enjoyed being around everyone, and although it was difficult to understand Aldo (he's from Argentina), it was still fun to get to know him better.

On Saturday the 30th, we went house/apartment/condo hunting. We looked at a place in Holladay that we found on KSL.com, and we fell in love with it. We ran a few errands and after thinking about the place, we decided we wanted to apply for it. We put our application in first thing Monday morning...and now we're moving in!

That same day, we went downtown to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to see the movie "Joseph Smith, The Prophet of the Restoration". I can't believe this is the first time I've seen it! It's an incredible movie with a wonderful message. The story of Joseph's life is portrayed in a way I've never imagined. I hope to see it again; it will definitely be in my personal library when it comes out on DVD. After the movie, we went to dinner over at the Gateway, then did some shopping and headed home to relax.

All of last week was spent signing papers and moving and packing and shopping for a few new items for our place. I did go to a movie with Laura on Saturday evening - we had fun together but I WOULDN'T (thanks Marie) recommend "Dear John" to anyone! It's the "Notebook" all over again, with a slight resemblance to the life of a missionary. Now that you know what it's about, don't waste your time or money!

Yesterday was our last day in our ward. I can't say we're sad to leave, although I did make a few friends. We're both REALLY excited for our new home and the new adventures it holds for us. We'll be on the "east side", closer to the mountains and downtown Salt Lake. Just to give you an idea of where we're moving to, right now we're 11 miles south and west from my work on 10600 S and the Freeway. Our new home is 12 miles north and east from my work. While it's not closer for me, it's TONS closer to Eric's work. Instead of an average of 50 minutes travel time, his drive will now be 25 minutes! And when the weather is bad, the roads will be a lot better for both of us, since we'll both be using the freeway (instead of side streets and Bangerter Highway). Needless to say, there are a lot of pros to this new home - hopefully we'll get a few visitors (hint hint)!

Side note: we actually spend a lot of our evenings watching Jazz basketball games. We're kind of addicted to them!

Our New Place!

I promised Mom, Meghan and Marie that I'd post some pictures of our new place. We are officially moving in this weekend, but the manager gave us the keys last week and said we can start moving stuff over early. Last weekend we took over our new table, new microwave, and our new shower curtain and set them up. It was fun to see our new table in an actual dining room! Here are the pictures...

Our apartment faces south, with a little balcony that faces west

We're #11, the top left unit

This is what you see when you open the front door. To the left is the living room, and to the right is the dining room & kitchen

Living room

Living room

Laundry area (it's in the bathroom...behind the door...)

Bedroom #2 (faces north)

Bathroom (laundry is behind the door)

Kitchen view from the dining area. Not a lot of counter space, especially with our new microwave. We're going to get something to put the microwave on so we can free up some space

Our new dining table! We have it turned so we can open the door all the way when we move in, but we're going to turn it the other way (I think)

Hallway closet, which is between the living room (right) and the kitchen (left)

Master Bedroom closets. They're actually separated so we both get our own!

Master Bedroom (faces west & north)

So there you go! I'll post more once we get all moved in. We're SOOOOO excited to have a bigger place and to have more space. And, the best feature: lots and lots of natural light!!