Utah: Week one!

Well I have officially been in Salt Lake for just barely over a week. I dont know if I realized how accurate it would be when I used the word adventure! It has definitely been interesting

The first few days I was at my apt alone. My wonderful roommate was in Greece. The first night I was so exhausted I just crashed. The next night my very active imagination got the best of me for a little while, but then I eventually got so tired I didnt care any more. I stayed pretty busy at first getting all of the odds and ends together and unpacking. Saturday morning I woke up and had a bowl of cereal. My milk was warm...but i didnt think much of it and just turned up the temperature and went about my business. That afternoon Millie came over. We went to see Time Travelers Wife (good by the way! I LOVE her wedding ring!) when we got back to my apt I opened the fridge so that we could start making dinner. The smell was pretty bad....and all the food was still warm! I looked in the freezer to see all the meat in there completely raw! everything was at minimum room temperature! Katie and I had tons of meet in there ranging from Salmon to chicken. All of which was completely runied and starting to smell. The freezer was dripping with all kinds of meat juices. Millie and I made a joint effort and cleaned out all the meat hoping to salvage the rest of the stuff in there. I called my land lord but he didnt answer. I e-mailed him, which thankfully he got later. I went to church the next morning and when we got back everything in the fridge and freezer had gone bad....my apartment smelt SSSOOO bad! I finally got a new fridge the next day. It took my landlord and like 3 other guys to haul the old one out (which started leaking all kinds of smelly juices as they did so) and bring the new one in. I made several futile attempts and making my apt smell better in the mean time. I bought like 12 air freshners, lysol spray, and all the ingredients to bake cookies. Once the old fridge was out life was good.

The next part of the adventure is driving in Utah.....I had always heard how terrible Utah drivers were but now I am witness! They are pretty scary! I dont think they really know what a red light means...they only stop if someone in front of them is smart enough to stop. I almost have a nervous break down every time i have to drive any where.... Besides the other drivers, I am not used to city driving. One minute you are in one lane and then suddenly that lane ends...or theres a median and you cant turn when you want to, or some idiot guy is driving down the turning lane so you can't get into the turning lane so you miss your turn and you cant turn around for another million blocks.... its stressful. Im sure it doesnt help that most of the time I have NO idea where I am going. I probably make the Utah drivers even worse.

Getting into my school had been a really FUN adventure! I finally met my cooperating teacher on Wednesday. I sat through a forever long faculty meeting, but it was really awesome to see how everything works. I got to meet some of my students and take a look at my school. From the outside Redwood looks really kind of sketchy. But its WAY nice on the inside! There is a computer for every two students on the desks. My teacher said she uses them all the time! I have this official badge that I have to have to get pretty much any where in the school as well. I feel pretty important! haha! My teacher is really sweet! She has been teaching for years but is the type that says we are going to learn together. She knows that both of us are learning from each other. She even went as far as calling it OUR classroom today! It makes me feel like the last 4 years of my life actually mean something! It really makes me proud of what I have accomplished! School starts on Monday and I am looking forward to getting in and meeting the students and start teaching!

Kelcie, my friend that was in the EL ED program with me, and i are going to the Salt Lake Temple tomorrow! I am So excited! I have always wanted to go inside the Salt Lake Temple! I used to want to get married there! It should be really fun! So far I am loving Salt Lake! There have already been a few ups and downs and moments where i am scared out of my mind, and I'm sure there are PLENTY more to come. But, overall, I feel like this is really where I need to be and the Lord is blessing me! More to come later I'm sure!!

Adventure: Part Two

Well, Im not gonna lie, the time from graduation to now has FLOWN by! I can't believe it! After graduation I worked and played with my niece and nephew for a few days. Then I quickly packed all my junk. (I never realize how much stuff I have until I get it all in one place) After a few days of packing and getting ready to go I started on my major adventure. I packed up my car and drove to Utah. I left my car at my Aunt Liz's house where my sister picked me up. That night I saw my apt for the first time ever! I will get to details of my apt later. I spent the night at my sisters in law's house and the next morning we started on our journey to Milwaukee. Before we left I had this feeling to check my flight information. I looked in e-mail, travel sites and anything I could think of and I couldn't find any proof at all that I had a flight home. Needless to say I was panicking. My sister couldn't make it to Milwaukee with just her and the two kids...but buying a new plane ticket was more the double the price i payed before and completely not an option. Luckily we finally got a hold of the company and they finally confirmed my flight home! Here are some highlights of the trip.

*Whitney (my sister) and I managed to quote our mom at the same time. Scott was jumping on the bed. We told him to stop but he wouldnt and fell and bonked his head. At the same time we said "that's what happens" just like our mother would say to us.
*One of the days I handed Grace a granola bar to eat for a snack. I glanced back a few minutes later to see she had some granola in her lap. Then I saw it was even down in her crotch area. She was in a dress and when I went to wipe it out I noticed there was chocolate on her leg! I started laughing so she looked then screamed (sounding almost exactly like her mother) "What the heck is on my leg?" I was still doubled over in laughter when I hear " IS IT POOP!?!?!" I tried to clean her up but I was laughing way to hard. I have a picture...but its a little too revealing to share... haha
*I accidentally taught my nephew how to say 'Puke'. He kept repeating it the rest of the time i was there....oops
*I was official navigator for most of the trip. The bridge over the Mississippi was closed so we had to go the long way around. The maps were small and hard to read but luckily Whit saw a sign and swerved across a few lanes to get to the exit. It looked like we were in the middle of no where but luckily it took us right where we wanted
*When we got to Milwaukee we went to the Jelly Belly Factory and got free samples. On top of that I think I bought enough Jelly Bellys to last a lifetime....
*We went to the Milwaukee Zoo. It was a way good Zoo! I liked it a lot! There was a new jaguar that came running at the glass and gave me and my niece a heart attack until we remembered there was glass there. It was a little scary to have a huge cat running at you...
*One night my niece and I had some pudding. My sister asked how it was and I replied "Well... you know that taste you get in your mouth when you're sharpening your pencil?" It had an after taste like when you smell pencil shavings and you can kind of taste it. (Yes I realize how ridiculous it sounds now...) Whit just looked at me like what??? and then burst out laughing. The funniest part is that at the Jelly Belly factory there were jelly bellys that were pencil shaving flavored! haha I wanted Whitney to try it so that she knew what I was talking about...for some reason she declined. haha
*Best of all I got to spend a ENTIRE week with my sister and niece and nephew. Three of my favorite people in the whole world! I dont get to see them much, so to spend so much time with them was PERFECT. I loved it so much!

My flight home went smoothly in that I had no problems, but there was a WHOLE lot of turbulence. I was super tired when I got in to Salt Lake and still had to move ALL my junk into my apt. My mom tried to follow me to get my brother and we got separated and lost. I was getting so frustrated and scared etc....I had like a mini panic attack. To make a long story short i ended up driving around a lot. I got on the free way to see my hood wiggling around. It had popped open and I was driving down the freeway! Not to mention my phone was gonna die any second and if it died I would have no hope of finding my brothers apt. When I finally found my brother I was a giant stress ball.....Then we didnt get to my apt til almost 6. Luckily both my studly brothers came to help me move it all in. Then we had to go get my bed and desk. Then for some random reason we decided to go to a movie. Keep in mind ALL of my stuff is sitting still packed in my apt. After the movie we went shopping for a sec to get me a little food and then I came back to my apt and crashed. I ended up sleeping on the couch because all my stuff was still packed.

This morning my mom came back and we went shopping. I spent a butt load of money getting odds and ends and food that I needed. When we got back from shopping my mom took off to go home. I spent the next few hours doing some unpacking and setting up. I put together my desk with no problems. Then i tried my hand at the bookshelf. I did pretty good at first but the majorly screwed up and didnt have the tools to fix it. I gave up unpacking for the rest of the day. I finally showered and went and hung out with my brothers.

All in all Salt Lake is pretty good so far! I have been kind of a giant stress ball the last few days but i think i am starting to calm down a bit. There are lots of stressful things going on in my life right now. Last week the doctors said that My dads cancer was officially in remission. We were all so excited! My dad has been feeling SO much better and much more himself. He couldnt wait to get rid of the trac and feeding tube. They told him he could get it removed today, but after doctor appointments they decided that the cancer is not gone. They are not 100% sure but they think it is back, and that they will have to take the rest of his tongue and who knows what else. I dont think my dad will do treatments again. They are doing tests this next week to make sure and see what else they can do. So who knows what will happen. Moving to Salt Lake has also hit me like a ton of bricks. Thankfully my brothers are both pretty close and they have been so good at helping me and hanging out with me. So far so good. Driving is a bit of a stress for me. I think all of this Salt Lake stuff is just a matter of adjusting. I am making some major life changes. But I'm hanging in there! The Lord is guiding me and I just have to really put my faith in him. He has a plan for me and i really have to remember that right now.

Life is good! stressful but continuing onward! Salt Lake adventure: Begun!