A Little Update

So it has been a while since our last update, time is just flying by. At this rate we should have at least one more blog before we have our baby! Here are some of the things you have missed:

October:

Most of the month was just the norm, Tim going to school and me working. For Halloween we dressed up as vampires, that was pretty fun. Tim purchased some red contacts for us online and we went all out. We were so great that we won an award at one of the parties we went to that night. Yep thats right I said one of the parties, we went to two. What can I say, we are party animals.

November:

November went really quickly for me, almost as quickly as October. It was like it just started when Thanksgiving snuck up on us. Tim and I hosted Thanksgiving this year not to toot my own horn or anything but it turned out pretty great. We had four couples from our ward, two two year olds, two elders, and a pair of neighbors. Needless to say our small apartment was crowded.

I would like to say that I was such a great host that I made all of dinner but lets be honest that would have been way to stressful. We did a pot luck for the food and it turned out wonderful. We had everyone bring their favorite dessert along with the food they were assigned. We ended up with nine fantastic pies, four of which were made by Tim. He found a new recipe for sweet potato pie the other day at the doctors office. He stole the recipe from the magazine it was in and I'm not gonna lie I'm glad he did it, it was a wonderful pie. The others he made were also wonderful, he made lemon meringue and coconut creme for the first time and he rounded it out with his pecan that he loves to make. All in all dinner was wonderful and the company was great as well.

We rounded out November with our doctors appointment where we found out what brand of baby we are having. We are super excited about it and we are also enjoying keeping our family members in the dark about it until Christmas. We were told that baby T is now about 14 oz and is right on track growth wise. We saw two arms and two legs and at least five fingers when he/she waved at us in the ultrasound. We were able to video the whole thing and are very excited to show it to our families when we get to come home for Christmas. Lately I am able to feel movement every day and Tim has even been able to feel some baby wiggles, we are having a lot of fun with this whole thing and cant wait til baby comes out into the world.

Teaching and school

Now that I'm back in school and Tara is working, our posts have slacked off again. While I apologize for that, life out here on the East Coast has been great and, despite being busy, things just keep getting better.

One week into this new semester, I was offered a job that I had been hoping to get as an IA for the Graphics 217-218 class. I was pretty excited about it, because not only would it give me tuition credits for this semester and severely cut down on the amount of student loans I would have to borrow, it would also give me an opportunity to test my teaching skills: something that I'm interested in pursuing.

I have since taught two classes and have really, really enjoyed it. It's just as beneficial for me as it is for the students, as I just learned a lot of the graphic design software and theology over the summer. It's been a lot of fun though, and I could definitely see myself doing something like this in the future.

Outside of school and work, Tara and I have both been having a lot of fun. I got to cover thy home-opener for Syracuse football. It was really cool to see a football game in a dome, though I definitely missed Romney Stadium and Aggie football games. We've also been hanging out with our neighbor Terry and his girlfriend Lauren. Terry is from Barbados and is a grad student as well, and Lauren is from Syracuse and an undergrad. They are both in the Civil Engineering program, dedicated students and very smart. We had them over for dinner the other night though, played Wii and watched some Office.

There's been a whole lot more going on, such as pick-up football games, craigslist treasures and giving BYU fans a hard time, but I always seem to write a novel so I'll stop short there. Night!

Baby!

So today was our first official appointment with our chosen baby doctor. We didn't get to meet our doctor today but we did get to do an ultrasound and see our baby. It was so cool! It was nothing like I had expected, it was so much better. Right now we are about 10 weeks along so the baby had little arms and legs and we saw the heartbeat and saw our baby move and everything. I think the thing that surprised me the most is that it actually looked like a baby in there not just a weird little blob.

In the past I have always thought people were a little weird for posting ultrasound pictures when they are so little that they just look like a blob but I totally understand now. So yes I am posting the ultrasound picture but no I don't expect anyone to be as amazed and excited about it as I am because I understand that all you see is a blob when I see a baby with a heart and appendages!

Another struggle I am having lately is that I want to shop for baby stuff ALL THE TIME! The down side of this is that I don't know yet if its a boy or a girl and if I buy stuff now it is just going to take up space for the next seven months and in my small apartment I don't need that either. So if anyone needs to find anything online and you don't have time to do it just give me your email and I'll go wild!

More Aerosmith Pics. . .

Here's some more photos from the Aerosmith concert.

Aerosmith 2010

Yesterday, Tara and I took to the 10 minute drive to the fairgrounds to partake in the age-old American ritual of rides, trinkets and fried food! The New York State fair was definitely a site to see. We walked around for a couple of hours, and didn't see all the different areas with all the different booths.

Despite our better judgement, we enjoyed some New York style pizza, cotton candy and even some fried dough with cinnamon and sugar on it (pretty good, but nowhere near deep fried Oreos). It was a lot of fun, and we even saw a sea lion show that was pretty entertaining.

However, yesterday's trip had one purpose, and one purpose only. Aerosmith. They are simply the best band ever. Period. I'd seen them twice before, in 1999 and 2001 (I think), and couldn't wait to see them again. . . especially after rumors circulated that they had contemplated breaking up late last year. It was also Tara's first Aerosmith concert, and I knew she would love it as well.

We weren't disappointed.

Though it's been nearly 10 years since I've seen them live – and Steven Tyler is 62 – they haven't slowed down a step. They rocked the socks off of everyone there, and did it with more energy than the 20-something kids that opened for them. Tyler pranced all around the stage with his signature scarf covered microphone stand, Joe Perry played his guitar behind his head and took of his belt and wailed on it while on the ground. Drummer Joey Kramer had a great drum solo, and even kept banging on his set with his hands and his head after tossing his sticks out into the crowd.

This was the best Aerosmith concert I've been too yet, and I hope they've got another 10 years left in them. Tara had a blast too, and said it was the best concert she's been too as well. The sound was great and the entertainment was better. These tickets were the most expensive tickets the New York State fair has ever sold. . . and they were worth every penny! (Though I got a deal, because I bought them on ebay off somebody that couldn't go anymore!!!)

We're definitely loving New York!

Jet's camp, Toby Keith and other assorted things

I've had a couple weeks of off school, and though that is coming to an end now, Tara and I have been having a lot of fun. We visited the New York Jets training camp, went to a Toby Keith and Trace Adkins concert and celebrated her birthday among other things.

First off was the trip 30 minutes down the road to Cortland, where the Jets hold most of their training camp. The camp started at 8:20 a.m. and finished up by 11 a.m. Since Tara didn't have work until 1 p.m. that day, she woke up and came with me, and it was a lot of fun. You're able to get pretty close to the players, and the Jets have a lot of big name players this year like LaDanian Tomlinson, Braylon Edwards, Mark Sanchez, Santonio Holmes and Jason Taylor, just to name a few. I got some good pics of the players, though I missed out on autographs because we picked the wrong side of the facility to watch from. Overall it was pretty cool though, and Tara even enjoyed it!

Last Saturday was Tara's 22nd birthday, so to surprise her, I got us a pair of tickets to go to the Toby Keith and Trace Adkins concert at Darien Lakes. That is a state park and amusement park near Buffalo, about a couple hours away. The concert was the Friday night before her birthday, so I picked her up when she got off work at 4:30 and we just headed right up there. It was a great concert, but it was definitely a different experience. The venue was outside like Usana, it was massive and it looked like a giant redneck gathering. In the parking lot it looked like a tornado had hit a Pabst Blue Ribbon factory (hey, we're by Canada), and inside the venue – even though we were on the grass – we thought we might die of smoke inhalation!

We should be in for another interesting experience today as we're getting ready to go to the New York State Fair. We're also stoked for another concert, as we'll be taking in the Aerosmith concert there tonight. This will be the third time I've seen Aerosmith and Tara's first, so it should be a lot of fun! Check back soon for a recap. . .

Conference craziness. . .

For a change of pace tonight, I'm going to take a few minutes and discuss the recent events that have shaken up the non-BCS football world. In a matter of a few hours, Utah State and the Western Athletic Conference went from a solid foundation with an exciting future, to surviving on life support.

Yesterday morning when I first heard the announcement that BYU was considering leaving the Mountain West Conference to become Independent in football and return to the WAC in all other sports, I started celebrating. I couldn't believe that it would actually happen. Though this entire mess is football driven, the idea of USU and BYU being in the same conference for men's basketball made me giddy. Recognized by Cougar fans or not, at least on the basketball court, USU-BYU is a rivalry. Over the past decade, USU holds a slight advantage in wins, 7-5, but the teams are evenly matched and would consistently battle for the WAC championship.

Then the Mountain West struck back. Having already poached Boise State from the WAC, the MWC reached out to Fresno State and Nevada (and we now know USU) and offered them an invitation to the conference. When I first heard this, I wasn't too worried, and frankly I'm still surprised that Fresno State and Nevada jumped at the offer so quickly. . .

Here's why–

Money: Fresno State signed the $5 million buy-out deal and Nevada verbally agreed to it or something along those lines. For two schools that are operating in budget deficits, that is a lot of money to shell out.

Schedule: As part of all other BYU sports joining the WAC and the football team staying Independent, the Cougars agreed to play a series of games with each of these teams.

Television Exposure: The WAC currently has a deal with ESPN that guarantees a certain number of televised games. With the addition (more or less) of BYU, that arrangement would most likely have been expanded. And finally, the MWC is stuck with "The Mtn." network, which offers little payback, little exposure and a lot of headaches for the teams already in the conference.

WAC power: Had Fresno State and Nevada held out, it is very possible that the MWC would be on the verge of collapse, and not the WAC. With BYU leaving, TCU most certainly would have seen the writing on the wall and pushed hard to get into the now 10-member Big 12. That would leave Boise as the main team in a weaker conference than the one they just left. Ultimately, they would have decided to stay in the WAC, and the MWC would have collapsed. The WAC could've picked up the pieces, adding UNLV (rival for UNR) , New Mexico (rival for NMSU) and San Diego State. Not only would this have been a solid football conference, but it would have been a very strong basketball conference, worthy of multiple bids.

In short, had Fresno State and Nevada been patient and honored they're commitment to the WAC, the end result probably would've been similar to where the find themselves now. . . and they wouldn't have a $5 million bill that WAC comish Karl Benson is very adamant that they'll pay.

The big news tonight coming out of Logan, is that the Aggies received and invite to the MWC before Fresno State and Nevada were even contacted. USU, however, turned down the offer, believing the rest of the teams in the conference would honor the agreement to remain together and the WAC would emerge as the stronger power (as mentioned above). It's obvious from the statements made in Scott Barnes letter, that USU and BYU have been working behind the scenes for awhile to put this thing together, and it's also obvious that it is not working out how either of them envisioned.

BYU will be fine. If they choose to do nothing, they have the MWC and if the choose to go ahead with the move to independence, then they have multiple options there as well. The Aggies, though, are now backed into a corner. Their next move most likely hinges on what the Cougars decide. If the Cougs decide to leave the MWC and deposit the remainder of their programs in the WAC, there is hope for the conference. At this point, I don't know that BYU will do that though. If BYU stays in the MWC, the conference is now stronger with the additions of Boise, Fresno and Nevada. . . making the possibility of a BCS auto-bid more realistic.

Here are the Aggies best case scenarios:

1 - BYU remains in the MWC and lobbies for USU to become the 12th team in the conference. This allows the MWC to have a conference championship game, and the up-and-coming USU squad is decent addition. Certainly above MWC bottom dwellers Wyoming, New Mexico and SDSU. This also creates a solid basketball conference that would be worthy of three to four NCAA bids year-in and year-out.

2 - BYU leaves the MWC, which in turn with the departure of Utah to the Pac-10, leaves no Utah market for the MWC. In an effort to keep at least a share of the Utah/SLC market, and add a regional member, the MWC invites the Aggies to replace the Cougars.

At this point, I see option one as the more viable choice. USU worked hard to get BYU back to the WAC and smooth that transition. Now that that path has been nuked, BYU should repay the favor and pave the way for the Aggies to join the MWC. No word yet though on whether BYU will back down from its aspirations of independence. Stay tuned for what happens next!

One down. . . three to go!

Tara and I officially apologize for the long lapse in our blog. Tara's been pretty busy with work and has been too tired when she gets home, and I've been in school from basically 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. everyday and then doing homework after that so I didn't have much of an opportunity either. Enough excuse making though, I'll get back to filling you in on what we've been up to. . . or, in the case of myself, I'll show you!

This is a business card and accompanying stationary with a personal logo that I designed in my graphics class using Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. I was trying to give my logo a sporty look, I think it turned out great and I freaking love it. . . and I got an A on it!

Some of the other projects we had to do, included creating a poster for an actual non-profit event, redesigning a magazine spread and redesigning a current website. Using a combination of my passion for sports and my love for the Valley, I created some pretty awesome designs. For the non-profit organization, I designed a poster for an NFL Play 60 event in New York City.

For the magazine layout, I redesigned a spread that ran in the Cache Valley Magazine on Gary Wilkinson. I used photos from my friend and former Editor in Chief Patrick Oden and put it with my own story that I wrote about Gary and it turned out awesome as well.

Finally, for the Web site, which I just finished today, I redid the Cache Valley Humane Society site, cachehumane.org. The site they have now, is actually a big upgrade from what they used to have, but it's still a little helter skelter. I simplified it and made the animals the focus, and made accessing the animals easier. I had no idea it was so easy and fun to design Web sites, and definitely hope to use that skill again. Designing the website, I really learned a lot about Photoshop, so that was really helpful as well. Here is what I've been doing:

If you click on any of the images above, it will take you to a bigger image if you want a closer look! Let me know what you think.

Weekend Trip No 2

So this last weekend Tim and I went on another short getaway. This time we went down to Virginia it was a bit of a long drive but it was definately worth it. We went down because it was his grandparents 50th wedding anniversary and a large chunk of his family went there to celebrate.

On the way down we just happened to be driving right through Weston's mission so we decided to drop in and give him a little visit. It was awesome to see him and talk to him a little bit, he is doing so great in his new mission and I am happy for him to be having the kind of progress that he is. They have nine baptisms set up just for this transfer, it is crazy!

It is so crazy not seeing him, I feel like he has been gone for so long. In reality it has only been 13 months. It is so interesting to me how time goes by. When he left Tiffany was still pregnant with Emmitt and Sandra just found out she was pregnant. To me it seems like it has just been a blink of an eye, but Emmitt just had his first birthday and baby Jeff is crawling now. Then I think of Wes and can't believe it has only been 13 months. Its very interesting how the mind works. . . especially mine!

So, after spending about an hour with Wes and his companion (Elder Hansen) we set off for the second half of our long drive (about 7 hours total) and we promptly drove right into a huge storm. It was raining harder than I have ever experienced and the wind was blowing like crazy. Its a good thing I wasn't the one driving or I would have had a nervous breakdown! Thank goodness Tim can keep his head straight when I clearly could not have :). We ended up making it through the storm fine and made it safely to Virginia and to his family. We arrived there at about 2:30 in the morning and promptly went to sleep.

On Saturday we woke up and got to go see the Air and Space Museum, it was pretty cool. Tim's dad knows just about everything about that stuff and it was great going there with him to hear the things that he had to say. I love learning new things especially from someone that I know is very knowlagable about it.

So as we are walking through the museum somehow Tim and I started talking about if I was able to kick high enough to actually kick him in the face. Of course we both know that I can and he is just teasing me telling me that I can't so I decided to prove it to him. I stop him in the stairwell on our way down to the ground floor and kick my foot up high enough that he can see it is indeed possible and he proceeds to tell me that I wasn't even close. As we get to the ground level, I stop him again and showed him to which he gave me the same response so I stopped Kallie so she can be a witness. Well folks, the third time is a charm because on that third kick I actually kicked him straight in the mouth. I was so shocked that I couldn't stop laughing. I almost fell on the floor (yes that is my reaction when I am in shock, I know its weird). Kallie was laughing almost as hard as I was, I can only imagine what was going through the minds of any onlookers. Don't worry though, he still has all of his teeth and he only had a little fat lip for a minute. I however, could not keep my composure any time I looked at him for the next 20 minutes or so. As we walked out of the museum Ray turned to me and asked "Do you want to high kick anything else before we leave?" and the jokes kept going from there.

After we got back from the museum we had a nice dinner and a program for Tim's grandparents, it was really sweet they had a video and everything. We came back the next afternoon and had a pretty nice drive though we went through another storm in Pennsylvania I think it storms there all the time. . . It was nice to finally get home though and relax for awhile.

Catching up and stuff. . .

Hey dear followers, sorry for the lapse in writing! They've been keeping me busy at school and Tara has a full-time job now, so our blogging time has been greatly decreased. There's definitely a lot to tell you about now. The biggest thing that we did was take the hour-long drive up to Palmyra, N.Y. and check out the Hill Cumorah pageant and all the church sites up there. We started off at the Smith farm where we went on the tour. Tara had already been there before, but it was a first time experience for me to see these places that I had only read about.

Being the weekend of the pageant, it was really busy there. The sister missionaries that were leading the tour said during the week of the pageant roughly 50,000 people visit the sites. We started off getting a history lesson, and then toured the Smith homestead cabin. The cabin itself is a replica, but it is built on the original foundation of the 1820s Smith cabin, and it was built without using any modern technology.

Following that we went down to road to the Smith frame house that was built later on. It is the original structure, and they showed us the different places in the home where the gold plates were hidden. From there we went through a threshing barn that was built by Brigham Young's brother and later moved to the site. Then we went to to the shop where they made and repaired barrels (the name escapes me). After that, the formal tour ended and they turned us loose to go wander through the sacred grove. It was really amazing to be there, knowing what happened there. While wandering around, we found some remnants of the original rock wall the Smith's built, and even tried a couple wild raspberries.

After the Smith farm we headed into Palmyra and drove to the E.B. Grandin Print Shop where the Book of Mormon was published. Being a journalist, it was awesome to see how the old printing presses worked and see what people of that time went through to publish a book.

When we were done at the print shop, we just drove around a little bit following some of the streets and seeing the city. I'm an avid fan of the "Work and the Glory" books, and it was crazy to drive down these streets that I've read about – even if they are completely different than they were back then.

Finally, we headed down the road to the Hill Cumorah to catch the last night of the pageant. This was an experience in itself, but maybe not for the expected reason. As we were pulling up to the parking area, there were a few anti-mormon groups out hollering, protesting and generally making an uneducated nuisance of themselves. A couple had megaphones, and were spewing out words of hatred at the oncoming crowd. It is amazing to me that no matter where the church gathers in large groups, these people show up. Maybe I just notice it because it's my religion, but I'v never seen so much animosity built up towards other religions.

Then we entered the actual pageant area, and the scene completely changed. There was clearly just as many (if not more) non-members as there was members, but as we walked through the gates, MoTab blocked out the megaphone guys and the spirit completely changed. I'm not usually one throw on some church music and just kick back, but it was such a change from the scene driving in, that it was impossible not to notice.

The pageant itself was really cool. They had a lot of special effects and it was definitely a high quality production. I knew it was a big deal, but I had no idea that is was 9,000 people's worth of a big deal. It was great to see such a big gathering of people to see church stuff so far away from Utah! Also, during the production, something stood out to me. I won't go into too much detail and get all religious, but sometimes those resounding moments happen that confirm this religion is no joke.

During the production, they act out scenes from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. In one of the particular scenes, they're acting out Lehi's dream. They didn't go into all the details from the dream, including the part about the people that are in the building yelling and mocking, but it hit me right then and there – that's exactly who the people out front with the megaphones were. They were the people in the great and spacious building, mocking and yelling at those who sought after the gospel. It's awesome when scriptural things happen right in front of you!

Anyways, needless to say it was a fun and eye-opening weekend.

Other than that, Tara and I have just been busy working! Between the two of us, though, hopefully we can get back on track and write a little bit more often. Stop back soon!

New Job!

So after a week and a half of sitting around here trying to fill up my time I found out today that I got a job! I will be working at Value City furnature starting tomorrow morning. I'm pretty happy about it because it was the first place I applied, talk about lucky :).
Tim also seems to be doing really well in his classes, he is keeping busy and such. From what I have seen it hasn't been extremely bad homework wise because he is in class long enough that he gets most of his work done before he leaves school which is nice. Right now he is doing a project that he has to go around town and take pictures of every letter of the alphabet from signs and stuff like that. It has been pretty fun to see some new things while we find all the letters.
Tim also found out that the university has a golf course that they own we went there today and hit some balls at the range, it was nice, super hot though! Because he is a grad student he gets a year membership for $25 and I get in for $10 when I want to go with him, pretty good deal if you ask me.
So when Tim and I moved out here we both made a goal to be more active in our ward and I'm happy to say we have been! Last week I went with the sister missionaries twice to talk with some investigators it was a really great experience. It was mostly really great to be able to look at some of our beliefs in a different perspective it has been a really great growing experience for me.

Stuff

So far living in the far east has treated me pretty well, at this point my life is pretty uneventful but good over all. I have made dinner for Tim four nights in a row now which sad as it may seem is actually a record for me. What can I say, he is a good cook and I don't want to discourage him :)!

Tonight we invited some friends over for dinner and buzz quiz, it was a lot of fun. I love that I have been able to make friends so quickly. Rosie, Biff, and their little girl Hazel are in our ward, they got here a day or two before we did. I made chicken and rice casserole, it was the first time I have ever made it and I am happy to say it turned out a smashing success! For all of you who know how to make it just shhh don't tell anyone how easy it is okay!

I am loving our apartment. It is so nice, I'm sure Tim has mentioned things about it in prior blogs so forgive me for repetition but it is set up so well. The square footage is less than our last place but it seems like we have so much more room the layout is so great. One thing I think is so weird though is that there are not light fixtures in the main living areas.. weird right?! The outlets closest to the door will turn on a lamp with the light switch but that is it, very interesting.

So I found out today that I am exactly three hours away from Wes in his current area! Crazy that I'm so close to him maybe we will have to plan a little road trip...

So for any of you that follow our blog that have any questions please comment and ask them, Tim wants me to write more on it and as of right now, with no job and everything, my life is pretty boring please people give me some ideas!

Fast & Furious

Yesterday was my first real day of classes, and true to all the warnings about "boot camp" it was intense. We started at 9 a.m. with a large group lecture that lasted until noon when we took lunch. For lunch, I walked down the street to a place called Varsity where I had some pizza. New York Time's beat writer for the Jets, Greg Bishop, told me about it when I was emailing him about Syracuse (which is where he did his undergrad).

We started again at 1 p.m., and this time we split into smaller groups to write leads and work on some stories. That lasted clear until 5 p.m. when class ended. The work did not end, however. Our instructor (who happens to be the Sports Editor for the Syracuse Post Standard), assigned us a story that was due by 9 a.m. today. We had to interview a classmate and two other sources and write a profile about them.

Normally that wouldn't be an assignment that I would expect to take a long time, but it took awhile to get ahold of all the sources and when I did, they were very long winded. By the time I finished the interview, organized all the quotes and the story and wrote the story, it was 1:30 a.m.

Turns out, I got more sleep than a lot of my classmates, including the girl who was doing a profile on me. I woke up this morning to find a text from her sent around 3 a.m. when she finished.

Today was just as long, but with a lot less homework, so that is nice. The classes are fun though, and my experience both in writing and designing layouts for the paper will be very, very beneficial!

Tara and I are finally relaxing a little bit tonight. . . finally!

Orientation

So today was the first day of school, but not actually the first day of classes. They took my picture, game me my iPod touch and fed me lunch. In between all that, I listened to a few speeches and walked around the campus. All-in-all, it was an easy ice-breaker for what's coming during the next six weeks.

At six, Tara and I went over to help some other recent grad school ward members move in. Their names are Biff and Rosie. He is from Idaho and she is from Oregon and they just moved from Texas where Biff was doing his undergrad. It was good that we showed up, because apparently everyone else in the ward was busy. We were able to help them get moved in, and they were very appreciative!

It's time for bed now though, Tara and I have both been feeling a little under the weather. See y'all tomorrow.

Last day of freedom. . .

School officially starts tomorrow, so that made today my last day of freedom. The first goal of the day was to find a decent printer that we could afford. So, we woke up and went to Sam's Club. Sure enough, they had a Lexmark printer/scanner/copier/fax machine for $50, so we grabbed that and a few other items and then headed over to Wegman's (the Lee's on steroids) to grab a few other things we didn't need in bulk.

Wegman's is right next to the furniture store Tara applied to on Friday, so she decided to pop in and see if there was any news. Thirty minutes later she came out and said she'd had and interview and went well. They told her she needed to pass a background test and a drug test and then she should be good to go. I guess they didn't say for sure that she has a job, but by the looks of it she does and we're pretty stoked about that. . . wouldn't you know, she would get a job at the first place she applied after arriving in Syracuse. Plus, we'll get a pretty good deal on new furniture!

After that, we headed home to unload the groceries. . . that turned out to be an adventure. Tara got chatting on the phone with her sister Jen, so I tried to carry up more groceries than I should have. Plus, we have to unlock the door to get into our building, walk up to the third floor, and then unlock the door to our apartment. By the time I got to our apartment door, things had shifted position and I had to put down the 2-pack bottle of syrup I was carrying so that I could get to my keys. I put the syrup on the banister, and it looked solid. And then it was gone. I looked up just in time to see the bottles hit the landing on the second floor. One of the bottles exploded and sent syrup flying everywhere. It was on the walls, the railings, dripping down the banister to the floor below. . . needless to say, we spent the next half hour or so cleaning it up as best we could!

Following the syrup explosion, things quieted down for awhile. I read a bunch of stuff that I'd been procrastinating reading and Tara read some more of her most recent vampire book. Around 7 p.m. we headed up to the restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel right by the university. The MNO group (Magazine Newspaper and Online journalism grad students) decided to have a little meet and greet before classes start tomorrow. We spent the rest of the evening there, and they seem like a pretty good group.

Now the fun starts tomorrow for both Tara and I. Hopefully she'll find out soon if she for sure got the job and journalism "Boot Camp" starts for me.

New day, new couch

Tara and I seem to finally be – at least slightly – adjusting to the change in time. We didn't stay up ridiculously late last night, and woke up at a decent time this morning! Now, it's 11:07 p.m. and I'm definitely ready for bed tonight. . . good sign.

Today was a fun day, and plenty full! We went to Jamesville Beach where we met the rest of the ward for a BBQ and some beach time. There are four or five other couples just like us that moved in over the past couple of weeks for graduate school. The main difference between us and them though, is we seem to be the only ones without kids. . . pretty soon I'm going to be one of those weird people that writes their pets names on cards and things before they have kids! (Don't tell Katie I said that!) :-)

The beach itself was interesting. The lake reminded me of Hyrum dam, except their were houses all around it. Pretty much each house had a power boat docked behind it, but we were there for a good four hours and never saw a single power boat out on the lake. I though that was a little weird considering it was Saturday on the 4th of July weekend, and the lake obviously allowed powerboats. The public beach was a rather small affair and was sectioned off, maybe a couple hundred yards long. The actual swimming area out in the lake was also sectioned off and rather small too. Lifeguards were on duty to make sure no one went outside the established boundaries. Overall, it was a fun day though. I helped grill and Tara helped some people with their kids and everybody loved her Frito Salad (thanks Idona!).

After the party we went and looked at a sage microfiber couch that we saw on craigslist this morning. They were only asking $100 for it, and it seemed like a solid couch. On the way out, we bought some ratchet straps so that we could transport it in the X-terra if it would fit. We loved the couch and offered them $80 and they took it. . . SCORE! We laid the seats down flat in the back of the X-terra and we were just able to fit the couch in the back with about an inch to spare. It was obviously longer and hung out the back a couple of feet, but we strapped it down and it worked like a charm. It was even pretty light, so Tara was able to help me lift it up the stairs. She didn't even complain too much. . . even though she has been a little bi-polar the last couple of days! ;-)

Now all we have left to find is a desk, and we should be set! Here are a couple of pictures of the new apartment, a better picture of the balcony view and even one of the new couch!

Settling in. . .

It's been two days since we arrived in Syracuse, and we're starting to get settled in. We LOVE our new apartment! Though it is a little bit smaller and has one less bathroom than our last apartment, it is laid out much better and has a lot more open space and a deceptive amount of closet space. Ultimately, we had a lot easier time putting all of our stuff away than at our North Logan apartment. Also, we're up on the third floor and have a massive balcony that looks West, so we can see out over the area a little bit and get some good sunsets.

Along with getting acquainted to our new apartment, we're getting acquainted with our new city and new ward members. Yesterday we went to the "Lee's" of upstate New York, a store called Wegman's the one closest to us is pretty cool and is like a Lee's on steroids! It is probably bigger than the Logan Wal-Mart and has a ridiculous amount of grocery products. One interesting thing we noticed is the amount of organic produce available. There was basically two aisles for everything. . . one for the regular stuff and one for the organic. We're not weird like that, so we didn't pay three times as much money for the organic stuff.

Today we added a few more pieces to our apartment. We found a pair of black bookshelves that are identical to the ones we left behind in Logan. We bought both of them for $20 and then added a really nice leather desk chair for $25. . . now we just have to find the desk. Most recently, we just got back from having dinner with the Cundick's (Paul and Taniel), their neighbors, and some other ward members. We're trying to get to know people in this ward faster than we did our student ward back home, so that maybe we can actually enjoy their company longer. Plus. . . once we got to know people back home, Tara decided that she was actually quite the party hostess.

We're still trying to get adjusted to the Eastern Time Zone, so I'm going to sign off for the night. There's a big ward party at one of the many local lakes tomorrow, so we don't want to sleep in too late like we have been!

You say New, I'll say York: NEW YORK, NEW YORK!!!

One week to the day after leaving Logan, UT, Tara and I arrived at our final destination: Syracuse, NY. In fact, if you factor in the two hour difference in time, we arrived within five minutes of the time we officially started our trek (roughly 2:00 p.m. MST). Everything went smoothly as we officially signed the lease and got the keys to our new apartment. But first, let me backtrack a little. . .

After spending Tuesday night in Falconer, NY, we had roughly a four hour drive to reach Syracuse. While staying at our hotel last night, I noticed that on the way to Syracuse, we would pass right through Olean, NY, which is the headquarters of Cutco. I mention this, simply because I sold Cutco Cutlery a couple summers ago and I thought it was funny that I was driving right past that company's headquarters. We also passed through some Indian land, because out in the middle of nowhere we came across this giant casino. . . pretty funny. Anyways, back to moving in. . .

By the time we got the paperwork done and the car parked, it was 5:00 (E.S.T). I started unloading stuff while Tara went through the apartment and filled out that paper that I hate that chronicles every little nick on the wall or stain on the carpet. . . luckily that last part was easy, as our apartment was equipped with brand new carpet. Around 5:30 the EQ president of our new ward, Paul Cundick, and his wife showed up with some pizza for dinner so we took a break and enjoyed that. A couple other guys showed up, Billy and Lou, and the four of us guys had the trailer unloaded and everything packed upstairs within an hour.

Now the fun begins as Tara and I get to unpack everything that we spent so much time trying to fit into those freaking boxes! Luckily we've got a few days though to get everything done. Our apartment is pretty sweet. . . besides not having two bathrooms, it's probably cooler than the one we had in Logan. It's very open, and we have a giant deck and balcony that looks over the city and faces the West, so we should get some awesome sunsets.

That pretty much sums up our trip out, but I do have to add one more item that Tara left off of yesterday's log. . .

On our way up to Falconer from Cincinnati, we drove right through Canton, OH – where the Pro Football Hall of Fame is located. We spent and hour and a half there, and it was awesome! Of course, I could have spent all day, but we had to get up to Falconer before it got dark and we had animals chillin in the car (though we cracked the windows, left them with some water and it was only 75 in Canton, so we weren't too worried about them). We got to got out and throw the football around on the Hall of Fame field, and then we went through the building and saw all the memorabilia. It was really cool, Tara even enjoyed it, and I definitely was glad we decided to stop.

Well. . . that's about it for our travels, but don't worry, we'll keep you updated about our life here in Syracuse. . . as well as whatever is in store for us next!

Getting Ever Closer

Today we made it across New York state lines. We can't move in til tomorrow so we are staying the night in a small town called Falconer, it is about 4 hours from Syracuse. Tomorrow we will do the final leg of our cross country journey and move in to our new apartment. I am excited about getting there and starting our new chapter together, it will be a grand adventure for sure! We have contacted some members of our new ward so we will have some help and dinner waiting for us tomorrow which will be so nice. The one thing I am not looking forward to is dreaded job hunting... I'll take it as it comes, everyone wish me luck!

On the road again. . .

Today (Monday) Tara and I woke up and left Collierville, and subsequently my mission. We drove up through Nashville and then turned North into Kentucky and drove all the way across that state before arriving in Cincinnati. Before leaving Tennessee, we ate at one more favorite place that I'd forgotten about – Backyard Burger. They have the most amazing burgers ever, they make Carl's Jr.'s good burgers seem like a Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger (yes, that is a slam on Wendy's).

The drive to Cincy was about eight hours long, and more or less uneventful. We drove through a pretty good storm system for about 30 minutes, but nothing too scary. . . though, it did freak Tara out when I told her it looked like it could be Tornado weather (which it did)! ;-) Other than that, we just listened to an audio book on CD – The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King – and enjoyed the ride.

We rolled into Ohio about 9 p.m., but we lost another hour as we transferred into the Eastern Time Zone. Hopefully I'll get adapted to that before school starts on July 6. Speaking of being on Eastern Time, it's now midnight and we've got another day of driving ahead tomorrow, so I'm going to go ahead and sign off.

Tennessippi

Sunday morning we woke up and went to church at the West Memphis branch. . . after loading up the car and cleaning up the hotel room so there was no sign of the cats, of course we were late. So, we got to walk into the chapel (which is pretty small in a branch building) with everybody smirking at us. We found out later they were smirking because President Soto (the Branch President) had informed them all that I was there and should be coming and then Brother Russell (one of the recent converts when I was there) stood up and informed the Branch we were on our way, as he had just gotten off the phone with me. To top it all off, the speakers left about 10 minutes at the end so President Soto had me come up and speak! I should have known it was coming, but it was great to see everyone again.

From West Memphis, we crossed the mighty Mississippi and headed into Memphis, Tennessee. Unfortunately, we were strapped for time (and dragging a big trailer) so I never got to go show Tara Beale Street and some of the other cool places in the city itself, but we did get to see the Memphis Temple and say hi to Bishop Floyd (he was Bishop of the Memphis 1st Ward when I was serving in Frayser). After that we continued down to Collierville, Tennessee which was my first area. I spent six months there, and it is probably my favorite area. Once there we dropped off the trailer at the home of one of my friends there. Once we were free of the trailer, we checked into the hotel and dropped the cats off there. . . then we went and found some real Memphis food!

I wanted to eat at Rendezvous Ribs, but it was closed so I settled for a close second – The Germantown Commissary. It was just as good as I remember, and I was reminded of why I put on 40 pounds on my mission. After lunch, we drove around town and visited a couple families that I knew and then headed down to Mississippi to see the Allen's! The Allen's were one of my favorite families and lived just across the border in a little "town" called Lamar (which was still part of the Collierville area). It was really fun to see them, and Tara seemed to really enjoy them as well. In fact, she's been very social with everyone that we've seen on this trip. . . and she teases me about being a celebrity missionary! I'm just excited these people remember me and are happy to see me after four years.

We ended the evening back in Collierville with a visit to the Bowen's. The Bowen's are not members of the church, but are one of the coolest families I met on my mission. The parents are white, but all five (?) of their kids are adopted, and four of the five are black. They are great people, and all of the kids are grown up now and taller than me (Yes. . . I know that's not hard, but they were like 12 when I was there so they've made a big jump). Sally Ann (the mom) has also started a new ice cream truck business, so she loaded Tara and I up with a bunch of free ice cream. They were a great family to end the mission tour with.

All in all it was fun for both Tara and I to go through my mission. I loved seeing the people again, showing her the places I lived and showing her off. She seemed to equally enjoy meeting the people and seeing the places, and had a lot of fun. I hope it doesn't take us another four years to get back there again!

Arkansas

So we made it to Arkansas! We pulled in to Tim's mission area last night at about 7 to stay with a family he knew. They had a swimming pool so we were able to relax and have a little break after all that driving. Now for all you folks back there in Utah this may sound weird but holy cow there are a lot of big noisy night bugs out in these parts! It was like I was swimming in a rain forest or something. I was told that some of the noises were frogs as well, either way it was really loud. The other thing that really hits you in the South is the humidity and the HEAT. Today we got up to 98! That is one thing that people do not exaggerate about let me tell you what.

Today we moved on to another area of his, this one is the one he spent most of his time in. We visited a couple of families that he knew on the mish, it was really fun and we joked about getting church callings before we left here tomorrow. Who knows it may really happen :).

Again tonight we had to sneak the cats into the hotel, you know us just livin on the edge!

So that is about it for now so far it has been a really fun trip and I am so happy to have a little bit of a driving break for the next couple of days.

- Tara

We're not in Kansas anymore. . . oh wait, yes we are!

After a night that was way too short, we were up and going again as we had a 10 hour drive to Wichita, Kansas. We were a little sluggish, and didn't leave Fort Collins until 11 a.m. Part of that lateness was a stop at Wally World to grab, among other things, some Children's Benadryl for the "kids" to see if it would calm them (mostly one of them) down a little.

We tested it on Rocky in the parking lot, and he was not a fan! As soon as we gave it to him, he went crazy, flopping around and foaming at the mouth. He was fine, but he apparently likes cherry flavored medicine as much as I do. The rest of the drive was uneventful. I think the farmland out here is really cool, but the flat nothingness is only interesting for so long when you're just driving along.

The next exciting thing happened when we pulled into our hotel in Wichita shortly after 10 p.m. and found at that they didn't accept pets. . . so, after taking up our bags, we unloaded mine and went back down to the X-terra. We put the cats in my bag and snuck them on up to the room. They've been much better than I thought they would be, so they deserved to get out and stretch their legs.

Anyway, that's it for tonight. . . tomorrow we have a shorter driving day, and we'll get into my mission area where we'll stay with the Snyder's in Bryant, Arkansas.

The Adventure Begins: Day 1

Tara and I finished up our packing Wednesday morning, said goodbye to my family and then said goodbye to her family (again). After much sadness and shedding of tears, we finally hit the road just after 2 p.m. for our long first stage to Fort Collins, Colorado. The first stage was slow but steady as we battled the up and down terrain of Wyoming.

We noticed when it got dark that though the turn signals and brake lights work on our U-haul trailer, the running lights don't. . . luckily – other than Wednesday night – we're not traveling too much at night. After stops in Evanston, Laramie and other assorted Wyoming towns, we dropped into Colorado and finally arrived at our Super 8 destination shortly after midnight.

It was great, as Tara, I, Rambo and Rocky were all ready for a break!

One week to go!

With one week to go before Tara and I head out to New York, I thought I'd set up this blog so that either her or I can chronicle our trip and our life out in Syracuse. I don't know how effective we'll be at that – I know I'll be writing plenty as it is – but hopefully we can keep all interested parties updated!

It's going to be a different experience for us, though I've lived outside Utah, I've never done so as a married person and Tara has never lived outside the state at all. I'm pretty excited though about all the opportunities we'll have out there. Keep in touch, and enjoy the chronicles of our travels!

-The Real TO