So winter has finally hit Cheney. We were hoping to avoid it until after Christmas, but no such luck. Everyone and their dog has told us about how awful winter is in Cheney, but we didn't believe them until we saw the craziness for ourselves.
We are trying to remain positive though; at least, we don't have to go to work since we cannot move our car. They have shut down the day care and the copy center until farther notice. But we have to call everyday to see if we will be needed. It's kind of fun to stay in our apartment sipping hot chocolate and eating whatever we can find in storage. And we have decorated a little bit. The garland wouldn't stay up with scotch tape, so much for those commercials that say scotch tape can handle anything. But at least you can see our cute little Christmas tree.
I think we should report a bit about what happened during our summer, since we weren’t the most faithful bloggers during that time.In April I graduated from BYU in Marriage, Family and Human Development and had to leave my early morning BYU campus job.I had already been rejected from one grad school at the time, and no word from the other, so we prepared to bunker down in Provo for the long haul.I found a new job supervising mentally handicapped teenage boys that included three graveyard shifts during the week, and Courtney continued to work making missionary nametags.I discovered several activities to help me stay awake during those night shifts that included watching many movies, playing video games, and reading Clive Cussler.
Then I received an acceptance letter from EasternWashingtonUniversity, and so we began to get things in order to arrive in Cheney Washington towards the end of September.The imminent move and high gas prices made us put all our grand vacation plans on the back burner, so we had a few picnics and watched 4th of July fireworks from the grounds outside the Provo Temple.
Mid august arrived and Courtney and I left our jobs in time for the Andersons to come down, for the second time that summer, see Michel Anderson graduate and then caravan with us back to their house.We had everything packed into boxes and Mama Anderson meticulously packed our over-large truck.We then made the trek up to Pasco where Courtney and I were going to be in limbo for a few weeks until our new apartment was ready in Cheney.
We had a wonderful time with the Andersons.Conner and I played many games of guess who and worms, and we designed a few killer roller coasters.We tagged along on a trip to Silverwood amusement park and rode every ride in the park before it started to hail on us.We puttered around most of the rest of the time, we got to see the new house and read a few library books; I finished the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and started The Count of Monte Cristo.Courtney and I celebrated our first anniversary by going out for dinner, swinging on swings and eating blizzards and year old cake.It was pleasant not having to work and being able to spend time with family, and Courtney and I felt that that passed for a wonderful vacation.
But all good things must come to an end, we packed up all our belongings (again) and drove them all up to Cheney.Two new ward members arrived to help us move in, so we made them carry all the heavy stuff to our second floor apartment.After a day or two of steady unpacking we were pretty much settled in, and we spent our time orienting to the town, searching for a job for Courtney and watching movies and playing games.
Courtney celebrated her birthday last week and the Andersons came up to party with us.We played a rousing game of apples to apples and guillotine.But the summer that seemed so long was bound to end, classes started again, and Courtney found a job working at a local day-care center that she is trying to like. So in answer to inquiries, we had a wonderful summer and are looking forward to another great year.
After a brief stop in Pasco, Courtney and I arrived in Cheney for school. The first week is sorta over and done. All my classes are Monday and Tuesday, so the rest of the week is for homework. Courtney has found a job and we are finally getting settled. We have no internet at our apartment, so that is a bummer, but besides that our place is pretty nice, I walked the camera through the place so you can see it in all it's glory.
Cheney is pretty nice, it is small, and we live on the far end of town from the university, a little more than a mile from classes, but people come in from Spokane, and even farther to take classes in the program, so 1 mile away is not so bad. the ward is nice, we don't have callings yet, but I'm sure we will soon. So, things are coming along, we hope to hear from everyone soon
As of august 25th we are oldy-weds. We went out to a fancy dinner, went swinging at a park then got Blizzards. We rounded out the evening by eating year old cake, that actually tasted quite good.
Last Saturday, we went to Salt Lake to see all the sights before leaving Utah. We thought we needed a last hooray before moving to Washington for the next couple of years. We left early in the morning and only drove aimlessly around the city looking for a parking place for a little while. We eventually found a place several blocks from Temple Square, and finally made our way in and got to the temple. We looked around the grounds for a little bit while waiting for the session to start. We look only a little tired in these pictures.
After our session, we ate on Temple Square at the Nauvoo Cafe and had some fresh, hot sandwiches. We then hiked back to our car and made our way across town to the Hogle Zoo. Some of our favorite sights included the baby giraffe, the Killer Cute House Cat, the tiny owl (right out of Harry Potter), several different monkeys, and a rare white skinned, blue eyed alligator (there are only 10 in the world). The Zoo is also equipped with large misting fans to cool people down in the hot dry weather, which were very refreshing, especially since the zoo seemed to suffer from a serious lack of working drinking fountains.
After our tour of the Zoo, we noticed that we were right across the street from the "This is the Place" Monument, and it has been a little while since either of us had been there, we stopped and snapped a few pictures. By that time we were tired, so we jumped back in the car and drove home as fast as we could.
It is summer time, and Courtney and Will are working hard. No school means lots more free time, and no BYU honor code, so Will has chosen to try out some previously forbidden styles.
Will has started working at Chrysalis, where he watches three teenage boys that require supervision. He works three graveyard shifts each week, (midnight- 9 am) and he can't sleep, so to stay awake he watches tons of movies and plays video games on the TV at the Chrysalis house.
Courtney still makes missionary name tags and just finished the mission president blitz. About 300 new mission presidents were called this summer and they all needed 4 name tags (and their wives, children, dogs, hamsters... all needed 4 as well). So when they all got finished for the mission president seminar in Provo, we celebrated by getting blizzards from Dairy Queen.
With little time left in Provo before the move to Washington, we are trying to get the last amounts of fun out of Utah that we can. We're not sure exactly what that will be, but when we find out we'll post it up here.
For our memorial day holiday Courtney and I went to Color Me Mine for the first time. For those of you who have never heard of the place, it is a little shop that has a wide variety of blank ceramic dishes and trinkets that you can come and paint however you like, then leave it there and the shop will glaze and fire the pieces for you and you pick it up a few days later. I wasn't sure how much I would like it, but it was actually quite fun, and the prices were reasonable, the largest cost is the piece that you choose to paint, larger pieces cost more money, but there are some nice things that can be painted. In short, it was a fun activity, and I would recommend it to people who are living around Provo if they have never had a chance to go there., and of course there are some pictures. We painted some soup mugs. Courtney painted the purple mug with frogs, and I did the swirly colored one.
I was accepted to Eastern Washington University Graduate Program for Social Work. This was something I thought would not happen this year. I had just about resigned myself to staying in Provo for another year, but now we will be out by September for class at EWU
My last post was in January of this year, and it has been a busy school semester, but now it is finished. I passed with respectable marks and am able to finally hang my hat on BYU. The Keelers and the Andersons came down for the celebration and Courtney and I had a very busy weekend keeping up with all the eating and sightseeing. For now we will be hanging out in Provo for at least another year working, but we have both sworn that we will leave Utah.
