The Case of the Toyota

Just a little news about our faithful little Toyota. I went out one day to pick up Courtney from work and the car's alarm light was blinking madly, and my tiny remote would not unlock the car.

My key would not unlock the doors either. I was locked out and could not open the hood to read the owners manual, and I had the key!! I called Courtney and she got a ride home, and after tinkering for a few more minutes we gave up and called AAA.

They showed up 15 minutes later and got into our car with surprising (and disconcerting) ease. Once inside we popped the hood and something had gone wrong with our battery. They gave us a jump from their portable battery, and recommended that we check out our electrical system and get some new keys cut from the dealer, since ours were worn down almost smooth. (they still worked in the ignition, but not the doors). After close inspection I determined that I left the lights on after I last used the car. (I never leave the lights on)

but this is only half the story, the AAA guy says Toyota will cut new keys if you have all the right paperwork (which we do). So I scooted down to the Toyota dealership in Spokane and requested a new set of keys. After the clerk disappeared in to the mysterious "back" for some time, he returned with two new keys that resembled the ones we had but much newer and shinier, and he gave them too me free of charge. Probably because I looked very much like a poor college student with a junky old car. All's well that ends well I suppose. Go Steelers

Winter Wonderland in Cheney

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.

Oh What Do You Do In The Summer Time?

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 Eastern Washington University, 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 4^th 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.

Cheney WA

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

We are One!

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.