StayCation

We did a little staycation this last weekend in SLC. It’s amazing how fun something like that can be.

We decided to make it a trip of trying new things. Aside from walking around Gateway and City Creek, everything else was a first for us.  

• We stayed at a nice hotel in the ghetto that required us to walk past the homeless shelter to get home every night. That was a little scary, but really the only downside to the entire trip. 
•  We went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and instead of getting a caramel apple like we usually would, we got a cashew caramel bear and a macadamia nut caramel bear. They were good, but more expensive than if we had shared an apple. Oh well. Here’s to new things.
• We hiked Ensign Peak: very, very slowly. I enjoyed imagining Brigham Young on the very same peak making a layout of their new city.  Cool stuff.

• We walked around Trolley Square.  Don’t people get shot there or something? I think that’s why I’ve never been. We didn’t get shot, but we did get some delicious samples in Williams Sonoma (who knew?)

• We had lunch at The Pie – underground hole in the wall pizza place right next to University of Utah. Instead of getting a BBQ pizza like we would usually choose, we got the Wise Guy pizza – basil, goat cheese, tomatoes, balsamic vinaigrette reduction, chicken, artichoke hearts and pure deliciousness.

• We watched the BYU tournament game in our hotel (not new, but oh well).
• We watched Gravity in our hotel room. I never want to go to space.
• We ate a meal at the Cheesecake Factory. We’ve had cheesecake to go before, but never a meal. We waited about 70 minutes and for the first time ever, shared an entrée (orange chicken and rice instead of chicken and mashed potatoes like we’d usually choose). It was tasty and covered with pea pods. Poor allergic husband.  They were easy to remove though, and he didn’t have any reactions.
• Then we got a slice of cheesecake to share – banana cream. This was the best part of the whole trip. I don’t like cheesecake, but Cheesecake Factory does something different. It is sooooooo good.

Those bright lights against the building way in the background say Cheesecake Factory. We kept forgetting to take a picture until we were too far away.

Maine Prep

I'm very grateful to say that everything seems to be falling into place for us as we prepare for our move to another planet (Maine).  About a month ago my dear Watson posted on the Facebook page for his graduating class of PA students that he was looking for places to live for his family, did any one have an suggestions?  A few days later a girl messaged him that her apartment would be great for our family.  She described it: 2 bedrooms, 1 mile from campus, rent under $1000/month (cheapest we had seen), oh, and the next door neighbors are from Utah. In fact, she said, they're LDS if that means anything to you.  

WHAT? How the heck did we find a place cheap, close to campus AND that had another LDS couple in it? It turns out, there are actually 3 LDS couples in the complex and one of them, our soon to be next door neighbors, is my dear Watson's 3rd cousin (their grandparents are cousins). 

The girl who messaged us is leaving at the end of April and we plan to take over her place when we get there end of May.  Boom! I couldn't believe it.  It means we don't have to send my dear Watson out there to find us a place to live!  We've been in touch with our 3rd cousin/soon to be neighbor over there and they love the place, so we're just doing it. 

We are renting a big ole' truck for my dear Watson and his dad to drive and tow our car behind.  We decided to sell most of our big furniture and check the thrift stores in Maine when we get there to find cheap stuff.  Couch, kitchen table and desk were our biggest concerns.

This same girl who messaged us about the apartment sent a message the other day that she was willing to leave her couch, kitchen table and desk in the apartment for us if we were interested. She'd sell them to us real cheap and they'd just be waiting for us when we got there.

Um. HECK YES! Can you believe it? We didn't even mention any of our furniture concerns or needs to her; it just happened!  This girl has been an answer to so many of our prayers.  She was originally going to be in the same program as my dear Watson, but has since accepted a spot at a different university so we may never get to meet her in person. Our 3rd cousin/soon to be neighbor really likes her and has been a great friend to her it seems.

Now all we have to figure out is how to get baby to come healthy, but soon enough that we could all be together as a family when my dear Watson starts classes. That doesn't leave us much wiggle room for him to come past his due date so....yeah....hoping that all works out too :).

This is what the apartment looks like from the outside. Somehow they snapped a picture on the one sunny day in Maine. There are 4 apartments in each little unit. Big front yard!

This is a map of the area. The Red dot is the apartment, green dot is my dear Watson's school (1.1 miles). The yellow circle is going to be my favorite walking/running route. 3.63 miles around the entire cove. The Pink star at the bottom is church (about 20 minutes away). And yes, all that blue stuff on the right is THE OCEAN.

ABQ

We visited my sister and her family in ABQ, New Mexico last weekend. It's funny how a 9 hour drive really didn't feel that bad. We loved hanging out with my sister's family. My dear Watson got all sorts of cuddles from the twins and several of the other younger kids. He's always everyone's favorite :). 

We went on a hike (Tent Rocks), did some shopping, and ate delicious food. Scott treated us to a green chile breakfast burrito from Blake's Lotaburger. We liked it better than Betos. 

Sarah gave us a bag full of baby boy clothes and a few toys and other random things. My dear Watson just keeps shaking his head wondering where we're ever going to fit all this stuff.  I did a pretty good job of hiding most of it in nooks and cranny's.  It's only going to get worse though and I'm going to run out of nooks and cranny's real quick.

Tent Rocks

Us and the kids (minus one of the twins who was already down for a nap).