August 29, 2008

Hey all!!! Will n I are doing great!! Will got his first paycheck from his job and we are both really excited. He has been working on reposessed homes and this week he has been down on a big lake working on like a ten-thousand square foot home. He says its beautiful. I have been attending orientation for school. Talk about overwhelming!!! I think they try to scare ya to death your first term!!! I also went to Lansing for another part of orientation and it was ok. I'm not a big fan of Lansing, I guess I just really love Auburn Hills. I feel like I learned more in orientation than I did from the first couple years of college. I can tell it's going to be intense and stressful but I know I can do it. Will is soooo supportive too. We went to dinner last night with a lady named Tammy from Utah and a couple from Arizona, Chris and Heidi and their little girl Alexis. Chris and Tammy are going to be going to school with me and they are LDS so that makes is super great. We went to a Mexican place called On the Border. It was really good. Their chips were half the size of a tortilla and the salsa was really good. I had to go shopping for a dress suit before orientation and Will n I had quite the experience. I probably tried on 30 suits and not one of them was long enough for me. It's hard for me to understand why more stores don't make tall clothes. But hey it's all good I found some dress pants and made them work. Since this weekend is Labor Day, we are going to try to plan something fun to do, like go to the lake or fishing or bowling or something. It was soooooo HUMID today, by far the most humid day we've had since we've been here. We also bought some new rims and tires for our Yukon so our 22's don't get rusted from the salt they put on the roads here. We got our new jetta licensed and Will loves that car. And I'm soooo glad we found it. He filled it up with gas today and it was 35.00. !!!!!! He said he was so excited he about cried . After filling up our Yukon (70.00) a pop, it's nice to have a little car to get better gas mileage. NE ways, hope all is well back in Utah!!! I know that the time is flying by already and I know it will go even faster when school starts. We will be home for Christmas in only a couple months!!! Love ya all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a picture of the trail we were following at the park. It kinda feels like we were out hiking through the Beaver Mountains. Will loved it. He wants to bow hunt at the park in October.

This post is for DJ or anyone scared of spiders. That is a HUGE cobweb. They are all over in the trees here. YIKES. I would hate to see the spider that comes out of there!

This is the deer that walked in front of us on our hike. I couldn't believe how big of a body it had.

This is when we went on a little hike at Orion Oaks Park. It was beautiful. We saw lots of animals, white tail deer, and snakes. It was quite the little hike and we only went 1/8 of the way. The Park was HUGE. We are going to try to go back one of these days and hike a little further. It's pretty cool because in October they allow bow hunting in the park limits.

This is our finished master bathroom. It's kinda small so it was hard to get very much in a picture.

This is our finished bedroom!!!

Hey everybody!!! Wow, it's been a little while since I last wrote. Life is still going really great for us out here. We have been spending lots and lots of time together and it's been great. We have watched the Olympics every night for the past two weeks. I even got Will pretty interested in Gymnastics. I have orientation this week and I have mainly been trying to do my homework assignment for that. I was pretty frustrated the first day trying to figure out how to brief a case but I think I have the hang of it now. Well at least I hope. I guess I'll find out soon. Will is working for a painting business and he is enjoying it. He says he is learning a lot of different techniques. The other night we had a HUGE thunderstorm. It was so loud that I thought our glass windows were going to break and will counted from the lightning till the thunder to see how far away it was and he only made it to 1 before a huge roll of thunder came. It rained from 8 at night until 5 or 6 the next morning. I couldn't believe it. Now I know why its soooo green here. We are looking to get a little car that gets good gas mileage for Will to drive to work. Our Yukon is too expensive for how far he has to drive to work everyday. Will found a little VW Jetta we are trying to buy. We should know today if we can get it or not. Will went golfing with our neighbor Mike the other day and brought back like 90 golf balls he found on the course. I thought that was pretty amazing. He went golfing for like five hours and I got sooo much homework done while he was gone. Will cooked a really nice breakfast for us on Saturday. He made eggs, sausage, wheat pancakes, and some orange rolls. They are really good. I am in need of some good recipes for some desserts. I am getting bored with the ones I have so if anyone has one they want to share, please just put it on my blog and I will try it. Oh yeah, we found out we have beeen going to the wrong ward at church, so starting next week we will be in the Lake Orion Ward. We love you all and don't be strangers. We love to hear from you!!!!!!

This is our entry way from the front door. Will got that really cute plant holder from his Aunt Kathleen and the plant was left over from the old tenants so we put it to good use!!!

Super happy to be all unpacked!!

Will is making his Willavida Burrito here. They're right up there with Costa Vida!! But he doesn't make ranch so McCall please send me that yummy Lime Ranch Recipe. And they don't have Wild Coyote either!!!

Another pic of our living room. It's so big and roomy that Will can even practice his golf swing right in front of the TV!!!

This is our front room. We just put up our curtains tonight and it turned out really cute. The paint kind of looks yellow in the pictures but it's not at all. It's traditional tan and really really looks good.

This is our extra bathroom.

This is still our office. Notice the stack of books on the futon. Those are my books for school. 9 books for 9 credits and 700 bucks!!!

Another picture of our office.

This is our office we just barely finished decorating. It's really simple and really cute. This is the room that I bet I spend about 75% of my time the next couple months.

WOO-HOO OUR HOME IS FINALLY PUT TOGETHER!!!

Hey everyone!!! Today we finally finished unpacking and organizing our house. It's so so nice, we both just love it. It's super roomy so someone better get out here and visit us so we can put our office/guest room to better use. Today Will went for a job interview, but we have found out that most jobs out here are either just commission paying or you need a degree to get, but we haven't lost hope and faith just yet. A member of our Ward called Will tonight and told him about a couple job opportunities that could work out pretty well. We went to Bass Pro Shops today and the Great Lakes Crossing Mall. It was super fun. We just walked around. We ate dinner at the mall. They have these little Diners all over and they call them Koney's!!! It's kinda like Annie's or Mel's in Beaver. They're really good. The mall was really fun. Then we went for a drive to find Lake Angelus. It was down a dirt road for about five miles. There were these mile long beautiful driveways that lead to these huge homes that sit lake side. It was so pretty. We passed four lakes in just five miles of each other. This place is really unbelievable. We came home and took our beachcruisers for a cruise around our condo complex. Will rode his bike up a huge hill and came flying down in front of a car in typical Will fashion. The guy just waved and kept on driving. Everyone seems really nice here. We are planning on grillin on our bbq tomorrow and probably trying to find a lake to go to or something fun. Next week I am going to begin studying and doing homework and hopefully Will can find a job next week so this weekend is kinda like the last weekend of summer vacation. As we were driving into the Mall, Will saw a suv just like McCall n Brandons and said "oh hello McCall" it was funny cuz for a minute we both just thought it was and we were back in Utah but then we came back to Earth and realized we weren't!! I thought by now maybe Will and I would not be using Dylann talk so much but I think since we don't hear "okay das weird" and "sippy soup" everyday we say it more and more. I have been thinking a lot since we have been out here and I am so thankful for the Gospel and for Will and for our family and friends. It's still surreal that we are here living not just on a vacation. I was scared to death to drive out here but I just knew that it was something Will n I needed to do and I'm so thankful that we made it out here and I know everything will work out for us. We love each of you sooooo much and really do miss you but we are just so excited to visit at Christmas and to have you all come visit us. Take care and call anytime. We get bored late at night and would love to chit chat!!!!

What's Up!!!! So last night I stayed up until like two in the am watching the olympics. It was men's gymnastics and it was soooo good I couldn't turn off the TV!! I'm super excited cuz it's the women's gymnastics tonight. The only thing that stinks is Will n I are both still on mtn time instead of eastern time. So at like midnight it only feels like ten and at seven in the am it feels like 5!!!! Ne ways, today Will has been filling out some military job applications and I went for a jog around our little neighborhood. It's so beautiful here. I love it. It's really nice too because there is just the right amount of humidity so it's not too hot and you dont' get really sweaty. Other than that Will has cleaned out our garage and today is the first day we parked the Yukon in there. It's so humid here that every morning the Yukon looked like we had taken it through the car wash so Will would get up and dry it off and shine the rims. Pretty crazy!! I'm going to vacuum and clean my house today and get some updated pictures of our living room, bedroom, and the rest of the house on here. Will n I are going to try to go to the Detroit Temple either tonight or tomorrow and we also want to ride out to Lake Angelus to check it out. It's only about ten minutes from our house. We love you all and miss you. Oh yeah, today I get to go spend $800 on books for this semester!!! CRAZY HUH!!!!YIKES!!!

Okay so I've been working on getting some more pictures uploaded but I haven't had any luck just yet. So I am going to try again tomorrow. Well today was quite the eventful day. Will spent the day making a resume and calling employers looking for jobs. I spent the day cleaning our new house and trying to get the rest of the boxes unpacked. We went to Target to do some grocery shopping and while we were shopping it started to rain like crazy and the rain here in Michigan is so awesome. It's like a mist but it's really heavy and will drench you in like five minutes. It smells and looks so awesome after it rains here. I love it!!! We have been watching the Olympics everynight. Micheal Phelps is so awesome. We just can't wait to see what he can accomplish the next day. I'm getting really anxious to start school but a little nervous too. We got an invitation to go play soccer with some people from our ward tonight but we had to much to do. We also got invited to go play basketball with the ward on Saturday, so we might have to check that out. I am super grateful for the area in Michigan we live in. It's beautiful and the people are sooooo nice. We miss you all and love you and hope all is well back home in Utah!!!

This is me checking out our new green wall in our bedroom.

This is how Will cut in the steep vaulted ceilings over our staircase. It was pretty crazy but he got'er donE!!!

This is our view from our balcony. It's really breath-taking. This is one of the most beautiful places Will n I have ever seen.

This is a picture of the cut out from our living room to our kitchen.

Another picture of our kitchen finished.

This is another picture of our kitchen.

This is our awesome kitchen.

This is our kitchen after we primed it and will had cut in the edges. We also had pretty much everything moved into the kitchen because I was too anxious to wait until it was painted.

This is our guest bathroom before we painted.

This is our living room before we painted it. It
s really big and there is tons of space.

This is our home. Our driveway is actually the one where the Penske truck is parked but we parked in the neighbor's parking space to unload. While we were unloading our truck, Will spotted some small frogs in our bushes outside the front of our house!! It was pretty cool.

August 12, 2008

Hey eveyone out in Utah!!!
We are about six days into our official being citizens of the state of Michigan and we are loving it. It's so beautiful back here. I have never seen so many lakes and big, huge green trees all over in one place before. We look out our back balcony and it 's like looking into a huge swamp or marsh. The first day we got here, I got attacked by mosquitoes and had about 20 bites. My legs were all swollen up. But today they are doing much better. We moved all of our stuff into our garage and began painting our house. We painted with a traditional tan color and did a couple accent walls. Yesterday we were able to finally start moving some of our furniture into our house and now it feels like home. Will went for a job interview our third day here and got the job. Unfortunatley, the job was not at all what they said it was. His first day on the job, they trained hiim for two hours and sent him in a van with a bunch of other guys down into the ghetto of Detroit. I knew all day that something wasn't right when he wouldn't tell me anything about his job. He got home Saturday night and then told me the whole story. YIKES!!! No more jobs like that one. So now he is looking online and in the classifieds to find one. I got a packet from school that has the reading I need to have finished for orientation. I am really really excited to start school. Well, we are going to continute painting today and get everything else all moved in. I will attach some before pictures of our house and then later tonight when we get it all decorated I will attach the after pictures. We love you all and miss you tons but can't wait 'till you all can come visit us !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Corn Fields, Corn Fields, and wait.... More Corn Fields

Hey all!!!
Today is the second day of our trip back to Michigan. We started off this morning at 6:30 leaving Brighton, Colorado. As we headed East, we soon entered into Nebraska and so the Corn Fields began. Neither Will nor I have ever seen so many fields of CORN!!! It's everywhere. Now I truly understand why they are nicknamed Cornhuskers. They don't waste one ounce of their land, they plant corn on everything. We made quite a few pit stops today because I was getting bored and treats and music were the only things keeping me awake. I decided that I really like Nebraska. It's so so green and there are tons of pretty trees and ponds. All the people at the gas stations were really nice too. We started into Lincoln, Nebraska and the roads started to get busier. Half n hour later we were in Omaha and the freeway went from two lanes to four lanes stopped traffic. It was kind of scary to me because there was so much road construction and traffic and I was just trying my best to stay right behind Will. We decided to stick in the middle lane and just go slow until we got out of the city. We crossed into Iowa and I was so amazed at how pretty this place is. For not having any "mountains" it's pretty darn cool. We saw huge homes built on like acres of land with beautiful driveways and corn planted all around the home. We drove about 4-5 hours across Iowa, past Des Moines and ended up in a little town called Califax. We got a hotel room at the Comfort Inn, ate McDonald's for dinner, went swimming and now are getting ready to get some zzzz's for the night. Today was awesome. We decided that Iowa would be a pretty cool place to live if we ever wanted to be farmers and grow corn and live far away from any shopping malls, which is something that will probably never happen. Take care everyone and we miss you all. All our love!!!!!

1 Day and We're Already POOPED!!!

Ha Ha. We r really tired but we drove for twelve hours so I guess we should be. Today we left M-town around 6 am and headed for Michigan. I have to be honest, I never thought leaving that little town wouldd be so hard but it was. I told myself I wasn't going to cry but as we headed out of town we saw Dale Dotson at Bill's getting gas and he started honking and waving his hat and whistling for us as we drove away and I realized there is no place quite like M-town. Anyways, we gased up the Penske Truck at Ernies, dropped off some stuff at Katy n Kyles and got on the freeway. We made it as far as Richfield before we decided we needed a bathroom stop. We bought some small two-way radios and they have been so important out here on the freeway. Our next stop was in Green River. We ate lunch at Arby's. Then we drove for what seemed like forever. We starting going through the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and it's so so beautiful. We attempted to make a pit stop in Vail, which is where snowboarder Shawn White rides a lot, but we got off the exit, couldn't find a parking spot at the gas station for Sunshine (the nickname I gave to Will in the Penske), drove through the whole town and eventually found an on ramp. We went through the Johnson Tunnel. It started raining bad and I freaked out a little because the Yukon hydroplanes so easily. We eventually began descending into Denver, merged onto 76 and decided to keep going since we didn't feel that tired. We got more gas at a Love's gas station, turned around and went back 10 miles to find one of the only hotels within 30 minutes in Brighton, Colorado, and checked in. We ate at the Village Inn and are now getting ready for bed and we are exhausted but have a long ride tomorrow. We love and miss everyone so much but we are keeping positive because we know this is an adventure we are meant to take.