Well, we're here back in Cali, and it's a little weird to realize that we're here to stay. Graduation was cool, and it was nice to have so much family there. All together there was me and Keith (of course) Arlin and Diana, Mom and Chuck, and Sarah and Rachel, AND Melissa! It was very cool. They only gave us 3 tickets so Paul ended up standing in line to get six extra tickets! Which, it was a good thing there weren't any more because six was the limit. Paul took Keith with him on his epic walk across stage. I, unfortunately didn't get any good pictures, but mom and Melissa (I think) did, so I do have a couple, and will make sure to post later.
The UHaul trip was pretty uneventful thankfully, except for the sheer amount of time it took. Because we were loaded up and were towing our car we couldn't quite go as quickly as we used to. Mom and Chuck stayed with us, which was nice, especially since Paul had to drive the whole time because I wasn't comfortable driving the truck towing the car, so I let him do it.
Paul starts work tomorrow with Matt Construction. If you're at all curious as to what type of construction specifically that they do, take a look at www.mattconstruction.com. That site is mostly based on their L.A. office, but it gives you an idea of how big the company really is.
I think we have found the house! I know, I know...I've said that before...but this time I mean it! We should know VERY soon what exactly is going on with it, and when we do I will let everyone know. Paul and I are going to try to get mom and Chuck, and possibly his parents to meet us up there, to look at it today. I will post pictures of that too...it's pretty boring empty, and we won't have much furniture to fill it up for awhile, but that's okay!
Even though it's still a bit surreal it's great to be home, and especially where all the swimming pools are. I've gone swimming 3 times in the last week, which is pretty good since our week here started Wednesday, and we've been running around trying to figure things out with houses, and work, and storage for our stuff. It's been busy, but productive. I'm excited to see what comes next.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The Big Day!
So, moving day is just a few days away now! I'm so excited. It's ironic that the last ward we'll be leaving for a long time is the hardest ward for us to leave. The rest have been okay, some much better than others, and although there were certain people I missed, it hasn't been terribly difficult to leave any ward. Part of what will be hard is leaving the young women that I've come to love so much. One has been gone for a month in CA visiting her Grandma in Los Banos, and she FINALLY came back Sunday, so I actually got to see her last night. She came up behind me and put her hands on my eyes, and I said "hi Marissa" She said "aww!", and I said, "well, it had to be you! You're the only one I haven't seen in forever!" I'm going to miss these girls. I will have to keep in touch too because I feel kind of bad leaving them at 5 1/2 months pregnant not being able to even tell them the gender of the baby!
Tomorrow we're going to try to go to the temple, since we haven't gone to the Rexburg temple yet. I've done baptisms, and Paul's done a session before, but we haven't gone together yet. That will be a nice end to a great couple semesters.
Graduation is Friday night, and Mom, Chuck, Rachel, AND Sarah, and possibly Melissa are all supposed to be here Friday around noon to help us load up the truck. It will take no time at all with that many people! His parents are supposed to show up that morning sometime too. Then, Saturday, hopefully no later than noon, we will hit the road! We'll be making a stop in Smithfield to see his grandma since we'll be missing the family reunion this year, and grandma's 92 so who knows how many more family reunions she'll make it to.
As for a house update here's what's happening: we did put an offer in on the house in Fresno on Filbert. That's the one with 5 bedrooms, a big yard, and big pool. However, it was VERY popular and there are several offers in on it. We've heard nothing so far, and it's hard to say what will happen except that our chances really don't look that great. Oh well. We've been looking around like crazy and have a couple more houses we're going to go see when we get home that have some potential from what we can tell. There was one other that we saw while we were in CA that we were interested in, and I'm still thinking about it, but for now we have ceased all actions pertaining to house shopping until we get back other than looking at new listings and adding to our list of houses to look at when we return. I think it's best. I certainly don't want to jump the gun or rush into anything. If we're really supposed to get the Filbert house we'll get it on the offer we made. I REALLY like the house. I could live there for a long time. Lots of space inside and out makes it MUCH easier too.
Well, we'll be leaving this place and be back in HOT HOT California very soon! I'm so swimming the DAY we get back! Can't wait to see all the Cali people!
Tomorrow we're going to try to go to the temple, since we haven't gone to the Rexburg temple yet. I've done baptisms, and Paul's done a session before, but we haven't gone together yet. That will be a nice end to a great couple semesters.
Graduation is Friday night, and Mom, Chuck, Rachel, AND Sarah, and possibly Melissa are all supposed to be here Friday around noon to help us load up the truck. It will take no time at all with that many people! His parents are supposed to show up that morning sometime too. Then, Saturday, hopefully no later than noon, we will hit the road! We'll be making a stop in Smithfield to see his grandma since we'll be missing the family reunion this year, and grandma's 92 so who knows how many more family reunions she'll make it to.
As for a house update here's what's happening: we did put an offer in on the house in Fresno on Filbert. That's the one with 5 bedrooms, a big yard, and big pool. However, it was VERY popular and there are several offers in on it. We've heard nothing so far, and it's hard to say what will happen except that our chances really don't look that great. Oh well. We've been looking around like crazy and have a couple more houses we're going to go see when we get home that have some potential from what we can tell. There was one other that we saw while we were in CA that we were interested in, and I'm still thinking about it, but for now we have ceased all actions pertaining to house shopping until we get back other than looking at new listings and adding to our list of houses to look at when we return. I think it's best. I certainly don't want to jump the gun or rush into anything. If we're really supposed to get the Filbert house we'll get it on the offer we made. I REALLY like the house. I could live there for a long time. Lots of space inside and out makes it MUCH easier too.
Well, we'll be leaving this place and be back in HOT HOT California very soon! I'm so swimming the DAY we get back! Can't wait to see all the Cali people!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Slumber Parties and Houses
Last night we had a slumber party for the Young Women and YW leaders in our ward. It's the first slumber party I've been to in quite awhile, I must say, and I had such a great time! We talked about so many things, played games, told stories, and generally laughed and had a great time. I am very sad to have to be leaving these girls soon, as I've gotten to love them all so much. This will be the hardest ward to leave out of all the wards we've been in and out of in the last 4 years. It's the oldest, kindest, more serving ward I've ever been in.
There were a couple girls that were tough at first and I didn't think cared for me too much, but it seems that part of this calling is taking the time to really get to know the girls individually, and not just the Mia Maids which is where my calling is specifically. Part of the reason that I have the feelings of people laughing at me is because of my self-consciousness in certain areas of my life, so when people are laughing around me, I usually assume they're laughing at me (which used to be true, unfortunately). Of course this is silly and even slightly conceited to think that people are talking about ME, but because of my past school years I have a hard time giving that notion up completely, but it's getting a little better with time.
So, an update on what's going on. We put an offer in on a house in Fresno. It's about 1900 sq. feet, has 5 bedrooms, on a large lot with a pool/spa (the spa doesn't really matter to me, but if it's there, hey, why not). However, the bank who owns the house (Indymac Bank) recently (as in yesterday) "imploded" (our realtor's word). Apparently in order to try to salvage their bank from the feds they laid off half of their employees. I'm not really sure what that means for us, other than that everything will probably slow down, which is really okay with me. I really want to see the house once more in person before we don't have a chance to withdraw our offer. So...wish us luck! I'm not sure what will happen, but I'll keep you posted. The one other thing that may be in our favor with this bank going half belly-up is that we no longer have to have a pre-approval through the bank who owns the house, but through any "known" lender. The reason this is probably beneficial for us is that we were initially pre-approved by Countrywide for $250,000, but when we went to get pre-approved from this bank to make an offer on this house the amount was only $205,000...big difference huh? So, maybe the larger number will work in our favor. We shall see what happens. In any case, we only have 10 days left! Woohoo!
There were a couple girls that were tough at first and I didn't think cared for me too much, but it seems that part of this calling is taking the time to really get to know the girls individually, and not just the Mia Maids which is where my calling is specifically. Part of the reason that I have the feelings of people laughing at me is because of my self-consciousness in certain areas of my life, so when people are laughing around me, I usually assume they're laughing at me (which used to be true, unfortunately). Of course this is silly and even slightly conceited to think that people are talking about ME, but because of my past school years I have a hard time giving that notion up completely, but it's getting a little better with time.
So, an update on what's going on. We put an offer in on a house in Fresno. It's about 1900 sq. feet, has 5 bedrooms, on a large lot with a pool/spa (the spa doesn't really matter to me, but if it's there, hey, why not). However, the bank who owns the house (Indymac Bank) recently (as in yesterday) "imploded" (our realtor's word). Apparently in order to try to salvage their bank from the feds they laid off half of their employees. I'm not really sure what that means for us, other than that everything will probably slow down, which is really okay with me. I really want to see the house once more in person before we don't have a chance to withdraw our offer. So...wish us luck! I'm not sure what will happen, but I'll keep you posted. The one other thing that may be in our favor with this bank going half belly-up is that we no longer have to have a pre-approval through the bank who owns the house, but through any "known" lender. The reason this is probably beneficial for us is that we were initially pre-approved by Countrywide for $250,000, but when we went to get pre-approved from this bank to make an offer on this house the amount was only $205,000...big difference huh? So, maybe the larger number will work in our favor. We shall see what happens. In any case, we only have 10 days left! Woohoo!
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