Moving Day

I am excited to stop living out of boxes, unpack and get things arranged at our new place.
In the mean time, Nathaniel's parents have been so kind to let us stay here for a
few weeks. We closed on Wednesday and move in today! Thanks to my
sister-in-law/Realtor we were able to look at about twenty places almost as soon as
we found out we were moving to Orem. She has been very helpful and on top of things,
and I would highly recommend her! I think it has been one month to the day since we
went to look for houses, so everything has been very fast. Also, thanks to our mortgage broker,
we were able to get our loan super fast and move forward with the whole process.
I took some pictures but our camera cord to download them is packed somewhere
so you'll have to keep waiting and enjoy these for now...
Come visit and see for yourself instead!

We now have one of these, thanks Farfar (grandpa)!


And we have these growing ALL over our tiny backyard.

Baby update: I've been able to feel (and tell that I'm feeling) our little
girl move around. It is fun. I've been leaning more towards a Norwegian
name since she was with me (and making me sick) while we were in
Norway. You can see my preggo belly, but I thought it would have been
bigger by now. That's okay with me, though, as long as she is growing.
She's right on track.

Updates: Crazy but Good

We successfully and officially moved out of our beloved apartment of 3 years
on September 5th. Thanks SO MUCH to everyone that has helped us out before,
during and after the move. Most of our stuff is still boxed up and stacked in piles in
both of our parents' garages. Thankfully we haven't had to do too much digging to find
things we've needed. We are living with Than's parents for a few weeks until we close
on September 23rd and move into our new home on the 25th/26th.

Nathaniel started work on September 8th and has had a lot of meetings and trainings so far.
We were happily surprised to find out he gets off work at 4:00 instead of 5:00. He has
been able to ride his bike there every day and plans to do so through the winter -
except when the roads are REALLY bad or his wife is too concerned.

I decided to continue working after we moved. Yesterday was my last day.
My paraprofessionals (a.k.a. aides) threw me a little party which was actually a sort of baby shower.
It was so sweet of them to do that! I was able to stay with friends while I was back in Logan
to work these past two weeks. I was also able to visit with friends and shop at the
USU Bookstore, which was wonderful! I don't know why I love it so much... well, I do.

On Monday I had my ultrasound at 19 weeks and found out that we are having a
little girl! Unfortunately Nathaniel wasn't able to be there. My appointment was in Logan
and he was at his 5th day of work in Orem. Everything looks good and we hope it stays
that way! I bought the cutest little Aggie outfit that I've had my eye on since before
we even found out we were expecting. I just wish I could have gotten more
Baby Aggie gear! A few months ago I got Nathaniel to agree to let me buy stuff
from the bookstore before we moved. We decided on a budget and I used all but $.90!

So this is an odd picture, but there are "no little boy parts." All I can figure is that
it is from an angle similar to you looking down at your lap. Unfortunately thepicture of her almost sucking her thumb wasn't included on the CD. Maybe I'll scan it in later.

My Take on Moving (by Nathaniel)

Seven years ago my brother Nephi drove me up to my apartment in Logan, helped me
unload my three boxes and my microwave, and drove away. I had been to Logan once
before that, for freshman orientation. On Saturday, I will drive away from Logan with
a degree, a wife, and a lot more than three boxes (In fact, as we have packed,
I've been astonished and somewhat embarrassed by the quantity of STUFF we have).
As the Logan years come to a close, I've been thinking about what I'll miss most.
Here's a list, in no particular order:

I will miss game days when half the student body are wearing USU shirts.
I will miss doing the Scottsman and seeing the rest of Spectrum in motion with me.
I will miss walking in the fall down the north side of the quad, when all the leaves
are turning, and light comes through all golden - the brick buildings on the left, and the quad on
the right, maybe a few leaves blowing around the sidewalk - I can't think of anything prettier.
I will miss finals week. There's this great feeling of camaraderie-in-suffering during
finals week when everyone is cramming, and everyone is stressed, but everyone
is encouraging, too, and strangely cheerful.
I will miss walking down the main street of campus during homecoming week when all
the campus clubs paint bright, vivid murals on the road.
I will miss reading positive remarks from professors on my assignments.
I'll miss running with my brother in the mornings; relatedly, I'll probably miss
being in shape pretty soon.
I'll miss going all over the valley and being able to say, "I put in that sprinkler system.
I worked on that barn. I painted that fence. I broke that guy's lawnmower..."

What would be nice is if I could bring this all into a nice, tight circle and without being
really cheesy, say something about how I came with only four boxes, and I'm leaving
with all these fond memories. Unfortunately, I can't think of any way to say
that without feeling kind of Hallmark-hall-of-fame-y.
Suffice it to say then, that I'm going to miss this city very much.