Apartment Hunting, Etc.

We're flying to Washington D.C. in the morning to find an apartment. We have a bunch of appointments set up to look at different complexes. We know we want to live in Virginia, and we know we want to be right next to a metro stop because it's going to be Adam's main form of transportation to get to and from school. He might ride his bike once in awhile, but he won't be able to ride it year-round. I also have an interview with a bank while we're out there.

We're definitely hoping to have some time to sightsee too. We've never been there before, and it will be fun to get acquainted with the area a little before we actually move there.

Anyway, wish us luck! We'll post pictures when we get back!

PUPPIES!

On the way home from hiking yesterday, Adam and I stopped at Wal-Mart (which is the worst store in the entire world, by the way, and I wish it would get hit by a missile, but that is another story) and saw a shopping cart full of puppies for sale. I fell in love with this little white one! She was so cuddly, soft, and happy! When I picked her up, her tail started wagging violently and her whole body was quaking. I felt so bad that I couldn't take her home and have her live with me, but at least me got some cute pictures of her.

I'm no expert, but I really like being married!

I don't know what it is, but I've been thinking a lot today about how much I adore my husband. When I think back on how nervous I was to get married, I laugh because there was really nothing to be nervous about! I can't even count the number of times I cried and stressed and got sick to my stomach thinking about all of the changes that were going to come into my life. If you know me at all, you'll know that change is the hardest thing in the world for me. I was nervous that my life would be so different that I wouldn't be able to survive. In reality, I can only think of two things that suck about marriage: 1. We have to pay all of our own bills and 2. We don't have the same opinion on everything! Ha ha! Luckily, all of the good in our marriage overwhelmingly outweigh those silly little things.

Marriage has turned out to be so much better than I could have ever imagined. Adam and I have so much fun together! He makes me laugh so hard. He loves that I laugh at all of his jokes, even if they aren't that funny.

I am getting more anxious by the day about moving far away from family and friends, but it always makes me feel better to know that Adam will be there with me. Bring on the adventure! :)

GW and thoughts on my cycle

For this of you who might not know, we finally made a decision about law school. We'll be moving to Washinton DC so I can attend George Washington University Law School. I sent in the second seat deposit late last week. We're pretty excited/freaked-out about the move. Aside from being far away from family and friends, the cost of living is one of our biggest concerns. The rent we pay now might only cover 40% of a full month's rent for a comparable apartment in Washington. The COL is partially subsidized by my scholarship, but it's still a bit of a schock to see what the going rate for a one bedroom is! We're flying out next Wednesday to sign a lease (hopefully) and get things rolling.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my cycle. I was a little bummed about being dinged from Columbia's waitlist, but at least I got on the waitlist! If any of you are interested, you can track my complete application cycle here. It's finally over!

Our trip to the zoo

I love the zoo! I've been wanting to go for quite awhile now, and we finally made it there yesterday despite the 100 degree heat. Here are some of the highlights:



I got to pet this baby alligator. He felt kind of creepy, but I still thought he was pretty cute.



This guy is the big marketing campaign at the zoo right now. He's called "The Ghost of the Bayou." He's a rare white alligator from New Orleans. This alligator isn’t albino but has a genetic mutation that makes him pure white except for his eyes. They are bright blue, but if he was albino, they would be pink. If this poor guy lived outside, he would get sunburned. The zoo claims that there are only ten of these white gators in the entire world.



These cute black bears were playing all afternoon. We watched them wrestle and claw at each other for quite awhile. They were so cute!



This bird had quite the little personality! He loved the attention that we were giving him. He stood right at the edge of his cage and cawed at us over and over. He loved posing for pictures too. We got one of him from like every angle!



This huge ape was so cool! He was hiding in the shade for a long time, but right as we started to walk away, he got up and came right over to the glass. He scratched himself, fluffed his pillow full of hay, and laid down to take a nap.



My very favorite part of the zoo is always the bird show. They released this golden hawk over the audience and we got some great pictures of him. We had a great day!

My husband is such a dork...

After work yesterday, Adam excitedly pulled the moving-away gift that ARUP got him from his bag and strapped it on his head. "It's a multi-purpose light!" he explained. "The light has three different settings! A single, strong beam for pointing directly at the object, a flashing light for my cycling, and a wide light to light a path! This is so useful!" He then wore it for a good portion of the night until I made him take it off. What a weirdo.

My crazy brother-in-law

All of the Alba's went out to dinner last week to celebrate Patrick's high school graduation and Clint's birthday. We went to Bucca di Beppo, an Italian restaurant. Someone ordered a giant platter of all kinds of weird seafood. It wasn't normal seafood like fish, shrimp, and lobster, but it was full of mussels, octopus, squid, and other slimy little things that have tentacles.



Because my brothers-in-law know I'm squeamish and that I hate seafood, they decided to have fun with me. At one point during dinner, I looked up from my plate and saw Patrick sucking on an octopus with all of its tentacles protruding from his lips. It was one of the sickest things I have ever seen! I almost threw up! They know I won't even eat vegetables, let alone seafood. It was awful. I guess things like this are what I missed out on while growing up without brothers!

Look at my fingers! Have you seen my fingers?!

If you've ever wondered how your cute, innocent spouse might behave under a severe acid trip, look no further than a hardy, legal dose of Ambien.

After a few episodes of the third season of Lost (thanks Clint), we got to bed around 11:30 last night. I fell asleep pretty fast but Andrea had a tough time. I woke up to sniffling and anxious moaning around 2:00 am and found her upset. "I haven't fallen asleep yet," she complained. "I don't know what to do! I'm feeling really anxious! I just took an Ambien but it's not working!" The sympathetic husband that I am, I briefly touched her leg and muttered something about staying calm so I could go to sleep. Then I rolled over and inserted ear plugs.

Andrea tried to sleep on the floor in the front room after that. That didn't work so she came back to the bed around 2:30, the Ambien already workin' its magic.

"Where are you?" she asked in a loud voice. "Is this our bedroom?" She came to the bed and I flipped on the lamp. When she saw me she had the most terrified look on her eyes. "What's wrong with your face?! Is that you?!" she asked. "Uhh," I looked around nervously cause I was honestly worried. "Yes, it's me, sweetheart. You need to go to sleep." I turned off the light and tried to tuck her in but she wouldn't have any of that.

"I just need to see where I am!" she yelled, reaching for her phone and pushing me aside. She flipped open the phone and became enthralled by the buttons. "Have you seen these buttons? Oh my gosh! Look at my fingers! Have you seen my fingers?!"

I was getting pretty worried and irritated at this point, but I was also a little amused to see petite and proper Andi acting this way. Some of the things she was saying were pretty funny. Not only was she amazed at the size of her fingers, she couldn't understand why the whole room was "sloping." But her hallucinations were pretty creepy sometimes too. She kept asking me if "those people" carried her into the bedroom or if I did. That freaked me out. Just a little.

I finally decided to best thing to do was to lead by example. I put her phone on the floor and told her that I wasn't talking any more. She calmed down a few minutes later and finally fell asleep. Next time she has trouble sleeping I'm either getting the video camera or hiding the Ambien.

A Parting of Ways...

My older sister Jessica, and her husband Scooter just moved to Houston for the summer. He is doing an internship at Baylor Medical School, and Jess is working at Nordstrom. It was really hard to say goodbye to them because we aren't going to see them much for the next who-knows-how-long. They won't get back from Houston until after Adam and I move to Washington D.C. for law school, and we won't get to see them for Christmas because we'll each be with our husband's families for the holidays. We'll be in Washington for the next 3-4 years, and they will be going to medical school next fall for 8-10 years.

It makes me feel sick inside to know that we might only get to see them a few times in the next 10 years or so. I hate the unknown. I hate not knowing where they'll end up or where we'll end up. The last thing I want is our kids to not know each other, to think of each other as "those cousins that live across the country that I've only met a few times."

I guess I'm just feeling some anxiety and stress about moving so far away. I know my fears have been more pronounced with Jessica moving recently, and I'm sure they're going to get worse when I have to leave my other sisters, my parents, my in-laws, and my friends. This is just the beginning....

Weddings and Stuff

Adam and I went to St. George (again!) to attend the wedding of one of my best friends Laura Jacobson. She married a great guy that I knew from high school, and they had a beautiful, spiritual ceremony. I love attending sealings in the temple because it reminds me of mine and Adam's wedding. All of the emotions of the day came rushing back as I watched those two kneel across the altar from one another. It renewed the excitement I had as a new bride and all of the hope that I felt for our future. Adam and I have a great marriage, but being there made me recommit to making our marriage even more wonderful. I want serve my husband more, speak to him more kindly, and do more of the nice little things that really demonstrate the love and appreciation I have for him.

A day chuck full of wedding activities can be long! We took some of the following pictures to entertain ourselves: