1000 miles to go

Adam and I are currently sitting in a dingy hotel room in Princeton, Illinois. Because there is free wireless internet here, we decided to pull out the laptop and check out everyone's blogs. We've driven our moving truck 1178 miles so far and still have over 1000 to go. The drive actually hasn't been as bad as we thought it would be. It's been fun to see the countryside (although we've really only seen cornfields) and "talk." I think we've only had 6 or 7 fights so far. Let's just say the cab is a little too small for 11 hours of togetherness.... :)

We are stopping at my grandparent's house in Detroit tomorrow for 2 nights, and then it's on to Washington. Yippee!

Farewell Utah.....

As this is the last night that Adam and I will have our computer set up, I figured I should write one more post before we take off. We're picking up our Penske truck in the morning and will be loading it all day. We packed pretty much our whole apartment in one day, with the help of my sweet mom who came up here from St. George to help. It's amazing how much crap can fit in a 695 ft. square foot apartment. When you have to pull it out from hiding and pack it all into boxes, it sure seems like a lot! However, we did our best to get rid of stuff and declutter before the move.

I am starting to get the sickest feeling in my stomach. I'm scared! I've lived across the country before (when I worked at Disney World), but it was a lot different because I knew I'd be coming back 5 months later. This is a lot different because it's for 3 years- or more! Who knows where we'll be when law school is over. I'm going to miss my friends and family so much while we're away. I swear, I'm homesick already. We'll have a new home, new city, new friends, new jobs, new school, new routines. Everything is going to change.

I know I need to be positive or I'll have a hard time adjusting. It's not like we're going off to some corner of the world. And at least I'll have my best friend with me. That thought comforts me more than any other.

Well, I'm off to bed for the last time in apartment #602 in SLC....


P.S. Happy Pioneer Day

Weekend in St. George

We are back from our weekend in St. George. We had a great time! We were in for a big surprise right when we got there- my dad had flown my big sister Jessica up from Houston for the weekend. I was totally shocked when she walked into the room and I started bawling. I've missed her so much this summer!



We, along with a bunch of friends, got our Harry Potter books at midnight at Deseret Book (there was absolutely no line and they matched Wal-Mart's prices!) and read the first chapter all together. We didn't have very much time to read it over the weekend, but we listened to the cd's in the car last night on the way home. We're about 1/3rd of the way through. It's great so far! We're really worried to talk to anyone about it though because we don't want anything to be ruined by people with big mouths.



We also went to a SheDaisy concert (we were to cheap to pay to get in so we stood outside the fence and just listened from outside!), a Harry Potter party, went boating at Sand Hollow, went to my little sister's play at Tuachan, ate our wedding cake, and just enjoyed hanging out with my family.




We are really getting down to the wire here with the move. We are pulling out of town Thursday morning, and there is still tons to do. My mom is coming up here in a few hours to help us pack. We're getting really excited!

St. George, Anniversary Cake, and Harry Potter

Adam and I are off the St. George for the weekend! It will be the last time we're going to see my family until Christmas. We're going to go boating at Sand Hollow, see my sister's play at Tuachan, barbecue, and basically just live it up one last time. Oh, we're also going to eat the top layer of our wedding cake for our 1 year anniversary even though it isn't until August 12th. The problem is that we'll be in Washington for our anniversary and we can't exactly drive across the country for 4 days with a frozen cake in our moving truck. So we decided to break the rules a little bit and enjoy it a few weeks early. Don't judge us! :)

In other news, we are going to get Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows tonight at midnight! Yes, we are Harry Potter nerds. We absolutely LOVE the series. I don't care if you think you're too good for them or that you don't want to "jump on the band wagon," - if you haven't read them, READ THEM! They are great literature and fun at the same time. And no, seeing the movies doesn't count. Read them!

We are planning on getting a copy of the book and the audio cd's. We'd love to read the whole book this weekend, but who knows how much time we'll have as this is the last weekend with my family. Next week is going to be pretty crammed too with moving and all, so our plan is to listen to them as we drive across the country next week. 19 hours of listening pleasure. Yay!

Adam

I was just looking through some of our wedding pictures (which you can still see on Utah Bride and Groom) and I found this one of my sweet husband. He is so handsome! I just thought I'd post it so that everyone else can see how cute he is and how lucky I am to have him!

Okay, I know that was cheesy, but oh well!

More Patrick Alba

Are these better Patrick? You do look tanner!

Patrick

My brother-in-law is super obsessed with himself and has been begging me to to a picture of him up on our blog, so this one is for you Patrick... :)

Super Nanny!

I haven't yet written about what I'm going to be doing for a living in Washington. I'll be a nanny to three adorable French girls! I couldn't be more excited about it! Although I haven't met the family yet because they are far away, I can tell that they are great. The parents will be working in downtown D.C. while I'll be watching the girls during the day. They are 11, 6, and 1, so I'll really just be home with the baby while the two older girls are at school.

I had another great job offer, but I chose this one for a number of reasons. Probably the biggest is the fact that Adam is going to be so stressed out at law school (the first year is KILLER!) that I don't want to be stressed out too. I get off around 3:30 or 4:00 every day and I can come home, make dinner, do laundry, and make sure the house is clean before he gets home every night. Also, the family only lives 5 minutes away so the commute will be a dream. Another perk is that we'll actually be able to come to Utah for Christmas and visit our families. I get 4 weeks paid vacation during the year.

The decision was a very hard one to make: take the nanny job or have a real "career." I struggled with the decision for days but realized that my priorities lie with my family. I know that being a nanny will be easier on our marriage. I want to be there for Adam whenever he needs me this coming year and I think I'll be able to do it better with this job. I'm so excited about it and glad that I made the right choice. I'll be sure to keep you all updated with fun stories about me nanny adventures!

I'll miss the mountains!

Because we're moving so soon, I'm starting to think about all of the things I will miss about Utah while we're gone. One of the biggest is the beautiful mountains that we have so close by. Adam and I love to take advantage of them. We recently went hiking and here are a few pics:

We Got an Apartment!

I have to make this quick because I'm exhausted and I need to go to bed, but we got an apartment in Washington! After 2 that we wanted falling through at the last minute, we finally got one that we wanted. It's only a one bedroom, but we really don't need more room than that anyway. My favorite part about it is the kitchen! It has stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops. It's GORGEOUS! It's definitely going to make me excited to cook for Adam more often!



Another great thing about it is the location- it's right across the street from the metro (Adam's form of transportation to and from school) and only 10 minutes from my work. We feel so blessed and relieved to finally know where we are going to live. We only have 15 days until the big move. We are a little anxious and scared about leaving the familiarity of Utah, but are excited for our adventure. We can't wait to meet new people, see new places, and have new experiences!

Independence Day

Mattie, the Alba Family mutt. She fetches the ball well ... we're still working on the release.


Beautiful, elegant and patriotic.

We had a fun holiday, but having a day off in the middle of the week really throws off my schedule. It felt like a Monday all day at work.

In other news, Dave Zabriskie, Utah native and time trialist extraordinaire is competing in the Tour de France this year. He's got a great chance of winning the prologue in London on Saturday. Cheer for him.

One more thing, Andi is being treated to a weekend in Las Vegas by her mom. She left this morning and after a few car problems she finally made it to Vegas and its 118 degree heat. I'm staying here holding down the quiet and lonely apartment :(

We're back from Washington!

Adam and I got back from Washington D.C. a few hours ago. We had an exhausting, but great weekend. Most of it was spent apartment hunting and job-interviewing, but we also got to see some of the sights and most importantly, spend spend time with my aunt and uncle, cousin, her husband, and their new baby.

Our overall impressions of the Washington/Maryland/Virginia area:
1. Holy crap, it's so green! We've never seen anything like it! It's so beautiful!
2. It's VERY, VERY, VERY humid
3. The people were very nice and friendly
4. The metro gets very crowded around rush hour
5. It's really expensive

I'll post about the apartment hunting later, but first I want to write about the highlights of the trip.

I saw the National Mall for the first time in my life. It was enormous! It took forever to walk from one end to the other. It was a pretty nice day to sight see. The temperature had dropped a little from the previous day, but the humidity was still pretty bad.







One of the funniest things we saw was chipmunks eating out of people's hands! I didn't know they would do that! They totally weren't even scared. Just greedy!



Here's a picture of my cousin's baby Kaede. He was so smiley and happy the whole time. I got to play with him lots and it made me super baby hungry! I want one! :)