In Homage to my Favorite New Show:

For those of you who watch "The Office:"

PARKOUR!


For those of you who don't, and even those who want to feel the joy again, please, PLEASE watch the clip in the post below. Seriously.

Hardcore Parkour!

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

WARNING: Eternal Posting

This is an interpretation of what my life has been for the last 2 months.
















Sorry, this will be long. In my continual habit of needing to play catch-up, I have waited too long and now have much to share. Feel free to skim.

Mostly this will just be a lot of pictures. First of all, some pics of our last days in the Las Vegas:

This was our POD- the container in which we shipped all of our stuff. It was crazy how they dropped it off. The only word I can think of for that kind of truck was, HUGE CONTRAPTION.

I love these women with all my heart (and the men they come with, but, sorry, only the girls made it to the blog). These are my cousins, Emily Montague and Brooke Duke, and my Aunt, Ruth Pooler. I think it is pretty self-explanatory why I love Emily...we tend to take pictures the same way. I miss them like crazy.
Our good friends Brandon and Kelly Albright. I went to college with Kelly, and Brandon and I were in Aida together last summer. Great people, and we miss them too. Good luck in the NYC, you guys!
This is Rochelle Hendricks, and she is one of my favorite people, and it was really hard to say goodbye to her.... and I quote from a famous film named "Legacy:" "If we ever meet again it will be Zion to me!"




The last day arrived... so weird.



We towed my car the whole way. So glad we bought that truck a year ago!











This is our home. I miss that house. Sigh.

















About halfway, we stopped in the Dallas, Texas area to visit family on both sides. Cristian solidified his title to Favorite Uncle even more by playing video games and Monopoly for hours on end with my nephews Tristan, Gavin, and Caden. Awesome. Caden loved him, and in fact totally snubbed my sister Carolynn in favor of always holding Cristian's hand when we went to the Aquarium! They were buddies. We had a great time with Cristian's family too, and didn't really want to leave. But, alas, we were needed elsewhere. Like South Carolina.

We stopped in Vicksburg, MS for a night. Vicksburg is the site of a pivotal battle in the Civil War, so it had a lot of really cool history. Like the Military Park, with a full run down of the Battle of Vicksburg on a CD that we listened to as we drove through. I don't remember what states these memorials were for, but we liked them. Cristian looks pretty sweet.




















We also saw the USS Cairo, and ironclad warship that sank in the Yazoo River during the battle. It was found and brought back up a few years ago (like, 10 or 20 years ago) and restored. It was cool.















Of course, leave it to me to find something humorous on a landmark location....and to take a picture of it.
Sometimes I think I am Eva Peron. ("Evita" reference, for the non-theater peeps) Actually, I am just standing in the spot where Jefferson Davis (the President of the Confederacy) gave his last public address after being released from prison after the Civil War. This house is called Anchuca, and it an antebellum home built in 1830. It survived the War, and even served as a hospital at the time. It is now a lovely Bed and Breakfast, and Cristian and I stayed there.




When we got to Clinton, my brother Dave and his family came to see us for a day. Emily and Caleb helped Cristian put up our Bowflex, then felt inclined to test it out for themselves. They can pull some weight, I will tell you.




























Then we went camping. In August. In South Carolina. It was hot.

In the month of August, we just gradually moved in ($$$, Holy Crap!) and got all the business that moving entails squared away, like insurance, etc. I visited Dave and Becca at their home in Charlotte, a mere two hours away. I also reunited with my friends Tiffany and Nellie Cheney, who I have not seen in years! So excited to see them more often. Cristian started work at Presbyterian College the last week in August, and after a job search of my own, I landed a position myself at PC. I started work Sept. 7. I work in Administration, and I enjoy my job. It is really nice to be employed again; although, I was really getting used to the unemployed state; it is not so bad at all. Cristian's parents stopped by for a weekend on their own move from NY down to Texas, and it was so fun to see them.

Sooo, in September, I flew to Newport Beach, CA for a Girls' Weekend! It was amazing! We all turned 30 this year, and we wanted to celebrate it, dang it!
This is some of us on Balboa Island. From left:
Me, Katie Hill, Jen Jacobsen, Kristi Christensen, and Beth Rustand. Chalyce Bohne was not there yet, and Kristin Andrus had to be at another obligation that day. We went shopping on Balboa Island. I have not laughed so hard for a really looooong time! By the way, we were cute in high school, but we are all cuter now. Love what getting into the prime of your life does for you. The only person we were missing was Nellie. Boo.






Freakin awesome. We all went to high school together, and some of us have known each other since we were 2 years old. That is friendship.

Jen is a photographer, so she was all over the photo shoots. Mostly of Beth and Katie. Kristi and I didn't make the cut. So we drowned our sorrows in candy, what else would we do?


























Well, can you blame Jen? Look how cute Beth is!
What a Hot Mama.








Again, leave it to me to find the most random thing and get a picture. Don't you remember when these horse rides were in front of grocery stores? You pop in a quarter from Mom, and your day is made. They were the best! So I reverted a litte, don't judge. It was a fabulous weekend, and I love those girls to pieces, and can't wait for our next trip, whenever that may be.

The last thing I will mention happened this weekend.

Squealin in the Square.

Laurens County hosts this BBQ competition every October, and people come from far and wide to compete and enjoy. We found ourselves on Main Street in Laurens, eating a huge smoked turkey leg, french fries and funnel cake. We listened to one of those rock bands that you would never buy a CD of, but they are so fun live and in a festival atmosphere. I was dancing and loving it. It was our first real community experience here, and so fun and so tasty, as evidenced by Cristian.


So, there you go. At some point I will talk about a few things I did last summer before we moved. But not tonight.

We are really liking it here. We are grateful for our jobs, and the people who have been so kind to us. We feel really lucky to have landed at a college where it is ok to talk about and worship God, where the values are very similar to our own. It is beautiful in South Carolina, and I have found a love for this small little town of Clinton already.

Until next time I have to catch up on something. If you have made it this far, I salute you. You are a true friend. Told you it was long.

We are Here!

And by here, I mean Clinton, South Carolina, our new home town! We arrived a week ago yesterday, safe and tired. We got the keys to our apartment and set up shop. After two really expensive trips to Walmart, our day was done. Moving is expensive, and moving IN is really expensive! All the food staples we have had to replace, and home "things" like shelving and bins for stuff that we don't have an obvious place for. We are using what we already have, and then some. I guess every place you move into you have to adjust to that space. Well, our 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apt is actually pretty spacious, but we are still needing to get creative a bit. I guess that is what happens when you leave behind a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house. Plus a large storage unit.

Anyway, Tuesday our POD arrived with all our belongings, and some men from our new ward (and a few sons) drove all the way out into our little town, at the edge of the ward, to help us unload. It was incredibly humbling that they would do that for us when we live a half hour away from the church, let alone their own homes, wherever they are. I guess I am just used to smaller ward boundaries so I was concerned no one would come so far. But they did, and were a huge help, even going with Cristian to the storage unit to fit everything in there. Thank you, Simpsonville 2nd Ward!

We are still in boxes for some things, and it may be a little while until things are really coming together. But the bathroom and kitchen are organized, we have our internet and TV, and all of our stuff is somewhere in the vicinity. That is all we can ask at this time. I really will post some pictures of our cross country drive, I just have been a little too busy to download everything.

We live in a little town, and it is kind of an adjustment for me being so far away from a suburb, let alone a major city. But I am getting used to it, and I like the quiet. We have been introduced to a really cute cafe called the Village Cup that I am in love with (they serve lunch) and we have been to an ice cream parlor and I went to the Farmers Market yesterday morning. Those are the things I am going to love about Clinton. I will get used to driving 30 minutes to a Target or Lowes, I promise.

So Far, So Good

Well, we have left Las Vegas. We took off on Thursday afternoon and arrived yesterday evening for a pit stop in Dallas, TX. We are half way to our destination of Clinton, South Carolina and thought we would stop to visit family here. I have a picture of Cristian and I in front of our house right before we left, but I will post that another time.

This week was crazy. We arrived home last week from a vacation in Utah just in time for Cristian to get the stomach flu. We lost a very valuable day to sickness. Poor guy. Then, the weekend was just really busy with packing, last minute home projects, and final social engagements with friends and family. ( I know, I make us sound so popular). Monday brought drama for Cristian's truck, so it was taken into one shop in the morning, then another in the afternoon, just to have that service delayed (long story) so we ended up taking the truck back and forth to the dealer every day this week, and FINALLY getting to pick it up, job completed, on Thursday, hours before we left. Sorry for the run-on sentence. Mix all of that up with more crazy packing and an all-night adventure (literally) loading everything into our PODS container on Tuesday night so it could be picked up Sunday. 30 min. of sleep in 40 hours? Best feeling in the world.

It was an odd feeling to have the POD picked up. There was no going back. The move was very real. Cristian felt it too. Like our life is now on a path that we can't control.

I am going to miss my house. I loved my house. It was our first, certainly not our last, but we had made it our own.

I am so grateful to our friends that helped pack and load and clean. They are wonderful, and I can't say enough.

I am going to miss my friends. If I could take all my friends where ever I went, I would love it. Unfortunately, I was not able to convince anyone to move with us. But I have good friends, and am really sad to leave them. We will just have to rely on Facebook, I guess.

I am also really going to miss the family we have here. They have taken us in as their own and we felt welcome, always. We love the Pooler clan, and can't wait to see them in the future. I miss you guys already!

It was a long, hard, crazy, stressful, bittersweet week. The end of our time in Las Vegas also marked a new beginning for Cristian and I. And I am excited for that.

To Do List

Here is my To Do List before I move on July 23rd:

1. Finish some projects at work so I can quit and not leave anyone hanging.

2. Pack my house.

3. Go through all of our belongings and figure out what to give away, throw away, or pack.

4. Paint some closet doors.

5. Pack my house.

6. Pass my certification test to certify as a voice teacher.

7. Record some songs for a cd my Relief Society presidency is making.

8. Pack my house.

9. Go to Utah for a week for a family reunion.

10. Say goodbye to friends in Utah.

11. Go through all the loose papers and clutter laying around our house and figure out what it actually is, if we need to keep it, and if so, where in heaven's name do we put it?

12. Pack my house.

13. Pick up Cristian in Utah since he will coming back from NY, where he is now, fulfilling his calling as a director for the Hill Cumorah Pageant.

14. Eat all the food in my cupboard and fridge and freezer, by myself, as said husband is out of town, as mentioned above.

15. Garner and organize help loading the POD here and unloading the POD in South Carolina.

16. Pack my house.

17. E-file my taxes. (Yes, we had an extension, before anyone freaks out. We are fine.)

18. Clean my house so it isn't disgusting.

19. Clean my house again after everything is out of it.

20. Did I mention Pack my house?

21. Keep my sanity. Somehow.

I will breath when I get there.

My own little vacation

Last month I also took a vacation, all by myself, and went to Oregon to visit my sister Cyndi. It was so fun and relaxing, I didn't want to come home except Cristian was there. Cyndi took such good care of me, and it was so fun to see her family, my cute nephews, and my newest nephew Johnathan! It was really good to spend some quality time with my sister. She is so great. And can we talk about how much I love Oregon? We went into California to the Redwoods, and to the coast, and it made me homesick for my childhood. We used to go to the coast and the Redwoods all the time.
She was a total soldier and took that baby everywhere in the pack, even hiking. It was awesome. Her 5-year old son Adam also provided great company. He was also pretty funny. Example: Cyndi was asking him if he wanted to go to Ashland with us, or play with a few friends the next day. "What friends, Mom?" She named a couple of boys. "I think I will go with you and Aunt Nicole. I am not really into them right now." I'm sorry, what? You are not "into" them? I was laughing so hard. He continued throughout the week to talk about stuff he was "into" or "not into."

Josh, Ethan, and Seth were in school, but I loved talking to them after school and learning what they are "into" these days. Cyndi and Steve are doing such a great job with them, and they are a fabulous family, and I love them to pieces!