Life and stuff

The past few weeks have been a mix of stress (go figure) and lots of fun. Stress because teaching is hard! And finding a job is hard! And organizing our stuff is hard! And figuring out this new ward is hard! And figuring out where to shop, etc is hard! But mostly, it has been fun, especially when I flash back to how horrible finishing the dissertation was.

A few weeks ago, we discovered the joy of going to a temple that's less than 2 hours away. In fact, it took us a total of 7 minutes from my office. And that included parking and walking to the door. :-)

Later that week, we got to see Michelle (soon-to-be-Wright) and Matt (already-is-Wright). They came out for a visit with Matt's family and to plan their wedding. They were kind enough to come down to Provo for dinner and some Sub-zero Ice cream with us. It was so much fun to see them... and return the Heart Attack they gave us before we left DE. The best part was, we used the same hearts they put on our car... when we took them off, we left them in Andrew's glove compartment. After our dinner together in Provo, Andrew remembered we had them and just couldn't resist returning the favor. It was very fun.

The next night, we got together with some of my old friends... Bryan and Niki Brimhall and Remington and Tamara Atwood. I hadn't seen Remington in about 5 years. Bryan and Niki made the trek to the wedding in March (and then missed the sealing... but that's another story). I love seeing them; we always have a good time. Anyway, they all came down from Salt Lake City and we had a fun night of dinner and playing games. Andrew had worked hard all day making the house presentable and truly fit for company.

The next night, we got to do out to dinner with Dave and Jenn. It's so nice to hang out with Dave again. Brazil was too far away!

This past week, we went dancing at the Eldred Senior Center in Provo. Yes, it was an all ages dance. The music was... about half speed, but the band was good and the dancing was fun!

This Sunday, we had dinner with Andrew's Grandpa Brown, Aunt Leslie and Uncle Bryan, some of their kids and grandkids. It's nice to feel like we're surrounded by family, even if I've never met most of them before.

Otherwise, life is a rush of prepping for class and squeezing in as many episodes of The West Wing as we can. Andrew's got me hooked.

Oh, I almost forgot tonight's update... Andrew fixed my car!

And you'll just have to take my word for it - the brake lights now work. Now, if only we could find the screw to put the top back on the gear shift...

Oh, and one last thing:

Happy Birthday John!!

Love ya!