The Disclaimer

I didn't mean to leave everyone hanging. To be honest, there is no big ending to this saga. But unlike someone I know, I won't name names, I'm not going to make anything up just for the sake of making my blog seem more interesting! Anyway, here's the ending.
Apartment hunting was the least exciting thing I've done in a long time. The thought of moving from our house into an apartment nearly half the size is quite depressing.
I started the hunt with student housing, my comp who attended law school at U of I told me that the 3 bedroom units are quite spacious and come with free high speed internet and cost 600 a month. A bargain considering a two bedroom flat in Salt Lake is 900 a month and no internet.
But they were full. So full that they weren't taking a waiting list anymore. Huh, that sucks.
So I started into the "private sector" where my luck was not too much better. The first two management companies I called had nothing available. Mmmm. It was now snowing, which had nothing to do with apartment hunting, but it seemed to make the mood of the whole thing all the more hopeless.
The next call was better, units available and only minutes away to show them to me. So far so good. The units were new, 2006, but less than spacious. 2 bedrooms, I was thinking more like 2 three quarter bedrooms. Where's the rest? I thought. Nope not behind the door. Not in the closet. Huh, I think our king size bed will take up the entire room. A whole new meaning to "I have a condo with wall-to-wall" instead of carpet, my bed will be wall-to-wall! The kitchen has a dishwasher, disposal, 2 feet of counter space, and a fridge. and the price, 640 a month plus utilities, phone, and internet. The price is ok, but I think we'll have to invest in some Japanese furniture.
I'll have my people call your people!
Maybe an old house would be better. My sister has a nice little, but spacious, house in a college town. It works for her, maybe it could work for us. I start stalking the streets. Lots of signs with numbers, but no one on the other end of those numbers, just machines. No luck.
I head back to the Bellwood lecture reception, surely there's food there. And there was. Nothing looked that great, but they had pineapple, my fav. I load up my tiny plate with pineapple and a couple of m&m cookies. Not bad for mainland pineapple!
Back to the Inn, I'll try again tomorrow.
I met with the financial aid office first thing in the morning. Good news! I only have to borrow 40 trillion dollars over the next three years! But at least I qualify for all the federal loan programs.
I found a place to live, well...sort of. I found a brand new complex of apartments and went into the office to inquire. Its low income housing, sign us up! "technically" I've only been working since March 25 (when we got back from NZ) and will stop working in August, so we're under their 28,500 a year limit. wahoooooo! 2 bedroom, 975 sft, dishwasher, hookups, disposal, car port, more than 2 feet of counter space, 535 a month. The catch? small wait list. 5-6 are coming available sometime in the summer. So fingers crossed we get in.
All in all, I think the trip was a success and worth every sky mile Shauna and Mas donated for the trip!
It wasn't as exciting as the last post, but if you kept reading after the disclaimer and were still disappointed, its your fault!
Til next time

Kangaroo Zoo

This past weekend we went out to visit my mate from NZ, Katie. This was the first time we've seen her
since we got back.
So I handed off some chocolate cream easter eggs from home. Ah on a side tanget, there's no comparison, once you've tried NZ chocolate you'll be throwing up after eating Hershy's. So maybe it's safe to never try it.
Then she handed Masaru some late birthday gifts. One of which was a couple of hours at a place called Kangaroo Zoo. One of my other mates, Sarah, blogged about the one in North Salt Lake.
This was the one out in Pleasant Grove.
Can I just say that if I was a kid, I would've been doing anything possible to come to this place. It's a kids dream!! There's all these blow up castles EVERYWHERE. And Hannah and Masaru started just running and didn't stop for two hours until we told them they HAD to!!
Yes your eyes aren't decieving you. We put Yuki down one of the slides. Let's just say she wasn't too impressed! Poor wee thing. What a horrible mother!!
Soooooooooooooooooo much fun.
So I'd highly recommend it to everyone out there.
Katie, love you girl, and thanks for a GREAT DAY!! My *shout next time.
Don't you think these pic's are soooooo funny.
Man I was CRACKING up when I saw them. I'm still laughing now. Look at those faces.
Great action shots aye!?!
There's TONS more but these are my fav's.


*Shout, for the American readers, is a term we kiwi's use to mean 'pay for'. I'm pretty sure it comes from being in the pub and 'shouting' to the bar tender than the drinks are on you.
Nice Melissa, real nice!!!

Dru's first Blog!!

Moscow...and I don't mean Russia

We decided that I should attend the college of law's open house and check out Moscow and the U of I. After hours of searching on the internet, we finally found a direct flight to Spokane, a rental car and a hotel.
I hit the airport at 7:00pm, the flight was short and sweet, and I was in my 2006 fire engine red chevy cobalt coupe by 8:30. It was dark now and I had an hour and 39 minute drive, according to map quest, to Moscow.
Let me tell you the first thing I learned about Idaho and Washington...they drive SOOOOO SLOOOOOOW. The speed limit of 55 didn't help. The "normal" mentality of driving 8-10 miles over the limit is safe for not getting ticketed is wasted up there. They all drive within 5 miles of the speed limit and sometimes thats 5 miles slower! They pulsate! 5 miles over, down to 5 miles under, now the speed limit, now 5 miles over...ever heard of cruise control! highway 191 is an undivided two lane highway, and everyone trails so close to the car in front of them that you can't pass them unless you have a supercharged hemi with a blower because you have to pass the 8 other cars in front of the guy you're passing cause there is now room to squeeze in.
AGGRAVATION! And I had no cell service to call and complain to some poor soul, probably Melissa.
I rolled into the Palouse Inn on Baker Street at just after 10:00, map quest was accurate on time. They must have taken into account the slow driving of the north because I didn't think I would have taken so long!
A room with a bed, a mini fridge, a microwave, a TV, and a toilet, nothing more, nothing less, just as promised on the web.
After checking in with the Mrs. I watched some TV and dose off.
Todays the day, the sun is shining, the tank is clean...wait I'm in Moscow not 42 Wallaby Way Sydney. But the sun was shining and I was off to the open house. And just as advertised the hotel really was in walking distance of the university. Only a half a mile to the law building, now thats what I call a commute!
8:45am check in, 8:50 run back to the car and put the parking pass in the window (parking Nazis up here), 9:00 welcome, 9:30 boaring panel discussion about the legacy of justice Holmes (early 1900's), 10:30 more boaring Panel discussion with Q&A, 11:30 panel discussion with current students-finally something of value!, 12:30 lunch at Patty's Kitchen, 2:00 tour of the college of law-they weren't kidding when they said its a small law school, it consists of three floors in one building, 2:30 apartment hunting...to be continued

We heard from BYU!!

Guess whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.................................WE'RE ON THE WAIT LIST!!!
Can you believe it!! Man I am just so proud of Dru.
I'm so excited and I know I shouldn't be. Cause what if they don't call us. But still.............HE MADE IT ON THE WAIT LIST.
I just think that in itself is a wonderful acomplishment. Especially since the U didn't take a second glance at him and BYU is the better school.
It's just amazing and I'm thrilled.
I know we'll go where heavenly father intends for us to go. So if it's BYU I know it'll happen. But if not, the school we go to will be right.
Dru's been through a lot to make it this far and I know it's the right thing for our little family to be doing.
So I'm guessing the next law post will be a definate of where we'll be moving! Or that we're staying.
So if you'd like......say a few quiet prayers for us that we go where we're meant to.
And if anyone gets a huge revelation that it's BYU, CALL ME!!!

Dodging the Bullet

I had hoped that after four kids, the youngest now nearly 5 1/2, that we had dodged the bullet of strep throat. Today, after three long days and three miserable nights of interrupted sleep, the rapid test confirmed it...Seth is our first casualty to Strep throat. Poor little miserable thing!

Never Fear

Never fear, the shoes are here! We made it through that crisis with a little help from Ethan's wallet. I can't believe it has started already, when I was growing up it was Jordache jeans and later Girbeau jeans. Although I was vain and cared mostly about the name brand, for Ethan it is all about fit and comfort. He is one of the pickiest kids I know about how things "feel." Hopefully our successful management this small "crisis" is only a good indicator of our ability to deal with the coming challenges of adolescence! HA!

Anyway, the next real crisis appears to be a coming food shortage. I went to CostCo this morning to get a little milk etc. and there was a run on wheat. Ryan and I have been talking about adding more to our food storage and so I picked up several 45 lb. buckets of wheat, for which there was a 10 limit per membership. You should have seen the wheat flying out of that place! Next I went to get a 50 lb. bag of rice, since I saw on several news programs last night that rice is in high demand and costs are rising. Apparently everbody else saw the same programs...No rice. Not one bag of white rice, of any kind, in the entire store. What's going on? It felt a little Y-2K-ish in the market today.

With the forclosures rising, the markets suffering, food costs skyrocketing, and all this use of the "R" word - that's "recession" for those of you who can't read my mind, I can see how easy it is to become uneasy and fearful about the future. I just keep trying to remember what the prophets have counseled, to avoid becoming fearful, and to realistically prepare for the future by putting aside little by little. The first presidency has repeatedly said:

"We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve."

I only hope that our little by little will see us through whatever comes!

Owies!!

So we have another sad tale of how Masaru hurt himself. It honestly had nothing to do with me and my mothering skills! This boy seems to invite accidents into his life.
We were doing an alphabet puzzle (see I'm not all bad) and he was going inbetween the couch and fireplace and balancing himself with one arm between both. He misplaced his arm and mapped himself out on the corner of the couch and this was the result. Poor kid. You couldn't tell though by the next day.

Masaru has a great rocking chair that I hand painted for him to watch his movies etc in. But lately he's chosen to sit on our coffee table and watch TV. I dunno why. Anyway the other day I caught him asleep on the table. I dunno how comfortable this must be. But obviously comfortable enough for him!! I thought it was pretty cute.
Then this is my first attempt to do Yuki's hair. I'm itching to have long girl hair to do every day and I think I started a little early. She was bawling her eyes out by the end of it and Masaru was saying "Mum Yuki's crying" As if to tell me to leave her alone. It looks pretty silly anyway. So looks as if I need to wait a while before deciding to do her hair again. Sorry Yuki. This time, this face IS my fault.