(we took this picture tonight, on our way back from checking out the progress of the house...it was snowing when I took this!)
But I like Rexburg, in it's small, quaint little town way. It's slower here. Literally. The speed limit is usually around 25 miles per hour, 35 when we are lucky. And when it's snowing (like today) you go about 10 miles per hour slower than the posted speed! At night, they have Christmas lights lit up going down Main Street. You don't see things like this, or as pretty as these ones, down in the Valley of the Sun.
(this picture is the start of Main Street coming IN to town...but the lights aren't turned on for the night yet...it was only 4:30 p.m....and all the snow makes it look even MORE small townish than it is....I guess it's about 40,000 people right now. We have Walmart, Applebee's, JB's, Frontier Pies, Taco Bell, Taco Time, Arctic Circle...who has the best fries EVER, and the best Fry Sauce to go with them!....Pizza Hut, Dominoes, McDonalds, Sonic, Dairy Queen, Subway, Gandolfo's, Burger King, Walgreens, Cold Stone, Wingers, Bajio, The REX Movie Theater, Kmart, local chinese and mexican restaurants, Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Papa Murphy's Pizza-Take & Bake, and ALL the banks you could possibly want)
The people....they are SERIOUSLY what make this small town so great. Everyone is so nice. People offer to help you with things like moving, or for you to use their snow scraper on your car :) They are very welcoming at church, and you feel at home, even when they know we will be moving in 3 months, once the house is done being built. For example...someone just knocked on Ryan's mom's door....it was two men from our church coming to help Ryan move our couch into our new apartment. Ryan didn't even call to have them come over! They just showed up, willing and able. That is nice. I t's neat (there's a word I picked up from Ryan over the last year) cause the two couples that live above our apartment are both in our ward. Both of them have really cute babies that we love to watch at church :)
(this is a picture of snow flakes on my car window today)
Two days after we got to Rexburg, we had our first snowfall. Mom and Dad had driven with Ryan and me up to Rexburg to pull a small U-Haul trailer for us with all of our stuff in it (which was a HUGE help to us, and we really appreciated). Mom called me Monday morning, before they were getting ready to come over to our hotel and say goodbye, and asked me,"What's that white stuff outside?". I had told her the night before that I had jumped up that morning out of bed to look out the window to see if there was snow (which there wasn't). I just anticipated it now that we were in "snow country". I had forgotten all about looking out the window that next morning until Mom "surprised" me with snow :) It was fun to see, and exciting since it was only the second time in my life that I had actually SEEN snow fall (the first being in San Antonio, many, many years ago....like when I was 12). I didn't drive in it at all that day cause this Arizona girl was NOT ready for it. I am too scared of sliding around. The snow started to melt a little by the end of the day, but remnants of the first "real" snowfall for the city of Rexburg were left on the ground in peoples yards for the rest of the week. I was so grateful that it waited until after we had gotten moved in before the winter REALLY started.
(Do you SEE how deep that snow is? It was about 3 inches this morning when I took this picture outside our apartment)
Friday brought us a couple different things. The first was we got to move into our apartment! We had been living out of a hotel for a week until the apartment was ready. So that was exciting to have a place of our own. It made it feel more real that we are staying here vs. feeling like we were here on vacation, visiting Ryan's mom and staying in a hotel. SOOO nice. The apartment is bigger and better laid out than our old one in Tempe. And thankfully has a nice, BIG laundry room, cause anyone that knows me KNOWS one of the biggest messes in my house is my clothes...so I'm glad I have somewhere to wash, dry, iron, hang, and leave my dirty clothes hamper in, instead of in my bedroom. I think this will help me be more organized. Our kitchen has a LOT more shelf and counter space...it's lovely. I already had the whole thing decorated the first night we moved in! I was THAT excited....
(That is our bedroom window to our apartment, with pretty trees beside it, next to the walkway to our cars...and Ryan shoveling our sidewalk after church today)
The second thing that happened on Friday was our second snowfall. AND....Pam drove in it BY HER SELF. That's right folks, I went out that night to pick up some things at Walmart during a pretty heavy snowfall. I didn't like it very much cause it was heavy, my windshield wipers didn't work too well (I need some new ones that don't just smear it around) and it was DARK outside, so I couldn't see the street turnoffs or lane markers. But, I made it home safe and sound. Ryan had me drive out to the house today, and I experienced my first sliding experiences while driving, but nothing bad :)
Friday's snowfall seems to have brought snow on for the winter! It snowed yesterday and today as well....and they are expecting snow all week except for maybe Friday or something like that. AHHHH. When we got up and went to church this morning it was 2 degrees outside! It is SO cold. Our windows get frozen shut on our cars so we have to open our doors when going through a drive thru :) We bought our own ice scrapers/snow brushes for our cars, as well as a small shovel to keep in our cars for emergencies, in case we ever have to dig our cars out :) I can't believe I'm even having this conversation.....
(This is Ryan brushing off my car, and then a picture of my Escape this morning before church)
The snow is beautiful, I will give you that. But it definitely is going to wreck havoc on my Arizona wardrobe. I'm going to have to find a whole new fashion sense out here that is snow friendly. My heels won't work out here very often...
I absolutely LOVE the trees they have here. I'm partial to these kind of "pine" trees, and various other trees that we don't have in Arizona. Seeing them change color for the winter is fabulous.
(These are some trees outside of our apartment)
(And a red tree that I found down Main Street....I love these red trees)
I had a job interview with BYU-Idaho over the phone with the Human Resource lady last Wednesday. It went really well, but she said it will probably take about 2 to 3 weeks until I hear back from them on a formal interview. She told me not to lose sleep over it....it takes a while for this kind of stuff to go through the education system, not to mention it's Christmas time. I'm hoping to hear back from them. It's as an Office Assistant for the Counseling department (like the Psychologists, not counseling for students registering for classes). I'm really excited about this position, because my ultimate desire is to get a degree in Psychology, and become a counselor for women in the church. I can't think of a better job for me than this, to prepare me for what I want to do as a career later in my life. They have seminars and stuff all the time, that I would help prepare for with the Counselors. They just did one a few weeks ago where they had some well known guest speakers come in and give seminars to the students on Eating Disorders. This kind of stuff gets me excited....cross your fingers, and say a little prayer for me. I would love it if I got this job. The HR lady told me I was a top candidate for the position. She was very impressed with my resume and all my experience, and wanted to know if I would be ok with the salary they were offering (wasn't bad for coming out here with no debt and a lower cost of living...$25,400...definitely a lot lower than what I WAS making, but this position is something I really love, and that makes it all worth it!), as well as wondered what was making me switch professions. She remembered me from an application I turned in to her about 3 weeks ago (she said I was a top candidate that time as well), but since I was still living in Arizona, they didn't follow through with me on that job, but now that I'm in Rexburg, she said she hopes to talk to me again soon. Sounded like she was pleased with our interview. I hope so...
The house started getting built more quickly this week, as the builder is wanting to get it completely built up outside, so they can work indoors during the winter snow. They had to wait for the trusses to come, so it stopped the last few days, and when we went out there to look at it this afternoon, it looks like they didn't get the roof on as hoped. And it also looks like they will be doing a LOT of sweeping tomorrow to get the snow out of the house :) They are estimating a February completion date. Only one more move....thank goodness. I'm tired of rotating boxes around.
(And here's a picture of our neighborhood to the North of our house)
My saving grace this week was driving into Idaho Falls two times to go clothes shopping at the mall out there. Idaho Falls is about 25 minutes from Rexburg, and is a fairly big city. It's nice to drive there when you need a little bit of the city feel :) The mall is just like the malls we had in Arizona....at least the older malls in Arizona, like Fiesta Mall :) It has Macy's, Penney's, Sears, Dillards, and all the other normal clothes stores in the mall. I got some GREAT deals at J.C. Penney's Friday night.
We have plans to drive to Ryan's aunt's house in Boise, ID for Christmas. We are leaving the Monday before (I think Dec. 22) and coming home the day after. That will be fun to see what Boise is all about.
(This is Ryan too chicken to get out of the car in the cold weather while I looked at the house)
And the last big thing I will leave you all with is..............dun dun dun..........no, I'm not pregnant. BUT, Ryan and I are celebrating our 1 year anniversary tomorrow (15th)! HOLY SMOKES! I can't believe it's already been a year. It's been a good year. If they say that the first year is the hardest, we should have smooth sailing ahead! It's been fun to get to know Ryan better this year, and for the man he is. Every day just gets better and better, and we had the opportunity to have some really neat talks on our drive up to Idaho that I wouldn't trade for anything....having a chance to dig deeper into ourselves and really let the other person in. It's a fun experience. Hopefully, in this next year if we are so blessed, we might be able to continue on with our learning experiences by adding another little body to our family. I've got to find me a job and some insurance first though. But you all will be informed of any such events when they transpire :) Here's to all my girlfriends who didn't think I would last a full year of resisting the urge to have a baby....neener neener. :)
I miss and love you all....and my warm Arizona!
Love,
Pam
