Ah, to have the Internet again. It's
crazy how we have come to rely on it so much, but it really does make
life a lot easier and much more enjoyable.
Anyway, we are officially settled in
here in Sacramento. Technically, we live in a suburb 20 minutes
outside of the city called Carmichael. When we first got in we were
overwhelmed by the size of the place and the huge population that
comes with it. But each day we go out for about a half hour to an
hour and explore a different neighborhood in the surrounding area,
and we are slowly adjusting to it. It's not too scary after all!
We love our apartment already. It's
definitely the nicest place we have ever stayed in, though of course
it is a lot more expensive. It's in a quiet, gated community, which
we like. Though there is a rooster somewhere next to the complex that
cock-a-doodle-dos all freaking day. And I mean all day. Anyway, we
have gotten a lot of requests for apartment pictures, so here you go!
(The fireplace is still funny to me.)
Our experience here has actually been
really good so far, thanks to the ward we moved in. Everyone here is
soooo nice. The stake missionaries live in the same apartment
complex, so when we got here, a couple of them helped us get
everything moved in. I had been in contact with the bishop a few
times before we moved here, so when we got into town, he offered to
take us on a little tour of the area, which helped us out a lot. We
just came with everything we could stuff in our car, so he has even
lent us an inflatable bed and sent out an email to the ward asking if
anyone had extra furniture they could give us. We received the
dining table, chairs and coffee table you see in the pictures from ward
members, which we appreciate dearly!
After sleeping on an inflatable bed for
a week, however, we decided it was time to go out and buy our own
furniture. We went to a legit furniture store to buy our items for
the first time ever. Since we've been married, we've always had
(free) hand-me-down furniture, which we felt blessed for, but we felt
it was time to actually buy brand new furniture. Needless to say, we
felt very adult, haha. But, holy cow, furniture is expensive! We
can't believe how lucky we were to be given furniture before. We
bought the bed set you see in the pictures, as well as the couch,
chair and pillows in the living room. We could not be more excited!
And, I cannot forget to mention the
weather. We went from 20-degree weather with lots of snow to sunny,
60-degree weather. It's been sooo nice. I do not miss the snow at
all. I guess there's been a drought here, been it has rained a couple of times this week, so everyone was very
excited about it. The ward members were just asked to focus their
fasts next week on getting some more rain, though.
Phil started his job on the 15th, and
everyone there welcomed him with open arms. The team he now works
with (developer support engineers) even took him out to lunch on his
first day! So far, he has really liked it; the work environment is
awesome apparently, but just in case he ends up hating it for some
reason, we only got a six-month contract for our apartment, so we can
venture somewhere else if need be. I miss my family terribly, but I
can see myself living here happily if it does turn out to be a good
job. And, for those who are wondering, I am going to try out the
housewife route for a while (since we only have one car and all right
now). I'm hoping to find some remote writing opportunities, and I am
working on a novel, so hopefully that works out! I will keep you all
updated!
