First Impressions...

First Impressions.

I dislike first impressions…mostly when it comes to a new job. But, we’ve been here in Lincoln a full week now and the first impressions we have been experiencing have been wonderful!

I know many of you don’t want to here that…because you don’t want us to stay in Nebraska…but, we still don’t think we will be staying longer than 2 years; however, we do think we are going to absolutely LOVE our time here.

As we came upon Lincoln, driving East on the I-80 we could see downtown Lincoln in the distance. Not because of many sky scrapers creating a city-scape, but because of one protuberance, the State Capital. You can seriously see that thing for miles. It has a freaky guy on the top too. Weird! And kinda cool!


























Turns out he is called a sower...he still looks kind freaky.

















Fun Facts about Lincoln:

Population: 225,581 well, 225,584 now that the three of us moved in. They are changing the population sign next Monday. No, not really, but that population figure was according to the census of 2000.

Neighborhoods: Lincoln names its neighborhoods. There are about 21 named neighborhoods and we live in the Bethany Neighborhood. We also live across the street from Bethany Park and our library is the Bethany Library (which is NOT within walking distance and actually looks pitifully small, as far as my first impression went). We are VERY glad we didn’t name Marley, Bethany. She would grow up for the next two years thinking everything was named after her!

One of the main grocery stores is called HyVee…um…ok! Weird name. It reminds me of a Friends episode when one of Rachel's sisters (Christina Applegate) comes to visit and everytime someone says Pheobe's name she thinks they are just saying a funny sound. That's what I think of HyVee...that's a funny sound!?!?

We haven’t been there yet because there is a super Walmart but we definitely plan on frequenting the HyVee for groceries...or at least going and checking it out. We gotta try to find out why they called it that. Maybe it’s like Smith’s and that is someone’s last name or something?











Something we already love about the HyVees’ is that they all have a redbox in them! No cable…too expensive so, thank goodness for the HyVee and redbox! ( I miss Friends! Hee hee!)
























As I said there is a Walmart. There are actually two but one that’s closer to us. There are THREE Targets! And I’m pretty mad about that because I am boycotting Target…but, that’s a whole different blog that will probably never be written, because I was taught that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. And unless a lot of people express their desire to hear about my beef with Target, I will just keep it to myself…unless provoked by Target, of course.

Ok, that’s enough “Fun Facts”, if you want more just google Lincoln, NE and look at the WHOLE Wikkipedia page. It’s cool!

We went to our ward yesterday, the Trendwood ward. There are 16 new families! Most of the students in our ward are Law students. We found out there is a professor in our ward that works in the Law School and recruits heavily from Utah. Pretty cool! It’s not a student ward but, it’s pretty darn close.

We also met our bishop! Bishop Christensen and he busted his business card out and told us that he would take care of all of our hearing needs! He saw Nathan’s hearing aid and Bishop is an audiologist!!! That is a huge blessing! Just on Friday we were looking for a dehumidifying container for Nathan’s hearing aid, because it is so humid here he needs to put it in one of those containers each night…or he should. Well, Walmart didn’t have them, so I was thinking we were going to have to find an audiologist and then one fell into our lap! Or ward! Or we ended up in his ward…anyway. I wanted to cry for joy. Now if we could just find out who in our ward is a Pediatrician!

Well, Nathan says this is WAY too long and he is cutting me off. But, we go signed up for our own internet on Saturday and it is working fabulous so, there will be plenty of blogs. I surely have to blog about what I did today! Seriously, stay tuned.

These are for Julie. She misses Marley so very much! And Marley misses her too…and Sammy.

We love you all!!!

Recent Pictures...

So, we are moving TOMORROW!!! Crazy! And I have an idea. Since, I'll be staying home with Marley once we are in Nebraska, I thought I would take a few weeks to write blogs about all the fun stuff we did this summer. So, stay tuned for plenty of posts to come. In the meantime, here are some recent pictures of our little miss.

This is a picture of Marley in her bassinet. She has loved to be bundled and found it hard to stay asleep if she ever got her hands/arms out of her bundle. She is adapting and finds it much easier to sleep with her hands/arms steadied on the sides of her bassinet. It almost looks like she is trying not to fall out. But, she's just holding her arms against the sides so they don't wake her up.





This is what Marley thinks people normally look like. I have been trying to read a lot more lately and her dad loves to read and so does her aunt Julie who is a reading junkie. Julie has been watching Marley since I've been working. So, Marley joined the club...the book club! (PS - Shantell, I'm pretty sure this is Ethan's book. I was supposed to give it back to you when we had lunch...sorry!)


This is hood blank she has. She liked it...she really did!

I don't know how he knew but, Nathan's grandfather randomly told Nathan that he doesn't take enough pictures of me. It's true...but, how did he know. Nathan is very obedient so, here's one now!

Well, that's it for now. We love you!

We Found An Apartment In Lincoln...Pheew!

It's called Gate Park Apartments. Here are a few pictures!































Here is a link to see a 360 degree tour: http://www.gateparkapts.com/tour.htm

Here is the layout, minus the deck/patio. Our apartment is half underground (garden view) so we have no balcony or patio. But, we've been told the windows are nice and big! And being half underground maybe we won't have to run the air conditioner as much in the summer!
























Features:
Convenient Central Loc. (3.88 miles from campus, .78 miles from the church)
Beautiful Brick Exteriors (as you can see above)
Garages (we get a garage!)
Quiet Community
Bus Line right across the street (bus fees are included in Nathan's tution)
Walk-In Closets
Ideal Location!!
Efficiencies, One & Two Bedrooms (it has a dishwasher!)
Beautiful Clubhouse (ummm...ok!)
All Electric
Controlled Entrance
Laundry In Each Building (ample laundry facilities, we'll have to stock up on quarters)

There is also a huge looking park right across the street, called Bethany Park. I couldn't find any pictures online but on the map of Lincoln it looks really big. And there is a huge Mall very close as well. That will be a nice place to go and walk in the winter.

We are so excited!!!

3 Month Old Pictures...

I have been meaning to post these adorable pictures of Marlayna. These were taken by a friend of a friend on July 7th, just a few days shy of Marlayna's 3 month birthday.

















































Here is a our serious baby.























She's dreaming of getting married in the Temple someday!
























This little piggy...

























Yesterday we had to stop into the doctor's office and have Marley checked out. She is now 10 lbs. 6 oz. The doctor says she is thriving. Her 4 month check up is on the 11th. She is growing so fast! We love her so much!

TAG

My sister did this "tag" game on her Blog and thought it sounded like fun.

1. Add a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

I wish... I'm glad...

I wish…

I wish my life wasn’t so hectic. Well, maybe it’s not, but it feels like it to me. Maybe if I was more organized…but, I don’t feel disorganized.

I wish I could let go of STUFF. It’s hard sometimes. I never know if I’ll need it. Maybe I feel disorganized because I have too much stuff and it’s ALL in two little rooms…and some under the stairs.

I wish I was better at blogging. Since I had Marlayna it seems so hard. But, I’m going to try harder.

I wish I was all caught up on reading all my friends’ blogs.

I wish I was a better member of the church. I could do better and I’m gonna!

I wish we could take the garden with us to Nebraska. (So does Nathan).

I’m glad…

I’m glad that I married Nathan.

I’m glad that we had Marlayna.

I’m glad that my parents are so generous and loving.

I’m glad that Nathan’s parents are so generous and loving.

I’m glad I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I’m glad that it’s Thursday, because then tomorrow is Friday!

I’m just glad.

New Post....FINALLY!

I don’t know why I haven’t blogged for a whole month!!! It’s my last full month of maternity leave; June has gone by SO fast! I have been savoring my time away from work and all my time with “MY PRECIOUS!” (Said like Gollum from Lord of the Rings).

A lot has been going on…I suppose I should start with the big news. Nathan has been accepted to graduate school in NEBRASKA. We are moving!

Basically, Nathan was just applying to the U because they have the program he is interested in and because we kinda wanted to stay in Utah. However, after he took the GRE, the University of Nebraska sent him various emails telling him to check out their GIS program and that they wanted him to come to their school. The first time he got an email we laughed about it…Nebraska!?!?! Yeah Right! After the second email we started thinking about it, and checked out their program through their website. It turned out that their faculties’ research aligned better with Nathan’s interests, than the U, and when we got to the financial information page it said that most of their graduate students went to school for FREE! We were hooked…at least hooked into applying and seeing what happened.

SO! He got an acceptance letter from the University of Nebraska in early May. It included the great news that he was also awarded a fellowship, which was based on his academic performance thus far and that it would cover all of his non-resident tuition. It also said that he didn’t have to do anything else besides send in the form to accept it!

This has been an interesting experience and I think Nathan and I have learned much. We are excited for this adventure and we are totally appreciative of our families’ overwhelming support for our decision to take this opportunity in Nebraska. Since we made this decision we have received more information from the GIS program at Nebraska that only confirms that Nebraska is where we belong for the next two years.

Nathan is excited to go back to school. He LOVES to learn. I’m excited for him! This is truly going to be an adventure!

We are still looking for housing out there. We immediately applied for the university family housing and soon found out we were #70 on the waiting list. Chances are we won’t get into family housing at all….ever. So, we are using the internet to find an apartment in Lincoln. It’s a fun process (not really) but it will speed up now that it’s July 1. Everyone was telling us that they wouldn’t know what openings they would have until after July 1. BAM! July 1, game on!

In a nut shell…Nathan has been accepted to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He will be working toward a Masters in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) which is basically a two year program. Our last day of work will be August 15, that night we will pack all our stuff in the biggest U-haul trailer available and embark on our move the very next morning. My mom and dad are pulling the trailer behind their Toyota Tundra and we will be driving our Honda. It’s gonna be fun! The closer it gets the more nervous I get…but, I KNOW it is right. Faith not fear!

Ok. This blog is long enough. I’ll write another one soon. I truly have a lot to blog about! Sorry I took a month off. Hopefully someone is still checking our blog.