Our Pet Persie

Hello, All! I would like to introduce you to the newest addition to our family, Persie! We adopted her on Friday, and she is quickly becoming acclimated to her new home. She is two months old and quite a cuddler. She is laying on my lap right now.

Now, on to how she got her name: At first we wanted to call her Yankee, but the name just wouldn't stick. It didn't fit her. Then we had this little number happen (see photos below):

These photos were taken after Persie devoured an entire can of cat food. She would not even let me get it out of the can. Why? Well because she refused to eat anything for the first 24 hours we had her. We were quite concerned. We tried five different kinds of food and she would not touch them. Finally, I tried the very first one again, and she DEVOURED it. Apparently she likes salmon and nothing else. And so, we named her Persie, short for Persnickety. We love her. The End.

The Trip Out Here

I have been meaning to post about the drive out to New York. It doesn't seem like it was that big of a deal now that we are here, but it was no small drive. We drove for three days straight. Numerous times I would think to myself, "What are we doing??"

The list

To keep us occupied, we checked off the different states' license plates we saw. Johnny did not allow us to count cars at rest stops or gas stations. or semis. This was the real deal. We also did crosswords and listened to music. And we talked a lot of course. I took a picture to document each state we drove through...

This pretty much sums up Wyoming.

Nebraska

Our first night (Saturday) we stayed in Omaha at my brother-in-law's parents' house. I have never been so happy to have a soft bed to sleep in. The first day was sixteen hours of driving, so we were the most exhausted after that day. My brother-in-law's mom packed us subs for the next day, and it was one of the most pleasant stays we have ever had with anyone!

Iowa, which actually had more cornfields than Nebraska

This was me the whole trip. I know, tough life.

This was Johnny. Can you tell that we'd hit the humidity by this point?

The essentials

Inside the truck (and I wonder why people think I'm underage...)

Indiana

We stayed at a hotel in Indiana on Sunday night and visited Notre Dame University. That place is so picture perfect. It makes BYU look junky. It really is the prettiest campus I have ever seen. It is like a Hogwarts for muggles.

Ohio

Pennsylvania

In PA we stayed at my Uncle Pat's house. He has a house about two hours from New York. We were SO glad to be done. He took us to a local diner, and then we just relaxed at his house. Once again, we were so grateful to have someone to stay with that night.

New Jersey (We're getting close! Can you tell?)

Crossing the George Washington Bridge

Entering the city!

In NYC

Another look at the city

We arrived Tuesday morning, and two sets of missionaries from our church and my friend Lindsay came and helped us unpack. We were all drenched in sweat. Johnny looked like he'd jumped in a pool with all his clothes on (no offense, Johnny...just memories for posterity). It was an exhausting trip, but we made it without any complications, and for that we are quite grateful!

Teeny Update...more to come soon!

Well folks, I have much more I need to post about, but I have been BUSY!!! Okay, yesterday I spent HOURS scrubbing the bathroom. It was disgusting. I swear it had not been scrubbed for over  a year. Now the white tile is actually white, and the grout is more of a beige color rather than black. Eww, I can't believe I lived with it like that for a week. Then I scrubbed the wood floors, which I honestly don't think had been mopped for ages. And the whole time I was thinking, "NO WONDER this city is full of infestations of various kinds. None of these yankees know how to clean worth a dern."

That saying, "worth a dern," is one my mom always says...I feel my southeastern pride returning full blast now that I am in this northeastern city that doesn't know the meaning of customer service. Example one: "Come on sweetheart, I don't have all day." That's what the FedEx guy said to me as I was signing for a package. Really? You don't? Where do you need to go? Thankfully, my landlord was standing right there and said, "Hey, she's not from around here. She doesn't understand." Not that he's much better. He has the thickest New York accent ever, which for some reason frightens me to death.

Anyway, I will be posting more soon, I promise. But for now I thought I'd leave you with a picture of what I will be looking like every day out here in the city...curly hair or nothing. I tried straightening my hair one day, and I was poof head for the whole day. Errgh, Utah, why did you spoil me with your blessed dry weather? The humidity is a beast.

Oh, oh, oh, and Johnny started work on Monday, and he is really enjoying it. He loves his partner, Klane, and he said everyone at his work is super nice. I am so happy for him! Okay, that's all for now. We love and miss you all!

Our New Home

We are alive and well. I have so much I need to post about. Hopefully these pictures of our new place will hold you over until I get more time to post. Johnny and I spent every second from Tuesday to Friday getting it livable. It still isn't perfect--as you will see from the pictures, but it has come a long way from where it was. I will post more about everything going on when I get a chance! Miss you all!

Spending Mode

(our future place of residence)

I haven't updated for a while, but let me tell you, our life is CRAZY right now. So, let me give you a little update. Johnny went to NYC last week in the hopes of finding us an apartment. The first day of looking for apartments was both exhausting and depressing. However, Johnny had high hopes of finding a place the next day. And find a place he did! It's tiny, but all our stuff will fit, and we are excited! Yesterday we went and got most the stuff needed to organize our small space, and money is leaving our bank account like no other. With getting an apartment and preparing for the move and getting a U-haul, I'm starting to wonder about this whole NYC thing. . . . But despite being temporarily emptied of cash, we are both still super excited. Wish us luck this next week!