Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Louisville Life

Tomorrow marks a week since we moved to Louisville. I can't say everything has been easy-peasy but after reading my last post and reminding myself that I want to be the kind of person who finds the good in all situations I am going to attempt to do so. Let's just say the last week has been super eventful! But first lets back up a bit. I'll have to blog about graduation and spending time with my family who came into town in another post so this one doesn't become eternally long. So I guess I'll start at the move. On Jeremy's 25th birthday, May 31st, we packed all our belongings into a 16ft Budget truck, hooked up our one old car to the tow dolly, turned in our Boise townhouse keys and spent the rest of the evening with Jeremy's family before we left. Jeremy was super excited for his chocolate cake, with chocolate chips, and chocolate frosting (can you tell he's a chocoholic?).

The next day, June 1st, we set off on our mammoth journey! (So sad we didn't take a pic with the moving truck) Here's where we traveled to along the way:
June 1st: Drove to Spanish Fork, Utah and stayed with my sister Jessica, her husband Greer, and my neice Zoe.
Oh I'm going to miss my little Zoe!
June 2nd: Said goodbye to my sister and drove to Grand Junction, Colorado
Where we stayed in Grand Junction. Not bad but not great!
June 3rd and 4th: Drove to Colorado Springs, Colorado and stayed for two days with my college friends Dave and Camille, as well as visited with our good friends from Boise Shae and Wes. (Not sure how I didn't get any pictures with Camille and Dave?!?!?) Dave and Camille introduced us to Ticket to Ride and we played probably 6 times. Camille also made the most incredible dinners and desserts for us. She is an amazing cook and Jeremy is still raving about it!
Garden of the Gods with Jeremy
Garden of the Gods with Shae and Blake
June 5th: Drove to Topeka, Kansas
This my friends was as exciting as Kansas got!
June 6th: Drove to O'Fallon, Illinois
St. Louis Arch
June 7th: ARRIVED IN LOUISVILLE

We really are blessed that the drive went so well. I was terrified of tornadoes hitting us along the way but I'm happy to report there were no tornadoes. The worst weather we experienced was strong winds, and I'm just fine with that.
Soon after pulling up to our new home 4 or 5 guys from the elders quorum arrived to help us unload the moving truck (so grateful for the church). Half an hour later everything was unloaded and we started the unpacking process. Little did we realize that a few disasters were about to strike...
The next morning we woke up early to take the rental truck back (it had to be there by 8am to avoid any late fees). I jumped in our car to follow him there and after backing out of our spot the car made an awful noise, like the engine was dragging on the ground, and refused to move. Nothing could get it into gear, even putting it in park wouldn't work and the car would just roll backwards. Jeremy helped me push the car back into the spot, put on the emergency break, and he headed off in the truck while I woke up the only people I knew in Louisville to ask for help. (Sorry Lookhart family!) They are amazing people and jumped at the chance to help and even let us borrow one of their cars for the weekend until we could figure out what to do with our junker. A mechanic from the stake came to take a quick look at the car and told us that the AV axel was broken...awesome. So we had it towed to a shop and paid the huge amount to get it fixed only to receive a phone call about an hour later saying that our front breaks and roters were REALLY bad. At this point I'm in tears, and just so frustrated how much everything was costing and not sure how much to put into our junker car. We told the mechanic to just fix the axel and in the meantime Jeremy convinced me to go looking at new cars. Well friends, as opposed as I was to buying a new car, we really did get a sweet deal with super low payments, low interest, and a good trade in for our junker. We are now proud new owners of a 2012 Hyundai Accent.
Jeremy LOVES the new car...he hasn't even let me drive it yet!

While all this was going on the air conditioning in our new place decided not to work and we were in a hot humid apartment for over 24 hours with no air conditioning (probably what exacerbated my emotions). Also right before our car decided to break down we splurged on a really nice, new washer and dryer (we've never owned any and our new place just came with hookups). Probably wouldn't have bought such nice ones if we'd known we were going to buy a new car a few days later. Oh well...
Love our new washer and dryer!
So today our washer and dryer finally arrived for installation. I was so excited all day as I haven't done laundry in 2 weeks and was on my last pair of underwear! Well as the installation man was putting in our washer we heard him say, "Uh oh, somethings wrong with the washer. In my 7 years of doing this job I have NEVER seen this." Well, the 4 supports that hold up the washer drum had bust and the drum was literally sitting on the ground. The man called LG to report it broken and we were offered $100 or for a repair man to come fix it...um yeah right!!! The installation man politely refused both options and insisted on a complete replacement, which we will receive....NEXT WEDNESDAY!!! (hangs head in defeat) So off I went to the laundromat...at least I only had to pay for the wash since I have a working dryer!
So my friends Louisville has not been so kind to us so far, and has insisted on burying us deeper in debt. I've cried, I've screamed, and I've felt really defeated....but on the other hand there have been really amazing things that have happened!
  • We love our new townhome and are almost completely done unpacking (pictures to come)
  • We have met some incredible dental/medical couples who I know we will be great friends with. One of the medical couples even lives in our complex and they are just wonderful!
  • We've already been invited to a Sunday dinner, movie night, girls night watching the bachelorette, church ball, and many more...
  • I have experience fireflies for the first time, which are truly amazing! Love them!
  • There is a Walmart and Target IN THE SAME PARKING LOT just down the road from us!
We are hoping that the Lord sees we are sufficiently humbled for now and that the huge trials will slow down a bit. Nevertheless, we are grateful for the blessings in our life and are so excited for what is to come in the next days, months, and years. Now it's time to decide what fun little trip we would like to take before school starts on July 2nd and before I find a job....we are so close to so many places! More to come on our adventures....