Thursday was a very full day prior to moving. Wednesday I had gone up to Austin to visit my sister and her family because it'd been a few months since seeing them. Thursday we went and toured her dream house, which is really fantastic, and then I headed back to San Antonio. My dad and I had to finish fixing my car that he hadn't had a chance to finish last Saturday. About 5 or 6 months ago I took my car in to get everything looked over and our mechanic had told me that I needed my rear wheel cylinders replaced as well as the inner and outer wheel bearings for the rear wheels. They quoted me at it costing around $338 for parts and labor and all. They told me it wasn't needed immediately, so I've put it off. I just had no desire to spend that much at the time. When I told my dad he said we could probably buy the parts and he could fix it using a car lift at the mechanic shop on base. It just took forever to get to actually fixing it because it hadn't been at the forefront of our brains. But we decided we should do it finally before I drive to Mississippi and won't really be home again with enough time to do it. So we bought the parts and it came to $150, and he took it to the shop Saturday while I was at work and I was going to meet him with I got off. But he finished replacing the cylinders before I even got off. And was advised to get the seals for the bearings just in case they were bad. he paid $8 to use the lift for two hours. So Thursday we took it to the shop again and took literally 45 minutes to replace the bearings. It was so easy! The longest part was probably trying to figure out how to work the lift, because it was different than what he had used the last time. So we spent another $8 on the lift for the second day. My car is running better than ever! It's so much quieter on the road, I coudln't get over it on the way home. So instead of spending some $340 dollars to fix my car and lose it for a full day to a day and a half at the mechanic shop. I lost two hours of time and spent only $166. I'm so glad that we were able to do it without a problem. After fixing my car, I went home and proceeded to load it immediately. My brother worked magic loading my car, though it wasn't nearly as full or difficult as when I drove to Idaho for school last falll.
There was so much space left, we should be able to fit Garrett's things on the way back to Texas in September. (At least I hope!) Having my car packed and loaded, I ate dinner with my family, and a sister from our ward brought over my wedding dress that she had finished hemming it for me. After my shower my best friend Kirstin came over who is home from school in New York for a week. We spent some good time reminiscing our years of middle school because when I had been cleaning and packing up my room I found a poster we had written a ton of random things on. She also wanted to see my dress on me, so we did that, and it is absolutely wonderful! I am rather excited to wear it in September. She left around 2200 so that I could get to bed.
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| Buzz, Bubba, and I were ready for the drive! |
So Friday I left bright and early, 0430, for the drive to Gulfport. Buzz and I were ready to be on the road! After loading up the last few items, eating breakfast, receiving a blessing from my Dad, and filling up the gas tank, I hit the road. Let me just say, the drive between San Antonio and Houston was a tough one. I was extremely sleepy, but knew I had to keep driving to get through Houston before heavy morning traffic. My perserverance paid off, there were a ton of cars on the road, but they were all going fast. I don't think I had to go under 65 mph the whole way through Houston. It was great! When I finally made it to the other side, I kept my eyes open for a rest area. I knew that there was no way I would make the whole day without stopping to nap. I finally foound one about 30 miles before hitting Beaumont at about 0820. I parked in a nice shady spot, put up my windshield sun screen, cracked my windows, laid across my passenger seat, and promptly fell asleep. The blanket and pillow pile up that Buzz was perched on was incredibly comfortable. I slept for about 30 minutes and woke to my car beginning to bake and a man with a leaf blower walking by my window. I walked around for a bit and began my drive again. The day passed rather quickly and I made great time. I was at my apartment building by 1420. Unfortunately Shannon, our manager, called earlier and I thought I would be getting in around 1530, so there was a sign on her door saying she wouldn't be back until 1500. I went back to my car to figure out what to do for the next 40 minutes when luck would have it, she pulled up. So we got the paperwork signed and taken care of, I got the key to the apartment and I started moving in. The lady sitting outside downstairs from our apartment probably had many thoughts while I was unloading my car and carrying the set of three plastic drawers upstairs all by myself. When I finally got thing situated I took a shower and continued unpacking until Garrett showed up at about 1730.
After our reunion we decided to go get groceries and other necessities like toilet paper. :) We spend almost three long hours at Wally World and I was ready to get home at hour one. But we got things for sustenance for the time being and finally made it home. Unfortunately Garrett had a CQ (Command of Quarters) shift at 0800-1600 Saturday, so we woke early, took him back to base and I was able to go home and continue organizing and sleeping. :P When I finally was able to go pick him up we didn't have a crazy weekend out we mostly stayed in the apartment and enjoyed our time together. Sunday I got up early and made hash browns, eggs, and sausage. I also made a smoothie, but somehow when I was trying to pull the pitcher off the base it kind of unscrewed the bottom so the smoothie didn't exactly turn out well... I did manage to salvage about a cup full. I was very upset, but did not give into it and just let it run off my shoulders. We don't have an iron and Garrett didn't feel like leaving super early to go back to base to iron his white shirt so he wore a sweatshirt! I coudn't believe that he was wearing a sweatshirt in this heat, but he pulled it off. Our ward is a relatively good size. We got there early and were sitting in the chapel and had three different men(including the bishop) come and introduce themselves. A little girl behind us, probably no more than 2, apparently had become friends with Garrett when he was at the ward a month ago. She quickly came to sit with us and began pointing out our eyes, eyebrows, heads, etc. She is a handful, but so precious. Just before Sacrament was about to start a girl about my age walks in and sits a few rows in front of us. I lean to Garrett and tell him that is Taylor, sister of his friend Jake, who we were friends with (separately) in Texas. He didn't believe me because she now has a baby and we are in Mississippi. I hadn't seen her in well over a year, but remember her saying something about family in Mississippi and I knew that it was her. I knew her through a friend and her roommate that I hung out with all the time about three years ago. Garrett the whole meeting was determined that it was not her. So after meeting with the clerk to transfer our records to the ward, we were walking towards class and passed her in the lobby. She did a double take at us and we found out I was right. :) Her son Liam is about 4 months old I would say. She seemed extremely happy to see me and have someone her age around. We exchanged numbers and hope to hang out since we both are at home all day, every day. Relief Society was really good. I had a woman sit next to me and ask me if I was from Idaho. She was determined that I looked like I was from Idaho, not Texas. She was talking a mile a minute switching topics faster than a race car driver, but it was nice. She was very complimentary and couldn't believe my sister had made my earrings I was wearing and just kept going on and on. After the lesson, the president came up to introduce herself and said it was custom for them to come visit the new sisters who move into the ward. That this following week wouldn't work because she was going with the youth to Nauvoo for Youth Conference but they would call me. And she also was pointing out all of the younger sisters that I may connect with and was just extremely friendly. When it came up that Garrett and I hadn't been sealed she immediately said she would come with us when we did if it wasn't too far away. It was very sweet. Garrett already volunteered to help buil someone's deck the following Saturday in Elders' Quorum. I think this ward will be good to us and for us. We look forward to getting to know it better.
Ready for the tour of our semi-furnished apartment?
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| The view from the door. Immediately to the left is the kitchen. The open door on the right is the bathroom and closet. Straight ahead is the all in one living-dining-and-bed-room. |
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| I don't have a picture of the left side with the sink and dish cabinets because the window was messing up the lighting. |
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| Sink area. Lots of space! |
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| Right: is the shower and toilet. |
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| Left: Walk in closet. |
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| Our window seat (Now has a 39" TV in it) |
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Aside from leaving the hammer out; that I found very violently with the bottom of my foot later that night. |
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Our wonderful air mattress with a green fuzzy blanket that sheds worse than a dog...
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