My family has a family chat every first Sunday of the month, and usually we post updates on our family site. I don't do so very often, but this is our update for May.
As a couple of you know, John and I got married March 12 (or maybe you all knew, you were there after all). We moved up to Logan so John could finish up the semester. Though we originally thought it would be easy to find a place to stay, it was actually really hard. Luckily John found a guy in his ward who was living alone in a studio apartment and was getting really sick of it. John was able to make a switch with him, giving him John's private room with 5 roommates, and us our own studio apartment.
It was quite roomy compared to what I was expecting (like Teresa and Mike's studio apartment, which is practically a couple of closets stuck together), and though neither of us would choose to live there again if we had the option of somewhere else, it served us quite well for the 6 1/2 weeks we were there. See facebook for a photo tour :)
The Lord blesses newlyweds a lot. John was able to apply for FAFSA retroactively for the 2009-2010 school year, and we were given grants generously, including one because of his major. I wasn't able to, since I had already applied for FAFSA and even though my status had changed I still couldn't. For John, however, even looking at the FAFSA had been a waste of his time previously, but now that he's independent it was very worth it. With grants from last year and next semester, as well some scholarships John is likely to get, we feel very blessed :)
John has an internship with the church at the tech department in Riverton. He just started his first day this morning :) He will be programming, what exactly he would be told when he got there. They listed the church website, missionary organization programs, and um...other stuff as options. :)
If it goes well we are hoping they will offer him a job when he graduates next semester. He figures they put a lot into an intern so it's unlikely they'd just forget about him once the internship is over. He thinks he'd like working for the church, at least for a while, and it would be nice to know that there is something for sure waiting after he graduates. We will see.
I did not go to school last semester, and I will likely not continue for the foreseeable future. I'd like to take night classes or maybe audit a few sometime, but for now I'm just staying home, making John food, and hopefully getting a job soon so I don't go crazy. However, being married is a lot easier than being single, as far as staying home all day with little to nothing to do, and being in Salt Lake is a lot easier than being in Logan, as I have more friends (and family) to spend time with down here, and it's summer so not everyone is busy being productive.
We moved down to Salt Lake for the summer last week. We are living in John's mother's basement up Immigration Canyon. Yes, I know, living with the in-laws should be avoided, but it's actually a rather good deal. We will be here only for 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 months, and it's really hard to find someplace that will rent for less than 6 months, especially when the exact time we're staying is unclear. We have been and will continue to move around quite a bit, so getting our own furniture at this point is a much bigger hassle than is worth, so we need a furnished apartment. Here, we get our own very nice apartment for a third of what we'd pay for the cheapest unfurnished apartment we'd be able to get.
There is a whole apartment sectioned off relatively easily; just throw a deadbolt on a door and it's ours. We have our own front door and kitchen (though we are missing an oven, which is a downside), not to mention fireplace, big screen TV, parking spot, leather couches, ping-pong table, extremely generous and obliging landlady...etc. Plus everything else we share, including hot tub, cute little stream, gorgeous yard, trampoline...it's a nice set up. Nieces and nephews are welcome to stay over and play sometime :)
The reason we are unsure of how long we will be here for the summer is because John applied for a study abroad for the coming fall semester. He's always wanted to do one and he figured that his last semester is a good (last) chance. He's (practically) obsessed with Mexico and one of the best Universities down there is Tec de Monterry, which, coincidentally, has its base campus in Monterry, Mexico, quite close to where a certain senior missionary couple happen to be serving. Also coincidentally only 5 hours away from the beach...but that's a different story :P
There have been a few problems with safety concerns, as there are drug wars going on in that area. The school safety people are concerned and if they say no then he can't go (unless he forfeits their support, which would be silly because then nothing he did down there would count for graduation at USU). So far it hasn't been that bad; John hasn't been too concerned, but the last travel warning included Monterry specifically instead of just mentioning happenings there. So we will see.
The school had to wait to send his application until he was sure he was willing to take the risks, so hopefully they sent it last week. Once it's sent it should take 4-6 weeks for them to reply, at which point we will know if we can go. If we can, we will be down in Monterry from July 30 until late November/early December.
I have no idea what I'll do down there since I can't speak Spanish. John is hoping we will be able to find some family who wants an English-speaking nanny, so maybe that will work out. If not, I guess I'll just spend 4 months in the temple keeping Mom company :P However, despite the daunting idea, I'm really excited to go down there if we can. John registered for classes as if he were going to school in Logan next semester -- they'll be automatically dropped if we do go -- so if it doesn't work out we'll just be in Logan for fall semester.
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