Family Update -- March 2011

I realized that I never posted this, though I did make a post for it. 

John and I are doing well :) Our biggest news is that we got a dog. Her name is Silk and we think she's pretty much the perfect dog, or at least pretty darn close. Last week we were called as joint Sunday School teachers for the 16-17 aged youth. We may go without a class many weeks, as they go to serve the care center during the Sunday School hour. We continue to look at houses and might have news of an acceptance by next month, but it's still all unsure so we'll see :)

Family Update - February 2011

I will try to keep an update short and simple. If you want more information, check out our blog ( www.johnnyandbrindalynn.blogspot.com ) We will also be starting weekly updates again for those few who actually want to spend the time to read them :)

John and I moved to Draper the beginning of January. John's Dad has been renting out his house there since he got married and moved to Pleasant Grove about three years ago. He offered us free rent if we were willing to clean it up after recent tenants. It's been an...adventure...but the extra hour out of John's commute is fantastic.

John started his job at the church's tech department in Riverton the beginning of January as well. He loves it there. He was put on the Mormon.org project, but it's in a transitional phase right now so he hasn't had many things to do. He installed linux on his work computer so that has been keeping him busy :)

We are looking to buy a house :) With no kids, no debt, no school, great/excellent credit, a good job for John, and current free housing accommodations, we are in an ideal position to do so. Then add in the market right now and we would really be crazy not to buy. We are mostly looking in the south-western area of the Salt Lake Valley, partly to be semi-close to John's work, partly because we have been told that Saratoga Springs is likely to boom, and partly because we are finding unbelievable prices out there. We want to buy a little bigger than we really need -- but can still afford -- so that we can rent out the basement and still have

room to grow for many years. We've found lots of houses but we're still looking so there really isn't much big news until we have some things finalized. Since we're mostly looking at short sales, putting offers on houses (which we have done a handful of times) isn't as final as it would be otherwise.

Well, that's really our life right now unless you want the smaller activities and therefore deal with either John or I babbling on :P

Greetings from [little] America! #1 (John)

John's week update for family:


¡Que tal familia mía!  ¿Que me cuentan?

We've been here a bit over a week now, and we're still loving every moment.  We're having a great time, and feeling less like we're in Mexico than in Southern Texas on the border.  Monterrey doesn't have the flea markets and medium grocery stores everywhere, the seemingly disorganized but yet-so-effective mini-busses, or specialized little stores lining the streets that sell just pens and paper, or just computer cables.  Unfortunately American capitalism has taken hold, and giant megastores (eg, new Walmarts) like HEB, Soriana, and Walmart itself have overrun the medium-sized and effective grocery stores that I was so used to seeing in other parts of Mexico.  We do have mini grocery stores about the size of a normal living room, with three aisles of the bare-necessities, in case you forgot something on your last trip to your local megamart.  When I asked multiple taxi drivers if they new about a "computer mall" here (a conglomeration of hundreds of small booths each specializing in a specific area of technology, seen in Mexico City, Puebla, and Bangkok Thailand) these drivers referred me to Office Depot or Walmart.  I don't want that junk!  I want Rodrigo tucked in the back of a dark mall who carries every kind of usb cable known to man at Hong Kong prices, and nothing more!  I digress.

We got here a week ago Friday, at 12:30am.  Our trip started last Thursday morning at 7am with dad taking us to the airport.  We then flew to Denver for a short layover, then on to San Antonio.  There we grabbed a taxi to the dingy SAT Greyhound station and caught a bus headed for Laredo, Texas.  Three hours later we were there.  But our connecting bus was not.   We waited 30 minutes when it arrived and we boarded.  We proceeded to wait another 30 minutes on board.  However, we were informed that this bus would not be heading straight for Monterrey, as we expected, but would transfer in Neuvo Laredo, just across the border.  Oh great...I'm taking my wife straight into the war zone.

The border crossing was eventful.  First they stopped and all the Americans on board got off to buy a tourist visa.  Painless and quick (relatively, took about 15 minutes for the 8 or so of us to go through).  Then we drove another 100 yards to a station with a tall canopy and an office to one side.  The bus stopped, and a lady official got on with the bus driver.  I heard him say in Spanish, "that one in the back with the hat.  He looks lucky."  She pointed at me and motioned for me to follow.  Confused I grabbed my passport and headed off the bus where I followed her and the bus driver into the windowed, empty office area.  In the middle of the room was a pole with a button on it and two lights--a system I'm familiar with from the airports in Mexico.  It seems to be their way of creating random inspection so that bias or corruption doesn't come into play.  You push the button and if you get a green light, no inspection.  Red and your personal belongings are no longer so personal.

So, I approach and push the button.  Green.  Alright, that's it, then?  They ramble in Spanish to eachother and I'm free to go.  I ascend into the bus again to a group of apprehensive travelers.  The man in the front seat asks in accented English, "just tell me: was it good?"

"It was good!" I respond.  A cheer from the bus goes up as I walk past people eagerly shaking my hand, "Mano santo!" (Holy hand!).  "You just saved us a lot of time," thanks another homeward bound Mexican.  My lucky button push saved the whole bus and their belongings from a laborious inspection at 8pm.

The transfer was done quickly in Nuevo Laredo, and we were on our way with some apprehension about when we'd get in, since Brin's parents didn't know exactly when to expect us.  A call to their cell phone at midnight when we got in notified them of our arrival slightly earlier than we were fearing, but an hour later than expected.  Luckily they got there quickly...the dirty Monterrey bus terminal is not a place I enjoyed hanging around at midnight.

Our apartment here was the apartment of the previous mission doctor for the Monterrey east and west missions (I guess enough missionaries get sick down here that they call a full-time doctor on a mission here!)  Ricardo and his wife Mari-Carmen, the owners, apparently worked very hard to fix up our apartment just perfectly.  We had placemats on the table, a 5-gallon water jug to get us started, sheets and brand new pillows on the bed, A/C turned on, apples on the kitchen counter, and pictures hung purposefully around the apartment.  It is not the typical Mexican-quality dwelling I had braced Brin for, but much, much nicer.  At $5000 pesos a month ($420) plus utilities, we are more than satisfied with this two-bedroom, spacious apartment just 1.2km from campus (15 minutes walking).

All except for the dogs.  There are three dogs in the area (plus the owners' little yapper who lives downstairs) which like to bark randomly at 10pm, 1am, 6am, or 9am...whichever happens to be the point of my deepest sleep.  I'm ready to shoot 'em.  Prior to that step, however, I've downloaded an app on my ipod which simply emits a tone anywhere from 200hz to 20000hz.  I stop hearing it about 16000hz, but those awful mutts will not.  I'll need some good speakers which can blast 'em, though.

The Saturday after we arrived we went with Brin's parents to a friend's birthday party.  They served mole verde (chicken covered in a green chile and ___ sauce...mole!) and fruit salad and cake.  I was stuffed when we left.  Then the rumbling began.  My stomach rumbled until about 6am the next morning, when Moctezuma had his revenge.  Most of Sunday I was ok, then in the evening I threw up twice and communed a bit more with Moctezuma.  Hopefully that forged my stomach against all future bacteria!  (One can hope.)

This Wednesday we went to the temple, which was a very different experience here.  It's a beautiful building, right on a major highway, though not many locals (read taxi drivers) know where it is.  The rooms are just big enough for about 40 patrons at a time, so when 48 showed up (3/4 of whom were women) they added folding chairs in the front...a very common occurrence, I'm told.  It's interesting to see one of these new smaller temples around which concept the Draper and Oquirrh Mountain temples are designed, but those two are about three times the size of this one.

Classes are good.  The campus is a relatively small area (two city blocks) with about 16,000 students on campus here.  They have another 15,000 or so students spread around 22 smaller campuses around mexico.  ITESM (the Tecnologico de Monterrey, or simply "the Tec") is a private university considered by some to be the most prestigious college in Mexico.  We'll see if that holds true.  My four classes are going to be quite a load I can tell with a full-load of assignments in my first week.  I'm used to USU where teachers start assigning weighty homework around week two, maybe.

Love you all!

--

John and Brin

P.S. The mangos here are DELICIOUS!  The pineapple was pretty amazing too.  The Ranch dressing bought at the store here?  Not so much.

Family Update - John and Brin June 2010

John and I will hopefully be happily making new friends tonight during the family chat, so we won't be able to make it. :(
As for what's new for us: not a whole lot that I didn't cover in my last update, but I'm sure I can find something to share.
John likes his internship, after getting used to it. He was hired on to be a developer but has spent the last few weeks in quality assurance writing a test program because the
team they put him with needed that. However, he should be switching to programing this week or so, which will make him happy.
He likes the people he works with and is enjoying working for the church. He had a meeting with his supervisor and from the way this guy was talking, a job when John
graduates looks very promising. The church usually does hire on their interns, and even though they are in a hiring freeze, hiring interns is a way to bypass that since they're not "new" employees. Though John will probably look for other jobs, we are excited for his chance to work with the church longer.
We still have not heard back about Mexico and we're still tossing the idea back and forth, but at this moment we're heavily leaning towards going. We will let you all know when we know.
While helping Marcela's kids enjoy themselves at Discovery Gateway, I decided to apply there. I haven't heard back from them yet, although the girl I talked to made it sound very  promising. John and I dropped by to see how my application as coming but they didn't have anything to tell me, so we'll see how that goes.
John and I have joined his mother's ward and are enjoying it. Many people know who we are and are very welcoming. There are a few younger couples in the ward although we
haven't had much of a chance to meet many. That's where we're going tonight, to "Sunday Night Sweets" a couple in the ward put together for the younger couples in the ward, so we're hoping to make friends. We like friends. :) We invited one couple over for dinner sometime in the next week. They're expecting twins soon, so I'm hoping I'll get to
help her out with that.
I am happily making John fat by making him treats with my lovely Bosch and other food he likes (I made up an amazing taco soup recipe), while he goes to work and so no longer works out.
I woke up one day with a strong desire to run a 5K. Sometime soon we're going to buy nice running shoes so our feet don't die while John helps me work up to that. In the
meantime I'll use the elliptical taking up space in our living room.
Once again, we welcome visitors in our gorgeous canyon home. I had Jenny and Gideon over for a few days and absolutely loved it. John is a bit more skeptical about having kids over, but as long as he gets his sleep he's up for it.
After having complained that he's been rocking the cradle since we started dating, John has changed his tune once he realized that I only have a few more days left of being a teenager. He now insists we make good use of these last chances we have, whatever that means :P
Love you all! <3 :)

Family Update - John and Brin May 2010

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.