Getting to know Milwaukee

On our second day here we thought we would go out and explore the city a little. We started by driving down to the dental school so we could see where Scott will be spending the majority of the next 4 years. Then we drove down to Rockwell to see where Steve's internship is. After the reasons we are all out here in Wisconsin we decided to drive out to Lake Michigan. We were grateful to have our smart phones for the GPS as we tried to navigate Milwaukee. We were driving to the Lakeshore Park, and in the middle of the Bridge/Freeway the GPS said "You have arrived at your destination."  It wasn't too hard to navigate to the lake once we got in the general area, but we realized that the GPS might not always be right.

"You have arrived at your destination"

The lake was very pretty, and very windy. It was a lot colder than I thought it would be. I hope to go out again sometime this summer, and I am hoping that it will be a little warmer next time.

The city is pretty, isn't it.

We're just cool like that. 

Trying to Stay Busy

I am desperate for a job, and this whole waiting game is driving me nuts! I had one interview and I am waiting to get called for a second interview. Scott and Heidi are both working on finishing an online BYU class, Steve is at his internship and I... I am bored out of my mind. There is only so many times that you can clean the apartment.

Last week my visiting teachers came by. I explained how bored I was and how I have nothing to do. I also mentioned that I wanted to paint a part of my kitchen with blue/white chevron. I won't forget the look they gave me, like, "You were just complaining about not having anything to do, why haven't you painted it yet?" It was the kick in the butt that I needed, why was I sitting around complaining when I had a project I wanted to do and I had time to do it? The next day I had it all taped and ready to go. Here is how it turned out. 

Before:

During:

 After:

Oh so Blessed

I sometimes have a hard time remembering that everything works out. It might not  be the way I hoped but in the end I usually can see why things are the way they are. I have been so blessed my entire life, sure I have had some rough times but it is because of those things that I am who I am today. Isn't that usually how it is? In the beginning it's always, "Why me?" and they you get further down the road and think, "Hmm... I get it."

When Scott told me that he thought we should move out to Wisconsin to go to Marquette I wasn't quite sure how to react. I already had it in my head that we were going to buy a house in Las Vegas, and I would have one of my best friends from high school not too far away. When Scott told me that he felt like we should go to Marquette I didn't see it coming. I was a little caught off guard, and completely intimidated by the unknown. I don't think I would even be able to point to Milwaukee on a map without googling it first. I had only been to wisconsin once, when I was like 13, and it was only for a couple hours. He called to tell me during one of my breaks at work, and the rest of my day was spent looking at maps of Milwaukee and googling the crime rates of the area. As much as I wanted to go down to Las Vegas I trust my husband and if he wanted to move to Wisconsin then I would be okay with it, if not now then eventually. Why move 1,500 miles away from home when we had the option of  moving 400 miles away?

It took some time, but I ended up at the same conclusion as Scott. Marquette felt like a good option and logically it would save us around $100,000. I researched for hours different things about Wisconsin. I wanted to know exactly what we were getting ourselves into. Then things started to fall into place. I wrote about deciding on Marquette on my blog, which was read by a good friend of mine. She then got some information from her cousin who is a medical student in Milwaukee. He gave me their landlord's information. Just weeks after deciding to come out to Marquette we had our housing figured out and things felt good.

We have been here for almost 4 weeks. Time has certainly flown by. Within a few days of being here we knew we were right where we needed to be. First of all, our land lord is absolutely amazing. Honestly one of the nicest people that I have ever met. Secondly, we have awesome neighbors. Our land lord owns 3 apartment buildings in our cul-de-sac, and they are rented by medical students (we're the only dental to move in here). The majority of the renters are also LDS. It's almost like like we are at BYU again, haha. We have get togethers once a week or so and it is so nice to socialize. I'm excited to get to know everyone better. Our ward is almost completely composed of medical and dental students, I think they said there were only 3 or 4 permanent families in the ward.

We are feeling so so blessed to be here. We honestly couldn't have had this work out any better. Things always have a way of working out.

Sometimes I wish that writing was one of my talents

Unfortunately writing is not a talent that I was born with. It just doesn't come naturally for me. I remember in elementary school my mom telling me that my sister, who was in about first grade at the time, was a better writer than me. Truth is, she probably was a better writer than me.

I have a lot of friends who have blogs that are interesting and witty. Many times I find myself laughing out loud at their stories and humor. I only wish that I had half the skill that they have when it comes to writing. I sit down to write a quick update on my blog and end up staring at a couple lines of terrible writing for an hour before giving up most days. Practice can only lead to me getting better and having writing feel more natural, right? Maybe this time around as I try to blog more regularly I can work on being more entertaining and witty while I'm at it.

My freshman year at BYU I made a list of 100 things that I would like to accomplish before I die. Not all of them are realistic, but they are all things that I wanted to do at some point. It included things like get married, have a family of my own, run a marathon, ride in a hot air balloon, etc. One of the things on my list was to write a book. I highly doubt it will ever happen, but maybe if I can figure out this whole writing thing it will be more plausible.

Last year, Scott's cousin, T. J. Robinson, published a book. I couldn't wait to read it. It's always fun knowing the author of a book. It was a great book. I didn't want to put the book down, which was very inconvenient considering it was in the middle of finals week. When I finished it I really wanted to write a book. Steve, my brother-in-law, said the same thing after he finished reading it. It's amazing how much influence a book can have on you.  It takes a great writer to make the reader wish that they could write a book too. He just announced that his next book will come out next February, and I can't wait. If you haven't read his first book I would say it is totally worth the read! His book is called The Academy Defenders and you can buy a hard copy online, or get it on you Nook or Kindle.

A place to call Home

It's so weird to think that we live in Wisconsin. I'm not going to lie, it has taken me a while to add the word "Wisconsin" to my vocabulary. Wyoming comes so much more naturally, maybe because that is where my dad lives and where Scott's parents are from. We live in Milwaukee Wisconsin and I can finally say it without having an awkward hesitation before I remember where we live.

Scott and I have been married for days 685 days, and this is the first time that we have had a place of our own. Most of our first year was spent renting my mom's basement, and the majority of our second year was spent living in Scott's parent's basement. Now we are living in our first apartment together. Steve and Heidi are living with us for the summer, but this place is still OURS. 

The move went great. A week before we moved we got all of our things packed into a large crate and had it shipped to Milwaukee. The worst part about the move was the fact that our stuff didn't get there until a few days after we did because it couldn't be delivered on a weekend. 

We got the car packed with all of our stuff the night before we left with the things that we thought we would need to get through the weekend along with the things we forgot to back in our crate (luckily it all fit). Bright and early the next morning we started our adventure to where we will call home for the next 4 years. We stopped for the night in Lincoln Nebraska after 13 hours in the car. Nebraska had a lot of fields, silos, barns, and not a whole lot of anything else.

This is what we saw on for most of our drive through Nebraska.
 This isn't a picture I took, but this is exactly how Nebraska looked.

It was pretty stormy during the drive, but when we got to the hotel we saw this rainbow. 

Our second day of driving was much better, and much shorter. We were able to finish listening to Eragon on tape and finally see where we were going to live for the next four years. 

I never realized how annoying it would be not to have any chairs or furniture to sit on. We would all just hang out on our air mattresses. Our first couple of days were pretty much one long extended nap. Our air mattress must have had a small hole in it. We would go to bed, and then would wake up in the middle of the night pretty much laying on the floor. Once we bought the large rug it made the floor quite a bit more comfortable.

The weekend we got here we also went shopping for a couch and a mattress. Our mattress was delivered the next day, but unfortunately the couch wasn't able to be delivered for almost an entire week. That is a long time to go without having something to sit on. When we got the couch it was much bigger than we were anticipating. I guess that is our fault for not measuring.

This is where we originally were planning to put it... that plan didn't last too long

We painted the apartment the second day we were here since we didn't have any of our stuff yet. The wall in the living room was red and the wall in the kitchen was orange. I am bummed that I didn't take any pictures before we painted, however I have the pictures that were sent to us from the couple who lived here before us. Here are some pictures, we're still working on the whole decorating thing. Eventually we will have more to hang up. I guess there was a paint spill on the carpet, so right before we moved in new hardwood floors were put in. 

Before:

After:

Our apartment is still a work in progress, and as we get things more put together I will post more pictures. We have only been here for 3 weeks, but it is starting to feel like home. 

4 years down, 4 more to go...

Last Friday Scott and his sister, Heidi, graduated from Brigham Young University. I am so proud of him (and her). Scott has worked hard to keep up his good grades even though he has already been accepted into dental school. Graduating is a huge accomplishment. I keep asking Scott how he feels and all he can think about are the 4 years of dental school ahead of him. I know that when I graduated I felt liberated, and wish that he felt some sense of accomplishment. When I walked in August I was still finishing up an online class that I needed to meet my last graduation requirement. However, I still remember the relief I felt walking out of my last class EVER at BYU. The day of my last class was the day I received a promotion and the day that I went from working the graveyard shift to working day shifts. It was also my 1 year anniversary of being married to Scott.

Scott and Heidi graduated at the same time but on different parts of campus so we had it arranged for Scott to walk with Heidi at hers. When they got to Scott they hesitated because they were trying to figure out the relationship between him and Heidi. Scott just stood there on a stage with an, "Well, this is awkward" face. Man I love that boy.

Scott & I

Steve & Heidi

The wind kept blowing Scott's tassel.

Scott was mad that the cap was going to mess up his hair, and kept complaining about how stupid he looked in the cap, but I think he looked much better with it on. 

Being at their graduation made me think about the time I spent at BYU.  I loved my time at BYU. That is where I met some of my best friends Suzanne and Allie, and it is also where I met Scott. I was challenged spiritually, mentally, and sometimes physically depending on where I parked. I was able to gain a stronger testimony and meet people who lived the same standards as I did. BYU had a major role in helping me become the person that I am today. 

I am grateful for how everything worked out for me to come to BYU. In high school I knew that I wanted to go to College but I didn't really know where I wanted to go. All I knew is that I didn't want to go to BYU. Being from Provo, only the kids who were too afraid to leave home or the really goody-goody kids went to BYU, at least that was my excuse for why I would never go to BYU. 

I remember one of my friends, Marinda, telling me that the deadline was coming to apply to a few schools and thinking, "What? You've already applied to college?" I didn't realize that you applied so far in advance, so I scrambled to set up an appointment with one of my counselors so they could help me figure it out. He urged me apply to BYU, even if it wasn't a school I had intended to apply to. 

I applied to only 4 schools, Arizona State, University of Utah, Utah Valley State College, and BYU, hoping that I would make it into at least one of them with my mediocre grades.  My first acceptance was to UVSC, I was just relieved to know that if all else failed I would at least be able to go to college somewhere. Then I received my ASU acceptance and then my U of U acceptance. My step-mom, who I was really close with at the time, urged me to go to U of U, her alma mater. She even took me on a tour of the campus. I was having a hard time choosing, should I move far away from home and back to Arizona or stay in Utah and go to University of Utah? I had forgotten about my application to BYU until I came home from school a couple weeks later to find a letter waiting for me. I knew that a few of my friends from school had already been wait listed, so I was expecting to get the same letter. When I read the first line of the letter Congratulating me on my acceptance I was overwhelmed with the feeling that BYU was where I needed to be. I was a little frustrated. That was the school I didn't want to go to in the first place. In time I got used to the idea and made plans to go to BYU. Looking back on it and knowing what I do today I wouldn't have had it any other way. 

It's Gonna Be an Adventure

Step 1: Getting into Dental School

Scott has been able to interview with many of the schools he applied to over the past 6 months or so. Once the interviews were over we had to play the waiting game until December 3rd rolled around.  Dental schools can't send out acceptances until the December. Scott and I were in Florida and he was so worried that he would miss a call from one of the schools letting us know what our application status was. Luckily we didn't miss any calls, even though we were on roller coasters for a good majority of the day. We got exciting news from from a few schools, but not all the schools had made their decisions yet. Out of the schools we got accepted to UNLV seemed like the best choice, and we were excited to live in sunny, warm Las Vegas for the next four years. Scott has family there and one of my best friends from high school lives down there with her husband. As soon as we got the acceptance packet we made out a $750 check to hold Scott's spot for the entering class of 2013.

Step 2: Choosing a School

Last week Scott got an email from the director of admissions at Marquette letting him know that his acceptance letter was in the mail. We really had to think about what school would be the better fit for us. There were so many different things to consider. This was hard for me because I didn't go with Scott to Milwaukee when he interviewed and I have no idea what life would be like living in Wisconsin. After a lot of thought, and maybe a few tears (on my end), we decided on Marquette. (Too bad that deposit on UNLV is non-refundable)

If you don't know where Marquette is that's okay we had to look it up too. It looks like we will be moving this summer to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. If you still don't know where that is see the map below, Wisconsin is in red. The current temperature there as I write this is 1° F. So much for moving somewhere nice and warm for the next 4 years. Other than the weather we are very excited to be going to Marquette. It will definitely be different from what we are used to right now.

Step 3: Going to Dental School

We will be moving out to Wisconsin this summer, probably July or Beginning of August. That means I have 6 months or less to make plans with people before we leave. This may sound like a long time, but it seems like a lot of the time it takes that long to actually find something that will work between multiple people. 

Here are some of the things that make us excited to move to Wisconsin:

• We will have a place of our own, we have been living with my parents or Scott's parents since we have been married. It will be fun to finally have a place of our own, although it will be a bit more expensive. 
• Marquette has a good basketball team, it will be nice to be able to cheer for our school's team not just because we go there, but because they actually play well. 
• Wisconsin has the GreenBay packers to cheer for. They don't play too close to Milwaukee, but after Scott's favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles, played so well this year we need a new team to cheer for. 
• It will be an adventure. We don't know anyone that lives out there so we will have to get outside our comfort zone and make some friends. 
• Chicago is only a couple hours away. I have only been to Chicago once when I was younger and Scott has never been. It will be fun living close enough to visit. Plus that is where the closest LDS temple is, and we have an excuse to go down every once in a while.
• Scott is excited that he gets to start working with patients his first year at Marquette instead of waiting for his third year had we gone to UNLV. 
• We get to make friends together. Right now it is my friends or Scott's friends (I like Scott's friends, and now consider them my friends too, but they will always be "Scott's friends"). With the friends we make while in Wisconsin they won't be just mine or just Scott's friend, we get to share them.

I don't know anyone in Wisconsin or anything about it. If you know someone who is familiar with Milwaukee and can give me the low-down on the good, the bad, and the ugly I would love to get some advice before we head out there.