Christmas in Las Vegas

New Year, new city, new blog template! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday last week. Justin and I had an interesting holiday to say the least. We got all our stuff moved in Saturday December 21st at around 5pm. The couple that had moved out that same day, we came to find, had not really 'moved out'...upon entering our apartment we saw a corner full of moving boxes and other household things. The guy had told Justin that they weren't able to move 'everything' so they asked if it would be all right if they could leave their couch and 'a few thing...' which translated to "We didn't move anything and you have permission to use the couch and TV." Ugh. It really bothered me because it was really inconsiderate but it wasn't all bad. Their couch was really nice and we got to use their TV. Justin knew of a gift Jon and Laura got for us - a chromecast - so he opened it early and we used it with the TV. It allows you to watch anything from your phone, tablet, or laptop on the TV so that was fun for a few days. 

Sunday we had church at 11 AM. The ward is really different than anything we've experienced. It reminds me a lot of Lost River Ward but with a lot more diversity. According to our new bishop the ward gets a lot of visitors -- probably because it's the nearest chapel to the strip so people on vacation or visiting stop by for church at our ward -- so everyone thinks we're just visiting but when we say "we're new to the ward" they're shocked and excited because hardly anyone moves into the ward and stays. Turns out we're not staying either and no wonder...but more on that later.

Monday Justin headed to work and I did what I could to the apartment and bought some food for Christmas. Since it would just be the two of us I was determined to cook a fabulous meal since that would be pretty much all we had. We went apartment shopping because we are anxious to get out of this apartment. Tuesday Justin got off work early and we purchased our Christmas gift - a new lease to a new apartment in Henderson really close to Justin's work and just a hop, skip, and jump from my school. Move in day is February 1. We spent the afternoon cooking together. I made a Christmas ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, suffing, Christmas jello, and a Christmas Eve slush I found out of a cookbook. It was frozen orange juice and lemonade concentrate with more water and sugar and banana covered in 7-up. It's awesome. I planned on making rolls as well but after all that I was too burned out so we went without. While we cooked we watched "White Christmas." It was really fun making all that good food. Justin made a coconut cream pie and we ate around 5:30. It was FABULOUS! Yum yum, so good. And luckily I made enough to feed the Beal Family so we are STILL eating leftovers. We played a few games - Ticket to Ride and 1 to 100 over and over - and then started "It's a Wonderful Life." Part of Christmas Eve tradition for me is falling asleep to that movie. Justin had us take a moment to write each other a gift since we didn't buy anything for each other and to write a gift to Christ which was really nice and it made me cry. I married the best guy!

I used Christmas wrapping for place mats

Ticket to ride
my high score: 142
Justin's high score: 166

Christmas morning we made breakfast first and then opened gifts. I made German pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. We got around to presents and opened just a few. Like I said, we didn't buy anything for each other, but friends gave us some gifts. My parents gave us a gift including a priceless letter from Dad. Justin's parents got him some more tools. Justin's boss got us a blender. And that was about it for gifts! We spent the day together just taking it easy in the morning and later going for a long walk at Sunset Park which is a huge park just down the street from us. We spent most of our afternoon there.

Justin went back to work the next day and I needed something to do. I couldn't do anything to the apartment with all the moving stuff in the way so I spent the day in the library. Friday the couple finally came by and took their stuff away. They were really frustrating to me and I was glad to have them finally gone. Fridays Justin gets work off early so we went furniture shopping! I really like furniture shopping when the sales people leave you alone. We saw some sectionals we really liked for a good price. We plan on looking more closely when we move to our new place. No sense in moving it twice! 

Saturday we did more furniture shopping and got a quote on fixing our transmission. Ugh...car repairs are expensive! We might as well buy a new car! We're still looking around for the best deal but it's not going to be cheap. Dang it. We went to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory. They have a botanical garden with lots of cacti and this time of year they put tons of Christmas lights all over them - I wouldn't want that job! We had fun walking around there and eating free samples of delicious chocolate.

Sunday was another good day with Justin all to myself. At church we had combined Priesthood and Relief Society and a lesson on staying out of debt. Justin and I have to be the best example of living within your means right now. We don't have any furniture, but we have each other and for now that's enough. 

Kitchen

Family Room

We use the cooler for a table at dinner

Air mattress

As for now, we're looking into moving our move in date up. We really hate it here. The apartment is great. Sure, we don't have a dishwasher or a microwave, but it's the right size and just what we need. Well, turns out we don't live in Rexburg anymore folks! You can't just make any apartment work. Yes, the apartment is just the right size for just the right price, but it is in the middle of the ghetto of Las Vegas! Police sirens are dependable every 20 minutes. When we watch 24 we consider it surround sound. The couple that lives right below us are constantly fighting and yelling at their kids and their dogs are terribly mean and bark all the time. The worst is late at night when hooligans come to the apartment complex and turn up their bass and rap right outside our bedroom window making sleep impossible. Just last night two people were fighting right outside our bedroom window. It's terrifying! I am a young, pretty white girl and I live in the middle of crime and I'm afraid to take out my trash and do the laundry! I find myself trying to be quiet when I'm here because I don't want anyone to hear that I'm here alone! I hate it here. Hate it hate it hate it. I can't WAIT to move. I have a countdown going - and after last night Justin has given me hope that we might be able to move sooner. Like, real soon. It's so bad that we're willing to pay for rent here AND our new place just to get away from here. That will be expensive but it's better than staying. 

Well enough of that rant. Next week I hope to bring good news of us moving out as soon as possible to Timberlake apartments. 

Goodbye Rexburg

Our last moments in Rexburg seemed to go by so fast! After we heard the news that Justin got the job it felt like right away he was on his way back to Las Vegas to start. Before he left, however, we had one last weekend together, and Chase and Rachel and Chase's friend stayed for a few nights for Chase to take his Paramedic final exams. They rolled into Rexburg on Thursday, December 12 and Chase's friend Abe stayed as well. Justin and I went to "Grad Night" which is a special program with President Clark. He gave a cool analogy about being "Plan A" in our new lives wherever we go.

Friday I worked all day Chase and Abe went hunting all day while his friends studied for the big test the next day. Funny. Justin and I got together with friends at The Hickory for dinner and then went to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It was a gathering with our friends from Ultimate so that was a fun last get-together. Saturday morning I tried to make Rachel feel not so lonely with Chase hunting and taking tests so I took her to play racquetball before she went off to a baby shower and Justin and I played some indoor pick up for 4 hours! We played from 10 to 2 it was crazy but fun. We also took pictures that morning and evening for graduation and also just some couple photos for our last days in Rexburg! We went to a Comic Frenzy show that night which is usually a really good comedy show on campus. This time was just all right but still good.

Sunday morning Justin caught his flight to Vegas and I went to church. When I got home from church, Chase and company had cooked up all his killings so I had a nice duck sandwich for lunch and they left shortly after. It had been foggy for a few days and up to this point it made some sweet ice crystals on all the trees!

It was a good thing Justin was gone that week because that helped me not want to go home which meant I stayed late on campus to finish all my school work as fast as possible. I wanted to hang out with Trisha one last time so I called Keaton and we went to Trisha's house for FHE Monday night. We ate pizza, worked on a puzzle, and watched a Charlie Brown Christmas show. I'll miss having Trisha close to hang out with whenever I want! I was able to take my last two tests for the TERRIBLE AWFUL mineralogy class by Tuesday so I was so happy when that was over! I had a meteorology final Tuesday as well, and we ordered pizza to eat while we took our test in class so that was awesome. Wednesday I finished a project and portfolio so Thursday morning I was ready to pick up Justin at the airport! 

We spent all day Thursday and Friday cleaning and packing. We really whipped our apartment into shape! Justin was a magician with fitting most of our stuff into our car. The deal was if it doesn't fit, it doesn't go, and he had a "make it work!" moment. Fortunately, one of my fellow student-teaching friends rented a Uhaul and he said if we had other stuff we could put it in his truck. We were able to fit our nice book shelf and Christmas tree in his Uhaul! Awesome. While Justin packed I detail cleaned everything and practiced my speech. We got it all done by Friday night when Keaton and Mom and Dad came over to then drive to the BYU-I Center together for commencement. When we got inside it looked like I had to go to the basketball courts to line up with my college (Physical Science and Engineering) while everyone else found their seats. I gave Justin my coat but didn't think to give him my bag...I didn't realize I shouldn't have anything else with me until it was too late, so I hid my bag under my gown so hopefully it wasn't too noticable. Ha. For Commencement we had the General Relief Society President speak. She did a nice job and I really enjoyed the whole program. After that we took some pictures (after fighting for our spot by the Christmas trees!) and then we made our way to the Taylor Building for Convocation with my college. Trisha was able to come to this part of the program so that was fun to have her there! I sat up front and waited for the program to start to give my speech. I was so nervous. Ugh, I hate being nervous. But After someone sang "O Holy Night" I thought "giving a speech is WAY BETTER than singing a solo" and it turned out great! Mom and Dad raved afterward and said they really loved it so that made me happy. My faculty mentor was there and I had him meet the family and a few of my other teachers who loved my speech too (I talked about rocks and minerals so OF COURSE they loved it). That was pretty much it for graduation so we walked out to a blizzard! Ugh...we would have to drive in it the next day but we tried to really soak it up as it was our last snow storm for a long time. We drove back to our apartment and said goodbye to everyone (I didn't shed one single tear the whole night -- I know, you don't believe me!) and Justin and I made a final stop at the Cocoa Lodge for some last yummy hot cocoa. My friend Emily stopped by for a final time and we hit the hay.

Brother Peck -- College Dean

Sister Willis -- Department Chair

Saturday we got up at 5:00 and we were on the road at 6:00. The blizzard wasn't so blizzardy anymore, but it was icy on the roads so we drove no more than 55 mph all the way to Pocatello. From there we switched so Justin could get some shut-eye (nearly impossible as we had the passenger seat pushed as far up as you can imagine) and the storm continued. We switched again before we hit the busy parts of Utah where we started seeing tons of car accidents. It was so crazy. We saw one car that was stuck on the side of the road and right after that we saw a car fish-tail out of control and end up right next to the already wrecked car. Ugh! It was terrible, and the storm was unrelenting all the way to Ceday City! I couldn't believe it, but we had icy or slushy roads that whole time. We finally pulled into Las Vegas around 4:00 their time, making a total 11 hour road trip. I'm so happy to not have to drive that far again for a long long time. 

More details on the apartment to come...for now we are grateful the lease is only until February, and we are seriously considering leaving long before that. Ha...For this week I plan on doing a lot of cooking and crafting to make Christmas extra special for Jutstin and me as we're stuck here for the holidays. We're making the best of it! Merry Christmas everyone!