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.