The New Jetsons Have Arrived in San Luis Obispo

If you're reading this, then you know that Mer and I survived the move. Though we've hauled all of our stuff down to SLO, we haven't completely disappeared from the bay area. In fact, we'll probably be seeing members of our old ward almost as much as our new ward until the quarter starts. Then goodbye until Thanksgiving. You're welcome.

We loaded up the u-haul Friday morning. It was really a Budget moving truck, but people call any moving truck a u-haul. We had tons of support from the ward, from movers to cleaners; it went super well. We have such great friends in Hayward. Merilee headed down before our friend Andrew and I did. She was driving the new car that we bought. Excuse me, did I say car? I meant spaceship. At least, it feels like a spaceship when you drive it. Needless to say, it was a great Fit.

She got there around 3 to sign some paperwork so we could actually move in when the truck arrived. Andrew and I pulled in with the truck around 4:00 pm and the three of us started unloading. I had told the Elder's Quorum to expect us there by 5:00 pm since I didn't know if it would be a slower drive in a 16' moving truck packed with belongings. It turns out I can go 80 in any vehicle, so we were a bit early. By probably around 5:30 pm, with some help from the Elder's Quorum, we had everything in the apartment and were able to drop off the truck the same night. It was a pretty smooth move if you ask me.

After that, we immediately started the drive back to the bay area. Some wonderful friends of ours were married on Saturday in the Sacramento Temple. Terry and Jennifer looked so great and so happy. We're so grateful that we were able to attend the ceremony. It reminded me of our sealing one year ago on this Saturday the 26th. They were amazing times, to say the least. But more importantly, every day since then has been even more of a blessing with Merilee.

I don't think marriage is anything like what people expect. It's like men trying to imagine the pain of birthing children, though hopefully marriage wouldn't be painful. I imagine Terry and Jennifer had hopes for happiness leading up to their wedding, but if it's anything like Merilee's and my experience, you don't know how happy your marriage can be until your in it. Satisfaction with most things wanes over time, but if the relationship is healthy, marital happiness only increases with time (says the man about to reach his first anniversary). There's not a lot of things that have that kind of satisfactory return.

Moving along... After the wedding we took pictures and went to dinner. There was a chance for people to speak and Merilee stood up and cried (naturally). We finally got back to Castro Valley around midnight to spend the night at Mer's sister America's place. We were pretty exhausted since we had left around 7:40 am to go on a YSA float trip that was 15 minutes from the temple. On Sunday we went to church in Hayward for the last time as members of that ward, got home-taught, said goodbye to America and her kids, then went on a double date with Andrew and a girl from the YSA ward named Morgan.

After all of that, our original plan was to drive back that night to SLO so we could maximize the amount of time I'd have to help unpack the apartment before having to drive back up to Hayward for my welding class on Tuesday. In the interests of safety, we decided to spend the night and leave Monday morning. We stayed that night at the same place that I'm staying while I'm wrapping up the class. I call it, the Hotel Monte, also known as Jonathan and Sarah's. They're such great hosts and the beds have no bugs!

So now I'm just in Hayward Tuesday through Thursday this week and next week. I might have to come back up again on the 5th of August for the final, but the instructor might have been mistaken when he said that. We'll both be up next week for Terry and Jennifer's reception on the 1st. Plus, we still have tickets to the Oakland Zoo that my mom gave us that we need to use, and then Merilee will be flying in and out of Oakland for a wedding in Utah later in August. Basically, you haven't gotten rid of us yet completely, bay area. With all this driving, it's a good thing that our spaceship gets like 45 miles per gallon.

Moving SLOly

First, this cat's face.

Auditioning for the role of Lord Voldemort.

Second, Merilee just told me that once she finishes her current book, she'll have nothing to read because all of the other books are packed up. We'll just have to make sure the fancy animal materials are still available.

We're getting things packed up for the big move on... the 18th or 19th? We're not sure. We were invited several months ago to a wedding towards the end of August but we just heard from some other friends that it was moved to the 19th of this month instead. We already have our move in/out date set but we could potentially be renting a moving truck for two days instead of one, since going down, unpacking, and making the trip back up and paying for gas will probably be as fun as it sounds.  I guess that is all assuming we're still invited to the wedding. That could be a potentially awkward conversation.

My welding class is pretty fun. There's a lot on the practical side of engineering that I guess I didn't/still don't know. We've been playing indoor soccer on Monday nights with the single's ward. It's my workout for the week since I've been lacking the motivation for the much needed exercise. I weighed in at 190 the other day. 

For the fourth, we had fun at the ward BBQ with some of our neighbors we invited. Then we made it to Bonnie's house to spend some time with her before we move away forever. It's been nice living close to friends and family and it will be sad once we leave. Despite missing people/being missed we're still pretty excited for the change. Everyone says that SLO is great, and I'm excited for school.