I'm Back!

It's been a little while since I have written because I have been out of town the past two weeks and did not take my computer. Seeing the family was a lot of fun and meeting the rest of Leland's family was great! Utah, I have to admit, was fun. But I will touch on that later. It's great to be back in SA. I missed home so much. There is no place quite like Texas!

We started the vacation visiting my parents in El Paso. We went up to Cloudcroft and Ruidoso, NM to take a break from the heat. It gets into the 70's in the middle of summer. It's a nice little retreat to see the beauty and feel the coolness. We didn't really do much there besides help my dad out with some decorating things around the house and do an early birthday celebration for Leland. The dogs were excited as always to us. Tipper has finally accepted to playing second fiddle to Leland. He's still not happy about it, but he has accepted it. Hallie has also realized the Leland is part of the family by wiping her slobbering water mouth on him. After Hallie drinks water from her bowl she has enough manners to find the nearest napkin to wipe her mouth on so water doesn't get all over the floor. That napkin just happened to be Leland no matter where in the house he was. It's official, Leland is part of the family =0)

Utah, let's say it is something never to forget. It was different from what I expected. When I got off the plane and we were driving to Orem the only thing I could think was that I was in a bowl and began feeling a little claustrophobic. But I got use to it by time we left, so no big. I ate a ton of food from some of Leland's favorite restaurants. The list includes, Tucano's Brazilian Steakhouse (yumminess), Cafe Rio, Mi Ranchito (both are nice tries at Mexican, but would never pass in Texas), Brick Oven (best calzone I have ever eaten in my life), Sensuous Sandwich (great sandwich) and I think there was one more, but I can't remember. One night Leland's best friend, Jarred, and his wife and two adorable little girls took us out through Alpine Loop. It was gorgeous! The stars were so clear, the air crisp and cool. The only bad thing was the ride up was really curvy and the roads were do narrow I thought we were going to drive off the side. It was fun seeing a waterfall at night and all the aspen and pine trees. I would love to go back during the day and do some hiking up there. Thanks to Jarred and his little fam for taking us up there. I also had the honor of participating in my first Pioneer Day celebration, family style Minute to Win It, and Cul de Sac of Fire (or Cul de Sac del Fuego as I call it). We also celebrated Leland's 30th birthday. He's and old man now, no longer a young buck. It was fun and we had a fantastic time! I also took a grand tour of Provo and the BYU area. It wasn't as nice as I thought it would be. It did have some really cute houses (I love the red brick homes) but it wasn't what I expected. The one thing I loved about the areas I went to, they were so clean. I have never seen public restrooms and universities that were so well taken care of. There were no plastic bags in the street and I saw no litter. No joke, I didn't see one piece of trash on the street. It was so refreshing! I also started an "Only in Utah" photo album. There were so many things that I had never seen anywhere in my travels across the United States that I had to have an "Only in Utah" album. For example, there was an apartment complex that had the title of "Home of the Marriage Guarantee". The Sam's in Provo also had paintings of Temples and pictures of Prophets for sale, only in Utah could you find that. That will be the next album I put on facebook once I get back into the apartment. I almose forgot the best part of the visit, the Salt Lake City Temple. You can't really see it anymore because of all the build up around it, but it is beautiful! I was able to go through a live session which was so much fun! The workers did a fantastic job and really got into the parts they were playing, I loved it! We also did an open house out there. I was telling Leland we should get married and have an open house every year. The gift cards are awesome! It was fun meeting all the new people in my life (and seeing a friend I had not seen in over ten years) and hearing stories about my wonderful husband. He is a really loved person in that area of the world. It's fun hearing all the wonderful things about your spouse from people you don't know.

Being back in SA has been great but it would be better if I were in my own bed (I miss it so much). We got home Saturday night and there was this awful smell of mildew. I just figured it was because we had turned off the A/C while we were gone and it was really humid and rainy. It wasn't until Leland looked at the floor and saw that the carpet was completely soaked. The copper wiring to the refrigerator had sprung a leak. We spent the rest of the night securing a place to stay and helping the carpet guy move furniture so he could start sucking up the water and removing the padding underneath the carpet. He said that there had to have been a couple hundred gallons of water that sprung forth. Silly me, I was worried someone was going to break into the place and ransack all our stuff. I should have been worried about the fridge instead. We don't know the extent of the damage yet but will find out soon enough. But, you know, it's a part of life that you have to deal with. Deal with it and move on to other things like meeting with my new principal tomorrow morning. I think I will find out if I got the admin job or not. I will let you know tomorrow. Fingers are crossed, eeeek!