Michigan, here we come!

Our lives have been very hectic the past couple of weeks, so there are quite a few exciting things that need updating on (I don't think that's grammatically correct, but it will have to do).

First of all, Ben graduated! It was an exciting day and a great ceremony-- 45 minutes from start to finish. Quite a bit of our family was able to attend, including all of our parents. Ben was pretty excited, despite the fact that other life events have tended to overshadow his graduation. I can definitely sympathize there.

It's such a relief to have that chapter of our lives closed. Of course, there's still grad school, but luckily we have a bit of a break from school before we have to deal with that.

We were able to spend the following week with my family. My mom came out for education week, which I attended with her since I had finished working. My dad stayed with us for the weekend because Geoff got the Melchizedek priesthood. Geoff also stayed with us that week because he was in between apartments. Needless to say, it was a full house.

We packed up our moving truck on Saturday and officially said goodbye to Provo. It was a long day, and we were sore and exhausted afterwards--we didn't get done packing and cleaning until about 1 in the morning.

We've been staying with Ben's brother and sister-in-law, Russell and Kim, for the past few days. We're flying to Michigan tonight, which we are both excited about. Yet we still agree that it just feels like we're on vacation. Ben's work starts on Monday, so we'll have some time to get settled and find a car.

We'll be staying with another of Ben's brothers and sisters-in-law, Nathan and Rachel, until we find a house. Which will probably be a couple of months. I'm still hoping we can close on something before the baby comes. We'll be sure to post updates on how Ben's doing at work and how our search is going and what it's like being "Michiganders."

Moving Time!

It is official, Ben and I are moving to Michigan. Ben will be working with KPMG, doing economic analysis (at least that's what I tell people--he'll deal with transfer pricing, but I don't understand it well enough to explain it in depth).

We got the official offer a couple of weeks ago and finally nailed down a start date. He will start working August 29th, which means we'll be moving out there on August 24th. We're pretty excited about the move--it's a job that Ben really wanted and in an area that we really wanted to live. A big upside is that we'll be near Ben's brother Nathan and his family.

So now we're just wrapping up school and work here, getting ready to pack everything up and ship it out. We're looking at houses, so we'll be staying with Nathan and Rachel until we close on one. Yes, we are definitely becoming grown-ups--moving across the country, buying a house and having a baby.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

The past few weeks have been ones of excitement, blessings, and boredom. After our visit with my grandparents  in California, we finally made it back to Provo, with our new apartment waiting for us. It was a long and arduous task gathering all of our belongings from Draper and Highland (special thanks to Sherrie and Garrett and Rob and Annie for letting us keep our stuff there).

The only furniture we started out with was a couch and a rocking chair. Oh and a blow-up mattress. Considering the fact that we haven't made money all summer, we knew we had to get creative with our purchases. We spent the next week filling up our apartment with things from pawn shops, second-hand stores and peoples' homes (don't worry, we got their permission before we took anything).  My family was a wonderful help--my parents let us use their van, and that thing was a life saver.

Now that we're done with the excitement of moving in and having my family visit, we're settling into a more mundane lifestyle. Most of our time is filled with me searching for jobs and sending out resumes and applications, Ben waiting to hear back from the MTC and a few other places, doing puzzles, knitting, running, and watching 30 Rock. Looking for jobs is always frustrating, but we're praying very hard that we will be able to find some work soon.