SAN ANTONIO

YES. We are finally here and it is all that we dreamed of and more.

Leaving Utah - Bleary Eyed but Motivated

The trip down here was a little ridiculous. We planned on taking two very long days worth of driving and then having the weekend to settle in, but then we were told that we would only be reimbursed for 350 miles of driving a day. So we spent four 5 hour days and lazily ambled down to San Antonio. We stayed in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, which sounds like a cool western town, but was indeed named after the game show, and went to church in the tiny hamlet of Fort Stockton, TX. We listened to 1.25 John Grisham novels and ate lots of Mexican food. We got stopped at a border checkpoint and Luke accidentally told them we were immigrants. It was so weird to pull up to our hotels at 3 or 4 in the afternoon rather that 1 or 2 AM which is generally what my family does whilst traveling.

When we got here, it was 70 degrees and humid. Our apartment complex is in the northern part of San Antonio, but still pretty close to the base where Luke works. It is really nice, with three pools, a big duck pond, a gym, and lots and lots of animals. Not being a pet person myself, I have come to find that most people who would pay extra to live in a place that allows pets seem to be decent people.

We got in on a Sunday night, and the movers came Monday morning. They unloaded all our stuff and were gone before noon. Have you ever had someone else pack and unpack your stuff before? It's really nice, except that anything even semi-breakable is wrapped in 10 giant sheets of paper and what you thought was a rolling pin, after so many layers, ends up being a bottle of tobasco sauce. Our living room was totally full of paper after I unpacked my jarred fruit and dishes, and Ivy was in heaven. There were several times when she buried herself in paper and we could only find her by watching a little rustle here and there, traveling through the pile.

Now we have been here for about a month, and it's been great. We love the Riverwalk, which is packed with tourists most nights, but we are pretty much tourists too, so we aren't discriminating. We like our new ward, which is chock full of babies for Ivy to steal toys from, and we live .6 miles away from the library. I have been on a major reading kick. Maybe I'll write about that later.

One of my favorite things about living here is our complex. Our apartment itself is good - large, though the appliances are all old. But our complex is awesome. Three pools, a big pond, and all the ducks you could ever want to feed.

These ducks are fearless.

And we got a crib for Ives!

Julia and Ivy, Christmas morning

For Christmas, we went to Nick and Nadine's house in Dallas. It was so great to have family relatively close by. Ivy's first Christmas!

And now we are gearing up for Mikelle's wedding, looking forward to our trip to Utah. We also have tentative plans to spend Spring Break in Florida with Eric and Andy. Life is good.