Changes!

My goodness, life can just get so fun and crazy. :) After two months, Stephen and I decided that the apartment we were living in was not the most ideal for our situation, so we started scouting out a possible change in address. We worked and worked to find somewhere within our ward boundaries (because we absolutely LOVED our ward), but alas and alack - no luck! With the new school year quickly approaching, we were very blessed with an answer to weeks of prayers and fasting that resulted in some fast-paced changes. The surprise two weeks ago -- we needed to move!

Tuesday morning, we decided to try to find a place in Wymount Terrace (the BYU on-campus married housing).

Tuesday evening we signed a contract.

Wednesday morning, I began packing and at 11:45 posted a brief listing for our old basement apartment (christened the "Hobbit Hole" by our dear brother, Marc)

Within minutes, happy young couples were at the door wanting to see the apartment (luckily Stephen had just returned), so we dashed around trying to quickly get our home ready for this impromptu open house - laughing the hardest when Stephen scooped up the freshly cleaned load of laundry off the bed and started stuffing it into a pillow case as fast as he could. :)

After fourteen applicants turned in their forms and more were still calling, I quickly deleted the post and ran outside to yank out the for sale sign. I suppose I should have known there would be a great interest for married housing so close to campus after our own weeks of searching, but I had no idea it would all happen so quickly! And some of their stories seemed so desperate - like the engaged couple who were getting married in a few days, then coming straight to Utah - still with no place to live! Luckily, it was our landlord who had to decide who would get the apartment and not us!

Within a few hours, the decision was made and our contract was transfered to the new tenants - which meant we needed to be packed up and moved out in two days...ack!

Luckily, we are blessed with INCREDIBLE friends who jumped to our aid the next day. Montana lifted and carried and climbed the entire afternoon and evening, and Darrel and Jessica sacrificed many laborious hours for us - despite the fact that they had family in town! I want to be as selfless as that! We are so thankful for their help - it wouldn't have been possible without them and many blessings!

Amidst all of this, we were house sitting for our cousins for two weeks in Highland - about 30 minutes away.

One blessing after another, and on Saturday morning, we swept and vaccumed one last time and turned in our keys - officially moved out! Truthfully, although those days were a bit grueling and miraculous, I think one of the hardest things about moving was saying our surprise goodbye to our wonderful ward on Sunday. Stephen has been serving in the Elder's Quorum Presidency and I've been serving as the ward choir director and primary/nursery music leader, and we have LOVED getting to know these dear brothers and sisters! I love when a ward truly feels like a family, and we're so grateful for the friendships, memories, and growth we've experienced with them. We hope and pray the friendships will continue!

However, I'm so grateful that with all of the tears I shed that day, none were accompanied by feelings of regret or "what have we done?!". We're so sad to leave, but so excited for our new apartment! We moved from a basement with one tiny window by the ceiling in each room to the third floor and BIG picture windows! The view out of each one is beautiful, and I'm in love with light! The first thing we do when we walk out of our bedroom in the morning is go look out all of the big windows and grin at all of the sun coming in. :)

And one of the absolute BEST parts is....we will be living next door to my sister and her husband! And when I say next door, I mean you open our door, walk three or four steps, and you are at her door. We signed up for our apartments at the same time, and I am so excited for you to come in the Fall, Heidi!!!

While we're unpacking and getting settled at a good clip, I'm afraid I still haven't crossed over the computer cord, so pictures will be coming soon. :) Whew - back to unpacking!