The Sunshine State

We've made it to Florida! Let me first say that it was a BLAST! Yeah, maybe a long time in the car, but I loved the time to talk with Jay, and we had so much fun visiting family and friends. Here's the low down:

Friday we got into Arizona around 5:15. We went swimming with the Miles and Hughes (aunt, uncle, and cousins) and enjoyed a great BBQ.

Since Saturday was my birthday, Jake made me a great breakfast, and let Jay and I take his quad out for some fun in a dry river bed. It was a blast! Later in the morning, we headed over to the mall. I spent most of my time in the puppy shop fussing over every single dog. They were all so cute! One, in particular, stole mine and Jay's heart. It was a Golden Retriever puppy, who had the sweetest temperament. It took every thing we had to walk away. We want him sooo bad! After the mall, we hooked up with the rest of the gang and went to Elephant Bar for a late lunch, yumm! The rest of evening we spent at the Diamondbacks vs. Kansas City Royals baseball game. It was a fun way to end the day.

Sunday morning after another great breakfast (this time it was for father's day) we took the next long leg of the trip to Odessa, TX. We got in late, but set up camp fairly quick. I was very impressed with this campground. I haven't seen that many bathrooms and showers as clean as I did here! Unfortunately, we didn't get much sleep due to LOUD birds who woke up at 2 in the morning. Oh well.

Monday morning we got up early, cleaned up, and headed out. We made it to DFW around lunch time. I was able to show Jay our old house in N. Richland Hills, and then we went into Irving to meet up with Jay's old missionary companion for lunch. It was a lot of fun to meet him and hear some hilarious mission stories. After lunch, we headed over to Arlington to see my Uncle Glynn. I can't remember how many years it had been since I last saw him, but we all enjoyed the few hours that we had to visit. Then we headed over to Grandpa's house. I was really excited to see him, and for Jay to be able to meet him. Grandpa took us out to dinner, showed us where the "fat cats" lived, and took us around the University of Tyler campus. We got a kick out of his funny, stubborn personality.

Tuesday morning we woke up, ate breakfast and spent some more time just relaxing and talking with Grandpa and Lucille. Jay needed to change the oil in the car, so Grandpa came with us as we found an auto part store. Jay got the oil all changed, so we had some good ol' DQ for lunch, talked for a little while longer, and finally got back on the road around 1:30, and made the drive to Mobile, AL where we camped again.

Wednesday was our last day of driving. Jay and I crashed since we hadn't been getting much sleep, and slept in. It was very nice. We drove the last little bit, and were shocked by how many Confederate flags we saw in Mississippi. Don't they know that the war has been over for quite some time? We got to our new huge apartment, unpacked, and settled fairly quickly. I made a quick trip to Wal Mart for a couple of things. I'm enjoying our spacious 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment, with lots of storage (something we don't have back in SLO)

Thursday was our first day on the job. We had our daily work meeting (which are actually pretty fun), a little bit of training from our manager Dave, and then a full day learning it hands on by shadowing. We met a lot of really nice poor people, and we learned a lot.

Friday was our first day knocking doors alone together. We were in a pretty rich neighborhood. We learned fast that we don't really like rich white people. They were rude, with only a few exceptions. It was such a contrast from the day before. We defiantly improved our door approach as the day went on, and really began to feel comfortable.

Saturday was SOOO long. We had our meeting at 9, and were knocking doors by 10. We didn't drive home until 9 pm. We got rained on some, but the rain was a nice break for all of the sweat. I defiantly need to get used to humidity. Our hips, legs, and feet hurt so bad by the end of the night. It made me very glad for the sabbath!

Today we rested, slept in, and went to our new ward in Jacksonville. They are nice people, who try to make us feel welcome and part of the ward even though they know we'll only be here for a short little bit.

Since we don't have internet (and no WiFi to bum off of), it makes it difficult to check email and update. I think Sunday's will be my main day for the computer. I just wanted to let everyone know that we're doing well, and are excited about the summer!