Schnee!

Have I ever said that I love the snow here?  I do!  Utah snow is fluffy and has great big flakes.

 Samantha loves it too and jumps around in it like she used to in the Saipan ocean.  She also lunges at it while Brian shovels and tries to eat the snow.  Weirdo.

 My babe shoveling our driveway.

 My other babe.

 This weekend we went over to our friends Ashley and Creighton's apartment for a movie.  The snow was falling outside the window, they had a fire going, and Ashley made the most delicious lattes.  It was so awesome.  I love being warm and cozy inside while it's snowing outside, especially with great company.

 Also, I saw these pics on my phone the other day and realized I never put them on here.  You know who's cool?  My friend TJ and his mom Cheryl!  :) TJ is one of my oldest friends, and whenever I come to Kansas City, Brian and I always go over to Cheryl's house to hang out and have a cheese dip/movie night.  It's a tradition.  This summer, we got to hang out with them a lot for movie nights, going to get coffee, and we even got to go to an MMA fight in Kansas City that TJ was working at.  They even sat through my favorite movie, Across the Universe, even though I think they may have hated it hahaha!  They are the very best.

Ski Slopes at Snowbird

 At Snowbird Ski Resort back in October

 We rode the ski lift and it was COLD because I was a dork and wore flip flops

wanna ski?

Brian and I are feeling happy to be here in Salt Lake.  We were taking a walk up by the Capitol last night (which has become a frequent routine since we moved to this area) and Brian said, "I'm really glad we made this move."  Yes, Brian's job has extremely demanding hours (he worked 55 hours last week) and it's always tough to adapt to a new place and get everything settled, but we're really enjoying life in this city.  

After hearing about the beauty of Colorado from so many people and vacationing there so many times with my family, I feel like Salt Lake City is a beautiful hidden gem that not as many people know about (or maybe I was just behind and didn't know about it haha!)  The mountains are so close to the city, the weather is awesome, and I feel like the people and feeling of Salt Lake are both so friendly and welcoming.  

When we first got here, we didn't know very many people and felt a little overwhelmed, as I'm pretty sure almost everybody does after making a move.  It's starting to feel a lot more settled now, with both our jobs, meeting people, and moving into our rental house. I'm thanking God for bringing us here and taking care of us.  We'd like to put down some roots here, after moving around so much of our marriage.  We're saving to buy a house in the next couple of years.  Brian and I both still want to live overseas again someday, but want to stay here for at least the next few years.  

I was talking to a friend the other day about my dreams of nursing overseas, but I'm not sure where yet.  Brian and I also talk about moving back to Taiwan someday.  We loved living there and would love to raise a family there.  While living overseas, we had the chance to see a lot of our friends raising their young children overseas, and got to ask them a lot of questions about their experience with it.  It's something that Brian and I would really like to do someday, depending on the children we have and if it's a right fit for them.

So, there's a lot of random thoughts of mine right now, and here's a few more:

- I'm finding so much cool home decor stuff on Target.com right now as I'm looking for ways to decorate our new rental house.  I love their Boho Boutique and Mudhut lines.  But... Brian says some of their stuff is just a little too girly for his taste in a house and I think I can kind of agree. :) Also, it's so cool that we have an Ikea here.  I love shopping for my house!

- I was needing to buy a new Bible and chose this one yesterday: Pray the Scriptures Bible in the God's Word translation.  I really like it because the translation is written in really clear, everyday language.  It also has short prayers along the margins that relate to the verses you are reading.

- Going to see the new 007 movie tomorrow night with friends from church wooohoo Javier Bardem is my fave!!   

- This is our church, K2, and we love it.  We're doing to BaseCamp series that you'll see on the website right now and it's sweet.

Lately

Utah has the most beautiful weather.  Yesterday I went for a run up by the capitol building.  The leaves were all over the streets and falling from the trees, and it was in the 60's- so gorgeous.  It's kind of weird for it to be warm again, since it was snowing just a couple of weeks ago.

Brian and I are both settling into our new jobs.  I'm starting my third week as a CNA, and Brian's been working for the post office for over a month now.  Brian's been working a lot of hours, as we knew he would, so we've been taking advantage of our week nights and Sundays, and trying to fit in all that we want to do.  Brian gets tired from being on his feet all day (he's a new mail carrier, and sometimes works 11 or 12 hour days), but really likes working outdoors.

This week, we moved from our apartment into a little one-bedroom rental house.  We love it!!  It's minutes from downtown, and less than a mile from the beautiful capitol building.  It's also just an 8 minute drive to Brian's post office, which is really nice for him.  It has a backyard from Sam to play in, which is exactly why we chose it.  Right now, we're still in the process of moving everything in, organizing where it all will go, hanging pictures, and cleaning it up a bit. We chose a 1 year lease, so I want to really make it feel like home.  After moving around so much, I can't wait to decorate and buy some pieces of furniture that we can keep for a long time.  I also can't wait to have some friends over to try out the little fire pit in the back yard!