Goodbye Summer

We took advantage of what may have been the last warm day of the season by spending the day at "Bubble Land." We brought our good friends April and Matt with us. The water was freezing, so we spent most of the afternoon floating around on the Jackson's giant inner tube. I'll admit, I was the biggest wimp, and the only one that refused to jump in. But the rest of the crew was quite brave! We had an awesome time! Goodbye Summer. We will miss you.

 

  

[Evan is helping me cross the river, but it looks like we are dancing. Love it!]

[And a panorama for my photography class ]

A glimpse into the life of poor, newly-wed students

I was making bread the other day, and when I pulled out our "rolling pin" (aka: plastic wrap) to roll out the dough, I had to laugh a little bit about the way our apartment bears witness of our poor, newly-wed lifestyle. I have gotten used to the ways things are around here, and sometimes I forget that some of these things aren't necessarily "normal." But hey, whatever works, works.

We'll never forget the summer we spent in Vegas, and the 140 nights we slept on the little air-mattress that hugged our bedroom floor...

(Don't worry! We DO have sheets and pillowcases. They were in the wash.) 

Or that nasty wooden box I used for my bedside table...

And lets not forget that classy dining table that doubled as heather's desk!

...There's more...but I think you get the idea.

You know, I'm glad that Ev and I are a low-maintenance kind of couple. We don't need fancy things to be happy. We have so much love for each other and are continually amazed by the blessings we receive each day. We seriously have an ENDLESS list of things to be grateful for...

...including a saran-wrap rolling pin, a card table in the dinning room, a bed to sleep in, and even our ugly wooden box.

Rita, my love

Rita's Italian Ice (primarily found on the East coast) came to Las Vegas this summer! And I must say, it came just in time! Last summer, in PA, Rita's was one of my favorite treats! You might remember me mentioning this when I wrote about my fun-filled birthday. It's a little pricey, and more than a 40 minute drive from where we live, so I assumed that this birthday treat was a one-time deal. But on Saturday, after spending some time at the Family History Center in down-town Vegas,  Evan suggested that we make a day of it and head on down to Rita's!

Yay!

The manager was there (both time's we've been) and he is the friendliest little man! You can tell he loves his job! We asked him about the franchising process and he said it took three years to bring Rita's to Las Vegas. He explained "out here, their version of real ice is a snow cone or shaved ice, and I just got fed up with it!" Haha. I don't know how they do it, but there's nothing "icy" about Rita's Italian Ice. It's sooo smooth and creamy and PERFECT! And they always have fabulous flavors like Swedish fish, black raspberry, or my personal favorite, coconut cream! YUM!

Thanks to you, Rita... and thanks to you, "friendly man who got fed up with snow cones"...

...Now I have one less reason to hate Vegas!

Fun at Tahiti Village

Remember back when this little babe came to visit? Well while she was here, my sister invited us to come float in the lazy river at the resort where they were staying! We had a lovely time, and they were excited to spend some time with their baby, after two whole days apart. Afterwards we all went out to Chili's for dinner and free Oreo molten cake! Yum! It was pretty much the perfect evening.

A Little Piece of Heaven

This weekend, Jon and Ashlee introduced us to Mt. Charleston...

...a little piece of heaven, right next to a big chunk of "Hades" (aka Vegas).

The 30 degree temperature drop and the smell of pines and campfire dinners was well worth the 45 minute drive. I am already planning our next trip to this new found haven of ours. Can't wait!

Something Good

Evan took me out to see this lovely little park he discovered.

Hmm...maybe it isn't impossible to find something good in Vegas, after all.

Goin' Jeepin'

One more reason why I love coming home.

Circus Time!

Our new friends Ashlee and Jon invited us to go to the circus with them at UNLV. I may or may not have caught myself clapping and giggling like a little girl. It was a happy experience, to say the least.

Viva Las Vegas!

Evan found an internship, and guess where it is...

Yep that's right. We're heading to sin city and things have been changing pretty quickly around here.


Thursday: Evan got the offer to work for SouthWest Gas in Las Vegas, NV.


Friday: We accepted the internship and sold our apartment contract.


Saturday: We sold our furniture, cleaned out our apartment and hit the road!


Saturday-Sunday-Monday: We spent the weekend with my super cool family in Northern Utah.


Monday: We drove to St. George, UT where we spent the night with my sisters in-laws.


Tuesday: We drove to North Las Vegas and started shopping for apartments. 


Tuesday @ 3:00: We signed a lease and started moving in!




We are excited! Our complex has a super nice pool and fitness center! Observe:

Our apartment complex is new, and it's in a great location. South of us is EVERYTHING, and North of us is NOTHING. I prefer the nothingness to the everything-ness, but having the option is good. And it's a huge bonus that we're right by the highway that takes Evan straight to work in less than ten minutes!


In other news... 

Yesterday was our anniversary! One year of bliss! ;) We ate at Olive Garden on Saturday night to celebrate :)


Evan officially started work today. He works 7-3:30, Monday thru Friday. Which is pretty much the perfect schedule. I can't complain about that!

Wish us luck!

UT, NJ, MN

I left PA for a couple of weeks to go to my brother's temple wedding in Bountiful, UT. I had a great time with my family but I wasn't so sure about being apart from Evan. I guess I kinda like that guy. Hmm... 

THEN, the next weekend back Evan took me to the Jersey shore! We played on the boogie boards, laid on the beach, and searched for sea shells to add to my little brother's collection. I hadn't been to the ocean in 15 years so I was pretty excited about all of it.

Pretty soon we were packing up to drive back to Utah. 

We took a detour to Minnesota so I could meet some of Evan's relatives and see where he grew up. He has some pretty deep roots there, including Nickerson where you can find DeLong Lake and DeLong Road.

What a fun summer it has been!

One of my best, I think.

Just missed it.

So... I missed my flight.

Yeah.

I guess I am a failure. In my defense though, I have very little experience with travel and I didn't expect it to take 50 freakin' minutes just to get through the security line!

Anyway, I ended up spending five extra hours in airports and one extra hour on the plane. BUT I finally ended up in Utah AND I made a new friend, Danielle. She missed the same flight, so we ate breakfast together and ended up talking about the LDS Church for nearly four hours. SCORE! The church is true!!!

I do miss my hubby lots and lots. But I'm having way too much fun to dwell on that.

Makes me Smile --Part 2

Another little gem:

What do YOU do in the Summertime?

Extra Time

The company that Evan is doing his internship with is struggling a bit. They cut his time down to four days a week. Kind of a bummer, financially. But there's nothing we can do about it, so we decided to just be glad that we get more time together

However... our first extra day together, we found that we had SO MUCH time that we didn't even know what to do with it! We found ourselves sitting around, watching TV and playing computer games. 


So to remedy the boredom we....

 Played with sidewalk chalk

 

Ran through the Sprinklers

And ate a whole stack of Otter Pops

  PLUS! to top off a perfect Summer day my studly husband made us dinner.

LOVE!

Zoooobie Doo

Evan took me to the Hogle Zoo.

Hunter came too.

 What a fun thing to do.

Mr. and Mrs. Evan DeLong

Evan and I tied the knot. YAY!

No reception, just a beautiful ceremony followed by a simple luncheon with close friends and family [perfection]. Then we honeymooned in Salt Lake City.


Exotic? No. Cheap? Yes.
So sue us. We are cheap skates.

Later we went to Moab with the remains of my family. A.k.a. Dad, Mom and Hunter.

The Rubicon broke. We fixed it. It broke again... We threw a frisbee.

Southern Utah was delicious.

Unfortunately, the care-free fun couldn't last forever. Evan's tedious search for an internship seemed to finally end in epic failure and we started to waste away in my parent's basement.

Then, magically, a job opportunity appeared.

...P&G...

I wrapped giant rolls of toilet paper 12 hrs a day, 5 days a week. Evan inspected incoming pallets for rodent droppings. That lasted two days.

Next!

  

... Levolor...

As you can see, it was no paradise, but besides waking up each morning at 3:45, this job was at least bearable.

But then.... A Summertime Miracle! Our prayers were answered. Evan was suddenly offered an internship and 3 days later we were on our way to Pennsylvania. 

Point A: UT Point B: PA

 

Up-sides to PA: Rolling tree-covered hills, lightning bugs, warm rain, historical architecture, and Philly cheese-steaks. Down-sides: I am a job-less hobo and Evan is never home.

Thus, a blog. Stay tuned for more updates.